Barefoot Manta Island Resort

Such a cool place with amazing facilities- they have a marine biology research centre which does great talks every day. Food is good and service is so friendly

Good value for money. The food is great!

Barefoot Manta was amazing! We spent 5 nights and had the best time. The staff were incredible, especially the resident marine biologist Rob who was a mine of information and enthusiasm. There are 3 different beaches to snorkel from and the snorkelling was the best we have ever seen, it is a protected marine reserve and we participated in coral planting which was great. The Manta Ray trips happened on 3 of our 5 days, it is a bit of an uncontrolled bun fight with various resorts sending their boats to see the mantas but the Barefoot Manta crew were educated and respectful. The resort is beautiful and has a lovely vibe, the staff were so friendly and helpful. We stayed in a double Bure on the sunset side, it was a permanent tent and it was all that we could have wished for, right on the beach. The meal plan is really expensive by our standards, I would have preferred an al a carte option as I have food restrictions and I found that eating salad and rice for almost every meal was boring and repetitive. The staff did try though, however $40 Fijian for salad and rice was a bit on the nose. Bring snacks! It would have been good if they could have made the tea/coffee available all day and maybe had something available for afternoon tea as it is 6 hrs between lunch and dinner. We do recommend this place.

Barefoot Manta you are welcomed by Fijian hospitality: warm welcoming heartfelt, embracing generous and MUST be experienced to believe. Ineffable !! Rooms well appointed , cool, clean, open plan with an authentic Fijian flair. Beach front rooms spill directly out into the beach and reef where you can snorkel or laze in a hammock just chilling in paradise. Food is simple and plentiful. Fijian espresso COFFEE is a must＞ robust and delicious. Staff are so helpful attentive and enthusiastic to accomodate requests. Drawaqa island is famous for its Mantas encounters , but even though we missed the season, the coral reef and fish diversity is exceptional. Beautiful clear pristine protected waters. Truely amazing. Biologist on island are also very informative. Do yourself a favour and do a guided night snorkel. It’s the whole package : put it on your bucket list.

DO NOT STAY HERE !!!! Bed bug infested in multiple dorm rooms. The staff did not care when reported, did not say apologise or offer any form of help. The staff said “you must have brought them here”. Been travelling for 3 months and never had a bed bugs problem. A friend reported she stayed here in 2019 also and had bed bugs then (did not ask her before so this was found out post stay) and her bag was infested with them too. Horrible experience please do not go here.