about
The Story of Savasi
Savasi Island is a 52-acre private island in Savusavu, Fiji, that began as one family’s holiday home. It became a resort slowly, one villa at a time, and the same family still owns and runs it today.
First an island, then a home, then a resort
Long before there was a resort, there was the island. Savasi Island sits on an ancient volcanic uplift at the edge of the Koro Sea, and it still wears its geology openly: sculptural limestone outcrops, deep crevasses where ferns cling to the walls, mangroves along the channel, and coral reef fringing the shore.
Our founder first visited in 2005, on a visit to Savusavu, a quiet town on Vanua Levu often called Fiji’s hidden paradise. A small island, joined to the mainland by a bridge, with jungle down to the waterline. For its first few years Savasi Island was simply a private holiday home for his family, and nothing more.
It didn’t arrive all at once. It grew the way a garden does.
In 2008 the approach evolved from keeping the island a private holiday home to sharing it with others. The first villa was built in 2010. Other villas followed one at a time, each set where the land allowed: up on the ridges for the breeze, among the trees rather than in place of them.
That pace is why Savasi Island looks the way it does. No two villas are the same. Paths follow the ravines instead of cutting through them. And the family who built the place still run it, alongside a team from the local villages and town nearby.
Built slowly, one villa at a time
A short history of the island, from a family getaway to one of Fiji’s best-loved boutique resorts.
- 2005
First sight
Our founder visits Savusavu and comes across a small island joined to the mainland by a bridge. It becomes the family’s holiday home.
- 2008
A place to share
Work begins on shaping the island into somewhere guests can stay. Savasi Island Resort is established.
- 2010
The first villa
Savasi Island Resort begins to operate as a simple bed and breakfast, with an amazing view. The first guests arrive from Australia and New Zealand.
- 2013
Word gets around
Guests tell their friends, and Savasi Island Resort becomes a top-rated destination in Savusavu and beyond.
- 2016
Cyclone Winston
A category 5 cyclone left behind catastrophic damage across Fiji including Savasi Island Resort. We rebuild and remain resilient.
- 2018
Serenity comes ashore
The storm-damaged schooner Tui Tai is brought to Savasi Island and restored as five staterooms, now known as Serenity. New villas follow.
- 2021
Best of the Best
TripAdvisor first places Savasi Island Resort in the top 1% of properties worldwide, an honour it has received again several times since.
- Today
Still family run
Still owned and operated by the same family, Savasi Island Resort keeps growing at its own pace.
The ship that stayed
The Tui Tai was a 140-foot, three-masted schooner, considered one of the finest vessels built by Fijian boatbuilders in the 1980s. She sailed these islands for decades. Then Cyclone Winston left her badly damaged.
Rather than see her rust away, we brought the vessel to Savasi Island and restored it into five staterooms, now known as Serenity. She rests beside our marina across two decks, her original helm still in the captain’s room. Serenity tells you a lot about how this place came together: patiently, and with what was already here.
More than an acre of island for every guest
Savasi Island covers 52 sprawling acres of rainforest and reef, and the resort welcomes no more than 42 guests at a time. Most days it is fewer than that. The space left over is the point: a beach to yourself, a quiet path through the trees, a dinner table with total privacy.
How we like to do things
We aim for Savasi Island to feel like staying at a friend’s island rather than checking in to a hotel: calm, unhurried and looked after by people who are glad you came.
-
Stay small
A handful of villas on 52 acres means space and quiet, and a team who know your name by the first evening and how you take your coffee by the second.
-
Let nature lead
The thing guests mention most is how close to nature they feel. Paths follow the ravines, villas are tucked into the forest, and the wild edges are left wild. We build around the trees and the reef, not through them.
-
Fijian at heart
Our team is local, from Savusavu and the villages around it, and a number live here on the island. The warmth guests write home about is not a service standard. It is simply how people are here.
-
Barefoot, not buttoned-up
Luxury at Savasi Island is time and privacy: a pool of your own, dinner in a sea cave, nowhere you need to be. Shoes are optional almost everywhere.
What sets Savasi Island Resort apart?
Fiji has no shortage of beautiful places to stay. These are the things our guests tell us they could not find elsewhere.
A whole island, shared by few
Just twelve villas and one schooner on 52 acres. Privacy here is not a feature of a room category. It is how the whole place is laid out.
A private island with a bridge
No seaplane, no long boat transfers. Savasi is ten minutes’ drive from Savusavu Airport, with the town, its market and the mainland’s waterfalls and other attractions nearby.
Not your usual beach resort
Rainforest, limestone crevasses, mangroves and hidden coves. You can snorkel Split Rock in the morning and walk the reef at dusk.
Dinner somewhere new each night
A candlelit sea grotto, a deck over the water, a beach under the stars. All meals are part of your stay, wherever we set your table.
The people
Ask anyone who has stayed what they remember, and it is usually a name. Our team are the reason so many guests come back.
Fiji’s quieter north
Savusavu is one of Fiji’s lesser-visited regions. Expect healthy coral reefs, hot springs, a pearl farm, a tree-to-bar cocoa farm and villages glad to welcome you.
Is Savasi Island right for you?
Savasi Island Resort suits couples, honeymooners and families travelling together who want space, quiet and a real sense of where they are.
If you are after a big resort with nightlife and a full entertainment programme, we are probably not your place, and we would rather tell you now. If the idea of a slow breakfast, a swim and nothing in the diary sounds right, you will feel at home.
- NadiFiji’s international airport
- 1 hour flight
- SavusavuWe meet you at the airport
- 10 minute drive
- The bridgeOff the Hibiscus Highway
- Shoes off
- Savasi IslandBula, and welcome
- NadiFiji’s international airport
- 1 hour flight
- SavusavuWe meet you at the airport
- 10 minute drive
- The bridgeOff the Hibiscus Highway
- Shoes off
- Savasi IslandBula, and welcome
Where is Savasi Island Resort?
Savasi Island is a private island just off the Hibiscus Highway near Savusavu, on Vanua Levu, Fiji’s second-largest island. A private bridge joins it to the mainland. It is about ten minutes’ drive from Savusavu Airport, which is roughly an hour’s flight from Nadi.
Who owns and runs the resort?
Savasi Island Resort has been owned and run by the same family since it was established in 2008. Before that, the island was their private holiday home. Day to day, the resort is looked after by a team from the Savusavu area.
How big is Savasi Island?
The island covers 52 acres. There are twelve villas, each one different, plus five staterooms aboard Serenity, our restored schooner. The resort hosts no more than 42 guests at a time.
Are meals included?
Yes. Breakfast, lunch and dinner are included in every stay, along with private dining in places like our seaside grotto. See rates and inclusions for the full list.
Come and see it for yourself.
There’s a villa with your name on it.