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
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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
“Overall, we had a very good impression of A2T as a company. A2T had been undoubtedly very customer-oriented, which was evident from the very beginning of the tour, that is, booking. The extra mile A2T spent on calls to understand our requirements and then come up with the final itinerary was ver assuring. Later we almost had to backtrack from the trip due to Ebola concerns, and the extra time allowed for us to make the final decision was very helpful.
Later on during the trip, we had a special situation which required overnight usage of electricity. Our guide, Mussa, and Stella from the Arusha office really reached out to resolve that issue by sending a charger from Arusha to Karatu. The solution was impressive (also unexpected), and it became just another good example of A2T’s emphasis on customer services.
Our guide, Mussa, was great. We all liked him very much. I will talk more about him later (assuming there is another column to discuss).”