Things to do in Suva
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Wilderness Ethnic Adventure Fiji
Offers several tours on the Navua River that pick up from Suva hotels. There are rafting and canoeing tours, half- and full-day tours to Nasilai village and city tours of Suva that take in the Fiji Museum and bushwalking in Colo-i-Suva Forest Park. See website for more details.
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Mariamma Temple
The South Indian fire-walking festival is held here during July or August. Of all Fiji's cultural rituals, the extraordinary art of fire walking is perhaps the most impressive. Watching men display the poise of a lead ballerina while they traverse a pit of blazing embers without combusting is truly baffling. Even more mystifying is the fact that, originally, this ritual was practised in Fiji only on the tiny island of Beqa, and by two neighbouring and disparate cultures - Indigenous Fijian and Hindu - for completely different reasons.
Indigenous Fijian firewalking is known as vilavilairevo (literally 'jumping into the oven'). Hindu fire walking is part of an annual religi…
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Colo-i-Suva Forest Park
This lush rainforest park, pronounced tholo-ee-soo-va, is a 2.5-sq-km oasis teeming with vivid and melodic birdlife and tropical flora. The 6.5km of walking trails navigate clear natural pools and gorgeous vistas, with just a touch of Indiana Jones in the rope swings over water and stone steps across streams. Sitting at an altitude of 120m to 180m, it's a cool and peaceful respite from Suva's urban hubbub.
Flowing through the forest is the Waisila Creek, which makes its way down to the Waimanu River and is the water catchment for the Nausori/Nasinu areas. The creek gives rise to natural swimming holes, and there are picnic tables, shelters and change rooms as well as a su…
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University of the South Pacific
- Suva, Fiji
- Sights › University
With beautiful lawns and excellent facilities, the USP's Laucala Campus offers some picturesque strolling and fascinating people watching. The campus includes a small botanical garden and the Oceania Centre for Arts & Culture. This is the biggest of USP's campuses, and with more than 11,000 students it attracts attendees and staff from all over the South Pacific as well as the USA, New Zealand and Australia.
Mingling among Fijian students you're likely to see young academics from the Cook Islands, Kiribati, Tonga, Vanuatu and Western Samoa. The university itself is jointly owned by the governments of 12 Pacific countries and is a fee-paying institution. Many students rely…
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Fiji Museum
This excellent museum captivates visitors with a journey into Fiji's archaeological, political, cultural and linguistic evolution. Original examples of musical instruments, cooking apparatus, jewellery - including chiefs' whale tooth necklaces - and a daunting array of Fijian war clubs and cannibal utensils offer a vivid insight into traditional life.
The growing influence of other South Pacific and European cultures on the Fijian islands is also demonstrated through exhibits on pottery, fishing methods and trade.
Taking centre stage is the massive Ratu Finau (1913); Fiji's last waqa tabus (double hulled canoe), which measures 13.43m in length and includes an enclosed de…
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Albert Park
Charles Kingsford Smith was the first aviator to cross the Pacific, flying in his little Fokker trimotor, The Southern Cross, from California to Australia. The longest leg of the flight was the 34-hour trip from Hawaii to Fiji. Suva's Albert Park, with its hill at one end and the Grand Pacific Hotel at the other, was made into a makeshift landing strip for his arrival. Trees were still being cleared after Smith had already left Hawaii.
Kingsford Smith and his crew arrived on 6 June 1928, and were welcomed by a crowd of thousands, including colonial dignitaries who had gathered at the Grand Pacific Hotel to witness and celebrate this major event. Because the park was too s…
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Old Mill Cottage
Housed (as the name suggests) in a gracious old timber cottage, this Suva institution is the city's best spot for adventurous gastronomes to dabble in authentic Fijian fare. Exotic dishes including palusami (meat, onion and lolo wrapped in dalo leaves and baked in a lovo), curried shellfish, and seaweed or fish stewed in lolo assemble themselves underneath the front counter alongside Indian curries and vegetarian dishes. You can also dig into a traditional roast.
Addicted office workers cram into the joint for lunch, parking themselves at tables on the front veranda or at the large booth seating inside. The spacious interior is filled with a pleasant cross-breeze (which m…
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Parliament of Fiji
Opened in June 1992, the Parliament Complex must be one of the world's most striking political hubs. Designed in post-1987-atmosphere, the aim of maintaining indigenous-Fijian values is apparent through the open-air corridors, traditional arts and structures and masi cloths throughout. The main building, vale ne bose lawa (parliament house), takes its form from the traditional vale (family house) and has a ceremonial access from Ratu Sukuna Rd.
It's advisable to call ahead if you want to tour the grounds, but you can also obtain a Visitors Pass from the guard at the main entrance. It's also possible to sit in on a parliamentary session by calling in advance.
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Thurston Gardens
After visiting the museum, ponder on your new found knowledge with a wander through these compact but beautiful gardens ( M032A). The dense conglomeration of native flora and surrounding lawns are less manicured and more scattered haphazardly but heavy landscaping would detract from the tropical element. The colourful vegetation will generate appreciative murmurs from the casual visitor and much of the vegetation is also labelled for the benefit of avid horticulturalists.
Crisscrossing walking trails traverse the park, and bench seating provides sensory-fatigue relief. It's a lovely spot for a picnic, particularly if you camp yourself under one of the grand and stately fi…
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O'Reillys
- Suva, Fiji
- Entertainment › Pub
O'Reillys kicks the evening off in relatively subdued fashion - relaxed punters playing pool or watching sport on the numerous TVs. But it brews quite a party as the hours tick by and come 11ish the place is generally throbbing with a gleeful crowd of locals and travellers. There's no distinct age code, and backpackers, foreign contractors, locals and expats fill the dance floor, shaking their bits to Europop, soft metal, techno, peppy country and western…basically anything that keeps the crowd moving.
Forget warm pints of Guinness; the only Irish quality about O'Reillys (aside from the name) is that it's enough fun to knock your socks off.
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Rucksack Club
- Suva, Fiji
- Activities › Hiking
Keen trekkers should contact the Rucksack Club for weekly walking adventures either inland or to other islands. Ask the Fiji Visitors Bureau for the latest contact number because the membership changes regularly, as most of the 80 to 100 members are expats on contract in Fiji. The club hosts fortnightly meetings on Wednesday nights at St Andrew's Church (on Gordon St) in appreciation of Fiji's beauty and culture, with guest speakers and performers.
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Malt House Brewery & Restaurant
Never short of a happy crowd, this bar-restaurant entertains patrons with delicious home-brew and even better food. Wood-fired pizzas go down well with the ales and lagers made on the premises but you can also treat your tastebuds to some of the most refined and creative seafood and meat dishes in Fiji. It's a bit of a trek from the centre and often filled with a boisterous din, but leaving Suva without a night here would be a crime.
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JJ's on the Park
Dishing up good Western-style food and blessed with terrific harbour views from the 180-degree glass frontage, JJ's is an atmospheric place to dine. Salads, burgers, enchiladas, steak and fresh seafood dishes are served in generous quantities and the wine list is impressive. The surrounds are glossy and polished, service is attentive and a Fijian Belafonte often taps the ivory in the background.
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Raffles Floating Restaurant
The floating restaurant attached to Raffles Tradewinds hotel is one of the most scenic spots in Suva to dine. Lunch is the best time to enjoy the harbour views, when the glass windows surrounding the interior flood the room with light. Seafood and classy steak dishes feature highly on the dinner menu, but lunch is a cheaper and more relaxed affair. The burgers here are legendary.
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National Stadium
Fijians are fanatical about their rugby and, even if you aren't that keen on the game, it's worth going to a match. The season lasts from April to September and teams tough it here at the National Stadium. The atmosphere is huge. Ask at the Fiji Visitors Bureau if there will be a match during your stay. You can also catch players training hard at Albert Park during the week.
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Korea House
The interior of this restaurant may lose its oomph once you pass the grand entrance flanked by a Korean mural but the food does not. Pungent kimchi (pickled vegetables) and sticky Korean barbecue dishes are served as well as authentic squid, pork, tofu, prawn and chicken. There's an around F$10 lunch special and many dishes attract a 10% discount at night.
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Traps Bar
Something of a subterranean saloon bar, Traps is one of Suva's best drinking holes. Take a seat in the pub-like pool room with wide-screen TV (yes with sports) or join the happy din at the main bar, which also features a vibrant dance floor. The crowd is generally young and trendy, but not pretentious. Live music is frequent as are Bob Marley sing-alongs.
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Daikoku Restaurant
- Suva, Fiji
- Restaurants › Sushi
The acrobatic culinary skills of Daikoku's chefs are reason enough to spend an evening here, and the seafood, chicken and beef seared on the sizzling teppanyaki plates would hold up to any Tokyo restaurant. Sushi and sashimi is also on the menu and a happy chatter fills the room. Bookings are recommended - it's one of Suva's finest and is often full.
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Zen Restaurant
- Suva, Fiji
- Restaurants › Sushi
This small and intimate restaurant serves delicately presented sushi, tempura, udon (wheat noodles) and soba (buckwheat noodles) dishes as well as a modicum of Korean meals. The graceful décor features Japanese screens, and soft Japanese tunes play in the background. The menu provides helpful pictures for the uninitiated.
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Aberdeen Grill
This stately restaurant has the interior of an old boys' club; plenty of dark wood, brass, mock antique seating and wide bay windows. The food is similarly conservative, but it's done well. European-influenced chicken, steak and seafood are the predominant stars of the carnivorous menu. Lunch is a three-course set menu (around F$25).
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Tiko's Floating Restaurant
Elegant and devoid of pretension, Tiko's serves excellent surf-and-turf fare, including New Zealand steak and fresh local fish (walu and pakapaka), on board a gracious cruising vessel. The wine list includes Grange Hermitage and the windowed walls bathe the place in amber at sunset. It's best enjoyed on calm nights.
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Cakes 2000
This café-cum-bakery-cum-cake shop dishes up hearty breakfasts and the best sausage rolls and pies in town. Tuck into overstuffed sandwiches or Fijian faves such as palusami stuffed with fish and roast lamb neck for lunch, or just gorge on a tiramisu and baileys or choc-orange-chip cheesecake.
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Capital Palace
It seems half of Suva converges here for the excellent Sunday yum cha but the regular menu also sites authentic delights including shark-fin soup and fried squid with chilli and salt plus infusions such as sesame chicken with dalo. Mouth-watering smells and a happy din surround diners.
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Suva Curio & Handicraft Centre
This crafts market has endless stalls and is an interesting place to wander through. It can offer some fantastic buys but be prepared to bargain! Not all artefacts are as genuine as the vendor would like you to believe; if you aren't an antique expert, only pay what the object is worth to you.
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Royal Suva Yacht Club
Visiting yachties can get membership at the Royal Suva Yacht Club. The club has bathrooms with hot water, and a laundry, which are open 24 hours a day. There's also a restaurant, an ATM and a kid's playground. The notice board in the clubhouse is a good place to find boats looking for crew.
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