Hand-picked tours, honest advice and everything you need to plan an unforgettable trip to Zanzibar’s main island — from Stone Town’s carved doors to the sandbanks off Nungwi.
Unguja — the island almost everyone simply calls Zanzibar — spent a millennium as the busiest port on the Swahili coast, and it shows. Stone Town is a UNESCO-listed maze of Omani, Indian and Swahili architecture. Twenty minutes inland, clove and vanilla still grow on working plantations.
Then there is the coast: eighty-odd kilometres of white sand, a reef that keeps the Indian Ocean at bay, and some of the best snorkelling in East Africa at Mnemba Atoll. We help you pick the right experiences, book them in minutes and know exactly where to stay on each stretch of coast.
Curated, top-rated experiences booked through GetYourGuide. Prices are indicative starting points — tap any tour for live availability.
Full-day classic from $55 The single best first day in Zanzibar. You get the history of Stone Town, the spice farms that gave the island its name and the giant tortoises of Prison Island in one well-paced day, with a Swahili lunch in between.
Boat day trip from $42 Nakupenda means “I love you” in Swahili, and the sandbank that appears offshore at low tide earns the name. Boat out to Prison Island for the tortoises, then anchor at the sandbar for snorkelling and a grilled seafood lunch.
Private walking tour from $21 Stone Town is a maze you will get lost in — that is half the pleasure, but a local guide turns the confusion into a story. Three hours, private, and easily the best-value cultural experience on the island.
Dhow day trip from $90 Zanzibar’s most famous boat day. A traditional dhow takes you across the Menai Bay conservation area to sandbanks, mangrove channels and the Blue Lagoon, with a long, unhurried seafood lunch in the middle of it.
Small-group boat trip from $55 Mnemba is the best snorkelling in Zanzibar — a protected atoll ringed by coral in impossibly clear water. This small-group trip leaves early from the north coast, when the sea is flat and the dolphins are still feeding.
Bestselling boat trip from $55 With more than two thousand reviews, this is one of the most-booked experiences on the island. Boat out from the north coast for dolphins and Mnemba snorkelling, then a sandbank stop before an optional seafood lunch.
Nature day trip from $80 The island’s only national park protects the last stronghold of the Zanzibar red colobus, plus a mangrove boardwalk and towering mahogany. Paired with a swim among sea turtles in a natural cave pool, entry fees and transfers included.
Half-day cultural from $18 Zanzibar was the world’s clove capital, and the plantations inland from Stone Town still smell like it. A private guide walks you through the farm, crushing leaves and cutting fruit as you go. Superb value for the price.
Real-time prices and availability, straight from GetYourGuide. Free cancellation on most experiences.
Nine places that between them cover the whole island. Here is where to start.
History & heritage A UNESCO labyrinth of coral stone
The old quarter of Zanzibar City is a maze of coral-rag houses, carved doors and alleys too narrow for cars — a Swahili, Arab, Indian and European city that ran the Indian Ocean spice and slave trades. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and the cultural heart of the island.
Beaches & coast The beaches that never go out
At the northern tip of Unguja the tide barely moves, which means swimmable turquoise water all day — the one thing much of the east coast cannot offer. Nungwi is a working dhow-building village turned resort strip; Kendwa, twenty minutes south, is quieter sand and the island’s famous full-moon parties.
Beaches & coast Kitesurf flats and seaweed farms
The south-east coast is a five-kilometre sweep of blinding white sand backed by palms, where the tide retreats a kilometre and leaves a shallow turquoise lagoon. Paje is East Africa’s kitesurfing capital; Jambiani, just south, is a strung-out fishing village where seaweed farmers still work the flats at low tide.
Forest & wildlife The island’s last wild woodland
Jozani Chwaka Bay National Park is the only national park on Unguja and the last stronghold of the Zanzibar red colobus — a monkey found nowhere else on earth. Groundwater forest, towering mahogany and a mangrove boardwalk make it an easy, genuinely rewarding half day.
History & heritage Giant tortoises and a prison never used
A twenty-minute boat ride off Stone Town, Changuu was bought to hold enslaved people, rebuilt as a prison that never took a single inmate, and used instead as a yellow-fever quarantine station. Today it is home to a colony of Aldabra giant tortoises, some well over a century old.
Reefs & islands The best reef in Zanzibar
A tiny private island ringed by a protected coral atoll off the north-east coast. You cannot land on Mnemba itself, but the reef around it is the finest snorkelling and diving in Zanzibar — walls of butterflyfish, turtles, and a resident pod of dolphins in the channel.
History & heritage Why they call it the Spice Island
The plantations inland from Stone Town — around Kizimbani and Kindichi — are where cloves, nutmeg, cinnamon, vanilla, cardamom and black pepper still grow side by side. A spice tour is part botany lesson, part tasting, and the fastest way to understand why this small island mattered so much for so long.
Beaches & coast The peninsula with two sunsets
The Michamvi peninsula curls back on itself so that its west-facing side, alone on the east coast, watches the sun set over water. Off Pingwe stands The Rock — a restaurant on a coral outcrop that you walk to at low tide and reach by boat at high tide, and probably the most photographed building in Zanzibar.
Reefs & islands A beach that exists twice a day
Nakupenda means “I love you” in Swahili, and the name belongs to a crescent of pure white sand that rises out of the sea off Stone Town at low tide and vanishes again as it comes in. Boats anchor there for a few hours of swimming, starfish spotting and grilled seafood served on the sand.
The north swims at any tide, the east has the biggest tides and the best prices, and Stone Town has the history. Here is how the island’s areas compare.
Town base, not a swimming beach $35–250 Sleep inside the UNESCO maze
Restored merchant houses with carved doors, rooftop terraces and courtyards, right in the old town. You are steps from the museums, the night market and every boat trip — but this is a working town, not a beach resort.
Swimmable at all tides $45–500 The beach that never disappears
The north tip has almost no tidal range, so you can swim off the sand at any hour. Nungwi is busier with restaurants, dive shops and nightlife; Kendwa is wider, softer and calmer. The full range from backpacker rooms to five-star resorts.
Big tides — swim at high water $60–600 Big resorts and the Mnemba boat
The north-east coast is where the large all-inclusives sit, along with a string of small lodges. Matemwe is the closest point on the island to Mnemba Atoll, which makes it the obvious base for divers and serious snorkellers.
Stone Town’s carved doors, the reefs of Mnemba, spice farms, Jozani’s red colobus and some of the finest beaches in the Indian Ocean. Compare tours, tickets and day trips and book in a couple of taps.
Zanzibar is the archipelago (and the semi-autonomous region of Tanzania). Unguja is the name of its main island — the one with Stone Town, the beaches and the airport. When people say “Zanzibar” about a holiday, they almost always mean Unguja. The other large island is Pemba.
Seven to ten days is the sweet spot: one or two nights in Stone Town for the history, then five to seven on a beach with two or three day trips. Five days works if you skip either the north or the east coast. See our full travel guide for suggested itineraries.
In high season (July–September and December–February) the best-rated boat trips, Safari Blue and the fly-in safaris sell out days ahead, so booking online in advance is strongly recommended. Most tours on GetYourGuide offer free cancellation and reserve-now-pay-later, so there is little risk in locking your spot in early.
Yes, for the overwhelming majority of visitors. Zanzibar is a conservative, predominantly Muslim society and violent crime against tourists is rare. Take the usual precautions with valuables, dress modestly away from the beach, and avoid walking alone on unlit beaches after dark.
It depends on the tide. Nungwi and Kendwa in the north are swimmable at any hour; Paje and Jambiani on the east coast are more beautiful at low tide but only swimmable around high water. Our where to stay guide compares every stretch.
