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Sam's Giardino

Reviews of Sam's Giardino

Wildlife sightings and reviews

173 independent comments and wildlife information from our travellers who have visited Sam's Giardino and kindly agreed to share their thoughts. They do not necessarily represent the views of Expert Africa

Showing 131-140 of 173
Duration
Arrival date
Mr & Mrs L
Berkshire

"Time to take a break from driving"

4 nights Arrived 31 Oct 2008
"A warm relaxing atmosphere at Sam's.

Sam turned out to be a very friendly and interesting person. He is very proud of his establishment and rightly so. We were able to relax in his lovely garden and we enjoyed the breakfasts and the evening meals - we only bothered to eat out once at 'Erics'.

Whilst in Swakopmund we enjoyed two trips that we had organised through Expert Africa - a day out with Ernst (Turnstone Tours) and a morning kayaking with Jeanne Maientjes (Eco Marine Kayak Tours). We were extremely lucky to have Ernst to ourselves and it was a very memorable day." See all these reviews: 20n in Namibia
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Good

Location:
Good
Service:
Excellent
Facilities:
Good
Rooms:
Good
Food:
Excellent
Mr & Mrs P
Crowthorne

"Sam's Giardino review"

2 nights Arrived 31 Oct 2008
"Although Sam's welcome was very low key we found Sam very helpful. We needed a dentist, managed to get to the very modern medical centre at 5.00 pm on a Friday and the tooth was "patched up" so we could enjoy the rest of the holiday.

Sam went out of his way to organise some excursions for us. The trip to Moon Valley was excellent thanks to another very experienced and accommodating guide.

Sam's hotel is extremely comfortable and we found the food absolutely delicious.

A great place to stay and, if the weather is good, there is a beautiful landscaped garden to relax in." See all these reviews: 10n in Namibia
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Excellent

Location:
Excellent
Service:
Excellent
Activities:
Excellent
Rooms:
Excellent
Food:
Excellent
Facilities:
Good
The F Family
UK

"Swiss Sam"

2 nights Arrived 28 Oct 2008
"Sam's Giardino is a bit of Switzerland in Swakopmund, which is a very german town. Sam is very helpful, showing us where to find all the places we wanted to go.

The rooms are large and comfortable, and the food is very good." See all these reviews: 12n in Namibia
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Excellent

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

"Sam's Giardino review"

2 nights Arrived 22 Oct 2008
"Only reason for staying here is Sam with his superb hospitality and knowledge of good food and wine which you can buy by the glass very reasonably. He even booked a fish restaurant for us on arrival as that day's menu did not suit us. He also confirmed our tour for the next day.

Room was small and had no fridge although our freeze packs were frozen for us. The guest house is 15 minutes' walk from the town.

Day trip to Sandwich Harbour - An excellent day with our guide, Ernst, driving over and climbing up the dunes, experiencing different shapes and colours of the sand. We saw very little wildlife, principally birds on the guano platform off the coast north of Walvis Bay, pelicans in Sandwich harbour and numerous desert insects.

Ernst is passionate about wildlife and conservation and shared his enthusiasm and knowledge with us in a most enjoyable and long day. Thanks to tide times and his passion to show us all that he could we were back at 7pm instead of the planned 5:30!" See all these reviews: 14n in Namibia; 9n in Botswana
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Good

Location:
Poor
Service:
Excellent
Facilities:
Average
Rooms:
Average
Food:
Excellent
Mr H
Chester

"Nice break at Sam's"

3 nights Arrived 24 Sep 2008
"Location bit out of town, but good secure parking with nice sized rooms. Sam attentive and helpful to give advice and make arrangements. Food and wine in particular were good around a single menu option. Compared with previous accommodations, staff at Sam's were rather subdued and less friendly. One of our party was not a dog lover and found dog sitting by us at breakfast and fouling the garden somewhat unpalatable.

Walvis Bay has some good boat trips that are well worth considering.

Just a comment for those planning a visit to the area, we drove from Kulala camp to Swakupmond and the roads were very poor and journey took us all day." See all these reviews: 15n in Namibia
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Average

Location:
Average
Service:
Average
Facilities:
Good
Rooms:
Average
Food:
Good
Mr & Mrs L
Oxon

"Pity about the dog"

2 nights Arrived 16 Sep 2008
"A convenient place to stay but we feel that the owner did not create a very relaxing atmosphere.

Although promised that the dog would not be in the public rooms when we were there (because of allergies) we had to persuade the owner to keep the dog out of the rooms." See all these reviews: 13n in Namibia
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Average

Location:
Good
Service:
Average
Rooms:
Average
Food:
Good
Mr & Mrs N
Hants

"Sam's Giardino review"

3 nights Arrived 10 Sep 2008
"We thought Sam a little stand-offish when we first arrived, but think he must have been pre-occupied. He was an excellent host, being very informative and helpful. He introduced us to some excellent South African wines and told us about how he trains his staff.

We had dinner at Sam's the first night we arrived and the food was good. The breakfast was the best we had in Namibia - there was such a variety of things available.

Sam provides free internet access and tea/coffee with a wide selection of different tea bags. There are also lots of books (belonging to Einstein, his dog), that are available for browsing.

Sam's is about a 15 minute walk from the centre of Swakopmund - we walked and found it safe.

Overall, we found Sam's a very homely and friendly place to stay.

Sea kayaking excursion: This was a great half-day trip. Jeanne was very helpful and reassured us that the trip was safe. We saw lots of seals and dolphins - it was terrific when they came so close to the kayaks, and there are no other boats around. Jeanne kindly emailed us some digital photos of our trip.

Excursion to coastal desert: This was a great day-trip, even though we didn't quite get to Sandwich Harbour. Our guide was very knowledgeable and helpful. The rest of the party spoke German so he had to repeat everything for us. We loved driving and walking in the dunes, and running down them. We also saw a lot of bird life, including pelicans and flamingoes. Lunch was also excellent." See all these reviews: 15n in Namibia
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Good

Location:
Good
Service:
Excellent
Facilities:
Excellent
Rooms:
Good
Food:
Good
Mr B & Mrs C
Fleet

"Sam's Giardino review"

1 night Arrived 27 Aug 2008
"Sam is a real gem! A wonderful host; he found an emergency dentist when my partner lost a tooth after we had been turned away by the main practice in Swakopmund.

Managed to get a table at the Tug restaurant in town, which is recommended for the food, even if the service was rushed." See all these reviews: 13n in Namibia
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Excellent

Location:
Good
Service:
Excellent
Rooms:
Good
Facilities:
Good
Mr D
Elegy

"Sam's Giardino review"

2 nights Arrived 27 Aug 2008
"Food excellent, nice location just outside immediate town centre but easy walking into the centre. Sam's advice was simple and practical Lovely collection of wines and books, even though I don't drink alcohol!

His phrase that has stuck is "Namibia is Africa for Beginners", it is absolutely true. Great choice for breakfast." See all these reviews: 19n in Namibia
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Good

Location:
Excellent
Service:
Excellent
Rooms:
Good
Food:
Excellent
Red Bishops
Pevensey

"A unique hotel"

3 nights Arrived 21 Aug 2008
"Another warm welcome, with Sam's personal attention to all our needs even our smallest question was answered.

We ate in on two of our three nights, Pierre ably hosted our first evening, and both meals were enhanced by Sam's wine suggestions.

The location was great for getting around and seeing the sights. As ever the staff were friendly, happy and efficient." See all these reviews: 17n in Namibia
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Excellent

Location:
Excellent
Service:
Excellent
Facilities:
Excellent
Rooms:
Good
Food:
Excellent
Showing 131-140 of 173
88%
173 reviews of Sam's Giardino by travellers since August 2007
Overall rating by our travellers
88
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