We will have a day and a half in stonetown so we are looking for a mid-price place to stay that is close to all the sites with all the usuals such as clean and safe since I need to make the wife happy. What are some not miss things to do in stonetown?
Thanks
ctown
1
jerkfish2
We spent quite a bit of time there and really loved the Chavda hotel. It's a good prices, Excellent AC, clean, safe, all that, with a gorgeous rooftop deck for breakfast. It's easy to get to everything from. The toursity parts of stonetown are quite small so it's easy to walk around there.
In terms of things to do, i strongly recommend taking both the slave / city tour that takes you to the Anglican church, the old Slave market, and the Zanzibari market, and the spice tour. turtle island is eh (kinda over rated i thought) and unless your gonna drop $ at Chumbe Island, your better off snorkeling in other parts of the island. Watch the sunest from the patio at the African Hotel, (a block from the Chavda hotel and 2-3 times the price!) and eat at either Sweet Easy ( tell tom Hello from America) , or 2 tables.
Cheers + have a great trip!
2
darkangelme
The Dhow Palace is also great. clean rooms, very friendly staff...As Jerkfish said, try the Africa Hotel for a sundowner, do not order the Funky monkey though :-)
A must go - The Forodhani Gardens. cheapest sea food ever, and very tasty. try the fresh sugar cane juice.
Da
4
brtata
Oh, go to the Clove Hotel, it´s so sweet, run by a lovely Dutch Lady! Get Lost plus try local food! In the night market and also in local little places... there is a very small but the best local food I had, which was just close by the beit al Chai, in the end of the alley on the left side. Actually, Beit AL Chai is also really good!
5
mad_paddler
I agree with #4, the Clove is wonderful. I has a great location, if friendly and the view from the rooftop bar is great.
6
alh212
I'll third the Clove Hotel. We paid the extra $10 for the larger "family room," which was enormous and had a great little balcony from which we could see the water. Definitely clean and safe, still reasonably priced.
What to do? Definitely wander. My husband wasn't too excited about Stonetown after seeing it from the air as we flew in, but after an hour of walking around was wishing we had more than 2 days there.
Also check out the ZAYAA (Zanzibar Association of Young Artists) shops - there's a gallery of their work run by a guy from Texas on Hurumzi St., and the artists themselves have a couple of shops on Gizenga St (I think that's the one - the one listed in the LP as having a number of souvenier shops). You'll notice their shop becuase it's one of the only ones that doesn't have a zillion Tinga Tinga-style paintings out front but instead is full of real artwork. They're great guys - BaYuu, especially - and will be REALLY excited if you buy something.
Pro tip
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