Upendo Beach Boutique Hotel Zanzibar

The Upendo is truly a gem of a luxury boutique hotel on Michamvi beach. The entire team is wonderful and Geof went above and beyond to arrange any requests. The rooms are beautiful, spacious, and well appointed with amenities. The pools are lovely with plenty of day beds over looking the beach. The food at the restaurant was quite nice. The beach is enjoyed by tourists and locals alike and it’s pleasant to swim during high tide and walk down the beach during low tide. The hotel is directly across from the Rock restaurant and there are a few other restaurants and hotels along the beach. It’s also about a 30 minute drive from Paje, which has a more lively vibe if you feel like venturing out. I did a snorkeling excursion arranged by the hotel and they prepared a lovely basket with fruits, snorkeling equipment, and towels. The boat leaves from the beach area beside the hotel so makes for an enjoyable morning excursion. Highly recommend Upendo if you’re looking for laidback luxury!

My husband and I visited on the last leg of our honeymoon, following 6 nights on safari in Kenya. We were sadly not overly impressed by our stay here. We were greeted by the manager, who was very friendly and receptive, and did his best throughout our stay to ensure we were happy. We had no complaints about the hotel itself, rooms were lovely, the hotel was clean, and a lovely white beach / ocean view. However, this hotel / location is just missing something. We were on a half board catering basis, and although the food was really delicious at Upendo, it was the same small menu & cuisine every day, and we very quickly got bored of the food / had everything that we fancied over the 6 days we stayed. The restaurant has a very relaxed vibe / not a very romantic setting - it's more of a day time beach bar, which is fine for lunch, but we expected somewhere more formal for evening meals. We felt this was generally the same in all eating places along the beach, and we really struggled to find somewhere to eat each day, particularly Valentines day. There were a few issues during our stay including building work going on right outside our room (at the place next door), palm trees bashing against our room throughout the night, sewage smell coming into our bathroom, and the hygiene of the staff who came to turn down our room each day. This is not a reflection of the hotel itself, but sadly meant that our experience on holiday here was not what we had in mind. The hotel manager did do his best to rectify some of the issues and we were grateful of that. Another thing to note, is we were not aware before about the crime / culture / safety on the island - upon arrival we were advised not to walk right along the beach, but even walking left, we were harassed by children looking for money / staring at our pockets and felt very uncomfortable. We did not feel at ease to leave the hotel despite the multiple day trips on offer, which was a shame. Overall, the food offerings and variety let this down for us, and lack of formal restaurant / no atmosphere.

Very disappointing experience. We were recommended this place for Sunday brunch. We arrived at 11.30 as per booking, the place was empty, no vibe. The live music / DJ was meant to be playing from 11, however, when asked, we were told that “he has not arrived yet”. (He eventually arrived at 12:30 and started to set up - we didn’t hear him playing). The brunch food is very average, I ordered French toast - it was nothing like french toast at all, just slightly fried bread with honey drizzled on top. Service is quite poor as it takes long time to attract attention from the waiters who were preoccupied with their phones. Even when repeatedly asked to bring butter and jam (which was part of one of the dishes we ordered) - it only arrived when my son finished with his toast:) We were leaving at around 13.00 and the place was still pretty empty, with a couple of tables occupied. The good thing about the place is a view and the fact it’s so close to the Rock restaurant. View basically earned an extra start in this review. Spend your money and time at Rock would be my advice.