The Swahili House

Fabulous rooftop bar, great breeze, excellent included breakfast, very helpful staff. NO wifi in rooms, only at reception area and rooftop bar/restaurant. Located on VERY narrow cobblestone street with ONLY motorcycle access. NO taxi or car service directly to hotel. MUST walk 5 - 10 minutes from street through crowded souq/market area to reach hotel. However, you can call the hotel and they can send someone out to the street area in front of the market entrance to help carry your bags and navigate entrance to hotel. Good central location. Safe area. Pool in photo is deceiving as it is more like a very large bath tub or splash pool. It was not very clean!

The building architect amazing, the staff good, breakfast was delicious.the bed was so hard it was like sleeping on a wood box, which was with a box spring on the floor.Other guests also complaining.The bathroom has a big opening with no door. I asked him to credit it the dinner for the terrible nights sleep and my sore back, he said he could not do that.

We came to The Swahili House after a week-long safari in Tanzania. Our guide happened to know the manager at Swahili House and we met him upon check in. Our experience was great start to finish -- staff was so kind, a welcome drink on the rooftop terrace upon arrival, the room was clean and large, and the staff helped us arrange a city tour and transportation from the airport and to our next destination.

The rooftop bar was extremely good, wonderful view and great service. The breakfast is absolutely fine. The room could use a new mattress and maybe some furniture like a table or something to hang your stuff. But all in all definitely a recommendation.

Very central location for Stone Town. Easy to walk to local attractions. Less easy to get back to but that is due to the many narrow streets rather and geography of the area and nothing to do with the hotel! The hotel is known by everyone so if you get lost someone will help you get back. It is noisy with building work going on nearby, calls to prayer, and the church bells ringing but we expected that to be the case and soon got used to it. The air conditioning, fan and turn down service including bug spray were greatly appreciated. Great shower and toiletries provided. Front desk and cleaning staff were very friendly and helpful. Most restaurant staff were also very good - 1 or 2 seemed to stand back and not help out much. The food was ok - some was excellent (the chickpea curry was delicious), but other things (tuna and burgers) we had better outside of the hotel. Happy hour includes all cocktails, beer and wine so well worth sitting on the roof top at sunset to enjoy some drinks with a great view. As we stayed on the 3rd floor we were very grateful for the elevator. You cannot park outside the hotel so be aware you will need to walk from your transport to the hotel (short walk through market) - our driver helpfully took our cases for us.