Five Princes Hotel

Rooms and decor

Turn off the road and climb the Tamavua ridge from central Suva — about 10 minutes — past the residential streets and a little further up, and a white timber colonial house rises out of the tropical trees. This is Five Princes Hotel. The main building was a British colonial officer's residence in the 1920s, and it takes its name from five British princes who visited Fiji and once stayed in this house. The current owner restored it while keeping the original frame almost entirely intact: timber floors that creak softly underfoot, a wooden veranda wrapping the house with rocking chairs for an afternoon cup of tea, and high ceilings built to vent the heat the way tropical houses did before air-conditioning. Step into the lobby and it feels like stepping back a century — old teak furniture, black-and-white photographs of colonial Suva on the walls, the distinguished guests who once stayed here arranged into a story. If you like a place with a bit of soul and history rather than just a hotel room, this one lands from the first step.

Food and amenities

There are 12 rooms in all, split between the colonial main house and the separate garden cottages scattered across the lawn behind. The main-house rooms are full classic colonial — old floors, high ceilings, a slow ceiling fan, a four-poster bed under soft white netting. The garden cottages are the highlight many reviews steer you toward: each one has a private balcony facing Suva Bay. Open the door in the morning and you get a view few hotels in this city can give — the bay curves blue below, bright fishing boats sit as small dots, and far out at the edge of sight is the silhouette of Beqa, the volcanic island known for shark diving. The kitchen is the heart of the place: the Fijian owner-chef trained at a Michelin restaurant in Amsterdam before coming home, and the menu is a pairing you won't find elsewhere in Suva — modern European technique with genuinely Fijian ingredients. Tuna and wahoo caught off the coast that day come as ceviche with Fijian lime and coconut; grilled meat arrives under a tropical-fruit sauce; much of the produce is picked from the garden out back, along with the distinctive Fijian pepper and vanilla. The menu changes with the day's catch. Suva locals drive up the hill to eat, especially at dinner, which always needs booking ahead. The drinks list runs to well-chosen Australian and New Zealand wine, local Fiji beer, and cocktails built on fresh island fruit. Breakfast on the same veranda brings Fiji-estate coffee, home-baked bread, cut tropical fruit and eggs to order — several reviews call it the best breakfast they have had in Suva.

Location and getting there

The hotel sits on the Tamavua ridge above town. It is about a 10-minute drive down to the city centre — the Suva Municipal Market and Suva Wharf. Nausori airport (SUV) is roughly 30 minutes away, while Nadi International (NAN) is a long haul at around 3 hours. The trade-off for the quiet and the view is that no public transport reaches the door, so a taxi is your way in and out of town every time. Fares are cheap, usually no more than a few Fiji dollars, but it pays to call ahead in the evening.

Things to know before booking

Straight talk to make the call easy. First, Five Princes has no pool and no spa — it sells the boutique atmosphere and the food, not a day spent in the water, so if a poolside trip is the goal, book a beach at Nadi or another island instead. Second, the ridge location: lovely and quiet, but with no bus or public transport to the door, every trip into town means a taxi. The hotel can arrange one, but it takes a little planning. Third, the building is 100 years old — well restored, but the damp of rainy Suva is still noticeable in spots of the garden cottages, and some nights you hear timber shifting with the temperature or wild birds before dawn. For some that is the charm; if you expect the precision of a new chain, this may not be your place. Finally, there are only 12 rooms, and they fill fast in high season from May to October — book several weeks ahead.

Our take

Going by the real reviews and word of mouth from people who have stayed, Five Princes Hotel stands out in Suva on three strengths — the history of a carefully restored century-old colonial building, a Suva Bay view running to Beqa from the ridge, and a Fiji-European kitchen run by a Michelin-trained chef. If the trip in your head is a couple escaping the city bustle, waking up to coffee on the balcony over the bay, heading down by day to the municipal market and the Fiji Museum, then coming back for a chef's dinner with wine, this is hard to beat in Suva. If you want a resort with a big pool, a spa and a full gym a step from the door, it may not be your place. Overall we give it 8.9/10 — best for couples, lovers of history and food, and travelers who value atmosphere and family-run service over a full sweep of facilities.