Reviews of Victoria Falls Hotel

"Victoria Falls Hotel exceeded our expectations and, to our surprize, provided a better overall experience than The Royal Livingstone where we stayed later." See all these reviews: 4n in Zambia; 3n in Zimbabwe; 3n in Namibia

"Overall, we were somewhat disappointed with Victoria Falls Hotel. When we arrived, the check-in desk was busy with another couple, so the manager (presumably) suggested we wait at the terrace to be introduced to the hotel. We had waited about 25 minutes before feeling we should return to the lobby and find out what was happening. Distractedly, he told us he'd be there in a moment.

About 5 minutes later, he came out. However, when we said we would only be staying one night, and had plans for the evening, he quickly curtailed the conversation and returned to the lobby. We were told nothing - not a room number, nothing about breakfast or anything about the hotel. It seemed the only interest was upselling tours or other activities, and since we were unable to partake, there seemed to be no interest in making us feel welcome.

That said, the hotel is extremely impressive and a historical icon. The grounds are beautiful and well-maintained, and the facilities such as the swimming pool are also pretty great. However it was difficult to get past the initial impression of being made to feel unwelcome." See all these reviews: 5n in Namibia; 5n in Zimbabwe; 2n in Botswana

"Excellent service, wonderful food and great cocktails. Also positioned only 10 minutes walk from the falls.

Highly recommended." See all these reviews: 6n in Botswana; 2n in Zimbabwe

"I'm glad we were booked into a 'deluxe' room in the stables block, because the standard rooms in the main building were very small and cramped.

Superb breakfasts, excellent value light lunches at the swimming pool.

10 minutes walk to the falls." See all these reviews: 16n in Namibia; 3n in Zimbabwe

"From the welcome at the door of the hotel by Duli, the bell captain, to our departure for Botswana everything at Victoria Falls Hotel was well-organised and charming. The whole hotel is furnished and decorated in a comfortable Edwardian colonial style with lots of quiet and cool seating areas, ceiling fans making a light breeze and fascinating period pictures and cartoons in the corridors. The style seems to be more British than anywhere found in Britain, albeit in deepest Africa. The smiling, polite and friendly staff couldn't do enough for us- always a friendly African-style greeting.

Our room was Central Deluxe, well-located and quiet (except for air conditioning which was a noisy wall-mounted unit). Some of the bathroom fittings and decor are a little tired but this added to the charm of staying in the past.

There are three choices for dining. The dress code in the Livingstone Restaurant is shirt and trousers - no shorts, t-shirts or jeans but they do not require ties and jackets or black tie as some other travellers expected. We enjoyed the 7 course tasting menu which was very reasonably priced and expertly served.

High tea on the Spencer Terrace is a real treat with great views of the bridge between Zimbabwe and Zambia and the spray from the falls. It's a huge meal with sandwiches, cakes and scones with jam and cream - very British. They also serve light meals including burgers, salads, pasta dishes, sandwiches at lunch-time and evening. Everything was very reasonably priced.

The Jungle Junction is an outside restaurant where you get breakfast every day (breakfast is included in the room price). There is a great choice for breakfast with freshly cooked eggs and hot and cold food, fruit, bread, cereals, etc. In the evening the restaurant is open from 7 pm with a show at 7.30 to 8.15. The dinner menu is buffet style but we enjoyed excellent beef sirloin and quite a varied choice. The show was carried out with energy but was a bit disappointing.

The hotel grounds are extensive and attractive with wildlife wandering around including vervet monkeys, a family of banded mongoose and warthogs. The hotel has a private gate and track down to the Victoria Falls park entrance which is quite a short-cut. We were accompanied by a security guard from the hotel who advised on politely turning down offers from itinerant vendors and gave re-assurance about animals - there were fresh elephant droppings on the track but we did not see any.

The small town of Victoria Falls is a short walk from the hotel but there's not much there apart from a few gift shops, banks and tourist agencies.

We would definitely return and stay again at the Victoria Falls Hotel." See all these reviews: 6n in Botswana; 3n in Zimbabwe

"What a location.

The service and food was spoilt on the first night, second day used Livingstone Room excellent service and food, like chalk and cheese from the two days" See all these reviews: 12n in Namibia; 3n in Botswana; 3n in South Africa; 2n in Zimbabwe

"Well worth breaking the long journey from home before driving into Hwange.

Olde Worlde atmosphere with good service and food. Short walk to Victoria Falls National Park which is questionable value at $30 per person in September/October unless you are desperate to see a partial waterfall.

Hotel pool was most welcome for some early morning exercise." See all these reviews: 11n in Zimbabwe

"The Vic Falls Hotel is a predictable but nonetheless charming place to stay.

Really good swimming pool area and obviously a prime location above the Falls (which were exceptionally dry when we visited)." See all these reviews: 7n in Zambia; 2n in Zimbabwe

"We had a fantastic time.

The Livingstone Room was great venue for a special dinner." See all these reviews: 7n in Zambia; 2n in Zimbabwe

"Very attentive service and fabulous colonial hotel. Very hard to fault. Rooms comfortable but aircon units quite noisy (so turned off at night).

Information about the wifi being limited to 3 devices but being able to get additional codes at Service Counter would have been helpful at the start of our stay (as I had problems in logging onto work for a call on the Friday night)." See all these reviews: 2n in Zimbabwe