Does The Sands Beach Resort Zanzibar offer free cancellation for a full refund?

Yes, The Sands Beach Resort Zanzibar does have fully refundable room rates available to book on our site. If you’ve booked a fully refundable room rate, this can be cancelled up to a few days before check-in depending on the property's cancellation policy. Just make sure to check this property's cancellation policy for the exact terms and conditions.

Is parking offered on site at The Sands Beach Resort Zanzibar?

Yes, there's free self parking.

Is airport shuttle service offered by The Sands Beach Resort Zanzibar?

Yes, an airport shuttle is available. The charge is USD 60 per vehicle one-way.

What are the check-in and check-out times at The Sands Beach Resort Zanzibar?

Check-in start time: 2:00 PM; Check-in end time: anytime. Check-out time is 11:00 AM. Late check-out is available for a charge of USD 50 (subject to availability). Contactless check-out is available.

What is there to do at The Sands Beach Resort Zanzibar and nearby?

Have fun during the warmer months with activities such as scuba diving. Indulge in a treatment at the spa and enjoy a swim in the outdoor pool. The Sands Beach Resort Zanzibar also has 2 bars and a garden.

Are there restaurants at or near The Sands Beach Resort Zanzibar?

Yes, there's an onsite restaurant that offers international cuisine.

Does The Sands Beach Resort Zanzibar have any outdoor private spaces?

Yes, every room features a balcony or patio.

What's the area around The Sands Beach Resort Zanzibar like?

The Sands Beach Resort Zanzibar is located a short 8-minute walk from Dongwe Beach.

The Sands Beach Resort Zanzibar, Dongwe: Hotel Reviews, Rooms & Prices

10/10 Exceptional

Oct 10, 2025

Quiet and relaxing

Pat, 4-night trip

10/10 Exceptional

Apr 19, 2024

The service was excellent. Everyone was very friendly and courteous. We really enjoyed our stay here

Shari, 3-night trip

10/10 Exceptional

Jun 16, 2024

Absolutely stunning. Service beyond amazing. Quiet with gorgeous gardens and beach. Easy access for SCuBA diving. Incredibly friendly staff and felt completely safe with masai warriors guarding the hotel. Food was phenomenal Would absolutely go back.

Kara, 5-night trip

10/10 Exceptional

Oct 7, 2024

We really enjoyed our stay at the Sands Resort. Each suite is actually a separate bungalow with large, comfortable rooms and wonderful AC. There is an onsite restaurant that serves all day as well as a beach bar that serves snacks/meals during the daytime. It was very relaxing to be able to have all of our meals on the property. The staff were all very friendly and professional. Everything about the staff and property was wonderful. The hotel also offers excursions. The nice thing is that they are private which entailed having a driver and tours that were just for our party. However, I would not recommend doing the "swim with dolphins" excursion because there are too many other boats doing the same thing, and we didn't feel safe going in the water with so many boats moving around quickly to try to bring their passengers close to the dolphins. So, we stayed in the boat. Also, there were no life jackets available, and it was unclear how we would get in/out of the boat without a ladder or rope; the snorkel and other equipment was old, and we didn't get a chance to try the snorkel/mask before going on the water. We also did the Jozani Forest/Butterfly excursion, which was interesting to do to see the monkeys, mangroves, and butterflies, but the price the hotel charged seemed disproportionately higher than the experience merited; please note that I say this without knowing how much the hotel paid the driver to stay with us for several hours and for the forest guide.

Jenny, 3-night trip

10/10 Exceptional

Oct 26, 2025

You will be treated with warm, welcoming service from the moment you arrive and throughout your stay. The food included with the half board is very good with quite a few made to order items including omelets, waffles, and crepes at breakfast and fresh catch of the day fish and pasta at dinner. The rooms are glorious! We had the ocean view villa and it was HUGE!!! It was easy to find lounge chairs by the beach, and they all have shade umbrellas. It was so peaceful and beautiful out there. Warning: I did get sunburned even in the shade on the last day!! The beach does have a pretty varied tide, and the hotel provides reef shoes for low tide, which I recommend because there are sea urchins. There is also seaweed in the water near the shore. You will be provided with 2.5 liters of purified water in your room each day, and water is included at breakfast and dinner. Outlets are all British style 3 prongs, no USB. Power did go out intermittently but never interfered with anything. WiFi is good out at the beach, pool, and lobby but was spotty in the room. This is a quiet area north of Paje, so no other restaurants other than the resort. It was more reasonably priced than our American resorts with $15 pool drinks. They do use purified water for the ice in the drinks and the ChatGPT says they use purified water for all food prep too.

Amy, 3-night trip

8/10 Very good

Sep 8, 2025

Muito bom.

Nossa estadia no The Sands foi maravilhosa. Se você precisa de um local pra relaxar, sem barulho na área da piscina e no resort como um todo é o local ideal. Nota-se que o resort é de uma construção antiga, porém tudo muito limpo e bem cuidado. O carinho e cuidado de todos os funcionários é uma característica muito positiva. O café da manhã não é o forte do resort, oferece o básico. Tem dias que é buffet e outros a la carte, sem aviso prévio de qual será em cada dia. O jantares são muito bem preparados e saborosos. Em relação à praia do resort, é linda para apreciar, mas se você é o tipo de pessoa que gosta de tomar banho de mar não é a praia ideal, pois tem muitos corais e mesmo com a maré alta é uma praia muito rasa, e quando a maré fica baixa ela recua tanto que parece que nem tem mar na frente do resort. Mas, no geral, recomendamos o resort. Vale o custo-benefício.

Matheus, 4-night trip

10/10 Exceptional

Aug 4, 2025

This is by far the best hotel we've stayed in in a long time, probably best ever. The rooms are spacious and spotless clean. Every little detail is thought of. The beds are very comfortable and room service pass by twice a day to clean the room and for turn down. The staff were all very friendly and helpful. Especially Khamis and John who went our of their way to make sure we are comfortable. Food at the restaurant was also lovely and service there amazing. Staff are constantly keeping an eye on the tables, plates are removed the second they're empty, water refilled immediately after drinking etc. Downside here was the entertainment on the Swahili night, the guys were playing more western music. The beach is very pretty, even at low tide which didn't impact our stay much. We swam 2 or 3 times in the ocean. Its not crystal clear water though, expect some sea weed. We weren't disturbed by any beach sellers like we saw on some of the other beaches. Only slight down side is that there isn't much to do nearby at night. We drove one day to Paje and that was fun.

Omar, 4-night trip

10/10 Exceptional

Jul 14, 2025

Fabulous stay at this very quiet, clean, secure resort. Very comfortable room. Staff are very attentive. Beautiful beach. Highly relaxing! Really enjoyed the Swahili buffet and music!

Janet, 1-night trip

10/10 Exceptional

Jul 13, 2025

NO ES DE 5 ⭐️ PERO SI PERSONAL LO HACE 5 🌟

EXTRAORDINARIO Simplemente así Todos sin excepción te atienden con una sonrisa, amables, acomedidos Nos la pasamos súper padrísimo los tres días que estuvimos ahí GRACIAS

Enoch Fernando, 2-night trip

10/10 Exceptional

Jan 18, 2025

Perfect place to relax

Our villa was super spacious, it was cleaned regularly, and it was nice to wake up in that beautiful garden. Service was very good, Mr. Ally and the team made us feel welcome and helped us with the early check out and late check out because of our flight times.

8-night trip

10/10 Exceptional

Jan 16, 2025

Top Hotel

Schöne Anlage, europäische Standart betr.Ausstattung,Sauberkeit, Komfort Überdurchschn.freundl.Personal Sehr schöner Strand, beachbar mit lunch und genügend liegen am Schatten. Einzig Ebbe und Flut beinträchtigen das Badevergnügen keine Strandverkäufer! Insgesamt ein wunderschöner Urlaub!

Markzs, 10-night trip

10/10 Exceptional

Dec 29, 2024

We hebben een heerlijk verblijf gehad. Het is schoon en fris, mooie tuin, direct aan zee. Huisjes zijn echt bizar groot/ruim. Het personeel is werkelijk altijd vriendelijk en correct. Een aanrader.

Remie, 10-night trip

8/10 Very good

Dec 25, 2024

Il Sand beach resort è una bellissima struttura gestita con molta cura dal suo staff, sempre gentilissimo e pronto a soddisfare ogni tuo bisogno. A nostro giudizio anche la cena è sempre stata ottima, forse la colazione potrebbe essere un po’ arricchita ma nel complesso direi che si mangia molto bene. Quello che mi sento di segnalare è che il posto è molto distante dai luoghi di partenza di tutti i tour principali e quindi ogni volta è necessario fare 1 ora circa di taxi per raggiungerli. Altra annotazione importante è che, sebbene la spiaggia sia molto bella e ben curata, il mare non è assolutamente all’altezza degli standard dell’isola. In una settimana qui non abbiamo mai fatto il bagno, indipendentemente dalle maree che anche condizionano fortemente questo pezzo di costa. Insomma se come noi intendete usare il resort come base di appoggio per girare direi che è un posto magnifico, ma se l’idea è quella di restare nel resort dimenticate il mare azzurro cristallino di Zanzibar, dovrete accontentarvi decisamente. Concludo ringraziando nuovamente tutto lo staff del resort che è davvero eccellente.

Alessandro, 7-night trip

8/10 Very good

Dec 23, 2024

Great hotel to stay to escape the busy hustle and bustle lifestyle. It is beautiful and quiet. Food is great. The only crtique i have is there are frequent power outages in the evening. Overall I would visit again.

Jermaine, 5-night trip

8/10 Very good

Oct 16, 2024

Nice big villa

We did book a villa with an ocean view. And we got a very nice villa, clean and very comfortable. I would say it’s a bit of wasted money for the ocean view, because the villas are a bit behind the palm trees. But in general very beautiful and nice. Staff is very polite and friendly. Was a good experience.

Oliver, 3-night trip

10/10 Exceptional

Oct 2, 2024

We had such a Wonderful stay at the Sands. Great service and premises!

Elias, 4-night trip

10/10 Exceptional

Sep 30, 2024

The staff at this hotel were incredibly welcoming and helpful throughout our stay. The rooms were immaculate and very comfortable. We also enjoyed the delicious dinner every night.

Artur, 6-night trip

8/10 Very good

Aug 21, 2024

Relaxing on the beach

Quite good stay Excellent food and location on the ocean side Optimum service and very kind personnel

antonio, 5-night trip

10/10 Exceptional

Aug 20, 2024

Very nice, quiet place with a lovely beach and excellent staff. Very good food, too.

Edward, 7-night trip

10/10 Exceptional

Apr 2, 2024

Location was tranquil and just what we were looking for at the start of our Zanzibar holiday. All the staff were amazingly welcoming and friendly. The team led by Ally are a credit to the hotel. The dining experience was quite special and we very much enjoyed the fresh barbecued fish at night, especially the huge tuna that a slice and thickness of your liking was cooked there and then and served to your table….in fact the staff even do your toast for you in the morning ! Overall hotel was perfect for our family of 4 including teenagers - if staying I would recommend a rental car to explore the local area, good deals can be found on arrival at the airport, we paid $30 USD a day and rental car company collected from hotel anywhere on the island for $20 USD.

Mark, 4-night trip

10/10 Exceptional

Mar 23, 2024

Skønt ophold

Elskede vores ophold på the Sands. De sødeste mennesker, god service, fin mad og sublim rengøring. Vær obs på, at der er tale en tidsvandsstrand, så der vil være tidspunkter på dagen, hvor der ikke kan svømmes i havet. Men hey - så er der altid poolen eller gode muligheder for at tage en bådtur ud og snorkle. Stedet har vores varmeste anbefalinger.

Michael, 8-night trip

10/10 Exceptional

Mar 21, 2024

It's a great hotel, with great staff. Very simple, yet clean and well kept. No TV in the rooms which could be nice as the evenings are quiet with not much activity around the area

Nasser, 3-night trip

10/10 Exceptional

Mar 3, 2024

We had a marvelous stay. Incredible beach staff went the extra mile always. We cant recommend this destination enough. 5 stars all the way.

Kelly, 7-night trip

8/10 Very good

Feb 10, 2024

Wir hatten einen schönen Aufenthalt im The Sands Beach Resort. Die Villa war sehr großzügig und mit allem notwendigen ausgestattet. Jedoch waren die Fenster sehr undicht und nach den nächtlichen Gewittern stand häufig das Wasser im Zimmer. Außerdem funktionierte das WLAN auf dem Zimmer nicht und es kam häufig zu Stromausfällen auf der gesamten Anlage. Das Essen war gut, jedoch nicht sehr abwechslungsreich. Morgens gab es immer die gleiche, begrenzte Auswahl. Abends gab es frischen Fisch, der immer großartig geschmeckt hat. Die Strandanlage ist sehr schön und ruhig, jedoch benötigt man für das Meer aufgrund der Steine und Seeigel Badeschuhe, die man sich an der Rezeption ausleihen kann. Auch an diesem Strand wird man regelmäßig von "Beach Boys" angesprochen, jedoch deutlich weniger als an vielen anderen Stränden, wie bspw. in Paje. Das Personal ist in der Regel sehr nett und bemüht, insbesondere Head Waiter Kelvin hat uns stets sehr willkommen geheißen. Einige Putzfrauen hingegen wirkten schnell genervt, wenn sie nicht direkt ins Zimmer zur Reinigung konnten, weil wir uns noch dort aufgehalten haben. Die Lage des Resorts ist eher abgelegen und man benötigt eine Taxi um in den nächsten Ort zu gelangen. Jedoch liegen einige Sehenswürdigkeiten, wie bspw. The Rock Restaurant, Michamvi Sunset Beach, Maalum Cave und Paje in unmittelbarer Nähe.

Linda, 11-night trip

10/10 Exceptional

Dec 27, 2023

Wunderschönes Ambiente und Service war excellent! Sehr empfehlenswert!

Valton, 3-night trip

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