Things to do · Zanzibar · Tanzania
17 best things to do in Zanzibar
17 sights and experiences ranked for a first visit, with honest notes on time, cost and crowds.
Updated By the AMZBooking editorial team
Photo: Moongateclimber, Public domain
Quick answer
The essential sights in Zanzibar are Stone Town, Forodhani Gardens night market and Spice farm tour. Of the 17 picks below, 3 are free, 1 work on a rainy day and 6 suit children. Allow about 7 days to see the highlights without rushing.
Key facts
- Top sight
- Stone Town
- Free sights
- 3
- Good on a rainy day
- Former slave market and Christ Church
- Time to see the highlights
- 7 days
At a glance
| Sight | Area | Time needed | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Stone Town | Stone Town | A full day | Free |
| Forodhani Gardens night market | Stone Town | 1–2 hours | Low cost |
| Spice farm tour | Central Unguja | Half a day | Mid-priced |
| Old Fort (Ngome Kongwe) | Stone Town | 45 minutes | Free |
| Former slave market and Christ Church | Stone Town | 1–1.5 hours | Low cost |
| Darajani Market | Stone Town | 1 hour | Free |
| Prison Island (Changuu) | Off Stone Town | Half a day | Mid-priced |
| Nakupenda sandbank | Off Stone Town | Half a day | Mid-priced |
| Jozani Chwaka Bay National Park | Central Unguja | 2 hours | Low cost |
| Mnemba Atoll snorkelling | Matemwe | Half a day | Mid-priced |
| The Rock restaurant | Michamvi Peninsula | 2 hours | Expensive |
| Kizimkazi | Southern Unguja | Half a day | Mid-priced |
| Mnarani turtle conservation pond | Nungwi | 45 minutes | Low cost |
| Nungwi dhow yards and sunset | Nungwi | 2 hours | Low cost |
| Kitesurfing at Paje | Paje | Half a day | Expensive |
| Maruhubi Palace ruins | North of Stone Town | 45 minutes | Low cost |
| Mangapwani caves | North-west coast | 1 hour | Low cost |
The 17 best things to do
Historic site · Stone Town
1.Stone Town
Listed by UNESCO in 2000, Stone Town is a densely built Swahili trading town of coral-stone houses with carved wooden doors, balconies and shaded lanes, shaped by Arab, Persian, Indian, African and European influences. Its mosques, churches, Hindu temples and old merchant houses reflect centuries of Indian Ocean trade.
Explore early in the morning before the heat and the tour groups; getting lost is part of the experience, and the waterfront is never far.
- Time needed
- A full day
- Cost
- Free
- Iconic
- Free
- History
- Architecture
- Photo spot
Market · Stone Town
2.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.
Agree the price of seafood before it is grilled, and choose stalls that are busy with locals.
- Time needed
- 1–2 hours
- Cost
- Low cost
- Iconic
- Food
- After dark
- Kids
Experience · Central Unguja
3.Spice farm tour
Farms in the countryside north of Stone Town show cloves, nutmeg, cinnamon, cardamom, vanilla, lemongrass and tropical fruit growing, with guides who explain their uses and often finish with a spiced lunch. Tours are usually half a day from Stone Town.
Choose a small farm tour that includes lunch, and bring cash for buying spices directly from the farm.
- Time needed
- Half a day
- Cost
- Mid-priced
- Iconic
- Food
- Nature
- Kids
Historic site · Stone Town
4.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.
Climb the walls for a view over the waterfront, and check whether a music or dance event is on in the amphitheatre.
- Time needed
- 45 minutes
- Cost
- Free
- Free
- History
- Shopping
Historic site · Stone Town
5.Former slave market and Christ Church
The Anglican Christ Church Cathedral was built in the 1870s on the site of Zanzibar's last open slave market, closed in 1873. 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.
Take the guided visit to understand the site's history; allow time to reflect.
- Time needed
- 1–1.5 hours
- Cost
- Low cost
- History
- Rainy day
- Architecture
Market · Stone Town
6.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.
Visit in the morning; the fish and meat sections are intense, but the fruit and spice stalls are good for tasting.
- Time needed
- 1 hour
- Cost
- Free
- Free
- Food
- Shopping
- Photo spot
Island · Off Stone Town
7.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.
Combine it with the Nakupenda sandbank on a half-day boat trip from the Stone Town waterfront.
- Time needed
- Half a day
- Cost
- Mid-priced
- Kids
- Nature
- History
- Outdoors
Beach · Off Stone Town
8.Nakupenda sandbank
A strip of white sand that appears in the sea off Stone Town, its size changing with the tide; boat trips stop for swimming, snorkelling and a seafood lunch in turquoise water.
Go with an operator that brings shade and leaves no rubbish behind; there are no facilities on the sandbank.
- Time needed
- Half a day
- Cost
- Mid-priced
- Couples
- Outdoors
- Photo spot
- Kids
Nature · Central Unguja
1.Jozani Chwaka Bay National Park
The island's only national park protects remnant forest and mangroves and is home to the endemic Zanzibar red colobus monkey, which you can watch at close range. A boardwalk loops through the mangroves.
Visit on the way to the east-coast beaches, and keep the recommended distance from the monkeys.
- Time needed
- 2 hours
- Cost
- Low cost
- Nature
- Kids
- Outdoors
- Photo spot
Nature · Matemwe
2.Mnemba Atoll snorkelling
The protected reef around Mnemba Island, off the north-east coast, is Zanzibar's best-known area for snorkelling and diving, with clear water, reef fish, turtles and, often, dolphins on the way out. The island itself is private, but boats moor on the surrounding reef.
Book with a licensed dive centre or operator and go early, before the wind picks up and the boats arrive.
- Time needed
- Half a day
- Cost
- Mid-priced
- Nature
- Active
- Outdoors
- Couples
Experience · Michamvi Peninsula
3.The Rock restaurant
A seafood restaurant built on a rock just off the beach at Pingwe; at low tide you walk out across the sand, and at high tide a small boat ferries you across. It is one of the most photographed places on the island.
Book well ahead and ask about the tide at your booking time.
- Time needed
- 2 hours
- Cost
- Expensive
- Book ahead
- Tables, especially at sunset, sell out days ahead; reserve directly before you go.
- Couples
- Food
- Photo spot
- Views
Neighbourhood · Southern Unguja
4.Kizimkazi
A fishing village on the south coast where boats take visitors to look for bottlenose and humpback dolphins, and where the Kizimkazi mosque has Kufic inscriptions dated to the early 12th century, among the oldest on the East African coast.
Choose a dolphin operator that does not chase or crowd the animals, and do not jump in on top of a pod.
- Time needed
- Half a day
- Cost
- Mid-priced
- Nature
- History
- Outdoors
Aquarium · Nungwi
5.Mnarani turtle conservation pond
A natural tidal pool at Nungwi run as a community conservation project, where rescued green and hawksbill turtles are cared for and some are released to the sea.
A short, easy visit with children while staying in Nungwi.
- Time needed
- 45 minutes
- Cost
- Low cost
- Kids
- Nature
Experience · Nungwi
6.Nungwi dhow yards and sunset
On the beach at Nungwi, builders still construct wooden dhows by hand, and in the evening sunset cruises sail out on traditional boats as fishermen return.
Walk past the dhow builders in the afternoon, then take a sunset sail from the beach.
- Time needed
- 2 hours
- Cost
- Low cost
- Couples
- Photo spot
- Views
- Outdoors
Experience · Paje
7.Kitesurfing at Paje
The shallow, reef-protected lagoon at Paje and the steady trade winds from roughly June to September and December to February make it one of East Africa's main kitesurfing spots, with schools offering lessons for beginners.
Beginners learn fastest in the flat water at mid tide; book lessons for the windy seasons.
- Time needed
- Half a day
- Cost
- Expensive
- Active
- Outdoors
Historic site · North of Stone Town
8.Maruhubi Palace ruins
The ruins of a palace built in the 1880s for Sultan Barghash, destroyed by fire in 1899, stand among palms on the coast a few kilometres north of Stone Town, with surviving columns, bathhouses and water tanks.
Combine it with a spice tour on the way north out of Stone Town.
- Time needed
- 45 minutes
- Cost
- Low cost
- History
- Off the beaten path
Historic site · North-west coast
9.Mangapwani caves
On the coast about 20 km north of Stone Town, a natural coral cave and a man-made underground chamber are linked to the illegal slave trade that continued after the open market closed in 1873.
Visit with a guide who can explain the history, often as part of a spice tour.
- Time needed
- 1 hour
- Cost
- Low cost
- History
- Off the beaten path
Pick by interest
| Interest | Best picks |
|---|---|
| History | Stone Town, Old Fort (Ngome Kongwe), Former slave market and Christ Church and Prison Island (Changuu) |
| Views | The Rock restaurant and Nungwi dhow yards and sunset |
| Outdoors and nature | Spice farm tour, Prison Island (Changuu), Nakupenda sandbank and Jozani Chwaka Bay National Park |
| Food and markets | Forodhani Gardens night market, Spice farm tour, Darajani Market and The Rock restaurant |
| After dark | Forodhani Gardens night market |
| With children | Forodhani Gardens night market, Spice farm tour, Prison Island (Changuu) and Nakupenda sandbank |
| On a rainy day | Former slave market and Christ Church |
What to book ahead
- The Rock restaurant: Tables, especially at sunset, sell out days ahead; reserve directly before you go.
Plan the rest of your trip
Questions travellers ask
+What is the number one thing to do in Zanzibar?
Stone Town. Listed by UNESCO in 2000, Stone Town is a densely built Swahili trading town of coral-stone houses with carved wooden doors, balconies and shaded lanes, shaped by Arab, Persian, Indian, African and European influences.
+What can you do for free in Zanzibar?
Stone Town, Old Fort (Ngome Kongwe) and Darajani Market. More free things to do.
+What is there to do in Zanzibar when it rains?
Head indoors to Former slave market and Christ Church.
+What is there to do in Zanzibar at night?
Forodhani Gardens night market are best after dark.