Upepo Boutique Beach Bungalows

I've been going to Zanzibar a few times and always stayed at a the same place on the East Coast near Bwejuu. I was devastated when I learned that it had closed but found that the same guy (Shareef) who managed it (and is a crazy amazing chef there) has opened up his own place just 5 minutes down the beach. The place is called Upepo (the web site zanzibarhotelbeach.com). You get a really good deal here, the bunglaows are super clean (important for me) and they are on the beach so you just wake up every morning and pop into the ocean before breakfast. The breakfast fills you up right until dinner .. Shareef always makes a spiced tea (there is also coffee) and there is nothing more amazing than having a big plate of fresh fruit (and sometimes the strangest exotic fruits you have never seen before) on your plate along with eggs and toast and zanizbar pancakes! Yumm .. the food here is spectacular! You watch the fishermen bring the fish in everyday so you always know how many hours old your dinner is! Everyone from other hotels always comes to eat at the restaurant .. it is the best food in Bwejuu! It is hard to ever move from this place because it is so relaxed (and they serve a mean Sangria!) but the cool thing is you can rent a snorkel and mask for only $5 a day and just snorkel whenever you want right from the hotel (awesome). There is also a lot of tourist stuff to do (there is a monkey reserve close by which is great if you want to see some wild animals). People seemed very pleased with the dolphin tours as well. The hotel just felt like home to me, if you ask for something it is never a problem (my ear got infected and they spent half a day with me bringing me to the clinic to find a doctor and translating everything for me ... well above and beyond). We also had some good fun at a local Friday night disco. YOu really feel like you are visiting a friend here as opposed to staying at a hotel. It's also great if you are coming with a family / kids .. there was a couple with two young kids that stayed here while I was here and they were inventing recipes that the kids would eat every night and everyone working there was keeping an eye out for the kids and playing with them! I would really recommend this place, between Shareef and his wife (a Canadian) they seem to be able to communicate to anyone who walks in the place and they bend over backwards to help you out - from changing money to climbing up a tree to get you a coconut. The rooms are simple, nicely decorated and there are plenty of places to just sit and relax on the beach .. in shade or in sun. Pure paradise.