Why now
Good time in December: 30°C days, 22 rainy days, sea 30°C.
The dry season from roughly May to October has the calmest seas and clearest water; the wet season brings humidity, afternoon storms and the cyclone risk, but also lower occupancy. Australian and New Zealand school holidays fill the family resorts.
Best months here: June, July, September. December is not one of them — the label above measures the month against a fixed bar, not against the rest of the year here. Daytime highs, sea temperature and rainy days from three years of Open-Meteo reanalysis; a rainy day is one with at least 1 mm of rain, which is the WMO threshold and not the same as "it drizzled". This page stands for a whole country, and its weather is measured at one point — -17.77°, 177.44°, near Nadi. Somewhere else in Fiji the numbers will differ.
The place
Fiji is three hundred islands with two faces: the resort strip of Denarau and the Coral Coast near the airport, and the outer islands where the village, the church and the kava bowl still set the day. It suits people who want a reef holiday with an easy transfer, and rewards those who go one boat further than the package.
What you can do
- 01Take the Yasawa Flyer north to a small island resort and stay at least three nights.
- 02Snorkel the reef drop-off at the Mamanuca islands, or dive the soft corals of Beqa Lagoon.
- 03Attend a Sunday church service in a village, then a kava ceremony with the chief's permission.
- 04Eat kokoda, raw fish in coconut and lime, and lovo food cooked in an earth oven at a resort night.
- 05Walk the Sigatoka sand dunes on the Coral Coast in the early morning, when the sand is cool.
Where to stay · neighbourhoods
One night near Nadi on arrival, then an island; the Mamanucas for calm seas and children, the Yasawas for a more Fijian trip. Avoid booking Denarau for a whole week expecting a beach.
Unusual things
- ◦The Sawa-i-Lau caves in the northern Yasawas, a limestone chamber you swim into with a torch.
- ◦Levuka on Ovalau, the old colonial capital, a wooden-fronted UNESCO town reached by small plane or ferry.
- ◦The Garden of the Sleeping Giant near Nadi, Raymond Burr's orchid collection at the foot of the Sabeto range.
Day trips
Flight options
Routes come from OpenFlights (historical) and a 2026 route reference compiled from public timetables. Durations are the published schedule where we have it, otherwise a block-time model fitted on measured nonstop flights. Verify schedules with the airline before booking.
Entry requirements · IT passport
Source: passport-index-data, March 2026 (coarse indicator), covering 258 of our 268 destinations for each of 199 passports. Always confirm with the destination's official site.
Airports
Distances are centre to airport derived · nonstop counts are our route reference for 2026, not every flight that exists.
Local transport
- Airport to city
- Resort transfers; ferries to islands
- Car needed?
- No — walkable or good public transport
- Getting around
- Nadi is the international airport, with Denarau 20 minutes away by taxi; island resorts are reached by ferry from Denarau, seaplane or helicopter. On the mainland, local buses along the Queens Road are slow and cheap, and taxis are negotiable.
- Clock
- 3 hours ahead of Tokyo (Pacific/Fiji) derived
- Daylight
- 13.2 hours of daylight in December · sunrise 05:30, sunset 18:41 derived
- Currency
- FJD
Good to know
Cyclone season runs through the southern summer, and reef cuts and mosquito-borne dengue are the routine hazards; some outer islands have no doctor.
Alternatives at a similar price
Whole trip per person for 4 days from Tokyo in December, then the flight time; estimates, like the total above.
Dubai
Abu Dhabi
Hawaii
Mexico City
Oaxaca
Sharm El Sheikh