Unguja Lodge offers an fantastic atmosphere, built with local found materials the place breaths African atmosphere. It is a suburb balance between an open air Zanzibar experience and Western comfort. The food is excellent and local. If you fancy pizza, steak, chips... stay away and leave it to us to enjoy it...YES WE LIKE. The hotel's own Paddy center run by Nick is located in the Hotel garden and offers all you want next to your lodge. Well done Lies & Ralph. We'll be back. Frank & Lieve

Next stop on our trip was Unguja, which we had selected as a bit of luxury in a part of Zanzibar we have not been to before (spent a lot of time on the island in the past).

We got a taxi from the street (way cheaper than organising transfers from hotels before arriving) for the 1 hr trip from outside Tembo House. on the way there is monkey sanctaury and a snake farm, should you wnat to stop off.

Unguja is clearly a very nice place – amazing accommodation, nice peaceful setting. On arrival i thought this is the sort of place i could spend a very long time, nice rooms, lovely pool and good facilities. Was worried about some comments are made about the fact that there is no beach and whilst this is true for much of the day, the beach is also available for much of the day, with lovely powdery sand – probably the softest sand i have seen on a beach, true the sand is often wet, but a short walk up the beach will get you to some dry sand at low tide. Walking along the foreshore is also fun and there are reefs off the beach if you are prepared to swim.

The restaurant is great with lovely well prepared food. I think there could have been a bit more variety at lunch – always the same menu for four days if you didn’t fancy the daily set menu (often the set-menu incorporated bits of the usual menu).

Breakfast was fantastic and dinners were lovely too.

The service was usually impeccable, though an incident where one of the staff told my girlfriend to “drink out of a bottle, if she couldn’t manage to carry glasses and bottles” (as he wasn’t going to help her carrying the order) suggested service could be a bit hit and miss....

One night it was my girlfriends birthday and they offered to seat us down close to the sea as opposed to the restaurant, which was nice except for the fact that there was some raucous drinking by a member of staff and other guests at another table set up close by (another birthday) which made the whole experience a lot less than romantic, in fact put a real downer on the visit.

We fitted in some diving whilst we were there (not as a good as elsewhere in Zanzibar), though is straight from the hotel and also a dolphin trip (the dolphins come right in front of the hotel, so we saw them every morning) – if you are on a dolphin trip in Zanzibar, you will probably come here via a long road trip. The trips look stressful to the dolphins (though probably as stressful for the humans taking part).

I was not feeling well on the last day and we were given the option of a late check-out which was gratefully appreciated.

On balance i would say a lovely place to visit with a stunning/amazing room (would definitely go for a sea view), the lack of a beach was not of concern. For the price i would have expected a bit better service 100% of the time, well worth a visit!

I am a Pure Zanzibar agent and I stayed at Unguja Lodge in November 2011. This resort is really what Zanzibar is all about, relaxed, traditional, friendly and charming. The location is idyllic, surrounded by nature, with the most delightful sunsets. The villas are well spread out and offer lots of privacy, the design is very unique with a high makuti thatch roofs covering all the living areas. It was not quite what I was expecting if I am honest, it was better and if it were my holiday this is the kind of resort I would choose.

Unguja has a great dive school, and also offers dolphin swimming, snorkeling, surfing and full day excursions on the water. The staff are all from the local village and the resort plays a big role in improving the lives of the villagers. If you are the type who wants a quiet resort, with great food, lovely staff, great rooms and a picture postcard setting, stay here, you will not want to leave.

We enjoyed the beautiful setting of Unguja Lodge, its sand just like talcum-powder and warm sea!

I originally felt a bit concerned about the lack of a permanent beach (as other reviewers have mentioned), but this was never a problem (we are more into swimming and snorkelling than sunbathing anyway!). When the tide was out, it felt like having your own private little beach as there were so few people in the water. There was however a little permanent beach right next to the hotel, very quiet, the only people around being fishermen.
Also, we always managed to take a dip even when the tide was out.

The coulour of the water was just undescribable - we have been to many nice sea-side destinations around the world and Zanzibar is honestly one of the best!

Snorkelling was not always good due to the wind, but there are some corals worth checking out a few metres away from the hotel.

The sea-view villas were huge and beautifully designed, and the food (especially the fish/seafood) very nice. Also very tasty breakfast with a good spread from tasty exotic fruit to cooked breakfast. Drinks were very fairly priced, 2.50$ for a coke, 3$ for bottled beer and 8$ for cocktails.

I can't comment on the activities as we only had 3 full days at Unguja and spent them very happily at the resort.

Good mix of guests, British, French, German, Dutch. Ralph and Elies are very friendly hosts. Lovely destination.