Melia Zanzibar

8.8

Excellent

239 Guest reviews

8.8

Excellent

239 Verified Reviews

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Cleanliness9.0/10

Service8.8/10

Comfort9.0/10

Condition8.8/10

location7.6/10

Neighborhood7.8/10

Amenities8.2/10

The resort is very beautiful and staff are really friendly . Favourite chill area was the Gabi beach where we had a good view of the blue waters of the indian ocean ,good music and food.

Everything about this hotel was so great !!!!

Beautiful hotel

The property is beautiful and spacious. Unfortunately, our shower never heated properly despite multiple requests to the front desk. Maintenance came several times to address the water heater, but it wasn’t fully resolved until our last day, which was the fourth day of our stay.

Perfect stay

Awesome!!!!

Staff is beyond terrible and untrained. Needs massive improvements across the board or not worth the cheapest or most expensive room.

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Good resort except for mosquitoes Had to see Zanzibar, so great. for ocean views.

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some of the staff service is a bit slow, need to be improved

Poor service, overall not worth it

We arrived to our garden view room and it had a strong smell of mildew. We also could hear every word of the couple staying in the room across from ours as they were having a a highly emotional argument. We also found out that our all inclusive was not really all-inclusive, there were several restrictions such as room service is not included. We quickly realized this entire place was overrated and over priced. With all of that we decided we wanted to upgrade since we were already there and all the other resorts were booked. Khalfa, the hotel manager at the time, gave us a very hard time getting an upgrade. Hotels.com was no help either. We were willing to pay the difference between what we paid for our room and the new room which was around $250/night. Khalfa instead charged us more than double that and said it was hotel policy to add an upgrade fee of an extra $300/night regardless of the difference in price...with no consideration of our initial experience. Our new room was better... Did not have the mildew problem but we also didn't have the sea view as advertised and it was really hot in the room... We could never cool the room down sufficiently. Food was ok, drinks were ok, beach was nice but several steps to climb to get there. Don't come here if you're looking to have any fun... This resort is strictly for relaxation. The transportation cost from hotel to other areas like Stone Town was more expensive than we expected($50 each way for a 40min ride).

This property is amazing. The basic room is fantastic, spacious and comfortable. I will definitely recommend this place to family and friends.

Be aware that there are tiers to the "all inclusive", and you pay extra for anything outside of your tier. Food options are not that great at all restaurants, especially buffet. Customer service is great around hotel, albeit some servers seeming overworked and over it. Rooms are nice layout but the mattress was extremely hard/stiff, bathroom had repairs that are noticably bad work (paint different color from rest of wall over a patched area, corners with discolored caulking) - which are strange for 5 star hotels. Nothing really in surrounding area, but property is large and has a lot of walking areas.

This property markets false advertisement, this establishment is not an all inclusive, everything has an extra charge which they don’t tell you until you have already checked in. They need to do a better job of spraying for mosquitos and other insects. The beds were hard as rocks. Be prepared for an abundance of flies everywhere including in the restaurants whether indoors or out.

WoW, definitely an amazing resort to stay while you're visiting beautiful Zanzibar. As the oldest resort on the island/in the area, definitely couldn't tell. The grounds are very well kept, rooms are cozy and absolutely beautiful. We stayed in the Romantic Villa, The Level and it was definitely worth it. Separate from the other rooms providing privacy, but just a short walk from everything. Carts are available for transport around the property considering its massive size. Would have enjoyed a little more variety on the dining options. After the third day, the menus/buffets became repetitive. The staff is amazing! Everyone was so accommodating and eager to help in any way. I love the mantra "Hakuna Matata". For them it's more than just a line from a movie, but really a way of life. Everyone is so peaceful and live in harmony. A bit of anxiety at night with the large water bugs outside and geckos, but honestly we only saw a few during our 6 day stay. Our room came with personal can of bug/insect spray. Beware of the giant snails if you're out walking at night! LoL, they are completely harmless, but definitely a sight to see if you're not used to it. Guest Services at the main property and The Level are the best! They set up dinner reservations for you and check on you via WhatsApp. Really nice touch to have a special cake prepared for our wedding anniversary. A bit far from city center Stone Town - (1 hr). Travel and taxi can get expensive.This will be the only place we stay!

Excellent stay. Staff was wonderful. The food was excellent. The property was clean. My husband and I stayed 10 days. We upgraded to the Level it was a good deal. Better food options, beach access, it was well worth it. BTW to enter Zanzabar you must have a Visa if you are from the USA . Overall the stay was wonderful.

Beautiful Ocean Views

Beautiful property, excellent food, staff was friendly, room was in great shape with excellent amenities (had one villa and one regular hotel room), pools very good (we were in "Level" area), food service, internet good (not great, but most video streaming worked sufficiently), only drawback was no on-site water sports: beware of the guys on the beach as they were not very reliable on jet skiing and others. Referral for Kibwana Divers (office 20 minutes away) was excellent.

We had our honeymoon at Meliá Zanzibar and had the best time. What we thought that really made the hotel exceptional was the service, staff, amenities (pools, beach), food and the grounds were all fantastic. We were made to feel very much at home. The staff were all friendly, attentive, and welcoming. They really made our stay very special. We have nothing but fantastic memories of Melia Zanzibar.

Beautiful property! We really enjoyed our stay. We were in a bungalow that was at the complete opposite end of the beach which at first seemed like it would be too far away but actually didn’t end up being a problem. Super easy to get around the resort by golf carts and the staff was all so friendly and helpful.

Incredible stay. We stayed in a romance pavilion room-if it’s in your budget, do it! Incredible views and beaches. Food was excellent-lunch at at this resort. The Jetty is a must. Wish we could have spent more time!

I had a pleasant stay at the Melia but I expected a little bit better of a 5 star resort. There were definitely pros and cons PROS: The grounds and the resort are really well maintained and very beautiful. The beach is really spectacular and so is the bar there. The live music during the dinner was really nice and the staff was overall really friendly. CONS: There wasn't a lot offered in the sense of activities. The water is very shallow so you can't really swim there, no water activities, didn't see any excursions. There didn't appeared to be a dedicated non-smoking policy so I ended up multiple times next to smokers in the restaurant and the pool. The buffet in the morning is rather small and not so many choices but everything I ate was really good. The rooms are nice but shades were old and didn't close, no hangers in the bathroom and it just seemed to be missing the touches to make it 5*. You have to be ready to walk a bit from A to B and to the beautiful beach e.g. take a shuttle which runs about every 15-20mins.

Beautiful place with a very friendly staff

We had a wonderful time. Property has gorgeous views of the ocean and beautiful gardens. Staff always read to help with a smile on their face. Highly recommended.

The property refused to refund my money after catching CoVID and not being able to travel . They said they will re schedule however I am not coming back to the country anytime soon. Why take someone’s hard earned money because of situations they cannot handle . They are fraud .

Great place must visit again and again

It was great. we were a group of 17 people across 3 continents for 5 nights -Melia provided the perfect location and ambiance for a mini family reunion and landmark birthday celebration. The staff were super helpful, nice and pro-active. the management demonstrated leadership by example and were aware of a simple fact. guests go to resorts to unwind, to leave their worries at the door. Stefa, Daniel, Javier

I absolutely loved this property. The staff is amazing, the room was well kept and the property was designed with the guest in mind. This property is extremely large however shuttles are readily available or you can choose to walk. Several restaurants to choose from, different themes each night. Local garden, honey making, live entertainment, beach activities, kids friendly with adult only areas. I chose one of the all inclusive option it was totally worth it. Truly a 5 star experience! The location is far so arrange transportation ahead of time. You can have the doctor come to the property to get your Covid test done super convenient. I will be back.

Overall very good experience, but a few glitches

Overall this was a great property and would give it a general thumbs up. The location was superb with fantastic views of the sea. The only part that was annoying was a continued sense of disorganized staff. For example, we needed to confirm airport transportation multiple times because one desk forgot to tell another desk, seemed to always need to remind them of food and drink orders, etc.

Everything is very slow and u need to ask more than twice for them to do or get you something

An Amazing Resort with Terrible manager ! We chose the romantic sea view bungalow for our short break on Zanzibar which cost us 3100$ . upon check at 12 pm the lady said the room is mot available , when i push back asking for timing when do we expect the room she was like ok your room is ready ! Also no one informed us that the booking was done for 1 PAX instead of two and then when we had an issue with our room they were like we cant do anything for you we have already did you a favor to let u two check in !! We asked her to book a massage for us and she was like i prefer u speak to them yourself , we spoke to them and did the booking and no one informed us with any cancellation then again when we have an issue with the room they were like we doing u favors and waiving the cancellation fees ! The room was filled with worms , bed bugs and weird reptile that looks like crab , i went to the team asking to pay for an upgrade to a bigger newer room hoping that it would be better , the team couldnt help much and called the manager who advised that i need to pay 260$ per night to upgrade although this category of rooms was only 100$ more than mine online , i asked Javier the manager to match this where i was surprised with his arrogant and rude attitude that this is it you either take it or leave it and that they haven' taken any money from and i need to contact expedia ! I stayed with expedia for more than hour on chat where they were trying to contact the hotel with no respon

Overpriced. Everything is overpriced. Even transportation they get you for 75$ each way

Melia, Zanzibar is great

We had a great stay in Melia. We had a complimentary upgrade to the Level which I highly recommend and our stay will always be memorable. The environment, the rooms, cleanliness and the service was awesome. Everyone who worked there paid attention to detail which is a very important thing to us and they even went out of their way to assist us and make us comfortable. Javier the manager was great and Said who was mostly our waiter was great. We will definitely be back.

Large property with many all inclusive restaurants, nice pools. The level area is much better then the main area, so upgrade to premium is worth the money.

Great place!

Amazing place . World class ocean views, great facilities . Only comment was that it is hard to understand room types and related amenities and exclusive facilities. In hindsight might have taken another package

This place was just amazing!!! So tranquil, so unique, and so clean! The water and food are just amazing! Can’t wait to go back!!

Beautiful hotel very happy with the staff and cleanliness of the property.

Amazing hotel! Great food, beautiful pool and beach, the staff is very kind and the room is so comfortable, especially the huge bathroom. Highly recommended

Its a beautiful Property , The staff very friendly

Everything about this all inclusive hotel was great! 100% recommended

Excellent Trip

Excellent trip for the family. Beautiful view from the room. The service was great.

This is Hotel is By Far The Best!!! My husband and me have stayed in. Everything from the Food, the staff, cleanliness, pool and location was Fantastic. I would Definitely recommend to stay at this place you will Not be disappointed. Take the All Inclusive Package it's Worth it.

Beautiful hotel and very kind hospitable happy staff. Lovely spacious rooms.

Great stay!

Friendly and helpful staff. Food was great and a lot of food options on the full board. Beautiful resort and room was very comfortable. I would stay here again and recommend to friends.

Relaxing break between work trips

I needed to rest between work weeks in Bangladesh and Tanzania and the Melia Zanzibar was the perfect antidote to my fatigue. The property was beautiful and not too crowded. I was able to relax, enjoy the pool area and get some much needed rest. Dining options were limited as this was not busy season, with only one dining option available at each meal. But, they did move it around so I got to experience all of the restaurants the resort had to offer.

Very good service , maybe the beach is not excellent

The attention we got was great. For example Mr Vikram in charge of the restaurant heard that we had not liked the shrimps and he found us to understand better The only unfortunate thing is the tide . If you want a much better sea and beach you need to go to Nungwi in the extreme north of Zanzibar

Zanzibar Paradise

Excellent hotel with great all-inclusive package. Great staff. We had a wonderful stay doing very little. Arranged our own driver for a day trip into Stonetown, about an hours drive away.

Relax stay at Melia

Great stay in Zanzibar . Pool and beach are nice along with Buffett entertainment. Clean facilities!

The resort was just okay. For the price I paid for a bungalow, I guess I expected more. There was nothing major that went wrong except there were little things that added up. For example, one of the sinks wasn't draining so we had to remove the drain stop entirely. Not a big deal. The same thing happened to the tub. Also not a big deal. Some random person rang our bell at 4 am waking us up then walked away (we didn't open the door because we had no idea who it was and we didn't receive a call regarding hotel staff visiting us in the middle of the night). People were trying to persuade us to take a safari while we were relaxing by the pool. After we repeatedly tried to tell them that we just finished a 2 week long safari and that we weren't interested he kept at it. At the beach, which was a golf cart ride away, there were annoying vendors, tour operators, etc. Although the security officers tried their best to discourage them from lingering it was not something I wanted to deal with at all while trying to relax. Overall our stay was fine just expecting more for what we paid.

We liked how private everything was. There was always plenty of room at the pools, beach, and restaurants. Also the water was beautiful and food was delicious.

Beautiful hotel and clean rooms

Pros - Clean, friendly staff, wide variety of food options in different restaurants, lovely beach and pool. The little touches like welcome letter and messages on the TV made it special. A true luxury resort! Cons - Beach is about 1 mile from the hotel, however there’s a buggy service every 20 mins. Also, we didn’t know what was going on in the hotel. Nobody mentioned to us about dinner by the pool until we went to the main restaurant and we only found out about the dj night at the Jetty Bar from somebody at the beach. It’d be handy to have a daily activities/events/menu sheet. I’ve been to the Riu Palace Hotel in Nungwi (formerly Hideaway of Nungwi) which I found superior to Melia.

Excellent hotel with beautiful sea views

A very good hotel with fantastic sea views. The staff were very friendly and attentive. While the beach was a 5 minute buggy ride away it was beautifully maintained with a lovely bar/ restaurant. Highly recommended.

It was awesome The people are super nice and helpful

Incredible hotel on a paradise island

Beautiful hotel, Amazing scenery, Incrediblely good food & lovely staff!! A true 5* luxury resort!!

Excellent relaxation. good deal in all inclusive. good food and drinks. very good and pleasant service

Very friendly staff, great location

We got an upgrade to a beautiful room upon check-in (room 1909). Even though the hotel is located 1 hr drive from the airport, the location was great. The hotel offers lots of options for food and entertainment. There are various restaurants located in different areas (by the pool, beach, etc.). The staff was very friendly. Special mention to Rocio at reception as well as Eliza and Frederick at the restaurant.

Solid hotel in a beautiful location

Overall good experience in Zanzibar. Good hotel, great beach, very tasty and diversed food.l, interesting kids club. Service could improve and rooms be better decorated

Nice place to propose ;)

I ordered in advance a special evening at the Gabi beach. The staff did a wonderful job hosting this evening, it was beautiful. Even without the proposal it's a place to remember. Most recommended. Thank you!

Wonder resort

It's a beautiful resort. The service and the food was superb.

It's a great place to be especially the ocean views. Staff are friendly and service is great. Don't miss the Jetty and the pool

Beautiful grounds--well maintained. The room was big with a nice bathroom. Wonderful pool, too.

Traveling solo after a month of volunteering in Tanzania. I wanted to stay somewhere nice and I feel that I am often disappointed by all-inclusive places, and that no hotel looks as nice as it does online. However, Melia FAR exceeded my expectations, and it looked better in person than it did on the website. The style of the hotel and rooms was modern but still had an island feel. Bed was very comfortable. The bathroom and outdoor shower were amazing. The views and pools were simply outstanding. I had the all-inclusive package, and the food and drinks were great. Excellent breakfast, and there was a delicious indian barbeque one night. The staff were great and always asking if I needed anything, made me feel welcome, which was nice as I was traveling alone. The beach was ok, very rocky in the water due to the old reef, and tide goes out quite a bit as it does elsewhere on Zanzibar. It was still beautiful though and the water color is unreal. Bonus, the trails they use to shuttle people to the beach on golf carts is actually a fantastic running trail, too. Not much else around this hotel, but Stone town was a 45min cab ride away. Great trip and a beautiful hotel!

Great staff, Best hotel in Zanzibar

This was our first visit in Zanzibar and we are so happy we chose this hotel. We could not have asked for more. Amazing location, great food, beautiful hotel and the kindest, most thoughtful staff. Special thanks to Lucas, a very hardworking member of the hotel, and now a friend, for making our stay so memorable and fun.

Property design is great while rooms are not modern. Phone line was not working. Dining options are satisfactory. They did not clean the room second day.

The location is stunning and looks like a postcard. The hotel staff were incredible, polite and willing to go the extra mile. The food was fantastic with such a wide variety.

Gorgeous, relaxing getaway

Worth every cent. Definitely recommend the all-inclusive so that you can just sit back and enjoy it all! The hotel itself is gorgeous, as is nearby Gabi Beach. There are so many places where you can relax and enjoy a beautiful view. It even rained for a few hours during my trip, and I still enjoyed having a drink by the library bar, or sitting out at the beach while watching the sky darken then lighten back up. The place is a haven for relaxing, indulging and restoring!

Over-the-top resort experience

This resort is all about the shockingly beautiful Zanzibar sun, beach and sky. It is the perfect setting to relax for a few days especially after a safari on the African mainland. The all-inclusive option is an excellent value as well, although it does keep you a bit tied to the property instead of venturing out into Zanzibar's neighborhoods. It depends what you are looking for in a vacation - if you want a resort experience, the Melia has it in spades. It would be great if there were a few more walking paths between the various buildings, to get from a standard room to the restaurant or pool you need to walk down the concrete path shared with the golf carts. The most pressing issue to face though is the light switches in the standard rooms, they are back-lit and cast a surprisingly bright blue hue throughout the room all night. I am a heavy sleeper but I found myself waking up every few hours because of this. The hotel really should put shades over these switches. If they can fix the light switches we'd definitely come back!

Good hotel to relax

We spent 6 nights over there just for relaxing, the views from the pool is very nice, spa is good and very affordable, food is good and different every night (all inclusive) The beach is not the best to swim and is 50 min from city center/airport, so there is not much to do around, but is perfect if you want to spend days relaxing.

Nice Spanish Hotel with local staff.

Check in was very simple and greeted with a cold towel and a cold fruit drink, I would have prefered a beer on such a hot day. I upgraded to All inclusive premium at a cost of $55 a day which turned out to be a waste of money as I didn't use the facilities available to me, except for room service once and a different beer. My room was large and kept wonderfully clean. I had a partial sea view terrace room in block 14 which I was very happy with. I had e-mailed the hotel prior to arrival to explain that I have some walking difficulties and they obliged by giving me a very convenient room. The food was excellent at all meal times. I especially enjoyed the many home made soups and the fresh breads. Many different foods from different cultures, Local, Asian, Greek and International. Plenty of fruit depending on season. The main pool is large and beautifully located overlooking the Indian Ocean. I had no problems being served with drinks while seated around the pool, and all the pool staff were very helpful and friendly helping with beds etc.My only problem at the pool was the every day noise that they called music, it was some kind of jazz (weird choice) and never changed in the 10 days I was there even though they promised to do so on numerous occasions. The Jetty Tapas restaurant is wonderful, great food, very comfortable and lovely views over the ocean, tide in or out. The Gabi beach is quite special. Many sun beds located either on the beach or under the trees.Also great food

Good but overall experience could have been better

Staff were friendly and in general very nice people. Management and staff did rounds around the resort asking guests if they were having a good time. However, quite a few times, the staff mixed up our orders and/or we had to wait a long time to get it. Also, no wifi in most guest rooms and the beach is not walking distance from main area of resort - they provide a free buggy ride over. On a side note, I've been a business traveler for many years (though this one was for pleasure) and I found this hotel management one of the most stringent I've ever come across in terms of charging every pennies worth, even when they caused certain inconveniences. It soured some of the experience of staying there.

Great hotel to relax

Hotel staff should treat local tourists the same, I felt a bit neglected and my requests were not met on time. After contacting the manager that is when was helped. Some of the staffs were very friendly, professional and helpful. Great onsite manager Jose

Good hotel on the beach , international flavor

The staff was very friendly , in addition we got an upgrade . The spanish management at site was very dedicated to customer satisfaction and always at hand , the local workers were always with a smile on their face . The sea is just in forn of the hotel , but you need a five minutes drive with the electric cars of the hotel in order to arrive to a beach were you can swim . International flavor with small spanish details .

Great beach, nice pool, amazing vibe and staff

Generally a great place to stay in Zanzibar. The staff is lovely, always helpful and smiling and contributing immensely to having a great stay. The Hotel's Gabi Beach is lovely; the secret is to time your visit to the beach to the tide: when the tide is out, you can't swim. But you can walk all the way out to the coral reef and see the coral with your naked eye. The rooms are clean, but they are getting a little dated and it's time for a refresh. Also, there were sometimes funny smells in the toilet and the outdoor shower. The food was OK, except for Swahili night which was great. Gabi beach was always the best place for lunch, and second to that for lunch and dinner the Spice Market. From what I hear, this is a standard 5 star experience in Zanzibar, although it would be closer to 4 stars by European standards. The Wifi is only in the lobby, pool and main public areas, and does not reach the rooms, which is fine for a holiday destination like this. However where you do get Wifi, it works well and I unfortunately got a lot of work done. All in all, we had a wonderful stay, and it's a great place to get away and forget about it all.

Lovely hotel with beautiful grounds

My boyfriend and I stayed here for three days at the end of January and had a lovely time. It was a bit of a drive from the ferry station but we were pleased with the hotel and the staff.

Lovely hotel with private beach and good value

I had a brilliant time at the hotel! It is showing a little wear - in the rooms more than anywhere else, but that is not to say that they are in any way uncomfortable!! Just a bit of painting here or there, or maybe some mastic that needs replacing. The facilities are excellent, and there is a great variety of venues within the resort. The value for money is exceptional. For an all-inclusive package, the quality of food, drinks, and wines/spirits included is beyond any other resort that i've visited. I would definitely go back, and at the end of 8 days, we definitely wanted about 4 more!!

great place and facilities. very good services and hospitalty!!

Perfect location on the beach

The hotel is beautifull. The jetty bar is amazing. I recomand to get the all incusive in this hotel as it worth it very much. Hope to visit again.

Excellent but!

I guess the smart and excellent management of melia zanzibar resort has led to the resolution of my initial disappointement when we arrived. Beaches in the north east part of Zanzibar is not as clean as I thought as the beach was full of algae that made it impossible for the kids to enjoy the beach. Another disappointment was that no wireless internet connection in the rooms. The management tried to provide us with internet but there was no solution to the beach crisis The all inclusive package was really worth it. Variety of restaurants and cafes that has different food themes every night with live entertainment They planned unforgettable birthday party for my daughter

Beautiful but boring - only go if you're a couple

Beautiful hotel, terrific staff and tranquil but soooooo quiet. I had a spare weekend while working in Tanzania so skipped across to Zanzibar for some diving. The idea was good but chose the wrong hotel - it's 99% full of european couples either honeymooning or getting to know each other after the kids have left home. This should be posted in large letters on their website - there was no-one to talk to!

Great hotel few minutes from white sand beach

Wonderful hotel and staff. Very friendly. Great for couples. The overall food experience was ok, not the best. But friendly staff made sure that my vacation was a great one!

melia

We had a very nice family vacation. The hotel is beatiful and clean Gabi beach is not good enough. Not alive and not interesting. The jetty restaurant is too quiet and too dark. No music. Too bad because it has a big potential. Pool waitresses and bartenders need to learn more about alcohol : gave me beer with ice once , and cold red wine... The hotel workers are very nice and kind. The food is top class! We had a great time!

New hotel in a beautiful location

We were there for five days after a safari. We had a wonderful time. Kudos to the management of the Melia for being able to bring this level of experience in a very unsophisticated evironment. Rooms are roomy and beautiful, staff is very friendly, training is excellent. Food is very good, in my opinion it pays to do the all inclusive, even if you (like me) do not drink. We did not leave the hotel in the four days (five nights) we were there.

I enjoyed it thououghly. I was with a person who was handicapped so they accommodated us by moving us to a 1st floor room. fixing the elevator would help. The service was wonderful!

Great place to relax

I would definitely recommend taking the "all inclusive" option which they offer upon check in, otherwise the meals can be quite expensive. At times we found it very hard to communicate with the support staff (waiters, cleaners, etc) as their knowledge of English was very limited and our orders were almost always confused. For example, bringing coffee without cream and sugar, and by the time they return with the missing items the coffee is cold. No matter how clearly, and simply we tried to speak, the instructions were always misunderstood. The administrative staff however, were all excellent and made time to have conversations with you daily, and always remembered our names which was an excellent personal touch. There were frequent power outages, which sometimes caused the fuses in our suite to trip and we would suddenly have no air conditioning. We had to call maintenance to our room several times. The location of this hotel was not convenient if you are one who likes to venture out and walk about town. A cab ride to and from town will cost you $100US flat rate and there is no other transportation, so we felt a little confined at times. However, if you are looking for a nice relaxing beach hotel designed for lounging poolside, then this is the perfect spot. Do some more research if you are looking for a beautiful beach. Although Gabi Beach (a 15 min walk) is nice, there are much nicer beaches in Zanzibar.

A fantastic escape

All in all, pretty good. However a few comments, the buffet food is not fantastic especially at breakfast, by our fourth day some of the foods were definitely not fresh. There also isn't enough variety, it would be good to see local dishes on the menu. Beach was good but for this location unless you are on the all inclusive package quite a bit of this hotel is unavailable and there aren't many options outside the hotel. So if you are looking for a resort where you don't want to move and are not fussed about what you eat...then this is it.

Melia Zanzibar

The hotel facilities and rooms are pleasant. However, management runs the hotel like a military camp. Too many rules and the subordinate staff (all pleasant locals) seem too scared to bend even the most unreasonable ones. Seems like serious micro-management. We learned that the management have leased premises from actual property owners hence are there to make money and don’t care about repeat business. If you get there before the stipulated 3p.m check-in time rest assured you will not be offered any food on your all inclusive package. The tides all over the island tend to be really low and far out until mid-to late afternoon. Hotel pool is your only choice half the day, out of their control. There is also no beach to lay out right at the main property since it is mostly covered in a rocky coral reef, only swimmable during high tide. They do have a beach, bar restaurant, lounges etc. where you can reach using their every 15-minutes golf carts. It is part of the property just a little far from the main location. We made the best of our time at Melia and enjoyed it but in summary I would not stay here again nor recommend it especially for the amount they charge! In hind sight we looked at their reviews before booking and every one of them had a response from hotel staff. Now it all makes sense! On a different note, there is a $48.00 per person exit fee that most people including us were surprised with at the airport. Only payable in cash!

Amazing hotel with great beach view

I had a wonderful time at Melia and would recommend this spot to all my friends; in fact i already have.

away from it all

Wonderful stay for four days. Hotel staff could not be more attentive. It was still rainy season so hotel was, happily, not full. Happy to return any time.

Nice hotel in romantic setting

The quality of service, rooms and food was top notch. I would recommend this hotel to anyone that wants to take a romantic getaway. However if you're expecting to experience a bit more of the culture of Zanzibar I would not stay here. We were disappointed that they didn't have more local cuisine and cultural offerings at the hotel.

pleasant vacation

I had the best relaxing vacation in a long time, although it was a rainy season but the weather was perfect and the ocean was amazing. The hotel staff are very friendly and have a high training on service and hospitality. The cleanliness overall was great, food and drinks are very delicious. Furniture and the view from the rooms are worth picturing. I just loved being there and it's worth every $ spent. Definitely will go again in high season (between sep to Feb)

honeymoons

Nice hotel, really good food. Room are nice and big, but not really clean. The service at the different restaurant was bad. Nice people but maybe a lack of experience. No neach in front of the hotel, but great private beach really really close. Thanks

Fabulous Holiday

If you're looking for an amazing resort away from the hustle and bustle of Stonetown, this is your place! The food service was excellent and all of the employees were great and helpful. While it is a little far from the beach, the carts will come and pick you up. Overall, I highly recommend this resort. If you get a room on the bottom level, you get an outdoor shower which was my favorite part of the room!

Wonderful Place to Stay in Zanzibar

I enjoyed my stay at the Hotel. It is a wonderful place to stay. However it would be great if there were more ctivitie to make the stay more lively e.g Snorkeling and water sports.

Pricey but still good value.

Excellent food and facilities. Would recommend all inclusive package (which is actually quite inclusive, they didn't rip us off for anything) as the hotel is a bit isolated, not many places nearby, and if you don't pay for the all inclusive and then pay for food/drinks in the hotel it could get a little pricey. Shower could have been better but fairly minor issue.

No Zanzibar withour Melia

Outstanding. Staff, all inclusive option. Definitely great

Touch of paradise

Top rate resort in a magnificent location. Staff are very proffesional and friendly. Not a bad word really about the Melia- would go back straight away. The only thing to be aware is that the transfer between the resort and Stone Town costs around US$60 each way in a standard-sized taxi - which seems a little inflated for Tanzania.

Not my cup of tea

Melia Kiwengwa is a "tourist enclave" type of establishment, a large chunk of replica Hollywood inside a high perimeter wall, guarded by G4S Security men at all entrances. The lot is plonked on a cliff top miles from anywhere amid impenetrable African bush. I made a mistake in booking it, but for those who like that sort of thing I guess it would be fine. The room was nice, if somewhat cramped, there being only space for one armchair. The second armchair was found in the huge bathroom, where it served no purpose. The transparent toilet cubicle was a bizarre feature, as was the second (outdoor) shower. The undersized bedroom and the oversized bathroom was tolerable but an irritation. The food is good, not exceptional, but pricey. Dinner at the Spices Restaurant (buffet) is about twice the price of a good (a la carte) restaurant in Stonetown. Our room did not have the room-safe as advertised; my request for a reduction on the bill for this omission was politely refused. The chip provided for the electronic door lock failed and in order to satisfy a disbelieving receptionist, a technician had to be sent to confirm my story before a temporary card was provided. The hotel location means inevitably that you stay within the walls of the complex, although trips (inevitably pricey) can be organised through the hotel. The hotel's saving grace is the eternally cheerful and efficient African staff, but even then we were glad our stay was only three days.

African Elegance

Excellent combination of African and European elegance. Would definitely stay there again, although it is a ways from Stone Town and other central activities. It was worth the travel back and forth. Iplan to stay there again !

Secluded paradise

I had arrived at the resort looking the worse for wear after working in the bush and despite this was treated like royaly from the very first greeting by the doormen. Little things like all of the staff greeting you by name within one day of arrival and the invisible cleaning of dinner service/refilling drinks made this stay wonderful. The infinity pool was clean and inviting, with the attentive staff at the pool bar ensuring that drinks were arriving effortlessly to the recliner lounges by the pool. The attention to detail by all staff was excellent, an example was the porter asking if i had any specific plans during my stay, i hinted at SCUBA diving, and within an hour the manager of guest services had called me to enquire if i would like to make a booking for one of the local dive operators. The resort layout allows guests to spread out and not feel like they are 'on top of eachother' with numerous bars/restaurants and private beach. The room was spotless and had great ocean views of the sublime turquoise reef, and as a first in Africa all channels on the TV worked (although there was not much watching of the TV with 27*C water temp the private beach and other water activites beckoned!). The facilities were spotless, and in excellent condition in contrast to some of the other resorts in the area which i observed whilst picking up other day trippers in the bus for local tours. Zanzibar and the Melia are now offically my favourite destination and i will be returning.

Great beach hotel on Zanzibars east coast

Really enjoyed our stay here. Recommend booking on the all inclusive (basic is more than good enough). The beach is a short buggy ride from the hotel, remember to check the tides, swimming is only possible at high tide.