Zanzibar, Tanzania

Bawe Island

Price per night from$1,209.00

Price information

If you haven’t entered any dates, the rate shown is provided directly by the hotel and represents the cheapest double room (inclusive of taxes and fees) available in the next 60 days.

Prices have been converted from the hotel’s local currency (USD1,209.00), via openexchangerates.org, using today’s exchange rate.

Bawe Island Photos

Style

Romantic villa thriller

Setting

Castaway coral idyll

Explore

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Heart rates rise at Bawe Island: this villa-only retreat pulls out all the intimacy-inspiring stops, and pulse-racing watersports occupy moments where you’re not gazing into each other’s eyes. Admire sunrise from your paddleboard or yoga mat; sunset is your backdrop for shorefront aperitifs and alfresco dinners. And with every-shade-of-blue views, private pools and four romantic restaurants, it’s date night every evening on this private isle…

Smith Extra

Get this when you book through us:

A glass of fizz each and a fruit platter; stays of four nights or more will also get $100 to spend at the spa

Facilities

Photos Bawe Island facilities

Need to know

Rooms

70, including 44 suites.

Check–Out

11am. Earliest check-in, 2pm; both are flexible, subject to availability and an extra charge.

More details

Half-board rates at Bawe Island include breakfast and dinner; you’ll also get lunch on full board, and all-inclusive stays get drinks as well as all meals. If you’re staying for three nights or more, you’ll get free return airport transfers.

Also

Unfortunately, this remote island retreat is not suited to guests with reduced mobility.

At the hotel

Tennis and padel courts, gym, boutique, bikes to borrow, charged laundry service and free WiFi throughout. In rooms: TV, sound system, air-conditioning, fan, Nespresso coffee machine, tea-making kit, minibar, ice machine, free bottled water, Dyson hairdryer, bathrobes and slippers, and Etro bath products.

Our favourite rooms

Early birds should opt for a Sunrise Villa, whose eastern setting sees the sun creeping over the horizon; if you’re more delighted by a red sky at night, opt for a Sunset Suite. Or cast yourself away to an overwater Lagoon Suite, where the brilliantly blue setting encompasses a private pool, the sea and sky.

Poolside

The lagoon-like pool borders the beach – its swirling shape mimicking the waves mere metres away. The palapa bar casts shadows over one end of the pool, and sea-facing sunloungers dot the sun-kissed terrace. Come for leisurely laps from sunrise until sunset, or if you don’t care to share, splash about (or skinny-dip) in your own pool.

Spa

Facials and massages at the Rebirth Spa soothe with all-natural Healing Earth products, and couples can book in for a treatment for two.

Packing tips

A pedicure wouldn’t go amiss before visiting this barefoot-luxury resort.

Children

Welcome. Extra beds and baby cots can be added on request to most rooms, but the Sunrise Villas, Sunset Suites, Zanzibar Villa and Sultan Palace and are best for families. Babysitting is available on request.

Food and Drink

Photos Bawe Island food and drink

Top Table

The resort’s recent opening means the jury’s out on this one…

Dress Code

Come barefoot and in beachwear to Sinfonia and the Sand; Rising Sun and the Jungle call for less breezy and more beautified looks.

Hotel restaurant

Take your pick from four toes-in-sand dining spots, which are all included in the rate plans; all-day the Sand is the resort’s main restaurant; Rising Sun impresses with Teppanyaki-style dishes; Italian-inspired Sinfonia delivers homemade pizza and pasta, and tuck into fusion fare at the adults-only Beach Club, which is set on the eastern end of the isle.

Hotel bar

You’ll find bohemian beach bar the View next to the pool, where sunset views are the backdrop for zesty cocktails and other top-notch tipples, and live music accompanies the soundtrack of lapping waves from the shores just beyond.

Last orders

Breakfast is at the Sand from 7am until 10am. All four restaurants serve lunch from noon to 2pm, and dinner from 7pm to 9pm. The View pours from 10am to midnight.

Room service

You can dine in your room from a separate menu around the clock.

Location

Photos Bawe Island location
Address
Bawe Island
Bawe Island
Zanzibar City
Tanzania, United Republic of

Bawe Island is a tropical retreat on its namesake isle, off the coast of Stone Town on the west of Zanzibar.

Planes

Zanzibar’s Abeid Amani Karume International Airport is a 20-minute drive from Zanzibar Port; from here, a speedboat can zip you in 15 minutes to Bawe Island. For stays of three nights or more, return airport transfers are included with the room rate.

Automobiles

The island is car-free, so beach strolls will be your preferred mode of transport.

Other

There’s a helipad on the isle, and staff can arrange private helicopter transfers on request.

Worth getting out of bed for

The savvy concierge at Bawe Island can arrange plenty of water-based pursuits – snorkelling along the pristine shallows; marvel at reefs on a diving expedition, head for a day-starting paddleboarding session, or venture out for some high-octane game fishing. You could whizz around on waterskis, a jet ski or speedboat; flyboards and seabobs are also readily available. If you haven’t found your sea legs, on solid ground there’s tennis and padel, plus pilates and yoga, or borrow a bike to explore the islet’s wooded interior.

Reviews

Photos Bawe Island reviews

Anonymous review

By Mr & Mrs Smith

Every hotel featured is visited personally by members of our team, given the Smith seal of approval, and then anonymously reviewed. As soon as our reviewers have returned from this private island hotel and unpacked their snorkelling kit and salty swimwear, a full account of their tropical break will be with you. In the meantime, to whet your wanderlust, here's a quick peek inside Bawe Island in Zanzibar…

If you asked your little Smith to draw a tropical island paradise, they might sketch something similar to Bawe Island – shaped like an avocado, scattered with swaying palms and surrounded by turquoise sea. What they might fail to add to this island idyll is a scattering of private pool-toting villas, four seductive dining spots and a sleek spa, which all take cues from their bathed-in-nature surroundings.

There’s a remote feel to this verdant resort, but you’ll find that Stone Town on Zanzibar’s mainland is only a short speedboat ride away. Your high-octane transfer offers a glimpse into how the rest of your stay will most likely play out: hopping on a jet ski or fly board, diving to coral reefs or casting your line with a spot of game fishing. And pulses continue to race back on dry land: your private pool calls for dips à deux, the spa pampers with sensuous treatments for two, and for a starlit nightcap, the beach bar is pure aphrodisiac.

Book now

Price per night from $1,169.00

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