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
$$
Harbour View Suites
Holiday Inn Dar es Salaam City Centre
Hotel Slipway
Peacock Hotel
The Retreat Dar es Salaam
Hotel Sea Cliff
Southern Sun
$$$
Amani Beach Hotel
Hyatt Regency Dar es Salaam, The Kilimanjaro
Mövenpick Royal Palm Hotel
“We have worked with various tour organizers in multiple countries over the years, and we all agree that A2T is the best we’ve experienced to date. They provided an excellent itinerary and helpful advice, ensuring we had great places to stay. The abundance of resources, including links to videos and other helpful information, made us feel well-prepared for our journey.
The guides from A2T were outstanding. We had three guides in total, with David being our primary guide. We also encountered several others at various lunch stops throughout the trip. One notable highlight was that we always had a cooler filled with cold water—something we struggled to find in other countries.
All the guides were friendly and exceptional. By the end of our trip, David felt like family to us, and we cherished our daily interactions with him. We truly could not find any negatives or areas for improvement with A2T on this trip.”