The Neela Boutique Hotel Stone Town

Nelly Levin, who designed the interiors at The Neela, drew on Stone Town's African, Arab, Indian, Persian and European influences, which is the town's history in five words. The house on Shangani was restored and opened in July 2023. It is whitewashed, with louvred shutters folded open over three floors, and the door is carved and stands at the top of a short flight of stone steps, which in Stone Town is the proper way in. Inside it keeps to concrete and linen, with blue tiles underfoot and a bench of grey cushions set into the whitewash under the stairs. No two of the fourteen rooms are laid out alike, which is what an old house does to a floor plan. Ask for a Superior King, which puts the bath in the bedroom and the shower somewhere else.

Recommended for couples and families giving Stone Town its day or two before the beaches, who do not mind three floors of stairs and no lift. Start in the courtyard at Breadfruit, which serves breakfast from seven and cooks to the season from Zanzibar's own produce. The House of Wonders and the Old Fort are three minutes away on foot, and the concierge's walking tour carries on into the coral-stone alleys beyond them. Views opens the roof at one, with lanterns on low black tables and the city's rooftops running out to the Indian Ocean. Dinner has a rival five minutes' walk away, at the Forodhani Gardens night market. The hotel's dhow sails from the harbour at sunset and, by the hotel's own account, is not trying to get anywhere.