Fine Travel’s Jennie Ready, recently visited Mamanuca Islands with Tourism Fiji and stayed at the stunning 5-star Six Senses Fiji on Malalo Island, just 25km from Nadi International Airport. Read her thoughts on the experience.
Positioned in a marina on a 120-acre site, with a beautiful white sand beach and surrounded by lush green Fijian vegetation, Six Senses Fiji is certainly in an idyllic location. There are two main ways to get there — either a 10-minute helicopter journey from Nadi Airport or a 45-minute speed boat transfer from Denarau Marina.
Six Senses Fiji is the perfect place to go for barefoot luxury and to escape the craziness of modern life. As a brand pioneering in the world of wellness, it offers personalised programmes that are tailored for guests to assist with weight loss, stress relief, sleep issues, improving digestion, improve weakened immune systems, or to increase fitness.
While you stay there you can take part in their wellness programme, which incorporates Six Senses’ six wellness pillars — Sleep, Eat, Spa & Wellness, Move, Mindfulness, and Grow. The resort offers guests many wellness options based on these pillars, including sleep programmes, cooking workshops, fitness classes (including functional fitness and yoga classes), mindfulness techniques (such as meditation and singing bowl workshops), and signature spa treatments (which include an alchemy bar where guests can learn to make their own beauty products using local flora).
On arrival, all guests are allocated a personal concierge or Guest Experience Manager (GEM). Your personal GEM will look after you throughout your stay and assist with restaurant reservations, booking spa treatments and watersports, or assistance with booking excursions.
Although the resort is the perfect place to relax and unwind, there are also plenty of options available for guests who prefer to be active. Snorkelling, scuba diving, paddleboarding, kayaking, fishing, sunset sailing trips, coral planting, cultural nights, cooking classes, visits to local villages, cinema under the stars, and walking trails are some of the activities available. For guests who are avid surfers, Six Senses is also in a perfect location, with the famous Cloudbreak located only a 15-minute boat ride away.
Six Senses offers a range of luxury accommodations. These include 24 spacious and modern villas ranging in size from 111–149 sq m. All villas come with their own private pool and patio area. The villas also come with a bathtub, rain shower, separate toilet, as well as an outdoor bathroom with a shower and bathtub.
The resort has 13 privately owned luxury residences available (in two-, three-, four- and five-bedroom configurations). These residences also vary in size from 443–553 sq m, and are perfect for groups or multi-generation families. All residences have a fully equipped kitchen, laundry, large indoor living area, private pool, and sundeck with stunning views across the bay.
The décor of the resort is traditional with dark wood interior and beautiful Fijian influences (such as local Fijian tapestries and grass cloth wallpaper). The resort has a traditional Fijian style, yet at the same time it is contemporary with a feeling of luxury. Room amenities are modern with full entertainment systems, bluetooth speakers, wine fridge, coffee machine and biodegradable pods, flat panel television, and electric blinds. Complimentary WiFi is also available.
One of the things I loved about Six Senses was its focus on sustainability and conservation. As a brand, it aims to protect local communities, cultures, and the environment. The resort works alongside ecologically focused suppliers with the aim of being kind to the planet, including being almost completely plastic free and ensuring the oceans are kept clean. The resort is extremely self-sufficient, using rainwater to produce its own high-quality drinking water. It also has one of the largest off-grid solar grids in the Southern Hemisphere, which uses Tesla batteries and solar energy from the sun to provide 100% of the power to the resort.
Six Senses Fiji is the home to 38 Fijian crested iguanas — a critically endangered species with less than 6000 left worldwide. The iguanas who call Six Senses home live in a protected environment within the resort's forested area, and are successfully reproducing in this environment (when they first began the programme there were just 17 iguanas).
Food is a next-level experience at Six Senses Fiji, and their passionate chefs design mouthwatering menus using local produce (organic wherever possible). The farm-to-fork philosophy means the resort is almost fully self-sufficient with its own beehives, organic vegetable garden, and even a chicken farm — aptly named Cluckingham Palace — where over 100 hens and roosters roam freely and provide the resort with fresh eggs daily. Fish are bought from local fishermen and meat, where possible, is also sourced locally. The resort chefs incorporate homegrown and local produce into their menu, and also make their own homemade probiotics, tonics, and kombucha.
There are a number of dining options at the resort, including Tovolea (which has all-day dining with a Pacific flair), the Teitei Pizzaria (offering stone oven-baked pizzas using fresh local ingredients), Rara Restaurant and Bar (overlooking the marina with themed dinners from around the world), and the Gourmet Deli (perfect for those picnic treats or a snack). For ice cream lovers there is also an ice creamery open daily with homemade ice cream. Another option available to guests is in-villa dining where a personal chef for the evening prepares a locally inspired meal in the privacy of your own villa.
Unsurprisingly, Six Senses Fiji has won a number of awards, including the recent Best Spa in Fiji award at the Fiji Excellence in Tourism Awards, Conde Nast Traveller Reader’s Choice Awards 2023 (Six Senses Fiji was ranked 8th in the South Pacific), and also being named amongst the ‘Best of the Best’ at the Travel + Leisure Luxury Awards Asia Pacific 2023, which places the resort in the prestigious top 10 luxury resort listings in the region.
To enquire about including Six Senses Fiji into your next travel itinerary, contact Fine Travel to learn more.
