Clove Hotel

See more Small Hotels. See best of Zanzibar in Tanzania.

A friendly, well-priced hotel in the heart of fascinating Stone Town, with new Dutch management and sociable roof terrace

Stone Town is a fascinating, vibrant, colourful place. Its narrow alleys teem with traders and tourists, veiled women and mbao-playing men, studded wooden doors to imposing mosques and crumbling Arab houses. But – to new arrivals, especially – it can seem noisy, confusing and more than a little seedy.

What you need is a friendly, central base with a helpful and informative manager; and this eight-room hotel, freshly refurbished and cheerfully run by Dutch-born Lisette, is just the job. She first fell under Zanzibar’s spell in October 2002; a year later she had sold her Amsterdam hat-shop and taken over this run-down hostel; eight months on and she had gutted it, replaced all the waterworks, commissioned new coconut-wood furniture and re-opened it as a guesthouse for grown-up backpackers. She’s clearly an achiever. “You name it and I’ll organize it” is her promise to guests. The atmosphere is casually sociable, its huge roof terrace serving as an open-air sitting room where guests get together to swop diving stories or plan spice tours over a beer from the honesty bar.