Two of the resort’s 25 bures used to be one-bedroom thatched huts. Now they have two bedrooms and face the ocean, and the Jean-Michel Cousteau Resort on Vanua Levu in Fiji has made National Geographic’s first-ever list of the 20 best new hotels in the world.
The magazine picked it for a renovation it calls the most extensive in the resort’s three-decade-plus history. Jean-Michel Cousteau, the ocean explorer and son of Jacques, founded the place. National Geographic describes the underlying idea as simple: “People protect what they understand.”
Rooms, rope and timber
The two-bedroom layout suits multigenerational families, the magazine says. Designers used locally sourced timber and hand-crafted magimagi, a woven coconut-fiber rope.
What guests do
Vanua Levu is Fiji’s second-largest island, quieter and less visited than the main tourist spots. The resort sits inside a marine sanctuary. Guests snorkel with resident marine biologists, help restore coral reefs and learn how endangered giant clams are being protected. They can also explore the mangroves.
Children get their own program. The Bula Club and School Under the Sea is free, and the resident marine biologist and naturalists run it: reef preservation activities, mangrove walks, glass-bottom boat trips, rainforest outings and family snorkeling.
Meals are part of the lesson too. Traditional lovo feasts use ingredients from the resort’s organic gardens and nearby regenerative farms, and National Geographic says they help visitors understand the land and the Fijian traditions that honor it.
Rates start at about $1,100 a night.
The rest of the list
Sophia Michelen wrote the Fiji entry. The list reaches from a women-owned hotel in Kigali, Rwanda, to a mountain property in rural Montana near Yellowstone National Park and a converted prison in Japan. Other picks include a venice palace on Giudecca island run by the French brand Airelles, and Harbor House Inn on California’s Mendocino coast.
Sources
- Best of the World 2026: 20 of the Best New Hotels
- The 20 best new hotels in the world, according to National Geographic | The Hotel Spotter
Sources
- These Are the 20 Best New Hotels in the World – National Geographic
- The 20 best new hotels in the world, according to National Geographic
