Few locations are as evocative as Fiji and Bali.
Taking over main actual property in most vacationers’ imaginations – particularly these of Australians and New Zealanders in the course of the winter months – these two locations carry visions of infinite seashores, adrenaline-pumping browsing waves, tropical forests and distinctive cultural experiences. Who wouldn’t need to e book tickets to both?
Sadly, troublesome selections should typically be made, and vacationers want experience to weigh the deserves of those two trip dreamlands. So we’ve requested a pair of passionate consultants to make the case for fascinating Fiji and delightful Bali.
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Fall for Fiji
Journey author and photographer Chantae Reden not often strays removed from the shoreline. She has ridden a bike throughout Timor-Leste, scuba dived with bull sharks in Fiji and swam beside humpback whales in Tonga, amongst different escapades.
The hug of heat, tropical climate greets you as quickly as you step off the tarmac in each Bali and Fiji – however you gained’t discover swarms of drivers shouting on your consideration on the latter’s foremost worldwide airport. (In fact, there’s all the time a taxi driver shut by while you want one.) Fiji’s relaxed hospitality begins as quickly as you arrive, and continues till you hear the candy sound of “Isa Lei,” the islands’ heartfelt farewell tune.
I’ve known as the 333-island nation of Fiji residence for the previous seven years, and its laid-back and fun-loving bula spirit is really infectious. Although Bali can also be near my coronary heart (I wrote a guidebook concerning the Island of the Gods, in any case), Fiji deserves to be your subsequent island escape.
Pristine nature
Fiji’s pure wonders are clear and barely crowded. Fiji has fewer than one million residents unfold throughout its tons of of islands, and visitors solely actually exists within the cities the place few vacationers ever enterprise. Not like Bali, whose seashores endure from crowds and plastic air pollution, Fiji’s stretches of white sand are pristine all yr lengthy.
Solitude in nature is straightforward to seek out in Fiji. Village custodianship over Fijian lands make waterfalls and trekking trails a bit more difficult to entry and not using a information than these in Bali – however the effort is nicely price it. You possibly can climb to Fiji’s tallest peak, Mt Tomanivi, on the island of Viti Levu, or seek for Fiji’s uncommon tagimoucia flower on the island of Taveuni, with out encountering one other individual. Enterprise to the Lau Islands, a area with none formal resorts or airports that’s solely accessible by boat, and also you’re unlikely to return throughout no different vacationers in any respect.
As for the resorts: they’re unfold all through the islands, which suggests there’s no must jostle for a spot within the shade or chase away persistent seaside distributors. Even the native markets are a pleasing place to go to, with most retailers adopting a take-it-if-you-like, no-worries-if-not angle about their heaps of colourful recent produce.
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You probably have little vacationers to please, Bali and Fiji are each top-tier locations for households. But it surely’s Fiji that takes the lead in terms of child-friendly tradition and leisure. I’ve seen resort safety guards abandon their submit to instigate a sport of contact rugby for youths. Touring across the islands with my toddler twins has given me a glimpse of what it’s prefer to be handled like a star. Most resorts have youngsters’ golf equipment and reasonably priced nannies; dad and mom and kids can every get the holiday of their desires.
Waves well worth the journey
Each Bali and Fiji host championship surf contests at their world-class waves. And whereas I can’t deny the epicness of Bali’s waves of Uluwatu and Padang Padang, Fiji is definitely not swell-shy, with its well-known Cloudbreak and Eating places breaks. Most of Fiji’s waves require a ship journey to succeed in – in contrast to the straightforward entry of Bali – however this serves to reduce the crowds at waves finest fitted to skilled surfers solely.
Beneath the water, you possibly can peer by way of your dive masks and are available eye to eye with sea life each large and small. Manta rays, sea turtles, tons of of species of reef fish and reef sharks make common appearances round Fiji’s vibrant hard- and soft-coral reefs. It’s additionally one of many few locations on this planet the place you possibly can dive with bull sharks, and not using a cage – should you dare.
Fijian hospitality extends past resort doorways. It’s customary to enter a village with a sevusevu, a standard present like yaqona (pepper root), then be welcomed with heat. Spend the day sipping coconut shells crammed with kava (the drink created from floor pepper root), dancing and feasting on Fijian fare of just-caught fish, taro leaves cooked in coconut cream, and smoked meats. On the weekends, comply with the harmonic hymns to the native church or take part on a Hindu celebrations going down in Indo-Fijian communities round Suva, Nadi and Labasa.
Irrespective of the place you go, count on a hearty greeting of “Bula!” and real heat. Bali merely can’t beat that.
Wager on Bali
Mark Eveleigh lived in Bali for a yr in 2022 – and has since returned commonly to a West Balinese village the place he has some well-stacked bookshelves and a shed filled with surfboards.
It’s typically mentioned that the very best issues are available small packages. I fell in love with the diminutive island of Bali 20 years in the past, and have since explored each nook of the island. Even now, I stay shocked by the variability on a land mass lower than a 3rd the scale of Fiji.
Most individuals know Bali for its world-famous seashores and celebrated resorts, together with a number of the most luxurious (and costly) on the planet. But you don’t want an infinite price range to get pleasure from Bali’s pleasures: a bungalow overlooking a abandoned seaside can go for $20.
Its promoting factors have caught on with the crowds, it’s true. But solely a minority of holiday makers – even amongst veteran expats – ever enterprise past the celebrated artwork and yoga heartland round Ubud. Venturing only a bit additional afield, you’ll end up amongst dense jungle valleys and huge paddy landscapes that ascend, like an enormous’s staircase, towards the sacred peaks.
Magnificence past the seaside
Don’t assume Bali is simply sand. A half-day tour (faster on a rented scooter) takes you to the solitude of the highlands. Bali’s spectacular volcanic landscapes stretch westward from sacred Gunung Agung (at 3412m / 11,195ft, it’s nicely over double the altitude of Fiji’s highest level) previous smoldering Batur to the not often visited rainforests of Batukaru Mountain.
You don’t have to hunt out tradition on the Island of the Gods; it’s actually all over the place, with the colourful rituals of Balinese Hinduism enacted in small villages, the backpacker hangouts of Kuta, and across the stylish seaside golf equipment of Seminyak alike. Spend time exploring farther and also you may even really feel some similarities with far-off Fiji. As in Fijian conventional communities, rural villages are ruled primarily by a group of elders, referred to as the banjar. At Mekare-kare festivals, the place the younger warriors of Tenganan struggle to attract blood with pandan “swords,” or in the course of the each day launching of jukung (outrigger fishing canoes) into the pounding waves, it might be straightforward to think about that you simply’re on a Pacific Island. Bali’s connection to the ocean is very evident within the fishing city of Perancak, the anchorage for greater than 100 selerek, brightly painted, 20m(66ft)-long fishing vessels.
The western third of the island stays just about unknown to outsiders, and few vacationers (and even islanders, for that matter) notice that uninhabited jungle and seemingly infinite seashores that not often see a international footprint are the norm right here. You may stroll for hours alongside the attractive curve of wave-pounded volcanic sand that’s Yeh Leh Seaside – simply 50km (31 miles) from the worldwide airport – with out assembly anybody apart from a handful of native fishermen.
Take to the water
In Fiji, you want a ship to succeed in nearly any first rate browsing wave. In Bali, in the meantime, immediately accessible surf breaks have made spots like Uluwatu and Canggu world-famous (maybe somewhat too well-known). If you wish to break free from the pack, depend on the low-key surf cities of Keramas, Balian and Medewi – the final city the gateway to numerous, fully un-surfed beach-break waves alongside the southwest coast.
Should you’re drawn to calmer waters, Bali has glorious diving and snorkeling, with sightings of sharks, turtles, barracudas, dolphins and even the occasional whale shark off the tranquil north coast. Inland, you’ll discover journey actions within the type of climbing, mountain biking, horseback driving, quad-biking and even white-water rafting. You possibly can stroll with uncommon pink buffaloes in Pekutatan, or attend Jembrana’s dramatic (if considerably gory) mekepung buffalo-chariot races. In West Bali Nationwide Park you possibly can take jungle hikes amid giant herds of untamed sambar deer, gibbon-like ebony-leaf monkeys and flocks of Bali starlings (the island’s personal “fowl of paradise”).
If it’s the notion of hopping from tropical island to tropical island that attracts you to Fiji and the South Pacific, remember the fact that Bali is however a speck within the huge, dense Indonesian archipelago. Lombok and the Gilis are on each backpacker bucket record, positive – however there are 17,500 different Indonesian islands ready to be explored.
Who is aware of? Certainly one of them may even be as enchanting as Bali.
