We had hoped to spend the duration of our stay here but due to booking agent issues we were unable to. These problems had nothing to do with the hotel, we had vouchers with a company that didn’t book this hotel. So when we arrived in Nungwi we found the hotel and decided to treat ourselves, we had one night at the Zanzibari hotel in December and we thoroughly enjoyed it.

The rooms are bright and clean with a good size bathroom, the usual flowers on the bed made a nice welcome.

The meal which was included in the price of $190.00 (for the 2 of us) a night was fantastic, 5 courses of beautifully presented dishes served by genuinely friendly staff who seem to really want to make your stay enjoyable.

The grounds of the hotel were well kept, neat and tidy and not another soul to be seen although the hotel had a number of people staying at the time. The views over the sea were uninterrupted and you got a very welcomed breeze which made sunbathing a pleasure. It was the best place to chill out, relax catch the sun that we came across in the 2 weeks we were there.

We were shown a suite and they were totally fabulous, if you were 2 couples or a family these would be perfect with 2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms a living room and a kitchen. They came with private plunge pools and a garden area overlooking the sea.

The General Manager Paul and his staff couldn’t be faulted and I can imagine if you stayed there longer they would do everything to make sure your stay was as near to perfect as possible.

The pool area was small but perfectly formed, towels and tide times were provided along with kayaks and lifejackets etc.

The hotel accepts credit cards which is a plus if like us you were unaware of the lack of ATM’s in the area. The nearest ATM is in Stone Town, which is over an hour’s drive away. Many hotels and bars don’t accept credit cards so get your cash from the airport or Stone Town before heading to Nungwi.

If there were any criticisms – and this is really looking hard for them, they would be that the Zanzibari is a little way away from the ‘village’ and other bars, hotels and restaurants. There again with your meal included and the food being some of the best we tasted this might not be an issue. I think if we had stayed for the 2 weeks we would have been jumping into a taxi most evenings to the slightly more lively part of the beach.

The price of beer and wine were higher than other bars and hotels, but nothing too outrageous and in daylight it would only be a 10 minute walk down the beach to the next bar.

The hotel had recently changed the safe boxes in the rooms, from what I would image were standard safe’s to wooden boxes. The older safe’s had issues due to the power failure which happens all over Nungwi every evening – don’t worry everywhere has generators so lights are only out for a few minutes. The new safe boxes were much nicer to look at and made of what looked like local wood. They were a good size and held a lot of valuables including a full size camera and a couple of lenses. But these were literally a freestanding box that could be picked up and taken from the room if you had the misfortune to have someone break in. Maybe if they could be bolted or attached to the floor or cupboard this would solve the problem.

The last thing and again this is a security issue, is that the bathroom windows which were really large (more like French doors but situated at window level), had no locks or any form of security on them. The lovely ladies who cleaned the rooms would leave these open to air the rooms, as our bathroom window looked out onto the open land at the back of the hotel we felt a little exposed.

All in all a very nice, clean friendly hotel with great food, views and grounds. Fantastic staff and I would not hesitate to go back and spend longer than one night (but probably less than 2 weeks) there.

We spent 5 days, and were very pleased with location, service, rooms , breakfast and 5-course dinner, as well as the weather (!). Great staff!

Note that on this side of Nungwi there is a combination of reef and tide that makes it different from resorts with always-access to regular sand beach. (Bring sea-sandals if you want to explore the reef during low tide).

Anyhow, the hotel has pools with a great ocean view, as well as great places to relax on an "elevated beach". Most of the day, one can enjoy walks along the beach to explore other parts of Nungwi. The nearby pier has great lunches with spectacular location.

Recommended for couples and families alike. From the airport taxi stand we got a taxi for around 50 USD for the one hour drive.

We stayed here only for 2 nights, but it was amazing; the garden is beautiful, the view is impressive, the area is quite, intimate, the staff very helpful and the manager is acting like your best friend, trying to help you as much as he can! It was a very good stay and for sure i will recommend this place! Great thanks!

After safaris both in Uganda and Tanzania, the Zanzibari proved an excellent choice for relaxing and just doing nothing (almost). The rooms nice, the food very good and the staff always smiling an willing to help. What more do you need?
Recommended!!!!
Great thanks to Paul and his staff.