A perfect moment with Nice people in a wonderful place we will remember this moment for ever Good Food and a fantastique expérience at the SPA we will try to make another stay in the future to enjoy again
Best place to stay in Vilanculos. The staff go above and beyond to keep guests happy. The location is 15 minutes from the airport and feels luxurious in every way. The hotel arranges tours, taxis and whatever else you need. They are reliable and trustworthy. We stayed in a garden view suite for 4 nights and 1 night in an ocean view suite. Both were excellent. I have a soft spot for the garden suite because of the outdoor shower and practical design as well as the extra spacious bathroom. The ocean view suite gives you a balcony to enjoy the view but isn't as spacious as the garden unit and fewer plug points. I recommend the lobster pasta. But ask for the tiny jar of piri-piri if you want a kick in any of your meals. The chicken burger was also lovely. The prawns were good too but again ask for the piri-piri! I also suggest the breakfast wrap with chorizo and scrambled eggs with a lovely foamy cappuccino. For dessert the chocolate volcano was a winner. There is a spa and a gym on site which we unfortunately didn't have the time to try out. The WiFi can be a bit temperamental but you can ask for a dongle at reception. Just note that the luxury within the walls of the hotel is in stark contrast to the community and surrounding area of the hotel. It's about an hour walk to the Mercado Municipal which is the main local market. It's not for the faint hearted. You can reach this by tuktuk but then make sure you have cash on you. Its cheaper than taking a cab/taxi and takes about 10 to 15 minutes by tuktuk. The hotel is in a good location - close enough to the airport, right on the beach, a short tuk tuk from the supermarket and Mercado Municipal, other beach restaurants and the ocean horse safari if you're keen on that. I wouldn't stay anywhere else in Vilanculos. Stick to this place. …
Just got back from a three-day stay at Bahia Mar. The good news is that the property is physically nice -- the common areas look good, with great views over the ocean. The room itself was good -- we had the sea view room, which had a big deck and even better ocean views. A/C worked really well and the room was in good condition overall (except that the bedding could use an upgrade, and needs to be larger -- the fitted sheet was too small and kept detaching from the mattress, which is kind of gross when wake up in the middle of the night to find your legs resting on bare mattress). The bad news is that everything else is a bit of a mess. It started with the airport pickup, which is included with the booking. What a disaster! We walked out into the airport terminal and there were a bunch of people standing there holding up name cards, but none of them were for us. We searched the terminal for 15 minutes and finally found the Bahia Mar representative talking on his cell phone and holding a wooden sign that said "Bahia Mar" under his arm so you really couldn't see it. Once we located him, he then escorted us outside and then left without saying anything. After another 45 minutes of waiting, and occasionally seeing him re-appear but constantly talking on his cell phone, a car showed up and took us to the resort. But it was a beat up old minivan that they crammed 6 adults (and all of their luggage into). Thankfully it's only 15 mins to the resort, but the whole experience just felt very chaotic, disorganized, and stressful. Certainly not what I expect when I'm paying $340USD a night for the lowest level room. It was similar on the return to the airport three days later. I won't go into all the details, but it was similarly disorganized and we ended up leaving almost 25 minutes late -- which, of course, causes a lot of stress when you have a flight to catch. It also just generally felt like nobody was really in charge anywhere at the resort. For a small, boutique property, it was surprising that we never saw or met anyone like a general manager. Nobody ever asked us how our stay was going. When you go to the front desk, someone will eventually appear and assist you, but that leads to the other big issue... The staff were ok but something is very strange about how they provide service. We kept saying that every time we interacted with the staff, it seemed like this was the first time they were encountering a request -- such as, could we get a power adapter? Or, could I order a coffee? Routine questions seemed to flummox them and it just felt weird. Similar at the restaurant -- the waiter would just eventually appear at your table and basically stare at you. You had to kind of just say "well, I'd like to have such and such." Nobody ever welcomed you to the restaurant, asked if you'd like to start with a drink, asked if you are ready to order -- all the routine basic things you'd expect at a restaurant. That type of service was pretty consistent throughout the resort. Nobody ever smiled or said good morning or asked how your day was or anything pleasant like that. It was just very basic and awkward. Food in the restaurant was decent, at least. We ate all our meals there and were generally satisfied, although after three days, we felt like we had tried everything that appealed to us and would have hit a wall had we been there an extra day or two. The other big thing that took away from our experience was that wifi was basically out most of our stay. When we checked in, they told us the wifi was down but they were hoping to get it fixed the next day (and there was no real apology or offer of a credit or anything to compensate for this very big problem). It did eventually start to work late the next morning, but then for the next two and a half days, the wifi would go up for maybe 15 minutes and then go out for an hour, and then repeat a similar cycle. Also, when the wifi is down, that also means the phone in your room won't work, so you can't call the front desk for anything. So, if you're visiting this resort from a foreign country and maybe don't have good cellular service in Mozambique and rely on the resort having functioning wifi, I wouldn't recommend you stay here. The gripes mentioned above are very real and annoying, but we tried to have a positive attitude and focus on the good things, like the views, walking on the beach, reading on the deck, etc. If the problems we encountered had happened at a 3-star resort that cost maybe $100USD a night, maybe we'd be ok with it. But this place is charging $340USD a night! In Mozambique! So I think you have higher expectations and this place definitely misses the mark. We've traveled all around the world and stayed in a wide range of accommodations, and I have to say that Bahia Mar at the prices they are charging has to be one of the lowest value for money properties I've experienced. Seems like they need new management or something, someone who is on the ball, present, and responsive to feedback (which starts with soliciting the feedback and making yourself known and visible). Can't recommend anyone stay here, unfortunately.…
I cannot fault one single thing at Bahia Mar. Their photos on their website do not do them justice. It is, by far, one of the most beautiful places I've ever been to. You can stare for hours at the view from their garden and swimming pool and you won't get enough of it. Their staff is very attentive, the food is amazing and their tour to the Bazaturo archipelago is out of this world. I'm sure I'll be back. They also upgraded us to a room with a sea view because the hotel was not fully booked at the time, which was even more amazing. Thank you for an awesome time.
It was a good experience, the place is beautiful, safe and with great service. The rest could be better, the dishes are not worth the amount we paid. Taste is not good and little amount. The shrimp soup is awful as is the spiced chicken curry. They didn't show me the cocktail menu, even though I asked if they had it. I only found out on the last day.
I stayed 11 nights to do an extended Fitness retreat. The workouts were demanding and yielded results, and the food and juice were delicious and so healthy! Chef Sophie excels at making healthy food flavorful! After Nelson had pushed me to my limits during the workouts, the ladies at the spa helped to 'repair' my body and make my aching muscles feel better. An amazing team of professionals that make you feel like you are part of the family!
I absolutely adore Bahia Mar! My stay was 10/10 and I would definitely go back again. The staff are really friendly and professional. My pool suite was gorgeous and very spacious. My bed was comfortable and the room was very clean. There’s a gym too with a personal trainer and classes I could join. The food was so tasty especially the prawns. Yum! I definitely recommend staying there. It’s not far from the airport and I was able to book a boat tour around Bazaruto and benguerra island via the hotel (they arranged it). Thank you Love Jetsetter
The hotel is as advertised. It's very beautiful, with a lush garden. I especially liked sitting outside near the water in the garden at night when the jasmine scent wafted through the air. The room was huge (upgraded to a luxury sea view room) and kept nice and cool. The food was delicious, although many items seemed to be out of stock. The front desk staff was friendly and helpful. Really great that they could arrange our COVID departure test. It took less than a day to receive the results. I'm really glad that we chose this hotel for our stay in Vilankulos.
Went to Vilanculos for the Marlin fishing but unfortunately following the cyclone the water was too warm and whilst I cought plenty of game fish the Marlin were too lethargic and refused to bite. The hotel was very pleasant and comfortable with helpful staff. I paid in advance for our evening meal but would advise people to pay the menu price as this was much cheaper. All in all a nice hotel.
Brilliant stay as part of our wider African adventure. The staff couldnt have been anymore helpful. Celebrated my birthday here and we were so well looked after. We had an excellent spacious room with an outside plung pool. The cleaning was impeccable and we felt so pampered. Before our travel across the hotel provided excellent information about obtaining a visa on entry (as the UK embassy were unable to deliver to us on time) which took away any anxiety we had before arrival. The hotel helped to organise trips - the Dhow snd Seahorse experience was fab! We had to unfortunately cut our stsy short in order to get back to the UK before entry requirements changed for the Omicron Covid variant - without the help from Susana Vidal we would have been stuck, she was so helpful with organising land transfers and early covid test results. We recomment this hotel to anyone wanting a luxurious stay in Mozambique!…
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