This used to be a good tourist class hotel called Zanzibar Beach Hotel & Resort. New owners had the hotel renovated (completed in 2007), and the hotel is now Fairmont Zanzibar, which has higher standard and pricing.

Playground and children's pool
The walking distances within the hotel area aren't very long, as its layout is fairly compact. A playground and a children's swimming pool are set among the room buildings, i.e. a little bit aside from the beach.

The beach itself is shallow, and is, like many beaches in Zanzibar, less attractive for bathing and swimming at low tide. The good pool aera may make up for that. The dive centre offers dive courses and it's own dive boats. Other activities available are wind surfing, beach volleyball and deep-sea fishing.

The hotel offers conference facilities, a spa, safe deposit and communications, including Internet. There is a money exchange service and a car rental. Visa and Mastercard are accepted.

Mnemba Island
Zanzibar Beach Hotel & Resort is not very far from Mnemba Island, which is surrounded by vast reefs offering good snorkelling and diving. The water is clear, and the marine life includes many fish, sea turtles and sharks. Whale sharks and manta rays are sometimes seen in the deeper waters surrounding the reefs. The dive centre offers day tours to Mnemba for both divers and snorkellers.

More about Zanzibar
Zanzibar Island off the Tanzanian coast features white beaches, palm trees and pleasant bathing temperatures, as well as good snorkelling, diving and deep-sea fishing. Many visitors go for day tours to spice plantations, historical sites or Stonetown, the historic trading town that is today part of Zanzibar town.
 
It is easy to combine a stay on Zanzibar Island with a safari on the Tanzanian or Kenyan mainland, due to a number of daily scheduled flight connections.
 
More about Zanzibar

Beach holidays
Zanzibar Island has many nice and long beaches, offering white sand, palm trees and a warm water. The beaches are not crowded, and there are still all desolate beaches in some areas. Most beaches are shallow, making some of them less attractive for bathing at low tide. Beach boys and peddlers are not very common.

Snorkelling, diving and deep-sea fishing
The reefs surrounding the island host a rich marine life, and there are many good sites for snorkelling and diving. Many beach hotels and resorts have their own dive centre, or cooperate with external centres, and it's usually easy to arrange trips to good sites. Some good hotels have well-equipped boats for deep-sea fishing for tuna, sailfish, broadbill and marlin. If your hotel hasn't, fishing can be arranged externally.

Wildlife
Zanzibar Island has limited wildlife. Apart from birds, most animals live in the sea.

A holiday on Zanzibar can easily be combined with a safari on the Tanzanian mainland. A number of daily scheduled flights connect Zanzibar with parks on both the northern (Serengeti, Ngorongoro etc) and southern (Selous, Mikumi and Ruaha) safari circuits. Flight connections with Nairobi are also good, allowing for combinations with safaris in Kenya.

Day tours
Both hotels and external operators offer day tours to different places of interest around the island, such as spice plantations, historical sites, Jozani Forest (where you can see an endemic monkey, the Zanzibar red colobus), Prison Island and Stonetown, the historic trading town. Trips by boat are also offered, for example dolphin safaris, sunset cruises and fishing tours.