Maisha Nungwi - Boutique Hotel — Hotel in Unguja

Very nice place, friendly staff and overall great experience. The resort looks very good, well maintained and every detail thought out to deliver the maximum comfort and pleasant experience. Rooms are spacious and look really nice, bed was firm but comfortable, staff always prepared in the evening the mosquito nets around the bed and used mosquito spray, plus the now and then flowers on the bed which are a nice touch. Views for the rooms are overlooking the gardens which have a lot of flowers and plants around the walkways and swimming pools -2 of them. The food was good, standard options for breakfast and lunch, decent variety of selection of courses for lunch but still in a 7 days stay didn't have to repeat any previous choice of meals. Dinner is different each evening with a possible selection of around 2-3 main courses and extra options on appetizers and deserts. Beverage selection is also good with cocktails, soft drinks, beer, wines, etc. Service was also good, prety prompt and always with a smile and warm attitude. Also from the reception you can see a picture and meet Machano, who is the dedicated guide or "go to guy" for anything outside the resort plus a nice person always caring for the guests. Whether you want to book a trip, visit the village, bike tours, etc.. or learn interesting things about the people and the culture, he can save you a lot of time and headaches you may get if you try to deal with the local "beach boys" on your own. Location is also good, the ocean is just across the resort, beach is nice although not the most glamorous, but you can at low tide go walking on the beach from the resort all the way to Kendwa beach, so not a lot to complain here either. Great experience in a great place, where the owners pay lots of attention to details and how to make everyone's stay most pleasant. Thank you Tom, Caroline, Sara and all the staff for...

I loved the hotel’s vibe and our room. According to Caroline, our room was newly built this February so all the facilities were new and clean. A/C and fan worked well. Wifi is okay but you are not in the island to do internet so I did not find much problem. We especially loved the swimming pool. Plus, All the staff were very friendly and helpful.

So why did I take one star out? We booked the Mnemba snorkelling tour with the local Zanzibarian guy as advertised on the lodge front desk. We thought hey this guy runs the whole activities and tours so we will have a great time with the local doing adventures together. To my surprise, he just arranged the tour for us but did not lead or follow the tour with us. If somebody says you didnt ask before so it is our fault, then well I have nothing to say.

Maybe his role could be arranging the best tour for us by utilizing his resources and contacts but let me tell you it was our least favorite activity because we ended up with more than 20 people on the wooden ship whereas the rest of the wooden ships had at most 10-12 people. So the ship was very slow in reaching the island and coming back so we were tired by the time we were there. We did not expect luxurious private jet boat but at least up to the same or little bit better quality tour compared to what those beach boys sell. That is the reason we paid more even though we knew it is more expensive than what other beach boys sell.

I dont think rating 3 star would be fair to Aluna Lodge itself as the place, facilities and the staff are great so Im giving 4 star but please reconsider booking the tour through the local Zanzibarian guy. It ruined...

Beautiful place to stay, I would recommend for sure!

The staff is super friendly (actually as everyone else on Zanzibar), the pool was very nice (second one was under quick maintenance during our stay). The garden and green vegetation everywhere was really beautiful (good job gardener).

Room was clean and nice as advertised, everything was working. The hotel bar with music closes at 11pm (I enjoyed Hibiskus coctail :)) and after that there was nothing but wind to hear.

Hotel also provides TukTuk transfer to Nungwi beach (lots of restaurants and other activities) for 5 000 ZSH (8 minutes) if you do not want to walk on the beach (20-30 min).

During our stay the electricity went off for a few hours during one day (in the whole Nungwi area). The hotel has diesel power as backup, which is good, but it was really noisy. But not a big problem, you should enjoy Zanzibar outside the hotel anyway :)

The only thing lacking was probably kitchen. As a first meal I have ordered a hamburger and my girlfriend Catch of the day. The burger meat tasted strange (with curry?) and it was so soft it broke apart. I would not recommend the staff to have this on the menu if it is “normal”. The fish was overcooked and dry. So we ate food elsewhere since. But again, no problem for us, at least we explored more :)

One more thing. Your location on Google maps is wrong - by the sea near lighthouse. It could be...