Discover Nadi Tour

This tour was such an amazing experience! I had a long layover in Nadi and was required to leave the airport and this definitely was the best thing to do with my time in Fiji. Aravind was our guide and he was so helpful with answering questions and giving advice on what to eat. After the mud pool we had an authentic Fijian meal there with the owner and it was so delicious. Also the garden was gorgeous and had a stunning lookout of the island (just be prepared to walk upward). I would say this tour is a must do when visiting Nadi and if you can have Aravind guide you he was so kind and excellent! It was great choosing a tour that would pick me up and drop me off at the airport

This was my favorite tour in Fiji! It’s a lot to pack in 5 hours, but you get a taste of everything! My guide was down to earth and made adjustments to the tour to make sure I spent the most time in the places I wanted to go! We saw the temple, spent some time at Jack’s and the fruit market. The Fijian Village and Garden of the Sleeping Giant were beautiful! The mud pools/hot springs were a perfect end to the day with a 30 minute massage! We even stopped in the supermarket on the way home so i could pick up some things to cook for my room! As a solo female traveler, I felt safe and happy the whole time. My guide happily took all of my pictures (which came out great!! Lol) and the guides in the individual places were equally as kind and thoughtful. I had a great time and I highly recommend the tour!

My husband and I booked this tour to get out of the resort area for a few hours. Our nice driver picked us up from the Hilton lobby in a car labeled Fiji Golf Tours. She's a safe and quiet driver who brought us to the different places. She herself does not give much info about the places she takes you to. At each location, she pays for your admission fee and tells you what time to meet up with her. Then another tour guide will give you information about the temple, village, and garden. We appreciated learning about a new culture! Lastly, we went to the mud pool and it went against our nature to slather ourselves with mud! We had fun and glad we tried something outside of our comfort zone.

Great day out. Rakesh was full of knowledgeable info and history. The mud pools were a big hit. Could have spent more time at the big giant but it was a hot day so that worked out well.

Although some of the stops were nice, others were quite disappointing and the manner in which Rakesh (our guide) conducted himself was unprofessional. In short, the tour was disappointing, and I would recommend caution in going on this tour. PROS: • The mud baths and hot springs were a lot of fun and quite relaxing and we were given ample time at this stop, definitely recommend visiting this place • The Garden of the Sleeping Giant was quite nice and we were provided with a very tasty, fresh, fruit drink that was very refreshing • Pick-up and drop-off service offered is convenient, especially since we stayed at DoubleTree, which is a half an hour drive from Denarau Island (we did pay extra for this service) CONS: -Rakesh’s behaviour was unprofessional, including o Very unsafe driving practices such as texting and calling whilst driving (at least a dozen times) and even reading his calendar in attempt to book us on future tours with him whilst driving, resulting in the vehicle swerving across the road. Others made comments regarding the safety of his driving and he ignored these remarks and did not change his behaviour o Insulting other guests once they had been dropped off and we were the only guests left in the transport vehicle, including making sweeping and offensive remarks regarding older women o Borderline racist remarks regarding native Fijians and their laid-back style o Asking my partner to send a business-related text for him o Complaining about the cost of his vehicle and its petrol, and remarking that he could be earning money on a different job if he didn’t have to drop us off at our resort -Some of the stops were disappointing, including o We did not have access to the temple as a religious ceremony was being conducted (which was not Rakesh’s fault but was still disappointing) o The downtown shopping was in a singular Jack’s of Fiji store, we weren’t given an opportunity to explore downtown Nadi o The market only had fruits on offer, no stalls with handmade crafts or anything similar o Our visit to a village was simply driving through even though the village seemed to have stalls with goods they were trying to sell with things we had hoped to see at the market we had stopped at earlier • The day felt quite rushed overall with as little as 15-20 minute at some stops • It was quite tense at times in the transport vehicle as Rakesh had clear conflict with some of the guests. Although these guests did contribute to this themselves, Rakesh did a poor job of diffusing the situation and only ended up escalating it at times Overall, we had high expectations considering the wealth of 5-star reviews, however, we were left disappointed afterwards and even a little stressed out due to the 30-minute private ride with Rakesh at the end of the day where he used this opportunity to vent to us and created an uncomfortable atmosphere. If I had my time again I would find an alternative way to explore the Garden of the Sleeping Giant and the mud baths with hot springs. steven Steven Passfield SUMMARY: Although some of the stops were nice, others were quite disappointing and the manner in which Rakesh (our guide) conducted himself was unprofessional. In short, the tour was disappointing, and I would recommend caution in going on this tour. PROS: • The mud baths and hot springs were a lot of fun and quite relaxing and we were given ample time at this stop, definitely recommend visiting this place • The Garden of the Sleeping Giant was quite nice and we were provided with a very tasty, fresh, fruit drink that was very refreshing • Pick-up and drop-off service offered is convenient, especially since we stayed at DoubleTree, which is a half an hour drive from Denarau Island (we did pay extra for this service) CONS: -Rakesh’s behaviour was unprofessional, including o Very unsafe driving practices such as texting and calling whilst driving (at least a dozen times) and even reading his calendar in attempt to book us on future tours with him whilst driving, resulting in the vehicle swerving across the road. Other guests on the same tour made comments regarding the safety of his driving and he ignored these remarks and did not change his behaviour o Insulting other guests once they had been dropped off and we were the only guests left in the transport vehicle, including making sweeping and offensive remarks regarding older women o Borderline racist remarks regarding native Fijians and their laid-back style o Asking me to send a business-related text for him o Complaining about the cost of his vehicle and its petrol, and remarking that he could be earning money on a different job if he didn’t have to drop us off at our resort -Some of the stops were disappointing, including o We did not have access to the temple as a religious ceremony was being conducted (which was not Rakesh’s fault but was still disappointing) o The downtown shopping was in a singular Jack’s of Fiji store, we weren’t given an opportunity to explore downtown Nadi o The market only had fruits on offer, no stalls with handmade crafts or anything similar o Our visit to a village was simply driving through even though the village seemed to have stalls with goods they were trying to sell with things we had hoped to see at the market we had stopped at earlier • The day felt quite rushed overall with as little as 15-20 minute at some stops • It was quite tense at times in the transport vehicle as Rakesh had clear conflict with some of the guests. Although these guests did contribute to this themselves, Rakesh did a poor job of diffusing the situation and only ended up escalating it at times Overall, we had high expectations considering the wealth of 5-star reviews, however, we were left disappointed afterwards and even a little stressed out due to the 30-minute private ride with Rakesh at the end of the day where he used this opportunity to vent to us and created an uncomfortable atmosphere. If I had my time again I would find an alternative way to explore the Garden of the Sleeping Giant and the mud baths with hot springs. Compared to other tours we went on during our time in Fiji, which were exceptional, this stood out as a negative.

Our guide Rakesh was amazing us around Nadi, very friendly and professional and had great stories and information as we drove around to the various stops. The discover Nadi tour is perfect for exploring Nadi as it covers a wide range of stops from the Temple, to Mud Pools so you can get a true feel of Nadi.

The temple was amazing. Orchids were beautiful. The mud baths have to be experienced. Very warm spring and hotter pools.

My husband and I traveled to Fiji for our honeymoon. We spent 4 nights at Port Denarau and knew we wanted to explore Nadi and the surrounding area while we were on the main island. We booked the Discover Nadi tour with Rakesh because it included all of the stops that I was reading about in tons of travel blogs about Nadi. We were so excited on the day of our tour because it was just us and Rakesh. He asked us questions throughout the day to tailor the experience to what we wanted to see, and he even took us to a local restaurant on our way home to try the best fish and chips we've ever had. We learned a lot from Rakesh and enjoyed our time with him so much that we ended up booking a tour with him the next day. We went to Sigatoka, which was so cool because we got to see totally different landscapes of Fiji and learn more about the culture and our tour guide. We went to a pottery village, local market, and enjoyed a delicious authentic Fijian meal by the ocean with our new friend. After we stayed in Port Denarau, we went out to an island for 4 nights, but we enjoyed our time with Rakesh so much that we asked him to pick us up from the port on our return to take us to the airport. Rakesh is very knowledgable and helpful. We had a great experience and would recommend hiring him while you're in Fiji!

Our Guide Rakesh was simply awesome. Treated us more like family than clients, showing us the sights around Nadi, as well as happy to customize our excursion to whatever we wanted to see or do. Highly recommend Rakesh and his company for any transport needs or excursions in and around Nadi. Thank you!

Our experience in Fiji has been incredible, and it is notable that this tour stood out from the rest as being particularly unsatisfactory. This tour won't affect any return travel to Fiji, but we will not engage in Rakesh's services again. The parts of this trip that were enjoyable, notably the gardens and the temple, were overshadowed by a lack of respect we felt from Rakesh. Simply, we felt unsafe in Rakesh's presence. He consistently constantly remarked that, if he were younger, he would have approached the 20-year-old girls in our group romantically, and invited us to his home to meet his tenants. He also discussed the skin colour and nationality of some of the group members, objectifying the women from these countries as "fat", "sexy" or "prudes," ruling out any travel to countries that don't have particularly beautiful women. Unwelcome and unreciprocated physical affection, such as hugging and kissing on the cheeks, made them even more uncomfortable. There were elements of the tour that also made us feel used, particularly after spending about an hour and a half in the souvenir shop, despite asking to leave after 20 minutes, as the sales staff (who had specific hand signals with Rakesh) would not take no for an answer. Objectively, the tour was fine, nothing particularly special, and there were advertised options that we were interested in (the tour of the first Fijian Village, for example) but were not available and we were not told of this beforehand. Whilst it was flexible, there were elements (such as the tourist shop and the lunch Rakesh invited himself on that we paid for) that felt forced, unprofessional and dodgy. I can only assume that, as our group was comprised of women, Rakesh took this as an invite to behave poorly. If you do decide to do this tour, bring a man.