My family went to the small and gorgeous Matangi Private Island Resort over New Year's and cannot recommend it enough. We were of varying ages (56, 51, 21, 19, 14) and interests, but all managed to have a lovely vacation and are already looking forward to going back.

Staff: The staff are the ones who make the trip truly memorable. When you arrive by boat (and you can only arrive by boat) they are there to sing you a welcome song, furnish you with flowers, and holding out the most delicious, refreshing drink I have ever consumed after 24 hours of traveling. They learn your first name and are friendly and outgoing, not to mention incredibly helpful. If guests start a volleyball game in the afternoon, which we did as often as possible, the staff will jump in - this was definitely a highlight for me, as they get competitive and some are quite good players, but they keep the game fun!

Activities: It was hard to rouse myself from lounging on the beach, but there was so much to do that I made the effort. The dive sites are absolutely gorgeous, including one of the top ten must-dive locations in the world, and the fauna are diverse and breathtaking. There is also ample snorkeling, walking, hiking, and even Internet in the dining pavilion so you can keep up with Facebook. Not to mention the hammocks and swinging beds scattered around the beach, on which I took a daily afternoon nap. We also went to the Bouma National Park, a series of waterfalls on Taveuni where scenes from the movie Return to the Blue Lagoon was shot. Relaxation is clearly the name of the game here, but if you're a more restless traveler like my mother you will not fall short of things to do.

Food: Before I left for this trip, I read a review that said the food tasted like bad microwave food. Now I'm not sure if the food has drastically improved since then or maybe that person is not entirely possessed of their senses, but I (and the rest of my family, and the three other families we spent time with) thought the food was delicious. There were always a few dishes available for selection, including a vegetarian option, and when we had to order something modified, as we had a vegetarian, a nut allergy, and two gluten-free, they were more than accommodating. The curry in particular was fantastic, as Fiji has a lot of Indian culinary influence.

Other: I had a massage at the spa with Winnie, whose hands were sent directly from a higher power. The massage rooms open out into the deck and ocean, and a wonderful breeze came through. I haven't felt that relaxed in a long time. Flo and Noel, the owners, keep a menagerie of animals on the island which you might notice running around: chickens, pigs, fruit bats, parrots, and lots of dogs. All of them are friendly and add to the charm of the resort, but the roosters woke a couple members of our party up a little earlier than they would have liked. If you're a light sleeper, some earbuds would not go amiss.

Overall, we cannot think of ways to improve the trip, and we will absolutely be going back.

It is almost 2012, and it is about time that I wrote a review of Matangi. We stayed there back in July, 2011. Our whole experience was fantastic. From the time they picked us up at the airport, to the time in which they sang "isa lei" when we were leaving.
LOCATION: First of all, the location and staff were outstanding! Matangi is a very beautiful island! Very lush and green. It is paradise! We loved the remoteness of it all. No tv/radio. It was like stepping back in time a bit, away from most technology. There was internet access in the main building, for those that wanted to use it, which was fine. At night, it did get pretty dark. Which was kinda cool seeing all the stars in the sky. And of course some of the frogs as well. But they do provide a flashlight in each bure to help out in the evening. They also provided bug repellant and some sun screen. Which we definitely put to use.
STAFF: The staff was unbelievably friendly. They learned our names from the point we arrived. Sireli coordinated all the activities. He was fantastic, and still miss his laugh. (For those that do meet him, you know what I am talking about!) But even when my partner was sick for a day, he made him a tray of bread and drinks to take back to our bure. Which was very kind of him.
DIVING: The diving was amazing. They took us to some beautiful spots. The coral and fish life were abundant and vibrant! The dive master (I can't remember his name), went at a very slow pace, which was good for underwater photography. They didn't have defog (which I'm glad we brought our own). But they had everything else. I brought a 3mm wetsuit, and really didn't need it in July. I could of gotten by with a shorty. And the surface interval was the best I have ever had. They took us to a very remote beach, and just got to relax in the sun for a bit. Even for those that snorkel, they took us to a fantastic reef in about 10-20 ft of water.
LODGING: We stayed in one of their Tree houses (Lomalagi). This was a very cool choice! The room was beautiful and spacious. Loved the outdoor shower, except the hot water issue. For the first 3 days, we really didn't have hot water in the shower. (There was in the bathtub). But it took 3 times to tell the staff that we needed it fixed. In fact, a word of advice. If you need something looked at or taken care of, just go directly to management. That way it will get done. Not that the staff didn't care, it just seemed not to get done until we spoke with management. At that point, they fixed the issue.
FOOD: The food was mostly outstanding. Loved the indian food, and of course very fresh seafood. The only item that was just "ok"...was the pizza. It was alright. That was one of the choices at lunch one day. But for every meal, there were usually 3 choices to select from.
ACTIVITIES: Besides the fantastic diving, there were activities to choose from everyday. And I know in a previous review, someone remarked that they felt pressured into choosing an activity. We never at all felt pressured. In fact, one day we decided just to stay back and enjoy the resort. I highly recommend the village visit though, it was unbelievable!
WORD OF ADVICE: Matangi is a remote island. If you are expecting the Four Seasons, you are not going to get it here. It could be hot and sticky, there are bugs, mosquitoes, frogs, crabs. But if you are looking for a quiet resort, away from it all, romantic, fun and friendly staff, good food, you like being in or at least on the water, then this is the place for you then.
Vinaka Matangi for a wonderful stay!

We had found it difficult to know where to choose to have our wedding but knew as soon as we saw Matangi on the website that this was going to be the place. It appeared to be small, unique and friendly whilst being traditional Fijian as well. We had our two dads and my husbands sister trwvelling with us so the place had to also be right for them. We were staying for ten nights.
Matangi did not disappoint. We were met off the plane by our wedding planner, Tom, and everything from that point on was taken care of. He looked after my dress, our bags, and the supplies needed for the resort.
We travelled for about as half hour bumpy bus ride and then a cool 20min boat ride and were greeted by the singing staff of Matangi on their beach with a Welcome cocktail at the ready.
The whole experience was amazing but I will try to summarize certain aspects now:

Food: mostly very good. It did depend which chef was on duty but there was more than enough food at each meal. You do choose your food for the day at breakfast but this wasn't an issue for us. They call you when each meal is ready by playing the log drum.

Rooms: perfect. We had rooms 'Ono' and number 4 and the double bure for the dads. The double one was so worth it for our group as it meant we could meet up there as a group each night for pre-dinner drinks.

Staff: very helpful, polite and they go out of their way to help

Facilities: perfect snorkeling- the best place was just at the edge of Horseshoe Bay and this is where they took us on the day of the wedding and on our last day. Catamaran hire was also good, as was kayaking.

Entertainment: the band boys were awesome. They played every night at dinner and they really should think about putting together a cd of their music for the tourists to buy....I know many of us would have done so. In particular Jay's voice was memorable.

Location: yes it is quite far away from anywhere else but for total relaxation this place is ideal. No mobile phone signal apart from near the main dining room, they do have Internet for you if you wish, no phones in rooms, no tv.....paradise!

Wedding: we could not have asked for anything more, apart from maybe that the wedding planner actually received more of the money we paid for the wedding than he did from the resort. However the preparation, the ceremony, the food and drinks, the after-events were all perfection at its best. We had a seafood BBQ for our meal, wew had rum punch for our after ceremony drinks and there were many, many canapés with this.

We loved this resort and would definitely recommend it. There is nowhere else that I would rather have had my wedding. Thank you Matangi for everything that you did. Keep this little paradise like it is and we will be back one day.

My wife and I stayed last month at Matangi Island resort, October of 2011. Always a big fan of this area, I have travelled throughout the South Pacific over the past 20 years including Samoa, Tonga, Tahiti and Fiji. After a few remarks from my wife following our stay concerning internet postings, I glanced through the reviews on this site and felt inclined to write my first ever 'personal assessment' So, here it is for prospective vacationers to take into account with all the others.

Aside from having some experience with resorts and hotels in the sub tropics that compete in this market, and after skimming through a few other reviews of this resort I felt that, simply based on a sense of integrity and fair play, some context should be provided for other folks interested in possibly having a smaller 'boutique' resort experience. It is my hope that the observations outlined here may be useful to provide a sense of balance with respect to those few people who offered uniquely critical reviews.

Our experience was that which could fairly be expected from a family owned and operated resort in Fiji with 25 years experience. Matangi Island, as was mentioned by some others, is situated near Laucala, formerly owned by Malcom Forbes and now by the owner of Red Bull. It is a private island situated close to the White Wall, one of world diving's premier attractions and offering world class deep sea fishing as well. It has a professional dive boat and local personnel to make these opportunites safe and memorable.

It should be noted that this resort is not for someone who just wants a generic hotel room on Denerau Island in Fiji's main tourist destination or someone wanting to simply be in a nice place on the public beach in San Diego or Honolulu. This is an example of a real indigenous experience in Fiji.

One of my positive impressions of this place was the way that the owner who speaks both fluent Fijian and Hindustani, brings in the local staff and nearby family based culture for musical presentations and also the Fijian meke dance.

The staff that work here were, in my experience professional and extremely gracious in the way that makes a Fiji experience unique in terms of hospitality. The review that spoke of the local staff as unhappy, the experience a 'nightmare' and the food as micro wave quality, must, in all fairness, need to be seen as an aberration and more to do with his or her own personal perspective on life rather than as a fair commentary on the experience at this resort.

I should also mention that another review that spoke of their visit in Nov 2010, while generally fair and balanced, needs to be supplemented with the important caveat that this particular time frame was only about 5 months after a very strong hurricane came right through this area and devastated all local infrastructure not only on this small island but elsewhere in the North of the Fiji Group.

Yes, in Fiji, after a hurricane, which is rare, your toilet might not work quite right for a day or two but that was just for this short period of time while everyone was cleaning up the debris and getting systems back on line. Certainly my toilet, outdoor shower with fine stonework and landscaping was one of the main local features.

Mindful of my own business needs to stay connected even during a trip to the remote areas of Fiji, I spoke to the owner who indicated that there is already, as a new upgrade, a high speed internet and cel phone service being installed on the island and this being provided by a 100' antenna at the top of the property. So, for those that do not want to completely 'drop out' like myself, this is a good thing.

Finally a note about the food. Anyone who travels knows that one of the best things in cuisine has to be 100% same day fresh fish. Here you can get this plus a variety of other really good meals for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Ok, I was at Le Train Bleu in Paris in August, I had fois gras and preserved duck, but, hey, no warm weather or water activities.

Do your self a favor and try this resort.... you will not be disappointed, in my humble view!