Expecting fabulous things I was rather amazed that when shown to our apartment it looked like a bric a brac shop with mismatched dated furniture and electrical items thrown in a heap and badly plugged into overloaded sockets. The mould in the grouting in the bathroom didn't give the feeling of cleanliness either. When I asked for a hair dryer it was delivered to the apartment and whilst I popped out, it was removed before I had had a chance to use it. They then revealed they only had one working hair dryer. But I didn't appreciate someone coming into the apartment without our knowledge. We asked for a late check out and 2 hours before found the maid in the apartment having cleared everything out including towels which then had to be replaced as we wanted to have showers having come up from the pool. Needs a good scrub and uniformed smart furniture. Nice location though and pools were clean. Harbour Restaurant could do with some updating and be careful of the prices as they don't include tax! Tamarind Restaurant next door was superb and I can highly recommend the Chilli Crab!

The view, the interior desing, the restaurants, the pools... Would go back anytime. A positive surprise.

We stayed in a 2 bedroom apartment with a very large living room & kitchen.

On the pricey side, by amazing hospitality! Great food too.

We stayed with friends in a 3 bedroom apartment in Village 1 back in November. Oh my, it was such a memorable, magical place . . . with two different terraces overlooking the creek and old -town Mombasa in the distance and muezzin's going off in the evening . . . two months later and I still can't get the place out of my mind! I was told the place was completely full, but it had such a private feeling . . . there were people around but it never felt crowded like some of the beach hotels can get. In fact, it had a real sultry, sexy feel about it . . . a great place for adults.

We kept thinking we should go to the beach or go into Mombasa, but ultimately we rarely left the hotel . . . it was so peaceful and relaxing! The apartment itself was very nicely decorated with exotic, but tasteful furniture, dvd, flat screen tv, fully equipped kitchen, spacious bedrooms and beautiful four poster beds. The bathrooms were a little dated but nothing that bothered us as we weren't spending much time in the bathroom!

Someone had told me that the Tamarind Restaurant was one of their favourite dining experiences in the world so I had very high expectations . . . well . . . it was so amazing that we didn't really eat anywhere else! (with the exception that we had room service from there and ate out on our amazing terrace under the stars!!) The steamed mangrove crab was one of the most sublime eating experiences of my life with a strong second coming in from the crab claws starter. My husband preferred the chili crab! It is expensive but oh so worth it to look out over the harbour with the twinkling lights in the distance and the soft warm wind wafting up from the water below.

The only real sop to activity was to use the well-equiped gym every morning so that we could justify our continued gluttony . . . a suprisingly good gym . . . we even had monkeys playing on trees through the window one day. It's got weights, machines, personal trainers and even instructor-led classes.

As I sit here in the UK looking out at the cold, raining weather, I can't help but be wistful about the Tamarind Village. Forget the crowded beach hotels . . . if you get the chance to go to the Tamarind . . . seize it!!!