Description: After a twelve day escorted tour of Tanzania including Zanzibar, my husband and I decided to round off our trip with a couple of days to ourselves. We decided to do this in Dar Es Salaam, meaning "House of Peace" in Arabic, the largest city in Tanzania. As I expected my accommodation for the rest of the trip to be at the budget end of the market, we decided to look at the luxury end of the market for these last two nights. The Movenpick is widely considered to be one of the two best hotels in Dar Es Salaam, the other one being the Hotel Kempinski. There was no particular reason we opted for the Movenpick of the two.

We arrived in Dar es Salaam in the early afternoon after a short internal flight on a scary twelve-seat plane from Zanzibar. The hotel is about 12km from the airport and we took a taxi from the stand outside, the rates to many individual hotels are pre-set which takes away some of the anxiety people can have about being ripped off by taxi drivers on arrival. The hotel is in a central location in the city but nicely situated just on the outskirts of the main hustle and bustle. Dar es Salaam, especially the traffic, can be manic. I am a little embarrassed to say that on this occasion we decided to skip exploring the city and didn't leave the hotel until we left for good, but apparently the city attractions and shops are within easy walking distance.

First impressions were very good, a spacious and fairly grand reception area, we were greeted with courtesy and presented with a refreshing glass of fruit juice as we checked in. We were offered assistance with our bags but as they had wheels we were happy to take them up ourselves.

The room was excellent. We had booked on the cheapest available rate and thus were very pleased with the spaciousness of the room, 25 square metres to be precise. As well as a king size bed, there was a small seating area, a desk as well as some storage space. The TV was a modern flat screen and wall mounted but the channels were not terribly interesting. The room was furnished in attractive shades of chocolate, beige and cream and everything looked to be in pristine condition. The bathroom was perhaps not quite up to the standard of the bedroom, but it was perfectly acceptable with a white suite and marble tiling.

We were at the hotel for one and a half days and two nights and didn't leave the grounds. Upon arrival I decided to book a massage and had no problem getting an appointment for a few hours later. The hotel does not have a proper spa area, although it might refer to it as that. In fact the treatments are carried out in converted bedrooms on the first floor. The massage was about US$50 for an hour, which seems reasonable. I booked another appointment for an Indian head massage the next day.

We spent a fair amount of time relaxing around the outdoor pool. The pool itself was quite large and the area around it was very pleasant. We were there over a weekend and did not find it all crowded, there were plenty of sun loungers but the area was large enough for them to be comfortably spaced out. There was a bar area nearby and it was possible to either go over to order food and drinks or every so often somebody would come around and take orders.

Breakfast was included in our room rate and this is served in the Serengeti restaurant on the ground floor. This is a very large restaurant, partly indoors and partly outdoors and was quite popular in the evenings as well, especially the outside tables. Breakfast was excellent with a wide choice of hot and cold buffet items and also a hot plate where eggs or pancakes are cooked to order. I had an omelette one morning and pancakes the next, yummy.

There were two other eateries, also on the ground floor. The first was café style serving teas, coffees cakes and ice creams. The other an Italian style restaurant, L'Oliveto, we booked a table in here on our final night. Very impressive décor, not quite so impressive food. I had to send some rancid prawns back, otherwise everything was just fine but nothing extraordinary.

We did really like the bar, dark wood, spit and sawdust style. On our first night we enjoyed a few cocktails here, although they were out of tequila which limited the options. Unfortunately on the second night they closed the bar and converted it into a disco or something. Who wants to go to a hotel disco? We were very disappointed.

When it was time to leave, check out like check in was quick and smooth and the hotel transfer we booked the day before ready to go. Overall, a very enjoyable stay.

I booked directly with the hotel and the price was given was US$240 per night in a standard room with breakfast.Close