Zanzibar: Stone Town and the North Coast

Arrive in Stone Town

Zanzibar airport (ZNZ) to your hotel in Stone Town

• Repas du soir
• Nuit : Stone Town
• Environ 18 min de route

Après-midi

In the late afternoon your guide walks the group to Forodhani Gardens on the seafront, which faces west across the harbour, for a short briefing as the light drops: how the days run, what to wear in town and what to bring on the boat.

Soir

Then we sit down together to a welcome dinner of Swahili dishes, coconut curries and grilled fish at a restaurant in the old town.

Compris

• Pick-up at Zanzibar airport (ZNZ)
• Sunset walk to Forodhani Gardens and welcome briefing with your guide
• Welcome dinner in Stone Town

Stone Town on foot, a dhow at sunset

A morning walk through Stone Town, then a sunset sail from the seafront

• Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
• Nuit : Stone Town
• En bateau

Matin

We start at about 7:30, while the lanes are cool and the day visitors are still at breakfast. A licensed local guide leads the group through alleys too narrow for cars, past carved wooden doors, some studded with brass, to the Old Fort, built by Omani Arabs at the end of the 17th century, and the House of Wonders, the sultan's palace of 1883, now under restoration after part of it collapsed in 2020. Beside it is the walled cemetery of Sultan Said bin Sultan, who moved his court here from Muscat. At the Anglican cathedral, built on the site of the last open slave market, closed in 1873, your guide tells the harder history of the island.

Après-midi

We end in Darajani market among the fish, fruit and spice stalls, then sit down to lunch. The afternoon is free. At about five we board a wooden dhow for two hours on the water as the sun sets behind the harbour.

Compris

• Early Stone Town walk with a licensed local guide: the Old Fort, the House of Wonders, the royal cemetery and Darajani market
• The Anglican cathedral and the slave market memorial
• Sit-down lunch in Stone Town
• Sunset dhow sail of about 2 hours, with soft drinks and fruit

A spice farm, Mangapwani and the north coast

Stone Town to a spice farm, then the Mangapwani slave chamber and Nungwi

• Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
• Nuit : Nungwi
• Environ 2 h de route

Matin

We leave Stone Town after breakfast for a spice farm about half an hour inland, in the Kizimbani and Kidichi area where the sultans planted cloves in the 19th century. A farmer walks you through the trees to rub, sniff and try what grows here: cloves, nutmeg with its red mace, cinnamon bark, vanilla vines, pepper, lemongrass and turmeric, with fruit cut fresh to try.

Après-midi

Lunch is cooked at the farm, usually a pilau or a coconut curry with the same spices. On the way north we stop at Mangapwani on the west coast, where a chamber cut into the coral rock was used to hide enslaved people after the trade was banned in 1873; your guide explains how. From there it is about an hour to Nungwi, at the northern tip of the island. You reach the beach by mid-afternoon, with time to swim before the sun sets over the water.

Compris

• Guided spice farm visit with lunch cooked at the farm
• The Mangapwani slave chamber with your guide
• Transfer to Nungwi

Mnemba Atoll by boat, a beach afternoon

Nungwi to Mnemba Atoll by boat and back

• Petit-déjeuner, repas du midi et repas du soir
• Nuit : Nungwi
• En bateau

Après-midi

We have lunch on a beach or on board, then head back to Nungwi by early afternoon. The rest of the day is yours: swim, sleep under the palms, or walk along the sand to Kendwa.

Soir

In the evening we meet for a farewell dinner by the sea.

Compris

• Morning boat trip to Mnemba Atoll with a licensed snorkel guide, equipment and the marine conservation fee
• Lunch on the boat trip
• Farewell dinner

A last swim, then the airport

Nungwi to Zanzibar airport (ZNZ)

• Petit-déjeuner
• Environ 1.5 h de route

Matin

A slow last morning. Take an early swim while the beach is empty, or walk to the end of the Nungwi peninsula where the fishermen pull up their boats and the dhow builders work on the sand. We drive about an hour and a half down the island to Abeid Amani Karume International Airport (ZNZ). Your guide comes with you and sees the group to check-in. If you are flying home, most long-haul connections run through Dar es Salaam, Nairobi, Addis Ababa, Doha, Dubai or Istanbul, so leave enough time to connect.

Soir

Book a flight leaving after about 2 pm; if yours leaves in the evening, we ask the hotel for a late check-out. If you would like to stay on, we can add more nights on the north coast or back in Stone Town.

Compris

• Drop-off at Zanzibar airport (ZNZ)