COMO Laucala Turned a Red Bull Billionaire's Private Fiji Island Into an Ultra-Quiet Retreat

Laucala Island sits off the northeast coast of Taveuni, Fiji's third-largest island, a five-kilometre stretch of rainforest and coastline that has passed through only two owners in the past half-century. Publishing magnate Malcolm Forbes held it for decades before his family sold it in 2003 to Red Bull co-founder Dietrich Mateschitz, who spent years building it into one of the South Pacific's most private resorts before it opened to guests in 2008. Since Mateschitz's death in 2022, the island has remained under his family's ownership but is now run day-to-day by COMO Hotels, the Singapore-based group that relaunched it as COMO Laucala Island.

Twenty-five villas, no shared walls

The resort holds 25 villas spread across the island, each with its own pool and butler, along with a plantation-house restaurant, a golf clubhouse, a spa and several bars. Nothing about the layout encourages guests to cross paths with each other; villas are spaced apart by design, and the island's own airstrip means arrivals bypass Fiji's main resort areas entirely.

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A working farm, not a garnish garden

Roughly 240 acres of the island are given over to an organic farm supplying the resort's kitchens with produce, dairy, meat and eggs, alongside fish brought in daily by local fishermen. Under COMO's management, the food programme now runs on the group's Shambhala nutrition principles, with menus built around what the farm produces rather than what is flown in.

An 18-hole course and a private submarine

An 18-hole golf course wraps around part of the island, and the resort is understood to be the only one in the world offering guests access to a DeepFlight Super Falcon, a two-seater submersible used for reef dives. Horseback rides along the beach, game fishing and diving trips round out an activities list built for guests who are unlikely to leave the island once they arrive.

Getting there is part of the exclusivity

There is no public ferry or scheduled flight to Laucala; guests typically fly into Nadi or Matei on Taveuni and are transferred by the resort's own light aircraft or boat, a logistics chain that keeps day-trippers and casual visitors off the island entirely.

Traveller tips

• Laucala has no scheduled public transport; arrival is arranged directly through the resort as part of a stay, usually via Nadi or Taveuni's Matei airstrip.
• Fiji's dry season, from May to October, generally offers the calmest seas for the boat and light-aircraft transfers the island depends on.
• As an ultra-private resort, villa rates and availability change with demand; confirm current pricing directly with COMO before booking.
• Indian passport holders should confirm current Fiji entry requirements before travelling, as visa-on-arrival terms can change.