We live & work in Nairobi – Kenya and my wife decided to surprise me for Xmas & booked Baraza for a week. From the minute you walk in to Baraza, you feel like you’ve stepped in to heaven on earth.
Baraza is the place to be when you want to relax, feel pampered with no limits & enjoy a beach holiday in style. We really needed a break from our hectic lives & Baraza definitely managed to make our Xmas extra special. The setting of the Hotel is simply superb, amazing beach. On a somewhat too warm day, we treated ourselves to an afternoon at the Spa, Relax – Enjoy & Rejuvenate, one word came to our minds, BLISS..
The villa we stayed in was very spacious & the quality of luxury was beyond our expectations. At the same time, the villa is very cosy. I loved the high quality bed linen most, the spacious bathroom – shower & lovely finishing are top quality, they came straight out of the Homes & Gardens magazine – beach edition, well done on the finishings & extremely elegant atmosphere created & thanks for the massive bed in which I lost my wife one night.
In regards to the food, we would like to compliment the chefs as we have stayed in numerous places over the world & we rated the food quality & variety @ Baraza as one of the top. Buffets and a la carte evenings alternate & the themes were definitely well thought of. The choice of starters, main courses & deserts were overwhelming. We are surprised that anyone would say that the food is of a poor standard. Well done Baraza on the breakfast, what a way to start the day !
The service you get is personalised in to the smallest detail. Staff was excellent, attentive, simply very correct. From the cleaning girl who took initiative & special attention to detail to the waiters & waitresses being extremely efficient & making sure your stay is made very special.
We'll definitely be back !!!

We stayed at Baraza two nights during an 8 days holiday in Zanzibar. Our Villa was spacious, beautifully decorated, with all the amenities you would expect at this level. The private plunge is lovely, shame we had to ask twice to switch it on as it was not running and the water was hot and not clean. Staff is friendly and professional and the manager attentive and available to listen to any request you may have. and The beach is beautiful and unspoilt and we loved our walks with both low and high tides. The Spa, the pools,gym, tennis court, are all wonderful and everything is perfectly kept clean and the gardens manicured. Our only disappointment was related to food : too many buffets ( lunch and one other night) with very limited choices and embarrassing poor quality. The F&B manager tried his best to change our mind and the lobster one night was really good,however I wouldn't expect to have to complain in order to get some decent food in a resort with such ambitions. Given what they charge per night, you expect to have a nice a la carte dinner menu every night and a good choice of wine ( they only serve a type of red and white wine every night). May I suggest to ask Chef William next door ( The Palms) to come and help ??
Overall we enjoyed our stay at Baraza and would recommend it especially to families. For couples, honeymooners and those seeking for something special I would rather recommend the sister resort The Palms for basically the same money.

Paradise......Baraza is one of the most beautiful hotels in Zanzibar. I cannot fault one thing about Baraza! My family had the most amazing holiday at Baraza over Easter 2012.

After a previous disappointing holiday in one of the bigger resorts in Zanzibar I spent long hours looking into the various hotels in Zanzibar. My requirements were a beautiful hotel that allowed for the kids to have fun, my husband and I to relax, good food and upmarket luxurious accomadation. Baraza didnt disappoint.

My children were 14,11 and 4 and although there is a great childrens club, my kids chose to stay with us at the beach and gorgeous pool. They kept themselves busy with swimming, snorkelling, paddelling, cycling and a stream of drinks and food that is on constant offer!!!

The hotel has recieved negative comments about the tide going out and so the resort has no sea to swim in for half the day. Being on the east coast this is indeed the case and although there is no doubt it is alot more pleasant when the tide is in, we found that when the sea went out the kids played endlessly in the rock pools that were full of amazing things. When the sea was out we just used the pool. The loungers on the beach are great and there are small private areas along the beach that the five of us set up camp everyday. There was always a constant stream of cool face towels, freshly squeezed fruit juices, cut fruit and cookies offered to us by passing waiters.

Our villa was one of the family villa a few rows back from the sea, so we didnt get a sea view however the gardens are totallay private and our private plunge pool was brilliant we used it alot. The villas are beautiful so spacious so the kids had a big bedroom that 3 slept in with ease and we had a huge main suite. We always loved getting back to our immaculate, airconditioned villa after a long day by the pool/sea because it sure was hot!

The food was amazing,always something different and always in a different venue which we loved. Although the main resturant, with air conditing was my favourite due to the heat! The oriental night was a favourite and on Easter sunday they did a seafood lunch that my kids still talk about.....delish!

The staff were fantastic. They all knew us and couldnt do enough for us, they loved my 4 year old and would take such pleasure from watching him play and enjoying his food!

Such a wonderful holiday and we have such great memories of it that we are thinking of going back there again this year as I cant imagine being as happy any where else!

As with other reviewers all I can add are more superlatives! Baraza is simply one of the best villa beach hotels you can find anywhere. The buildings are all wonderfuly styled in a Moorish design. The service is very friendly and attentive and because the maximum capacity is less than 90 guests, you get to know the staff and they get to know you - it seems that nothing is too difficult for them. This is also a "foodies" paradise - all meals are superb with buffets and fine dining days all with very good SA wines. We had a 2 bedroom villa which was extremely spacious and comfortable with loads of places to sit and relax both inside and outside in your garden and plunge pool. The beach is spectacular and you are often the only people on it. Whilst the locals will try and sell you their wares if you are on the beach, they are very friendly and do not push too hard. I cannot fault Baraza in any way and my wife, daughter and I extend our thanks to all of the staff for a wonderful 5 days. Special thanks to Jemima!