African Princess

Great modern hotel - very quiet, great facilities in general and rooms were very well designed (best we have stayed in). Clean, modern hotel with lovely staff. My mum and I were travelling on our own - a shame we got so much hassle when we stepped out on to the beach or outside the front door but all the staff were very respectful inside the hotel and very kind. (For those that like their fitness, the gym is not great at all but running on the beach, swimming lengths in the pool and playing on the paddle tennis court made up for it.) Lovely to see all the locals exercising and playing football on the beach in the evening. Very clean sandy beach outside the hotel with local bars, restaurants close by and long walks in either direction. Shame some areas of the beach had lots of rubbish on it but some people were doing their best to pick up the rubbish each day. When you walk out of the front of the hotel, you find a selection of local bars/restaurants, a cash machine, a handy little “corner shop” and the “green taxi” right outside the door. We would give the hotel a 10 out of 10 on all fronts, especially the friendly and efficient staff in a very difficult period just as Coronavirus was taking off. The rep was excellent and the trips and excursions seemed well organised. Sadly, there was one negative - the sex exploitation by some tourists of local young girls. We had been told to expect to see middle-aged white women on the beach with young black guys, but we had not expected to see young black girls in local bars with elderly white men - we found this very distressing. The African Princess hotel and The Gambia with its seemingly guaranteed winter sunshine is a great beach holiday destination. Sadly, the holiday really was marred by the reality check of witnessing one of the tragic results of poverty.

This was our 3rd trip to The Gambia and our first stay at African princess. The previous 2 holidays we stayed at Djembe Beach and it’s sister hotel Balafon Beach. We enjoyed both our previous stats in The Gambia and had been booked to go back to Djembe beach before the unfortunate collapse of Thomas Cook. We re-booked our holiday through Gambia Experience and although the Holliday was more expensive and we spent more than we initially were willing to I’m glad we did as this hotel is amazing. The check in was swift and we were taken to our room on the 2nd floor - sunny side of the hotel which was great. Room- Room had a king size bed, tv (with Netflix application) big storage space for clothes, shoes and suitcases and an impressive bathroom with a touch screen mirror. We were very close to the beach from our room so our balcony looked onto the pool and beach (as do pretty much all standard rooms) Breakfast - there was always plenty room in the restaurant for breakfast however towards the end of our holiday the hotel seemed to get really busy but still enough free tables. Choice at breakfast was fine however as we usually had breakfast 30 minutes before it was due to finish we found that certain foods sometimes wasn’t replaced but there was more than enough choice with other options. Pool area was fantastic and there was always plenty beds throughout the day. We were usually one of the first people to get a bed on a morning and that was at 09:30. Once again later in our holiday the hotel got quite busy and more sunbeds were in use but lots where still available. Pool was nice and cold and never had many people in so it was nice to relax in an empty pool. Restaurant - we only ate breakfast and lunch (most days) and bought drinks. The food is quite expensive for what it is but I have found that with all hotels as for the drinks pretty much the same theme expensive but as is most hotels. Staff - staff from reception, waitering, Gardner’s, lifeguards etc were all lovely and couldn’t do enough to accommodate you. A special mention to Alfusainey Manjang aka Alfonso for his service throughout the holiday; he always served us and knew our order of by heart by day 2. I look forward to seeing everyone next year. We have already booked this hotel for January 2021 with TUI as they have added The Gambia to its destinations from November 2020. Fingers crossed the Covid-19 pandemic picks up as country’s like The Gambia heavily rely on tourism for its economy.