SeVi Boutique Hotel

We spent 20 amazing days in Zanzibar, ending with a wonderful 7-night stay at SeVi Boutique Hotel in Tropical Garden Bungalow No. 6. The bungalow was spacious and very comfortable, with a large bed, a mini-fridge for cold water, and a lovely evening turndown service. The location is breathtaking, offering stunning views of the Indian Ocean and Mnemba Island with plenty of water activities nearby. The entire staff—from reception and security to the restaurant, kitchen, and spa teams—was incredibly warm, friendly, and attentive. Leaving with big hugs from the team truly says it all! The food was delicious across the board. Breakfast was fantastic with homemade bread, fresh juice, and marmalade. We especially appreciated their focus on using seasonal ingredients. I already miss the calming sounds of the palm trees and ocean waves!

A few minor areas could use attention: Front Entrance: The pathway/road at the front gate is quite rough and dangerous to navigate, especially when arriving at night. Repairing this would make for a much safer and better first impression. Shower Privacy: The outdoor shower could benefit from a bit more privacy screening. Menu Accuracy: While the food was great and seasonal sourcing is wonderful, the menu should be updated to remove out-of-season items (like mangoes when they aren't in season). Dolphin Safaris: While ocean excursions are widely offered nearby, the local dolphin tours felt a bit too crowded and invasive ("dolphin hunting"), so we preferred stick to snorkeling and visiting the sandbanks instead.

Wonderful Pool Villa directly at the beach. Amazing food and nice interior. Great pools and charming open air spa. Amazing people. Parking for our car and nice architecture. Highly recommend.

The hotel is right on the beach and is very peaceful and relaxing, perfect if you’re looking for a quiet and secluded getaway. However, if you’re looking for more things to do around the hotel, it might feel a little boring, as there isn’t much around. The staff are extremely kind, welcoming and helpful. The food is excellent — breakfast, lunch and dinner were all very good. They are also very flexible with both meal times and requests to modify dishes. The only downside is that the service can be a little slow, but honestly, when you’re on holiday, it’s quite acceptable. The room was beautiful, spacious and tastefully decorated with a lovely local touch.

A few things could be improved: the Wi-Fi is very slow, especially in the evening, and unfortunately the beach was not really accessible because of the large amount of seaweed. We also organised an excursion through the hotel which wasn’t managed in the best way, although the hotel later offered us a discount to make up for it.

We eventually reached an agreement with the hotel management. At first, we wanted to leave because the villa did not meet our expectations. In the end, the management offered us a complimentary transfer to our next hotel, a boat trip to Mnemba Island, and free dinners included during our stay. This made the overall price feel much more reasonable considering the condition of the villa. The restaurant staff were exceptionally friendly, attentive, and welcoming throughout our stay. The food was very good, with a nice variety and consistently good quality.

We booked the exclusive villa for four nights, but many of the advertised features were completely missing, including the hammock, wardrobe, daybed, and table. The villa clearly needed renovation, which was also confirmed by the hotel management. Several facilities were defective, including lights, showers, and water taps, which negatively affected our stay. For the price of the exclusive villa, we expected everything to be complete, functional, and exactly as advertised. Unfortunately, this was not the case.