Sea Cliff Resort and Spa

Zanzibar & the Coast

Rating: Mid-range

highlights

Wide choice of activities on water and land
Family-friendly
Watch the sunset from the jetty bar
Air-conditioned rooms with private balconies
Spa and fitness centre

Sea Cliff Resort and Spa overview

This is a great resort hotel for anyone looking for plenty of activities whilst enjoying the Indian Ocean. It’s friendly and sociable, with a choice of bars and restaurants, and a children’s club too.

Set on the north west coast of Zanzibar island, this is a very good mid-range resort which is only half an hour from Stone Town.

It’s quite a large resort, having 120 rooms, but the service is friendly and the staff make a real effort to ensure your stay is a good one. There is a really long jetty jutting out into the waters of the Indian Ocean, so even if the tide is out you can get to the sea. However there are also two infinity pools for swimming too, and a children’s pool.

The rooms are simple but tasteful and comfortable, and each has a balcony. If you can push to a superior or deluxe room rather than the standard garden room, we’d recommend that, but you’ll still have everything you need in the garden room.

You can do lots of activities here as there are 2 tennis courts, a squash court, trampolines, beach volley ball, a gym, table tennis, and you can even borrow bicycles. They also offer horse riding. If all this gets too much, head for the spa, which has a sauna and steam room as well as offering treatments.

There is no beach in front of the hotel, but optional excursions to local sandspits are available.

And one parting shot, the hotel has the only golf course on the island!

details

Open: Sea Cliff Resort and Spa is open all year.

Location: The resort is on the northwest coast of Zanzibar. It is about a 25 minute drive from both the airport and Stone Town.

Rooms: There are 3 styles of rooms: garden rooms, superior rooms and deluxe rooms. All are equipped with air conditioning, have flatscreen satellite TV, free Wi-Fi, phone, minibar, desk and chair and en-suite bathroom. Garden rooms are on the ground floor and have balconies and direct access to the grounds. The 80 superior rooms have ocean views and balconies, and the 16 deluxe rooms have jacuzzi baths, separate shower and a sea-facing double balcony. iPod docks are available on request. Interconnecting rooms are available and there are also some rooms adapted for wheelchairs.

Activities: The resort has a watersports centre offering water skiing, kayaking, stand-up paddle boarding, windsurfing, wakeboarding, tubing and sailing. Non-motorised watersports are complimentary. You can explore by bike (free for hotel guests), and go horse riding with lessons available for beginners. The hotel has its own 9-hole golf course, plus a driving range and practice greens. Hotel staff can arrange a number of excursions to different locations on Zanzibar such as Stone Town and Jozani Forest, and themed tours including spice tours, plus sandbar picnics, sunset cruises, and Safari Blue day trip combining snorkelling and a barbecue lunch.

Facilities: Sea Cliff Resort has 2 swimming pools and a children’s pool. There’s a games area with facilities for darts, table tennis and pool, and there are tennis courts (floodlit), a squash court, trampolines and beach volleyball. The hotel has a fitness centre. Various board games are available. These facilities are free for hotel guests. Shwari Spa has 5 treatment rooms for massages and saunas, facials, manicures and body wraps, plus a plunge pool. There are 2 restaurants (more details below) and 3 bars, 1 by the main restaurant, another on the beach and the third on the private jetty. Please note that the beach is not large and not a focus of this propety. this is a good seaside resort, but if a specifically beach resort is wanted, you should probably consider a different property.

Dining: Mangapwani Restaurant has open and shaded dining areas and is open for breakfast (07:00-10:00), lunch (12:30-15:00) and dinner (19:00-22:00) each day. It serves local and continental dishes and has regular live entertainment. Kobe Restaurant specialises in light meals and snacks served from 12:00 to 18:00.

Children: Children of all ages are welcome. The hotel has a Kidz Club with a children’s climbing wall, various arts and crafts facilities, indoor and outdoor activities all supervised bu child minders. There are interconnecting rooms for families.

Health: This is a malarial area.

Communication: There is free Wi-Fi internet access in rooms and communal areas.