Reef and Beach Resort

I spent 9 days at Reef & Beach Resort after doing a 3 day safari in Nyerere National Park, and my time in Tanzania and Zanzibar was honestly incredible. I’ve travelled quite a lot over the last three years, and this has probably been my most memorable trip to date. The hotel itself is beautiful and huge, with so much to explore. The ocean view rooms are incredible. I was actually lucky enough to receive a free upgrade for the first two nights before my safari, and I absolutely loved the room and the views. When I returned from safari I was in a pool view room, which didn't quite compare to the ocean view, although it was still perfectly comfortable. Because of the location of my room, I could hear some of the workers outside and occasionally the cows, but honestly it didn't bother me at all. If you're considering booking, I'd definitely recommend upgrading to an ocean view room if you can, but the pool view rooms are still more than sufficient. The staff were fantastic. Everyone was so friendly and would always greet you with a smile and say hello. The Masai who you see around the resort and on the beach were also a lovely part of the experience. They do try to sell you things, of course, but what I really appreciated was that when you said no, they accepted it and remained friendly. I've experienced the opposite in other places, so this really stood out to me. The food was great, with plenty of choice, and the Italian and Indian restaurants were particularly good. I actually celebrated my birthday at the Italian restaurant and they decorated my table beautifully and sang to me, which was such a lovely touch and made my birthday really special. ❤️ I travelled here as a solo female traveller and felt completely safe throughout my stay. I also did lots of excursions, so although the resort is in a fairly remote and peaceful part of the island, you can easily make the holiday as busy or adventurous as you want. There are plenty of excursions and activities available around Zanzibar. The drink selection was good, and one thing I'd definitely recommend is bringing plenty of small dollar notes for tipping. Tipping is a big part of the culture here and the staff really appreciate it. One of the biggest highlights of the resort for me was actually the red colobus monkeys. Seeing them around the hotel was incredible and definitely one of the highlights of my entire trip. There were also a few friendly little kittens around the resort, which I absolutely loved. 🐒🐈❤️ Overall, I had an amazing time in Tanzania and Zanzibar. Reef & Beach was the perfect place for me to relax after my safari, while still giving me the opportunity to get out and explore the island. If you're looking for somewhere peaceful, beautiful and relaxed, particularly as a solo traveller, I'd definitely recommend Reef & Beach Resort. I honestly can't fault the experience and I'm leaving with some very special memories. 🌴☀️🌊

We had an amazing holiday here. The monkeys in the hotel are an added bonus. But they do not beg for food (and you don’t feed them) but will walk over your sunbed while you are on it. The staff are all really good but sometimes they had a learned script as their English is often not too great. The tide is often out but as I am not really bothered about the beach it didn’t affect us. Food was plentiful. Not very many western food dishes but there was always something we could eat. The on-site Indian restaurant and the on-site Italian restaurant were amazing and switched it up from just the buffet. We attended both restaurants several times. All staff in the restaurants were pleasant and hardworking. The alcohol didn’t not seem very strong. Cocktails were not very strong. Sometimes had 4 shots in them and still were perfectly drinkable. The pool on the beachfront has blue paint around the edge which comes off and damages your swimwear if you lean against it. Trying to get two swimsuits sorted out took 2 days and several visits to reception speaking to about 10 different people before Calvin finally sorted it out. The swimwear was washed in what I believe to have been white spirits and the smell was horrendous. They denied any strong chemicals were used - I dispute that. One manager (petite short woman) was observed in the buffet picking at her hair which didn’t seem appropriate. All in all we really enjoyed our holiday despite the swimwear incident.

Lovely place right on the beach food and drink excellent. Friendly and helpful staff Would recommend.

This is paradise, gorgeous beach, lovely helpful, friendly, polite staff, great food, in large quantities, pleasant entertainment in the evenings, wonderful. Our room was upgraded for free to an ocean view, from a garden view and it was lovely, large, comfortable, cool. We had the wonderful ocean view right from our bed. I loved it there, a truly luxurious experience. I went swimming in the ocean, but there are many pools. We were there last week.

We are having a fantastic stay at Reef & Beach Resort. The resort is beautiful, the food is excellent with plenty of choice, and the staff are incredibly friendly, helpful and welcoming. The rooms, gardens, pools and overall atmosphere are very well maintained, and we are really enjoying our stay. There is, however, one thing we find very disappointing, especially for a 4-star resort: the reserving of sunbeds with towels. The resort actually has signs stating that towels will be removed from sunbeds if they are left unattended for more than one hour, which is a very reasonable policy. Unfortunately, this rule does not seem to be enforced. Some guests reserve sunbeds before 8:00 in the morning and then do not return until much later. This means that many of the best sunbeds remain empty for hours, while other guests who actually want to use them cannot find a place. What makes this particularly frustrating is that the resort already has the solution in place. The only thing needed is consistent enforcement of the existing one-hour rule. If staff simply removed towels from unattended sunbeds after an hour, as stated on the signs, the situation would immediately become much fairer and more pleasant for everyone. It is a shame because everything else about the resort has been fantastic. This is such an easy issue to solve, and proper enforcement would make an already wonderful resort experience even better.