First Landing Beach Resort & Villas — Hotel in Viti Levu

Bula! We just got back from our first trip to Vidi aka Fiji, and we are so happy we chose this place for our first trip. This is a historical site, literally, the first landing place of which became the start of Polynesia and is called Vidi. ||As a Māori I felt very connected here as did my whānau and it was very special.||First Landing was Built-in the 90s, and although we kept reading lots of comments about 'how it needs fixing up' to be honest, if you want Western bougie vibes and to stay in just another hotel, don't come here. It's perfect and feels like Fiji! It has a beautiful huge pool and we stayed in the Bures, which are good value for a family of 4, right beside the beach, pool and restaurant.||We loved how kicked back everything was, you get used to waiting for kana (food) and being on Fiji time (similar to Māori time lol) our kids just roamed the beaches during the day, looking at fish, making coral castles and we felt safe to let them just enjoy themselves. Do get the cooked breakfast, continental breakfast is included and is basic but YUM, I will miss red papaya and baby pineapples every day. :(||The staff are Vidi indigenous, very warm with beautiful smiles. We also enjoyed the warrior show every night and the way they helped the visitors to get loose and engage with each other. My kids loved the dance circles, the Fijiian dances and the fire show which is all part of the experience.||The food is great, especially if you are omnivores. We are vegetarian, so we ate everything on the menu that we could, there is also a fab restaurant at the marina called the Boat Shed (very good food and prices) a short walk away as well as a general store and ATM. Drinks are also a reasonable price - $8 fjd +.||The rooms were serviced every day, but usually every second was fine, linen and towels provided including the beach towels for trips which you could get from reception. There are hammocks everywhere.||We took 2 boat trips from Denarau, cheap transfers of $45 Fjd which they organised. We did 'Whales Tale' and 'Tivua' (Captain Cook), I liked them both but preferred the Tivua, as the island is much better and offers more for a similar price, the food is very good on the Tivua trip and they catered for us vegetarians very well, with eggplant salad and lots of vege salads, fruit and drinks (all included). ||The Snorkelling gear was very good quality as well as the reefs on Tivua and most of the staff were friendly with a good chef too. ||Whales Tale is good because it's a building company, they own the boat and recently purchased the island, so it helps them to build, though the overall Tivua experience was better for us for the price. It's also a very close boat ride, 1.5 hours which means more snorkelling and time on the island and ship. I also preferred the Tivua ship, much nicer, and didn't provide free fanta for all the kids all day... this is a good thing.||You can book these with Rosies travel on-site at First Landing, she was professional and helpful and has so many trips you can book directly. ||We didn't book a car, it didn't seem worth it for the price of taxis or drivers, which are $150-200 FJD a day. We had a car quoted at $250 fjd for the day and no discount for multiple days. but to be honest we enjoyed staying in the area.||DO: |- Get used to saying Bula and Vinaka all day, it makes you feel happy and thankful!|-Learn the language - it's easy and fun to thank people and get your families bilingual brain activated, the Indigenous appreciate it so much, that they light up. Don't be a monoglot...|- Book Boat Trips the day before (24 hours) and check the weather if you do it through Rosies, no hidden costs when you get there and they won't try to change the price.|-Kick back and not smash yourself with activities, we go too fast everyday|-Swim, it's fine and its by the marina so not super clear but still fun. There a lot of fish life and you can walk out to reef pools when the tide is low.|- Go over to the marina|-TIP the locals, as some serious BS is going on in Fiji with the cost of living vs wages... corruption and the numbers just don't add up.|-Take good conditioner, sunblock up (you will burn), aftersun and pack light, sulus.||FEEDBACK for the owner operator 'Mr Jim': ||Uniforms: ||Please resort owners, invest in some cotton, light material uniforms for the Wahine/Marama staff! The men gets shirts and sulus...||At the moment, the marama have to wear thick Polyester outfits all day, which are hard to walk in, stiff, super hot, long black skirts with no ventilation.||I know they are too sweet to ask for better uniforms, so please note that at the 'Boat Shed', the staff have cotton shirts, t-shirts and light skirts. ||A small investment in your beautiful people to help them to be better at their job. ||I noticed a lot of the time, because they are so hot and walking in tight skirts, that it makes them work harder to get around the large dining areas. Its must be frustrating for them. ||Fix the beds:||Fix -the fold out double couches are hard and ours was broken... so we asked for lots of blankets to pad it up, but this should be replaced instead.||A little fix-up would go a long way, such as the extraction fans that don't actually exist in the toilets ha ha, and outside heat pump fans which are noisy af and keep people awake.||We loved our trip, VINAKA to all the First...

I was hesitant to write this review until I interacted with the manager, Amanda Braddock. This resort is one big tourist trap. It’s a pretty small resort, so if you stay more than one night, the staff will know you. We had booked a five night stay. The only saving grace of this place is the friendliness of the staff. They genuinely seem happy that you’re there, even though they are only getting paid $3.15-$5.00/hour Fijian ($1.80-$2.50/hour USD). You do feel a little awkward staying there because you know the staff are being taken advantage of. However, the locals are not the only ones being ripped off. This resort it in the middle of no where and there is literally nothing else around. There is one restaurant, one bar, and one gift shop. There are no televisions in the rooms, and though they seemed fairly clean, the condition of our bure was that of an old Motel 6. See attached photos. We paid to upgrade to a beachfront spa bure, but we did not get beachfront (those weren’t even built yet), and the “spa” was a single person bathtub with jets in the bathroom. The resort didn’t even have a spa by the pool. I get that technically they could advertise the spa part, but the beachfront? There was no beach in front of or even remotely close enough to justify their false advertisement. So that was a wasted $200 USD. They offered free WI-FI (which didn’t always work) at the bar only. If you wanted it in your rooms it was $40 USD for 3 GB (enough for streaming one movie). Paying $40 to watch a movie on our laptop was not going to happen. At first, we didn’t think it was that big of a deal until we realized there’s nothing really to do unless you book tours everyday (which is pretty expensive). The resort advertised free use of snorkel and kayaks, but there wasn’t really anywhere to snorkel or kayak from the resort. You could swim in the ocean or the pool, or lay out in the sun – that’s about it. When it rains/storms you’re stuck in your room doing nothing. The gift shop had about 20 random used books for sale if you got desperate. I assume they were just books people left behind. The restaurant you had to eat at was about $10-15 USD for lunch/dinner. The options were not great, and the food was a step below an Applebee’s. The continental breakfast was the best meal offered. If needed, they offered laundry service. There was not a place where you could do it yourself. The price for laundry, to give you an idea, was $1.80 USD per pair of underwear. The average load we figured would be about $50 USD. No way were we going to pay that. Overall, we were not happy with our stay. There were some nice things about the resort – it was pretty, quiet, and the locals were nice. My husband and I are not traditional “party-ers” so we didn’t care, but I feel like I should mention that the bar closes at 11 p.m. every night. You are asked what you did that day and what you are doing the next day to make sure you are spending your money. You really can’t do anything or go explore anywhere on your own. We even kayaked to an island that you can take a boat tour to, and were immediately approached when we landed on the beach with “Who are you and where are you from?? It’s $10 FJD to land your kayak here.” We didn’t have any money with us in the kayak so we apologized and started to carry the kayak back down to the water to paddle back. He wouldn’t let us leave the island and called a boat to come get us, which they tried to charge us $500 FJD for!! It was a 15 min. boat ride we didn’t ask for. Lesson learned, if you’re going to visit Fiji, choose wisely, pay a little extra money for your stay, where you have options, and DON’T fall for First Landing Beach Resort’s...

We truly enjoyed our stay at First Landing! Unlike the bigger name-brand resorts, you are going to get a more "local experience." The resort is unpretentious, so if you are looking for the Ritz experience, this IS NOT the place for you. First Landing IS FOR YOU if you don't mind staying at an older resort that has some age -- but a TON of character! Let me explain...

The rooms are older, and you will see a few critters now and then. The resort is located on the water and amongst a mature grove of tropical trees and plants... thus the bugs. It was not a problem for us. We just put snacks in sealed bags and food properly disposed of so as not to attract bugs. The showers and toilets worked just fine, and so did the air conditioning.

The staff are truly amazing people! I expect most of them are from the surrounding village. Be patient as they run on Fiji time. They will get to know your name and even remember your favorite drink if you order it enough : ) It was the people who made this trip special.

Be prepared to meet folks from around the world! We had many amazing conversations at the bar with people from Australia and New Zealand. Many of them have stayed at First Landing numerous times -- and they keep coming back because of the staff.

You can organize day trips with the on-site travel agent. It will take 30-45min or so to get to the main ports where the tours operate from -- but we enjoyed the ride as we got to see the local villages and surrounding countryside. Coming from the city, we were not keen on staying close to the airport -- and that's why we chose First Landing. The transport fees are reasonable.

The resort is a bit of a drive from the airport, so you will need to arrange transportation with the resort for $45FJD, which costs way less than a private driver who will charge $70FJD. Taxi or resort transport is the best way to go.

If you can, I would recommend renting one of the beachfront rooms. We stayed in the Royal Villa, which was awesome! It has a private pool and would be great for 4-6 guests.

The food was good and affordable. We had a hot breakfast the first day we arrived but opted for the cheaper continental breakfast the rest of the trip, which consisted of coffee, fruit juice, toast, fresh fruit, cereal, and pastries. It was enough to get us started for the day. The dinner menu has everything from pizza to fish and chips.

If this is your first trip to Fiji and you want a local place away from all the other tourists, I highly recommend...