Monuriki: The Cast Away Island

Monuriki, in Fiji’s Mamanuca Islands, is the island where Cast Away (2000) was filmed: Tourism Fiji names it, and calls it uninhabited. It is not Castaway Island, the resort island also called Qalito, which is a different island about 17 km away in a straight line. The way onto Monuriki carded here is Cruisin’ Fiji’s day cruise from Port Denarau, listed as Fiji: Monuriki, Mana Sand Bar & Snorkelling Cruise: it spends 2.5 to 3 hours on the island, with a guided walk to the places where the film was made, from US$135 a person (checked November 2026).

The calendar above is the Monuriki day cruise from Port Denarau, with 686 reviews (checked November 2026).

The short answer

If you want to walk on the island from the film, book the Monuriki cruise, not anything with “Castaway” in its name. Monuriki has no resort and no village: you come in on the day boat, and lunch is served on the island. Tourism Fiji also mentions boats from the nearby resorts, so a guest of a Mamanuca resort can ask at the desk; from the mainland, the day cruise from Port Denarau is the straightforward way. Expect the island and its beach, not a film set: what you visit are the places where scenes were filmed.

Two islands, two names

The two names are easy to confuse. Monuriki is the small, steep, uninhabited island where Cast Away was filmed; Tourism Fiji’s page on film locations sends readers there on a day trip from Port Denarau. Castaway Island is a resort island in the Mamanucas, Qalito on the map, about 27 km from Port Denarau and 17 km from Monuriki, both in a straight line. It has a resort with pools, bars and a restaurant, and day guests can visit it on South Sea Cruises' Castaway Island Resort day cruise with lunch, from US$171 (checked November 2026) before a mandatory fuel surcharge of $10 per adult and $5 to $7.50 per child aged 5 to 15, currency not stated. The day includes about 5 hours on the island and a two-course lunch. That day does not go to Monuriki.

Monuriki itself has a few spellings. The Maritime Safety Authority of Fiji writes Monu Riki in its marine notices, and the GetYourGuide listing for the day cruise writes “Modriki (Monuriki)”. All of them mean the same island.

What you see on the island

On Cruisin’ Fiji’s itinerary the 2.5 to 3 hours on Monuriki include a guided walk to the places where Cast Away was filmed, a coconut husking demonstration, an optional hike to the summit, the lovo lunch beneath bures, and time to swim, snorkel and sit on the beach. The island is 40.4 hectares and rises to 216 metres (National Trust of Fiji and partners, 2016), a small island but a steep and rugged one. Wear shoes you can climb in, and take water.

The island beyond the film

Monuriki matters for more than Cast Away. It is one of the few islands where the Fijian crested iguana survives, a tree-dwelling lizard listed as Critically Endangered and protected under Fiji’s Endangered and Protected Species Act 2002; the Monuriki population is genetically distinct from all others (National Trust of Fiji and partners, 2016). In April 2010 the island’s land-owning clan, the Mataqali Vunaivi, agreed with the National Trust of Fiji and Kula Eco Park to clear its goats and breed the remaining iguanas in captivity; goats and rats were removed in late 2011, and 32 captive-bred iguanas were released on the island in May 2015. NatureFiji calls the crested iguana a master of camouflage that is hard to spot in the forest by day, so a sighting is luck, not part of the tour.

The island also appears in another production: the Maritime Safety Authority of Fiji has published exclusion zones round Monu Riki for US Survivor filming in 2021, 2023 and 2025, and from 15 April to 3 July 2026. Survivor filming has the dates and what they mean for the cruise.

When the cruise is the right answer

Take it when Monuriki itself is the point: to walk the Cast Away beach, to snorkel on the way at Mana Sand Bar and Monu Cove, and to eat lunch on an island with nothing built on it. It is a full day, 9:00 am to about 4:30 or 5 pm, with free pickup from Denarau Island resorts.

Check dates for the Monuriki cruise

The same cruise is on Viator too, as Cruisin' Fiji's Monuriki, Mana Sand Bar and snorkelling day cruise, from US$138 (checked November 2026). If you would rather have a resort day with a pool and a bar, the other Mamanuca day trips compare the popular ones.