Fiji for a Family of Five (or more) in the rainy season

Things to consider beyond the price.

If you are a family of five, you will have begun to notice that there's a problem with travelling, and I don't just mean the cost. Finding accommodation is a problem. There are no 3 adjoining rooms, yet your kids may be too young to be in a room by themselves. We have found that 'family rooms' which took our third child in a cot not 8 months before, will no longer take us now that we need a roll-away bed. (that's my travel tip - keep youngest child in a cot well into their third year!)

If you are looking at bungalow island accommodation, forget about it! So you start looking at apartments in less desirable locations, or costly villas.
We made a last minute booking (4 days prior) for a trip to Fiji. Cost was a factor, and Fiji was chosen purely because the airfares were cheaper than Bali or anywhere else. The islands were out of our budget, and had no appropriate accommodation anyway.
Denaru was the answer - there are a number of well priced resorts there, but the pick for us was the three bedroom penthouse at the Fijian Beach Resort and Spa managed by Hilton. While slightly more than the other resorts, what it offered in terms of accommodation was worth every cent. We were looking at a forecast of daily rain. Should we have to spend time in the room, what we had was a massive lounge room with dining table for 8, plus a kitchen (which reduces dining costs).

The kitchen also included a Nespresso machine, which as I woke early, a good few hours before we headed for breakfast, I was able to keep the caffeine headache at bay. There is also a laundry with washer and dryer - but hotel laundry service available too.

Four tv's meant no arguing and when one child had to go to bed, the television could stay on for the others.

The bedrooms themselves were spacious. There were 3 bathrooms, though we only used 2 - the two with the MASSIVE bath tubs with a view. My favourite down time was gazing out over the water to the palm trees beyond, while soaking in the tub and marvelling at what a lovely holiday it had turned out to be.

Had we been forced to stay in the room due to rain, we had the space to enjoy the holiday - rather than be cramped in two tiny hotel style bedrooms. Luckily, we had sunshine every day after our rainy arrival, so we also got to use the large balcony that had a barbeque, dining table for 8 with umbrella for shade and lounges. We had two other balconies off two of the bedroom that we never even used!
I would spend the early mornings out there with my book and coffee, enjoying the sunrise.

I can not fault the room at all. For roughly $300 more (for 6 nights), instead of 2 adjoining rooms or small 2 bedroom villa, we got 3 bedrooms, and a huge living space. Ours did have stairs, but if you look at the website there are a number of different layouts. Some even have pools.

If you are visiting in the rainy season, consider how you'll be spending your time if it rains. Perhaps paying for extra space is smart.

The resort itself has beautiful grounds. We would walk to our room, enjoying the stroll along the landscaped flower beds or a beach front meander through the coconut grove, though there are buggys to drive you if you wish.

This is a great resort for families - there are a huge range of activities for children. There is a kids club, which is free and has a changing range of activities. It has a massive outdoor space, as well as a number of rooms set up for different ages. We are not big kids club users but my four year old started going to escape the sun, and loved it. They also show kids movies from 6.30 - 7.30 if you wish to have a quiet drink together. I was very impressed with the standard of this facility (I've seen permanent daycares in Sydney with less space). The staff remembered my daughter's name when she saw us at the pool, after the first visit to the kids club which was only 40 minutes.

Another staff member saw me without her and asked if she was going to visit the kids club again. It was very personalised from her first visit. My daughter came home with lots of crafts (this can be a packing issue for the fragile items that were insisted on coming home with us.) I was more excited by the tabletop gaming station, but that's me...



The other thing the resort offered was kids activities for those not in kids club. So while at the pool, the kids could go off and play touch rugby on the beach (Fijians love their rugby), feed the fish or even coconut bowling or egg throwing. It means kids too old for kids club, or who don't like the idea of it, don't have to miss out.

There are also plenty of activities for adults - aqua aerobics, frog races, outdoor movie nights, all free of charge too. You could do as little or as much as you like.

The resort divide the pools into those for adults only and those for children - so the adults without kids could have a quieter time and less risk of being splashed. That said, we spent all our time at the kids pools, and never had a problem getting a sun lounge, and as you can see it was always fairly empty anyway.

While the resort is very handy to go exploring, for those that just want to relax, and have a resort holiday, they do bring a little Fijian culture into activities and the restaurants. During the six nights we were there, there was a Fijian Feast down on the beach with a cultural show. On some days there was wood carving and palm weaving displays. There was a little market of handicrafts set up by the pool, run by women not associated with the hotel, and their profits go back to Fijians not to the hotel chain.  Nightly, there was a fire lighting ceremony, usually performed by men in the ceremonial grass skirts. I really enjoyed these touches and in an International Resort, it's often rare to see.

There are two main restaurants, overlooking the beach, a Pan-Asian and an International. Both lovely ambiances, and both have kids menu discounts. The kids eat free off the kids menu between 5.30 - 7.30 with adults, and this makes quite a noticeable difference in the dinner bill. On dinner, I recommend the Fijian dishes - I had a local fish poached in coconut milk with local root vegetables, which was sensational. The specialty around the island is Kokoda, a raw fish salad (think ceviche), where the fish has been cured overnight in lime juice. It was the best dish we ate in a number of restaurants around the town.

It needs to be mentioned, that the cyclone and floods in December have taken their toll around Fiji and the beach on Denaru is not so pristine at the moment. The sand is almost a silt, and during our stay, the water  was not clear, due to the sand being disturbed underwater by weeks of rain - Nonetheless, still perfect for watersports or walking along. When we arrived, in the rain, I was slightly disappointed looking at it, but when the sun came out, it looked fine and the rest of the resort had already won me over. It's easy to day trip out to an island for snorkeling, and to enjoy the 'island' experience.  I don't think it is something you need to really take into consideration, as the positive aspects of the resort far out weigh this one little deficit but if travelling in this particular rainy season, it's fair to be forewarned. There are still many activities on the beach, outdoor movies are screened, the fabulous feast on the sand as well as beach games and the popular fish feeding. When the sun is out, it's lovely, and I imagine with a few days without rain, it drys out and is stunning, as it's a long stretch of beach. So take this warning as only applicable this rainy season, and only when there has been much rain for weeks prior to your arrival.

We had a wonderful holiday, at an exceptionally low price considering the facilities we got and the size and standard of the accommodation. I can see why many of the guests were regular returning guests. Fiji has a lot to offer, and the Fijian Beach Resort and Spa, Managed By Hilton is the perfect place to base yourself or just relax and enjoy a sensational holiday for the whole family. We were lucky that heading there with 90 percent chance of rain forecast daily, it only rained on the day of our arrival, but had the bad weather continued, I'm confident we would have still had a lovely, relaxing vacation.

Practicalities: http://www.fijibeachresortbyhilton.com/

The sensational bath (looking in from balcony):

Please note this is not a sponsored post. I thought the resort was quite exceptional and warranted a review on it's own.

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