Marafiki Beach Hotel & Spa — Hotel in Unguja

We spent two wonderful weeks at Marifiki Beach Hotel & Spa between March 2nd and 15th, 2025 – and we returned home full of amazing memories.

Our beachfront apartment was just about 50 meters from the ocean, with a terrace and cozy rocking chairs to enjoy the view and the peaceful Zanzibar sunsets. The room was cleaned daily, and we received fresh towels and bed linen upon request – even every day if needed.

The hotel staff – from restaurant and bar personnel to housekeeping, maintenance, and gardeners – were all exceptionally kind, helpful, and polite. Meals were served à la carte. Breakfast started with a fixed platter including baked goods, butter, jam, fresh fruit juice, and a beautiful fruit bowl for two. Then we could choose a hot breakfast dish. Dinner was also à la carte, with starters, mains, and desserts. Every dish we tried was tasty and well-prepared – we were completely satisfied with the food.

The beach is breathtaking: soft white sand, warm ocean water, and a Caribbean vibe filled with palm trees, banana trees, and mangroves. The hotel pool was a great feature too – we especially appreciated how they kept the water cool during the heat, and maintained it daily with filtering and circulation.

We did have two small technical issues during our stay – a key broke in the door lock, and our safe got stuck with all our valuables and passports inside. But in both cases, the reception reacted immediately and fixed the problems within 5 minutes – truly commendable service.

The only suggestion we’d make is regarding the apartment layout: there was no wardrobe or storage space in the room (only an open shelf in the bathroom), so we had to live out of our suitcases. A small, open wardrobe in the room would make a big difference in comfort.

All in all, we were very happy with our stay – even more than that! We became friends with the restaurant staff and received so many warm smiles, kindness, and joy from them – thank you all! The hotel owner is of Polish origin, which might explain why the European standards of comfort are so well met – from 230V sockets to clean, drinkable tap water.

Marifiki is a special place where nature’s beauty, genuine hospitality, and peace come together in perfect harmony. Highly...

Nice hotel with clean spacious rooms, proximity to the beach, and great diverse food in the restaurant. The owners are friendly and helpful. For us, there were three drawbacks: First, the frequent power cuts, including one where the generator on our side was affected, meaning we were without AC and water for 10hours. The owners generously fielded the bill for the dinner that evening to apologize, which was a very nice gesture. As the power cuts are endemic to all of Zanzibar, this was not a problem specific to here. Second, the extreme tout density on the beach meant that we did not feel comfortable venturing out much, as we were immediately and constantly harassed right outside. We are a well travelled couple (60+ countries including many developing ones) but rarely experienced something like this. Third, and this is the biggest drawback that is also specific to the hotel, is the extremely low quality service in the restaurant, especially from the male staff. This is important, as there is a very limited restaurant selection around. As stated above, food was excellent, so kudos to the chefs. However, this quality was not mirrored by the service staff. With few exceptions, the staff seemed clueless and untrained. For example, they frequently confused orders (between table and also between the two of us even directly after us telling them); they also confidently promised food would be here before our taxi taking us for the diving school arrived (which was not the case and resulted in us going hungry and in unnecessary food waste); and, they played loud unsuitable music (despite one staff member turning down the volume at our request, another turned it back up again within five minutes). Hence while the hotel is good overall, I would recommend expectation management as regards its environs. Moreover, I would recommend to the hotel to improve training and quality screening of the restaurant...

We had an amazing time at the Marafiki Hotel. When we first arrived, we weren't happy with the room we got, as it was in another part of the hotel, then what we originally booked. But after speaking with the management, they arranged a beautiful sea view room for us as well as a complimentary massage. From then on our holiday really started.

All of the staff was super friendly and made us feel very welcome. When I had health issues on one day, they were even bringing me tea and asked if they could do anything for me.

The food in the restaurant was amazing and the cocktails as well.

Also the massages in the spa were really good, which is why I even went for second massage during our stay there.

We really enjoyed that it's a rather small hotel, everything felt very personal and the staff even knew our names after a couple of days.

The hotel offers village tours, yoga, live music during dinner and more.

If you're searching for a nice, relaxing and quiet environment - this is the place for you.

Yes, swimming in the sea there is not ideal. But the beach is still very nice for walks and it doesn't feel as touristic as other places on the island.

We would 100% recommend staying there (in the part of the hotel we stayed, not the newer acquired part of the hotel).

Thank you to the whole team for making our time in...