The best things to do in Nadi are the Sri Siva Subramaniya temple at the south end of Queens Road, a day cruise from Port Denarau out to the Mamanuca islands, the Sabeto hot springs and mud pool, the Garden of the Sleeping Giant, and Saturday morning at Nadi Market. Give the town two days on either side of your island time, and travel between May and October, when the western side of Viti Levu is at its driest.
Nadi is where almost every Fiji trip begins, and most travellers treat it as a corridor between the runway and a boat. That is worth an extra day. The Sabeto valley behind the town holds thermal mud pools and an orchid garden, the largest Hindu temple in the southern hemisphere stands at the end of the main road, and the islands are an hour away.
The largest Hindu temple in the southern hemisphere sits where the main road runs out of town, and it is the one building in Nadi that stops traffic. The Dravidian gate towers were carved and painted by artisans brought from India. Visitors of all faiths are welcome: cover shoulders and knees, and leave your shoes at the entrance.
Twenty minutes inland from the airport, the Sabeto valley runs back under the ridge that gives the Sleeping Giant its name, and the ground there is hot. The sequence is fixed and slightly ridiculous: coat yourself in grey mineral mud, stand in the sun until it cracks, rinse it off, then work up through pools that get hotter as you go.
The Mamanucas are the reason the marina exists. Catamarans leave Port Denarau through the morning for South Sea, Beachcomber, Mana, Malolo and Castaway, and the water turns the colour of the brochure twenty minutes out. Coach pickup from hotels is normally arranged when you book the boat, which travellers forget to ask about.
This began as a private orchid collection. The actor Raymond Burr planted it in 1977 on the slope below the ridge whose profile reads as a sleeping figure, and it now runs to more than 2,000 orchid varieties along boardwalks through jungle. It takes about an hour, and it sits on the same road as the hot springs.
The municipal market is the best hour in Nadi town and it costs nothing. Pyramids of pineapple and mango, taro leaves tied in bundles, and a whole section given over to yaqona. A fish market runs off the side with reef catch and kai, the small freshwater mussels. Saturday is the busy day and Sunday it closes.
A two-level pontoon moored over a reef with nothing else in sight: a bar on the lower deck, a wood-fired pizza oven, and a top deck for jumping off. About 45 minutes by boat from Port Denarau. Weekends bring DJs; weekdays are quieter and better if you came for the water rather than the volume.
The closest beach to the terminal, about fifteen minutes by taxi, and the one place in Nadi where the town gathers at the end of the day. The sand is dark volcanic grit and the water is shallow and sheltered, which makes it a safe swim and a poor postcard. Come for the sunset and stay for it.
Denarau is a flat resort island joined to the mainland by a causeway, and the marina at its edge is the closest thing western Viti Levu has to a promenade. Ferry berths, charter desks, dive shops and restaurants around the water. Everything that floats to the islands leaves from here, and every day trip will tell you to be at this quay.
By tradition this is where Fiji started: the canoe of Lutunasobasoba beached at Vuda Point, and the village above it claims to be the oldest continuous settlement in the country. A visit goes through the village rather than around it. Expect a guide, an introduction to the chief, and the sevusevu of kava that formalises a welcome.
Fiji's first national park, about an hour southeast of Nadi at the mouth of the Sigatoka River. Wind has built the dunes over thousands of years and keeps uncovering what is buried in them: pottery and burials going back around two millennia. Two marked walks leave the visitor centre, and both end on a beach with a serious shore break.
A coral cay small enough to walk around in a few minutes, and the standard half-day introduction to the Mamanucas. Snorkelling straight off the beach.
Another island you can circle on foot, longer established than most and with a livelier bar. The reef sits close to the beach on the drop-off side.
One of the larger Mamanucas, with three beaches, a village at one end and resorts at the other. The reef here is the best of the easy-access snorkelling.
The two largest islands in the group and the closest to Denarau, which makes them the practical pick for an island night. Cloud 9 is ten minutes offshore.
North of the Mamanucas, and a different kind of trip: a catamaran runs the length of the chain daily, dropping and collecting passengers. Give it three nights minimum.
Dark volcanic sand fifteen minutes from the terminal, shallow and sheltered enough for a safe swim. The sunset the whole town turns out for.
The white sand the brochures mean, about an hour south on the Coral Coast road. Well shaded, gently shelving, and the best swimming on this side.
The resort strip's own frontage, and access runs through the hotels. Grey sand over a shallow flat that empties at low tide, so it is a place to sit.
Fijian-owned, at the marina, and the easiest place in the country to eat kokoda and fish cooked in a lovo pit. Order the fish in banana leaf.
A Fijian and Asian menu on the Queens Road in Martintar, generous and priced for people who live here. The walk-in choice on a first night.
Tandoori cooking in Nadi town, in a country where the Indo-Fijian kitchen is half the national table. Worth crossing town for if your hotel is on Denarau.
Produce, root crops, reef fish and a whole aisle of yaqona. The cheapest and most interesting hour in town, and where to buy kava for a village.
Carvings, shell work, woven mats and masi, the painted bark cloth. Prices are negotiable and the sell can be firm, so decide first.
The main street department store and the safe option: sulus, bula shirts, carvings and pearls under one roof at fixed prices.
Two levels of shops wrapped around the marina, aimed squarely at people with a boat to catch. Convenient, air-conditioned and more expensive than town for the same goods.
An 18-hole par-72 championship course with four sets of tees, plus tennis courts. Clubs can be hired and lessons booked.
Tandem jumps leave from Nadi and land on Denarau, so the freefall happens over the reef. Weather-dependent, so book it early and keep a spare day.
The range immediately behind Nadi, reached on a rough road that climbs out of the cane fields into grassland. Quad and 4WD tours run up it.
The drive south on the Queens Road turns scenic once the cane fields end. Natadola is the swimming stop, and the road carries on to Korotogo.
Twenty minutes north: the village that claims to be Fiji's oldest settlement, and the point where the first canoes are said to have landed.
Fiji's second city and its sugar port, half an hour up the coast. A working town with a large market and a mill that still runs. Go on a market day.
Two hours inland in the Ba highlands, and the last Fijian village built entirely of traditional thatched bure. Visits are arranged in advance, not on the day.
Rugby sevens at Lawaqa Park in Sigatoka. It draws the top Fijian sides and is where new sevens players are first seen.
The Hindu spring festival, marked through the Indo-Fijian towns of the western cane belt with colour and singing.
Nine days of theatre, music and visual art staged across Suva and Nadi, with the Nadi programme in the town.
Nadi's own week, at Prince Charles Park beside the market: parades, Pacific dance and music competitions, food stalls.
Fiji's oldest festival, running since the 1950s and held in Suva. A week of carnival, rides and pageantry.
Half an hour north in the sugar capital, running since 1958. Parades, food stalls and a queen contest.
Independence from Britain came on 10 October 1970. Church services, sports, a public holiday and very little open.
A national public holiday and the biggest date in the Indo-Fijian year. Lamps, sweets and fireworks across Nadi.
Fiji's international gateway, at Namaka a few kilometres north of Nadi town and about twenty minutes from Port Denarau. Almost every island transfer is timed against its arrivals.
Fiji Airways and Fiji Link fly from Nadi to Suva, Labasa, Savusavu, Taveuni and Kadavu. Light aircraft and seaplanes also run out to the island resorts.
Port Denarau is the departure point for the Mamanucas and the Yasawas. Coach pickup from hotels is usually arranged with the boat ticket, so ask when you book rather than on the day.
The Indo-Fijian half of the national table and the everyday lunch in Nadi town.
The two root crops that anchor every Fijian meal, boiled or roasted and served in slabs.
Raw walu cured in lime and lemon juice, then dressed in coconut cream with tomato, onion and chilli.
Meat, fish and roots wrapped in leaves and buried in a pit over heated stones. The celebration meal.
Taro leaves layered with coconut cream around fish or corned beef and baked until the leaves collapse.
Taro leaves stewed down in coconut milk, somewhere between creamed spinach and a sauce. The default green.
The unopened flower of Fijian cane, cooked in coconut milk. Fijian asparagus, in texture more than flavour.
Pounded yaqona root served from a communal bowl. Clap once, take it in one, clap three times.
Get our one-page Nadi cheat sheet plus a fresh destination every Thursday.
Fiji 
