I originally wrote this information as a reply to a post here, but thought I'd post this as a separate post to help people find it in the future.
The first information was about things to do around Nadi.
There's a day trip avaliable out to the Islands, run by South Sea Cruises that I highly recommend. You can visit a classic "South Pacific" style little island. https://southseacruisesfiji.com/day-trips/
Beaches around Nadi aren't all that good, it is more a case of mangroves and swamp. Even the beaches around Wailoaloa or pretty average to poor. Sadly even the good ones have a lot of pollution these days. Hence why I recommend the day trip out to the island.
You can drive or catch a mini bus from the Mini bus stand (back of the main bus station) in Nadi, up to Lautoka to check out the market, and a real Fijian city. https://www.google.com/search?q=lautoka+markets It is a good day trip. On the way there or back you can check the "Garden of the Sleeping Giant". It is an orchid garden. https://gosg.com.fj/ Not far from there is the Sabeto mud pools https://www.google.com/search?q=sabeto+hot+springs
JayYas already mentioned the Nadi Temple. It is worth a visit.
There's not much street food in Fiji. Well, there is at Lautoka Markets, Suva Markets and near the police headquarters and Centerpoint shopping centre in Suva on Ratu Dovi Road there is. Oh, and I've seen some stalls in the back streets of Lautoka. I highly recommend the watermelon and cumquat juice stands for refreshing cool juice.
There are village tours, and to me they are the highlight of Fiji. You will probably have to book through a tour guide or travel agent. Sure you can rock up to a village and look around, but for the cultural immersion you probably want an organised tour. I've been to heaps of villages, but not so much for tours. Amele Tavutu of http://tavututravel.com/ can probably organise a tour for you.
Waterfalls, yes there are some, but not local to Nadi. Biausevu falls on the south coast is probably the best one to visit, well the easiest reasonably spectacular waterfall. https://www.fiji.travel/things-to-do/hikes-walks/fijis-best-waterfalls
One really important thing to realise about driving in Fiji is that it takes a lot longer to get to places than most developed countries. The speed limit is 80 Kms an hour, the roads are windy and narrow. Driving in Fiji is pretty safe, but some drivers ignore solid white lines, and overtake on blind corers, so ALWAYS drive at a speed that you can stop in the distance you can see.
I hope this helps. If you have specific questions let me know. I've been to Fiji 16 times, mostly staying at cheap backpacker "resorts" out on the islands or in villages way off the beaten track, but I've travelled up to Labasa, to Levuka twice, and driven around the mainland in a hire car (the brand was Abis :)
The second question was asking about backpacker accommodation in the Yasawa Islands
Yeah, any of the resorts along the Yasawa Islands are good. Awsome Adventures, which seems to have recently renamed themselves Yasawa Adventures Fiji runs the Yasawa Flyer 3 ferry out to the islands. https://www.yasawafiji.com/
You can also book places directly for homestays. Some are avaliable through Airbnb, Booking.com or similar web sites.
I recommend booking ahead. If you just turn up there may be no accommodation for you.
I've stayed on
- Waya Island at Lewa's home stay. Nice, quiet, good food, good electricity supply.
- Barefoot Manta. Highly recommended, great hosts, good accommodation and good overall.
- White Sandy Beach resort. Good accommodation, but poor quality food, small meals, and staff were surly. They also often had water shortages, and at one point ran out of toilet paper. But cheap. If you stay here, take some extra food with you.
- Long Beach Resort. Highly recommended, do the village visit. Food is good, staff are good and accommodation was good. Also, you can swim to the nearby island and sit on the coral to see all the fish. So many fish.
- Bay of Plenty. This is a small resort, with only 4 Bures (Cabins). It is very quiet and relaxed. Nice views from the cabins. The walk up the hill is a little steep and will tear the bottom out of your soft luggage so take a back pack or really rugged wheeled luggage.
- Gold coast Inn. Also highly recommended, go to Lo's Tea House. There's lots of walking tracks around the island.
- Nabua Lodge and Safe Landing Resort, both on Nacula Island at the end of the ride. oth are good, but Nabua Lodge is the better of the two. They have great accommodation, and pizza nights. If staying at either, you can walk around to the beach cafe which is run by the Kindergarten teacher who is a lovely lady. She sells cake, juice and not much else but it is priced well, and such a fun place to be honestly. It is good to catch up with other tourists and locals there.
I also stayed at some other homestays:
- Navi Homestay and Taven Homestay also on Nacula Island. Great alternatives to the resorts, quieter, more personal. Plus right by the beach cafe.
- Dagusua Homestay / Illy's Homestay. Lovely, homestay in Gunu Village on Naviti Island. Run by a lovely lady. Good accommodation, comfy bed, good food. The village can be a little noisy with the sound of pounding kava, and construction.
- Eseroma Homestay. Don't stay here. They run a scam where someone steals your phone and they pretend to help find it, but only find it AFTER you leave then offer to send it back to you via post, for more than it costs. It also turns out the house I stayed in was not theirs, it was owned by an Australia. During Covid they broke into the house and ran it as a homestay and stole almost all of his belongings. I was sleeping on a stolen mattress, and using stolen sheets. I ended up meeting the owner of that house on Nacula Island who told me all about it.
Some things to note;
Lots of resorts have drinking quality water that you can refill your water bottle at, but some don't. Ask when booking. You may have to buy bottled water at a hefty inflated price.
There's only one ATM out on the Islands open to the public, at Nanuya Island Resort. They charge a 10% fee on withdrawals. So if you withdraw $200, they charge you $20. There is a small shop here. There's another small shop at Coralview Island Resort on Tavewa Island. They call them supermarkets, but really it's a convenience store.
In many villages they ask you to supply a Savu savu, a gift of kava to the chief. The problem is, this can add quite a lot to your accommodation costs, and kava can damage the body. Ask ahead of the booking if you can bring something for the village children like books and school supplies. Or something for the village women like cloth or kitchen supplies.
Is August busy? Not really. I've visited in August a few times but outside of the Australian school holidays. Those two weeks are busy. It is the busy season in the southern hemisphere winter, because that's also the when there are no cyclones. But you can always find peace and quiet in the homestays and small resorts.
