Smiles Beach Hotel - Zanzibar

Smiles is all about enjoying the simple pleasures in life: long carefree days on the beach, awesome sunsets, the sound of the ocean and watching local village life going by. If you're after a big bustling beach resort where you'll have constant entertainment look elsewhere. This small and casual 16-roomed guesthouse doesn't have much in the way of activities or facilities, although they might organise the occasional dinner show on a moonlit night. At Smiles, there are just the guest rooms and a tiny restaurant. No reception office, games room, lounge, curio shop, disco or pub. 

However, Smiles Beach Hotel's setting in the party hub of Nungwi means that you're close to a number of festive bars and restaurants so those nights of wild fruit cocktails are just a five minute walk away (or a little longer if you're prone to post-cocktail zigzagging on the way home).
You can then spend the following day quietly curled up with a good book under the palms.

The rooms are situated a little back from the beach with tropical gardens wedged attractively in between. No problem for beach bums, however, as the double-story blocks have an ample supply of white beach sand directly in front of them, so you can step out of your room (or down the staircase) onto sand. A short sandy pathway also leads you through the gardens onto the beach.

The stylish appearance of the four guest blocks differs to many of the makuti-thatch constructions on the island. The modern, whitewashed walls, columned balconies and red tin roofs have a distinct European flavour. White spiral staircases lead you gracefully down from the upstairs rooms. This design will be pleasing to many but if you're after more Zanzibari type makuti constructions there are plenty of other places to choose from. That said, Smiles does have the traditional Zanzibari beds in many rooms. They are also spotlessly clean and tiled so if you're after spic and span interiors (especially bathrooms) Smiles is an excellent choice.

There is a small open-walled, makuti-thatch restaurant close to the beach where you enjoy meals but no bar or music is available at Smiles. As the manager Ibrahim always says, "We like guests to listen to the sound of the waves and the breeze blowing through the palms." After all, there are a host of other nearby bars and restaurants for festive evenings. Nungwi Village Beach Resort is also right next door.  Smiles will arrange breakfast in bed if the mood strikes and they can organise snorkelling, diving, fishing and other activities with operators in the area.

Smiles has 4 double-storey units, each containing 4 rooms. The rooms have patios or balconies overlooking the tropical gardens and beach. There is a sandy patch in front of the rooms so you can feel the clean white sand underfoot while you stroll down to the beach.

The rooms are simply furnished and exceptionally clean. They have the luxuries of air-conditioning, telephone, satellite television, mosquito nets, hair dryers and safes. 

There are triples, doubles and honeymoon rooms. The rooms are tiled and have typical wooden Zanzibari three-quarter beds with designs on the headboards and mosquito netting covering them. There is a build-in cupboard with a dressing table.

The honeymoon rooms are similar to the other rooms, except they have queen size beds (attractive elevated concrete slabs covered with a mattress and mosquito netting). Honeymooners can also enjoy fresh garden flowers in their room.  The en-suite bathrooms are fairly modern, exceptionally clean and decorated with attractive blue tiles. The showers have hot and cold water. Location: Smiles Beach Hotel is situated on the Nungwi Peninsula on the North Coast of Zanzibar. It is about 65 kilometres from the airport.