Tokoriki Island Resort

The team at Tokoriki is very special. The goal is to make you feel like family and they do that right away. We stayed for only a few nights and after the first day we knew this was a special place. If you plan to visit Fiji, stay at Tokoriki. Every person we met said that staying at Tokoriki was the “right” choice. Are there other options…sure, but why stay anywhere else. This place and this staff will provide you with an experience that you can’t get most places in the world. You will leave happy and relaxed and trying to figure out how or when you can return.

We sit in Nadi airport, our most recent return to our Tokoriki home having just come to an end. A breathtaking sunset helicopter transfer, the perfect end to another stunning week in paradise. Ni Sa Bula are the first words you will see when landing on the jetty and indeed every moment here is a good day or evening. You can stay in a lot of places around the world where the staff will learn your name, but it’s only the special few where the family welcome you to your home, and Tokoriki is certainly at the top of that very small list. Every detail of our most recent stay (we’ve returned several times now) was amazing, and the outpouring of warmth from the family here will continue to bring us back. A quick google will show you the gorgeous grounds, fabulous accommodation and breathtaking scenery. But nothing can prepare you for the feeling of this very special place. The wonderful team at the dive shop kept us busy with a dozen sensational dives under their expert care and attention to detail. Chef Alice’s creativity and humor kept us entertained (and well nourished) at the resorts unique Teppanyaki experience - don’t forget to practice your catching skills in advance… so fun! And we continue to be blown away by the delicious cuisine which is reinvented daily by head chef Tom, how he and his talented team pull this off in the middle of the ocean is beyond us. Finally we can’t forget the activities team and band, a delight to have some new faces in the lineup who kept us laughing night after night. There were happy tears here too, how can there not be when you get to feel the love from people like Niumaia, one of the most beautiful humans on the planet. Tokoriki is a special place for all who wish to leave cares and time behind, and immerse themselves in the most wonderful location on earth. We’ll certainly be back for that Palm Tree soon!

My husband and I decided that we wanted to start making a dent in our bucket list over the past few years and Fiji was next on the list and we chose to do a 4 day cruise on the Blue Lagoon Cruises and 8 nights at the Tokoriki Island Resort. This is a review of the latter part of our stay and I will break it into several parts to make it easier to navigate in case you're interested in something specific. Resort Atmosphere and Grounds We arrived via speedboat as we thought our luggage exceeded the weight limit of the helicopter ride (which we learned that we could have taken after the fact), but we didn't mind since we enjoyed the speedboat ride. Immediately upon arrival at Tokoriki later in the evening around 7:30 pm, the staff warmly greeted us on the jetty and the luxury began as they took our luggage and Neumai checked us in. He welcomed us home like family and quickly explained the basics of our stay before having us escorted to the room. We were shown the amenities of our Bure (B18) and since the sun had already set we really couldn't see much of the resort until the next day. We awoke the next morning and were able to see the gorgeous grounds of the resort including the immaculately manicured foliage and throughout our stay, I continued to notice that so much care and thought had been put into all the landscaping. One example would be the palm trees that perfectly framed the ocean and sunset each evening, giving us breath taking views and unforgettable pictures. I have about 80 pictures of the various sunsets that we were fortunate enough to see. The entire resort retained such a natural feeling of effortless blending of the comfort of a luxury resort while still retaining the beauty and proximity of the nature of fiji. The design used mostly natural materials and there were water features like koi ponds, trickling water walls, and above ground water features holding tiny fish, lilly pads with beautiful blooming flowers. Accommodations We stayed in B18 which was is one of the Bure that had a plunge pool on the back deck and was located just adjacent to the main lobby and dining area. The Bure was spacious and felt open and relaxing as it had vaulted ceilings. It offered the option of being open air with plenty of windows that could be vented open and accordion doors to the back deck that could be completely open during the day closed and air conditioned at night for sleeping comfortably. The outdoor shower was a treat and housekeeping was wonderfully efficient, always tidying up our Bure while we were either outside on the deck or away. If you have the option to get a Bure with a plunge pool on the back deck, I highly recommend it. We typically like to swim in the ocean when we are in a tropical location however, the tide was extremely low in the daytime during our stay and the sea grass made swimming difficult. We made great use of our plunge pool every day and really enjoyed the ability to stay cool when we were relaxing on the deck. That being said, we also enjoyed going to the main pool several times and if we didn't have the plunge pool, we would have been happy spending time there as well. The resort is very quiet and you can find a nice spot for yourself no matter where you decide to spend time. It's really a perfect place for a honeymoon, anniversary, or just romantic getaway. There is only wifi available in the main lobby and some of the dining and pool areas near the lobby. The resort is designed to help you "unplug" and there is no wifi in the rooms but you can request a pocket wifi if you desire to be connected while in your room. We ended up requesting one because we wanted to stream music and some videos while relaxing in our Bure. There is also free daily laundry service that was efficient and lovely. We were able to launder our clothes regularly and probably could have packed only a fraction of the clothes if we chose to travel light. I had never used laundry services on vacation but now I'm hooked because I hardly had any dirty clothes to wash when I got home. Massage We booked a package that had daily 60 minute massages included and I have to say that it was one of the most indulgent experiences that I've had. My husband and I are big fans of massage and typically get at least 2-3 massages during a weeklong vacation, so this was one of the highlights of my trip. We visited the spa during our first full day and booked the first set of massages with Nia (the spa manager) who was very helpful in reminding use to schedule around the other activities that we wanted to enjoy at the resort, i.e. snorkeling etc. The massages were so relaxing and we each had a few different therapists but we didn't mind as they were all fantastic. I tried my best to stay awake each day so that I could really enjoy them fully but I typically always dozed off at least for a few minutes as they were just too good not to. If you like massages, I highly recommend getting this as part of your stay! Dining We also booked the meal plan for our stay which included all our meals and it made the stay so effortless. There is an option to pay a la carte for each menu item, but based on the prices, it definitely seems to a better deal to get the meal plan. We ate 3 meals a day every day so it suited us really well. I don't think I was hungry the entire time I was there. I just went from full to not full and I'm definitely a bit fluffier returning home from that trip. The service was wonderful as the staff at Tokoriki know each of the guests by name and start to remember your preferences which I found to be both highly impressive as well as a wonderful personalization of our experience there. The food was delicious, presentation was gorgeous, and they allowed for customizations of dishes per your request and dietary restrictions. It made us feel like we had a fine dining experience at each meal. We even had the pleasure of meeting the head chef, Tom, and he was so kind and gracious. I complimented the Banana souffle dessert and he even offered to have his staff show me how to make the recipe. I did not end up taking him up on his offer because I didn't want to burden the staff given their busy schedule, but it made a great impression on us that the staff goes to great lengths to make our stay such a memorable experience. Resort Activities The resort provides a schedule each night of the next day's activities and we planned accordingly to make the most of our trip. We love to snorkel so we signed up for the free snorkeling trip with the dive shop several times and they always made it so much fun and took us to different parts of the house reef to explore. The dive shop staff were great and made sure we enjoyed our outings. We also had such fun with the entertainment staff during the international crab race where we went out along the beach to hunt for hermit crabs during the day and then we raced them on a board at night. We also participated in the Kava ceremony which was a great way to learn about the Fijian culture. We have to mention Wise as he was such a fun part of the entertainment staff. There was always live music being played at all the meals and we even did a sing along with them which was so fun. The Fijian culture is filled with music and we thoroughly enjoyed all the songs that they use to express themselves including their happy upbeat welcome song as well as the beautiful goodbye song they sing when each guest leaves. Our package included a beachfront dinner, beachfront breakfast, teppanyaki dinner, and a private beach picnic which were all great, but if I had to pick just one to recommend to pay for as an extra experience, it would be the private beach picnic. They pack up a champagne lunch, cushions and a small speaker and take you to a private beach and set you up in a little palapa hut on the adjacent Island Monu (which happens to be the island where they area also filming the latest season of Survivor) and you get to spend 4-5 hours there enjoying the beach all to yourself. We ate, drank, danced, swam/snorkeled, and enjoyed the sunshine. It was a blast! Overall, I can't say enough great things about Tokoriki Island resort. If it were closer to us, we would visit more often but it's a long flight so we'll have to find a way to go back when we are on that side of the globe sometime in the future. The entire staff went above and beyond to make our stay as wonderful as possible, taking care of extra requests and never making us feel as though it's a burden. I want to mention the names of all the wonderful staff that made our stay so amazing...please forgive me if I mispell or forget someone...I should have written them all down. Leti, Neumai, Tom, Kiti, Jay, Queen V, Mosese, Wise, Mele (massage), Nia and so many more...Vinaka Vaka Levu!!

We loved immersing into the Fijian culture. Service is impeccable: kind, competent and joyful. The property is maintained with great care. The reefs are gorgeous with great color and many schools of colorful fish. Fijian music at arrival and at night was delightful. Guests are treated with the best attention and the staff knew our names. We felt loved and cared for—you arrive as strangers and leave as family. We are already talking about our return trip next year! Thank you to our Tokoriki!

First some negative aspects: our villa was next to a maintenance centre hence there was an occasional bad smell. On the first day our villa would not have been serviced at all, had we not complained; from then on it was done in the mornings. Dinner at the ocean front: we seemed to have been forgotten, and the teppanyaki dinner was a true flop: the food was mediocre at best, the games and the choice of fellow participants childish and unlucky. Positive: the food, the friendly staff, the beautiful location, the style of our villa, the activities: all top-notch. In conclusion: certainly worth while visiting.