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Reviews of The Swahili House

2.5 out of 5
The Swahili House
Stone Town, Zanzibar Town

Reviews

8.2

Very Good

Rating 10 - Excellent. 20 out of 56 reviews" "
Rating 8 - Good. 22 out of 56 reviews" "
Rating 6 - Okay. 12 out of 56 reviews" "
Rating 4 - Poor. 0 out of 56 reviews" "
Rating 2 - Terrible. 2 out of 56 reviews" "

8.6/10

Cleanliness

8.6/10

Staff & service

8.0/10

Amenities

8.0/10

Property conditions & facilities

7.4/10

Eco-friendliness

Reviews

8/10 Good

Olivia

Traveled with partner
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
Very central location for Stone Town. Easy to walk to local attractions. Less easy to get back to but that is due to the many narrow streets rather and geography of the area and nothing to do with the hotel! The hotel is known by everyone so if you get lost someone will help you get back. It is noisy with building work going on nearby, calls to prayer, and the church bells ringing but we expected that to be the case and soon got used to it. The air conditioning, fan and turn down service including bug spray were greatly appreciated. Great shower and toiletries provided. Front desk and cleaning staff were very friendly and helpful. Most restaurant staff were also very good - 1 or 2 seemed to stand back and not help out much. The food was ok - some was excellent (the chickpea curry was delicious), but other things (tuna and burgers) we had better outside of the hotel. Happy hour includes all cocktails, beer and wine so well worth sitting on the roof top at sunset to enjoy some drinks with a great view. As we stayed on the 3rd floor we were very grateful for the elevator. You cannot park outside the hotel so be aware you will need to walk from your transport to the hotel (short walk through market) - our driver helpfully took our cases for us.
Stayed 3 nights in Jan 2024

10/10 Excellent

Lisa

We highly recommend this stunning hotel in the heart of StoneTown. The people are wonderful and the rooftop restaurant has delicious food and spectacular views. Don’t hesitate! Book your room now.
Stayed 2 nights in Dec 2023

10/10 Excellent

caroline

Traveled with family
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
Lovely large rooms with wonderful roof top terrace and friendly, helpful staff.
Stayed 5 nights in Aug 2023

8/10 Good

Lucia

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Cute place
I liked the Swahili House, of course it’s right in stone town so an easy walk to any destination. The bed was big and comfortable. Only thing I didn’t like was that there is a door to the bathroom, but the wall doesn’t go all the way up so not much privacy there. Loved the rooftop, the wraps were good — wish we weren’t the only people there + more music would have been nice for it not to Ge so quiet. They also didn’t see our reservation or expect that we were coming!
Stayed 1 night in May 2021

10/10 Excellent

Olga

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Awesome place
Amazing place, the staff is so friendly and helpful, love this place and I will be back for sure...
Stayed 2 nights in Mar 2021

10/10 Excellent

Marilyn

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
The Swahili House is a beautiful hotel nestled in the centre of Stone Town so it’s very easy to get around on foot. The staff were very nice and friendly, and the rooftop restaurant has a wonderful view over the town and the port. The wifi wasn’t so great; so be sure to let your loved ones know that your connection will be limited so they don’t worry about you. Otherwise no complaints! I look forward to staying there for my next visit to Zanzibar
Stayed 3 nights in Jul 2019
Response from Annemarie on Aug 5, 2019
Dear Marilyn Thank you very much and nice to hear that you had a pleaseant stay. We would be delighted to host you again. Kind regards Annemarie

10/10 Excellent

Verified traveler

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Great service and good value
The staff were really friendly and helpful. Very beautiful traditional rooms and very comfortable. Everything is walkable from the hotel.
Stayed 1 night in Feb 2019
Response from Annemarie on Feb 19, 2019
Thank you so much for sharing with us. Welcome again.

10/10 Excellent

Jo, Johannesburg

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Very Friendly staff and reception. Nice central location makws sightseeing easy within Stonetown. The hitel has an authentic feel and loved the rooftop bar where I could watch the sun set and the day unwind.
Stayed 2 nights in Oct 2018

10/10 Excellent

James

Nice Hotel
Swahili House is a great hotel in the Stone Town. It is within easy walking distance of anything in the Stone Town. The staff are friendly and the rooftop bar is a nice place to chill and have a drink.
Stayed 1 night in Sep 2018

8/10 Good

David, Leeds, England

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Characterful hotel
Stayed 1 night in February 2018. Hotel is full of character, having been built for visiting family of the sultan
Stayed 1 night in Feb 2018

8/10 Good

Ange, NSW, Australia

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, room comfort
Central, historic and with lots of charm.
We spent 3 nights at Swahili and thoroughly enjoyed all aspects of our stay. Room was comfortable and super clean. Staff - reception, bar/restaurant and general were extremely helpful at all times.

6/10 Okay

Brian

Unique
Unique place to stay. The room was a little small. Other than that it was a comfortable stay. Love stonetown.

6/10 Okay

AISHA

Liked: Cleanliness, room comfort
Check in was unpleasant. According to Swahili house they never received confirmation from hotels.com. Kept us waiting for over 3 hours

6/10 Okay

Janine, Orlando

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities
Quaint
Great staff, true to "felt like a sultan"

10/10 Excellent

Verified traveler

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Outstanding Historic Romantic Getaway Hotel
Incredible place. Excellent location in old Stonetown. The rooftop restaurant serves a delicious breakfast as well as lunch and dinner, with a side of spectacular city views extending to the ocean. Friendly and helpful staff. Steep staircase, but worth the climb. It appears they are currently constructing an elevator, though we were never disturbed by any construction. Very clean, with the courteous staff opening and closing the massive curtain-size mosquito netting around the bed at morning and night. Complimentary drinking water and excellent breakfast was a nice touch. Highly recommended. Will stay here next time I'm in Zanzibar for certain!

8/10 Good

Lana, Ontario, Canada

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Historic oasis in Stone Town
We stayed at this hotel for 2 nights, and thought it was great! It's right in the middle of Stone Town and fits perfectly into this historically rich town. It's one of the tallest buildings so the views are fantastic for both our room balcony as well as the roof top restaurant and terrace. The roof top restaurant was definitely the highlight, it's a beautiful oasis with a phenomenal chef, so good we ate all our meals here. The room was large with 20 foot ceilings and suited the local cultural experience. It wasn't perfect in condition, but we weren't expecting perfect or we'd have stayed at a big commercial hotel. It's an excellent location for a tour of stone town. They are currently renovating and adding an elevator, but we welcomed the excersize of the stairs to the roof top personally, and it's completely worth it to see and eat on the roof top. The service was very good, and the grounds are private and we'd recommend to any one staying in Stone Town.

8/10 Good

Verified traveler

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
A great Zanzibar stay!
The Swahili House is beautifully decorated and an interesting design. The rooms are amazing with massive beds and mosquito nets and a fan inside the mosquito nets. We didn't need the air con. The stained glass windows and wooden shutters add a beautiful touch and the views over Stone Town are fascinating. The bathroom is quaint but clean and the steep wooden stairs a good work out! Don't worry about carrying your cases though because there are awesome staff, who are extremely fit, to help you! The reception staff couldn't be more helpful and the free wifi in the courtyard is a great bonus. Highly recommend it!

6/10 Okay

Morgan, California, USA

A bit overpriced for what it was. Don't take elderly people here or anyone with walking difficulty. It's around 100 stair steps to the restaurant. Wifi is not available in room, only by the reception -outside. Location itself is fairly convenient. Hotel itself is a unique old building, kept pretty clean. I have a feeling from what we saw elsewhere in Stone Town, that it doesn't get much better without maybe paying much more? Only spent one night here but really would have avoiding staying in Stone Town as a stop before Nungwi. A few hours in Stone Town was plenty.

8/10 Good

Keen Traveller, South Africa

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Enjoyable stopover
We stayed at Swahili house for 1 night to experience Stonetown before moving on to a beach resort on the east coast of the island. The location is perfect, within walking distance from the main sights and close to the airport. The reception staff were very friendly and helpful, and the hotel has a nice layout with rooftop restaurant. Overall perfect for our stay. (Just a note that the bathroom is open plan onto the bedroom so if you are sharing with someone be aware that you will not have the privacy of a closed bathroom.)

10/10 Excellent

Verified traveler

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort

10/10 Excellent

Samantha, Cape Town

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Loads of characters, great views and superb staff
This was a super stop-over for us. The staff were attentive and friendly and the rooms had so much character. Something to note though is that there is no elevator, and it is a tall building. The high up floors have patios and a fantastic view (as does the breakfast / restaurant area) but you have to climb a lot of steps to get there. The porter did bring our bags up though. It would have been nice to have is an in-room mini fridge because with the heat one drinks a lot of water. But really I would recommend Swahili House with no hesitation.

6/10 Okay

OJN2013

Liked: Cleanliness
Kind people
The stairs are going to be hard for elderly people - especially climbing to the rooftop dining room

2/10 Terrible

Maria Teresa, Helsinki, Finland

Disliked: Staff & service
Never again
Place is cool and in very good location, but staff is rude, their credit card machine doesn't seem to work, and it looks like they steal money from the guests. (Our notes got swapped to fake ones while we were away on spice tour.)

8/10 Good

Ressas

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort

8/10 Good

Alex, London, UK

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Wonderful view
Great place to stay, room 2 is stunning. Roof top bar/restaurant is wonderful but the stairs are steep and there is not lift so only the fit should visit.

10/10 Excellent

Verified traveler

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Stonetown up close and personal
We arrived late at night due to delayed flight issues and lost baggage, the hotel is a short walk from where a taxi can park but safe and intriguing. The hotel staff had closed up for the night however the night receptionist was delightfully accomodating in arranging for the the kitchen and bar to be opened up for us as we were travel weary by then- 10pm! This was no mean feat as there is no lift to the top floor-96steps up! Our room was at the top so we were glad we had no baggage- due to it being lost! We had icy cold Gin and Tonics and a delicious chicken salad, the barman and the receptionist spent time with us telling us the history of 150 yr old hotel and the surrounds. We were treated like long lost friends. The building is fascinating and the room well appointed though basic, cool, enormous comfy beds, mosquito nets and a hot shower. You won't need early wake up calls as you are ear level with a mulitude of mosques calling the faithful, enchanting if not competely deafening. We were very sorry we didn't stay longer to do this grand old lady justice. Breakfast was delicous with the best coffee. To spend an evening having sundowners overlooking Stonetown's rooftops would have been awesome.

6/10 Okay

Jutta

Traveled with partner
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
Die Menschen dort sind sehr nett und zuvorkommend. Das Haus ist sehr schön, im alten Stil. Das Frühstück lässt zu wünschen übrig. so könnte z. B. auch Erdnussbutter ohne Zucker, Produkte ohne Weizenmehl, wie z. B. Reismehl-Kokos Fladen angeboten werden. Die Dachterrasse ist wunderschön.
Stayed 2 nights in Feb 2024

6/10 Okay

Elisa Heidi Tuulia

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service
Stayed 3 nights in Dec 2023

8/10 Good

Celia

Traveled with group
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Super séjour
Super séjour au cœur de stone Town . Idéalement situé pour visiter la ville . Établissement et décoration typique . Petit plus pour le rooftop au petit déjeuner qui est super agréable . Nous avons adoré notre séjour !
Stayed 1 night in Nov 2023

10/10 Excellent

eddy

Traveled with group
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities
The place is amazing, with beautiful decor and beautiful view form the terrace. I would definitely go back.
Stayed 2 nights in Jul 2023
Response from Manager on Jul 24, 2023
Thank you for your lovely review. Karibu tena

10/10 Excellent

Magdalena

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities
Fantastic accomodation, very friendly and competent employees, quick answers, good airport transfer and on time, just enjoyed the hotel the second time and I would come again. Thank's to the host, warm regards Magda
Stayed 1 night in May 2023
Response from Bakar on May 26, 2023
Dear Magda,Thank you for staying at Swahili House.I hope you have back home safely, see you and welcome again.Kind regardsBakari

8/10 Good

SAMIA

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Bien
Hotel propre, grande chambre mais pas de vue agreable. Service peut etre parfois très lent (j'ai attendu une fois plus de 2 heures pour avoir mon diner!). Staff très sympa. Hotel situé dans les petites ruelles donc un peu inquietant la nuit quand on est seule.
Stayed 4 nights in Feb 2022

8/10 Good

Tulin

Traveled with group
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
The staff is very friendly and the hotel is very nice. Only dissappointing thing is the breakfast. For this price i was expecting a more wide breakfast. For example: not just boiled eggs but omelette, avocado etc.
Stayed 1 night in Feb 2022

10/10 Excellent

Marie

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Mycket bra!
Hotellet och dess personal var jättebra, läget var lite opraktiskt, åtminstone om man som vi hade mycket packning eftersom man var tvungen att gå i smala gränder under pågående marknad , det var väl det enda negativa...
Stayed 3 nights in Jan 2019

10/10 Excellent

Solenne

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
À faire absolument!
Personnelle adorable et hôtel magnifique!
Stayed 1 night in May 2018

8/10 Good

Dirk, Heiloo

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Prima hotel midden in de stad.
Goed verblijf, fijn personeel, ruime kamer, goed restaurant met prachtig uitzicht over de stad.
Stayed 2 nights in Feb 2018

8/10 Good

Verified traveler

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Alles gut. Lediglich “Aussenpool” ist ein wenig irreführend. Es handelt sich um ein kleines Becken (30cm tief, etwa 2 x 4m). Definitiv nichts zum Schwimmen.

10/10 Excellent

Mª Jesús, Barcelona

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Estupenda estancia
El personal de recepción y limpieza espectacular. El personal de la terraza deja mucho que desear. Excepto 2 personas, los demás son unos maleducados. Estuvimos super bien en este hotel céntrico. Por descontado que lo recomendaré
Stayed 2 nights in Oct 2017

10/10 Excellent

Verified traveler

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Stayed 1 night in Jun 2017
Thank you for your rating. We're happy to see that you were satisfied with our property. The Swahili Team

8/10 Good

Monica

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort

8/10 Good

Verified traveler

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort

8/10 Good

Verified traveler

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities

10/10 Excellent

VIDAL, Moçambique - Maputo

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Óptima conto voltar de novo com netinhos mais novos irão adorar

6/10 Okay

Berit S., Oslo

Liked: Cleanliness
Ok hotell med personlig sjarm
Positivt: Stor og god seng. Koselig hotell med fine dekorasjon/kunst. Godt renhold og service. Minus: mange trapper for å komme til rommet. Ikke internett på rommet. Upraktisk med åpen toalettløsning og delvis innsyn til dusjen.

8/10 Good

Piotr, Poland

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
just a visit
Nice view in the Restaurant at the top - don`t forget your camera. Money Exchange oposit the Hotel.

6/10 Okay

Hermann, Eglisau

Liked: Staff & service, room comfort
Einfaches Stadthotel
Zentrale Lage in der Stadt. Das Hotel und die Zimmer haben eine Auffrischung nötig. Schöne Dachterrasse mit Restaurantservice.

8/10 Good

Verified traveler

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service

8/10 Good

Christofer

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort

6/10 Okay

Verified traveler

Liked: Staff & service
Disliked: Property conditions & facilities
Prima locatie, hotel wat rommelig
1 probleem: we hebben via Expedia full board geboekt, bij aankomst zei het hotel dat er B&B geboekt was. Er gaat dus iets fout met het doorgeven daarvan, was een hoop gedoe! Geen leuke afsluiting van de vakantie. Locatie is leuk, eten te duur en niet bijzonder, uitzicht en ontbijt zijn top, service ok, kamers niet super. Uiteindelijk kregen we een luxere kamer, maar de airco bleek al wel 3 maanden kapot.

2/10 Terrible

Anni, a

Disliked: Staff & service
leta videar
Inge bra område provade 3 rum ingen fungerade Ac, lortig pol, vi beställde väckning samt taxi då vi hade ett flyg att passa mitt i natten, varken väckning eller taxi fans, receptionen var till och med stängd.