Overall Ratings & Reviews Pongwe Bay Resort

Worst hotel i have seen in zanzibar Not clean Very old No water in the room Extremely expensive pricses

The resort is quiet and an escape to relax and renew.

Boendet var okej, väldigt lyhört och otroligt hårda sängar. Förutom de så sprang de runt katter på hotellområdet, de satt vid borden i restaurangen och även på ens grejer runt solstolarna. Skulle jag rekommendera det till vänner och familj? Mest troligt inte, då vi besökt bättre hotell under resan. Däremot var piren väldigt uppskattat av vårt sällskap och vi hängde där mest hela tiden.

We had a great stay at Pongwe Bay Resort! As soon as we arrived we felt taken care of and comfortable. We got to Zanzibar quite late but when we arrived we were welcomed with cool hand towels, our luggage was carried to our room for us, and our bed had beautiful hibiscus flowers laid on it. It was the perfect relaxing getaway! Prices were really reasonable, AC in the room was strong, and they arranged airport transfers for us which was convenient. WiFi was a bit of an issue- we had to go to the front desk in the morning most days and ask for the new password as they had to keep resetting it due to poor connection. The WiFi didn't seem to work in our room either so when we sent messages we had to go the main communal areas. Another small concern was when we wanted to explore the beach during low tide, as there were quite a few locals who would come up to us and try to take us on "tours" to find sea creatures or monkeys etc. They were always friendly and listened once we said we were not interested, but we felt bad always turning them all down. I didn't think it would be an issue since the resort has a "private beach," but we didn't like being followed around so it kept us close to the resort pool most days. Other than that though, we had an excellent time and would be back! :)

Loved our stay at Pongwe Bay Resort. The beach is beautiful, the gardens are so beautiful and the staff is amazing. The east side of the island is so calm and quite which was exactly what we needed.

This was our first experience staying on Pongwe beach. The beach isn't comparable to what one gets at Nungwi or similar. It is quite rocky and the tide stays receeded most of the day. The resort was sparsely occupied and therefore very quiet and peaceful apart from Wednesday night when there was loud music until past 3AM at an adjacent property. The service staff were terrrific and catered for every need of ours without complaint or delay. Upendo, Abdallah, Leila and their teams were excellent with their service. The spa on the site is middling and could be much better in terms of the setup, ambiance and hygiene. One peculiar annoyance was that the resort leaves ALL their outdoor lights on at night including the half a kilometre long pier which causes unnecessary light polution which totally washes out the otherwise spectacular skies of East Coast Zanzibar. Even The Club, which is the restaurant on the pier, keeps all its inside lights on all night! That is a waste of power for an island that struggles with its power supply. Food was OK at the resort and we mostly ate at a local shack called Shashas Restaurant a kilometre down the beach. They were reasonably priced but be prepared to pay tourist prices for all food and drinks on this coast.

The atmosphere was grear and all the staff was friedly, excellent. 👍👍👍👍👍

My wife and I spent eight nights in August and enjoyed our stay at the resort. Our bungalow was very comfortable, and if you're looking for a quiet location where you can walk without sandals directly onto the beach, this is the place. The resort does not have fridges or TVs in the rooms to add to the laidback experience. The staff was very professional and assisted us with offsite trips, shopping areas, and arranging transportation. There are two restaurants; both are very good, but our favorite was the one situated on a pier overlooking the water.  Located on the east side of the island, low tide occurs every six hours, meaning you can't swim but can safely walk out almost a mile. The resort has sunbeds on the beach and next to the beautiful pool.

It was fabulous love every moment of it

It was fabulous 👌 love it

Wonderfull place ! Clean and quiet.

Perfect holiday

Gorgeous hotel, super relaxing, delicious pool. Staff super nice and helpful. Activities on certain days. Be aware of tide changes but that's across all the island.

It was excellent vacation, the staff was very friendly and helpful. Everything was good, the room was very clean. Be sure we will return

I enjoyed my stay. The staff were courteous and professional. Attentive and were approachable. I enjoyed the atmosphere. The bed was uncomfortable but everything else was wonderful

From beginning to end, they were most welcoming and hospitable. Fantastic hotel.

The pictures will fool you! This place is filthy with cracked floors, overpriced room rates, beverages and zero customer care!

Perfect place for a short rest time. Very good food. Resort place there is nothing other - restaurants or village.

Positive aspects: - Service is pretty good. Entire staff is unbelievably friendly, cordial, polite, and they are extremely attentive. - Precision Air cancelled my flight with extremely short notice (don't fly with them) and even though I had booked and paid for a taxi for an hour later, the resort got another taxi to show up within minutes to take me to the airport. I wouldn't have made it to my flight otherwise. - The drinks from the bar are pretty great, they take a little bit making them but it's worth it. They even told me when they had received not so good mangoes that would make the flavor of one of the drinks subpar l. Negative things: - Would get our meal order wrong. Even when they got it right, the food was bad. We should probably have stocked with burgers and the blue Marlin. - We got a couple's massage and the hygiene of the place was not ideal. Also, the massage was kinda weird.

Overall great experience, calm and quiet resort with excellent overall service, location and amenities