A beautifully crafted and decorated hotel - on an island in the Indian Ocean (17km south of Diani) - sister hotel Nomad where we previously stayed and we would say it was a more peaceful experience. The room was beautiful and spacious. Excellent variety of food and different restaurants. There’s a lovely gift shop and so many activities - kayaking, mangrove walks, yoga, diving etc or you can just relax on the beach or by one of the three pools. Sunsets on the deck are incredible. Good transfers to and from Diani - depending on the tide you will go across by small boat or tractor! Which was so fun!

There weren’t many bugs around but a suggestion: maybe a can of Doom in the rooms?

+ Location is one of a kind. Exceptional and not done justice with the photos. Beach superb. Spa clustered around an unusual beautiful tidal lagoon in centre of island. Bird spotting to die for, underwater habitat is stunning. Beautiful paddling/wading walks at low tides. + Staff were lovely + Buffets had good variety and quality was fairly consistent. + Pools beautiful and monkeys everywhere but not too much hassle.

- Only partially desalinated water for showers meant sticky to bed - no power in rooms from 10am-6pm not clearly explained when booking but we were ok with it. - for the Bandas the doors could only be locked from one side and logic of it meant you were constantly scurrying through the scrub alongside the house to get to outdoor beach shower, and back into the Banda etc...or leaving the terrace door open. - so easy to make and market this place as an eco resort but just missing little touches like biodegradable (and decent) soap, solar panels to maintain some power through the day...owner clearly prefers to keep expanding than improve existing.

An idyllic private island with stunning views of the Indian Ocean and a gorgeous wide white sandy beach. The three restaurants were great! The hospitality was excellent and the room was very spacious and well designed with a large ocean facing balcony and good attention to detail. Super comfy!

The only thing we can say is the desserts and the Swahili breakfast options can be improved.

The location and the whole resort is beautiful. With low tide during the early part of the day you can also take a walk/small hike around the island where the ocean would normally cover ground. Really fun and you can find crabs, and starfish on your walk, as well as some other sea creatures. The food is great, countless breakfast options, great food options in general. Although the sushi bar/restaurant is not the best value. Staff is friendly and helpful. I am happy to carry my own luggage, but per the resorts policies (with the staff) they really insist in helping you (I guess some guests are into that kind of thing). The service is topnotch, whether you are at the swimming pool or the beach, the staff will quickly provide you with beach towels. We went during low season it seems, so it was not very busy, which is perfect for guests (perhaps not so much for the resort). But I am sure this added positively to my experience as a completely full/booked resort may have a different sort of experience.

There are quite a few activities to be done at Chale Islands, some paid, some complementary for the guests. Many are organised through the diving 'school'/hut that is on the island. Unfortunately when we went by there was no one there to assist us. They do have an app, it would be nice if somehow the app could further assist in using some of the options or at least to communicate with a staff member in charge of the activities. I think they have a number that can be called. It was the weakest chain in an otherwise splendid experience on Chale Island.

The staff are friendly, attentive & always happy to help. Thanks to Eric & Collins we always had extra cold Tusker Ciders available as we asked to have them kept in the freezer. This resort is smaller than other commercial resorts which makes it much nicer - less people & more space to your selves. We originally booked half board but upgraded to all inclusive for $80 pp per day which is definitely worth it as it gives you the freedom to enjoy all the delicious cocktails, local beers, wine etc available. The cocktails are better than anywhere else we’ve had in Kenya so far. The position is also great as it is secluded & not a lot of the public are around the beach unlike in Diani. I like that the food is not served buffet style except for the salad bar & continental breakfast so you can choose what you would like from a menu. There are a variety of options for food as there is a main restaurant (BLD), small sushi bar (LD) & outdoor grill restaurant at night (this was by far our favourite as the seafood is fresh & cooked exactly they way you like it). There is also a variety of activities available such as snorkeling, kayaking, spa etc. My husband especially enjoyed the deep sea fishing experience. We absolutely loved our stay & will definitely be back!

Something to improve on is the pillows in the rooms - softer feather pillows would have really enhanced our stay. I also think that the room could benefit from the addition of a kettle with a small plunger for coffee & tea etc in the mornings

- very nice and spacious bungalow - very clean hotel and room - good food with many choices - amazing sunset bar - professional and efficient staff at the beach, housekeeping and at the restaurant

- very disappointing beach: beautiful white sand, but it is impossible to walk and to swim due to corals and sea urchins everywhere. I was coming for the beach because I saw the picture of the island but that’s not what we found. Even with aqua shoes it’s not comfortable

chale island is a lovely relaxing island around half an hour drive from diani beach. It has a lovely chilled out beach and service from staff is quick. Our ocean suite was beautiful and newly decorated. We had a beautiful terrace overlooking the sea. The room was immaculately clean. Breakfast was good and there was a good, healthy buffet to choose from as well as a cooked breakfast. We didn’t really have lunch but dinner was good, sometimes a little hit and miss with seasoning and flavour, however a good variety. Sunset drinks were lovely.

I think watersports such as SUP or kayaking could be complimentary like sands at nomad.

Gorgeous views and beaches, clean swimming pools, great food and selection of restaurants, welcoming and attentive staff who are only happy to help, many places to relax on the Island, great choice of activities (kayaking, snorkelling, etc.), and we absolutely loved the sunset deck! Wi-Fi coverage was excellent and it was good to have electricity in rooms all day. When I visited in March 2022 electricity in rooms was limited to certain hours of the day; this isn’t the case anymore.

Nothing.

the sands is a wonderful place where spend a relax holidays in contact with the nature. if you expect to enjoy the nights or ti find a thousand of people that’s not the right place. if your holiday expectation is finding a heaven place, quiet, in contact with the nature, where you can enjoy an incredible facial or body massage hearing the nature sounds that’s the place. people are really friendly, the beach is not exactly unforgettable but you can have nice moment at the swimming pool or grubbing sun at the beach. Nice the bar on the beach, the resort gives to you the possibility to rest and to enjoin moment alone or on a company. we have done 2 days of safari that I really recommend. I do no recommend the dolphin tour with snorkelling because it’s nothing really special. spend more day to safari it really worth.

we did not know that the electricity is not available a from 10am to 5pm so we were not able to use air condition or to charge devices even if you can ask the the concierge a favour to put your devices to charge to the reception. Not just a the sands but in Kenya you will spend more money giving tips than the rest. I did not really like the fact that you will pay an activity, like snorkelling, safari etc (I really recommend safari) but they will let you clearly understand that is not quite enough.

The staff really made my stay extra special; they were friendly, attentive and just really lovely people. I loved the pristine private beach and general layout of the hotel. The hotel is clean, the views are amazing, there are quite a lot of activities to get involved in. There's something about being on an island that made everyone super friendly... we got to meet so many new and fantastic fellow guests. Lastly, I was pleasantly surprised at how many nice tings the boutique shop had. Pro Tip: Book a beach bed early; they tend to have mostly gone by noon

Considering that this is a sister hotel to Sands at Nomad (or so I'm told), I was surprised that the quality of food was not only not at the same high-quality par as Sands at Nomad, but was also completely different. Thats not to say I didn't enjoy the food; the food was good with some surprise treats every now and then. The other thing was, I was surprised at just how much coral there was in the ocean. I was fortunate to have diving shoes but the others in our group struggled to wade/ walk in the ocean. I am aware this isn't something that can be "fixed", but a warning to guests beforehand could go a long way.