Africa & Middle East · Tanzania
Zanzibar
Spice island: coconut groves, a Swahili stone town and beaches that change with the tide.
Zanzibar is the island that Arab traders, Portuguese captains and Omani sultans fought over for its cloves. Stone Town still has the carved doors and the winding lanes, and outside it the island is coconut plantation and white beach, with a sea that turns from jade to navy across the reef. It is affordable, warm all year and pairs with a safari on the mainland.
The palm: Coconut palm
Zanzibar is a coconut island; the palms behind every beach feed the coconut curries and the cooking oil, and the fronds thatch the makuti roofs. Spice tours show clove, cinnamon and nutmeg trees among the coconuts, and the island’s palm-wine tappers still climb barefoot.
When to go
Sights
Stone Town
A UNESCO maze of coral-stone houses, the House of Wonders, the old fort and the Forodhani night market.
Spice farms
Half-day tours near Kizimbani through clove, vanilla, pepper and cinnamon plantations.
Jozani forest
The endemic red colobus monkeys in a mahogany and palm forest in the island’s centre.
Prison Island
A short boat ride to giant tortoises and a snorkelling reef off Stone Town.
Beaches
Nungwi and Kendwa
The northern tip, where the tide barely matters and the sunsets face west.
Paje
The kitesurf beach on the east coast, with a huge low-tide lagoon and a young crowd.
Kiwengwa
Long, quiet and lined with the bigger resorts on the north-east coast.
Events
- Jul
Zanzibar International Film Festival
Screenings in the old fort and on the beach in the first half of July.
- Feb
Sauti za Busara
East Africa’s biggest music festival, four nights in the old fort in February.
- Jul
Mwaka Kogwa
The Shirazi new year in Makunduchi, with mock fights using banana stalks.
For remote workers
A comfortable month: about €1,400
Paje on the east coast has become a small remote-work colony around the kitesurfing, with a couple of coworkings and beach cafés that tolerate laptops. Mobile data is cheap and often better than hotel wifi. Visas are available on arrival or online for most nationalities. Power cuts happen; a power bank is part of the kit.
Compare as a baseFor families
The east coast has huge tides that leave the sea a kilometre away twice a day, which fascinates children and frustrates swimmers; Nungwi and Kendwa in the north stay swimmable all day. Medical care is basic outside Stone Town, so travel insurance and malaria advice are essential.
Rank for your familyThree things to know
- Fly via Doha, Istanbul or Nairobi; direct charters run in the European winter.
- Dress modestly in Stone Town and villages; beachwear belongs on the beach.
- June to October is dry and breezy; December to February is hotter and calmer, and April and May are the long rains.
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