Mchanga Beach Lodge

Intimate and peaceful beach lodge at a great price

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Review

A charming little property nestled on one of Zanzibar’s least busy beaches, Mchanga Beach Lodge started the new wave of properties that offer aircon and tidy rooms as standard at the lower end of the (price) market. With on sight owner/management, a small number of rooms and a good collection of facilities (including a new spa), this remains one of our top picks for those wanting to save a little on the beach costs.

Beach

As mentioned in our brief beach overview section, we are big fans of this relatively untouched coastline. Due to the beach level access the rooms at Mchanga Beach Lodge are not necessarily afforded the best sea views, but there is, nonetheless, a very "beach" feel to property with the sand running throughout. As with all the beaches on this side of the island, there is a period during the day when the tide is too far out for swimming, but it is a small price to pay to have it for yourself.

Rooms

As with many of the newer properties in Zanzibar, due to the relatively thin property size, Mchanga Beach Lodge has had to fit the rooms in length-ways and so this makes the rooms economical in their layout. They are comfortable with a small seating area outside each and another small seating area inside. Featuring aircon in all of them, they are nice and cool and offer very good value for money.

Layout

With a protective sand barrier from the occasionally strong Zanzibari trade winds, the communal areas and room layout certainly makes sense and it is provided with a "cocooned" atmosphere. With this in mind they have large glass picture windows in both the bar and restaurant areas to make things more comfortable…it is something that the direct east coast properties seem to have to do as it is evident in the southern coast as well. If you consider that you will probably use the range of communal areas more than your room then this is a very workable space.

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