Suva

Is Suva safe?

For a daytime visit, yes, but Suva asks more care than Nadi and the resorts. Fiji recorded 2.1 homicides per 100,000Homicide rateThe number of people killed on purpose each year for every 100,000 residents. It is the most comparable crime figure between countries.More in the glossary people in 2023, and the FCDOFCDO travel adviceThe UK government's travel advice for each country, which can advise against all travel or all but essential travel to specific areas.More in the glossary says the risk of serious crime is generally low. The capital, though, is where Canada's travel advice concentrates its crime warnings: downtown Suva is named for frequent theft, for occasional armed robbery and assault, and for harassment of women.

We score Suva 64, two points below Nadi. The difference is street crime and walking at night; the roads, the health system and the cyclone season are shared with the rest of Viti Levu.

Street crime downtown

Canada's advice says pickpocketing and bag snatching happen frequently in downtown Suva and that thieves target tourists at bus stations, lookouts, restaurants and hotel lobbies. In May 2023 the acting police commissioner, Juki Fong Chew, put officers in civilian clothes after reports of youths attacking and robbing people "almost every day" along Waimanu Road, Stewart Street and Saint Fort Street, and said many victims never filed a complaint.

The problem has not gone away. On the night of 15 June 2025, a man was beaten in the middle of Butt Street by four men, assaulted again on the ground and robbed; dashcam video of the attack spread on social media before police charged two people.

For a visitor, the practical answer is to carry little, keep your phone out of sight on the street, and use ATMs inside banks or shopping centres; the FCDOFCDO travel adviceThe UK government's travel advice for each country, which can advise against all travel or all but essential travel to specific areas.More in the glossary warns of card skimming.

Walking at night

Fiji is not in Gallup's global safety survey, so we set this factor from official advice. The FCDOFCDO travel adviceThe UK government's travel advice for each country, which can advise against all travel or all but essential travel to specific areas.More in the glossary tells visitors, especially women travelling alone, to take extra care walking at night in towns, and reports serious sexual assaults on foreign women. Canada goes further, advising against walking outside after dark even in groups, and says women travelling alone may face harassment, especially in downtown Suva.

Taken with the Butt Street robbery and the 2023 attacks, that puts Suva at 58, two points below Nadi. In the evening, book a taxi with yellow plates through your hotel or restaurant, even for a few blocks, and do not share a taxi with strangers.

Roads and buses

The Land Transport Authority counted 83 road deaths in Fiji in 2025, up from 66 in 2024, with speeding the main cause. That is about 8.9 deaths per 100,000 people, nearly twice WHO's modelled estimate of 4.7 for 2023; Fiji publishes no figure for Suva. Canada says drivers often ignore pedestrians and that people have been killed on marked crossings, so do not assume cars will stop.

Canada also advises avoiding city and intercity buses and minivans, which it says are poorly maintained, and the FCDOFCDO travel adviceThe UK government's travel advice for each country, which can advise against all travel or all but essential travel to specific areas.More in the glossary warns that roads outside towns are unlit at night, with people and stray animals on them. If you travel between Suva and Nadi, go in daylight.

Health care

Suva's Colonial War Memorial Hospital houses Fiji's only recompression chamber. The FCDOFCDO travel adviceThe UK government's travel advice for each country, which can advise against all travel or all but essential travel to specific areas.More in the glossary says that chamber is not always working, that care is limited, and that serious cases are often evacuated abroad. Canada says good care is severely limited, clinics usually want payment in advance and ambulances are slow, so a taxi to hospital can be quicker. Dengue and typhoid occur, leptospirosis rises after floods, and Fiji declared a national HIV emergency in September 2026. Travel insurance with medical evacuation is essential.

Cyclones, floods and earthquakes

Cyclone season runs from November to April, bringing floods and landslides that can cut roads, including the road to the airport. When Cyclone Vaianu passed in April 2026, the west of Viti Levu took the worst of it; only 20 of the 2,182 people in evacuation centres were in the Central Division, which includes Suva.

Earthquakes are rarer but not hypothetical. On 14 September 1953 a magnitude 6.7 earthquake caused major damage to Suva's wharf and buildings, and its tsunami killed three people in the city. Canada advises learning the tsunami safe zones nearest your hotel. Follow the Fiji Meteorological Service in the wet season.

How we scored it

Violent crime (74) is Suva's strongest factor, because Fiji's homicide rateHomicide rateThe number of people killed on purpose each year for every 100,000 residents. It is the most comparable crime figure between countries.More in the glossary is low even if downtown robberies are a real risk. Walking at night (58) and natural hazards (58) are the weakest. Confidence is low: Fiji publishes no city-level crime, road or air quality data for Suva, so most factors rest on national figures, official advice and local reporting.