Southern Sun Dar es Salaam

Guests and locals in the know have lunch or dinner at the Baraza Grill, Café & Bar, where the food is a deliciously heady fusion of continental, Indian and Tanzanian cuisine. A buffet breakfast is served in the Kivulini Restaurant. There's also a relaxing bar and pool lounge area to repair to when the weather is just too hot to move, as well as a gift shop and a gym.

There's no way you could call Southern Sun Dar es Salaam an intimate hotel, but its 152 rooms on five floors are attractively decorated, welcoming and immaculately clean, if a little small. Choose a standard or executive room or a suite. Rooms for the physically challenged are available.

Explore the sights, sounds and aromas of this historical port then, after dinner, take a stroll down to the beachfront. Love a safari? Arrange an expedition to any of the country's game-rich wildlife reserves with the on-site tour operator. Book a trip to Zanzibar to see the winding alleys, old buildings and carved doors of Stone Town (check out the local artwork) and the clove-producing island of Pemba. Charter a boat to snorkel or sunbathe on the uninhabited marine reserve islands of Bongoyo and Mbudya.