Travel tips
Tanzania and Zanzibar, explained before you arrive
Guides written by the people who run the tours. What is worth doing, how to order your week, and how to tell the excursions apart.
Where to stay
Which Zanzibar beach should you stay on
The beach you pick decides what your week feels like, and the tide decides more than the photographs do. Here is how the coasts actually differ.
17 August 20268 min read
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Arriving
Zanzibar airport to your hotel: how long it really takes
The island is small and the drives are longer than the map suggests. Planning times for every beach, and how much room to leave on your last day.
17 August 20266 min read
Planning
Combining a Tanzania safari with Zanzibar
Serengeti and the Ngorongoro Crater are a ninety-minute flight from the island. How to put the two halves of the trip together without rushing either.
17 August 20267 min read
Family travel
Zanzibar with kids
Tortoises, monkeys and warm shallow water. Which days work at which ages, and why the families who book the least come home the happiest.
13 August 20268 min read
Honeymoon
Zanzibar for couples and honeymoons
Where the private upgrade is worth it and where it is not, which evenings matter, and why the best honeymoon week here has three empty days in it.
13 August 20268 min read
Tour guide
Mnemba atoll: what the day is actually like
The clearest water on the island, and the one excursion most often mis-sold. What you can and cannot do there, and how to tell a good boat from a bad one.
13 August 20267 min read
Trip planning
The best time to visit Zanzibar
Two rainy seasons, two monsoons and a lot of nuance. Which months suit which kind of trip, and why the weather on the day matters more than the month.
13 August 20267 min read
Before you go
Zanzibar travel guide: what to know before you go
The practical half of planning a trip. Visas, the compulsory insurance most people have not heard of, money, tides, dress and getting around.
13 August 202610 min read
Island guide
15 best things to do in Zanzibar
Reefs, sandbanks, forest, spice farms and a thousand-year-old town. What is genuinely worth your days on the island, and what each one is really like.
11 August 20269 min read
How to choose
Choosing your Zanzibar excursions
The boat trips sound alike and are not. A straight comparison of the main excursions, what is included, and when private is worth the difference.
11 August 20267 min read
Or just ask us
Reading about the island is one thing. Tell us your dates and what you enjoy, and we will tell you exactly what to do with your week.