Sultan Sands Island Resort

The hotel has a warm and homely feel,the welcome experience was great from Mr Urfi and his amazing reception Staff..the food was mouthwatering and the staff was attentive to detail and friendly.Food quality was fresh and tasty,with a variety of food for everyone.I could never have asked for a better place to spend my vacation.This is a world class resort and more than a five-star resort.Will definitely be back.

Fantastic hotel in Zanzibar! Very good food and cocktails at All inclusive! Entertainment show every night!The bungalows are very beautiful! All the hotel staff is excellent but especially the lady Aliyah in the reception!

What a fabulous resort with the most welcoming of people. Loved our holiday experience from the moment we stepped foot inside. A welcome drink and cool towel was a nice touch and they even had a room we could get changed in before the 3pm check in.
Great food service, and the local food was delicious.
The hotel maids were first class.
They did a night time spray to keep the mosquitos away which was lovely.
I won’t say much about the area or
setting, just look at the photos and that says it all. I can’t wait to return!

Very nice resort, comfy rooms, if your lucky you'll get a visit from a bushbaby. Go for a walk when it's dark and you'll see hermit crabs, giant African land snails, lizards and more. There is entertainment each evening, and different dinner themes.

Staying there with my husband in April, there is a very good and friendly place. It's smaller hotel than BlueBay but there is more comfortable and quieter place for visitors which would like to stay in quieter place. The food was very tasty and exelent - thank to local quisine. Although we had the small complication with accomodation, they solved the problem very quickly and there was nice place for staying near the ocean with another swimming pool and large balcony in the first floor - exelent :), just short walking to everywhere. Stuff is professional so it makes your stay very pleasant and relaxing. Staff were so friendly and helpful also - especially during the breakfest, lunch and dinner - perfect servis. Thank you Ali and Karida for beatiful trip to the open ocean :) ... we had massages in close to the hotel BlueBay - thank you Lucy and Aisha for massages - my husband had never experience with massage and he was very happy to choice it. One evening we enjoied very special ewening dinner on the beach - so marvelous and exciteing - many thanks to Ezra!!!! Lots of security so we felt safe- beautiful beaches. I think that this is very good choice if you go to visit Zanzibar and really recomened to all :) I hope will be more opportunities to visit this place for next time and again. Thank you all of you. Hakuna matata :)

We had a marvelous time during our honeymoon stay at Sultan Sands! We got a room upgrade and stayed in one of the bungalows close to the beach. The staff prepared a flower arch and a bottle of wine and the sweetest letter of congratulations signed by the manager Marnix.
The hotel itself has almost everything one can need. The staff is the friendliest, from housekeepers, maintenance guys to bartenders, waiters and of course the manager. The food is great although for All Inclusive I expected a better selection of pool snacks and late night snacks (in case of the second there were none). Rooms are clean and tidy however bathrooms need to be refitted. It is a very calm hotel, perfect to chill and relax with no kids screaming and running around which was a great plus.

To sum up:

+
Friendly staff and excellent service
Good quality of food, a little bit repetitive but very good
Direct access to the beach with the softest sand
Nice swimming pools and sunbeds
Chill and quiet

-
Dated bathrooms
No late night snacks
Limited selection of pool snacks
No sparkling wine available in AI beverages menu (I’m guessing that it’s pretty expensive to import it from Europe since a glass of Prosecco costs here 7$)

Words are nothing, you must see this place is a dream beauty, directly on the Indian Ocean. The rooms are amazing, the food is good and the people are friendly. But, as the turist , when you go outside of the hotel, negociate for everything that you buy!
For the best trips ever and to see amazing places around, i recomand you this guy, is a tourist guide( the best),you can conect him on facebook: Sansibar Muhamedy Ausfluge. Serios, friendly, corect ,he wil take you in the most beautiful places that you ever dreamed to visit!. I recomand him strongly, 5 stare only is not anough for this guy! Thanks to him, my vacation becamed a real dream! Thank you, Mohamed!

We can strongly recommend this hotel.
The hotel facility is very clean and very well maintained. The beach and the water are fantastic.
Our room was sensational and the beds exceptionally comfortable – rarely did we sleep so well!
The rooms were cleaned daily and in the evening the beds were uncovered. Additionally, they always put a new bottle of water in our rooms.
The whole staff was extremely friendly and helpful and the service was impeccable throughout.
The restaurant was very comfortable and inviting. Every day there was a wide variety of delicious and healthy foods. Everything was always super fresh and prepared with love. The waiters and all the other employees of the hotel were extremely accommodating and always in a good mood. The entertainment program in the evening with live music / band or DJ was terrific; there was even a show with acrobats.
A big thank you goes out to the manager of the hotel, Mr Dass. Never have we seen a manager that helps serving food at the buffet or clears the dishes. Mr Dass read every wish from our lips and did everything possible to make our vacation unforgettable. “No” was not an option for him. Simply outstanding! What is more, Mr Dass always went from table to table and asked for each guest’s well-being and if they needed anything. He was also working at the reception. It seemed as if he was working 24/7. The hotel may only have 4*, but as we’ve been to many 5*+ hotels, we can safely say that the service of Mr Dass has exceeded everything we have seen so far! The hotel can be glad and even proud to have such a committed manager! We’ve always felt welcome and just like at home. We will definitely come back and are already looking forward to it!

Perfect place to be, friendly, supportive and calm staff, nice rooms, proper resort, food w/o side effects, drinks meet a need ... well organized trips incl. transfer and guide, we were pretty satisfied, came as a guest and leave as friends...

Unforgettable holidays! At Sultan Sands, my husband and I spent 2 weeks of December. We got a room (Bahari - 1st floor) with an amazing ocean view. Room cleaned twice every day, in the evening additionally sprayed with insects. Service - from waiters, cleaning ladies, barmans, gardeners, etc. - all incredibly helpful, always smiling. The Manager is also constantly present in the hotel and takes care of the guests' well-being. Top notch food. Every day something different and everything is delicious. Private hotel beach, with sun loungers (+ mattresses and towels) easily available during the day. Beautiful white public beach in front of the hotel - only negative is a lots of locals offering magnets and tours. Amazing tides of the ocean - possibility to walk more than 2 kilometers deep into the ocean - water shoes necessary. Single animations during the day (football, volleyball), peace and quiet allowing for a pleasant rest. Live music and shows in the evenings. For Christmas, additional attractions and a gala dinner were prepared. Paradise! We definitely recommend it!

All around a wonderful stay with a perfect location at the beach. Visited in april/may this year and the weather was perfect.
The staff is very friendly and the service is superb 👍.
You also get free coconuts, harvested and cut for you

I went there for cross over. Absolutely loved it. I would recommend it for couples and family trips. It's a very relaxed set up. A must do is the safari blue tour. You snorkel, lunch ,swim at a lagoon , search for dolphins and enjoy all tropic fruits they have

Very nice located hotel with excellent access to the sea and really nice staff. Huge congratulations to manager, who’s keeping every guest happy and solves every problem immediately. Food is fresh, with great variety of fruit, meats and vegetable. Room is filled with everything You wish to have in Zanzibar, tiny minus for water (low pressure in the shower- but it is problem of Zanzibar, not hotel itself).

Place is great and the staff is super friendly and helpful. Food and drinks are good, there is plenty of activities and you feel extra safe.
The only drawback is massive amount of tourists from Russia, who don't understand a word in English and don't really care about anything as they scream, interrupt and argue. Hopefully after the pandemic Russians will some other destination as it is really a shame to lose such a quiet and nice place

Super nice stay in this Hotel. Best beach, nice ambiente, super friendly staff, warm welcome, super cozy and they do everything that the guests feel good
Hakuna Matata

I was blown away by the attention to detail and the feeling of being a valued guest. We were just another family. Yet Dass made it feel like we were some long lost relatives arriving for a family reunion. Dass - the hotel manager.
If you're looking for a perfect location where to switch off and truly enjoy yourself, wonderful hospitality- this is the place to go to.
And if that wasn't enough, then the hotel manager, Dass, will be there to check on you and try to fulfill your every desire.
Truly cannot express enough what a gem this company has. Dass is one in a million, who will look after every single guest you have. ANY and ALL companies would be extremely lucky to have him on their team.
Thank you for making our holiday feel so much more special, Dass! We still have that Family Photo and we will always remember you <3

Von der Rezeption beginnend, bis über die tolle Anlage, weiter zum Restaurant mit gutem und auswahlreichem Buffet, besticht dieses Hotel mit enormer Gastfreundlichkeit. Alles ist sauber und ansprechend. Toller Strand, schönes Abendprogramm.

Beginning with the reception, all staff members welcome you warm and quickly, whenever you arrive there (especially big thanks to Joyce, Anna and Manuel). Joyce was reachable at every time for us, and did so much more than necessary. At the restaurant were also so many employees non-stop working as hard as possible. Respect for that. Here we met Rhoda, who told us many nice impressions of African lifestyle. Everyone did a great job. The people from the bars are also great and serving good drinks at every time!

The evening entertainment was lovely, the dance acts of the staff members amazing. The hotel-ground offers much space and possibilities. Everything was clean.

The buffet was great and offered also a big variety.

The only thing to improve: the gym. It is old and not suitable for a good workout. The bars are dirty and the walking-machines are extremely noisy. Please spend money on it.

Thanks for a great vacation.

A great setting. Wonderful staff throughout the resort. Lovely food for the three meal options. Worth every cent in my opinion.

Sultan Sands is located in Kiwengwa, next to the beach. Kiwengwa country side is just outside the hotel. Sultan Sands is connected to another hotel – BlueBay. Both hotels are cooperating, there is possibility to walk from one to another without going ‘outside’. From airport, it’s about 1 hour of driving. Hotel is huge with beautiful garden (so green!) – there are many places for walk.

We had a room in Baobab section with pool and ocean view. African standard is different than European or American one, but these rooms look very nice and spacious. There is a huge king size bed with mosquito net, TV, safe, small shelves for stuff and place for luggage. Bathroom is huge with nice stoned shower. I was in many hotels across the globe and the weakest point of the hotel is usually the housekeeping. In Sultan Sands, housekeeping is doing really good job. Rooms are clean, there is no dust or insects inside. Housekeeping always comes twice: first in the morning/afternoon for general cleaning and closing mosquito net, and second during dinner to open mosquito net and spray for insects.

All meals are being served in one restaurant. Breakfast 07:00 – 10:30. Lunch 12:30 – 14:30. Dinner 19:30 – xx:xx (don’t remember). There is a huge variety of meals and different cuisines – African, Indian, Italian, sea food, fish, etc. Anything you will take, you won’t regret. Just keep in mind that the food is not spicy, even if they put some chili inside – it still won’t be spicy so don’t worry. Everything is very tasty and well flavored. You have to try soups and fish from grill ! From time to time there is theme dinner night like Indian evening.

There are three bars (the one in Baobab section was closed). They are open from 10:00. Huge congrats and big thanks to the bar staff. They are doing their job with passion and huge commitment can be seen on every step. All drinks are being made in your eyes, they are looking after every detail. There is a huge variety of drinks but also of cocktails (non-alco). They are so good, so tasty, so refreshing! Some people were saying that they won’t give you more than one – it’s not true. It all depends how you behave, if you are rude… I didn’t observe such a thing.

Pool is ok, looks deep (up to 2m) and huge enough. I cannot say more because due to healthy issues, I didn’t try it out. Water in pool is not coming from ocean, it doesn’t contain chlorine as well. It looks like it’s a tap water but maybe I’m wrong.

Beach is so beautiful. It’s wide, sand comes from coral and it’s easily accessible. There are huge tides. In the morning and afternoon, deep is around 30cm almost 500m from the hotel. After the lunch and evening, water comes directly to the hotel’s stairs. Shoes to the water are mandatory because of jellyfish and sea urchins.

Check-out us at 10:00. All-inclusive is finishing at 14:30 so when lunch is finished. There is a possibility for late checkout. It costs 50 USD per room, and it’s only a room (up to 17:00), all-inclusive services still finishes at 14:30. Lunch is the last meal in last day. When you buy in shops in the hotel, you can pay immediately or during check-out. Everything in the hotel is being sold in US Dollars. However it’s worth to buy some tanzanian shillings to use it in local stores outside the hotel. Watch out – hotel is converting money only in one way: USD to TZS.

Sultan Sands contains two gates. There are guards at the gates as well as at the beach. Beaches are safe but don’t go out after sunset. Despite the fact that Zanzibar people are happy, cheerful and friendly, you can have mixed feeling outside the hotel. When you are leaving the hotel, you are being asked why you are leaving and what’s your room number – for your safety. There are no so many tourists walking around in Kiwengwa, everyone is offering you something.

Sultan Sands is a very good proposition for short as well as longer stay. It’s very good hotel with perfect quality-price ratio. Everyone from the hotel personnel is very friendly, always saying ‘jumbo’. Do I recommend? Of course!

Property and location are both great. Really enjoyed our stay. All staff and bar tenders were amazing. Dass really went out of his way to ensure our stay was extra amazing.