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Serena Inn
Serena Inn

Reviews of Serena Inn

Wildlife sightings and reviews

63 independent comments and wildlife information from our travellers who have visited Serena Inn and kindly agreed to share their thoughts. They do not necessarily represent the views of Expert Africa

Showing 21-30 of 63
Duration
Arrival date
Mr & Mrs R
Aberdeen

"Serena Inn showed it is the best in Stonetown"

1 night Arrived 29 Sep 2012
"Having had a few problems at the Serena Inn in the past we were apprehensive on arrival.
However everything was great with an upgrade to a suite, great location good swimming pool and a memorable dinner over looking the sea (and Dhows) in the Terrace restaurant

A great end to our holiday" See all these reviews: 13n in Tanzania; 5n in Zanzibar
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Excellent

Location:
Excellent
Service:
Good
Rooms:
Excellent
Food:
Excellent
Facilities:
Excellent
Mr & Mrs G
Richmond

"Serena Inn review"

1 night Arrived 20 Oct 2011
"Had asked specifically for a bed with no footboard (tall husband) and this was not arranged. Hotel were very helpful and managed to change us to a room with a wider bed so it wasn't so much of a problem.

Facilities very good - lovely pool in a great setting. Food in the seafood restaurant was excellent.

Had a guided tour of Zanzibar - guide OK - again his English was difficult to understand and he did spend a portion of the excursion on his mobile phone!" See all these reviews: 8n in Tanzania; 5n in Zanzibar
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Excellent

Location:
Excellent
Service:
Excellent
Activities:
Average
Rooms:
Excellent
Food:
Excellent
Facilities:
Excellent
Mr & Mrs H
Bedford

"Perfect Stone Town base"

1 night Arrived 3 Oct 2011
"Before arriving at Serena we had heard what a great hotel it was. Luckily we were not disapointed.

The Serena is a beautifully restored hotel. From the lobby to the swimming pool, there is a real touch of class about the hotel.

We were upgraded for free to a prime room which had wonderful views over the pool to the Indian Ocean. The rooms are extremely comfortable and a great place to get some rest after a long day around Stone Town.

The staff all around the hotel are helpful and couldn't be more welcoming.

The food at the Serena is wonderful. The breakfasts had so much food on offer we didn't know where to start.
We also had lunch at the pool bar which was really tasty and not as expensive as we thought it would be. On our last night we booked a table at the terrance restuarant. Set overlooking the Indian Ocean, this is a beautiful place to have your last dinner on Zanzibar. The 4 course seafood dinner was cooked to perfection and I will never forget the dessert!

Overall I would definatley say the Serena is the place to saty in Stone Town and would definately return." See all these reviews: 8n in Zanzibar; 5n in Tanzania
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Excellent

Location:
Excellent
Service:
Excellent
Activities:
Excellent
Rooms:
Excellent
Food:
Excellent
Facilities:
Excellent
Mr & Mrs H
Newcastle

"Good base for short stay in Stone Town"

1 night Arrived 29 Sep 2011
"We only stayed one night here - so that we could see Stone Town and also so that we would not have so far to travel in the early morning to get the flight back to Dar (to connect with the BA flight to Heathrow). Even so, we had to be collected at 5am! But do be aware if you have to do the same thing that our wake-up call did not materialise. Fortunately we had ordered room service breakfast which DID arrive so we had just enough time to get ready before our lift arrived.

The hotel was fine although a bit 'sanitised' and full of well-heeled tourists. We had a standard room but had requested a large double bed which we got. It was right off the main lobby which was a bit noisy but was comfortable though, with good air-conditioning. We had lunch in the hotel when we arrived which was pretty standard fare, so decided to go out for dinner and had just about the best meal of the holiday in the Beyt al Chai Hotel which was opposite the Serena Inn - it was wonderful with the most amazing crab and coconut soup and red snapper with spiced mango!" See all these reviews: 7n in Tanzania; 5n in Zanzibar
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Good

Location:
Good
Service:
Good
Rooms:
Good
Food:
Average
Mr & Mrs R
Aberdeen

"Serena Inn review"

2 nights Arrived 20 Sep 2011
"The Serena Inn was a mixture of fantastic and poor

Check in was late but while the desk formalities were fine the person who showed us to our room kept putting his hand out for a tip rather than showing us how to switch the lighting or aircon on. we had no turn down service the first night.

The room (5) was small had an overlooked balcony,was noisy from reception and had maitenance issues (plug did not work in basin,air con leaked continually on to floor and one bedside light had a faulty socket.)

Check out was a farce as receptionists kept leaving us during our check out to deal with''regulars''.

However the pool, bar,food were first class. Our seafood meal on the roof overlooking the ocean was as good as it gets with great food, staff and musicians. Overall a shame as location was also fantastic" See all these reviews: 10n in Rwanda; 5n in Tanzania; 2n in Zanzibar; 1n in Kenya
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Good

Location:
Excellent
Service:
Average
Facilities:
Good
Rooms:
Average
Food:
Excellent
Mr & Mrs J
Ashbourne

"Serena Inn review"

1 night Arrived 13 Sep 2011
"Room was a little on the small side and mosquito net not too easy to get in and out in the night.

Afternoon tea was good, dinner was great but we had to leave too early to get breakfast.

Hotel was in a really handy, and pleasant, position in middle of StoneTown near shops. Impressive historic building." See all these reviews: 6n in Tanzania; 4n in Zanzibar
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Excellent

Location:
Excellent
Service:
Excellent
Rooms:
Good
Food:
Excellent
Mr L & Ms W
Redhill

"Serena Inn review"

1 night Arrived 30 Jul 2011
"A short stay here but everything was great, they even bought us a complementary fruit bowl and bottle of bubbly whick was a lovely touch." See all these reviews: 6n in Tanzania; 6n in Zanzibar
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Excellent

Location:
Excellent
Service:
Good
Activities:
Good
Rooms:
Good
Food:
Good
Facilities:
Good
Mr P & Ms H
UK

"Great"

1 night Arrived 28 Jul 2011
"Only there one night but had a great time and it is the perfect place for a couple of days stop off on the way somewhere else or to explore Stone Town." See all these reviews: 9n in Zanzibar; 7n in Tanzania
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Good

Location:
Excellent
Service:
Good
Facilities:
Good
Rooms:
Good
Food:
Good
Mr S & Miss P
Avon

"Serena Inn review"

1 night Arrived 11 Jul 2011
"We only stayed for one afternoon but this appeared to be a lovely hotel in historical Stone Town. Helpful staff and comfortable room." See all these reviews: 7n in Zanzibar; 4n in Tanzania
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Excellent

Location:
Excellent
Service:
Excellent
Activities:
Excellent
Rooms:
Excellent
Food:
Excellent
Facilities:
Excellent
Mr D & Mrs B
UK

"A grand finale"

1 night Arrived 21 Feb 2011
"Just what we needed for our last night. Interesting tour of Stone Town.

Hotel very efficient especially as we had an early start (pity about the fire alarm at 3am). Excellent seafood terrace restaurant for last dinner." See all these reviews: 9n in Tanzania; 5n in Zanzibar
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Excellent

Location:
Excellent
Service:
Excellent
Facilities:
Excellent
Rooms:
Excellent
Food:
Excellent
Showing 21-30 of 63
91%
63 reviews of Serena Inn by travellers since August 2007
Overall rating by our travellers
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