JUANI BEACH BUNGALOWS

If I could give this place 6 stars I would. We stayed for 4 nights which gave us three full days on Mafia. We opted to do two day activities - Whale shark and Chole Bay full day tour. This meant one day was free to relax. The rooms were beautiful and clean, we had great AC and hot water for our whole stay. The staff are so lovely and made our stay truly memorable. The biggest positives for us were the beautiful gardens that the lodges are within and the staff who made you feel at home. The food is simple so don’t expect a restaurant but they make a real effort to use changing locally sourced ingredients (seafood!) to make all the dishes. We found for four nights this was perfect and the variety was good for dinner - which was delicious too. For lunch a salad offering would have been nice so you don’t eat the same for lunch/dinner.

Traveler notes:
- four nights we found optimum, I would suggest any longer and you may find yourself without much to do and the simple meals repeat a little.
- For lunch we ate at Butiama next door which did some nice salads.
- Activities:
Whale sharks 5/5. We saw 10+ whale sharks and swam with them for hours.
Chole day full day tour: 5/5. Possibly even better than the Whale sharks. Coral reef was in excellent condition and the lunch BBQ on the tidal sand bank was incredible. Don’t miss this! Also the blue lagoon jellyfish were a surprise.

Overall a great place to stay on Mafia.

It was the best!

The rooms were very spacious and clean. It had both air conditioning and an overhead fan. But my party was surprised when we arrived that one room we had booked did not have air conditioning so beware that there is one double room on the property that does not have air conditioning.
The property is nice but needs just a few more touches to make it truly relaxing. A nice hangout/common space with comfortable seating would be a good addition and more comfortable beach seating. The space did have some smart touches though like chargers by outdoor seating, drying racks outside, water bowl to wash feet off, etc...
The food was good but not anything super special. When we were there right after the first rain there was an insane amount of flies. I don't know what could be done about that but it was off putting.
For the whale shark excursion you leave right in front of their hotel. The guides were excellent and we did see whale sharks even on an overcast rainy day. The hotel provided equipment for you if you didn't have your own. They were able to arrange all the excursions and transportation and I really appreciated all the work that went into that. The owner and workers did an incredible job accommodating our every need. I was happy with our stay and the value.

La struttura è il perfetto posto dove rilassarsi, lontano da mete turistiche, completamente vista mare e nel mezzo della natura (del nulla). La strada per raggiungerla è piuttosto dissestata, ci vuole più tempo in auto invece che con moto / Tuk-tuk o addirittura a piedi (sulla spiaggia). La camera è molto grande, seppur spoglia (consiglierei qualche ripiano in più), con condizionatore e ventilatore. Il bagno è grande ma l’acqua calda si ha di rado, anche se quando è tiepida è comunque accettabile. Il personale è estremamente gentile e cerca di realizzare qualsiasi desiderio dei clienti, questo penso sia davvero il punto forte. Il ristorante vista mare è molto bello, più volte abbiamo potuto cenare in spiaggia a lume di candela. Per la cena di Natale è stato organizzato un bel buffet ed un faló. La SPA offre diversi massaggi ed è piacevole ed economica. La spiaggia è ampia e vi sono 4/5 ombrelloni e lettini, sempre liberi.

Il menù è sempre lo stesso, si scegliere il pesce (pesce intero, calamari, polpo, ogni tanto gamberi / aragosta) e il contorno (verdure, patatine, puré o riso). Nessuna variazione nella cottura e nel sapore, inoltre sull’isola è difficile trovare altro, per questo motivo consiglio di soggiornare per 3/4 giorni al massimo. Punto assolutamente da migliorare! Internet non sempre funziona e non arriva nelle camere, ma si può farne a meno. Vi sono molte mosche ovunque, probabilmente per via dei villaggi di pescatori nelle vicinanze, per questo motivo a volte c’è anche puzza di pesce.

Hidden gem not to be missed.
Food served were real value for money and the staff were helpful in providing recommendations and friendly. Even though the island power supply were unstable at times, the staff responded very quickly to rectify problems.

Visit it soon before this place gets crowded!