The Seyyida Hotel & Spa Hotel in Zanzibar

We arrived at the Seyyida Hotel and Spa after a long journey from mainland Tanzania where we had been on safari. We received a friendly welcome into the cool hotel with a glass of juice by the polite and efficient staff. Our spacious sea view room on the first floor was clean, cool and beautifully decorated and had a lovely view out to the seafront (albeit across a picturesque graveyard).

I won't pretend that this is a super luxury hotel by Western European or US standards. While well located, we did have to walk down small alleyways to reach the hotel. The service at breakfast was relaxed to say the least. However it was a lovely place to stay, full of character and with great staff. I would definitely recommend it or stay there again myself.

This hotel was not only amazing but they couldn't have been more accommodating.

We had three people but we wanted to stay in one room. They made sure that we had three beds in the room.

The room was clean and very well air conditioned.

You might say the hotel is an oasis in the desert, but it just adds to the character.

You are staying in the same area of town that local people do.

There is no elevator, but really...where in Africa do you find elevators.

I've been living in Africa since I was born and I think I may have only taken one elevator.

The view from the roof top restaurant is amazing and the food was very good.

However, we only ate dinner here one night because they only had the different fish options available (no chicken or beef...although it is on the menu).

This is probably because it is the low season (there were very few people staying here other than us).

On the other hand, when we asked for somewhere else to eat, they gave us a suggestion that was also very good and very close.

The hotel was also very helpful in assisting us with arranging excursions at a fair price.

When I mentioned to the receptionist that we were taking the ferry at 3:30 PM on the day we were checking out, they even let us do a late check out so that we could continue to use the room until we left.

Overall, I would recommend this hotel to anyone coming to stay in Stone Town. It was very pretty and the staff were very nice.

The Rooftop Restaurant has sweeping views of the Indian Ocean & the Atolls off of Stone Town.