Dar es Salaam

Description: Dar es Salaam is a major African city with more than 3 million people. Unless you have a particular reason for spending some time in Dar, we feel it just doesn’t fit in well with most itineraries. Due to the timing of flights, we do occasionally recommend overnights in Dar. The best bet for a half-day in Dar is to head to Mwenge where there is some good souvenir shopping, especially wood carvings. And near there is the Makumbusho Village Museum where you can find a collection of authentic homes from 18 Tanzanian tribes. You can get a short tour and a broad overview of village life in Tanzania. There are also some decent beach hotels in/near Dar es Salaam, but for anything more than a 1 or 2 night visit, these are mostly outshined by nearby Zanzibar, which is where most people go. Near Dar, just a couple hours north, is Bagamoyo. This is a laid-back large village that has several very nice beach hotels.

Accommodations

$
Heritage Motel

$$
Harbour View Suites
Holiday Inn Dar es Salaam City Centre
Hotel Slipway
Peacock Hotel
The Retreat Dar es Salaam
Hotel Sea Cliff
Southern Sun

$$$
Amani Beach Hotel
Hyatt Regency Dar es Salaam, The Kilimanjaro
Mövenpick Royal Palm Hotel

Virginia K. (USA)

July 15, 2025

“Outstanding! Everything was perfect. Casey set us up for an excellent adventure. He understood what I wanted and gave me great advice. The accommodations that he suggested were great, particularly Tortilis (loved this place) and Lion’s Den (what a luxury!) We had one day extra to fill, and he gave great options. In the end, we added an extra day to our safari camp experience at Tortilis and I am so glad that we did. We were so comfortable there and the staff were so wonderful. Casey recommended flying directly into Seronera, which was an excellent choice for us. The pilots zoomed down to view the migrating wildebeest, which was so cool.”