How safe is Fiji for travelers?

Crime

• The risk of serious crime is generally low, but there are incidents, including sexual assault.
• Serious assaults have targeted foreign nationals, particularly women travelling alone at night in the cities and towns.
• Card skimming and data theft are flagged specifically. Use ATMs inside banks and shopping centres where you can.

The sea

• Rip tides along the reefs and river estuaries are dangerous. Swim at beaches with lifeguards unless you have reliable local knowledge.
• Refuse an overloaded boat. Overloading is the named cause of capsizings here.

Laws people break without meaning to

• Marijuana possession carries a mandatory 3 month prison sentence. Not a fine, not discretion.
• Any illegal drug risks imprisonment and heavy fines.
• Topless bathing and public nudity are illegal, resort beach or not.
• Cover shoulders and knees in rural villages and at kava ceremonies.

Cyclones

• The cyclone season runs November to April, though cyclones happen outside it.
• A cyclone brings flooding, landslides and damaged roads, which strand people far more often than they hurt them. Build slack into an itinerary in that window.