The best thing about Fiji isn't its palm-draped beaches, blue lagoons, or rugged mountains. I think it's the enormous friendliness of the Fijian people.

Picking the best of everything else in Fiji is no easy task, for this is a diverse tropical country with many choices. In this chapter, I point out the best of the best -- not necessarily to pass qualitative judgment, but to help you choose among many options. I list them here in the order in which they appear in the book.

Your choice of where you go and what you do will depend on why you are coming to Fiji, and how much money you have to spend while you're here. You can scuba dive to exhaustion over some of the world's most beautiful reefs or just laze on the beach with a trashy novel. You can share a 300-room hotel with package tourists, or get away from it all on a tiny islet. Even out there, you can be left alone with your lover or join your fellow guests at lively dinner parties. You can totally ignore the islanders around you or enrich your own life by learning about theirs. You can listen to the day's events on CNN International or get out and see what Fiji was like a century ago. Those decisions are all yours.

Regardless of where you stay and what you do, you are in for a memorable time. The friendly Fijians will see to that.