Fiji

‘Tropical paradise’ might be the most hackneyed cliché in the travel-writing world, but there’s no getting away from it here: the Mamanuca islands tick every box, with brochure-blue seas and beaches so brilliant they’re Hollywood celebrities unto themselves. With romance, relaxation and a disproportional number of fantastic resorts on offer, the Mamanuca group is unsurprisingly one of Fiji’s most popular destinations.

Before you book your tickets, a word of warning: once in Savusavu, there is a very good chance you won’t ever want to leave. Preposterously picturesque and affable beyond all expectations, Savusavu is a swashbuckling throwback to the days of high-seas adventure and tall tales told in rollicking, rickety taverns. The storybook Savusavu Bay was once a gigantic volcano, and boiling springs still bubble up across town, perhaps accounting – at least in part – for the palpable energy that surrounds this enchanted outpost.

Though it’s Fiji’s second-largest island, Vanua Levu (Big Island) is one of the tropics’ best-kept secrets. It’s another world from the bustle of Viti Levu and the more-touristed islands: many roads are little more than rutted dirt tracks, and Labasa, the island’s largest ‘city’, is a one-street strip of shops. To the south, Savusavu entices yachties, divers and dreamers looking for a tropical idyll. The rest of ‘Big Island’ is given over to sugarcane and copra plantations, hideaway villages, mountain passes streaming with waterfalls, endless swaths of forest and an ever-changing coastline forgotten by the world. Take it slow, keep a smile on your face and savour rural Fiji on its grandest scale.

Rugged, remote and more dramatic than the sugardrop islands of the Mamanucas, the mighty Yasawas were once off-limits to all but those determined to play out their Robinson Crusoe fantasies. Today, ferries, cruise ships and seaplanes make daily deposits of sun-and-fun-seekers keen to explore both its looming landscapes and eminently diveable depths.

A wide bank of coral offshore gives this stretch of coast between Korotogo and Pacific Harbour its name. Flanked by waves of richly vegetated hills and a fringing reef that drops off dramatically into the deep blue of the South Pacific Ocean, it’s the most scenic slice of the Queens Road and resorts of all standards exploit the views. That said, the Coral Coast’s beaches are poor cousins to those on Fiji’s smaller islands and most swimming is done in hotel pools. Many travellers prefer to focus on inland and other highlights, such as the Sigatoka Sand Dunes, Tavuni Hill Fort, Sigatoka Valley and, near Pacific Harbour, river trips in the Namosi Highlands and diving in the Beqa Lagoon. Lounging in a resort is also a prime pursuit in these parts.

Despite its proximity to Viti Levu, the Lomaiviti group is often overlooked as a tourist destination in Fiji. Its residents may moan this is unfair, and if you make it here you'll understand why. It was in Levuka, the capital of the main island Ovalau, that the first Europeans settled and eventually made this the country’s first capital. Its wild and immoral colonial days are long over but you'll likely be seduced by its laid-back charms and welcoming atmosphere – not forgetting its historic centre that won Fiji's first World Heritage site listing in 2013.

With welcoming settlements, year-round warmth and genuine local hospitality, it’s not for nothing that Vanua Levu and Taveuni are billed as Fiji’s ‘friendly north’. The country’s second- and third-biggest islands, respectively, are clean, green havens languidly trapped in a time before ‘hectic’ was invented: even their epithets – Vanua Levu was once called Sandalwood Island and Taveuni’s nickname is the Garden Island – evoke the scents and sights of a land left wild.

Everyone passes through Viti Levu, Fiji's largest island, on their trip to the country, but too often it's looked at as just home to an international airport, an unavoidable transit stop for those en route to a palm-fringed resort. But those who skip the island too quickly are missing out, as there are plenty of attractions to make you linger longer.

This is where you wish you were right now. Remote and authentic yet easily accessed from Viti Levu and home to comfortable, ecofriendly resorts, Kadavu blends Fiji’s best assets. As your plane lands on a tiny airstrip surrounded by luminescent sea, volcanic peaks and intense forest, you’ll feel like an adventurer. Your flight will be followed by a boat ride to your resort past prehistoric-looking coves, and when you reach your destination you can grab your snorkel or dive gear to get below the waves and explore the incredible Great Astrolabe Reef – the world's fourth-largest barrier reef.

Sigatoka (sing-a-to-ka) is the largest town on the Coral Coast and serves as the commercial hub for the farming communities that grow sugar cane and vegetables upriver in the fertile swathe of the Sigatoka Valley.