There have been many forms of accommodation in my life, from shared hostels while backpacking in my youth, to the flexibility of an Airbnb in many cities around the world. When discussing our upcoming visit to Zanzibar, the friends we were traveling with brought up the opportunity of a private villa. While there are a few properties on my radar for this island off the coast of Tanzania, ultimately, I think we lucked out with Villa Turquoise. Our experience was such a good one that I would definitely consider this sort of stay going forward.
I’ve previously done a deep dive on the case for booking either a hotel or Airbnb, however, I think there is a third category to be considered. While I recognize private villas are not available all over the world, for travel to Zanzibar, I think we made the right choice. Here’s why…
- Complete flexibility. Similar to any Airbnb stay, we were entirely on our own time at the villa. I mention this because even at the very best hotels, outside of ordering room service, there is always the feeling of needing to be somewhere at a specific time (i.e., breakfast served between these hours, someone needs to clean your room, etc.). On our first day, the most difficult decisions revolved around what time we wanted our meals (which were already pre-planned) and how we wanted our eggs cooked (scrambled). The complete leisure of moving from beach to pool to reading to napping (and repeat) was idyllic. I recognize I’m someone who is more oriented to a schedule, but true relaxation seems most natural when everyone can operate on their own time and space.
- Healthy food options. On an island like Zanzibar, I’m not even going to pretend I would know how to source all the ingredients for even half of the meals we had. While there were a few restaurants located within walking distance of our villa, there wasn’t anything approaching a grocery store. With a private chef, we were able to request salads, fresh seafood, and no dairy. The children in our group were served food that worked for them. Surprisingly, even though we brought our own items (I always have snacks stored somewhere), I didn’t once dip into our stash (which is really strange for someone who is often hangry).
- Easy alcohol. Look, I’m not going to sit here and pretend that I don’t drink on vacation (honestly, what sort of holiday would that be?). Yes, of course, we purchased drinks at duty-free. However, when our supplies were running low, it was a delight to simply open our stocked refrigerator and pull out something we wanted to try. Again, we could have pre-requested anything to have on hand, but the South African wines were all fantastic. No one had to leave the house, we didn’t have to head out to a bar, and we were charged a very fair price for what we consumed.
- Room for everyone. While I don’t doubt that we would’ve been fine in an Airbnb, the five en-suite bedrooms ensured everyone had space (and then some). As I am terrible at sleeping in the same bed as anyone else (including my husband), we each could have our own bed (this worked out as Hubs had to be up early for diving on three of our mornings). And while we didn’t maximize the space by having others join, the grounds are spread out in such a way that it would be easy to have four couples plus children.
- Laundry. Again, nothing that isn’t possible at the right Airbnb property, but so much better when someone else collects your stuff and it returns freshly pressed, isn’t it?
- Safety and security. I never felt particularly unsafe in Zanzibar, but when we were in Stone Town, I was definitely out of my comfort zone. And, because of a lack of research before departing, I don’t think I realized how much poverty is in the country. While I don’t think there would be any issues, the beaches are all public, so anyone can wander in (and yes, we did have people at our gate on a number of occasions). Included in the price is on site watchmen, who keep an eye on things. They were entirely out of the way, but there was definitely peace of mind.
- A (almost) private beach. While I certainly didn’t expect such a luxury, the reality is that the part of the island where we stayed has similar accommodation to ours throughout. Thus, really, at any time of day, there’s almost no one on the beach. The tide does move quite far, but opposed to other, more commercialized beaches, Matemwe was perfect for morning and evening walks.
- Value for money. We worked it out, and all-inclusive (including alcohol and some transfers), the amount ended up being around $500 per couple per night. Given our sheer amount of space, the staff, and all our meals, I find this to be an excellent deal.
Some suggestions to make your stay incredible (no matter where you are in the world):
- Bring donations/max out your luggage. One of the best things about traveling with our friends is how community-oriented they are. We worked with the management of our villa to coordinate donations of clothes, stationery, and other supplies to the local community and school. It also made our return trip a lot lighter (with plenty of rooms for souvenirs).
- Keep an eye on the weather. We got VERY fortunate but arrived directly on the cusp of the rainy season. I had no idea this season had such an impact on the area — literally, the dive shop where Hubs was going was on their final days for the season (and closed up shop the day we left).
- Go with dollars. We did a small amount of shopping in Stone Town (I picked up two lovely watercolors). The thing about shillings (the local currency) is it just takes so damn much of them to pay for things. Going forward, I would bring a range of US currencies –, the smaller the better. Keep in mind, there are VERY limited ATMs in the country, so it’s best to go prepared with all the money you would need for the trip. With 5% and up being charged to use credit cards, it’s in your best interest to use cash wherever possible.
- Bring some sort of Aqua sock/Teva. With the tide going out so far, a lot of things are exposed (including urchins), and for further exploring, it would’ve been great to have some protected feet.
- Bring Cortizone cream. Bug bites, no matter how much you protect yourself, are just a fact of life. Lucky for us, an intrepid member of our party came prepared. I wouldn’t leave home without it next time.
- Bring a portable speaker. Our group has traveled quite a few times, so we rolled in with an Alexa and a portable speaker. Music pretty much makes every situation better, and we jammed to everything from the Beach Boys to Bob Marley and our all-time favorite radio station, OffRadio.
- Fill out your form. The estate manager was nice enough to send through a blank arrival form, which we all completed prior to our arrival. We had an additional document to finish, but it did help streamline the process.
Other things to keep in mind:
- Americans are charged $100USD on arrival for their visa. It’s enough to make me reconsider my next visit — esepcially when Sri Lanka offers very much the same style of travel, along with a bit safer dynamic and some easier transfers, more things to do, better airport (see below).
- The Zanzibar airport is among the worst I’ve been to in the world. No, this is not hyperbole. Even as anxious as I am to get to the airport early, I’m glad we timed things out precisely on our arrival for our departing flights. There is little in the way of organization, comfort, or much more than just feeling glad I made it (with all my belongings) onto the plane safely. The airport isn’t much more than some walls and a roof. I wish I was kidding.
- Our outbound flight was late morning, landing late afternoon, thus we were able to maximize the first night by jumping straight in (to the water) and enjoy a lovely dinner together. However, the return flight departed at 9:35PM, landing at 4AM and it really messed up my schedule. To ensure the best possible vacation, I would do more research as to what were the best flight times available and potentially purchase tickets on different airlines.
Have you been to Zanzibar? Do you have any tips to offer?
