Yasawa Island Resort & Spa

Yasawa Resort = Heaven. Yasawa is the true Fiji. The people of the villages on this beautiful island where you are truly on the ‘edge of the world’ exude happiness and bring this joy to the resort with them. Their ‘Bula’ wishes are authentic; you’ll feel it. You’ll also be surrounded by amazing scuba/snorkeling that is simply “knock your socks off.” The nearby cave is phenomenal (bring some $ for some neat souvenirs the village ladies make). The massages at the spa (especially Naomi!) are to die for! Simply heaven. Highly recommend the spa package to receive one treatment each day. The staff look after you on all of these adventures with big smiles and treat you like family. They’ll let you stay late if you can’t stop snorkeling on the most amazing reef you ever saw or take you back early. Big thanks to Pedro for all your care in helping me learn to dive and Dan for looking after our son (who is a much better diver) so I needn’t worry! The journey is beyond worth it and while my family has been blessed with more opportunities to travel than most, this has been our most favorite vacation that will live in our hearts forever! I mean that. (Note the special weeks for family and adults-only. This resort is worth your while whoever your traveling compadres are.) We had the unfortunate experience of flooding in Nadi that grounded all flights and high seas stopping the ferry. Kaydee contacted us and we ended up staying on the mainland due to the record flooding with her recommendation. What rain! The management, especially Kaydee, listened to our concerns and did everything they could to make up for it. She encouraged us to extend our stay and although we had something booked, we soon realized we needed to stay here. Because we extended, we saw Polynesian fire dancing and ate a beautiful seafood dinner for New Years. We got to scuba dive and see the remarkable village. (Highly suggest bringing sports equipment and school materials to see the delight on the children’s faces in the village)! The food was delicious with several appetizer, entree, and dessert options each night. Our bure exceeded our expectations with gorgeous outdoor and indoor shower, huge footprint, your own private cabana and beach out front, and turn-down service at night. We felt beyond safe and the staff are so friendly. Yes, there are geckos. It’s the tropics. They eat the mosquitoes and are more than welcome in my burre;0) Beautiful tropical jungle surrounds each bure. The love and care that went into the building of this place is apparent with one of its founders working in the restaurant. There’s a book in the library showing how they carefully cleared the land by hand to preserve the native flora and fauna. Wow! Tip: Consider scheduling a helicopter flight in. It’s not very expensive, and you’ll be flying over reef and South Pacific islands with your mouth open wide. Book it. You won’t regret it.

We are truly disappointed at our experience at Yasawa Resort & Spa in late December 2024. To start with, I would like to caution anyone to think twice before booking this resort (which is at the furthest outer island) during raining season due to the uncertainty of transportation to the resort from the main island. While it should be an easy 30-45 minutes flight, it turned out to be a 6-7 hours ordeal via ferry/boat on a rough sea for us in late Dec. What's more disappointing is how the senior hotel management dealt with this: first of all, we weren’t offered any option to take aferry beforehand when the weather forecast was obviously bad with a high chance of flight cancellation. Instead, we had to wait at the airport for almost half a day and then were told that all flights were canceled. As a result, we had to pay for additional accommodation at the main island while getting no refund or discount for our rooms at Yasawa on the day we missed (these are very expensive rooms!). When we did get to the resort via the long boat ride on the next day, the resort general manager blaimed everything to the bad weather while making no efforts to make up for the day we missed (no discount, no extra service, or other little things that can improve customer experience). We came to Yasawa Resort & Spa (a five-star resort!) with high expectations, but unfortunately, our experience is truly disappointing, especially toward senior management's indifference toward customer satisfaction.

When we decided to go to Fiji, we had a specific experience in mind: we did not want the sterile, crowded, large resort that might as well have been in Mexico or someplace else. While we did want comfort and luxury, we also wanted value, beauty, authenticity, and a distinctive character. We did extensive research and It all pointed to Yasawa Island Resort. We were not disappointed with what we found during our stay. Our bure was large and comfortable and right on the beach. It was well-maintained and very clean. Housekeeping came every day and even left fresh flowers. We had turn down service every night. Sure, there was the occasional lizard and a few ants but they were never a bother. YIR is a beautiful, unspoiled, place—the resort has purposely disturbed the environs to the smallest amount possible to accommodate the bures and other facilities. This means that you are surrounded by lush plants and flowers. If a lizard or a few ants are the result of that, it’s a trade that I’m willing to make. The staff are unbelievably attentive, kind, and dedicated to your happiness while on their island. They treat you like honored guests or family and you quickly develop one-on-one relationships with each of them. The staff learn your names and remember facts about you. They are proud to share their home and their culture with you. Each staff member exudes joy and it is infectious. It rained frequently during our visit (we knew it would be the rainy season when we booked), which made some of the planned activities difficult, but Pedro, Smiga, Dan and all of the staff worked hard and still made sure that we got to do the things that we wanted to do. It was a significant logistical challenge but they did it and remained unfailingly cheerful throughout it all. The food was delicious and abundant and the restaurant seevice, friendly and attentive. The massages and other spa treatments were excellent and having the services done overlooking the ocean was magical and relaxing. Get the Ultimate Spa package for a spa service every day—it is very much worth it. On Christmas Eve, the children from the local villages came and shared Christmas with us by singing carols. They had been practicing for weeks. Afterward, each of them shook the hand of each guest—a touching show of friendliness and respect. The children also came caroling on Christmas morning and stopped at each bure to share a song just for us. These children included many children of staff members and you could see their pride as they watched and took pictures and videos of their children like any proud parent. To have been able to share in their Christmas—to have them share their Christmas with us, total strangers—was so special and hospitable and unforgettable. Before heading to Yasawa Island, we spent a couple of days at another resort on the main island of Viti Levu. More than once, when we told the Fijian staff at that resort or at various places in and around Nadi that our next stop was Yasawa Island Resort, they answered with the same exact phrase: “that’s the real Fiji.” After leaving, I can honestly say that we felt like we did experience the real Fiji—the unspoiled beauty, the smiles, the warm hospitality, the culture of an expanded notion of family (and yes, some rain and bugs and muddy roads, too). If you’re looking for a large, sterile, crowded, fully air-conditioned, buffet dinner kind of resort like you’d find in Cancun or Hawaii or basically anywhere else, Yasawa Island Resort (although very luxurious) won’t be for you. But if you’re looking for authenticity and character—the real Fiji—while still enjoying luxurious treatment, accommodations, and food, then this will be heaven for you, too. We are already planning our return.

My husband & I have just returned from a magical 5 days at Yasawa Island Resort. The resort is a perfect choice if you want to immerse yourself in the unspoilt natural beauty of the Yasawa islands, and is so far removed from the crowded resorts and chain hotels of the mainland. From the very start we were well looked after, with a friendly local representative greeting us at the domestic airport in Nadi and updating us on our flight, of course the stunning views from the flight over to the island, and then the welcome song by all the staff and managers on arrival to Yasawa. Our Beachfront Bure was huge! The rooms and living spaces are so generously proportioned, plenty of storage to unload your luggage and really make ourselves at home for the stay. The gardens surrounding are lush and beautifully maintained, and once in your room you will rarely see or hear the other guests. We loved having our own part of the beach straight across the gardens in front of our Bure, with our own thatched beach shelter, and a hammock which my husband was in for hours. Our room was of the original construction, and whilst there were a couple of maintenance issues with the decking after an overnight shower, these were attended to by the staff so immediately, that the repairs were completed before we even got back to our room. No wifi in the rooms means a well needed digital detox, we found ourselves sleeping earlier and waking up with the sunrise, and having the open louvres at night lets in the sea breeze and the sound of the ocean. The meals are all provided and include a great variety of locally sourced fresh ingredients. If you are pescatarian, vegetarian or vegan you will be spoilt for choice. I chose seafood options for most lunches and dinners and they are all so delicious and fresh! Good wine selection and well-made cocktails also available for an extra charge. To the wonderful staff - we were made to feel like family. I can’t remember another holiday where I’ve missed all the staff members after returning home. The new manager Kaydee made sure to individually greet every guest on each day of our stay, with genuine care and concern for the enjoyment of the guests. The OG Manasa (what a legend) and his beautiful wife Wati looked after us each breakfast and lunch. Make sure to chat with Manasa as he is so knowledgeable and has the full history of the resort and island. Pedro & Smiga from the activities team make sure you experience the best of the island and tailor the activities depending on the weather and surf conditions. We had the snorkeling, private beach picnics, Blue Lagoon caves to name a few, and my husband took a Scuba Dive session which included 2 spectacular dives with Pedro. We both agree that the coral reefs are more stunning and way more unspoilt than what we have here in Australia. We had a couples massage included in our package, which was just divine, in the open air spa pavilion with the waves and ocean breezes right there. Take me back! All the staff are so friendly and always greet you with an enthusiastic “Bula”! Whenever you cross paths. We were lucky to be entertained by the staff choir and local village choirs (which also includes several staff) on 2 nights, both performance brought tears to my eyes with their singing. Due to weather conditions on our departure, a helicopter transfer was organised by the resort and we were kept well informed of any timing updates. The whole stay we just felt so taken care of and left us nothing to do but relax. I do hope we will be fortunate enough to return to Yasawa in the near future. Vinaka & Thank you all for such a wonderful holiday and for sharing your island home with us! Helen & Christian.

ORIGINAL REVIEW: Our experience was ruined by the resort’s lodging us shamelessly in a shabby and deceptively named “beach front” bure (number 2).The owners will no doubt claim that they’re fixing the issues by renovation, but they can’t fix the fact that it’s far away from a beach that can hardly be seen, nor can they deny their willingness to house us this way. With further injury, they lied to us when we asked about moving us to an acceptable bure. They said that no rooms were available, although we have evidence that one was the whole duration of our stay. Our bure was old, grubby, and in disrepair, with things that were broken or nonfunctional, poor lighting, inadequate air conditioning, and leaky doors & screens that allowed biting insects in. We were really angry that we were not made aware of the state of the bure before booking and not given any meaningful compensation for the misrepresentation. Other complaints are that there were no buffets for breakfast or at the Lovo feast like most other Fiji resorts offer, the chef used way too much salt on the fish, it seemed cheap to us that they didn’t provide free laundry service but instead charged a lot per piece, activities are less spontaneous because booking is required for everything, the flies were really annoying, and the area allowed for kayaking was small. The local village tour was boring in that it entailed a lot of sitting around and sad in that it revealed a lot of trash on their beach and around their houses. EDIT: Because of an earlier condescending response from the owner who didn't even address the poor state of the bure, I'm adding clarification. The owner might now claim that they're updating the bures, but he can't change the fact that he was willing to put his guests in such a shabby place. He also claimed that there was no misrepresentation about the bures, but they really were blocked by large trees and well away from the beac as a Google search for the resort in satellite view would confirm. To emphasize, we did not see the way local people live. All we saw were several locals trying to sell us their wares. and we mostly just sat around doing nothing. He has told us that a chain style hotel with overwater bungalows, icy cold air-conditioning and buffet meals would have been more to our liking, but we didn't need icy-cold temps, just not flamingly hot ones in the bure. And we expected a well-run Fiji resort like they have at the Octopus, Tokoriki, and Matangi. These and many other resorts in Fiji offer way better choices if you really want an amazing Fiji getaway.