Hotel Germain - Ganvié Holiday Resort

Basic and inexpensive room in stunning surroundings, no thrills, no air conditioning, but helpful, friendly staff. Interesting tours on offer at reasonable price. Recommendable, I had a wonderful experience.

Everything was organized perfectly. Special thx to Steven.

Best thing was the staff. Always kind and courteous. I even accidentally left behind a photocopy of my documents when i left and they reached out to me to see if I needed it. Location is fantastic. It's right across from the school so when there was downtime, it was such a treat to just watch canoes go by and see kids get picked up/dropped off/canoeing home on their own. And if you have lunch or dinner there, which is so great in quantity that no normal human can eat it all, the sauce moyo is excellent! Christopher speaks excellent English and is extremely knowledgeable about Ganvie. Before arrival, he reached out via WhatsApp and provided a detailed excursion with options that suited your tastes and interests. I highly recommend a home visit. The family I got to visit was so inviting and provided such unique insight into their culture and lives, not just as an experience that you just photograph and walk away from but to really know who they are as people, what difficulties they face, what hopes and dreams they have for themselves and their family, and just the joy of being with their family.

WiFi signal could be stronger so that it's available in the rooms. And though i didn't have a problem with it, i imagine some guests might: water pressure is low so get used to the bucket shower instead of relying on the tiny trickle from the shower head. And though it wasn't terrible for me because there was a torrential rain that cooled everything down, if you need air conditioning, you won't find that here.

Ganvié is an incredible place and having the opportunity to stay there over night and seeing the morning market is worth a trip to Benin. Hotel Germain is one of the (best?) locations where you can spend the night and its owner/manager and his capt’n are doing a lot to make your trip an unforgettable experience.

The hotel offered basic facilities of correct quality, for the price charged. However, as the site was under transformation and therefore lost its charm (temporarily). I hope an interior designer will find a way to bring some coziness to the new concrete works in progress.

We had a great stay at Germain's as a base to explore Ganvié. Christopher kept in touch with me before hand suggesting an itinerary to make the most of my stay. The options and pricing were really clear as well as the times. He made the transfers to and from Ganvié really easy. The staff were lovely. The food was great. It was a nice location outside the centre of town. Other hotels seemed more in the town where it was noisy. It's a unique experience and Germain's is the best place to do that.

The lake village of Ganvié is a very interesting place to visit, and it was good to spend a night there. The owner of the hotel was very clear with communication before I arrived, and pointed out the additional fees (boat transfer, canoe tour, dinner, breakfast). Good food. Good WiFi.

Check your bill carefully before paying. My room reservation on Booking.com was 13000 West African CFA franc, but the owner wanted to charge me 17000 West African CFA franc. Also, I was a bit unlucky with the services provided. When I arrived to Abomey-Calavi on time for the speed boat to take me to the hotel, we were delayed first waiting for the owner and later because of engine problems. I had to wait 1,5 hours. My planned 3 hours exploration of Ganvié in a canoe was shortened to 1,5 hours (then sunset, and dinner). I still had to pay the full price for both boat transfer and canoe tour.