Our 10 Best African Beach Lodges & Resorts Curated Collection Of The Top-10

If you’re familiar with the wonders of Africa’s interior, it’s time to explore the continent’s wonderful coastline and islands. Africa is fringed by some of the world’s best beaches and dotted along them, you’ll find Africa’s best beach resorts and lodges. Here’s our top-10, think of this as your bucket-and-spade list!

Ibo Island Lodge

Ibo Island lodge in Mozambique offers the perfect blend of history and natural history. Created from three reimagined mansions, it’s part castle, part castaway. Set among its own lush tropical gardens, the lodge is perfectly attuned to the rhythm of the tides and the steady pace of island life. Dhows drift by as silversmiths continue time-honoured traditions. For the ultimate escape, a morning or an afternoon marooned on a sandbar with only a parasol and a picnic promises perfection. Continue exploring…

Alfajiri Cliff Villa

This unique property with commanding views over the Indian Ocean is ideal for multi-generational travel. The triple-storey building lets your family quite literally spend their vacation on top of each other without anyone feeling crowded, and there are stacks of activities for younger travellers to enjoy. Kenya’s south coast is a world away from the bustling port of Mombasa, and yet is imbued with the history and mystery of centuries of seafaring traders and pirates. Continue exploring…

Azura Benguerra Island

A desert isle lodge straight from central casting, Azura Benguerra Island is a dream confection of white sand, sparkling azure sea and coral reefs. It’s a place where once you’ve dipped in a toe, you’ll want to immerse yourself. This is the kind of beach escape that proposals are made of, so take your partner by the hand and stroll along the invisible line that separates sea and shore, reality and dreams. On this island, it’s an easy divide to cross. Continue exploring…

Mnemba Island Lodge

Travel to Zanzibar, then just a little bit further, and you’ll discover a secluded paradise for scuba divers and seafood aficionados. Whether you prefer to see sea fish in shoals or on the coals, this beach escape is sure to delight. Follow the example of the local dolphin pods and cavort with them in the surf, or go a little deeper to discover the unspoiled reefs of Mnemba Atoll, one of Africa’s most prolific dive sites. Continue exploring…

Morukuru Ocean House 

De Hoop Nature Reserve is one of South Africa’s best-kept secrets, shielded as it is from the rest of the Garden Route by rugged mountains. There’s just enough space between them and the waves for a sliver of unique fynbos ecosystem, undulating dunes and this family-friendly beach escape – essentially a safari villa-on-sea. This is very definitely the right place to come to see whales, which often come so close to shore that you can spot them from your room. Continue exploring…

Azura Quilalea Private Island

Anywhere that can only be reached by helicopter already feels like an escape, and that’s certainly true of this remote island. The softness of the sand is wonderfully juxtaposed with the squat shapes of the baobabs and the tangled, bad-hair-day roots of the mangroves. With just a few small steps between your villa and the water’s edge, staying here is a giant leap towards being kind to yourself. Don’t wait, dive in – then go snorkelling! Continue exploring…

AfroChic Diani Beach 

As if being on Kenya’s southern coast wasn’t already relaxing enough, the spa treatments on offer at this beach escape offer moments of indulgence and rejuvenation in equal measure. Maritime breezes add their caresses to the skilful gestures of the therapists, and once you’ve shed your stress like a skin, you can replace them with a bikini or rash vest and head into the warm waves that lap up against this delightful beach escape. Continue exploring…

Benguerra Island Lodge 

Step out of the forest, across the sand and into the ocean at this beach escape. It’s a place where it’s easy to believe in magic – although the mermaid smiling beguilingly at you from the shallows is far more likely to be a dugong. The thatched-roof suites are designed to make the very most of the idyllic views and the cool breezes from the ocean. It all adds up to a luxurious beach escape, plus exceptional diving. Continue exploring…

Kilindi Zanzibar 

The white domes of this beach escape glitter like icing in the Zanzibar sun and provide a wonderful contrast with the riot of lush green vegetation growing around them. There’s a real sense of being in an unspoiled paradise here, with the double-storey pavilions creating a tropical hideaway fit for chilling like a Bond villain. The service is impeccable but never intrusive – your every whim inspires an act of hospitality, even without it being expressed. Don’t miss a sunset dhow cruise. Continue exploring…

White Pearl Mozambique 

The deceptively simple style of this Mozambican beach escape creates a sense that anything is possible, and that’s very much the ethos here. Your wishes determine how your White Pearl experience unfolds, whether you while away your time catching rays on the deck or observing them below the waves. Indeed, the only speck of grit in the oyster is the arrival of your departure date – but that just means one less sleep until your return. Continue exploring…