- Exploring Fiji
- The InterContinental Fiji
- Fiji With Miles & Points
Getting to the main island of Fiji with miles and finding places to stay with points on the main island is easy. From there you can take charter boats all around the many islands and stay at all kinds of local resorts. While I really recommend doing that, I mostly write about loyalty programs and traveling for free, so this will mostly be about the big chains.
I say getting there is easy but it doesn’t mean every date is available… like the date you’re hoping for. Still, there are plenty of options.
Star Alliance is kind of dependent on Air New Zealand, which again, is pretty awesome. So it’s hardly a punishment to get routed through Auckland if you’re in Air New Zealand’s Business Premier. However, the tendency can be for United to route you through Australia and therefore flying United Airlines. Still, there’s business availability using United miles and hopefully using US Airways.
And with American Airlines you can get plenty of availability to Sydney on Qantas, which is a real treat, but none to Fiji from Sydney. So you have to fly on days that have OneWorld routes to Hawaii, so check different days of the week.
This can be a trip you want to book in advance, especially during peak season.
On the hotel end, I was really tempted to try out the hotels in Port Denarau – near Vuda Marina, where many of the tourist boats leave.
There’s a Radisson, Hilton, Sheraton, Westin and a Sofitel. All these hotels are near the main airport (NAN) and near the boat port, but it’s on a man made sand bar. It’s not very authentic but the resorts look nice.
On other parts of the main island is the InterContinental (which I wrote extensively about in Part I) and the Holiday Inn in Suva, which is on the other side of the island.
For real getaways, take the boat. Honestly, as soon as you arrive you’ll start seeing advertisements for boat transports. I mean right away, in the airport. And all you’d really have to do is go to Vuda Marina and catch the boat but we made reservations with South Sea Cruises.
Again, if you’re going in peak season, make your reservations ahead of time. We however saw a last minute Points Break for the InterContinental Fiji and just took off. If you’re thinking of going, PointBreaks is a good sale but I seriously recommend exploring and… I can’t believe I’m saying this… but… avoid the chain hotels. Take a boat, spend some money and forget about points.
Of course, I recommend this for you not me. I don’t like spending money.
