Best Historical Sites to Visit in Levuka

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.   

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.

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. 

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.  

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.

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.

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.

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

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.  

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.