The Best Historical Sites to Visit in Levuka

Located on Ovalau island, just off Viti Levu’s east coast – Levuka town is Fiji’s most significant colonial history site.   Its colourful history tracks its growth from a tiny outpost for shipwrecked sailors, whalers, rogues and missionaries to one of the most important South Pacific trading ports of the 19th century and a brief stint as Fiji’s first capital in 1874 – 82.  

Today, Levuka’s buildings are a time capsule of Fiji’s early European history and a UNESCO World Heritage site as one of the South Pacific’s best examples of a 19th Century port town.   

The view of Beach Street and the mountains that dwarf it must be one of the most romantic in the entire South Pacific. To take a stroll down Beach Street is to travel through time in one of the region’s most picturesque historical towns.    

Built right beside the sea – so close its protected by a sea wall – businesses look as much ‘American Wild West’ as anything remotely British. The saloons and boarding houses of Levuka’s wild early days have been replaced by grocery stores and the occasional restaurant – housed within weathered clapboard shopfronts, painted in every colour of the rainbow. The hillside just beyond the down is dotted with colonial-era homesteads, but Beach Street is where you can come to observe local life. 

No visit to Levuka should happen without spending time in the Levuka Community Centre and Museum, housed within the old Morris Hedstrom & Co storehouse. The building was donated to the National Trust of Fiji in 1980 and later refurbished to include the community centre and museum.   

Open six days a week, you can book a private tour of the museum or guided treks of Levuka and  Lovoni village through the community centre.  The museum chronicles Levuka’s earliest European settlers, painting a picture of some of the South Pacific’s most colourful characters. There’s also historic artefacts and a public library on site, as well as a meeting hall and a crafts centre where you can buy handicrafts from the island’s most talented craftspeople.

This is one of Levuka’s most striking architectural sites – an old Gothic Revival Catholic church built in the late 1850s that doubles as a lighthouse. You can’t miss the Sacred Heart Church; you’ll hear it everywhere you go in Levuka. It has a 24-metre-high stone tower with a French clock that strikes twice every hour with a minute pause between strikes.   

Built between swaying coconut trees, the church's historical concrete tower stands out from the surrounding foliage. Its neon-lit green cross serves much more purpose than simply marking it as a place of worship.  When lined up with another neon green light further inland, it helps mark the gap in the reef and guides ships safely into the harbour at night.  

Levuka is famous for being Fiji’s first capital but it’s also renowned as the place where Fiji became a British colony on 10th October 1874. A cession stone was erected on the spot where 13 Fijian chiefs ceded Fiji to Britain just a kilometre south of the main township.  Two other similar stones (and a flagpole) mark Prince Charles’ visits for Fiji’s centenary and independence celebrations.  

Across the road stands Nasova House – the main government building of the short-lived Cakobau government (1873–74) and later the residence of Fiji’s first British Governor (1874–82).  The large bure (Fijian traditional house) on the property was built in 1970 for Prince Charles when he visited Fiji during Independence celebrations.  It replaced another earlier bure which King George V stayed in when he visited Levuka as a young Duke in the 1890s.

To truly experience Levuka’s fascinating colonial history – book a room and down a drink (or two) in the oldest continuously run hotel in the South Pacific. Built in the 1860s, the Royal Hotel stands close to the middle of town and captures its colonial heritage beautifully.  

This hotel was once the finest accommodation in Fiji but is now the only remaining of numerous boarding houses built in Levuka’s heyday. Its front rooms overlooked Levuka’s harbour so that sea captains staying overnight could keep an eye on their anchored vessel. A turret-like structure (or widow’s watch) on the roof served as a look-out for seafarers to gauge sea conditions.  The hotel was rebuilt at the turn of the 20th Century after a fire, but its old-world charm remains; though these days the rooms have been modernised with Wi-Fi and air-conditioning.  

You haven’t visited Levuka if you haven’t climbed its iconic 199 steps to Mission Hill. Built just beside the old township, the concrete stairs start near the town’s hospital and take you past some of Levuka’s oldest buildings including Methodist missions, homes and schools.   

As you climb you might hear choir singing from churches in the valley or get a friendly 'Bula!’ from kids going to or returning from school.  It's a steep climb into the foothills but the views out over the town and past the reef are well worth the sweat to get there. You’ll also get to understand why the drastic gradients of the surrounding mountains paused the towns growth and Fiji’s capital had to be moved to Suva. 

There’s no more appropriate building in Levuka to understand its colourful history than to visit the ruins of its Masonic Hall.   

Fiji’s free masons met for the first time in Levuka in 1871, inspired by a ship’s captain who considered it high time Fiji hosted its first meeting of Lodge Polynesia.  At first the society had no permanent home so early meetings were held all over town.  But when money and land were donated by generous benefactors, the Masonic Hall was finally built in 1913.  It was Levuka’s most unusual building because of its Roman architecture amidst the town’s British bungalows.   

The building withstood the ravages of time until 2000, when it was burnt to the ground by suspicious locals who distrusted the society’s secretive rituals, handshakes and symbols. Even as a stone shell, the ruins make for an interesting peek into Levuka’s unique history.

Tucked into the valley just behind town is Fiji’s first public school which moved there in 1881.  Formerly Levuka Common School, it began with only 58 students, but its honour roll includes a who’s who of Fijian leadership.  

Nowadays, you’ll see Levuka’s youngest residents hard at work within the double-story timber colonial buildings with large balconies that overlook meticulously kept grounds.  Catch them on the playground taking part in Levuka’s favourite past time, rugby.   Or for a glimpse of that famous Fijian flair, wait till Saturdays when most of the island turns out at nearby Nasau Park for more energetic and exciting rugby games. 

Make sure you visit the tiny village of Cawaci, just a few minutes north of Levuka, to see one of the island’s most distinctive buildings. Bishop’s Tomb is the final resting place of Fiji’s first Catholic Bishop and his successor. Their remains lay within a mausoleum style monument on a stunning bluff overlooking the ocean.   

Built on the grounds of St John’s College (Cawaci) the tomb is in the classic Gothic Revivalist architectural style so typical of the South Pacific’s early Catholic churches.   You’ll need to hike through grass and shrubs to get there but the sight of the white-washed limestone walls against the sparkling blue sea are worth the effort.  

One of the best ways get a glimpse of Levuka’s fascinating past is to visit Fiji’s very first private members club, the Ovalau Club. Just a block from town, it is the oldest social organisation in the South Pacific; a living reminder of Levuka’s colonial past.   

Framed by tall mountains and surrounded by coconut palms and other exotic fruit trees, the white, picket-fenced building was built in 1904.  The island’s elite would gather to drink gin and tonics, discuss the day’s news and read newspapers sent by ship from England.