Anantara Bazaruto Island Resort

This resort is amazing. We went for our honeymoon after spending a few days in Cape Town. The service was thorough and impeccable - all waiters were attentive to our every need, housekeeping left the room pristine, and the food was delicious. We went scuba diving and the guides were great. I had issues with my ear after the dive and the resort gave me some ear drop medication. They truly thought of everything. Oh also, it is breathtakingly beautiful.

Absolutely LOVED this property! We stayed here for 5 days in June (off-season), and the resort was not full so we had a lot of things to ourselves. There are two pools and two restaurants to enjoy. The staff are incredible, friendly, attentive and you really get to know them. The food was great and the bar menu has a lot of fun creative cocktails. They have a huge list of activities you can plan from snorkeling to horseback riding to add some adventure to your stay. The property is amazing, individual villas with private beach access and indoor/outdoor showers. The island was great because it’s not touristy and you still get to experience the natural beauty of the beach. Highly recommend this resort!

I am rarely motivated to write a bad review but this was part of our honeymoon trip to Africa and we felt quite sad about our week in Mozambique. This is not a 5-star resort in its current state, neither is it truly 'all-inclusive'. Accommodation - our beach pool villa was disappointing - windows and doors that did not shut properly, which made it difficult to keep the mosquitoes out at night; loose grouting and big cracks in the tiles in the bathroom; outdoor pool and decking not well kept, which made us not want to use them (same for the outdoor 'rain shower'); housekeeping would leave empty water bottles and other trash outside the villa for days before someone cleared it away; TV barely worked; minibar was not refilled even once during our 6-day stay; mosquito nets around the bed were old and dirty. Property - there is a lack of suitable lighting around the resort at night (have to use your phone light to find your way) and the boardwalks are in poor condition in many places, which makes walking around quite hazardous. Many villas are far from the restaurants and amenities and there is no guest transport (e.g. golf carts) so you have to walk for 10-15mins in the hot weather for meals - we don't mind walking but this may not be suitable for everyone. Also your luggage is dragged to / from your villa by the security guards - no bellboys or trolley / golf cart, so your luggage could easily get damaged. The resort gets frequent power cuts, mainly at night (AC cuts out while you're sleeping) - no apologies or explanation were offered by staff. Activities - some of the activities promised in our package were not available due to the weather (sunset cruise) and no alternative was offered; other activities in our package (sand dunes, snorkelling) were not offered until we asked. If you're a scuba diver you should go with Diogo to Two Mile Reef (you have to pay extra but totally worth it). Spa - the spa treatments are good (we went 3 times) and the staff are lovely but the spa is not 5* standard (e.g. lockers do not have keys) so it feels expensive for what you get. It's also a hot 10 minute walk from reception through 'mozzie hell', which nobody warns you about or offers you a ride in the jeep (you have to ask if it's available as they only have one jeep and it may be out for an excursion or transfer - we waited almost half an hour to be picked up from the spa after our treatment). F&B - the food and drinks are ok (there is a lot you have to pay extra for) but definitely not 5* standard and not really all inclusive - staff do not offer drinks (even water!) or snacks by the pools unless you ask and then they mostly look unhappy about serving you anything. If you choose to sit at the beach outside your villa nobody comes to offer you drinks or fresh towels or anything - you will be disturbed by the local kids passing on the beach asking for money or food, which is terribly sad (we gave them our fruit basket and some chocolate) but nobody explained to us that the beach is actually public - it is misleading to call this resort "a private island retreat" on the website, we learned from the staff that about 5,000 people live on the island. Transfers - while the options for arrival are clear (we booked the helicopter), nobody had told us either upon booking or on arrival that there is only ONE boat transfer to the mainland per day for departures and it is serving one particular flight out of Vilanculos. We were on a later flight so the only option for us was to pay again for the helicopter transfer if we did not want to spend an extra 5 hours in a tiny airport with minimal amenities to wait for our flight! We were eventually offered late check-out and a discount on the helicopter transfer (which is brilliant and definitely worth doing once) but the whole situation felt like a rip-off and could have been avoided if Guest Relations were on the ball. Management - the resort management is a joke! Isabel in Guest Relations was generally unresponsive / very slow to deal with any requests and did not handle our issue with the departure arrangements, again something that should have been explained when we arrived. Marcos (Villa Ops) was ultimately helpful and offered us a solution to the transfer problem but we had to ask to talk to him. Christian Sanchez (GM) possibly does not exist, we never saw or met him in 6 days at the resort. Sergio (F&B?) is just plain rude and does not engage with English-speaking guests, we often saw him eating in the restaurants surrounded by staff and did not get up to greet us when we came in. Staff - many of the staff work hard and are lovely. Diogo and Claudio in the activities centre were really nice helpful guys and we enjoyed our excursions with them for diving / snorkelling and the sand dunes. Elisa in the Club Naval restaurant was lovely and was very concerned / helpful when my wife was sick (she arranged for food to be delivered to the villa and asked how she was feeling every day). Other staff who made an effort and looked after us - Reginaldo, Raul, Geremias and Catimbe (restaurants) and Helena & Janet in the spa. Other things to note - the bottled drinking water is questionable, mainly because the bottles are reusable and often discoloured or musty - we both had tummy trouble during our stay which cleared up immediately when we returned to South Africa. Also, there should be a system for tipping staff without needing to give cash since there is no way to exchange money in the resort - staff told us that tips added to bills in the spa / activity centre would go to the company not the individuals. Other hotel groups have mastered this in Africa (e.g. Marriott), it's not that hard. Overall - this resort needs better management, more attention to detail and enhancing the guest experience, renovation of villas and the property in general (especially the boardwalks), and better overall service standards / living up to the "all inclusive" concept. Right now, this resort is a bit of an embarrassment to the Anantara brand and their reputation in Asia (we are going to Koh Samui in January and hoping for a much better experience).

We felt welcome since we landed at the airport. Thank you very much for everything. The service, the activities, the food, facilities and the staff outstading. We hope to come anytine soon if we have some time.

My husband and I had our first stop of our honeymoon at Anantara Bazaruto. We were greeted with a welcome drink and singers/dancers upon arrival. I cannot say enough amazing things about this resort. The managers and staff were incredibly kind and attentive, the food was INCREDIBLE and so fresh, and the accommodations were clean, comfortable, and beautiful. I recommend their spa, which had beautiful views from the dunes and a talented staff, and a visit to the gift shop that had beautiful, artisanal handmade goods. They went above and beyond to attend to our needs and make our trip great. Marcus, Claudio, and all of their staff should be commended!