An independent guide to the archipelago: which coast fits the trip you actually want, what the tides decide for you, what things cost, and the few things worth booking before you land.
Every guide to this island ranks its beaches by beauty, which is a useless way to sort them, because they are all beautiful. What separates them is the tide. On the east coast the sea walks out several hundred metres twice a day. On the northern tip it barely moves. Same island, two completely different holidays, and almost every disappointed review traces back to somebody booking one while picturing the other.
| Coast | Where | You can swim | A night |
|---|---|---|---|
| The northern tipBusiest and dearest, and it removes the tide from the holiday. The safe answer for a first trip. | Nungwi, Kendwa | Any hour of any day | $70 to $500 |
| The north eastQuiet, and it varies sharply hotel by hotel. Matemwe faces the best reef in Zanzibar. | Matemwe, Kiwengwa, Pongwe | 3 to 4 hours around high water | $60 to $900 |
| The south eastHalf the price, twice the space, and the lagoon walks out half a kilometre twice a day. | Paje, Jambiani, Bwejuu | 2 to 3 hours around high water | $30 to $250 |
| Stone TownTwo nights at the start. The only part of the island that is not a beach, and the part people remember. | The old town | No swimming, it is a town | $40 to $400 |
The full comparison is in north or east coast, and what the tide does explains why a beach that was perfect on Monday afternoon has no water in it by Thursday.
The days out that most visitors book: the full day on the water, the old town and the south coast.
The classic outing on the water: Menai Bay by dhow, with snorkelling, a sandbank, a seafood lunch and hotel pickup.
4.6(682 reviews)
from$90per person
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A first-visit favourite: Prison Island's giant tortoises, then the Nakupenda sandbank with a barbecue, by the tide.
4.5(855 reviews)
from$17per person
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Three sights with lunch, Stone Town, a spice farm and Prison Island, for the day you want more than a beach.
4.5(1,407 reviews)
from$55per person
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A simple way to see something other than beaches on a first visit: Jozani Forest and Salaam Cave, fees included.
4.8(543 reviews)
from$80per person
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The reef at Mnemba is the snorkelling most visitors ask about, by boat from Kendwa, maybe with dolphins.
4.7(1,495 reviews)
from$55per person
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The sunset dhow is the activity that photographs best, with free pickup, book a few days ahead in high season.
3.9(380 reviews)
from$19per person
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Which coast, and the tide that decides whether you can swim at three in the afternoon. Start here, before the hotel.
What each day out costs and how long it takes. Three are excellent, four are worth a morning, the rest depend on you.
By the kind of trip rather than by star rating. Every area priced side by side, with its swim window.
Visa, insurance, flights, transfers, money and the month to avoid. Including the fees nobody puts in a budget.
Most Zanzibar guides are a listicle recycled from other listicles, or a booking page wearing a guide's clothes. This one is neither.
Opening hours, transfer times and what a beach looks like at low tide, checked here rather than copied across.
Some of the most photographed spots on Zanzibar get a qualified no. We say which, and why.
Prices move with the season. You get a realistic range and what it covers, not a figure nobody has checked since 2024.
When a tour is genuinely the easier option we link to it and earn a commission at no cost to you. Free things stay free here.
Almost everything here can be arranged from your hotel the night before, at about twenty per cent over shop price and with none of the effort. Two exceptions: the sunset dhow, because the boats are small, and The Rock, which seats about thirty people.
Boat trips and spice farms
Safari Blue, Mnemba snorkelling, Stone Town on foot.
A room on the coast you picked
Every area compared, with its swim window and price band.
It depends on one thing, and it is not the sand. The northern tip at Nungwi and Kendwa lets you swim at any hour and charges for it. The east coast at Paje and Jambiani costs roughly half and the lagoon empties for hours twice a day. Most first trips are happier in the north and most second trips move east.
Seven works for most people: five on a beach and two spent doing things. Ten days lets you add two nights in Stone Town and split between two coasts. Under five days and a meaningful part of the trip happens in a car, because the island is slower than the map suggests.
On the island, flights excluded, roughly $700 a head backpacking on the east coast and $2,500 in comfort in the north. Two fixed costs catch people out: the visa at $50, or $100 on a US passport, and the compulsory ZIC insurance at $44 a head.
June to September is dry, breezy and busiest. February is the hottest month and the best in the water, with the flattest sea and the best visibility. Avoid April and May, which are the long rains and the only period where the weather can genuinely spoil a week.
Yes, broadly. Violent crime against visitors is rare and what actually spoils trips is duller: sunburn, stomach upsets, sea urchins and opportunistic theft on unlit beaches after dark. Zanzibar is also around ninety nine per cent Muslim, so covering shoulders and knees away from the beach matters more than most guides say.
Almost certainly. Zanzibar is part of Tanzania and uses the Tanzanian visa, at $50 for most nationalities and $100 on a US passport, since Americans can only be issued the multiple entry class. Since October 2024 a separate ZIC insurance policy at $44 an adult is also compulsory and is checked at immigration.
No email capture and no funnel. If you were there last week and something here is wrong, that is worth more than another guide copying the same figure for a third year.
