Stopover Hotel, Shela Village Hot

I really enjoyed my time at Stopover, location was fantastic and the place looks amazing.

Recommend the penthouse, which has an amazing balcony (view is brilliant) and great daybed for lounging. all rooms have a balcony and great views

Staff were always very helpful and I didn't experience them being pushy at all. They were very upfront about the wait times for food which was a long time. food was good however and found prices reasonable.

I left a good tip because this was a great place to stay and I recommend it to family and friends.

Stayed January 2012

I checked-in at Stop Over Guest House on the 28th of March until the 1st of April and i was in total paradise.Was met at Manda Airstrip and shown to the boat which whisked me to the Shela and was met by a very charming mzee Swalihina who explained and showed me everything.

Enjoyed a glass of cold passion-fruit juice before i settled down.While at Stop Over,i had breakfast every morning in the restaurant and also indulged in dinner,too.Since i was in Shela,i felt that i should try Swahili food(biryani and pilau) which was spectacular!!

Mzee Swalihina made sure i visited Lamu town well and also arranged a fishing trip with a very knowledgable nahodha(captain) and his son.I will return and stay for a longer time soon. The entire staff were very nice indeed although i didn't meet mzee Hamid since he was away visiting family in Mombasa.

Spent the night of 12 June 2011 at the Stopover Guest House which was the ideal end to our time on Lamu island after two nights in Lamu Town. After the 35-minute walk to Shela from Lamu we reached Stopover Guest House and didn't need to look further for a place to stay. The staff member said the rooms were KES4,000 per night but we said we wanted to spend KES2,500. Agreed on KES3,000 in total for a double room with breakfast included. We stayed on the first floor. Rooms on the second and top floors were at least KES4,500. Our room had a private bathroom and sea view out of two windows. No fridge in the room but there's a large fridge and good kitchen area for communal use. The sea was almost under our balcony at high tide. Dinner and non-alcoholic drinks are available from the restaurant downstairs. We had dinner and breakfast on our balcony. Shela Beach is about 15 minutes walk away via the waterfront or alleyways of Shela Village. Highly recommended and would stay at Stopover again when back in Shela.

Loved our two-night, three-day stay here. We stayed on the third floor and, as there were no other guests on that floor, we had the entire beautiful, clean sparkling balcony with incredible ocean views all to ourselves. It was very hot this time of year but we were able to sleep out on the balcony on a very comfortable daybed, where a cooling breeze blew all night long. Breeze kept the mosquitos away, and the fresh juices, flowers and meals kept us happy. Nice, airy rooms; lovely, clean bathrooms; and really topnotch location in Shela, away from the heat and chaos of Lamu Town and close to Peponi's Restaurant (where you'll have to go for your sundowners, as this hotel is muslim owned and therefore dry). The staff was great, our only complaint was that the manager tried very hard and persistently to sell us a fairly overpriced boat tour that we didn't reall want to do, and he was not into negotiating until he realized that we were just not going to go. We never did take the trip, so can't say whether it would have been worth the high price or not, but were able to find another dhow trip out of Lamu Town that was very enjoyable, if on a very old boat...

Top two floors (3rd and 4th) are optimal for rooms, ocean views, and breeze. Try to get one all to yourself (during the low season)!