Johari Beach Resort Zanzibar: Our Honest Review After Staying With Kids (2027)
Last Updated on: 14th November 2026, 03:57 pm
Johari Beach Resort was fully booked during our stay. Every villa. Every suite.
But you honestly wouldn’t have known it!
There were afternoons when only a handful of people were around the pool and dinners where we wondered where everyone else was.
We stayed at Johari Beach Resort in Zanzibar with our two young children during a two-week trip around the island. Our spacious two-bedroom suite, excellent food and highly personalised service made it an incredibly easy place to settle into.
But Johari won’t suit everyone.
There’s no classic white-sand swimming beach, communal areas are alcohol-free, evenings are deliberately quiet, and it’s a fairly long drive from the airport.
So, is Johari worth booking, particularly with kids?
I’d give it a solid 8/10 as a luxury family stay.
Here’s what we loved, what I’d want to know before booking, and what staying at Johari Beach Resort is really like.
🌴 JOHARI BEACH RESORT AT A GLANCE
📍 Location: Kizimkazi, South Zanzibar
⭐ Our rating: 8/10 for a luxury family stay
👨👩👧👦 Best for: Families, couples and travellers looking for a peaceful, private stay
✨ We loved: The personalised service, excellent food, spacious suites and how uncrowded it felt
🌊 Know before you book: This isn’t the best choice if a wide, swimmable white-sand beach is your priority
👉 CHECK PRICES & AVAILABILITY AT JOHARI BEACH RESORT
*Rates vary depending on your travel dates and room type, so check current prices for your stay.
Disclaimer: This post may contain affiliate links. If you make a purchase from one of them I will receive a small commission at no extra cost to you, which allows me to keep this blog up and running!
Where is Johari Beach Resort in Zanzibar?
Johari Beach Resort is in Kizimkazi on the south coast of Zanzibar, away from the busier resort areas further north and east.
📍If you’re still deciding where to base yourself, I’ve also compared the best areas to stay in Zanzibar and how they differ.
That location is part of what makes it feel so peaceful, but it also means you need to factor in a fairly long transfer.
Our drive from Zanzibar City took around 1 hour 30 minutes to 1 hour 40 minutes, and parts of the road closer to the resort were quite rough. If you’ve travelled around Zanzibar before, that probably won’t surprise you, but it’s worth knowing before you arrive, especially after a long flight with young children.
Thankfully, the arrival makes up for it.
As we drove through the gates of Johari, the first thing I noticed was the ocean.
There’s a beautiful sightline through the property towards the turquoise water, and after the long, bumpy journey, my immediate reaction was basically: Okay, this was worth it.
We were welcomed by General Manager Arjun and his team, check-in was quick and seamless, and we were handed fresh fruit juices in some of the most elaborate glasses I’ve ever been served a welcome drink in, ours came decorated like a flamingo and bird of paradise.
It was a small detail, but a memorable start to the stay.
💡 Good to know: If you’re travelling with children, I’d have snacks and water available for the transfer. The journey can feel long after a flight, and you’ll pass through Kizimkazi before reaching the resort.
Our two-bedroom suite at Johari Beach Resort
We stayed in one of Johari’s two-bedroom suites, and for a family of four, the setup worked brilliantly.
Our daughter was still at the stage where she didn’t want to sleep alone in a cot, so having two proper bedrooms with large beds made a huge difference. My husband and son could sleep in one room while my daughter and I shared the other, rather than all four of us trying to make a standard hotel room work.
And this really did feel more like an apartment than a hotel room.
We had a comfortable living room, dining area and a fully equipped kitchen with a gas stove and oven, microwave, kettle, toaster, coffee machine, large fridge and all the crockery and cutlery we’d need.
There was also a filtered drinking-water system inside the suite, which meant we could refill our water whenever we wanted rather than constantly asking for bottled water.
Little things that made it work with kids
There were two bathrooms, both with showers but no bathtub.
Normally that would have been slightly problematic for us because our daughter hates showers. As in, screaming-the-second-the-water-touches-her hates them.
Fortunately, the kitchen sink was enormous. 😂
So that became her bath for the duration of our stay, and it worked perfectly.
We also had a large smart TV in the living room with Netflix and YouTube, plus another TV in the main bedroom. I know televisions aren’t exactly the reason anyone flies to Zanzibar, but when you’re travelling with small children, being able to put on something familiar while everyone has a little downtime is surprisingly useful.
There were two balconies too — one off the living room and another off the main bedroom — with views across the resort towards the ocean.
And in the evenings, we could watch the sunset from our balcony.
One surprising thing that was missing
Considering how well-equipped the suite was, I was surprised that there wasn’t a hairdryer in our apartment during our stay.
It wasn’t a major problem, but it’s worth mentioning if you normally rely on hotels providing one.
Ironically, Johari provided some of the best hotel conditioner I’ve used. After swimming, it left my hair so soft and easy to brush that even air-drying it wasn’t much of an issue.
I actually washed my hair twice partly because I wanted to use the conditioner again, which is possibly the strangest compliment I’ve ever given hotel toiletries.
For families staying more than a night or two, though, it was the space and practicality of the suite that impressed me most. We weren’t all living on top of each other, we could prepare something for the kids if we needed to, and once they were asleep, we still had somewhere to sit without whispering in the dark.
👉 Check current rates for Johari Beach Resort’s suites and villas
Is Johari Beach Resort good for families?
Johari isn’t what I’d call a traditional family resort.
There are no water slides, huge kids’ entertainment areas or endless activities designed to keep children occupied from morning until night.
And honestly? We didn’t miss them. The biggest hit with our kids was the separate children’s pool.
Our son had only recently started overcoming his fear of swimming when we arrived in Zanzibar, and something clicked for him at Johari. The pool was shallow and unintimidating enough that he could relax, practise and build his confidence without being surrounded by adults in a deep swimming pool.
By the end of our stay, we couldn’t keep him out of it. Every few hours: Can we go swimming?
Our daughter quickly joined him in this obsession, and with floaties and large floating cushions available around the pool, they were perfectly happy spending hours there.
There’s also a much larger, deeper communal pool for adults, while the private villas have their own pools.
Fully booked… but where was everyone?
This was probably the strangest thing about our stay. Johari was completely full (seriously, this resort is popular, so book early!)
The general manager told me every villa and suite was occupied, and he couldn’t even show me inside one of the villas because he didn’t want to disturb the guests staying there.
Yet we rarely felt as though we were at a full resort.
There were times when hardly anyone else was around the pools. At dinner, only a few tables might be occupied. Some guests were eating in their accommodation, and having private pools at the villas probably helped spread everyone out.
Whatever the reason, we never had that slightly chaotic feeling you sometimes get at a busy resort.
For us, that made Johari particularly easy with young children. They had room to play and swim, while we still felt as though we were having a peaceful luxury holiday rather than staying at a resort built entirely around kids.
That’s an important distinction.
I’d recommend Johari to families who want luxury and tranquillity with children rather than a resort where children’s entertainment is the main event.
If your kids need a packed activity programme, waterpark and constant organised entertainment, there are better options in Zanzibar.
But if you’re happy for the days to revolve around swimming, eating, exploring and spending time together, Johari works surprisingly well.
What is the beach like at Johari Beach Resort?
This is probably the most important thing to know before booking Johari: don’t come expecting a wide, white-sand swimming beach.
The resort sits directly on the ocean, but there isn’t really a traditional beach in front of it. You access the shoreline from the jetty, and Zanzibar’s dramatic tides completely change the landscape throughout the day.
In the morning, we could wake up with turquoise water stretching out in front of the resort. By midday, the tide might have pulled far out, exposing the rocky seabed.
We actually enjoyed exploring it with the kids and looking for marine life, but I’d strongly recommend bringing sea shoes. There are sea urchins, and some areas are rocky and slippery.
For us, the changing tides became part of Johari’s appeal. The colour and shape of the coastline seemed to change every few hours.
But if your Zanzibar holiday revolves around walking straight from your hotel onto soft sand and spending hours swimming in the ocean, Johari wouldn’t be my first choice.
🏖️ If the beach itself is one of your biggest priorities, this is also one of the major differences I discuss in my Mauritius vs Zanzibar comparison.
If you’re happier enjoying the ocean views from the pool and exploring the shoreline when the tide goes out, it’s a beautiful setting.
What is the food like at Johari Beach Resort?
The food at Johari was some of the best we had during our time in Zanzibar.
Meals are mostly à la carte rather than buffet-style, including breakfast. In the mornings, there was a small selection of fruit and pastries available, then we ordered cooked dishes from the menu.
I actually preferred this. Everything arrived freshly prepared, and the quality stayed consistently high throughout our stay.
Breakfast highlights included the avocado toast and surprisingly excellent hash browns. Our notoriously fussy son devoured the margherita pizza and declared it one of the best pizzas he’d ever eaten, while my husband’s seafood platter was enormous and packed with different seafood.
We all loved the crispy chicken burgers. But my favourite was the Indian butter chicken.
I’ve eaten a lot of butter chicken over the years, and Johari’s was genuinely the best I’ve had. I ordered it again the following day simply because I wanted to eat it twice before we left.
The menus are also sent directly to your private WhatsApp group, and you can order food to your suite if you don’t feel like heading to the restaurant, particularly useful when travelling with tired children.
Personalised service without the fuss
One of my favourite things about Johari was how easy it was to ask for anything.
When you arrive, you’re added to a private WhatsApp group with key members of the team, including reception, housekeeping, the chef and general manager. Menus and resort information are shared there, but you can also use it for pretty much any request.
Housekeeping would message to ask what time suited us. The same happened with turndown. If we needed something, we sent a WhatsApp rather than calling reception or walking across the resort.
The best example happened on our first afternoon.
We arrived at around 4pm after the long journey from the airport, and both kids were starving. It wasn’t quite dinner time, so I sent a message asking whether they could have some fruit.
Shortly afterwards, a beautifully prepared fruit platter arrived at our suite.
It was a small thing, but those are often the things you remember when travelling with children.
The team was also small enough that we kept seeing the same people throughout our stay. They learnt our names, checked whether we needed anything and were consistently attentive without hovering.
That balance — highly personalised but unobtrusive — was probably what Johari did best.
What is there to do at Johari Beach Resort?
Johari is more about slowing down than filling every hour with activities.
There’s a fully equipped gym and a games room where you can play table tennis and board games or watch movies. Spa treatments can also be booked and set up in your own suite or villa, which fits the resort’s very private approach to luxury.
There was some evening entertainment during our stay — one night we had live jazz and singers — but everything wound down by around 9:30pm.
It’s also worth knowing that Johari is alcohol-free in its communal areas. The resort doesn’t serve alcohol, although we were told guests are welcome to buy their own from a nearby shop and enjoy it privately in their accommodation.
Management explained that the policy is intended to preserve the quiet, family-friendly atmosphere, and you can definitely feel the effect. By late evening, the resort becomes incredibly peaceful.
If you’re looking for nightlife and cocktails around the pool, Johari probably isn’t for you.
If dinner followed by a quiet evening overlooking the ocean sounds more appealing, you’ll likely love it.
🫚 If you don’t want to spend your entire trip at the resort, a Zanzibar spice tour is still one of our favourite ways to experience more of the island.
Johari Beach Resort prices and rates
Johari Beach Resort prices vary depending on your travel dates and whether you book a suite or one of the private villas, so I’d recommend checking live rates rather than relying on a fixed nightly price.
When comparing options, look beyond the room size alone. The suites include full kitchens and generous living spaces, while the villas offer considerably more privacy, including their own pools.
For our family, the two-bedroom suite gave us more than enough space and had everything we needed for a comfortable multi-night stay.
👉 Check current Johari Beach Resort prices and availability
🗺 MORE ZANZIBAR TRAVEL RESOURCES
What is the Best Area to Stay in Zanzibar? (With a Map)
What is the Best Time to Visit Zanzibar? (Plan Your Getaway)
10 Best Boutique Hotels in Zanzibar to Book
3 BEST Stone Town Walking Tours in Zanzibar & What You Must See
Review of the Spice Tour in Zanzibar (Why You Should Book it)
📌 DON’T FORGET TO PIN & SAVE THIS POST FOR LATER
Is Johari Beach Resort worth it?
For us, Johari Beach Resort was an 8/10 luxury family stay.
It isn’t the Zanzibar resort I’d choose if my priority was a wide, swimmable beach, a packed kids’ programme or lively evenings. The transfer is also fairly long, and during our stay, the year-old resort was still evolving around the edges, with one of the villas under construction.
But those things weren’t what made Johari memorable.
It was eating some of the best food we had in Zanzibar. Watching our son become more confident in the pool. Having enough space in our suite that four people weren’t constantly on top of each other. Sending a WhatsApp when the kids were hungry and having a fruit platter arrive shortly afterwards.
And somehow staying at a fully booked resort that rarely felt busy.
Johari works particularly well if you want a quiet, intimate Zanzibar stay with excellent food, plenty of space and genuinely personalised service. Families who prefer calm over constant entertainment should feel very comfortable here, but I could just as easily see couples enjoying the privacy.
Johari had only celebrated its first anniversary shortly before our visit, so it will be interesting to see how the resort evolves as it matures.
For what it was already doing exceptionally well, though — particularly the food, service and feeling of privacy — I’d happily recommend it.
👉 Check prices and availability at Johari Beach Resort
*Our stay at Johari Beach Resort was hosted. As always, all opinions and experiences shared in this review are my own.
