“Top rate hotel in a wonderful country”

Visited Zanzibar for the first time and wasn't disappointed. The small plane transfer over from Dar (20mins) gave us some fatastic photo opportunities of the turquoise water surrounding the tiny islands. Zanzibar itself is a decent size, and the transfer to Baraza took 1hour (mostly due to some pretty poor roads). Entering Baraza you could be forgiven for thinking you were in Oman (think the Chedi). Very friendly staff throughout the hotel, great spa (cheap relative to England, £50 for 60min massages) and a large site, with only 30 villas providing plenty of privacy. The rooms are individual villas with plunge pools, large beds/bathrooms and decent amenities. We spent a lot of time at the main pool, large and surrounded by daybeds and well serviced. Many comments on this hotel about the food, and the negative ones are unjust in my opinion. Every meal had plenty of options and was typically 4courses...we had grilled lobster 3different days and very rarely found a menu disappointing. The presentation is very top-end and contibutes to the quality feel of the meals. One day we had a private gazebo built on the beach for us and a 4course meal served to us there, an example of the efforts the hotel goes to. The spa is luxouriously designed and offers a good selection of treatments, at very good rates. The gym was disappointing in terms of equipment. I would 100% recommend this hotel, and Zanzibar itself, I will most certainly return in the future. Thanks Guest nationality: English Reviewed December 11, 2011