I travel as a couchsurfer and sometims I book a bed in some Hosteldorm. I mean Fiji is not a place to stay in a Hostel - Fiji as place to go on vancation. I found “Hans´ Place” on the Internet and before I booked the cottage I talked to him via skype. The cottage is a self contained, incl. Laundry, cleaning and Internet is available. That´s what I was looking for.

Hans´ Place is around 2 miles (3km) from Savusavu town. It´s an easy to walk (1h), nice bus ride (10 min – Fiji-$0,75) or Taxi (10 min – Fiji-$5,00). The Cottage is clean and cozy. The Place is peaceful and quite, with palms, fruittrees, raintrees and other different plants. Hans is a friendly and helpful guy. He showed me around town, where I get the best jam and other stuff, where I get a good cold beer and where the locals go out.

What have I done in “Savusavu” and “Hans´ Place”? I walked around Town or along the Beach and ended up in a Fijian Village. I went for a Coffee or Lunch at the Yacht Club, went swimming, drove with his Son to a Family Estate and enjoyed “country -life”, or sat on Hanses Deck and enjoyed the “1 Million Doller View” over Savusavu Bay.

Vanua Levu is not a Place for Party or where plenty Tourist hang around, this is a place for you where you drink cava or beer with the locals and where you calm down.

Check it out and enjoy – Cheers, Matthias

Han's place provides you with a self-contained bure in a beautiful and private tropical garden, 20min walk from the white sandy beach and 1hr walk from the town. service is fantastic, you are treated like family by Hans and Luisa who is employed to look after the bures. The bure is serviced twice weekly and laundry is done for you on request. We always found our bure beautifully clean and tidy after a service.

The bure is well equipped, with good cooking facilities, dining area, TV/DVD and telephone. There is plenty of storage ideal for long stays, with a wardrobe and drawers. Hans has also provided a mosquito net for over the double bed. There is also a hot water shower.

Our favourite aspects of staying at Hans place for 6 weeks were the beautiful gardens and the privacy they offered along with the abundance of passion fruits; and being surrounded with good company. Although it is a long walk to town, taxis and bus fares are cheap, but we would recomend a walk along the beautiful bay, by doing this we met a lot of friends in Savusavu. Our least favourite aspect was the power cuts although they were all short lived and unavoidable in Savusavu.

We would definately return to Savusavu and stay at Hans place in the future. If you are looking for a peaceful stay, but not too far from everything Savusavu has to offer we would recommend Hans place.

Well, what can I say about Hans place?? It was a wonderful 4 weeks stay! The house yaka house is lovely- decorated in Fijian style, with plenty of fresh flowers provided by Hans. It has everything you need from cheese grater to CDs and DVDs. Clean bathroom with excellent shower. comfortable bed with mosquito net. Kitchen well stocked with appliances! TV,DVD player- and your very own guard dog- Bentley :)
Hans was great, really looked after us well. Had a lot of local knowledge and baked us delicious passion fruit cakes.
Cant recommend this place enough. Don't book if you're looking for 5 star luxury- the house is modest but clean and convenient.
Bit far from town but taxi only around £1.20.
Excellent stay, would like to go back someday.

This is the place to stay if you want quiet, peace and tranquility and (as in my case) safety from a cyclone. Hans is a fantastic guy who is more than willing to discuss politics - local and international, travel and life in general.

As Cyclone Tomas hit he was also kind enough to let me stay a few days without charge until my flights got up and running. Could you ask for anything better than that?

So book either cabin to write your memoirs, explore Fiji's hidden paradise or do absolutely nothing. Your choice, your freedom.