Cinco Portas Lodge

Best atmosphere on Ibo island is definitely at Cinco Portas! Guests from other hotels come here for the bar, the friendly staff and the excellent dinner menu. Rooms are clean and airy!

Well it's really lame on us we're only putting a review up now as we stayed here in November 2017. But I believe Chris is still there and as this was one of our of our best stays in southern Africa we decided to still write a review. Chris is a fantastic host and chef and the food is amazing. He's one of these characters you only find in Africa still, which made our stay very special. Besides, all staff is exceptionally well trained and hospitable. We first stayed in the budget room which indeed is budget but then were upgraded for a night which was really cool. The view on the bay is beautiful and we loved walking and wandering around the island. We often think about Ibo as it is such a unique and special place and hope to get back soon. ||Thank you Chris and the whole team and hope to see you again! ||Christina & Gerry

Stayed there for a few nights due to work. Staff and service are excellent, always making sure that you have everything you need. The breakfast starts with a freshly made coffee in front of the beach, then the buffet is very good! Rooms are a bit rustic, but super comfy, with mosquito nets and hot water showers! Then Chris ' food is something to die for. Unfortunately, Chris was there only for one of the nights, so I hope I can enjoy more of Chris' cuisine next time. This is highly recommended in Ibo Island!!

Charming pension on the main street with the best food on the island. Rooms can do with a bit of attention, but the all over experience is just wonderful. The host Chris, an executive chef cum hotel manager, travel agent, the island's only bank is just fabulous and with out doubt the go to person on the island. His food is excellent. We met a couple of guests staying at a 5 star lodge nearby and they preferred to have dinner at Cinco rather than at the lodge. Definitely the best option in Ibo.

We had an amazing time at Cinco Portas this February. The island is magnificient, full of wonderful landscapes and magical and kind people. Chris and his staff took care of all the logistics and activities around the islands and everything was simple and magical. The accomodations and hotel have worderfull decor and conform. I consider the price quite affordable and correct. I only rated 5 stars because it’s not posible to award more. Congrats on the place.

The aimiable and helpful Swedish manager-chef Chris offers a warm welcome, helpful info and, best of all, wonderful cordon-blue lunches and dinners on a terrace overlooking the sea.||The owner, a terse Swiss who ignores his guests, offers rooms of varying quality. MIne had jammed doors and broken shutters, but no hot water, no bottled water and no toiletries.||Sea view rooms and breezy terraces, unlike the Miti Miwiri.||Staff are friendly, the whole place is clean and tidy, and Ibo is a quite extraordinary place to visit. Like Ilha de Moçambique 50 years ago.||Chris can arrange private a/c transfers from Pemba, avoiding the fearful and prolonged chapa ride, and also canoes, and diving or boats to the other Islands.||Certainly eat here, but consider staying at the modern but much more expensive Mwani House or the cheaper but basic Residencial Arqipelago, both nearby.

Great location, right in front of the sea, a beautiful view of boats that dock right in front of the hotel and fishermen arriving from the sea at sunset, while relaxing in the pool that is also totally in front of the sea. The Manager who is also the Chief of the hotels restaurant, manages to make of your stay a true experience with the original foods, all of local origin, super delicious that he cooks them all in person.||The decoration of the site reminds much of Bali or Thailand by the style of structure and vegetation that it has inside.||However I was a bit disappointed with the room we were in, it was dark, a little stuffy and it was right next to the bar and that made the rest almost impossible. but the rest is fantastic.

We went to Moz for our annual holiday and stayed at Cinco for around 3 weeks. The idea was to stay there and scuba dive and free dive as much as we could. Unfortunately our free-diving bag got lost on route (courtesy of an African airline), and it took them 16 days to locate it and deliver it to us on Ibo. Chris the manager was instrumental in helping us with this, and was on the phone to the powers that be almost every day from the moment we arrived. Our free diving bag aside, we were also meant to scuba dive at least 15-20 times with another outfit on the island that also went awry. We were constantly being let down very late in the evening with the diving outfit saying the diving the next day had been cancelled for various reasons. Being let down every day at the last minute meant we couldn’t property organise alternative activities the next day like you would normally do. This was awkward to say the least, as most of the activated were by then fully booked by the time we found out! To Chris and his teams credit, somehow they always managed to pulled something together for us and managed to organise multiple trips for us with literally minutes notice. The food… well Chris and his staff are genius in the kitchen! How they pull together such amazing meals time after time in such a remote place is astonishing! We also loved the fact they support all the locals buying the local produce wherever possible. Regarding the accommodation, you need to bear in mind that you on a very remote island in the heart of Africa, so expect the odd leak in the roof and power cut, but isn’t that why we love Africa so much!? The accommodation was more than suitable for what we needed & was always clean. We loved this place and the team working there are superb. We want to do more diving in the Quirimbas, so Cinco Portas we will visit you all again!!