A good place to learn about the Zanzibar locals
JAMBIANI A LAID-BACK OLD FISHING VILLAGE
Jambiani is a group of villages on the Tanzanian island of Unguja, part of Zanzibar on the southeast coast between Paje and Makunduchi. It has a strong seaweed culture with many farms dotting the coastline and employing 15,000 locals, mainly women. This is a good place to learn about the Zanzibar locals who are very kind here and always with smiley faces. This is a place where the men still bring in the early morning catch by dugout canoe and children play soccer on the beach until the tide swallows up the pitch. The beautiful beach is a 7 km long beach with white sands and swaying palms. Enquire at our reception how you can organize a day trip to this location.GOODVerified Not good customer service We had booked the hotel for 6 days. At the end of our zanzibar vacay. And then teo days before hotel swap, we get an email, that our reservation was cancelled. And there was no way, to reach them, they did not answer, but saw the messages..Verified Poorly maintained and managed place which is overpriced We had booked this property in October 2022 for our December-end stay and were so looking forward to our stay here. We were totally disappointed and dismayed. Firstly, the person at the reception had no clue about our booking and how many people were in the family (though all of it was clearly specified in the booking). We realised later on that this was because the staff seem to have no system to track these things, no training and dont seem to be equipped to handle anything as the place seems to be remote-managed by the owner who hardly ever puts in a presence. So, though we paid for a couple and child of 13 years, there was no additional bed. We were simply told that they did not have any rooms available, that had an additional bed! So, no option- grin and bear! The food was passable at best. For dinner on the first night, the wait time for our food to be served was 100 minutes. Reason: they prioritised a larger group that arrived after us, and another couple who came to the restaurant after us. Not sure if there were any criteria for this prioritisation! Then the shocker- a New Years Party set menu at USD 40/person. And it was mandatory- option was to not eat at all as they would not take any a la carte orders. So we forked out USD 40/person and turned up for this dinner which had all of 4 items (soup, starter, main course and dessert). Most were OK, but the main course (Ravioli) was not even cooked properly. And given the portions, we were left hungry. As an icing on the cake, we came to know from other guests that it was not mandatory to take the 40USD/person set meal- we clearly had been taken for a ride. The property itself is very poorly managed- no hint of adequate maintenance. Then there is this sight of a small monkey tied up to the tree and held captive. All in all, a sad and poorly run place. Do yourself a favour and give this place a miss!Verified Not the best.... Lovely location as in the pictures, but rooms were ok. Welcome drink was hot, not cold or even warm. Shower in double room wasn't working, only one coffee satchet in the triple room. Not much decor in the rooms or common areas, kind of a DIY set up. Ordered steak for lunch but they had no steak knives! Part of the order was left out till the end. You can't swap mash potatoes for fries. We decided to have dinner at next door restaurant. Next day at breakfast, a good menu but lot of items 'not available'. Pancakes served with chocolate syrup instead of maple syrup, hoping it wouldn't be noticed. Margarine was passed on as butter. Juice dispensers were one fifth at eight in the morning and never refilled though there was just one small family with us that morning. The owner/manager never came forward, so probably was not on the property and the place was running without supervision.Verified Dinner I enjoy my evening at Praia located at five palm.cool ambiance, nice food,perfect location with nice view of the palm,good music and friendly staff Hakkim made us really feel at home. I recommend it 100%Verified Nice Holiday A very beautiful location directly on the beach. Delicios food and service too. The employees are very smiling and help you in Any situation. I highly recommend this location. Superb holiday and wonderful peopleVerified Top hotel Sehr nette Hotel würde immer empfehlen. Saubere Zimmer leckeres esen und top Lage alle attractionen sehr schnell erreichbar. Pool immer sauber und ausreichende Platz für alle Geste. Auch außerhalb season topVerified Bewertung Der erste Eindruck hat nicht getäuscht. Super Hotel. Es ist eines der seltenen Fälle, wo ein Hotel genauso ausgestattet ist, wie Homepage verspricht. Das Frühstück auf der Terrasse lässt keine Wünsche offen. Möglichkeiten von Fleisch über Fisch oder Vegan, wird stets auf frischen Tischtüchern und schönen Dekortellern professionell serviert. Das verführerische, jeden Tag aufs Neue bestückte Dessertbuffet ist noch der Überdrüber. Flinkes, freundliches Personal im Service, bei den Zimmern und am Pool.Wir wurden der Geschäftsleitung vorgestellt, die sich pausenlos um das Wohl der Gäste kümmerte. Die Zimmer haben einen kleinen Balkon mit sehr guten Blick zum Meer und sind sehr sauber.Verified Terrible and dangerous. Ok let me start with the positive, this budget hotel is in a lovely location and the soroundings are nice, the waiters and grounds people are nice 😊 Now for the negative the owners are clueless, the chef cannot cook and is dangerous for serving raw chicken and taking 2 hrs to make 2 pizza's when there is barely 5 people to cook for. On the first day our pre book transfer from the airport did not turn up so we had to take a taxi, at reception the so call owner only spoke German so could not communicate. The second day the bathroom sink water pipe burst then they replaced it but it just leaked all the time so when you go to the toilet we were waking on wet floor, the shower is so near to the toilet when we showered it soaked the toilet too. The owners/managers said hello once and most of the time ordering people around. The chef is incompetent very much cannot cook serving raw chicken to the guest twice in one night the food was really poor. If you are a bag packer or on a very low budget then ok you can book this hotel but be very wary, please please if you want somewhere to spend your hard earn money and have a great time do not go here but that's your choice I can only tell you what I think.😔Verified Absolute Paradise & Friendly Staff My wife and I stayed at Five Palms Zanzibar on honey moon - we arrived to drinks on arrival, had our bags drop off at our room and when entering our room had a very romantic surprise of flowers on our bed and "Happy Honeymoon" written in palm leaves. We had an amazing private romantic beach dinner with drinks at the beach bar after making it an unforgettable experience! The staff are extremely helpful and accommodating which added to our 10 day trip. The hotel has a private tour guide who is extremely knowledgeable and really goes to extra lengths to make your day trip one to remember. Great value for money and highly recommendable. We will be back!Verified Nice Hotel A nice clean modern hotel with friendly staff and child friendly. The food was prepared quickly and tasty. We had sea view. The cocktails were delicious. Can only recommend the hotel. There you can enjoy your vacation. Hope that we can book the hotel again.