Dhow Palace Hotel

The rich history of Dhow Palace was showcased in its architecture, furnishings and decoration. It was located an easy walk from the waterfront, and the street food night market in Stonetown. Breakfast was exceptional including a station to cook fresh omelettes and many African choices. They helped us organise car hire and transport yo the airport.

Very conveniently located in the middle of Stone Town's old town. Easy walk to the beach/waterfront. Hotel is extremely charming and beautifully decorated. Our suite was huge, very comfortable, excellent bathroom and balcony. Wifi was strong (!). Breakfast was good, lots of options to choose from, including omelette station.

This hotel has an excellent location and is absolutely beautiful – thoughtfully decorated with charming antique furniture that gives it an authentic and unique atmosphere. Every corner feels special and full of character. The breakfast was very good, with a nice selection to start the day, and the staff were incredibly kind and welcoming throughout our stay. The pool area is also lovely and perfectly fine for relaxing. One small downside was the Wi-Fi, which wasn’t very stable at times. We also booked several activities through the hotel, which turned out to be great choices – not only were they well organized, but also much better in terms of price and value than what we found online or through local providers. All in all, a truly delightful place to stay!

The Dhow Palace is a historic building in the heart of Stonetown and a 15 minute walk to almost anywhere in the old centre of the city, less if you don’t get lost. I have stayed there twice before and have always been impressed by the friendliness of the welcome and helpfulness of the staff. It is looking smarter than when I last stayed there and they have added a roof terrace, which I never got round to visiting. They have also expanded to create a set of apartments in a building 20 metres or so from the main entrance and I stayed in one because it offered much more space for roughly the same price. It consisted of a kitchen/lounge with a sink and a kettle but no other facilities for self-catering, a very large bedroom, and a decent sized bathroom with a magnificent shower set in an enclosed pedestal. The a/c was good and the only downside was that the windows overlooked what looked like a building site, although there was little evidence of work. I heard but did not see goats. Luckily the kids didn’t keep me up at night. I would recommend the apartments. They do not have quite the historic feel of the main building but that is more than compensated for by the extra space. The apartment building also features a fantastically ornate traditional door, complete with protruding studs which are apparently designed to deter charging elephants. As ever, the staff were outstanding, arranging an early check-in and retrieving a pair of bathing trunks which fell out of my window, where they were drying, onto an inaccessible roof.

We booked the premium room called Langi Langi. It had a wonderful row of windows with ocean view and a balcony. What came the most pleasantly surprising is the renovated bathroom. It had the European marble look with a shower under the night sky.