Named after the 1980 hit song by Martha and the Muffins, Echo Beach Hotel on Zanzibar is a relatively new, small lodge which opened in October 2007. It's owned by Sue and Andrew Page – a British couple who previously ran a French B&B. They have a relaxed attitude and as a result Echo Beach is a small unpretentious place with decent food and a beautiful location; just right for lazing around in comfort.
The rooms at Echo Beach look out to the sea, and encircle the lodge's swimming pool. There are two rooms in each of two double-storey units, and a further five individual cottages. There are also two new spacious cottages which have been built in 2008. These are slightly further from the beach and don't quite have the sea view, but they are more private.
The rooms all differ slightly in fixtures and fitting, but are broadly the same in style. The bedroom has a Zanzibari-style double bed, swathed in a mosquito net, with bed-side tables and lamps. (There's mains electricity with 3-pin UK-style plugs here.) There's also a wardrobe, and usually a few chairs and a chaise-longue standing on the floor, where large stone tiles have been polished to a gleam. The general feeling is one of space – even if sometimes the individual pieces of furniture don't go together perfectly.
High-quality fabrics have been used throughout, including lovely cotton bed linen, silk cushions and fluffy towels in the bathroom. All the rooms have effective and quiet air-conditioning, and a ceiling fan above the bed.
Every room at Echo Beach Hotel on Zanzibar has an en-suite bathroom attached, which again is very large and quite modern in design – you'll find plenty of big stone surfaces and no clutter. It's clear that Andrew and Sue have brought some very high-quality bathroom fittings; I think to allay anyone's fears of poor African plumbing! The results are generally very smart, cool bathrooms with sinks sitting on pedestals, taps in the walls and positively enormous walk-in showers – which give a great shower! That said, complicated European fittings can often be prone to problems in this tough tropical climate and this is often the case at Echo Beach.
Each room has large, sliding French doors which open onto a good-sized balcony, overlooking the pool and sea. These are, to some extent, screened from the neighbouring chalets with colourful, billowing fabrics – but they're not completely private.
The new cottages also have a day bed under the thatch roof, which is reached by a spiral staircase.
Echo Beach's large dining room and bar area stands at the north end of the pool, and is a vast, thatched structure with a highly-polished stone floor. It's also got a sea view to one side – like pretty much every other place in the lodge! Under this airy roof, there there's a well-stocked bar, a small relaxing lounge area with comfy chairs, and a scattering of tables, set for meals.
On a previous visit here, we ate at Echo Beach several times, and the food was consistently good and well presented. Attractive dishes of modern European style, with lots of seafood and a sprinkling of Zanzibari spices, which tasted good and fresh. However over the last year some of the reports on the food have been quite mixed. It seems that when the Sue and Andrew are not in the kitchen, the standards can quickly drop.
Echo Beach Hotel really isn't the obvious place for activities; it's more a place to relax by the lovely pool, wander on the beach, snooze in a hammock and generally chill. That said, there's a new water-sports and activities centre at Echo Beach which includes a PADI dive centre.
We have visited Echo Beach three times in the last few years and we have found a lodge that offers good quality accommodation in a very beautiful setting. However it seems that in the last year, there have been a few problems with the food and the service, which can be quite haphazard.
For people looking for a relaxed lodge in a lovely spot, and don't mind patchy service then this place is a good option. If you have higher expectations of service, then Echo Beach probably isn't for you.
Lodge overview
Lodge type: Beach
No. of bedrooms: 9 rooms
Season: 1st June to 31st March
Ideal length of stay: 3 nights or more would be perfect here - it's pure relaxation.
Directions: It takes about 35 minutes to fly to Zanzibar from Dar es Salaam, and then it's a further one hour by vehicle to Echo Beach.
Accessible by: Fly-and-Transfer
Key personnel
Owner: Sue and Andrew Page
Food & drink
Usual board basis: Half Board
Food quality: Dinner is a 3-course a la carte menu, often with 5 choices for main course. There is a weekly BBQ, sometimes cooking a whole, large fish, and occasional Swahili nights, with entertainment.
Dining style: Inidividual Tables
Dining locations: Indoor Dining
Room service: Yes – it's possible, but there are no phones in the rooms
Drinks included: Drinks are not included; they are charged as an extra.
Special interests
Beach holidays: Echo Beach sits on a lovely stretch of white beach, on Zanzibar's Mast Coast – on the Michamvi Peninsula. You can relax by the pool, soak up the sun, or walk in either direction for miles, stopping to watch local women dry out sea-weed to eat or the fishermen bring in their catch of the day.
- See more of our suggestions of the best places for beach holidays in Zanzibar
Wellbeing: When we last visited Echo Beach in September 2008, a new beauty treatment service had just started. Massages, facials, henna tattoos and hair braiding are now available.
- See more of our suggestions of the best places for wellbeing in Zanzibar
Children
Attitude towards children: Children are welcome at Echo Beach, but in limited numbers.
Age restrictions: There are no age restrictions for children at Echo Beach.
Activities: There are no special activities for children.
Equipment: There is no special equipment available for children.
Generally recommended for children: Yes - although the balconies on the two top rooms would not be safe for children, so we'd recommend ground-floor rooms.
Central communications
Power supply: Mains Electricity
Communications: There is good mobile reception here. There is free wireless internet, and a spare PC behind the bar.
TV & radio: None available.
Health & safety
Malarial area: Yes
Medical care: For minor illnesses and injuries there are two first-aid boxes, but no first-aid trained staff. There is a local medic at a nearby clinic, or a European doctor will drive out for an hour from Stone Town.
Dangerous animals: Low Risk
Security measures: There are two askaris on duty during the day, and four at night.
Fire safety: There are fire extinguishers in the rooms (in wardrobes) – and smoke alarms in the rooms.
Extras
Disabled access: On Request
Laundry facilities: Laundry is free of charge.
Money: Echo Beach will happily exchange US dollars cash.
Accepted payment: Euros, US dollars or Tanzanian shillings cash. Echo Beach will accept Visa and Mastercard credit cards, with a charge of 5% commission.
Disappointing Echo Beach Hotel
We were both very disappointed with this hotel which lacked the warm and friendly feeling of the two game reserves. I think we should not have chosen a location so far from a local village as we felt...
Poor start to Echo Beach stay
We chose Echo Beach expecting from the Expert Africa website a small, simple beach hotel with rooms that "look out to the sea (all have a sea view), and encircle the lodge's swimming pool... ...
Echo Beach Hotel review
Lovely spot, very friendly staff & excellent food. Beer reasonable price, snorkling from Breezes very good.
Room just right although bush babies trashed the cushions.
We want you to understand more about Echo Beach Hotel. We're also confident that a trip there with us cost you the same or less than booking it any other way, even directly. So follow the links below.
Lodge homepage This is a good, clear and fairly simple website - with very representative pictures - well worth a look.
