Reviews of Ilala Lodge
(93%) From 221 travellersThey do not necessarily represent the views of Expert Africa.
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Excellent with wonderful staff
This lodge was excellent.
The staff were so helpful. We had a deluxe room looking out on to the well kept grounds where we could watch the warthogs and various antelopes. Although the hotel is on the edge of the town it was very peaceful. The location was perfect - we could walk to the falls and also to the shops, bars and restaurants in town.
We went on the Ra Ikane river cruises and would recommend them too.
Ilala Lodge review
This was a lovely place to stay at Victoria Falls, very relaxing with a beautiful restaurant with great food, lovely staff, great swimming pool and ideal for a short walk (via the elephants!) to the Victoria Falls national park (less than 10 minutes) or into town (3 minutes).
We stayed in a standard room which was great and I would actually prefer over the deluxe rooms as these were a bit further from the main lodge (the standard rooms are under the main lodge on a lower floor). We had deer and warthogs grazing outside our balcony.
Would definitely go back.
Ilala Lodge review
As claimed, Ilala was indeed the nearest accommodation to the Victoria Falls Rainforest Park, making it an ideal location for viewing the Falls themselves and accessing the Bridge.
Both of these activities we undertook unguided but supervised activities could easily have been arranged by the Lodge, if wanted. Ilala was also very convenient for the facilities in town, although we found the street vendors to be too attentive to permit us to venture far! Despite this, within the confines of the Lodge, the ambience was peaceful, the staff welcoming and helpful and the facilities (including swimming pool) and catering excellent.
We did book a helicopter viewing of the Falls and a Zambezi sunset cruise through the Lodge, both of which are highly recommended and provided additional perspectives of the natural phenomena.
Wonderful stay near the falls.
This hotel is in a perfect position, within easy walking distance of the falls and the main shopping area.
This hotel offers comfort and style.
A worthwhile additional experience if time allows, is the sunset evening cruise which is highly recommended.
Comfortable stay
Wonderful location and a very comfortable visit. The hotel is very well placed for visiting the falls and exploring the town. The service staff were also very friendly.
Unfortunately, our experience and memories of our visit were spoilt a little at checkout when several bar bills were included in our bill, but were clearly not ours (different handwriting and names given on the bills). It didn't come to very much (about $15) but the responsible waiter was called and accused us of having the drinks, which really cheapened our experience.
Seems like all the hotel really cares about is money (we had actually been quite generous in our spending anyway, so the $15 was really peanuts to them). They need to tighten up their payment systems and think a little more about the lasting impression they make on their guests. For this reason we probably would not stay with them again, which is a shame.
Expert Africa comments
Following these comments on the billing situation at Ilala the management extended their sincerest apologies. There was a mix-up over the room numbers of other guests who were at the bar at the same time. The team assure us that they are working on a solution to ensure this doesn't happen again in the future.
Good stay at Ilala Lodge
The lodge was about a 10 to 15 minutes walk from the entrance to the Victoria Falls.
We walked around ourselves - an organised trip was not necessary. Probably the afternoon light is better for photographing the falls. We arrived about 9 AM by which time the sun was often in our eyes.
We were very happy with this lodge as a base for visiting the Falls - it was a good place to relax after our busy trip..
Ilala Lodge closest hotel to Victoria Falls
Lovely hotel with excellent rooms, very convenient for visiting Victoria Falls but rather disorganised.
There was some confusion as their records of the rooms occupants had not been updated but this was sorted out. However, there were no reservations for dinner in spite of receiving an email from one of the Managers confirming that a table had been reserved for both evenings which caused a problem for the restaurant staff.
They were very apologetic and helpful and managed to find a suitable table for us. Apart from this confusion we enjoyed our stay at the hotel and would stay there again. The food was excellent and the staff were very pleasant and helpful.
Ilala Lodge review
Great location near Victoria Falls, friendly staff and efficient service. We were surprised with a breakfast cruise on the Zambezei River, which was a magnificent start of the day enjoying the sunrise, watching birds, hippos and crocodiles.
The highlight of our evening safari drive was spotting an aardvark and black rhinos, and having a close encounter with an elephant!
Peaceful haven in busy Victoria Falls
First visited in 2001, there is a whole new block of rooms in which we stayed this time, same high quality as the original hotel rooms.
A nice place to rest between safari camps, short walk to the falls and the bridge.
Shops are very touristy and nothing special, lots of begging and you felt a little uneasy if you ventured off the main street, there were guards and police in evidence.
Main drawback to Victoria falls is the constant noise of helicopters and microlights in the sky all day long
A highlight was the early morning breakfast cruise in the Ilala Lodge's own boat, lots of elephants, crocodiles and birds to see.
