Stay
Emerson on Hurumzi
Stone Town, Zanzibar
This place is an experience more than a hotel. A restored merchant's house in the heart of Stone Town, every room dripping with Zanzibari antiques — carved beds, Persian rugs, stained glass windows that throw coloured light across the floors in the afternoon.
No two rooms are the same. Each one is named and has its own character. Some have balconies overlooking the rooftops. Others have deep bathtubs and views of the harbour.
The rooftop restaurant serves a set Swahili menu at sunset and it is, without exaggeration, one of the best meals you will eat in East Africa. Five courses of spiced, fragrant, impossibly fresh food while the sun drops behind the Indian Ocean and the muezzin calls echo across the rooftops.
Not cheap. But the kind of hotel that ruins all other hotels for you.
Location
Heart of Stone Town
Price range
$150–300 per night
Best for
Honeymoons, special occasions
Dining
Rooftop Swahili set menu at sunset