Seven days in Zanzibar
A practical seven-day Zanzibar itinerary: Stone Town, the north coast and the east coast with two bases and day trips.
Updated
A week is enough to see Zanzibar properly if you do not change hotels every night. This plan uses two bases (Stone Town and Nungwi) with one move to the east coast, and puts the boat days where the weather is usually calmest: mornings.
It assumes you fly in and out of Zanzibar's airport (ZNZ). If you arrive via Dar es Salaam, the ferry or a connecting flight slots into Day 1.
Day 1
Arrive, land in Stone Town
The airport is about 20 minutes from Stone Town. Settle in, walk the seafront, and make the Forodhani night market your first evening: grilled seafood, Zanzibar pizza and sugarcane juice under the arches.
Day 2
Stone Town proper
Morning for the anchors: the Old Fort, the slave market exhibit and cathedral, and the carved-door lanes around Jaws Corner. Afternoon on the water (Prison Island's giant tortoises or the Nakupenda sandbank), then sunset from a dhow or the Africa House terrace.
Day 3
Head north
A private transfer from Stone Town to Nungwi takes about an hour and a quarter. Check in, swim (the north stays swimmable at any tide), and visit the Mnarani turtle sanctuary before the light goes golden. Sunset from the beach.
Day 4
Reef day
Morning snorkelling trip to Mnemba Atoll's reef (the island itself is private: you snorkel, you do not land). Afternoon is for the beach or the pool; Kendwa, ten minutes south, is the optional evening out.
Day 5
Cross to the east
Transfer south with a stop at Jozani Forest (the last red colobus monkeys, a boardwalk through mangroves, about an hour with the walk), then on to Paje. Kite-beach sunset and an early night.
Day 6
Pick your water
Either the Safari Blue full-day dhow from Fumba (sandbank, snorkelling, seafood lunch) or a slow east-coast day: Kuza Cave, a photo stop at The Rock restaurant, and a spice-farm visit on the way back toward town.
Day 7
Spices and souvenirs
If the spice farm has not happened yet, take the half-day tour in the Kizimbani area. Last souvenirs in Stone Town (spices, carved doors too big for your bag, Kangas), then the airport.
Practical notes
- Private transfers run roughly US$35-50 per car one-way; agree the price before boarding.
- Dala dalas cost cents but are slow and packed: fine for short hops, not for airport runs with bags.
- Book Mnemba and Safari Blue trips a day ahead in high season; mornings are calmer on the water.
- East-coast swimming follows the tide table; the flats empty at low tide.
- Carry small US dollar notes and some Tanzanian shillings for tips, stalls and dala dalas.