Hotel Riu Palace Zanzibar Junior Suite Courtyard View Room Tour

Welcome to the Riu Palace Zanzibar Junior Suite Courtyard View room #442!

We stayed in this entry-level room at the Riu Palace Zanzibar for three nights during a recent trip to Zanzibar, Tanzania.

If you are looking for an affordable room in an amazing all-inclusive resort on Zanzibar’s northern coast, you won’t want to miss the Junior Suite at Hotel Riu Palace Zanzibar.

Riu Palace Zanzibar Junior Suite Courtyard View: Overview

Hotel Riu Palace Zanzibar’s entry level room type is the Junior Suite, and the resort offers two different types. We stayed in the most affordable of the two, the Junior Suite Courtyard View.

The Junior Suite Courtyard View rooms are renovated with a modern style and located in several two-story buildings facing a quiet pool courtyard. They are best priced options due to their location at the top of the hill.

The standard Junior Suites are slightly larger and feature a classic African style. These rooms are located further down the resort’s hill, closer to the restaurants and beach. For this convenience, they cost slightly more.

Riu Palace Zanzibar Junior Suite Courtyard View: Entry

The Junior Suite is laid out in standard hotel room style, with a hallway that opens into the room.

Upon entering, you are greeted with modern African-inspired artwork. There is also a slot to insert your key to activate power.

The restroom is located to the right and the closet and minibar is to your right. The hallway opens to the bedroom and balcony in traditional hotel room fashion.

The closet is a double sliding door. It is spacious with plenty of hangers and space for two people to unpack. Your will find a safe, iron and ironing board, and an umbrella in the closet.

Riu Palace Zanzibar Junior Suite Courtyard View: Bedroom

All of the Junior Suite Courtyard View rooms are renovated with a modern design aesthetic.

The room contains a very comfortable king-sized bed, two nightstands, a dress, built-in luggage rack, flat screen TV, and a floor lamp.

There is also a loveseat and coffee table by the patio door for additional seating.

Note, the loveseat does not pull out into a sofa bed. The room only sleeps two.

Interestingly, the Riu Palace website states that the Junior Suite Courtyard view rooms only had queen beds. We were pleasantly surprised by the king bed.

Upon our arrival, the bed was decorate with towel art and fresh flowers, which was a nice touch. Each day, the housekeeping team created new towel art for us.

Riu Palace Zanzibar Junior Suite Courtyard View: Minibar

The minibar is located in the hallway just past the closet. Here you will find bottled water, tea and coffee supplies, and beverages.

The minibar is refreshed daily. And since Riu Palace Zanzibar is all-inclusive, everything is complimentary. So help yourself!

Our mini bar was stocked with water, soda, and local Serengeti beer.

I’ll admit we were a little disappointed by the lack of snacks and alcohol choices. But to be fair, we are used to vacationing at all-inclusive resorts in Mexico, which pack minibars to the brim. That may not be a fair comparison.

Note that other than beer, there isn’t any alcohol in the rooms. Riu Palace all-inclusive fans may be used to their full size liquor bottles in the rooms at other resorts. They do not offer that here.

Riu Palace Zanzibar Junior Suite Courtyard View: Bathroom

The restroom, located at the entry off the hallway, contains all facilities behind a door. The restrooms are not open concept.

The restroom facilities contains a vanity with double sinks, massive walk-in shower, and the toilet.

Amenities include soap, shampoo, conditioner, body lotion, a vanity kit, and a shower cap.

The shower is extremely large. It features a standard shower head as well as a rainfall shower head.

There is a large built-in body wash dispenser in the shower, so you don’t need to pack your own.

There is also a long bench in the shower, making it easy to sit or prop up a leg to shave. I really appreciated this.

Overall, we do wish there was a separate water closet for the toilet. We prefer a toilet in its own room on vacation, but understand the space constraints in the Junior Suites.

Riu Palace Zanzibar Junior Suite Courtyard View: Balcony & View

The Junior Suite Courtyard View rooms will have either a balcony or a patio, depending if you are located on the first or second floor. The balcony contains two chairs, an end table, and a built-in drying rack.

We were surprised by how large the balcony was. The photos do not accurately capture the size. It was square-shaped, instead of a traditional narrow rectangle balcony. However, it kind of seemed to be wasted space.

All of the Junior Suite Courtyard View rooms are located in two-story buildings surrounding a pool close to the resort’s lobby and enterance.

Your courtyard view will be of this pool area, which we found to be a very quiet and underutilized pool. If you prefer peace and quiet, this is a great choice of room. It was also convienet to be located right next to a pool and the Sunshine Bar.

Note that the cabanas surrounding this pool are permanent, so your view is more so the cabanas rather than the pool itself. This didn’t bother us, but if the view is important to you, it’s something to keep in mind.

How much does it cost?

So how much does a stay in the Riu Palace Zanzibar Junior Suite with Courtyard View cost?

We stayed for three nights in November 2022, during shoulder season. This room cost us $436 a night for two people, which breaks down to $218/night per person.

On average, we typically see these rates today running in the $400 – $450/night range depending the time of year as well as if any sales are running.

Keep in mind, your room rate covers not just the room, but all of your alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages and all meals at the buffet and a la carte restaurants.

Overall, we think this is a nice, modern room at a fantastic resort for a very reasonable price.

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