Pet-friendly hotels and homes in Utende

excellent accommodation in utende village. the staff is super friendly, attentive and helpful. the rooms are beautifully done, breakfast is fresh, delicious and more than enough. the dinner for 12$ is reasonably priced, you get a starter, a main and drinks and it‘s delicious. keep in mind that you‘re staying in the village and not on the beach. they lend you bicycles for the 5 minute ride and the drive is really nice. if i ever return to mafia i‘d stay there again. asante tena:)

Best place for staying in Mafia-A/C,owner near by you and care,delicious tour and honest price for activities 100% reco

Beautiful resort. The location is amazing, my room even had ocean view. The food is fantastic, every day was a celebration and surprise. Which for me as a vegan is quite hard to find usually, even in Europe. Let's not forget about the staff. Everyone is super friendly and helpful. It's super rare to find such attentive staff. I will be back for sure.

Fantastic staff, always happy and smiling, and the owner Mussa was super helpful when we arrived with the ferry from the mainland! The location is great, next to a nice beach with no beach sellers harrasing you. They also arrange the whale shark snorkeling tours right from the property at a fair price. Breakfast was super and the overall vibe of other travellers at this hotel was very good with people from all over hanging with each other. This was our favourite hotel during our whole trip in Zanzibar/Tanzania/Mafia and so good that we returned here for an additional night.

Ally was extremely helpful from the moment we booked accommodation online. He was not only very responsive via WhatsApp but also gave us the right contact to organise a ferry ride to Mafia Island. We arrived at the homestay after 11pm but Ally and the housekeeper, Bunda, were there to welcome us nonetheless. The homestay is very simple but it was clean and comfortable with water and electricity at all times. Despite the heat in November, the powerful fan kept our room cool and kept mosquitoes away at night and we always had a good night’s sleep. Bunda made us a great breakfast every morning that kept us full most of the day, and he always cooked early for us so that we could eat before going out to explore the island. Ally helped us organise many activities very easily, such as snorkelling in Chole Bay and hiring a motorbike (boda boda) for the day to drive to the north of the island. The location of the homestay was perfect to have a more local experience as it is a short walk to the local town and market where we ate an affordable dinner every evening, but also walking distance from the beach (outside the marine park). Ally and Bunda’s kindness and hospitality were the highlight of our stay and we are very grateful to have felt so welcome there. Overall, we would highly recommend Mgeni Homestay to anyone looking to explore Mafia Island on a backpacker’s budget and we would go back in a heartbeat.

Very friendly host making you feel like you are at home

The guys are really nice and they will arrange everything for you. The breakfast is also really good. You will really get value for your money.