Kilindi Zanzibar

This hotel is truly special and a once in a lifetime vacation. We arrived early and was greeted by friendly and professional staff who took us to our room. We were blown away by this, it was much bigger than the photos do it justice and the views were incredible. The food and drink choices were far better than we expected and we loved the fact that we could eat and drink any time of the day in any location. Breakfast, lunch and dinner could be served in your villa, in the restaurant or by the pool or beach. We mixed it up and took advantage of all locations. We loved the free cooking class and chef Helen taught us how to make 5 Swahili dishes which tasted amazing. We had Witness as our private ambassador who was incredible and really did look after us. The beach is very private and we loved the sunset bbq dinner where we had incredible seafood freshly cooked and the lobster was huge. Drinks included cocktails, wines, sparkling, beer and spirits. You could pay extra for premium but we felt this was not needed. The food menu is all Al a carte and you can literally order anything and as much as you like for all meals. The hotel also provided activities, if you wanted to get out and about you can walk to Kendwa beach which is lovely, much busier and has a totally different vibe to Kilindi. But we preferred to stay at the hotel as we went to Kendwa afterwards. We saw a lot of monkeys from our room which we didnt expect, they were totally harmless, they can be noisy though so be aware of this. The staff in every area were incredible, our room was kept spotless and we even had little notes and small treat left. The service was above and beyond 5star. Honestly, this place is beautiful and you will not be disappointed.

This property is stunning. The main house, the spa rooms, the grounds, and the villas - all beautifully designed, light, airy, spacious. They have an Arabian / Grecian feel to them. The villas are a luxury in space, two plunges pools, various sitting areas. Greeted in the room with a (good quality) bottle of sparkling wine, inclusive minibar stocked, flower petals and messages everywhere. We loved the open nature of the rooms. There was no need to feel self-conscious as each villa is quite secluded. We had a wonderful view of the ocean. The lunch menu was especially delicious, in particular the tapas dishes, but all the food was good. The inclusive wine list was good, as well as the other drinks. We had spa treatments which were excellent, and in a beautiful setting, with the breeze blowing over you and the sound of birds. We had a private BBQ on the beach one evening, which was lovely, although dinner starts at 7pm, which was after sunset. For the beach dinners it seems to us that dinner should start half an hour earlier, so you get to enjoy the sunset. Various water sports options available at the beach, eg we used SUP boards inclusive. There was lots of wildlife around the property that we enjoyed.

The staff were very accommodating without being in the way or pushy. That said, our butlers English was not very good, which led to mistakes / misinterpretations on a number of occasions. Eg bringing the wrong drinks, or not being able to answer questions. Many of the staff could speak excellent English so it was a bit of a shame that the person who was most regularly dealing with us couldnt really understand us and rather than saying so would guess what wed said. This was not a big deal though. There were some bees that visited us incessantly every breakfast time, but that is the nature of being in an open space I suppose! We enjoyed the beach, where there is plenty of space for the guests. That said, swimming was a little unpleasant as there was a lot of seaweed floating and we saw a number of jellyfish. Not the fault of the property of course!