Find a Fiji resort that moves you

WHAT happens when you have worked your way through the resort's cocktail list twice? Pack your bags and move to the next, writes Marc Llewellyn.

Denarau Island's most luxurious new resort is the Sofitel Fiji Resort & Spa

A TRIP to Fiji has traditionally meant a package holiday, and a week or more at the same resort. But what happens when you have worked your way through the cocktail list twice? And the place is beginning to lose its freshness?

Moving to another resort may seem like hard work, especially if you have heavy luggage, or kids in tow.

But Fiji is so relaxed, and efficient, too, that the journey between cocktail lists can be easier than you think.

The best starting point is the land-locked Denarau Island, which is just 20 minutes by taxi from Nadi Airport.

There are several places to stay here, including an inexpensive Trendwest resort and the five-star Westin Fiji. But the most luxurious is the new Sofitel Fiji Resort & Spa.

Swimming off Denarau's imported sand beach is not the best in the world: the island was once a huge mangrove swamp, which means the water is an unwelcoming muddy brown.

The Sofitel's swimming pool makes up for it, though. This inviting lagoon is the largest in the South Pacific.

A nearby waterslide will entice the children, and a kids' club will keep them occupied well into the evening.

In April, the Sofitel opened a new family wing, too, with a separate alcove in each room to hold a bunk bed and a second TV, with a DVD player and games console.

The resort has two restaurants: an upmarket French affair, and a more casual outdoor eatery beside the beach. When you're not relaxing around the pool, you could opt for a massage, or try paragliding at the extensive watersports club.

Head out to the islands from here, or take a 50-minute trip through the countryside to the revamped Shangri-La Fijian Resort.

This resort has been a family favourite with Australians since it opened in 1967, but two years of renovations have changed the face of this Fijian icon.

The refurbished rooms are large and comfortable enough, but the main lagoon pool is relatively small and the lounges are soon snapped up.

Two smaller pools are thankfully less full, and one is for adults only. The island is so big that if you want to be alone you can be. Just head out along one of the long outer beaches, or explore the mangrove mud flats, where thousands of fiddler crabs wave their colourful claws.

Children are well looked after, with a kids-eat-free program, a video game complex, and supervised movies each evening. Local village women charge around $9 per hour to babysit.

The resort lost a lot of its best staff to the Sofitel when it opened in late 2005 – and it shows.

On the positive side, a more upmarket spa should open in December, and ongoing staff training should hopefully clear up some issues.

If you like golf, free canoes and fishing for barracuda (and don't mind a cruise-ship crush at breakfast time), then you can provide the missing smiles in the meantime.

Back at Denarau Port, you can drop your bags at the desk in preparation for a slick transfer to one of the Mamanuca islands on a catamaran run by South Sea Cruises.

The company also offers day-trips to various islands in the group, and out to the Yasawa Islands.

Captain Cook Cruises and Awesome Adventures Fiji offer multi-day cruises around both island groups. You can book them on the internet.

The South Sea Cruises catamaran stops off at the well-known island resorts of Bounty, Treasure, Mana, Castaway and Malolo.

Of these, the pick is Castaway, not just for its beautiful coral-white beaches and shallow pastel water, but also for its delightful staff and its sumptuous food.

As soon as you step foot on the island you know you have arrived somewhere special.

The shallow sea is a tempting green and traditionally thatched bures peek out from between hammocks and flowering trees.

A well-priced meal plan includes three feasts a day, with dishes often surpassing what you might expect from a five-star restaurant in the city.

Even better, the gourmet three-course dinners include Indian and Fijian options. These are often relegated to once-a-week theme nights at other resorts.

Castaway is a paradise for kids. As well as hunting frogs by torchlight, and catching crabs by day, they even get their own separate dinner time, with friendly kids' club carers acting as monitors.

Add to this a romantic cocktail bar overlooking the sea, incredible snorkelling above a thousand wreaths of coral, and a feeling of tranquillity and solitude, and you can understand why nearly half the people who stay here have been to Castaway before.

If you are catching an early-morning flight home you should stay in a hotel close to the airport. A room at the three-star Hotel Mercure Fiji Airport, booked over the Net, costs about $120 a night. You can use it as a base to explore Nadi and its markets.

In the end, doing it yourself can work out to be an adventure without the usual hassles – and you'll get to see more of Fiji and its people too.

The Sunday Telegraph