4 Days in Zanzibar

Zanzibar, a region off the coast of mainland Tanzania, comprising of two islands Unguja (normally referred to as Zanzibar) and Pemba Island. Zanzibar has recently become a really popular beach destination and last month I got to spend 4 full days in this gorgeous island.

We landed late afternoon in Stone town and headed directly to the east of the island. Our home for the next 3 nights was Hotel Sahari located in the village BWEJUU, 5 mins drive away from the famous PAJE village. The hotel was pretty nice, the staff was also very helpful and as expected there was nothing around, so we had an early dinner at the hotel and retired. Click here to get the best deals for Hotel Sahari.

Hotel Sahari in Bwejuu

Where to stay in Zanzibar?

The island is packed with beautiful beach resorts all around and many of them have good reviews, I do suggest to book an all inclusive package since there is literally nothing around the hotels. Some recommendations:

• • Paje – ‘Paje by Night’, perfect location and a very good hotel, click here to get the best deals on Paje by Night. You could stay in bwejuu @ Hotel Sahari, but its a 5 min drive to Paje Beach.
  • Nungwi – ‘My Blue Hotel’, ‘Z Hotel’, both are very beautiful and highly rated. Click here to get the best deals on Z Hotel, and click here to get the best deals for My blue Hotel.
  • Stonetown – ‘Forodhani Park Hotel’, this is where we stayed, very basic hotel but in a good location.

What to do in Zanzibar?

Day 1

Paje Beach

After a relaxing breakfast, our driver took us to Paje beach where the turquoise waters were waiting for us. This laid back beach is famous for kite surfing and stand up paddling, ironic considering I don’t know how to swim. We spent the day walking around the beach, taking a lot of pictures, sipping cocktails at MAHALI BEACH BAR and lunching at MR KAHAWA, both next to each other and highly recommended. Adjacent to Mr Kahawa is the KITE CENTRE ZANZIBAR which is where you can book kite surfing sessions or other activites like weekly Yoga and Beach Bootcamps (schedule below). Unfortunately I missed the beach bootcamp by one day but if you are a person who loves a good physical challenge, then this is a must do.

Paje Beach

Paje Beach

Lunch @ Mr Kahawa Restaurant

After a relaxing day at paje beach and an unwanted tan (I’m brown enough already) a comfortable bed and an air conditioned room awaited me at the hotel.

Yoga and Beach Bootcamps with Zanzation Sports

SUMMARY:

• Visit Paje Beach
• Drinks at Mahali Beach Bar in Paje
• Lunch at Mr Kahawa in Paje

Day 2

Lunching @ The Rock Restaurant

Began the day with a soothing full body massage in the hotel before heading to the thing I was looking forward to the most, the famous ROCK RESTAURANT. Surrounded by the signature turquoise waters, this unique restaurant is ridiculously picturesque so make sure you come well prepared for your clicks, Depending on the tide, you could walk up to the restaurant or just take the free boat ride to it. A definite must do in Zanzibar, I will let my pictures do the rest of the talking.

The Rock Restaurant

Home Made Pasta with Seafood in Coconut Based Sauce – Best Pasta I’ve Ever Had

Coconut Tiramisu

This Italian owned restaurant is insanely expensive (approx. 20 USD per main course) but totally worth every dollar, oh yes, one other thing, you have to pay in US dollars here. The rock restaurant is located on the east coast, roughly 10-15 mins drive from Paje, but wherever you are on the island, a lunch in this restaurant is highly recommended. Just don’t forget to make a reservation on their website http://www.therockrestaurantzanzibar.com/.

The rest of the day was pure relaxation at the hotel.

SUMMARY:

• Lunch at The Rock Restaurant
• Relax in the hotel

Booking.com

Day 3

Goodbye Bwejuu and hello NUNGWI, relatively more populated, this northern tip of the island is known for beautiful sunsets and full moon parties. Following a 4 hour drive, a lavish buffet was highly needed at our new home, DoubleTree By Hilton (wouldn’t recommend this hotel, see General Tips section below for hotel recommendations). Our first thing to do in Nungwi was to visit the MNARANI AQUARIUM, this place is a community based conservation project, where you can learn, watch and feed the turtles up close for a small fee (I think it was 5 USD). In addition, you could swim with the turtles in a pond nearby for an extra cost.

Fisherman’s Village @ Nungwi

Hello Turtles Of The Sea @ Mnarani Aquarium

We spent the evening at the beach front of our hotel, taking advantage of our all inclusive package and watching the million colors of the sunset.

Sunset @ Nungwi

Low Tide / High Tide – Say what?

SUMMARY

• Visit Mnarani Aquarium
• Sunset and Cocktails at the beach

Day 4

If you are a regular traveler, you know that every trip has atleast one spontaneous thing which you will cherish in your memory, forever, in my case it was Snorkeling. I really regret not going for any water activities on my trip to Sri Lanka, read about that trip on my post ‘6 Days In Sri Lanka’. After hours of googling and thinking, the non-swimmer in me wanted to snorkel and it was one of the best experiences of my life, not only did I get to snorkel, we saw dolphins and the most gorgeous spot of Zanzibar (details of and contacts of ‘Diving Ocean Zanzibar’ below).

Our Snorkeling Ride

Hidden Gems – Courtesy of Diving Ocean Zanzibar

Hidden Gems – Courtesy of Diving Ocean Zanzibar

Unfortunately, my gopro gave up at the wrong time and I wasn’t able to take any pictures of the snorkeling itself, however, I did manage to take some videos, checkout my Zanzibar Youtube video above.

Our time in Nungwi had come to an end and the last stop was STONE TOWN. No time to waste, we dropped our bags at Forodani Park Hotel and set off to the markets of Stone Town. This town was packed with souvenir shops and narrow alleyways of beautiful Zanzibar architecture, specifically the carefully designed doors.

Dinner @ Lukmaan Restaurant

After a few hours of shopping, we had our final dinner at the famous LUKMAAN RESTAURANT. This open kitchen restaurant is popular among locals and tourists alike and a great place to checkout the local cuisine, which by the way is very close to indian cuisine. Although I do feel this restaurant is overhyped, but if you are in Stone Town, then why not. They have a very wide selection of food on display to choose from for very reasonable prices.

Lukmaan Restaurant

Got the goods, filled the bellies, time to rest up for our early morning return flight.

SUMMARY:

• Snorkeling with Diving Ocean Zanzibar
• Shopping in Stone Town
• Dinner at Lukmaan Restaurant

Other Things To Do In Zanzibar

• Visit the Prison Island and the Spice Garden, popular places to checkout but we decided to skip it.
• Some more restaurants and bars to visit are ‘Gerry’s Bar and Restaurant’ in Nungwi, ‘Kendwa Beach Resort’ in Kendwa and ‘Red Monkey’ in Paje.
• Checkout the Forodhani Street Market in Stone Town, which opens from 5pm every evening till late.
• Have a coffee at ‘Jaw’s Corner’ in Stone Town, I personally loved the coffee in Zanzibar in general and this place is suppose to be the best at it.

General Tips And Recommendations For Zanzibar

• Zanzibar is expensive, more than you would expect expensive. To give you an idea, a good hotel in Paje would cost about 80 USD per night (including breakfast), 100-150 USD (including 3 meals) in Nungwi, meals are generally 10-20 USD in these hotels.
• The only ATMs available in Zanzibar are in Stone town, although the hotels and resorts accept cards, everything else has to be paid in cash, so keep enough cash on you. The local currency is Tanzanian Shilling and can be bought from the exchange at the airport, however, you can pay in USD almost everywhere. How much money to carry depends on what you plan to do in Zanzibar, water activities, the rock restaurant and shopping for souvenirs would definitely come at a cost but if you just want to relax in your resort, then you barely need 100 USD.
• Getting around the island is probably the most expensive thing in Zanzibar, I will leave some drivers’ contacts below, make sure to contact them through whatsapp and agree to a price before hand. If you decide to add more trips during your holiday, agree on a price before taking the ride:
  • Ased (+255 655 846 082) – Highly recommend by many travelers, but the most expensive.
  • Chiddy (+255 773 552 627) – Good recommendations, ok prices.
  • Mohamed (+255 628 216 368) – This was our driver, good reviews and gave us the best rates.
• Visa is on arrival for most of the nationalities, it costs 50 USD which you can pay by card at the airport. They say that Yellow Fever shot is mandatory for some nationalities, however they weren’t checking it for anyone but it’s better to be safe than sorry.
• Zanzibar is pretty safe, since you will spend most of your time in and around the hotels, you will be fine. Just avoid the lonely areas around the beach at night, occasional mugging does happen. Also, I would stay away from the ‘beach boys’, random locals on the beach who approach you to sell goods, unfortunately you cannot avoid them since they are practically everywhere, just be cautious because they seemed pretty shady.
• We booked the snorkeling through ‘Diving Ocean Project’ in Nungwi for about 70 USD per person, fairly higher in cost but the best in safety. They made sure that non-swimmers like me were completely comfortable and had an amazing time. The activities are managed by a highly passionate and experienced Egyptian diver named Musa. You can contact him through whatsapp on +255 628 216 368 for snorkeling and scuba diving sessions.
• The High Tide and Low Tide is really very impressive in this region. We saw a difference of 300-400 meters in land.
• Bargain like there is no tomorrow, especially in stone town, we bought a painting for 35 USD which was initially at 60 USD.
• Must take mosquito repellents and a lot of sunscreen, the sun is very strong.
• Bring everything that you would need, you will probably not find any supermarkets around you.
• I personally did not find the people to be very polite without a reason, but that doesn’t mean you can’t be, so here are some phrases in Swahili which you will end up using during and after your trip, ‘Hakuna Matata’ (no problem), ‘Pole Pole’ (slowly slowly), ‘Asante san’ (Thank you very much) and ‘Hujambo’ (Hello).

Happy Traveling!!