Bluebay Beach Resort & Spa

Tanzania , Zanzibar
ZANZIBAR, PO BOX 3276, Kiwengwa Beach, Kiwengwa, .
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50 reviews shown

10/10

Exceptional

05 Aug 2025

Hemil

It was an amazing experience!

Leisure Family

10/10

Exceptional

17 Jul 2025

Ryan

Fantastic place with great staff

An amazing place to stay, right on the beach. The food was exceptional and very safe (even salads), no need to worry about \"cook it, peel it, eat it\" - just eat it all!

We had the all-inclusive which was well worth it, lots of fun cocktails and mocktails that were included.

Everyone working there was friendly and professional.

They spray against mosquitoes, outside and inside, so we must have seen less than 5 in a whole week.

I would recommend booking your own airport transfer as it's easy to find something considerably cheaper than what the hotel would organize. About 70min drive.

The beach is huge (at low tide), and you can walk for kilometres. There can be sea urchins, so water shoes are a good idea. Swimming was safe, and more fun at high tide with the waves. Two pools that are well maintained.

All in all, a perfect place to stay and relax.

Friends_and_family Family

10/10

Exceptional

29 Jun 2025

SABENA

Our stay at Blue Bay Resort was wonderful. The service, food and hospitality was excellent. I however will like to suggest that the male staff pls use deodorant especially when interacting with guest.

10/10

Exceptional

11 Dec 2024

Beatrice

I was booked on AL staff are exceptional from the receptionist, porters to waiters. They ensured that our stay was comfortable. They are very friendly, ever smiling and ready to assist when called upon. There was variety of food and entertainment, Zanzibari night was my best. I will come back again and again.

Leisure Family

6/10

Pleasant

01 May 2024

Patricia

Staff seemed unhappy Although the advertisement says non powered water sports are included that is not true. It is a hike to do anything from the hotel such as boring diving, tours etc Everything is at least an hour away. High tide eliminates the beach. Low tide brings droves of annoying “beach boys” selling everything- they are very persistent and will kill your desire to swim in the sea. Hoses on the beach look nice but know what they will leave behind - nothing done to clear that

Leisure Friends

6/10

Pleasant

19 Jul 2023

Bhupendra

Colonial attitude by some members of the staff

Dass, the manager, is an exception to this hotel. We had visited this hotel in 2015 when it was amazing with exceptional members of staff. A few members of the staff still have a colonial attitude and give a service accordingly- expect a substandard service if you are a non- white resident like we are.
Packed lunch for an excursion with a special dietary need of a vegetarian meal with no garlic, no onion, no egg, no fish and absolutely no meat was requested for 12 people including 2 children.
The packed lunch supplied consisted of:
Ham sandwich, boiled egg, egg muffin, egg croissant, apple and bottle of water- four items completely opposite to our needs.
The head chef was reminded of our needs at least five times and seemed to be very arrogant about his attitude towards us.

Friends_and_family Family

10/10

Exceptional

15 Jun 2023

Aymen

Great beach property. Amazing nice staff

Business_and_leisure Self

8/10

Excellent

18 Sep 2022

Natasha

My stay was exquisite!!

Leisure Self

10/10

Exceptional

10 May 2022

Serge

Everything was just amazing from friendliness stafx and serve

Business

10/10

Exceptional

13 Oct 2021

Verified traveler

Very relaxing getaway

Beautiful location in NE Zanzibar, gorgeous beach, comfortable room, nice variety of activities including a great pool. Breakfast is excellent; dinner quality varies.

Friends_and_family Family

10/10

Exceptional

11 Aug 2021

Verified traveler

Excellent staff - very friendly and accommodating. Location is great, pool is great. Drink selection for all inclusive is ok, but if you request something, they’ll make it. Beds are comfortable, rooms are nice with a balcony.

Leisure Self

8/10

Excellent

13 Nov 2019

Verified traveler

This is a beautiful resort and lovely ocean for wading. The drink and food choices on the all inclusive were very nice. The all inclusive is a limited menu, so not exactly all inclusive. Everything had to be ordered through a waiter, who wrote up a ticket that got rang up by a bar tender, then brought to you to be signed when you were finished ordering. Just a slow and lengthy process for items that were already included, but the waiters were very polite and fun. The beer and drinks were tasty: the house wine was not. The reservation said to contact the hotel for arrival assistance and check in procedure, but the emails were not answered, and the call wasn't helpful either. We finally had a native speaker call to be sure we had reservations and ended up finding our own transportation to the facility an hour from Stone Town. Due to the \"beach boys\" who are waiting for you on the sand, I didn't feel safe or enjoyable to walk the beach as one has to constantly ask the \"boys' to stop walking with you. Most were nice but one got angry and yelled. This was even wading out into the water. The hotel had security on the beach in front of the hotel to assist if needed. Just not the free and easy feel I want at a beach. Be sure to take lots of tsh1000, 2000 to use for tipping frequently or you will find it difficult to get change for this. Tip: if you find a waiter that you like, stick with them for the stay in both the restaurant and bar. Also, the entertainment was great!

Leisure Family

8/10

Excellent

23 Aug 2019

John Ryan

Wonderful family vacation

We had a great time with our family. The staff was very thoughtful and nice. Particularly the staff at the restaurant and drink areas. The housekeeping staff was adequate but never left enough towels of drinking glasses despite us asking for them.

Friends_and_family Family

8/10

Excellent

14 Aug 2019

Paul

A nice place for some relaxation

Repeat visit (as we stayed here about 12 years ago as well), still good value and a good choice for a few days break (at the end of a couple of weeks viewing wildlife on the main land).
Room was comfortable, and more spacious than most hotel rooms. Staff were friendly and helpful, food was varied. Amenities (not that we used much ) and location seemed good. Will definitely be considering this hotel if we travel to Zanzibar again.

Partner

10/10

Exceptional

04 Jul 2019

Matthew

Great place to stay in Kiwengwa

This is a great place to stay on Zanzibar’s northeast coast. The setting is gorgeous, and the rooms are of high standard. The food is also excellent. All in all, a great option.

Family

10/10

Exceptional

02 Jul 2019

Verified traveler

Loved the African feel of the property, with the luxury of a European resort. Spacious and well laid out, the rooms have plenty of privacy and great aspect.

Leisure Self

10/10

Exceptional

17 Jun 2019

Gustaf

Perfect for relaxing

Stayed with all inclusive, it was overall a really good hotel with good food, drinks and service! Unclear in the beginning with which resturant you could use, but other than that it was really good! Friendly staff and always clean!

Partner

10/10

Exceptional

28 May 2019

Verified traveler

Loved the friendliness and warm welcome of the staff. An upgrade of room at check-in was a nice surprise.

Leisure Family

10/10

Exceptional

13 May 2019

Verified traveler

The food was amazing.
The evening entertainment was wonderful
The beach was so beautiful
It’s the 2nd visit of ours and we would go again

Leisure Partner

8/10

Excellent

22 Mar 2019

Verified traveler

Bluebay Resort has a wonderful green territory. The hotel is located on a very good beach. It is very exotic, lots to see and explore. It is great for walking and running. There is a very pleasant sea view from the most common places (restaurants, cafes, swimming pool). Breakfasts and dinners are good enough with a good variety. We liked our pool dinner under the skies. Masai, dance groups and other shows were really great.

Rooms are spacious and well furnished. We liked to sit outside on a balcony looking at blossoming bushes and trees. We would like to thank the hotel management for taking good care of us and there client oriented approach.

Family_with_children

10/10

Exceptional

13 Mar 2019

Verified traveler

Liked everything about this place.
Could not fault on anything.
Well done Bluebay. Keep it up. It was the best hols ever.

Leisure Partner

4/10

Poor

12 Nov 2018

Verified traveler

poor quality

Hotel Staff are very rood, especially at the pool bar they are not interested in you, any other places are same... if you mist anything by 1 min they says time is passed and no service, By the way its all inclusive but they give you most poor quality drinks ever ...Never again...

10/10

Exceptional

03 Nov 2018

Verified traveler

Beautiful location, excellent food and staff - thoroughly enjoyed my stay

10/10

Exceptional

22 Oct 2018

Erika

Beautiful Bluebay

A lovely restful stay at the stunning Bluebay Resort on a magical stretch of the Indian Ocean in Zanzibar in October 2018. Staff was so very pleasant and accommodating, food was plentiful and very good, beautifully presented, and the two pools were crystal clear with the perfect temperature water. I loved every moment of my stay there.

10/10

Exceptional

01 Feb 2018

dafna

Perfect hotel in Zanzibar

The hotel was amazing! The beach with perfect sand, with interesting tides, still enabling swimming. The room was very clean, the double bed HUGE. The variety in the buffet restaurant was very good. The stuff was very nice and friendly. The hotel is spacious, and does't feel crowded. We enjoyed our stay very much

Partner

10/10

Exceptional

09 Jan 2018

Verified traveler

wow!!!

amazing...a well.needed holiday wish could have stayed longer.

Family

4/10

Poor

10 Oct 2017

Steve

Hotel w/ conference facility on a beach near Dar.

Hotel has a sea view and decent conference space close to Dar though travel time to and from airport is 1 - 2 hrs. Staff struggled a bit to provide adequate customer service, for example typically one overwhelmed person at front desk checking people in and out and could not fix the internet in the room. Internet reception spotty throughout the property. If you need a large facility to hold a conference in a sea setting near Dar then you might consider White Sands. Otherwise look elsewhere, definitely do not book a holiday here.

10/10

Exceptional

06 Sep 2017

April

Loved it! The staff and facilities were lovely. Wouldjust say the pool could do with being a little warmer!! Food was excellent

6/10

Pleasant

01 Aug 2017

Verified traveler

Only OK.

Overall a bit disappointing. The photos show the best bits of the resort. Service was slow. Food was generally ok (only ok) but the breakfast area felt a little dirty. Entertainment was good apart from a rather out of tune singer that sang every night (they had other entertainment too). Rooms were comfortable and clean apart from the odd cockroach but that goes with the nature of the surroundings so not something we were concerned with. Beach is lovely and pool area good. All inclusive package is the same restaurant 3xper day (buffet only) - essentially this isn't what I count as all inclusive when they have, and advertise, various dining options. Don't be caught out on this as it isn't anywhere on the booking websites or their own hotel website that this is the case. Very misleading!!

Partner

8/10

Excellent

23 May 2017

Verified traveler

Great Gardens, Lackluster Service Vibe

Overall, stay was good. Staff wasn't particularly warm or welcoming. Felt a bit like we were inconveniencing them to stay there. Went to Dream of Zanzibar down the road and the staff was very friendly.

Partner

10/10

Exceptional

22 Oct 2016

Catharina

Amazing

Beautiful place and hotel

Partner

10/10

Exceptional

30 Jun 2016

Maria

Great hotel and nice and attentive staff

Family

6/10

Pleasant

25 Nov 2015

beanster

nice value, staff needs work

This hotel has lovely grounds and is a good value. However, management at this hotel responds to criticism with belittling and accusing you of things you didn't say. When I pointed out that after 4 nights my 1 small bottle of shower gel had still not been replaced (and was not replaced even when I asked for it to be), I was told expecting more was 'mass consumerism'. Despite asking several staff members nicely to either make a call or other arrangements for me, always with a please and thank you, they would look at me like they couldn't understand what I was saying and seemed very hesitant to do so. Management defended this behavior by suggesting I had spoken disrespectfully to them, which never happened. The towels were rough, dingy and yellowed, yet management flat out said 'they aren't yellow' despite not seeing them. The comforter was rough from overuse and the mattress uncomfortable. It's unfortunate that instead of using criticism as an opportunity to improve, management gets very defensive and places blame on the guest.

6/10

Pleasant

08 May 2015

Norman

A large hotel with services by good beach

We visited during the middle of the rainy season so had some of the inevitable heavy rain. The hotel has good facilities and is spread over a large area with well kept gardens. The hotel next door is a 'sister' hotel so there is the option of eating or doing activities there. The beach in front of the complex is white sand and quite wide at low tide. Some of the downsides for me were that I thought they overcharged for many items (food, drinks, spa) when they were much cheaper in other local places.
The staff tried to be helpful, but some things were forgotten, like our request to shift to an upstairs room (as requested at booking) and the process took 4 hours! For those (including families with kids) who wanted to eat early, they were out of luck as dinner started at 7:30. Overall an ok visit, but glad we didn't stay longer.

8/10

Excellent

20 Sep 2014

Kim

Zanzibar Weekend

Beautiful spot - great value for the price when you do the meals included option...food was fabulous. About an hour drive from the airport so recommend arranging transport in advance. Dive shop on site with great staff as well if that is what you are planning

8/10

Excellent

12 Aug 2014

Verified traveler

Nice hotel, great location. Friendly staff

We had a great time, we got the superior package which included breakfast and dinner.

10/10

Exceptional

05 Jun 2014

Verified traveler

Great spot

Wonderful, clean, well-appointed resort with all of the bells and whistles. Food was quite impressive relative to other high-end places I've stayed in Tanzania. (I travel there frequently for work.) The one disappointment was the presence of \"beach boys\" constantly bothering you to buy things from them and/or \"just get to know you\" on the beach. Security did a great job of keeping them away from the resort itself, but it made walking and enjoying the beautiful beach much less fun.

6/10

Pleasant

29 Apr 2014

Shomu

Did not get the room booked for

We paid and booked for the sea facing rooms about 40 days before our holiday on 14/04 and when we arrived for, we were offered (Garden view) different ones than booked (Sea facing view). They took us to other available rooms, which were not in suitable locations. For over an hour, we were trying to get this issue resolved but nothing could be done. The booking promised sea facing rooms, which we did not get and it was very disappointing. Hungry and tired we just accepted the rooms offered, and did not want the holiday to be affected by this.

Booking was done on Expedia, but apparently they send it through some other agency and then they make a central booking, which allows for short comings in the whole process. I would like Expedia to pay us back the difference between the Sea facing rooms and Garden facing rooms in which we stayed. When you are excited to enjoy your holiday, this can be a dampener in spite of paying loads of money.

My Spouse is a vegetarian and sadly there weren't enough options during Dinner.

8/10

Excellent

24 Apr 2014

Mark

Lovely getaway hotel

We stayed here for a few days recently and had a most enjoyable time. Staff very helpful, ideallic location (shame about the seaweed on the beach but what can you so). Good selection of buffet foods - could do with some more fly deterrents though. Rooms clean and spacious with toiletries provided and bottled water. Range of entertainment activities available and management seem very experienced and on the ball. Would recommend for a getaway.

8/10

Excellent

21 Dec 2010

Suzi

Good value 3.5* Bluebay

Bluebay is 3.5* by international standards but clean, comfortable and friendly.
Food quite good but mostly buffet dinners. Breakfast full choice inc eggs etc cooked to order. Lunch menu somewhat restricted but great to be by the beach.
Wines are £25 p bott - take some with you - it can chill in the minibar!
Swimming in sea only possible at high tide - take rubber shoes for walking out to reef.
Band who play at night excellent.
Enjoy!

8/10

Excellent

15 Dec 2010

Menahem

Blue bay resort at Zanzibar

The location is great. A very nice pool & very close to a quiet & beautifull beach.
The breakfast & diner served in a very calm ambiance & every evening a different food : Swahilli, Far east, Italian etc...
Every evening at diner served around the pool, good bands playing & singing and some nice shows.
2 little problems: the room service is a little bit slow & some sticky beach boys .
In general a very quiet stay & a great place for holliday.

10/10

Exceptional

21 Jun 2010

Jackie

Outstanding

I had a delightful stay at this resort. The grounds were impeccable, the rooms were beautiful, and the beach was absolutely gorgeous. The main strength of this resort, though, is its friendly, courteous staff. I was there just for rest and relaxation, and it was just perfect.

4/10

Poor

24 Aug 2025

JULIA

Its offered as an all inclusive which is not. The only thing you can drink without soda or alcohol is water which is unacceptable. The food is very poor only offering at the buffet unhealthy options such us fries, pizza and hot dogs. The room is a 3 star accommodation not a five star and the service is awful very slow and not giving any solutions to your request. We’ve had many problems such us a door which cannot be closed at the room entering mosquitos and we ‘ve complain at least 8 times in order to get it solved. The shower didn’t have hot water and as well they been around two hours to fix it and ee couldn’t have dinner because they closed while we were waiting to be able to have a shower. Terrible experience i would never recommend it to anyone.

Leisure Friends

6/10

Pleasant

19 Jan 2024

Kyoung Hee

대체로 좋은 곳이지만 음식이 별로였고, 해변 상인들의 호객 행위가 나를 피곤하게 만들었다.

10/10

Exceptional

16 Sep 2023

Kristian

Grundsätzlich alles sehr gut. Kleinere Kritikpunkte sind das späte Abendessen (erst ab 19:30 möglich), was mit Kind nicht immer optimal ist sowie die mitunter laute Livemusik, die bereits beim Abendessen teilweise eine Unterhaltung schwierig gestalten lässt. Hinsichtlich Sauberkeit, Sicherheit, Höflichkeit des Personals, Auswahl und Vielfalt des Essens lässt das Resort kaum Wünsche offen

Leisure Family_with_children

4/10

Poor

31 Aug 2023

Sarah

It is quite a nice hotel with quite good food, however, we are very disappointed by the non-existent goodwill and understanding in case of problems and feel fooled!
We have shortly before arrival to the hotel suffered a severe food poisoning and had to be treated in the hospital (there were also some side effects with medication, etc.). It was therefore impossible for us to arrive at the hotel from the beginning. We then arrived there after two days after the premature end of the medications. Here we described the problem with the two missed days and asked for a refund due to the circumstances. Here we were assured several times that this would not be a problem from their side (our booking site Expedia would be rather problematic here). After departure and repeated request for a refund by mail via Expedia, however, no one wanted to know anything about the refund promised to us there. The general manager has claimed false facts here and according to the mail heis not even entitled to decide something like that.

Why do they tell us something like that on the spot and act very understanding and as soon as we are gone the opposite happens?
The said manager does not answer our mails anymore.

This is not acceptable for a 5 star hotel. Are very disappointed and would not recommend it! It was already hard enough because of the disease and then you don't need something like this!

Leisure Partner

8/10

Excellent

01 Feb 2023

Kyoung Hee

블루베이는 훌륭한 자연환경을 가지고 있는 곳이다. 바다와 모래 그리고 깨끗한 호텔 그리고 친절한 직원들이 많은 관광객들을 편안하게 쉴 수 있도록 도와준다.
다음 휴가에 잔지바르에 간다면 또 블루베이에 방문 할 것이다.

Leisure Self

8/10

Excellent

13 Sep 2022

Ivo

Positiv:
Sehr schöner Strand, Personal überaus freundlich und zuvorkommend.
Negativ:
- WLAN funktioniert auf den Zimmern nur mit Unterbrüchen, es kann nicht zuverlässig verwendet werden. Schade.
- Das Essen wiederholt sich täglich, keine Abwechslung
- All inclusive beinhaltet nicht alle Restaurants und auch nur lokale Getränke, Wird leider bei der Buchung nicht erwähnt.

Leisure Family

8/10

Excellent

13 May 2022

Rene

Great 👌

Super staff.
Great beach
God food.

Self

8/10

Excellent

12 May 2022

Rene