Grand Pacific Hotel ★★★★★

A Steamship Company's Hotel, Still Facing the Harbour

Suva is not the Fiji of brochures, and the Grand Pacific has never pretended otherwise. It stands on two acres reclaimed from the harbour, on a floating concrete raft, put up by a steamship company that wanted its South Pacific passengers to sleep on land without losing sight of the water. Salmon and Vanes drew it, a Dunedin firm built it, and it opened with thirty five rooms and a roof garden. A century of Fijian public life then passed through the drawing room: a grand ball for a visiting queen, state dinners, independence, and a long silence after the doors closed. The building stood empty for the better part of two decades before it was brought back.

Why It Works

Three reasons. The restoration kept the bones: the colonnade, the deep verandas, the high ceilings and the louvered doors are all still doing the job they were drawn to do. The harbour is the second, because almost nothing else in Suva sits this close to the water with this much room to look at it, and the pool terrace makes the most of that. The third is that this is the address the capital actually uses. Parliament, the government offices and the business district are all within a short walk, so the lobby is full of the city rather than emptied of it.

Why This Location

Victoria Parade runs along the seafront and the hotel takes the best stretch of it, harbour on one side, city on the other. Albert Park, the green where Charles Kingsford Smith brought the Southern Cross down at the end of his Pacific crossing, is directly across the road. Thurston Gardens and the Fiji Museum are a few minutes further on foot, with Parliament and the government quarter beyond them. The municipal market and the seawall walk are both walkable. Nadi and the resort coast are several hours away along the Queens Road, which is rather the point: you stay here to be in the capital.

Fast Facts

• Price: Luxe

• Vibe: colonial heritage, harbour light, capital formality worn lightly

• Rooms: Heritage Rooms and Suites in the original building, Guest Rooms in the newer wing

• Best For: heritage and architecture travellers, business stays in the capital, a night either side of an island transfer

• Our Favorite Thing About the Hotel: the colonnade at the end of the afternoon, when the harbour light comes in sideways under the arches

• Dining: Prince Albert Restaurant, Levuka Restaurant, the Steamship Bar, Na Toba Pool Bar and the GPH Bakery

• Amenities: harbour-facing pool and pool bar, day spa, gym and sauna, ballroom and event rooms

• Attractions: Albert Park across the road, Thurston Gardens, the Fiji Museum, Parliament and the government quarter, Suva Municipal Market

Heritage Rooms, Verandas and the Colonnade

The house splits in two. The Heritage Rooms and Suites sit in the original building, where the ceilings are high, the doors are louvered and the verandas are deep enough to sit on properly. The Guest Rooms occupy the newer wing and trade some of that character for a more contemporary layout. What carries across both is the orientation: the hotel was designed around the harbour and never stopped being. The public rooms are the real pleasure, and the best use of them is the one the first passengers made, which is to sit still in them for an hour.

Where Suva Eats and Drinks at the GPH

The Prince Albert Restaurant is the formal room and the one the city books when a table needs to mean something. Levuka is the all-day option. The Steamship Bar takes its name from the company that built the place. Na Toba works the pool terrace, and the GPH Bakery sells to people who never go upstairs, which is usually a good sign in a hotel. Between them they cover a long day without ever requiring you to leave the building.

The Pool, the Spa and an Afternoon Off

The pool faces the harbour and is the reason many guests book a second night in a city few people treat as a destination. The day spa, gym and sauna sit alongside it. Suva rains hard and often, which is worth planning around rather than resenting: the colonnade, the drawing room and the bakery absorb a wet afternoon without effort, and the light over the harbour once it clears is the best of the day.