Take a break and relax, because Zanzibar is the perfect place to escape from the world.
You´ll relax on sandy beaches, enjoy warm and insanely clear Indian ocean water and delicious seafood.
Hakuna matata life!
A little bit about this place, which lately became a very popular tourists destination.
Zanzibar is a semi-autonomous region of Tanzania. It is composed of the Zanzibar Archipelago in the Indian Ocean, 25–50 kilometres off the coast of the mainland, and consists of many small islands and two large ones: Unguja (the main island, referred to informally as Zanzibar) and Pemba Island. The capital is Zanzibar City, located on the island of Unguja. Its historic centre is Stone Town, which is a World Heritage Site.
Zanzibar is also known as the ‘Spice Island’ due to the delicious variety of spices grown on the island’s many plantations.
How to get there?
There are many flight options from Europe: departing from London, Paris, Madrid, Rome, but no direct flights, so you will stop in Istanbul, Doha, Nairobi (depending on which air company operates the flight).
In our case, we found a great deal from Paris to Zanzibar, with overnight stop in Istanbul – 380€ / person for the roundtrip. Of course, we bought the tickets well in advance, almost 8 months before the trip.
Here I share our 5 days itinerary in Zanzibar:
1st day in Zanzibar:
We´ve arrived early in the morning (at 6 a.m.) and went directly to our hotel in Paje. It´s a village located in Southeast coast between the villages of Bwejuu and Jambiani. There are many waterfront resorts and hotels.
It has good conditions for kitesurfing and retains an authentic and chilled-out beach atmosphere (fewer beach boys and merchants on the beach). Paje’s beach can be tide-dependent – at low tide, one may need to walk almost a kilometer to reach the water, while at high tide the beach may disappear in places.
If you´ll need a private transfer, you can contact Tamin, which organises various transfers on the island, as well the excursions. We made all transfers and excursions with him and everything gone well.
Tamin: +255 717716035
The cost of transfer with Tamin from the airport to Paje beach was 40$. The transfers arranged by your hotel will cost you 50$. Of course you can arrange taxi outside the airport, but for sure, the taxi drivers will ask you much more. You should bargain, since you already know the average prices for the transfer.
In Paje we´ve stayed at Cristal Resort & Spa – perfect location, with beautiful views for the ocean and palm trees surrounding the area of the hotel. We´ve stayed at Ecologic Bungalow 😉
You can book this accommodation here:
http://www.booking.com/Share-W2c29V
At first day we stayed in the pool and on the beach (and local beach boys – Massai always offering something to buy), relaxing after a long flight, ending up watching the sunset and at night going to village for the dinner.
2nd day in Zanzibar:
Still in Paje beach, we decided to go on excursion (organised by Tamin). Blue Lagoon snorkeling tour – 40$ per person. Unfortunately for us, the weather conditions wasn´t great, was very windy and the sea water was rough, so we didn´t saw many fish ;( but we visited a beautiful local beach 🙂
3rd day:
After delightful breakfast at Cristal Resort & Spa, we headed to another coast – Nungwi beach, located in the far northern end of the island and about 1 h 30 min drive from Paje. The transfer from Paje to Nungwi costed us 35$.
Unfortunately, the reality outside the resorts is quite different. You clearly see the people struggling with their lives. However, they seems happy and always smiling.. I call it island life – all is better on the island 😉
Nungwi was traditionally a fishing village and dhow (typical fishing boat) building center, but is now a popular tourist destination, and for instance recognized in CNN´s list of “100 best beaches of the world” in 2014.
And it´s not hard to see why – sugary white sand and clean water awaits you here! 😉
Here we´ve chosen to stay in beautiful hotel Amaan Beach Bungalows – for 90$/night.
We were lucky to get sea view room with balcony.
Book your stay here: http://www.booking.com/Share-Jr6mY7p
We´ve stayed all day on the beach and in the pool, enjoying amazing seafood in the hotel restaurant with beautiful view for the ocean.
4th day in Zanzibar:
Unfortunately this day wasn´t as we´ve planned… was raining torrentially all morning so we´ve decided to leave Nungwi beach and go to Stone Town.
We´ve stayed at cozy little hotel in Stone Town – Hiliki House
http://www.booking.com/Share-PeiB3H
After lunch we started explore the city, passing by Slaves Market, Freddie Mercury home, narrow streets, ending up watching the sunset at beautiful waterfront promenade, seeing local kids playing and jumping into the water.
5th day:
This was the highlight of our trip in Zanzibar city! We went on tour, organised by our hotel – Prison island and Nakupenda beach tour, which costed aprox 40$/person (all day tour).
Prison Island, is just off the coast of Stone Town, Zanzibar. Now a tourist attraction, Prison Island was once a place where slaves were detained and at one point, it also served as a place of quarantine.
The biggest attraction is no doubt the colony of Giant Tortoises!
On one side of Prison Island is a refuge for giant sea tortoises, originally a gift from the Seychelles. A 5 minute walk across the island leads to the former prison ruins. Also the small sandy beach on Prison Island is a quiet place where no one will bother you and you can peacefully relax or sunbathe.
After Prison Island it´s time for paradise beach called Nakupenda sand bank!
Nakupenda, meaning “I love you” in Swahili, is an amazing sandbank located just off Stone town. Here you can relax the day away and enjoy fresh seafood cuisine. You will fall deeper in love with this beach with every passing moment.
Hope this itinerary will inspire you on planning your trip to Zanzibar!
Have a nice trips!
Get inspired to travel to Africa with my posts: https://travelwithanny.com/category/destinations/africa/
Yours sincerely,
Anny