My family and I (ages 53,50,23,19 and 15) spent a week in Zanzibar: a couple of days in Stone Town (see Zenji Hotel review) and the rest in Jambiani at the Casa Del Mar. Having read some of the older TripAdvisor reviews of the Casa Del Mar, I can hardly recognise the place, so they've clearly smartened up their act very considerably in the last couple of years.

We absolutely loved this place. It's really quiet (as is the beach). There are 18 rooms, in thatched huts arranged round a lovely well-tended sandy garden which is beautifully 'jungly' with lovely flowers and tropical plants, and equipped with rustic sun-loungers. The rooms and ensuites are clean, upper rooms are split-level with the (king-size) bed on an upper floor (steep ladder, so take a downstairs room if you're in any way mobility-impaired). There is no aircon in the rooms, but fans are provided. The pool is small but functional; do your serious swimming in the sea, then drop into the pool to rinse the salt off, or else just use it to cool off while sun-bathing.

The garden opens straight onto the fabulous beach, which has white coral sand and really does have the turquoise sea you see in the brochures. True there are beach-vendors but they're friendly and not at all unpleasant (unlike some of the touts in Stone Town), and they don't come into the hotel garden. We arranged snorkelling via the hotel but they just booked up one of the "captains" operating from the beach just by the hotel. Snorkelling is absolutely fantastic BTW, you get taken out into the lagoon on one of the dhow-rigged outrigger sailing canoes parked by the beach.

The restaurant is good but has a limited menu (it would have been nice to see some Swahili dishes on the menu, which wouldn't have been difficult). Breakfast is focussed on fruit and eggs (like everywhere else in Tanzania) and is included in the room rate, evening meals range from £5-£10; tea is £1, beer is £1.50. There is wine but why bother - this is Africa. You need to order meals in advance but that's pretty standard for out-of-the-way places. Service is slow, but this is Africa - relax, take a book to read or play cards! We also ate at the Dhow Village restaurant further down the beach, and although it had a more extensive menu, it was twice the price, service was just as slow, and you still had to order in advance.

At night the skies are inky-black and carpetted with stars - magical.

Jambiani village is not much, but do take the chance to visit (not in swimsuits, though!) and meet some locals. There was no sign of any restaurants or bars in the village itself (all on the beach it seems), but there is a small shop with (decent) fresh fruit, crisps and the like. There's no night-life outside of the beach restaurants and bars.

So, the down-sides: mosquitoes are a problem, but this is the tropics (there are good mosquito nets on the beds, but take jungle-strength repellent); you need to take torches as Zanzibar has frequent power outages and it gets dark in the evening by 6.30!

The rooms have 2-pin euro sockets throughout (the majority of the clientele seems to be German, so book your sunlounger early)

BTW, we booked direct with the hotel, and they were very efficient at doing things by email. You can pay by credit card, but like elsewhere in Tanzania, there's a surcharge of 6%. We paid cash (dollars) on arrival.

We choosed the Casa del Mar because we didn't intend to stay lying on the beach while in Zanzibar so we opted for a mid-range category hotel.
Check in was efficient and we were told that electricity problems were occuring at a regular base. When no electricity, they use a generator to pump the water (so you take your shower during that frame of time) then to give electricity (so no more water). Better know it then adapt. Not really a big deal once you have understood the procotol.
5 lamps in our room weren't functionning, though. Problem solved the same day once being told about it.
Food was excellent but don't expect to have all the menu possibilities - even when it simply (?) concerns tea bags.
Service on the other hand, while very nice, was extremely slow. We had to wait one hour to get a tunna sandwich (toasted, sure, but still ...) - you definitely have to adapt to the rythm.
No private beach but a small swimming pool.
As for the room ... I don't particularly enjoy seeing smashed bugs (mosquito, spider) on the wall and as we asked for a twin room, they added an infant bed ... so we ended to sleep in the king size bed anyway.
Don't forget your mosquito repellent and your flashlight.
In short, this hotel is an average quality/price offer and your choice will greatly depend on what you wish to do during your stay.

We stayed 6 nights and loved the place: the location, the staff, the sky at night, the food and the service. This is not somewhere for a room safe and exotic shampoo in the bathroom but it is very clean, with a spotless pool, has well managed gardens, beautiful views and is relatively easy to get to from the airport. There are great walks onshore and stunning ones when the tide is out. There are also good little beach bars nearby and interesting places to eat along the beach - (Kim's and Dr Cook's).
A small criticism would be the inability in the smaller downstairs room to have a secure window open at night.
Can I go back tomorrow?

Casa Del Mar is a small hotel with nice rooms. It has a amazing beach, a good restaurant with fresh juices, and a very charming village close by. We had a room upstairs with two balconies, one with a real nice beach view.