Truly fantastic location, right on the amazing beach where the ocean comes almost all the way to your bungalow's door every high tide and then retreats hundreds of meters. Great for swimming, kayaking, windsurfing and snorkeling at high tide. Amazing for long walks with locals harvesting seaweed at low tide. During the full moon it becomes pure magic.

The hotel is cozy and sweet, nice bungalows and great restaurant on the water. You have to try the tuna sashimi and their twist on caipirinha - one of the best cocktails I have ever tried (konyagi, dark local organic honey and limes - almost too good to be true).

The place is expertly managed by Neil and Jill, cool couple from South Africa; Neil also spins fine tunes in his spare time, as a DJ.

All in all - great experience and very highly recommended.

I spent at Coral Rock in total around 10 nights with my girlfriend and all in all we have been very disappointed, so let's start:
- First of all they mixed up the dates and we had to wait about an hour till they sorted that out, we were offered for that a free breakfast and a bottle of wine in the evening by guest relations which seems very nice. Unfortunately we found the bottle of wine on the bill and guest relations could hardly remember.
- The hotel itself is quite nice with a nice pool. The view is amazing I have to admit but available in other hotels around as well.
- The first room we got was absolutely okay. It was rather at the end of all bungalows.
- After a break of 5 days when we have been to another island we got another room which was quite close to the main entrance and especially the generator. This is used quite often as the power drops quite often. Unfortunately it is so close that you have the feeling it stands in your room when it runs, absolutely horrible.
- the most annoying thing was actually the food in general. The breakfast was horrible and there was nothing nice about it. They just took no pride in it at all. The menu for lunch and dinner is much too long and this lowers the quality to a level which is not acceptable for the prices they charge. Furthermore a dish which was good one day was horrible next day plus looked completely different.
- Service was also bad apart from one waiter who was always very nice. All other people run around as if they hate their job. Guest relations as well, there was this one girl who I haven't seen smile once the entire time - plus we got the feeling that they all just don't care. As example for that we were not even asked why we left earlier when we left two nights before the end of our booking.
- Last problem is that they have a lot of big travel groups coming which stay only for one or two nights, this might be one reason why they don't really care about their customers.
All in all I would not recommend the stay at Coral Rock!

To get here from stonetown we paid 40,000 tsh to our driver. It took around 2 hours.
Once you get to Paje they just keep following that main road all the way to what seems like another 20min drive.

We pulled in through a typical Tanzanian village and caught glimpses of the ocean between houses and were breathless. Arriving for check in local kids come up to curiously stare you up and down. Check in was easy they didnt keep our passports.

The premises is a long rectangular property and we were at the other end away from the restaurant. Lots of reviews on this site raved about the venue hence why we booked. We were a couple so just wanted quiet time. The room had AC and TV and was perfect - four post bed, clean, safe and private.

The food at the hotel was brilliant - go the seafood it was delicious. At first ordering according to gram size you think you will be ripped off but the portion was fair and the quality brilliant in comparison to most places in Zanzibar (this is my 3rd time).

Staff.. waiters were great always attentive and understood our orders. Its much nicer sitting outside for dinner as the restaurant there was just a vibe too crowded and not quiet.

There is an infinity pool which we used once as it was a little crowded. It was fine when you timed the tide and had some beautiful swims in the ocean. Strolls along the beach are gorgeous and as with most of africa - football is all the rage on the beach.

Expect lots of kids to come up and say hi. Please please dont give them sweets or money even if asked. This is one of the few beach destinations in East Africa left where you can take photos with the kids without them demanding money or sweets due to some tourists thinking its ok to do. If you want to help donate to a credible organisation not to beggars.

Tourism is ruining local culture throughout this continent be respectful its a Muslim island dont prance around in your bikinis, cover up after your swim!

We have stayed at the hotel twice before and so were extremely disappointed to see how this hotel has deteriorated since we were last there in late 2011. The current 4 star trip advisor rating for 2012 needs to be reviewed. The staff are friendly and do the best that they can, but the owner management Gillian and Neil appear disinterested.
The room had been superficially cleaned when we checked in, the bathroom had a terrible smell, the linen was dirty, two of our towells were badly soiled and stank. Fortunately we had packed our own beach towels so used those instead. When we moved any of the furniture or pulled the curtains back there was gunk underneath, and our mosquito net was very dirty.
When we flushed our loo, the sewerage came up in the shower. Staff cleared the blockage, but the bathroom always stank thereafter.
The aircon and one wall fan (both badly rusted and needing to be serviced) were ineffectual. The mattresses were very uncomfortable and you are also woken at 4am every morning by the taxi's hooting as they travel through the village (the hotel is in Jambiani Village), with the main road directly behind the hotel.
The waiting time for your food in the restaurant is very long. During our 10 days stay we waited for at least an hour (once 2.5 hours) for simple orders like soup. Staff appeared to be doing their best, but the kitchen was apparently understaffed. Most other diners had similar complaints and we found it better to eat most meals at surrounding restaurants (most of which are also significantly cheaper). The breakfasts are very sparse and unimaginitive given the variety of fruits available on the island. Breakfast is included with the room, so it appears management are cutting costs by offering the bare minimum. Be prepared for instant coffee in tupperware, cornflakes, muesli and one fruit juice container (may be empty if you arive later). The fruit is also left in the sun, so is hot and soggy later in the morning.
We weren't the only ones that felt let down, and we overheard several guests trying to secure alternative accommodation. Overall, we would highly recommend Zanzibar, and particulaly the Jambiani area, but unless management take drastic action, Coral Rock was dissappointing.