I confess: until this resort, I’d never been to a resort at all. To be baldly anti-elitist, they just don’t jive with my travel priorities. I don’t travel to sit and drink cocktails and get a massage – I can do all that stuff at home. When I travel, I want to do something I can’t just do from my couch or by driving 10 minutes away from it. But if you’re the kind of person who wants a luxury experience in a tropical paradise, you’ll love Sofitel Fiji Resort & Spa.
Reservations: This resort appears on sites like Travelocity, but that’s not how I found it. When booking this hotel, I wanted to ensure that it was 1) very close to the airport, as we had an early flight out, and 2) that it was sufficiently luxurious. For that reason, Google Maps was better to narrow down options, and then I booked on the website. The booking process was simple in English, and the site offers a large variety of language options (though I can’t vouch for the quality in those other languages).
Access: Situated just outside the city of Nadi (pronounced Nahn-dee), Sofitel Fiji is about a 20- to 30-minute drive from the airport. It’s close enough that you don’t need to spend a lot of time in transit to and from the airport, but far enough that you can’t hear the planes.
Neighborhood: Sofitel is on Denarau Island, which is dedicated to resorts, cruises, and the luxury tourist trade. I felt very safe during my entire stay despite walking alone for over an hour. Because of the large number of luxury tourists, there are a lot of amenities on the island itself, including restaurants, tours, cruises, a golf course, and gorgeous manicured beaches. All of these are within walking distance of the hotel.
Drinking a pina colada while standing in the ridiculously warm ocean.
Checking in: We arrived very early in the morning – about 5:30 a.m. – which was well ahead of check-in time. However, the porters at the entrance greeted us warmly. (Our porter, Stee, even introduced himself and shook our hands, then remembered us by name later). At the check-in desk, we were greeted with cool cloth towels to wipe our hands and faces and a glass of cold, thick fruit juice. Although we weren’t able to go up to our room right away (likely because the previous occupant was still asleep there!), they put us down for an early check-in at 10 a.m., and when 10 came the room was ready. Being 4 hours ahead of the regular check-in time, I was duly impressed.
Staff: Every member of the staff down to the island groundskeepers were more than polite – they were friendly! One of the things you learn when researching Fiji is that “bola” means “hello,” but you don’t learn that people will literally call it out to you from moving cars. Whether this is true for the rest of the island or just for Denarau isn’t clear to me, but on the island, everyone is very kind.
Security: Security within the complex itself isn’t any tighter than what you’d find in the States: key card door locks and an additional internal lock. However, the hotel has a security gate, as does Denarau Island. When we checked in our luggage with the porters, they gave us tags for reclaiming them, which seems like a basic precaution against theft, though I can’t vouch for the area where the kept it. Overall, I didn’t feel unsafe anywhere on the island.
Size: We booked a “Superior King Room,” and I’d honestly expected a little more space with that name. It wasn’t small per se, but it wasn’t really much bigger than a standard hotel room in the States. That said, it had a king-sized bed and a pull-out sofa, as well as a walk-in closet and large balcony facing the sea.
Ocean sunset from the protected beach at Softel Fiji Resort & Spa. #nofilter
Comfort: The comfort was exactly what you’d expect. I’m a light sleeper, and I still had an easy time sleeping on the pull-out couch. My friend assured me that the king bed was lovely as well. The space overall was relaxing, despite not being particularly large, and relaxing on the balcony was exactly what I needed after 11 hours on a plane.
Amenities: Since we were at the hotel for a relatively short period of time, we didn’t get to experience the full range of amenities, but they look very promising. There are massage services available, as well as a huge pool, lovely poolside seating (including covered sitting couches as big as a king-sized bed), food options on site, a bar on the beach (hello Pina Coladas!), and access to a protected beach. I would have paid a pretty sum just to sit in the ocean all day, so all the other amenities were gravy.
Price: As you can imagine, a luxury resort comes with a luxury price tag. We paid $559 FJD ($261 USD) for the single night that we stayed. That said, our room was one of the best in the place, so cheaper options are available.
TL;DR: If you want to escape to an island paradise and worry about nothing – and also have the money to not worry about the money – you could do worse than Sofitel Fiji Resort & Spa. If you want an authentic Fijian culture experience, look elsewhere.
sutematsu 