overview
Accommodations in Tanzania range from high-end luxury safari lodges or tented camps and beach resorts with a full range of facilities and entertainment to flea-ridden $10-a-night local town hotels with simple beds and a shared bathroom. Camping is also popular in the parks and brings down the price of an organized safari considerably. Tanzania does operate a star grading system for accommodations, although it is below par with what you would expect from the U.S. or Europe. Generally, you can assume four- and five-star hotels are of a good standard. There is also a clutch of world-class, luxurious, and intimate settings in the parks or on the coast.
Tanzania Hotels
If you stick to three stars or higher, you can expect clean rooms, a private bathroom with a shower, a swimming pool, and one or more decent restaurants. At the lower end of the scale, the towns offer basic lodgings in one- or two-star hotels that are predominantly used by locals. Budget travelers should look at a room to ensure that the sheets are clean and the plumbing works before committing.
Zanzibar has placed on the beach where vacationers rarely venture out of the confines of their resort but also has some wonderful hotels in Stone Town housed in historic Arabian-style buildings that feature unique Zanzibar-style four-poster beds, Persian rugs, and antique furniture, even at the cheaper end of the scale.