Overall Ratings & Reviews Sunshine Marine Lodge

Relaxing holiday. All staff smiling, very friendly and service minded. Excellent team. The food was excellent, perhaps a bit expensive, but very tasty and beautifully served. Special thanks to the waiter Daniel who was really making a difference. We tried yoga and the yoga instructor Anna was really good, Stayed in the ocean view bungalow. The only thing which I recommend is a new madras as it was a bit used.

The propertynwas beautiful, the room was spacioua and incredible balcony. The distance from town and expense to get there and back ( over an hour $160 rtn)was the only drawback.

The staff at Sunshine went above and beyond the call of duty to make our stay there wonderful. We especially would like to acknowledge Hamida, Rosemary and Daniel. Everyone there was great and always had a smile waiting for you. Service was top notch and their restaurant deserves a michelin star.

The best part of the hotel is the staff—warm, friendly, wonderful and willing to go ABOVE AND BEYOND to make our stay wonderful. The location is far away from hustle and bustle of beaches like Nungwi. No one is trying to sell you anything here. The view from the pools is lovely and the dramatic rise and fall of the tide made for fun little adventures. The dive shop was handy and lovely. The snorkeling and diving at Mnemba were just 20 minute away and great. To note: there isn’t a swimmable beach in front of the hotel. For this, you wait until low tide and walk north to Muyuni or bike there…well worth it for the sandbar, starfish, and swimming. We are so thankful to Sunshine Marine Lodge team for sharing their beautiful space and smiles with us!

The place is very nice Food is Amazing great for a cupples retret! You will anjoy your stay if its a relaxing mode!

Amazing views, pools, food and service. Very relaxing private paradise!

Loved the rain-shower-head in the shower. Loved the view from the balcony. Loved everything.

We stayed at this property to go scuba diving. Our room was beautiful, the pool was clean, the food was good and well priced and the staff were very friendly and professional. We had a great time and recommend this property to anyone!

This is such a fancy resort and even though the beach is not right by the hotel they have shuttles that will take you to the private beach whenever you want. the private beach is just amazing as it’s so deserted!

My wife and I chose to stay here because of the on-site Scuba Diving shop (Dive Point Zanzibar), and really enjoyed our 5-night stay. The property is located about 90 minutes from the airport, and a one-way private transfer/taxi arranged through the hotel costs $60 USD. We opted for the "half board" option which includes breakfast and dinner each day. Breakfast includes a continental style breakfast, but you can also have eggs/omelettes cooked-to-order, along with African pancakes (like a thick crepe). For dinner you can choose from the "Catch of the Day", or from a limited 4-course menu that changes daily. All in all, we were very happy with the quality, and quantity of the meals. The rooms were spacious and comfortable (we opted for the seaside bungalow, and had a beautiful/close view right from our room and porch - well worth the extra $. The property grounds are nice, quiet, there are three separate pools on-site, and a nice bar and restaurant. They also offer free yoga classes on Monday, Wednesdays, & Fridays, and you can snorkel right in front of the property during high tide (there are big tide swings here, so at low tide, there is not enough water to snorkel). We were very pleased with the overall service at the resort, however the restaurant staff/waiters do not seem to be very motivated, or have not been trained well on how to provide excellent service. DivePoint (scuba shop) is excellent, really nice to have on-site, and we loved our 7 dives with them!!!

As always the staff at the hotel are excellent. The location is ideal if you need to take a break from life and rejuvenate. overall excellent value for money.

This place was absolutely lovely! I enjoyed that it was quiet and out of the way - it is not close to any town and doesn't have the "party" vibe, but if you're looking for a nice place to relax, soak in the beach & snorkel/scuba dive, it's perfect! The staff were very friendly and helpful, and the dive center is located right at the hotel! Definitely recommend this place!

Great location for relaxing - well kept property with awesome view of ocean and Mnemba Island straight ahead, cool breeze, and very friendly and helpful staff. We had a family death and had to rebook and they were incredibly accommodating. Wifi was reasonable for Zanzibar (we didn't try to stream netflix or anything). Dive shop team are great and reasonably priced. Food was good and prices were reasonable (same as or less than other similar places in Zanzibar)

The lodge is located in an amazing area. Staff were nice, food was good. However, it is a bit isolated, so you have no options for going around at low costs.

Ideal stay for those of us that need to get away from the hustle and bustle of city life. Stayed for 3 nights the hotel staff were wonderful, hotel restaurant had a decent food & drinks menu, no internet connection and weak phone signal in the rooms so ideal to disconnect from work and life but you can find wifi by the bar, lots of water activities or just lay by the pool and do nothing kind of place, Loved it, also most importantly make sure you get a rental call its cheaper than taking a taxi to and from the hotel or moving around the island.

We stayed 2 nights and had a fantastic room with sea-view. Place is absolutely top-class, staff are really friendly and helpful, beach is very close and there's a pool too. Restaurant is also very nice, on a big terrace Be aware that the place is rather isolated so you won't be able to go "for a stroll" as no other restaurants or shops around - good for a couple of days but probably not much longer. Also, it's pretty much on a cliff and to get to the beach you have to cycle, take a boat (when it's his tide) or ask for a lift...

A fantastic remote location- a real getaway! A dive centre on site with great instructors and hotel staff are friendly. Some small issues to note: - wifi is not great and phone reception v v limited. -they charge 5% on all card transactions and there is no cash point so come prepared with dollars to settle your bill or account for the extra costs. Not as much locally caught food on the menu as you might expect on the coast - always catch of the day and lobster but many other dishes are European (pastas etc) and difficult to go elsewhere for meals. Having seen the half board menu on their notice board and eaten it one day I would recommend doing half board as the a la Carte menu can get pricey each day. Not quite as much variety on the menu but all nice food. -The road to the lodge is badly affected by the wet season so be prepared for a bumpy 10 minutes of the journey but this adds to the feeling of remoteness. Bear it in mind though if you're planning excursions out as it's very remote and adds some time to the journey. Positives- Breakfasts are lovely with lots of fresh fruit, pastries and cooked breakfasts - diving is great - Not having the white sandy beach right at the front of the hotel is actually an added bonus as you really get to see the tides and rock pools forming with lots of wildlife to look for each day. -The view out to Nnemba is gorgeous - arguably better than the view they would have staying out on the island looking back at Zanzibar.

Don't be fooled by the name, "lodge" is not quite what it is. This small place has well appointed rooms in bungalows scattered around a nicely landscape natural garden, a nice pool, and the property gives on the beach. Very friendly service, great views, nice base for exploring the surrounding beaches. Very friendly service. On-site diving Center, with very friendly staff.

Beautiful,new and isolated location with excellent staff.

But for the need to spend 30 minutes on unmade road, 20 minutes of which is on a single vehicle very rough track which would be well suited to field testing ATVS, each time you want to go off and explore the island I would rate it higher. Unfortunately the local taxis are not 4x4s. As it is I feel that this journey isolates the hotel and presents a barrier to full enjoyment of a stay in Zanzibar. For those who simply want to spend the week diving at the PADI school on site, and for those whose ideal holiday comprises butt squatting eating and drinking then Sunshine Marine is a gem. The staff are really friendly and helpful and the setting/gardens are magnificent. Food is good and reasonably priced. The hotel is in an area where most people survive on subsistence farming and fishing so you see people in the sea fishing with nets from your balcony and a large fleet of small local trimaran fishing canoes are located on the beach nearby and the twice daily fishing flotilla passing by adds extra charm and a feeling of being in 'real Africa' - as does seeing people extracting and carrying their water from three wells located along the aforementioned track. Reef off Mnembe Island is excellent and very well stocked with fish despite the fact that a lot of fishing seems to take place on the reef. So, we enjoyed the stay at the hotel but did not see as much of Zanzibar as we had wished to do as the very uncomfortable access meant we limited our trips off site. Hotel 4.5/5 Access 1/5