How to have a week in Fiji for under $2,000, including flights

If you use frequent flyer points to get there, you can keep your other expenses down – without skimping on fun.

With the cost of pretty much everything going up, a 7-night holiday anywhere could sound expensive (unless you stay in the cheapest hotels or skip meals).

But after almost 2 years of not travelling, plenty of Aussies are willing to spend their savings or even go into debt to make it happen in 2022.

So, I decided to take a look at where you can go for a relaxing holiday, without spending a fortune or compromising on quality.

Fiji came up with the goods, proving it's possible to have a tropical getaway on a modest budget of points and cash.

Flights

Reward flights to Fiji with Qantas or Velocity Frequent Flyer start from as little as 35,600 points return, which is cheaper than some domestic trips.

The points you'll need depend on where you're flying from, with connecting flights and partner airlines potentially adding to the cost. You also need more points to fly in business class.

To give you an idea, here's a look at examples when you're flying from a capital city in Australia to Fiji's Nadi airport with Qantas, Virgin Australia or one of their partnered airlines.

• The nitty gritty on these reward flights

  These details are based on calculations from the Qantas Frequent Flyer and Velocity Frequent Flyer websites in May 2022.

  • Qantas Points reward flights were made up of a mix of flights with Qantas and Air Pacific.
  • Velocity Points reward flights were listed as "Virgin Australia for VA SE Asia" – one of Virgin Australia's partner airlines.

Keep in mind that these points values are for the flights but don't include fees and taxes. These change depending on the airport, airline and other factors, but it's generally around $200 to $400 per person for Fiji.

Accommodation

You can find budget hotel deals in Fiji that start from around $38 per night for a twin or double room and fancier resorts starting at approximately $158 per night. If you booked something at that price, it would cost you $1,106 for a full 7 nights.

Dining

A budget of $75 a day is typically enough to cover breakfast, lunch and dinner if you eat at a mix of budget and mid-range restaurants.

That's based on costs of around $10-$15 for a meal and local beer at a street vendor or inexpensive restaurant, and $32 per person for a 2-3 course meal and imported beer at a mid-range restaurant.

You could spend a bit less if you find accommodation that includes it or if you don't have alcohol.

But for the sake of this scenario, we've averaged it out to $75 for 3 meals per day, making it $525 for 7 days.

Holiday cost summary

Singles

• Flights: Frequent flyer points, plus fees and taxes (generally around $200 to $400)
• Accommodation: $1,106
• Dining: $525
• Total: From $1,631 to $2,031 (depending on flight fees and taxes)

In this scenario, flight fees and taxes that cost more than $369 will take you over a $2,000 budget. So start by looking at reward flight bookings to see how much they'll cost you and whether the rest of the trip will be affordable.

Couples

• Flights: Frequent flyer points, plus fees and taxes (generally around $200 to $400 per person)
• Accommodation: $1,106
• Dining: $1,050
• Total: From $2,156 to $2,956 (depending on flight fees and taxes)

Travelling with someone means you can split the cost of accommodation, keeping the cost for each person under $1,500 – even with flight fees and taxes of $400 each.

3 options if you don't have enough frequent flyer points (yet)

1. Get more frequent flyer points

If you're just a few points short of the amount needed for a reward flight, you can buy points with either Qantas or Velocity Frequent Flyer to make up the difference.

You can also earn through your shopping at Woolworths (for Qantas Points) and Coles (for Velocity Points).

One of the fastest ways to earn a lot of points is with a credit card sign-up offer, with the Finder database showing current offers of 50,000 to 150,000 bonus Qantas or Velocity Points.

You'll typically need to meet a spend requirement and wait a few weeks after that to get the points, but if you repay what you spend before the due date on your credit card statement you can get these points interest-free.

2. Book a package deal

If you don't want to book everything yourself and are flexible on the number of nights you stay, you can find Fiji package deals for under $2,000, and some even cover 2 people at that price.

For example, right now you can book a Fiji Island Escape 6-night Beach Front Bure packaged for $1,499 for 2 people with TripADeal (which also lets you earn and use Qantas Points). The package includes breakfast, lunch, dinner and 1 drink per day, plus a transfer service.

I also found a 7-night package on Expedia for $1,966.71, which covered flights and accommodation for 2 people.

3. Pay for flights

You can find cheap flights to Fiji for less than $400 if you book a few months in advance, or less than $600 if you want to go in the next few weeks, according to data from Cheapflights.

The cheapest flights are usually with budget airlines like Jetstar, rather than Qantas or Virgin Australia. You could also look at international airlines, including Fiji Airways or Air Vanuatu. And with a bit of clever budgeting, you could still keep the trip under $2,000.

Images: Getty Images, Flaticon (Freepik)