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Jafferji Beach Retreat

Property class: 3.5

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Photo gallery for Jafferji Beach Retreat

An aerial view of a coastal resort with beachfront properties, a sandy beach, and the ocean. - Jafferji Beach Retreat (Matemwe)
A thatched-roof outdoor area with a pool, dining table, and chairs. - Jafferji Beach Retreat (Matemwe)
A spacious living area with a sofa set, a coffee table, and a view of the beach. - Jafferji Beach Retreat (Matemwe)
A resort with a pool, thatched-roof structures, and palm trees. - Jafferji Beach Retreat (Matemwe)
A beachfront property with a two-story building, a beach area with umbrellas, and a clear view of the ocean. - Jafferji Beach Retreat (Matemwe)
Located close to Mnemba Island, Jafferji Beach Retreat provides a terrace, a garden, and dry cleaning/laundry services. Treat yourself to a massage, a manicure/pedicure, or a body treatment at the onsite spa. The on-site restaurant offers breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Stay connected with free in-room WiFi.

Reviews

8.8 out of 10
Excellent

Popular amenities

  • Pool
  • Spa
  • Free WiFi
  • Air conditioning
  • Laundry

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Room options

Available filters for rooms
Showing 5 of 5 rooms

View all photos for Standard Room

A room with a canopy bed, striped armchairs, a wooden cabinet, and a glass coffee table.

Standard Room

10.0 out of 10
Exceptional
(1 review)
  • Sea view
  • 24 sq m
  • 1 bedroom
  • Sleeps 2
  • 1 King Bed

View all photos for Sea View Room

A bedroom with a bed under a canopy, a wooden sofa, a nightstand, a small table with a candle, and artwork on the walls.

Sea View Room

  • Sea view
  • 24 sq m
  • 1 bedroom
  • Sleeps 2
  • 1 King Bed

DOUBLE KING SIZE BED

  • Sleeps 4

DOUBLE SEA VIEW KING BED

  • Sleeps 4

View all photos for Standard room for double use

A bedroom with a four-poster bed, a desk, and a chair.

Standard room for double use

  • 35 sq m
  • Sleeps 2
  • 1 Queen Bed and 1 King Bed

About the neighborhood

Located in Matemwe, Jafferji Beach Retreat is on the beach. Nungwi Mnarani Aquarium is a popular attraction and the area's natural beauty can be seen at Muyuni Beach and Mapenzi Beach. Kiwengwa Beach and Nungwi Beach are two other places to visit that come recommended. Scuba diving, snorkeling, and surfing/body boarding offer great chances to get out on the surrounding water, or you can seek out an adventure with horse riding nearby. Visit our Matemwe travel guide
Map
Matemwe, Matemwe, 1111

What's nearby

  • A sandy beach with three wooden boats and lush green vegetation.
    Muyuni Beach
    11 min drive - 3.0 miles
  • Four people on a beach with ocean in the background.
    Pwani Mchangani Beach
    21 min drive - 8.3 miles
  • A boat on a calm sea at sunset with clouds in the sky.
    Kiwengwa Beach
    27 min drive - 10.6 miles
  • Kigomani Beach
    7 min drive - 1.9 miles
  • Mapenzi Beach
    22 min drive - 8.8 miles

Getting around

  • Zanzibar Intl. Airport (ZNZ)
    99 min drive

Restaurants

  • Sunshine Marine Lodge
    8 min drive
  • Kasha boutique hotel
    8 min walk
  • Jua Grill
    11 min drive
  • Villa Kiva Garden Restaurant
    10 min drive
  • Marlin Local Restaurant
    10 min drive

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  • Spa
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Property amenities

Internet

  • Available in all rooms: Free WiFi
  • Available in some public areas: Free WiFi

Parking and transportation

  • No onsite parking available
  • Roundtrip airport shuttle (surcharge)

Food and drink

  • A restaurant

Things to do

  • Full-service spa
  • Outdoor pool

Family friendly

  • Laundry facilities
  • Outdoor pool
  • Soundproofed rooms

Conveniences

  • 24-hour front desk
  • Gift shop/newsstand
  • Laundry facilities
  • Luggage storage
  • Safe at front desk

Guest services

  • Concierge services
  • Dry cleaning/laundry service
  • Housekeeping (daily)
  • Multilingual staff
  • Tour and ticket assistance
  • Turndown service
  • Wedding services

Outdoors

  • Garden
  • On the beach
  • Picnic area
  • Pool loungers
  • Terrace

Full-service spa

  • Couples treatment rooms
  • Facials
  • In-room massages
  • Manicures/pedicures

Accessibility

  • No elevator

More

  • Designated smoking areas
  • Mosquito nets

Room amenities

Bedroom

  • Bedsheets provided

Bathroom

  • Free toiletries
  • Hair dryer
  • Private bathroom
  • Shampoo
  • Shower
  • Soap
  • Toilet paper
  • Towels provided

Entertainment

  • 32-inch flat-screen TV with cable channels

Food and drink

  • Coffee/tea maker
  • Electric kettle
  • Free bottled water
  • Limited room service

More

  • Air conditioning
  • Iron/ironing board on request
  • Safe
  • Separate sitting area
  • Soundproofed rooms

Policies

Check-in

Check-in start time: 2 PM; Check-in end time: midnight

Minimum check-in age: 18

Check-out

Check-out before 10 AM

Special check-in instructions

Front desk staff will greet guests on arrival at the property

Information provided by the property may be translated using automated translation tools

Access methods

Staffed front desk

Pets

Pets not allowed

Children and extra beds

Children are welcome

Cribs (infant beds) are not available

Property payment types

Important information

Fees

You'll be asked to pay the following charges at the property. Fees may include applicable taxes:

  • A tax is imposed by the city: USD 4.00 per person, per night

We have included all charges provided to us by the property.

You need to know

Extra-person charges may apply and vary depending on property policy
Government-issued photo identification and a credit card, debit card, or cash deposit may be required at check-in for incidental charges
Special requests are subject to availability upon check-in and may incur additional charges; special requests cannot be guaranteed
This property accepts credit cards; cash is not accepted
Safety features at this property include a fire extinguisher
This property has outdoor spaces, such as balconies, patios, terraces which may not be suitable for children; if you have concerns, we recommend contacting the property prior to your arrival to confirm they can accommodate you in a suitable room

We should mention

This property does not have elevators
Reservations are required for spa treatments; reservations can be made by contacting the property prior to arrival, using the contact information on the booking confirmation

Frequently asked questions

Does Jafferji Beach Retreat have a pool?

Yes, this property has an outdoor pool.

Is Jafferji Beach Retreat pet-friendly?

No, pets are not allowed at this property.

How much is parking?

Jafferji Beach Retreat doesn't offer parking.

What time is check-in at Jafferji Beach Retreat?

Check-in start time: 2 PM; Check-in end time: midnight.

What time is check-out at Jafferji Beach Retreat?

Check-out is at 10 AM.

Does Jafferji Beach Retreat provide a shuttle to the airport?

Yes, there's an airport shuttle.

Where is Jafferji Beach Retreat located?

This Matemwe hotel is on the beach, 2.7 mi (4.3 km) from Muyuni Beach, and within 9 mi (15 km) of Mapenzi Beach and Kiwengwa Beach. Nungwi Mnarani Aquarium and Nungwi Beach are also within 12 mi (20 km).

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Reviews

Jafferji Beach Retreat Reviews

8.8

Excellent

9.6

Cleanliness

8.0

Location

9.2

Staff & service

8.8

Property conditions & facilities
Rating 10 - Excellent. 24 out of 38 reviews
Rating 8 - Good. 8 out of 38 reviews
Rating 6 - Okay. 4 out of 38 reviews
Rating 4 - Poor. 1 out of 38 reviews
Rating 2 - Terrible. 1 out of 38 reviews

Reviews

Verified review

8/10 Good

Patrick

Liked: Cleanliness, amenities, property conditions & facilities
Very nice setting; friendly personnel; large and clean rooms; OK restaurant
Stayed 6 nights in Dec 2025
Verified review

10/10 Excellent

aisha

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
Lovely place to stay. Food was ok. Room very spacious and beautifully decorated. Massage was absolutely beautiful. The staff were very attentive and friendly, the manager was a bit of an opportunist and will try get extra $$ when he gets a chance. Overall beautiful place. Would definitely recommend.
Stayed 2 nights in Oct 2024
Verified review

10/10 Excellent

Ileana

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
We had a great stay and a wonderful time at J.B.R. The property is well kept, cozy and very pretty; our room was clean, spacious and comfortable. The restaurant is excellent! The service is a little slow (no issue for us), the staff is friendly, the food is delicious and not expensive. Cherry on the cake: 1. We loved the shampoo & body wash offered by the resort; 2. The live band on Wednesday was a great surprise and so much fun!
Stayed 4 nights in Aug 2024
Verified review

10/10 Excellent

Larno

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
Good holiday option for this part of Zanzibar. Very friendly and helpful staff. Good food and options.
Stayed 2 nights in Jul 2022
Verified review

10/10 Excellent

Arnaud

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities
We really enjoyed our stay in this hotel. The staff was really friendly and helpfull. Everything was easy there we book some trips with them and it was good. The breakfast is good and the restaurant part serve good food. The view on the beach from the pool is beautiful. I highly recommend this place to whoever want to go in Zanzibar.
Stayed 7 nights in Jun 2023
Verified review

10/10 Excellent

Sara

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
I stayed in the hotel for two weeks in the off-season, I was able to fully enjoy the magical rest. I had a massage, swam in the pool and in the ocean with the dolphins and long walks on the beach every day. The staff always made me feel comfortable and never let me lack anything. Always courteous, smiling and helpful. The food was delicious. The room spacious, bright, with a special view directly over the ocean. I would highly recommend staying at Jaffery Beach Retreat to anyone who wants to get away from stress and enjoy days of absolute relaxation and hakuna matata! Thank you so much for your hospitality. Best regards from Italy Sara
Stayed 14 nights in Jun 2022
Verified review

8/10 Good

Adriana

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service

Good hotel.

Good hotel. Clean, very friendly and helpful staff. I think the description of Boutique hotel does not correspond to reality, a good 3 star hotel, well decorated, but which has had its day, at the moment well used. The location was good for our purpose, scuba diving on the island of Mnemba. The beach in front of the hotel is full of boats and (this may change) full of sea urchins. Not the most pleasant place to swim. For breakfast you get a plate of fruits, juice, water, coffee or tea and you can choose a dish: English or Omelette or Porridge, etc. If you want anything else, you will have to pay US$10.00. Few good options for lunch or dinner outside the hotel, 1 restaurant very close, and another one you have to walk about 20 minutes by the beach. We ate a few times at the hotel during our stay, the food was good. Drinks reasonably priced, not exaggerated like other hotels.
Stayed 3 nights in Jan 2023
Verified review

8/10 Good

Toby

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort

Off the beaten path, but comfy and relaxing

The staff at Jafferji is fantastic. They go out of their way to be friendly and welcoming. In particular we had a local guide for a snorkeling excursion booked through the hotel and he was amazing. We were able to swim with a pod of wild dolphins because he knew their habits so well. The people are great. BUT. Jafferji really needs to work on nickel and diming. Things like charging two dollars for water with lunch or dinner really sends a negative signal. Thirty dollars for sunscreen is also pretty atrocious. Water and sunscreen are two things you can't really negotiate on and they seem to know it. I'm sure that these practices are par for the course in Zanzibar, but they left a bad taste in my mouth. Other than that, a great trip and I do recommend it.
Stayed 4 nights in Dec 2018
Verified review

2/10 Terrible

agostino

Disliked: Amenities, property conditions & facilities
La camera era discreta il bagno invece faceva schifo, sporco, maleodorante e mancante di tutti gli accessori. Spesso è mancata l'elettricità e quindi anche l'acqua ed il wifi. Ristorante sufficiente ma carente sul menu. Personale attento e disponibile. L'Hotel ha bisogno di urgente ristrutturazione,
Stayed 6 nights in Jan 2026
Verified review

10/10 Excellent

Marie-Josée

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
Super belle place et staff incroyable. Merci à Munis pour nous avoir donné un si bon service. Je recommande fortement cette place.
Stayed 5 nights in Jan 2026
Verified review

6/10 Okay

Christian

Liked: Cleanliness, amenities, property conditions & facilities
Nettes Hotel, nettes Servicepersonal, leider im Dachumbau, was den ruhigen Strandnachmittag etwas beeinträchtigt hat. Hotel verfügt über eigene Liegen und ist direkt am Strand. Dadurch ist man direkt am Strand und doch privat. Das ist auch nötig, da der Strand an sich zwar schön ist aber für die wenigen Touristen kaum nutzbar. Gefühltes Verhältnis Strandverkäufer zu Tourist 10:1. Das beginnt spätestens am 2.Tag zu nerven. Zimmerreinigung ist sehr gewissenhaft und sticht mit ihrem Arbeitseifer heraus. Preise für Essen und Getränke, eher hochpreisig und für die Region übertrieben. Es gibt aber kaum Alternativen.
Sicht vom Hotel über Privatstrand zu öffentlichem Strand
Öffentlicher Strand
Stayed 7 nights in Nov 2025
Verified review

8/10 Good

Maxime

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service
Disliked: Property conditions & facilities
Hotel calme, personnels adorables, cuisine delicieuse.aurait besoin d un coup de neuf, eloignement important
Verified review

10/10 Excellent

Renata

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
The whole setup of this property is amazing. The staff from the manager to the wait staff were super welcoming and helpful. Best seafood pasta i have had hand down. The location is quiet remote however. If you're ok spending time with yourself totally do it. I will be booking again.
Stayed 4 nights in Nov 2021
Verified review

8/10 Good

Verena

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Nice place, beautiful beach. Extra plus for reusable glass bottles for water!
Stayed 1 night in Nov 2021
Verified review

10/10 Excellent

Chad

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
Property is well kept. Pool looks a little larger in the photo than in reality but otherwise everything is as pictured on their site.
Stayed 4 nights in Sep 2021
Verified review

10/10 Excellent

Verified traveler

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
We were immediately upgraded to a huge suite with spectacular furniture with ocean view, because we booked with Expedia. MJ and the staff treated us royalty. As a boutique hotel, the menu was limited but fresh and the breakfast service choices were enjoyable.
Stayed 2 nights in Jul 2021
Verified review

10/10 Excellent

Verified traveler

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
I hadn't been to Zanzibar in many years and was afraid that the road from Stone Town (we took the ferry from Dar es Salaam) would be rough but it was a pleasant surprise to see the road was completely smooth, well maintained all the way to Matemwe. There were 6 of us staying at Jafferji Beach Retreat and were warmly welcomed on our arrival by manager "MJ" with a nice cool drink. Our rooms were very spacious and clean. The pool was very clean and nice to relax at. The breakfast each morning was excellent with a range of choices. We had dinner at Jafferji each evening and every meal we had was well-prepared - they have a great chef! Grilled octopus is a great choice as well as the prawns, if you like seafood. There are only small resorts bordering the Jafferji so this portion of the beach in Matemwe is very quiet. Most of the activity we could see were fishermen fishing with nets in the reef, which goes out several hundred meters. The reef is rough with a lot of sea urchins so if you venture out on the reef, make sure to wear thick diving boots or shoes you don't mind getting wet. If you head to the right on the beach, you will find a small fish market that is very active around noon. There are also a couple other resorts and restaurants down that way if you want to try lunch or dinner someplace else to mix it up. My wife had a pedicure and we all had a massage at the spa. Great massage! The masseuses come from Cinnamon Spa in Stone Town. MJ did a great job managing!
Stayed 2 nights in Jun 2021
Verified review

4/10 Poor

Verified traveler

nothing
Stayed 2 nights in Jun 2021
Verified review

10/10 Excellent

Andriana

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
The hotel has a great location and views. Spacious room, friendly staff, ready to assist with anything.
Stayed 9 nights in Mar 2021
Verified review

10/10 Excellent

Alexander

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort

A place to recomend

Good location. Very nice room with wooden stylish furniture.
Stayed 1 night in Feb 2021
Verified review

8/10 Good

Rasmus

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort

Cool, funky rooms in a nice hotel!

Big rooms, comfortable beds, nice pool and right on the beach. Quite small menu with okay food. Waiters were kind but a little bit to eager when cleaning tables which made us stressed. Otherwise very helpful!
Stayed 2 nights in Dec 2019
Verified review

10/10 Excellent

Verified traveler

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
One must travel a short distance on a bit of a "safari" road to reach Jafferji Beach Retreat, but this only adds to the charms of this remote gem! Once there you will be warmly greeted by Mr. Munisini (spelling?) who is the quintessential host--his answer to most requests: "Why not?" The room was splendid and the staff very attentive. The property is sheltered from a string of resorts up the beach by a coral outcropping and affords a view of Mnemba Island. The restaurant serves the best food in Zanzibar! I hope it never changes!
Stayed 1 night in Dec 2019
Verified review

6/10 Okay

Verified traveler

Liked: Cleanliness
Disliked: Staff & service, room comfort

Unfriendly management but very nice staff

Our trip was spoiled by an overbooking situation. This was then handled very poorly by the manager, Anna. Overbooking is just unacceptable, and worse, our second night was somehow the one overbooked. So the proposed solution was to kick us out of the room that we were already in. Everything could have been handled much better, but Anna was not the person to do it. While she did accommodate significantly, and give us a better room for the first night, and eventually "find" a room for us for the second night, she left a very bad taste in the mouth. Even after everything was agreed, she missed a detail in our agreement, and came to our dinner table to further accost us during our last night, after we had finally started feeling good about our vacation again. Accommodating, yes, but poor demeanour from Anna. The property itself is not worth the price. I would put this at the upper range of the mid-level properties on the island in terms of price, but it was not in terms of amenities and interior comfort. The beach was not cleaned and had loads of seaweed buildup, while other properties had this cleaned. Even the sand area that is raised and not part of the public beach did not have pristine sand as it should. The food was simply tasteless, and we tried it all because it was free as part of our agreement. Not to mention the shame on the owner, and honestly all of us staying there to have a place where we pay more per night than the locals 3 feet away may make in years.
Stayed 2 nights in Aug 2019
Verified review

8/10 Good

Sherry

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
I really liked the property itself. The rooms were great, with an amazing aesthetic. I definitely knew I wasn't is some boring chain hotel! The grounds and pool were nice. The food was good and so was the service. Location was good but you are in the middle of a fishing village.
Stayed 2 nights in Oct 2019
Verified review

10/10 Excellent

NEPTUN SOMAY

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
All the hotel, the rooms, the restaurant, the pool and beach are very clean. The staff is friendly and try to help for all your Needs. We had excellent food in the Restaurant. Perfect holiday!!!
Stayed 4 nights in Oct 2019