Best Mozambique Lodges with Africa Odyssey

We regard Azura as a great choice of lodge to experience a complete getaway from normal daily lives. Most importantly, it is located in a national park which offers this sense of remoteness coupled with nature. Azura have taken all of this into account when designing the lodge and its features to create Mozambiques first proper eco lodge. Each of the individually designed rooms are just feet from the beaches of a typical Indian ocean paradise. 

This lodge is guideline for others to follow; service is exemplary and not intrusive. You can be left completely on your own or encouraged to do as much as possible and either way, it feels like home.

Ibo Island Lodge is a lovely unique property in Mozambique’s Quirimbas Archipelago. Set in the midst of the old town of Ibo, an ancient trading centre for the region, the lodge looks directly out over the bay and has the best location in town. The accommodation is of a high standard and for clients wanting to explore the town and history of the area then this is a great little lodge. However, we believe Ibo does not give clients access to the areas best beaches and for that reason we tend to recommend clients only stay here for a couple of days to explore the town, but then leave to relax at other lodges where beaches are substantially better.

The island is beautiful and we had a fantastic time.  The helicopter transfer makes it a lot of fun.  The room was great and the snorkelling was fantastic fun.  The reef was less than 5m from the shore!  The food was excellent but the included wine was poor compared to the safaris.  The main criticism here would be the cost of the extras.  The activities and spa treatments were very expensive.  For example, kayaking is free but guided kayaking was $25ppph.  For us that was $75ph for not very much in return. There is no way that reflects the real cost.    The Spa treatments were also hugely expensive (it would be cheaper in a 5 start London hotel).  Finally, we wanted to visit Ibo.  It was a 40 minute boat trip but we had to go by helicopter at $220 pp. for a 3 hour trip.  Whilst Ibo is interesting it is not really worth that sort of money.  Tipping was also a bit rich.  There was suggested tipping at $10-20 pppd for our “butler". Whilst the guy was charming he didn’t do very much.  He served breakfast, lunch and dinner and brought us pre-dinner drinks.  It seemed a bit excessive given what guides on safari do.  The suggested tipping for the remainder of the staff was also $10-20 pppd which looked pricey for a beach resort.  I accept that tips are important to supplement salary but I did wonder if the owners were upping the tipping guidance in order that they could get away with lower salaries.  It just felt a little bit more exploitative that the other hotels. - G Gibb UK

For large groups or families the 2 private Vamizi Villas are the best beach villas in Africa, and offer exceptionally good value when staying in groups of 12 or more.  Set in their own private grounds on this 12km tropical island the villas are separate to Vamizi Lodge with private management for each villa, incredible food and access to the one of the best beaches on the east coast of Africa.