Hekaya Zanzibar

Beautiful small hotel. We stayed there in July 2025 for 3 nights - it would have been great to stay for another 3 nights! It was a beautiful stay, wonderful location direct at the beach, very friendly staff and excellent breakfast with view to the sea. John gave us an interesting tour around the garden. Short distance to restaurants at the beach, as alternative to the good one of the hotel.

Hekaya was our favourite stay in a 2 week Tanzania trip. This small hotel is beautifully designed with great attention to detail and has an amazing garden (gardener John will show you around) and lovely pool. It overlooks the ocean, with an East-facing sea view (incredible sunrises!) from all five rooms. The three rooms on the ground floor are larger and have private sun loungers on the sand. Food is excellent and well-priced and there is a great dining area overseeing the ocean (where we had breakfasts) and one besides the pool (typically for dinner, to be out of the evening wind) with a sand floor for barefoot dinners. The hotel is situated in the middle of Pingwe village, and the road to it isn’t the nicest but once you are inside it’s great and it has the advantage of being at the sandbank where the villagers keep their small boats - great for snorkelling trips or seeing the multi-coloured sea stars in the tidal pools. From the hotel, you can walk barefoot on the beach, going North for a few kilometers. Wifi works great and the showers are warm and have high water pressure. We also loved the cocktails and the choice between an extensive set menu (mix of local dishes and western style burger, pizza, pasta, etc. - all made to a very high standard) and the dinner menu which changed every night. You can choose from both for dinner; lunch is the fixed menu only but with 25 or so items we never got bored. Last mention goes to the wonderful and warm team: Godfried, who made us feel so welcome the first days, cook Jimmy for the food, Jacqueline (who was out a few days so we only met towards the end) and all the waiting and housekeeping staff! We truly loved staying with you.

Hekaya is a little treasure, from the location to the rooms, the friendly staff, delicious food, beautiful garden and pool area. I can't fault this gem. We thoroughly enjoyed our week. The location is also great, a quite area within easy reach of many attractions.