After a full on tour of Uganda, we stayed at the Protea Hotel Entebbe, part of the Marriot chain, for two nights before flying home. The 73-roomed hotel appeared to be ideally situated on the shores of Lake Victoria, yet only 1km from the airport.
Airport style security was in place, and after three weeks of being mask free in the bush, mask wearing was de rigueur and took some getting used to. Another novelty was having a lift which took us to room 205 on the second floor. We were led down a long narrow corridor which was dark and gloomy due to the drawn floor to ceiling curtains on one side. The beige carpet had seen better days and we feared the worse. However in contrast, our room was spacious, modern and light with a large bed, bedside tables with lights and charging point. It had all the amenities you would expect in a four-star hotel but having had three weeks in simple safari lodges and tents, it was a novelty to have plenty of sockets, a TV, tea and coffee making facilities and safe. The wardrobe had plenty of hanging space and shelves and the only thing really missing was another stand for the second suitcase. Wi-Fi was free in all areas, with a good connection and AC was good. The flooring looked like a cream woven carpet but was in fact practical rubberised tiles.
The bathroom was relatively small but had a great walk-in shower and was well designed with space for hanging towels and complimentary toiletries. There was a good hairdryer/mirror combination, and we could plug our electric toothbrushes in directly.
A small balcony, overlooking Lake Victoria, had chairs and a table with a mesh screen allowing lake breezes in, but not the prevalent non-biting lake flies.
A large, rather chilly swimming pool had plenty of loungers and was never busy, perhaps because of the transient nature of the guests. There was lots of outdoor seating around the grounds and pool bar as well as well positioned benches facing the lake.
Tides restaurant had a dinner buffet (65,000 shilling or £14), but we chose from the a la carte and having seen portion sizes, shared a pizza and Greek salad on our first night and lasagne and garden salad on our second. There was also a separate bar where we could catch up with Wimbledon on the silent TV screens.
Breakfast had a great choice of cereals, fruit, yoghurt, juice, lots of hot options, salads, cheese and cold meats as well as an egg chef. Coffee shop style coffee was available at no extra cost, and it was pleasant to take coffee and a piece of banana bread onto the outside terrace.
As we had an evening flight, a late check out meant we had our room until 6pm. It was then a leisurely shared cheese and ham toasty before being picked up for the five-minute drive to the airport and our flight home.
At the beginning of our trip, we stayed at Lake Heights in Entebbe and whilst it was disappointing, the location was better as we could walk into town in around 20 minutes. In contrast, a hotel organised taxi for a last-minute shopping trip cost $10 each way.
