Elephant Hills Resort — Hotel in Victoria Falls Municipality

Elephant Hills Hotel I stayed for seven days in July 2025 as part of a conference at the Elephant Hills Hotel in Zimbabwe. The Elephant Hills Hotel is located in a large and sprawling complex on a hill just outside Victoria Falls. The hotel has a beautiful view of the Zambezi River. It has just over 200 rooms and larger conference capacities. The hotel has a sprawling park, a pool area -- which is cleaned regularly with plenty of seating -- a golf course, a spa, and a gym. The fitness room is quite old, but can be used for a basic workout. The building itself is a matter of taste - to me it seemed a bit like a bunker. The hotel is quite old. The rooms are large, but in my opinion, they are in urgent need of renewal and renovation. The very decisive disadvantage is the clairaudience of the rooms. Both windows and room doors offer almost no sound insulation. As a result, you can hear everything that happens in front of the hotel and in the corridors. The cleaning staff begins to push the service carts through the aisles between 6:00 a.m. and 6:30 a.m. in the morning. Due to the stone floor, it gives the impression that a freight train passes by the room every few minutes. Sleeping is then out of the question. I definitely recommend hearing protection (earplugs) and also a sleeping mask, as the rooms cannot be completely darkened. There are no curtains, but only - difficult to move - external blinds. Breakfast is acceptable. Fresh omelets or other egg dishes will be prepared on request. There are also desserts, fruits and yoghurts. All in all, for a hotel in this price range, it is still a bit below average. I found the rest of the kitchen very weak. I can't recommend the $35 buffet dinner. But this may also be due to the fact that I limited myself to the vegetarian offer and did not eat the various meat dishes. In any case, the price-performance ratio of the à la carte menu is much better. Unfortunately, there is no terrace to eat outside. Another downside, for which the hotel is not responsible, are the vervet monkeys and baboons. You must not leave the room door open under any circumstances. You can't actually use the balcony either, as you are constantly harassed by monkeys trying to steal things. The staff is, as almost always in African countries, very friendly and courteous and tries to meet all wishes. The average room price per night is over $200. Measured against the income situation of the population in Zimbabwe, this is very high. But hotel prices are significantly higher in many African countries than i.e. in Europe. A comparison with hotels in this price range in Europe is therefore certainly not entirely legitimate. But regardless of whether Paris, Venice, Munich or Budapest - in this price range you would find a much better hotel in any European city, especially in terms of room quality and tranquility. During the time I was there, the hotel was completely booked. The hotel has over 200 rooms. Even assuming only 50% occupancy, the hotel would have to make a turnover of well over 5 million US dollars per year. One wonders why there has been no investment in modernization here for years or decades and where...

This hotel uses dollar prices as if it was situated in London, Madrid, Amsterdam, etc. From the day we arrived they charged us excessively for food and drinks in the restaurant, and adding on taxes. We spent a fortune in this hotel over dinners, careful with the prices of alcohol, they deliberately put these prices in miniature, and charge you 35 dollars per person on a buffet below standard. We were charged twice for services when they said card had not gone through in the restaurants. Our flights were canceled and instead of charging the price offered on the website of 187 dollars, they charged us 250 dollars, showed no empathy at all to us, and reception even laughed at me. This after we had eaten in the restaurant every evening and drank there as there are no other facilities around to do so. The staff at reception are unfriendly and unhelpful, frankly they should get two new members of the female team and replace these, they deliberately give you replies to go to other desks, and pretend to look at the computer doing nothing at all, they did not even know our guide when they have a desk at our hotel, and can see on our booking who our company is, which gave us upset over one night as the tour guide had not given us pick up information, and the reception did not send or tell us the guide had a desk at the hotel!! The restaurant and bar staff are very helpful, and so are the porters and chamber maids who we all gave tips to. Do not come to this hotel unless you want constant helicopter noise over your head, and made to feel like you are paying London or main capital prices when in a country where the cost of living is a fraction of those cities, I believe they see us as a Dollar sign only. I can't wait to leave, i will not be returning to Zimbabwe simply because of the hotels, as the safari and hotels in Kenya are a fraction of the costs, and on the actual Park itself with wonderful facilities and all inclusive first class meals as experienced 18 months ago, to be honest I saw more wildlife on the inclusive safaris without having to pay for the 55 and 30 dollars every time you cross over the border to Botswana, which customs charge you twice by the way too and in cash only and give you hand written receipts. The falls are good, but just as good falls in Spain and other easier accessible countries in the world, we came for the safaris, so if a safari you want avoid victoria falls airport as the reviews on there are terrible too, check google, looking forward to going there on the...

Honeymooned here in the early 90’s and decided to return for our anniversary last month. We had a fantastic stay, courtesy friendly and attentive service from all the wonderful staff.

But it is clear to see how much Vic Falls has suffered from the planes being stopped and futile lockdowns. Our room needed some maintenance, and we confer with other reviewers on this point. It is understandable though, considering the size of this beautifully designed hotel, and business being down to a tragic 47% of what it was in 2019. Our bed was exceptionally comfortable, appreciated having a bath, mosquito net and aircon. to manage that Zambezi Valley heat!

Food-wise the breakfast buffet was legend and the dining areas look out over the golf course to the river and Zambia beyond. (Curiously, there was not a single power blackout on either side of the Zambezi the entire week we stayed, whereas during our next stay in SouthAfrica, it was a continual, random series of blackouts wherever you went. Utter energy chaos.) For dinner, the Nyanga trout was delicious, but the oxtail was underdone and cooked with tomato which overcomes the subtle flavours of the meat and veg. Best Sadza and gravy ever, though! Also recommend room service’s toasted chicken mayo sandwich- superb value for money- enough for two in fact!

The enormous swimming pools are kept in immaculate condition daily. We thoroughly enjoyed swimming, the poolside bar and spa treatments all while watching the daily antics of the wild animals on the Gary Player-designed golf course. If you play golf or just go out for a walk on the course, the Elephant Hills hotel really is a tribute to its architects and landscape designers. It blends in so well with the natural environment you can barely see it from the Golf course or surrounding areas.

On so many levels, we thoroughly recommend staying a couple of nights here if...