2 days in Zanzibar

Day by day

1. Day 1: Stone Town and Forodhani Gardens night market

   Stone Town, Forodhani Gardens night market, Old Fort (Ngome Kongwe) and Former slave market and Christ Church, then Kendwa and Nungwi in the evening.

   1. Morning

      Stone Town

      Its mosques, churches, Hindu temples and old merchant houses reflect centuries of Indian Ocean trade.

   2. Late morning

      Forodhani Gardens night market

      Every evening the waterfront gardens in front of the Old Fort fill with food stalls grilling seafood skewers, making Zanzibar pizza and pressing sugarcane juice with lime and ginger, while local boys dive off the sea wall at sunset.

   3. Lunch

      Lunch: Zanzibar pizza

      Forodhani Gardens night market and street stalls in Stone Town.

   4. Afternoon

      Old Fort (Ngome Kongwe)

      Built by the Omanis around 1700 on the site of a Portuguese church, the fort's thick walls now enclose craft shops, a café and an open-air amphitheatre used for performances and festivals.

   5. Late afternoon

      Former slave market and Christ Church

      An exhibition on the East African slave trade, underground chambers and a memorial sculpture of chained figures make it one of the most important sites on the island.

   6. Evening

      Kendwa and Nungwi

      Beach bars and the monthly full-moon party at Kendwa, the island's biggest night out.

2. Day 2: Spice farm tour and Jozani Chwaka Bay National Park

   Spice farm tour, Jozani Chwaka Bay National Park, Darajani Market and Prison Island (Changuu), then Paje in the evening.

   1. Morning

      Spice farm tour

      Tours are usually half a day from Stone Town.

   2. Late morning

      Jozani Chwaka Bay National Park

      A boardwalk loops through the mangroves.

   3. Lunch

      Lunch: Urojo

      Specialist urojo stalls in Stone Town, mainly in the afternoon and evening.

   4. Afternoon

      Darajani Market

      Stone Town's main market on Creek Road sells fish, meat, tropical fruit, vegetables and spices in a covered hall and surrounding streets, and is the terminus for many dala-dala minibuses.

   5. Late afternoon

      Prison Island (Changuu)

      About 30 minutes by boat from Stone Town, Changuu Island was planned as a prison and later used as a quarantine station; today it is home to a colony of Aldabra giant tortoises, some of them very old, plus a small beach and snorkelling reef.

   6. Evening

      Paje

      Beach bars and parties popular with kitesurfers and backpackers.

Where to stay for this itinerary

Pace and daylight

The sights in this plan add up to roughly 18–23 hours of visiting over 2 days, before meals and getting between them. Daylight runs from about 11.8 hours in May to 12.5 hours in December.

Getting between stops: Walking. Stone Town's lanes are too narrow for cars; the Old Fort, Forodhani, Darajani Market and the ferry port are all within a 15-minute walk.

More or fewer days

• One day in Zanzibar
• 3 days in Zanzibar
• 5 days in Zanzibar

Questions travellers ask