Rakiraki and the Suncoast

The northern coast of Viti Levu is marketed as the Suncoast because it sits in the rain shadow and gets appreciably more dry weather than the south, and Rakiraki is its main town: a sugar centre with a mill, a market and cane fields running back to the hills. The coast has reef offshore, a scatter of small resorts, and the wharf at Ellington from which boats run to Nananu-i-Ra. The tomb of Udre Udre, a nineteenth-century chief, sits beside the road outside town.

What you actually see

• The dry coast - the rain-shadow shore, noticeably sunnier than the south of the island.
• The cane country - sugar fields and the Rakiraki mill behind the coast.
• Ellington Wharf - the departure point for Nananu-i-Ra and the offshore reefs.
• The Udre Udre tomb - a roadside chiefly grave outside the town.

When to go

May to October is the driest and the best. Even in the wet season this coast gets less rain than the south. Cyclone season runs November to April and this shore is exposed.

Honest expectations

Rakiraki is a working sugar town with little for visitors. The road along the coast has been repeatedly damaged by cyclones and repairs are ongoing. Beaches on the mainland shore are modest; the good water is offshore.

Nearby

Nananu-i-Ra is offshore, Vatu-i-Ra is out in the passage, and Lautoka is west.