Kikadini Villas is an absolute stunning boutique hotel located at the east coast of Zanzibar. The hotel has been closed for a short period but has now reopened with a new management in place. We were six friends travelling together and had the pleasure of being the first guests after the reopening. The stay was an unforgettable experience with an optimal combination of a breathtaking location, very tasteful exterior and interiors, a tranquil atmosphere, delicious food and excellent service. The manager Jeremie and his team were very dedicated and did such a great job. We really enjoyed every minute of the stay.

As I was planning a stay for a group of four in Zanzibar after climbing Kilimanjaro, I thought Kikadini was an ideal find. Unfortunately, it has become a traveler’s nightmare. I contacted Kikadini four months before our planned stay, provided my credit card number and received a written confirmation. When another friend wanted to join us at the hotel, they contacted Kikadini for another room but could not get a definite reply; they were reassured but not confirmed. A month before our trip, I emailed to finalize details and ask if they were planning to charge a deposit to my card. After some time, I received a reply that left me dumfounded. Due to “conditions beyond our control” they would not be able to horror my reservation. No explanation. No referral. This left my group in quite a bind with two weeks to go during a busy season. I was quite disappointed and would caution anyone making a reservation here to do so only as a last resort.

This is a beautiful Moroccan-style boutique hotel on the quiet, picturesque east coast of Zanzibar. It consists of five recently built villas with ten private suites. We stayed in Palm Villa 2. All of the villas and the hotel itself have been tastefully decorated with some excellent paintings and furniture to match the Moroccan architecture. It is right next to the beach, where there is a reef, a lagoon and tidal flats which provide a stunning view.

The service was excellent – it was the end of the season and we were the only guests, so we were able to spend a week being thoroughly pampered by the attentive and charming staff. Nothing was too much trouble, as long as we were content and enjoying our stay. The manager was hospitality personified, as was his assistant.

Our room was on the first floor, with a large balcony overlooking the sea, and was spacious and well-appointed: a comfortable bed, easy chairs, an excellent en-suite bathroom with a powerful shower – perfect for relaxing and enjoying a high standard of comfort. We also had access to a higher terrace which provided a welcome breeze from the sea, and a wonderful panoramic view of the coral reef below.

The local village has some restaurants along the sandy beach, but the cultural interest, market, shopping and (presumably) nightlife is in Zanzibar town, a 50-minute car journey on a good road. We chose Kikadini Villas for its seclusion, its elegance (see the website) and its tranquillity – after a week's strenuous safari in northern Tanzania, it turned out to be just what we had been hoping to find. A (new) swimming pool gave us great pleasure, and unless the tide was right in we could walk a long way in either direction on the white coral beach.

What did we find least satisfactory? Zanzibar’s electricity supply when we were there was unreliable. As with many hotels at that time, our hotel had to rely on its own generator, which to preserve its life was kept on for about half the time, so that the shower was not always available when we wanted it and the fan switched off at midnight, leaving us on most nights to be cooled by the breeze. Given the problems with electricity supplies, the food was of reasonable quality although the the choice of wine was very good! The promise of a more powerful generator and two international chefs for next season will mean that Kikiadini will provide exactly the right unhurried, tranquil ambience and high standard of service and comfort that would rate five stars by our reckoning.

We stayed for 8 days, and were treated to a wonderful holiday by the friendly and professional staff at Kikadini. The place is an architecural pearl with trememdous attention to detail, colour and light. Right on the beach we would have been happy to stay for many more weeks. The food is excellent and the drinks are cold. We'll be back some day soon. Greetings from Kampala/Norway