Two Faces of Fijian Paradise: Kokomo Island Resort and Likuliku Lagoon

Fly across the Fiji Islands low enough and the ocean shifts through every shade it owns - deep cobalt over the drop-offs, jade where the reef rises to meet the light, then a pale, glassy turquoise as the shallows close in. This is pure, unadulterated paradise, the kind of getaway you dream of for years. Kokomo Private Island Resort and Likuliku Lagoon Resort both deliver that in full, and for entirely different reasons. Kokomo is a private island in the Kadavu group built by one family, for families — a place where three generations can spend a week without anyone running out of things to do. Likuliku, an hour north in the Mamanucas, was built around the opposite idea: a resort with no children, no day-trippers, and ten over-water bures found nowhere else in the country. 

Both happen to be at their best from May to October, when Fiji’s dry season settles in; a clean, dry brightness arrives with the trade winds, the humidity that thickens the air the rest of the year finally lifts, and the water turns properly, reliably clear. It’s the season locals wait for, and the one worth timing a trip around, whether you’re after the untouched Pacific paradise that doesn’t exist anywhere else, or simply a balmy reprieve from the Southern Hemisphere winter. Here’s what sets each island apart.

Kokomo: Paradise With Everything Included

Kokomo is one of the very few private islands in the world built with mixed-generation travel in mind. Twenty-one Beachfront Villas and five hillside Residences, three restaurants, a working farm, a kids club and a sommelier-led wine cellar all sit alongside an active marine conservation program guests can actually take part in - a rare combination of family-scale hospitality and serious environmental credibility on one island.

The story. Kokomo exists because Lang Walker, the Australian property developer and avid sailor, spotted the island from the deck of his yacht (also named Kokomo) while cruising Fiji’s Great Astrolabe Reef in 2006. What he found was an abandoned, half-built Aman resort project on Yaukuve Levu Island. He bought it, spent the best part of a decade planning it with his family, and opened Kokomo in 2017 as, in his words, the resort he’d always wanted to visit with his own family but could never find. Lead architect Keith Lambert sourced local plantation timbers and stone from the surrounding islands to build it, and the resort still employs a predominantly local Fijian workforce. It’s a rare thing in ultra-luxury travel: a private island built explicitly as a family’s own retreat, then opened up to share.

The approach. Arriving to Kokomo is part of the experience — a seaplane or helicopter transfer that traces the full colour range of the Great Astrolabe Reef from above, the water shifting from cobalt to glassy turquoise as Fiji’s Kadavu Island Group comes into view. The reef itself is the fourth-largest in the world, and Kokomo’s 140 acres sit right against it, a private island in the fullest sense: no other resort, no other guests beyond the ones who’ve booked in.

Stay. Twenty-one Beachfront Villas run along two shorelines, sunrise side and sunset side, each with its own character, ranging from one to three bedrooms, every one with a private infinity pool, an outdoor shower, a walk-in wardrobe and a tropical walled garden that opens straight onto the sand. The one-bedroom villas suit couples particularly well; the two- and three-bedroom versions work harder for small families without losing any of the privacy. For groups that want to take over an entire hillside, five Residences sit above the villas in the greenery, ranging from three to six bedrooms, each with its own butler and nanny service, sweeping ocean views from multiple vantage points, and enough separate living space that a family reunion and a honeymoon really could happen in the same week without either party noticing the other.

Eat. Kokomo’s dining is built around three distinct restaurants: Walker D’Plank serves Asian-style street food from a deck built out over the water near the arrival jetty; Beach Shack leans into Fijian-fusion with a menu that changes daily, drawing on the island’s own 5.5-acre farm for the greens and herbs; and Kokocabana takes the whole operation Mediterranean, with woodfire pizza and lobster rolls in blue-and-white surrounds. What sets the island apart, though, is what sits beneath all three — a serious wine cellar guided by Master Sommelier Stephen Swanepoel, stocked with rare Bordeaux and hard-to-find Italian vintages rarely encountered outside the world’s most prestigious collections. Rather than a fixed wine list, Swanepoel curates bespoke Cellar Experience tastings shaped around each guest, pairing bottles to the island’s seasonal produce with the kind of precision usually reserved for far larger hotel groups.

Play. Days on Kokomo run in whichever direction a guest wants them to. Divers can encounter manta rays, reef sharks and turtles across the Great Astrolabe Reef; anglers can chase mackerel, wahoo and blue marlin in deeper water; families can send children to the dedicated Kaji Kids Club while the adults take a private yoga class or a treatment at the Yaukuve Spa Sanctuary. A private picnic on the untouched sands of Namara Beach is one of the standouts, as is joining a kava ceremony with the island’s Fijian team, offering a genuine and immersive cultural experience. 

Make a difference.  A resident team of marine biologists run the Kokomo Coral Restoration Project, growing heat-resilient coral in nurseries before transplanting it back onto the house reef, alongside a Mangrove Reforestation Project, a Manta Conservation Project tracking and identifying individual rays, and Dock to Dish, a community-based sustainable fishing partnership with nearby villages. Guests aren’t just told about this work, they can actually join it, from snorkelling alongside the marine biology team to touring the coral nurseries firsthand.

The recognition.  All of this has added up to a deep run of accolades: a Travel + Leisure World’s Best Award naming Kokomo the #3 resort in the South Pacific, Virtuoso’s Top Producing Hotels & Resorts Partner Award, a place among the World’s 50 Best Hotels, and both Reader’s Choice and Triple Crown honours from Condé Nast Traveler. 

Likuliku: Paradise Reserved for Two

Located on Malolo Island in the Mamanucas, likuliku means “calm waters” in Fijian, and it’s this stillness, more than anything, that defines the place. It’s adults-only, reserved exclusively for guests in residence, with no day-trippers and no exceptions, and it holds a claim to fame few resorts anywhere can make: the only authentic over-water bures in Fiji - bliss. 

The story. Likuliku lagoon was once an ancient safe harbour for war canoes, tied into local mythology as an important site in the lineage of the Tui Lawa, the Chief of the Oceans. Malolo Island itself carries its own legend: early Fijian settlers believed it was the place the sun came to rest each evening, since from every other island in the group, sunset appeared to fall behind it. The resort is owned and operated by a 100% Fijian family owned company named for an ancient god of creation symbolising life, kindness and care of the environment, values the company still frames its operations around. 

The approach. It’s adults-only, reserved exclusively for guests in residence, with no day-trippers and no exceptions, and it holds a claim few resorts anywhere can make: the only authentic over-water bures in Fiji.

Stay. There are just ten Over-Water Bures at Likuliku, each around 60 square metres, perched above the lagoon with a bathing pavilion, glass floor panels that turn the water below into a nightly light show once the fish gather under the lanterns, a king bed, and a sprawling deck with sun loungers looking straight over the reef. Back on land, 29 Deluxe Beachfront Bures add a private plunge pool and secluded courtyard to the same lagoon views, while the Garden and Beachfront Bure categories sit closer to the gardens, with outdoor showers, separate lounge areas and private daybed decks. Every category is designed around the same brief: traditional Fijian materials, hand-thatched detailing, and nothing that reads as generic resort furnishing.

Eat. Following a recent multi-million-dollar revitalisation, dining now runs across two distinct experiences. Fijiana, the resort’s signature restaurant, serves breakfast, lunch and dinner with a daily-changing menu and a new outdoor terrace looking over the lagoon. Saluwaki, the newer addition, is a 28-seat concept restaurant built around an open kitchen and Fijian-inspired Asian tapas like ember-roasted walu and handmade squid-ink noodles, plated on handcrafted Kigoromo crockery imported from Japan’s Gifu Prefecture, offered once per stay as special highlight. Poolside, a simpler menu of wood-fired pizza and burgers draws from produce from the resort’s own garden. Situated on an island in the central lagoon, Masima Bar is open daily for drinks service surrounded by azure waters and ocean breeze, and vibey Du Tale bar, in the central complex, is ideal for a pre-dinner cocktail. 

Play. Likuliku’s activity list takes advantage of the beautiful surrounds: snorkelling straight off the beach or the jetty, stand-up paddleboarding and kayaking across the lagoon, sunset cruises and village visits for those wanting cultural context, and treatments at the Tatadra Spa, meaning “house of dreams” in Fijian, using Pure Fiji products drawn from foraged local botanicals. For couples wanting to go further still, the uninhabited Mociu Private Island sits a short boat ride away, reserved entirely for two people and an afternoon with nothing else on the agenda — snorkelling, a picnic, or simply the sand to themselves.

Make a difference. The resort’s recent refresh added the Na Vanua Conservation Hub, run in partnership with the award-winning Ahura Resorts Conservation Foundation, giving guests hands-on access to coral planting and mangrove restoration work happening on-site. Likuliku is also home to Malolo, an endangered Crested Iguana and one of the world’s few remaining male breeders of the species — a conservation success story living on the property itself.

The ownership, and what it means. Likuliku is 100% Fijian family-owned through Ahura Resorts, and that ownership shows up in the texture of the place rather than a line in the brochure: the resort’s centrepiece building is modelled on a traditional Fijian canoe house, hand-thatched and built from natural materials, and evening storytelling circles carry on traditions passed down through generations of the surrounding villages.

Which Paradise Is Yours

If your idea of a perfect trip involves everyone you love in one place; grandparents diving, kids at the kids’ club, a wine cellar for the evenings once they’re asleep, Kokomo is built for exactly that kind of holiday. If paradise means disappearing entirely, with no one else’s itinerary to accommodate, Likuliku’s over-water bures and adults-only tranqulity are hard to match anywhere else in Fiji. Between the two, they represent some of the most distinctive private island resorts in Fiji’s luxury accommodation landscape.

On Now at Likuliku: Stay 5 nights, receive an FJD $1,000 resort credit.

Stay 5 nights at Likuliku Lagoon Resort — Fiji’s only over-water bures — and receive an FJD $1,000 resort credit to spend during your stay. Available across all bure categories, now until sold out.

*Booking conditions apply.

Get in touch with our team to book.