Reviews of Pongwe Beach Hotel

"The food at Pongwe was spectacular. When you consider that they have a captive audience who they are distracting with a stunning view of the Indian Ocean, they could get away with much less delicious food. Everything - right down to the morning uji - was prepared with thoughtful attention to flavor, composition, and presentation.

The beach is lovely, and the rooms were beautifully appointed. The staff was a mixed bag - some fantastic, some irritating (say hakuna matata to me again and I'll scream!), and some a little checked out. We had understood that it wasn't an outstanding snorkeling location, and it was indeed pretty unimpressive.

Walking during low tide out to the sides of the resort and looking for shells was a fun adventure." See all these reviews: 9n in Zanzibar; 7n in Tanzania

"Although this hotel was in a beautiful location and was extremely lovely, it was an hour away from Stone Town. I would have ideally liked Expert Africa to inform me of my choices and talk me through the merits of staying near/away from Stone Town to avoid the expensive cab journey to the main town!

The place itself was lovely and the staff were extremely attentive. However, we rarely received our food at the same time and meas were often cold!" See all these reviews: 5n in Zanzibar; 4n in Tanzania

"Pongwe Beach Hotel has a lot of character and charm and exists alongside an idyllic stretch of beach. It exhibits a Tanzanian/ Zanzibar vibe; more so then probably a lot of the newer, more exclusive resorts which are being built on Zanzibar. The food, particularly for the evening meals was creative and delicious and the service at all times was excellent. The beach front villas were lovely, but not luxurious. All guests are provided with a colourful cotton robe to wear around and these were certainly popular. As you opened the door of your bedroom, you are confronted by white sand, hammocks and turquoise sea - an idyllic setting.

This hotel was a fabulous, quiet place to simply relax. If you wanted to do lots of activities, then it would probably be better to stay in an area of the island where those activities took place as Pongwe is an hour East of Stone Town or be prepared to travel. However, we did go on a snorkelling trip which was well organised and professionally run to Nmemba Island, This was organised for us by Pongwe Beach Hotel.

We paid for half board which was perfect as Breakfast and Dinner were substantial, but be prepared to pay for lots of extras such as lunch snacks and drinks and bottles of water at the meal tables - it can mount up!" See all these reviews: 7n in Zanzibar; 4n in Tanzania

"We stayed at Pongwe Beach Hotel as part of our 2 week honeymoon in Tanzania. We chose it because we wanted somewhere that was remote, romantic, high quality without being too flash and we were delighted with our choice.

It's set on a virtually private powder-white sand beach to the east of the island. It takes around 45 mins from Stone-Town by car - and you pass through villages - many with mud-huts on the way.

Unlike some other beach resorts around the world - we were pleasantly surprised by the lack of rubbish. The team clean it every morning at sunrise to reveal the talcum powder white sands and shallow clear blue water - which was usually safe to swim in, although there was the occasional spiky sea urchin to watch out for.

The infinity pool was bliss and sitting by it and looking out from it, as it merges with the cobalt sea in the near-distance is something you never tire of.

We went out in kayaks and had a go at paddle-boarding. Equipment is a bit tired but perfectly ok for having fun with.

Food was superb. We were half-board, and ate fresh fish and seafood almost every day and night, prepared with panache. Some lunch courses may seem a little pricey at first sight but portions are massive and of excellent quality, so one dish between two with snacks was plenty for us.

The staff also brought fruit or fresh coconut water to you when you were on the beach in the afternoon.

Snorkelling trip, arranged by the hotel with One Ocean out to the Mnemba island reef was well worth it. Sped out in a really good quality powerboat with a very well-organised dive team. Reef was still full of fish and colourful coral on the whole - which seems to becoming rarer wherever you go in the world, so highly recommend.

It's not a hive of things to do, so if you're looking for a more active trip then it might not be your thing. It's much more of a sunbathing, chilling, reading a book, chatting to other guests, laying by the pool and unwinding kind of place.

Service was excellent. Very friendly and witty staff, who worked hard all day and night with smiles on their faces. Credit to them all.

Wi-fi was more hit than miss, but then who wants to spend all day looking at your phone when you have a view across the Indian Ocean like this to enjoy!" See all these reviews: 7n in Zanzibar; 4n in Tanzania

"We had 8 nights at Pongwe and loved it so much we didn't leave the hotel! It is very peaceful and quiet: the only activities you can do from the beach are snorkelling and sailing in the hotel dhow so there is nothing to disturb the peace and quiet. The beach is very quiet and totally private at high tide. There are no beach vendors; we didn't get hassled once during our stay.
The beach is lovely: swept clean of seaweed by the staff in the morning and full of ghost crabs by night. The colours of the sea are incredible: every shade of blue and green you can imagine. Snorkelling off the beach in the hotel's boat was fun; not the most amazing snorkelling but plenty of interest.
We had the family room with a lovely view down the beach and a large private deck. The room was relatively basic but was clean and with good A/C.
The food in the restaurant was good. The bar does great cocktails. It's fun when the bush babies come into the bar at nightfall to be fed bananas.
The staff are very friendly and efficient.
The hotel does not feel busy - perhaps especially if like us you'd rather swim in the sea than the pool. We were able to swim morning and evening as the tides fell perfectly. But even when the tide is out the view is beautiful and beach combing is also quite fun.
For somewhere to spend time reading, sea bathing, eating and drinking I would say Pongwe would be hard to beat." See all these reviews: 8n in Zanzibar; 7n in Tanzania

"Loved the hotel and the staff - could have stayed for months.

I hate big resorts, so the size of Pongwe was ideal. I don't think of myself as a beach person, but to go to sleep to the sound of the waves, and to walk along the sand to the restaurant, was joyous.

A lovely room with loads of space - and everything worked!" See all these reviews: 6n in Zanzibar

"Brilliant, we were upgraded from a Garden view to a suite with private pool and made the best use of it for our stay.

The beach is spectacular and the hotel grounds are lovely, All of the staff were very friendly and helpful.

The food and facilities were excellent." See all these reviews: 13n in Zanzibar

"An unbelievably stunning view of the beach and ocean from the room which were only a few steps from your terrace. Sea and pool were lovely and warm. Staff and service were great.

Felt totally relaxed the minute we arrived. Very casual atmosphere. Room cleanliness was amazing - they must have spent over an hour every day remaking/decorating the beds, mosquito nets, replacing towels, cleaning floors, bathrooms etc.

A party was put on for New Years Eve with dinner and dancing on the beach which all the staff attended. Made us appreciate how many staff were involved in looking after the 19 villas. Was a great atmosphere.

Staff regularly organised football for the children on the beach." See all these reviews: 6n in Tanzania; 5n in Zanzibar

"A really pampered chill-out! The location is beautiful. The staff were so friendly and helpful, nothing was too much trouble. Our room, with its plunge pool, was very comfortable (we could have stayed on the patio by our pool all day, had the rest of it not been so amazing too).

The swimming was good – fun swimming in the sea when the tide was up, and a great pool when the tide was out. We had a really low tide when we were there, and walked a really long way out onto the reef. It was fascinating. Lots of locals were out there too, picking up stranded fish and crabs and poking octopus out of their holes.

We had dinner on the beach one night when the tide was up – beautiful. The seafood platter is out of this world – two sorts of lobster, octopus, squid, prawns and crab claws. We love seafood but there was so much we couldn’t finish it all. The set menu dinners were very appetising, always a choice of two dishes for starter and main, and always a fish choice for both. The food was beautifully presented. The breakfasts were good too, so we never sampled the lunch menu, just having a bar snack instead. Too much great food!

The bar did lovely cocktails too – the Pongwe Sunrise was our favourite, closely followed by pina collada made from fresh coconut.

The hotel organised a very good spice trip for us (to the Union Spice Farm). The taxi driver (Jomo) that took us there and back was great – showed us lots and told us lots about the local people and culture too.

We were very sorry to leave Pongwe Beach." See all these reviews: 8n in Tanzania; 8n in Zanzibar; 1n in Kenya

"This was a real find. It is not a luxorious lodge but this was more than made up for by the staff, the service and the location. It is a very comfortable well positioned.

The lodge was spotlessly clean including the communal areas. The staff were very friendly and helpful and would remember you by name, room number and favourite drink!

The restaurant and bar area had a lovely view of the beach and sea. The choice of food was good and there was plenty of fresh fish, shell fish, fruit and vegetables. The choice of wine was good. I have a shell fish allergy and this was no problem.

You had a flag which you could use on the beach for waiter service. At 4pm the waiters would come round with fresh fruit and tea and coffee was provided free of charge throughout the day.

There are no facilities in the room to make tea or coffee but when you checked in you were asked if you would like it and each morning by 7:30am there would be a vacuum container of hot water, milk, tea (fresh coffee if that is what you preferred) left outside your room for you which was a nice touch.

There was plenty of shade on the beach as well as sun beds. The beach was for the exclusive use of the hotel. When the tide went out you could walk for quite a distance in either direction as well as out towards the reef.

There are also hammocks dotted around the property which was ovley as they were in the shade so,could be used during the day and at night.

I booked an aromatherapy massage and found Sophie to be very good, I had the massage in the bed outside my room which was lovely.

My 2 comments fro,improvement would be:

1. The mattresses on the beds in the room very very firm. I like a firm mattress but found it too hard for me but after a couple of days I did get use to it.
2. The sun bed mattresses some of them were torn so could do with being replaced.

These 2 points are not meant as criticism but just a couple of things worth noting.

I would definitely recommend and would sago back and stay again.

Besides the massage I did not book any activities through the hotel so cannot comment." See all these reviews: 10n in Zanzibar