The Tanzanite Experience - Blue Plaza Museum. — Local services in Arusha

The Tanzanite Experience is the best tanzanite store/boutique in Arusha. As the name implies, it is an "experience" worth living. It combines beautiful architecture and business. The architecture replicates the mine shaft that has been designed with the intention of showcasing the tanzanite mining experience. The set up of the Tanzanite Experience has been delicately planned to ensure that visitors live and experience the wealth of this unique stone.

Apart from the architectural design, the beautiful screening of the short documentary showing the mining of the tanzanite stone was very revealing and puts into context this unique experience.

The highlight of my visit, aside from the most incredible warm reception and offerings of tea/coffee and refreshments, was the incredible display of a huge selection of jewelry and tanzanite stones in all the widest array of shades and sizes and in all their sparkling elegance and magnificent packagings.

It was refreshing to know that the stones were cut locally and all the designs done locally using locally-made tools.

I have lived and worked in Arusha for over 15 years. I must confess that this was an experience like no other. It was unique. It was refreshing. I have since recommended the place to a lot of my international friends and colleagues.

The "Tanzanite Experience" is a must see for all in Arusha and a definite MUST GO place for all...

I had a wonderful experience with The Tanzanite Experience. As a lover of fine-jewellery, I knew I wanted to invest in a special piece during my trip and did a fair amount of research before visiting. I stopped by the museum in Arusha which was also great, before taking a look at their loose stone collection. I found a stone I fell in love with, and after chatting with my wonderful sales associate Joy, I decided to go ahead with having a bespoke necklace made. I was able to meet with the jeweler who would craft my piece, and also access the stone for myself and was super impressed with the quality.

Despite it being over Easter the team were super accommodating, ensuring they understood the exact details of the of the piece I wanted, and being able to meet me at Kilimanjaro Airport with the finished piece. Joy kept me updated via Whatsapp through out the process, sharing pictures of my piece as soon as it was completed which I loved.

Since receiving my necklace I have worn it everyday - I am so happy with the quality of the piece. I was super specific about little details I wanted and they executed each of these perfectly.

If you're looking to invest in Tanzanite or Tsavorite jewellery I couldn't...

I had heard of this place described as the Tanzanite Museum. They get you to watch a short video and walk around a mock-up of a mine. It's interesting but not quite what I would call a museum. The rest of the place is a jewellery shop with lots of tanzanite pieces. Jewellery items are very nice but quite expensive, I think we did see cheaper pieces elsewhere. Even with duty free, I don't think this place is great value.

We had always planned to walk to this place from our hotel. On the way we ran in to a local who asked if we wanted to go there. When we said we were already going there, he followed us the whole way, even going as far to stay in the shop the whole time we were there. He also followed us halfway back to our hotel. He was employed by Tanzanite Experience to stand on the street and find more business for them. We think he hung around to get a commission on anything we bought. But we found this stranger following us and then hanging around really creepy, especially when you're concerned about someone stealing expensive jewellery you might...