Zanzibar is a semi-autonomous part of Tanzania with its own president, immigration desk and character. The main island, properly called Unguja, has about a million residents and a history built on monsoon trade between Africa, Arabia and India, and on the slave trade that ran through it until 1873.
Stone Town
The old quarter is a UNESCO World Heritage site and a maze of coral-rag houses, carved doors and alleys too narrow for cars. The essential sites are the Old Fort, the House of Wonders, which partly collapsed in 2020 and is under restoration, the Anglican cathedral built on the site of the slave market with its underground holding chambers, and the former sultan palace. At dusk the Forodhani Gardens fill with food stalls. The house where Freddie Mercury was born in 1946 is marked, modestly.
Choosing a beach
The north around Nungwi and Kendwa has the least tidal variation, so you can swim at any hour, and the most nightlife. The east coast at Paje, Jambiani and Bwejuu has the widest white sand and the strongest wind, making Paje one of the best kitesurfing spots in the world, but the tide retreats up to a kilometre and swimming is possible only around high water. The south-east at Michamvi and the south-west at Kizimkazi are quieter.
Spices
Zanzibar was the world largest clove producer in the nineteenth century, and spice farm tours near Stone Town remain the standard half-day excursion: cloves, nutmeg, cinnamon bark, cardamom, vanilla and the lipstick tree, tasted and smelled rather than merely pointed at.
Jozani and the sea
Jozani Chwaka Bay National Park protects the last population of the Zanzibar red colobus, an endemic monkey of about 6000 individuals, plus a mangrove boardwalk. Off the north-east coast, Mnemba atoll is the best snorkelling and diving. Dolphins are found off Kizimkazi, where the pursuit boats can be aggressive; choose an operator that keeps distance.
Practicalities
Zanzibar is majority Muslim and modest dress away from beach resorts is expected: shoulders and knees covered in Stone Town and villages. Ramadan changes opening hours substantially. Ferries from Dar es Salaam take two hours; flights take twenty minutes. Mandatory travel insurance from the Zanzibar Insurance Corporation is purchased on arrival, and there is a separate infrastructure levy per night.