Fiji was the first country we visited as a family back in 2016 when Ariana was 4 months old and Ayaan was 22 months old. We had such fond memories from back then, that we decided to spend spring break in the super kid friendly country. We took Fiji Airways that conveniently is a 10 hour red eye and gets you to the hotel in time for breakfast! We all slept well and were ready to start our adventure.

For the first 4 nights, we stayed at the Marriott Momi Bay that is build on a lagoon with over water bungalow (no kids) on the west side of Nadi, about 50 mins from the airport. We got a beachfront room with a private beach mostly to ourselves, with plenty of fish in the water that you could see from the surface. We spent many hours sitting on the patio, beach and in the water in our room. A perfect way to decompress! Most of our days at this resort were spent eating a delicious buffet breakfast, swimming in the lagoon and pool, getting massages, listening to live music and playing games with the kids (coconut throwing, tennis, catch in the pool etc). Ariana loved the kids club where she spent a lot of time and also got her hair braided. Ayaan enjoyed learning how to sail a Hobbicat and riding in the golf carts. On the first night they had a Fijian night with a kawa tasting ceremony, local food, and a dance performance.

On the third day at the hotel, we took an all day tour with The Jewel of Fiji which was one of the highlights of the trip. We got picked up and after a long 2.5 hour drive reached the village of Navua, on the Navua river on the south side of the island near Suva. The tour started with a motor boat ride up the river surrounded by lush green hills. We transferred over to a traditional wooden raft where we learned about the Fijian culture. The third stop on the tour was an amazing waterfall with a natural pool that we could swim in. The guides were so nice to the kids and they even created a human tower in the pool with Ayaan at the top! Finally we ate traditional Fijian food cooked in the ground, watched a Kawa and dance ceremony, and learned how they lived. Ayaan had saved his money to buy toys and supplies for the kids in the village that we shared with them. Overall a wonderful day that we highly recommend.

For the second half of our trip, we transferred over to the Intercontinental hotel. We were originally scheduled to stay in an outer island hotel, but that had to close down for repairs due to the Cyclones in March. The Intercontinental is on Natadola beach, one of the best beaches in Fiji, with a Sandbar that appears in the afternoon for a couple of hours. We loved walking over every afternoon and spending some time of the fresh white sands of the Sandbar. Our room was beachfront and close to the main pool and the bar where they had live music every evening at sunset, and an amazing fire show on one night. The resort was very kid friendly with activities by the pool every day include hermit crab hunting, hermit crab racing and fish feeding.

We took another all day tour from the Intercontinental – this time on a large sail boat to the private island of Tivua. The 1.5 hour ride to the island was fun with live music and dancing, and Ayaan and Ariana got a chance be captain of the ship. The island was true paradise with only folks from the boat on the entire island. We snorkeled and saw over 50 varieties of fish and Ariana really got into it. Ayaan loved kayaking and the glass bottom boat ride. We relaxed on the island ate some yummy local food including fish. It was easily the best day ever.

We couldn’t recommend Fiji highly enough for families with kids. It’s so much affordable than Hawaii, a convenient flight, amazing beaches and welcoming people. We’ll definitely be back, Fiji!