Tanzania safari destination
Zanzibar is Tanzania’s island, known for its beaches, Swahili culture and historic Stone Town, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The warm equatorial climate suits beach time and water sports year-round.
The destination
Zanzibar is Tanzania’s island, known for its beaches, Swahili culture and historic Stone Town, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The warm equatorial climate suits beach time and water sports year-round. Explore the island’s heritage through spice tours, enjoy water activities like diving and snorkelling, or relax on a dhow cruise. Accommodation ranges from luxury resorts to boutique hotels, so the island suits a quick add-on or a full week. A lounger, a cocktail, lapping waves, a tropical breeze, and fine white sand between your toes. Zanzibar’s beaches are clean, safe, and laid back. Dip below the surface of the warm Indian Ocean and you’re swimming over reef fish and coral a few strokes from the beach. Zanzibar’s history is as colorful and diverse as the tropical landscape of its location. The story of Zanzibar - from past to present - is brought to life in a selection of tours. Spice tours through Zanzibar’s clove, nutmeg and vanilla plantations show the island’s trading history up close. Zanzibar is a semi-autonomous part of Tanzania, so visitors don’t need a separate visa to enter.
Put it on your route
Weave Zanzibar into your journey
Zanzibar is not one beach. The island's coasts behave very differently, and the difference decides whether you spend your week swimming, kitesurfing or walking out across a tidal flat at low water. The east coast has dramatic tides that pull the sea a long way out twice a day, spectacular to watch, frustrating if you pictured swimming whenever you liked. The north barely tides at all, which is why Nungwi and Kendwa are the island's swimming beaches.
Stone Town, the island's UNESCO-listed old quarter, is the other half of the trip: a coral-stone maze of Omani doors, Indian balconies, spice markets and the sobering history of the East African slave trade. Two nights there before or after the beach is, in our experience, the difference between a beach holiday and a Zanzibar one.
The island is small, nowhere is more than about two hours from the airport, so the choice is about character rather than logistics.
The northern tip, and the busiest stretch on the island. Minimal tidal variation means you can swim at any hour, and the sunsets face west over open water. Plenty of restaurants, dive centres and nightlife. The right choice if you want the beach to have some life to it.
A few kilometres south of Nungwi and a shade calmer, with the same all-tide swimming and the island's widest stretch of sand. Known for full-moon beach parties, but quiet the rest of the time. A good compromise between Nungwi's energy and the east coast's solitude.
The kitesurfing capital of the Indian Ocean. A shallow, flat lagoon protected by reef and a reliable cross-shore wind make it one of the best places in the world to learn. Young, informal and full of beach bars, and at low tide the sea walks away, so it is not the swimming beach.
The island's longest beach, facing the Mnemba Atoll. The best snorkelling and diving in Zanzibar sits a short boat ride offshore, and dolphins are regularly seen on the way. A working fishing village rather than a resort strip, so it stays quiet.
A long, largely undeveloped palm-backed beach south of Paje with very little between you and the sea. The quietest of the popular beaches and the one we recommend most often for honeymoons. Jozani Forest and sunset dhow cruises are close by.
The southern fishing village where boats go out to find resident bottlenose and humpback dolphins. It also holds one of East Africa's oldest mosques, dating from the twelfth century. A half-day trip for many visitors rather than a base, though it is beautifully unhurried if you stay.
Zanzibar's greener, hillier and far less visited sister island to the north. Steep drop-offs and pristine coral make it a serious diving destination, and clove plantations cover much of the interior. Reached by a short flight from Zanzibar.
South of Zanzibar and administratively separate, Mafia is a marine park best known for reliable whale-shark encounters between October and March. Barely developed, with a handful of small lodges and almost no other visitors.
A UNESCO World Heritage Site and the cultural heart of the archipelago, carved doors, the Old Fort, the House of Wonders, the former slave market site, and the Forodhani night food market.
Stone Town guideZanzibar was the world's clove capital, and the plantations inland still grow nutmeg, cardamom, vanilla, cinnamon and pepper. The best tours are tasting-and-smelling walks rather than lectures.
Zanzibar toursThe last significant stand of indigenous forest on the island, and the only place to see the endemic Zanzibar red colobus monkey. An easy half day, usually combined with the mangrove boardwalk.
Jozani guideChanguu Island, a short boat ride from Stone Town, a former quarantine station, now home to a colony of giant Aldabra tortoises, some of them over a century old.
Changuu IslandThe best snorkelling and diving in Zanzibar: a protected reef with reliable turtle and reef-fish sightings, reached by boat from Matemwe or Nungwi.
Diving tripsA traditional lateen-rigged sailing boat out of Stone Town or the east coast as the light goes. The simplest and best-value thing you can do on the island.
Zanzibar toursQuestions
June to October is the long dry season: hot, sunny and reliably clear, and the natural pairing with a dry-season safari. December to February is hotter and also excellent. The long rains from late March into May bring heavy downpours and many smaller hotels close; November has shorter, lighter rains and is often good value.
No. Zanzibar is part of Tanzania and your Tanzanian visa covers it. You will pass through an immigration desk on arrival from the mainland, so carry your passport. Proof of travel insurance is required on arrival.
Malaria prophylaxis is generally recommended for Zanzibar, though the risk is lower than on the mainland. Repellent, long sleeves after dusk and a mosquito net cover most of the exposure. Ask your travel clinic, advice varies by nationality and by your medical history.
Zanzibar is a predominantly Muslim island. Swimwear is fine on the beach and at your hotel, but away from them (Stone Town, villages, markets) covering shoulders and knees is expected and appreciated. During Ramadan, avoid eating and drinking in public during daylight.
Larger hotels, restaurants and dive centres accept cards, often with a surcharge. Everywhere else is cash, Tanzanian shillings, with US dollars widely accepted for larger amounts. ATMs are reliable in Stone Town and limited elsewhere, so draw cash before heading to the coast.
Four to five nights is the sweet spot after a safari: two in Stone Town and three on a beach, or all of it on one beach if you simply want to stop moving. A week lets you add Mnemba, Jozani and a dhow trip without ever feeling scheduled.
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