On the beach, scuba diving, snorkelling
Check availability

Reviews of Sunset Kendwa

4 out of 5
Sunset Kendwa
Kendwa Beach, North Cost of Zanzibar, Kendwa

Reviews

7.8

Good

Rating 10 - Excellent. 25 out of 98 reviews" "
Rating 8 - Good. 49 out of 98 reviews" "
Rating 6 - Okay. 15 out of 98 reviews" "
Rating 4 - Poor. 6 out of 98 reviews" "
Rating 2 - Terrible. 3 out of 98 reviews" "

7.8/10

Cleanliness

7.4/10

Staff & service

7.2/10

Amenities

7.2/10

Property conditions & facilities

6.4/10

Eco-friendliness

Reviews

8/10 Good

Wilderness First

Stayed 4 nights in Jun 2023

6/10 Okay

Mark

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, room comfort
Initially when I attempted to check in they overbooked me and did not have a room for me. They were able to shift me around and accommodate me, moving me 3 rooms in 3 nights. Staff was very friendly and helpful with the process, and apologetic.
Stayed 3 nights in Aug 2022

8/10 Good

Kathy

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Wonderful Stay!
It was a wonderful stay! The staff was friendly and very helpful. The hotel is right off the beach with an awesome pool. Food was good but was hoping for more traditional plates but you can walk out of the hotel area to find restaurants and shop.
Bungalow
Pool
Beach
Morning beach views
Stayed 2 nights in Feb 2022

8/10 Good

Pia

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, room comfort
A good Hotel But some things where old and broken like the shower.
Stayed 1 night in Jan 2022

8/10 Good

Rodrigo

Liked: Staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Great staff, great location, but nothing special
The overall stay was nice. Check-in and Check-out were very quick and straightforward. The room was nice and comfortable with both ventilator and AC, a small minibar. The wardrobe was only a hanger section, so no shelves for you to put you clothes but it wasn´t a big deal in my case. The bathroom had a leak and kept getting wet, but they fixed it throughout my stay. There was no wifi in my room, so because I had to work while there, I had to go to the restaurant area to use the wiFi. The food was decent and with good prices. The service from the beach staff and the bar were very good and friendly. cocktails were ok and the prices were a bit on the highside. It is a nice choice of stay if you want to relax in a big hotel with decent facilities, but if you´re looking to enjoy more the bach and what the island has to have and use the room basically to shower and sleep, you might consider a slightly cheaper accommodation, since this one despite being good, has nothing special.
Stayed 3 nights in Jul 2021

10/10 Excellent

Verified traveller

Travelled with partner
Liked: Cleanliness, amenities
The upper unit was very spacious, comfortable and spotless. The management and staff are very friendly and accommodating. The breakfast is good and the others meals were very good including great pizza. We extended our stay as we liked it so much. Unfortunately, the beach (all hotels) has a litter problem.
Stayed 2 nights in Jul 2021

8/10 Good

Verified traveller

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Beach paradise
I had a fantastic stay. Beautiful views
Stayed 2 nights in Mar 2020

10/10 Excellent

Verified traveller

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
The beach front.... Beautiful The rooms are clean and pretty too...
Stayed 3 nights in Dec 2019

8/10 Good

Verified traveller

Liked: Staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
Stayed 3 nights in Dec 2019

8/10 Good

Fredy

Travelled with family
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Visit To Zanzibar- Sunset Kendwa
Our stay was very pleasant. The rooms are very clean and the staff is very friendly. The beach is also clean and sublime. We only had one night but will definitely want a long stay next time.
Stayed 1 night in Dec 2019

6/10 Okay

Verified traveller

Travelled with family
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service
Stayed 5 nights in Dec 2019

10/10 Excellent

Verified traveller

Stayed 2 nights in Nov 2019

6/10 Okay

Verified traveller

Travelled with group
Disliked: Amenities
NIce property but there really isn't anything to do within the property. No swimming pool when you can't swim in the ocean because of too much algea and jelly fish espevcially when it is too hot. Water temperature not well controlled. Could not get colder water for shower even if the hot water is turned off. No free drinking water provided in the room when their water is not safe for drinking. You have to buy yur water even at the restaurant. Restaurant food hit and miss. Breakfast selection not good. Only has egg for protein. They linit the amount of fruits ( ony 1 banana, LOL!) I wont recommend.
Stayed 4 nights in Mar 2019

8/10 Good

Kay, UK

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
A great stay
Large room and a lovely balcony with views of sea in distance. Great bar and restaurant area which did get quite noisy at night due to visiting tour groups. Easy to get a sunbed or hammock. Turquoise sea.
Stayed 3 nights in Sep 2018

10/10 Excellent

Lorena, london

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Best location in whole Zanzibar
This hotel has large clean rooms right on the best beach in the island. Other hotels are far from the sea but this one has the best sunbeds in town with amazing views and an awesome non-expensive bar. Staff super friendly. No WI-Fi in rooms, but u got it at the beach/bar area. We def recommend it!
Stayed 5 nights in Aug 2018
Response from Ahlaam Mohammed on 23 Mar,2019
We appreciate your positive feedback about our hotel. We do take pride in catering to our guests’ needs the best way we can. If you would be traveling again in the near future we would gladly welcoming you again

6/10 Okay

Verified traveller

Liked: Cleanliness
Nice beach, but needs some attention to service
THE GOOD Lovely location on gorgeous wide beach Nice rooms with a bit of local character THE NOT SO GOOD - Food at the beachside restaurant is pretty poor and overpriced - why they don't fix the service and menu and make it great I can't understand. I'd recommend going next door to Kendwa Rock. - Internet is available at the restaurant and beach (not rooms), but it is painfully slow and essentially useless if more than a few people are using it. Certainly don't rely on it being available. Again, a relatively easy thing to fix to keep customers happy, but the management doesn't seem to care. - Service not particularly good or attentive - They often run out of beach towels - need to sort that issue - Beds are really quite firm to be that comfortable - the fan didn’t adjust (one speed only) - reported at the time - the phone didn’t work either - also reported (and known about but not fixed) - the shower not sealed and flooded the bathroom (reported) Basically the management need to take a good hard look and fix some issues with service, rooms, food and wifi to make it a great place and one of the best locations on Zanzibar
Stayed 1 night in Jun 2018

8/10 Good

Deep

Stay was ok
The stay was fine. There was no power when we arrived. Things were eventually sorted but when in Africa everything is pole pole which means slowly slowly! So be patient.
Stayed 2 nights in Mar 2018

8/10 Good

Verified traveller

Liked: Property conditions & facilities
Best location
Amazing Beach right in front of hotel. Breakfast wasn’t so good

8/10 Good

Verified traveller

Liked: Room comfort
Good location
Location very good!! Beautiful Beach right in front of hotel. Breakfast needs to be improved

8/10 Good

Melina, Hungary

Liked: Staff & service, room comfort
The best beach in Zanzibar belongs to Sunset
The location and beach area is the best. Not crowded, pleasant sunbeds and umbrellas. Wonderful garden. We stayed in building Lulu, which is one of the oldest in the development, therefore a bit worn down. Yet, beds were confi, room spacious, great segregated balcony with fantastic view to the Indian Ocean. Cleaning was okay, we even had an old AC, but did the job. Good value for money.
Stayed 8 nights in Feb 2018
Response from Ahlaam Mohammed on 21 Mar,2019
Thanks for the awesome review, Melina! We work hard to meet expectations like yours, and we’re happy to hear we hit the mark for you. Come back and see us soon.

6/10 Okay

Verified traveller

Disliked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Good location but Terible service and cleanliness
The location is very good, but that's pretty much it. I know it is rated as a 3 * hotel, but i guess even these ones should have at least minimum of cleanliness and services. The room was not cleaned properly and the shower and the sink had visible disgusting salt/calcium deposits and the bed sheets were full of stains. Regarding the service, sometimes it was good and some times deplorable. We didn't used the sunbeds provided most of the time because of our busy schedule, but the one day that we went and asked for 2 beach towels ( which are included in the hotel facilities) the guy in charge of that told us that there are not anymore available. Here i try to explain him that is our last day and we wanna take a swim in the sea and we need 2 towels and his answear was: "well we don't have anymore...what are you gonna do about it?!" Which i think in any culture this is called a deplorable service.
Stayed 5 nights in Feb 2018

10/10 Excellent

David

Liked: Room comfort
Disliked: Property conditions & facilities
Great position
Everything works despite itself, food very average, but this doesn’t matter because it has the best position on an internationally fabulous beach. Also very fair price.
Stayed 2 nights in Dec 2017

6/10 Okay

Verified traveller

sunset kendwa
good location good for price
Stayed 1 night in Dec 2017

10/10 Excellent

Laureline

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Great hotel in paradise
Amazing hotel on a paradise beach! The setting is simply perfect. The hotel and room were beautiful, especially for the price - comfy bed, AC, great shower, even the cutest patio directly on the beach. The Staff could improve by: - preventing hosts to book recliners in the early morning and not using them (sometimes for almost the entire day) while other hosts would like to use them - adding music to the bar/restaurant area - Kendwa rocks does it really nicely - helping with booking snorkelling days. Instead, you have to go through beach boys.

8/10 Good

Verified traveller

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Affordable, comfortable, private
Sunset Kendwa was a great place to spend the weekend. The private beach area is beautiful, with a few steps to the water. There are beach boys and salesmen, of course, but they're much less pushy than in Mombasa or other Kenyan beaches, and are happy to take "no" as an answer and leave you be. The restaurant is tasty and affordable, with solid seafood options including curries, fresh coconut dishes, and my favorite, the lobster kebab. Breakfast is a little limited, but you get a choice of eggs with fresh fruit and toast. The Sunset is next door to a 5-star PADI dive shop, Scuba-Do, which was why we chose the property. The diving was scenic, the water warm, and the weekend memorable. Kendwa is far from Stone Town and the other stuff in Zanzibar, but the resort offers a bus ride there each morning. There are other resorts right along the beach you can walk to if you want to eat elsewhere, try other watersports, or just get a change of pace.

8/10 Good

Elisabeth M

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Location was fantastic, internet was unreliable (at best), staff was friendly and helpful.

8/10 Good

suryakant, patna

Liked: Staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
patna
Nice stay

8/10 Good

Verified traveller

Liked: Cleanliness, room comfort
Nice hotel at the beach, with poor breakfast.
Pros: Nice hotel with large rooms and bathroom. The room was clean. Cons: The breakfast is not good!! And there are no cellphone service (with TIGO) or internet in the rooms.

8/10 Good

Nancy, Tulsa, OK

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Very nice hotel,with private beach
A beautiful place to stay to enjoy the wonderful Zanzibar white beaches. They have a private beach so a very quiet atmosphere abounds! Plenty of space for everyone. Food is great at the restaurant....breakfast buffet is limited, but good. Rooms are nice and clean....bathrooms are a little worn, but plenty of hot water, Flushing toilets and a hair dryer!! Very nice staff.
Response from Ahlaam Mohammed on 21 Mar,2019
Dear Nancy, thanks for leaving us such a wonderful review. We are thrilled that you loved your experience; our staff will definitely be happy to read what you wrote. We put customer experience and satisfaction as our priority, and your review reaffirms the hard work we put in every day. So thanks for your kind words and we look forward to seeing you again.

6/10 Okay

brian

Liked: Cleanliness, room comfort

10/10 Excellent

Jeffrey, Carrollton

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Nice getaway place
This takes over an hour to find from the airport, but it is worth the drive. Nice place, great beach, good rooms.

10/10 Excellent

Rosemary, Adelaide

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Sunset Kendwa is great
My stay at Sunset Kendwa was perfect. I had a very comfortable room, the food was delicious and it was right next to a very good dive shop.

6/10 Okay

Carol

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities
Excellent Location and Staff, Rooms Just OK
The Good -Great Spot on Kendwa Beach -Very Friendly Restaurant and Bar Staff -Cheapest Beers on the Beach -Good Security -Clean Rooms The Bad -Salt Water Showers Can Give the Rooms a Very Unpleasant Smell -The Breakfast is OK But was the Exact Same Everyday (red beans, fried potatoes, little fried bread treats, eggs, fruit, and bread) -The Road to the Hotel is in Horrible Shape -Beds Extremely Firm Overall it is an ok deal for the price but not the best.

8/10 Good

Rebecca, California

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service
Beautiful spot, super value
The bungalows on the beach are indeed preferable. The beach is gorgeous and wide open and is frequented by the locals for soccer games, volleyball, and trying to drum up business for cheaper snorkeling trips and of course trinkets. The 'beach Maasai' that every resort/hotel 'employs' act as guards, and the locals (the Maasai are not local) know that they are not allowed to come too close to the hotel premises and if you just say 'no thank you', the hawkers will leave you alone. We did sign up with one of these sketchy snorkeling trips to Mnemba island, and it turned out great (and was $50 less than Scuba Do's). If you are staying down in a beach room, and you are over 30 (ie: don't tend to party until 4am), you might want to bring along some earplugs for sleeping. The dance party (in peak season) with DJ is only one night a week at Kendwa Sunset (Fridays, I think), but the next night and the night after are DJ dance parties at the neighboring hotel, Kendwa Rocks (which has a cover charge for non-guests, btw); needless to say, it'll probably keep you up unless you're already obliterated yourself, or you have earplugs. The food is decent, but not as good as at the pricier hotels and at Kendwa Rocks, but it's not terrible. The room amenities are sparse. No water; the tap water is barely desalinated, so you really need to buy bottled water -- there are bodegas up in Nengwe where you can stock up for cheaper. Soap bars only. No beach towels. No bathtub.

8/10 Good

Lesley, Kingston upon Thames Surrey

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Great hotel for a Beach holiday
When I booked this the reviews were quite bad - so after staying in Stone Town for a couple of nights I was a bit worried about this accommodation. NO NEED - We arrived to a great welcome from the hotel staff & were given a room right on the beach - Very clean room and great English type mattress. The room was close to the bar area but far enough away so we were not disturbed. The Breakfast was disappointing as was always cold & the Trainee Staff were quite rude at times but the employed staff were fantastic.

6/10 Okay

shuk, israel

Liked: Cleanliness
Disliked: Staff & service
The hotel stuff didn't give us good customer service. They gave us an expensive price for the room.later we found out that others got it for much cheaper price. The wifi cost money. The rooms are overall nice and the area is amazing.

2/10 Terrible

Verified traveller

Liked: Cleanliness, room comfort
Disliked: Staff & service, property conditions & facilities
An overpriced disappointment
Apart from the broken mosquito net in my room, the non existing Internet service along with the incredibly mediocre breakfast which was included contributed to making this stay a complete waste of time to a high price. I wouldn't recommend this place to anyone when there are so many incredibly nice hotels and resorts next door and it is definitely worth to pay the extra 10 USD to stay at a place with class instead of the dump which is Sunset Kendwa.

8/10 Good

Jose

Travelled with partner
Liked: Staff & service, amenities
Excellent séjour, établissement bord de plage, personnel très accueillant à l’écoute, restauration de très bonne qualité à des prix plus que raisonnable, très mauvaise wifi, l’hébergement propre, mais vétuste, coupure d’eau, plomberie, robinetteries à changer manque d’étagères de rangement pour les vêtements, bruit climatisation et ventilo, l’environnement, très bien entretenu de la verdure, très propre, un lieu très agréable pour profiter du calme, du repos, un séjour très apprécié, et recommandable.
Stayed 13 nights in Feb 2024

10/10 Excellent

Hanne

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Stayed 5 nights in Feb 2023

8/10 Good

Illan

Stayed 2 nights in Aug 2022

2/10 Terrible

Antonio

Disliked: Staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
Descrivo con una parola il Sunset Kendwa: “scadente”. Una serie di motivazioni: 1. Pessimo servizio dello staff 2. Acqua fredda per tutta la durata del soggiorno 3. Bassa pressione dell’acqua della doccia 4. Tavoli privi di coperto 5. Tovaglie da tavola sporche 6. Teli mare macchiati 7. Tempi di attesa esageratamente lunghi 8. Pessima organizzazione dello staff 9. Wi-Fi assente in tutta la struttura eccetto che al ristorante Abbiamo visitato 4 resort a Zanzibar, e questo è l’unico resort che ci ha deluso terribilmente. Super sconsigliato
Stayed 3 nights in Aug 2022

6/10 Okay

Mathilde Borg

Stayed 2 nights in Mar 2022

8/10 Good

Jeanette

Disliked: Property conditions & facilities
Great location - but not well kept..
The location on the Beach was really nice and the room was big, but the hotel felt really old and needed a brush up, the toilet leaked water on the floor, the bathroom in general was all worn out and the musquito net had a lot of holes. Overall a medium experience - bed okay, food okay and location good
Stayed 3 nights in Feb 2022

10/10 Excellent

Alessandra P

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
amazing
Minha experiencia foi muito boa. O pessoal do Staff eram excelentes, a Xenia dos restaurantes, do Zacharia e o Jackson foram muito atenciosos, merecem nota 10! Estào de parabéns pelo trabalho. A única coisa que recomendaria seria melhorar a qualidade do WIFI do hotel, que pudesse ser acessado também de dentro dos quartos.
Stayed 6 nights in Aug 2021

8/10 Good

Verified traveller

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service
Stayed 2 nights in Mar 2020

10/10 Excellent

Laura

Business traveller, Travelled with group
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
The beach! The best beach in Zanzibar Perfect place for sunset Food at restaurant good
Stayed 5 nights in Mar 2020

10/10 Excellent

Verified traveller

Stayed 14 nights in Feb 2020

8/10 Good

Artur

Liked: Room comfort
Stayed 10 nights in Feb 2020

10/10 Excellent

Verified traveller

Travelled with group
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
Bester Strand. Sehr sauber und schön gepflegt. Tolle Beach bar mit täglicher happy hour. Leckeres Essen.
Stayed 4 nights in Feb 2020

8/10 Good

Marco, Milano

Travelled with partner
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
Abbiamo soggiornato La prima settimana di dicembre posizione ottima la migliore secondo il mio punto di vista il mare e praticamente attaccato agli ombrelloni E non si risente Del fenomeno dell’alta e bassa marea. bellissima la vista del tramonto . Il cibo del ristorante è ottimo e ben cucinato. Unica peccato il Wi-Fi e debole e Nelle camere è assente. colazione scarsa.Comunque per essere in Africa va bene così prezzo Comunque per essere in Africa va bene così prezzo giusto
Stayed 7 nights in Nov 2019