Zanzibar With Kids
A spice island off the coast of Tanzania with an old Arab trading town at one end and white beaches at the other, dhows going out at sunset and warm Indian Ocean water for the kids. Zanzibar is the week I put after the safari, when the whole family needs to stop looking for lions and lie down.
Nicole Damiano, ASTA Verified Travel Advisor with FG Luxury Travel
Is Zanzibar good for kids?
Yes. Warm shallow water at the northern beaches, a spice farm tour that is a smell test, rescued turtles to feed at Nungwi, red colobus monkeys at Jozani, giant tortoises on Prison Island, and Stone Town's alleys and carved doors. It works for most ages, with the snorkeling from about 6 up.
How many days do you need in Zanzibar?
Five nights for one in Stone Town and four on the beach with a spice farm and a boat trip. Seven if you want Jozani, Prison Island and the Mnemba snorkel day without rushing.
Which beach in Zanzibar is right for families?
Nungwi or Kendwa at the northern tip. The tide barely goes out there, so the kids can swim all day, and most of the resorts with kids' clubs are there. The east coast beaches are beautiful but the tide goes out half a mile twice a day.
Do you need a visa for Zanzibar?
Yes, a Tanzania visa, 100 dollars for US passports, applied for online in advance or bought on arrival. Zanzibar also requires a 44 dollar travel insurance fee per person, paid online before you arrive.
When is the best time to visit Zanzibar?
June through October for dry, sunny, 80 degree days that line up with the safari season. December to February is hotter and also dry. Avoid April and May, the long rains, when many hotels close.
The Spice Island After The Safari
Zanzibar is two things. Stone Town on the west coast is the old Swahili trading port, a maze of alleys, carved wooden doors, mosques, a Hindu temple and a cathedral, the slave market memorial and the Forodhani night market on the seafront. The beaches are an hour away, Nungwi and Kendwa at the northern tip with swimmable water all day, and Paje and the east coast with the kite surfers and the tide that goes out half a mile. In between are the spice farms and the Jozani forest with its red colobus monkeys, found nowhere else on earth.
Five nights covers one night and a day in Stone Town, then four at a northern beach with a spice farm, a snorkel trip and a sunset dhow. A week adds Jozani, Prison Island and a slow day.
Getting Around
A driver arranged by the hotel, or a taxi agreed in advance. Stone Town is on foot and nothing else will fit in the alleys. The beaches are an hour north or east by road, and the hotels run transfers. Dala dala minibuses are the local way and an adventure with older kids. Boats take you to Prison Island, Mnemba and the sandbanks. There is no Uber.
Neighborhoods worth basing in
Stone Town
The old town itself, with hotels in restored merchant houses, rooftop restaurants, the seafront and the night market. One or two nights at the start, because it is hot, busy and has no beach to speak of, and the kids will want the water. Walkable to everything that matters.
Nungwi and Kendwa
The northern tip, with the swimming the kids want, because the tide barely goes out, sunsets over the water, the dhow trips and most of the resorts with kids’ clubs. Nungwi is the busier village, Kendwa the longer quieter beach. The base for most families.
The east coast, Paje to Matemwe
Long white beaches, kite surfers at Paje, the reef at Mnemba off Matemwe and smaller boutique hotels. The tide goes out a long way twice a day and the beach becomes a sandflat for seaweed farming, which is a lesson and a limit. For families who want quiet and will plan swims around the tide.
Park Hyatt Zanzibar
In a restored mansion on the seafront in Stone Town, with a pool over the water, sea view rooms and the old town out the front door. The splurge for the Stone Town nights, and the one that makes the city part of the trip a treat rather than a stopover.
Zuri Zanzibar
On Kendwa beach at the northern tip, with villas and bungalows in a garden, a long stretch of swimmable beach, a spice garden on the property and a kids’ club. The one I book for a family who wants the design hotel and the beach the kids can swim from all day.
Melia Zanzibar
A big all inclusive resort at Kiwengwa on the east coast with a long beach, pools, a kids’ club and family rooms. Good value for a family who wants everything on one bill after an expensive safari, with the tide as the one thing to plan around.
The Three I Build Every Zanzibar Trip Around
Stone Town
A UNESCO World Heritage old town where Arab, Indian, Persian and African traders built the houses over 200 years, and the thing to do is get lost in it with a guide for a morning. The carved doors with their brass studs are the game for the kids, who count them. The Old Fort, the House of Wonders on the seafront, the Anglican cathedral built over the old slave market with its memorial, Freddie Mercury’s childhood house, and the Darajani market with its fish and spice halls. Then the Forodhani night market on the seafront for grilled seafood, sugarcane juice and Zanzibar pizza.
The beaches of the north
Nungwi and Kendwa at the northern tip are where the swimming is, because the tide here barely goes out and the water is warm, clear and knee deep for a long way. Days are the beach and the pool, with a sunset dhow cruise one evening, a snorkel trip to Mnemba atoll for the reef fish and dolphins, and the Nungwi turtle sanctuary where the kids feed rescued green turtles in a natural lagoon. Kendwa has the longer beach, Nungwi the village and the boat builders.
The spice farms and Jozani forest
Zanzibar grew rich on cloves, and a spice farm tour at Kizimbani is a treasure hunt where the guide cuts a leaf, the kids smell it and guess, and someone climbs a coconut palm. Cinnamon bark, vanilla pods, nutmeg, pepper vines and lemongrass, with a lunch cooked in it all at the end. Jozani Chwaka Bay National Park, 50 minutes from Stone Town, has the Zanzibar red colobus monkeys that live nowhere else, sitting in the trees a few feet from the path, and a mangrove boardwalk. Both fit in one day between Stone Town and the beach.
Family Time, Built In: Zanzibar With Kids
Zanzibar with kids is counting carved doors, guessing spices by smell, feeding a turtle, a monkey with a red back a few feet away and a dhow sail at sunset.
The spice farm smell test
Feeding turtles at Nungwi
Red colobus monkeys at Jozani
A sunset dhow sail
PARK & DOWNTIME PICK
The beach is the park, and at Nungwi or Kendwa the kids are in the water from breakfast to the sunset dhow. Forodhani Gardens on the Stone Town seafront fills in the evening with food stalls and local boys doing backflips off the sea wall, and the kids will want to join. The Nungwi turtle sanctuary and the Jozani monkeys are the two animal stops that work for small kids and teenagers alike. The boat day to Nakupenda sandbank, a strip of white sand that disappears at high tide, with a fish lunch, is the one older kids talk about.
Five Things To Eat In Zanzibar
Mishkaki, beef skewers from the grill
Grilled fish and octopus from the night market
Ugali, the maize staple, with fish or beans
Mangoes, passion fruit and sugarcane juice
Spiced tea with cardamom and gingerNicole’s Perspective
The week after the lions
A Tanzania safari with kids is early mornings, long drives and a lot of sitting still, and it is wonderful and it is exhausting. Zanzibar is where I send families next, a short flight from Arusha, and the moment the kids see the water the safari turns into stories. I book one night in Stone Town, two if the kids are older, then the north.
The Serengeti unit was one of the ones my students loved, the great migration and the Maasai, and Zanzibar was the part of the map where the Indian Ocean trade came in, the dhows from Oman and India with the monsoon winds. Walking the kids through Stone Town is that lesson with the doors still on the hinges. Gavin would be reading the plaques, Jake would be jumping off the sea wall at Forodhani with the local boys, and Avilene would come home with a bag of cloves she picked herself.
The Day In Town: Darajani Market To Prison Island
The Stone Town day I plan runs market to island. Darajani market at 8 am, when the fish hall is loud and the spice stalls are open and the kids get a bag of cloves and a bunch of tiny bananas for the walk. Then the alleys with a guide for two hours, the doors, the cathedral and the slave market memorial, the Old Fort. At noon a boat from the seafront to Prison Island, 30 minutes across, where Aldabra giant tortoises, some over 100 years old, wander the gardens and the kids feed them spinach, with an easy snorkel off the beach. Back for the Forodhani night market at sunset. The next morning the driver takes you north by way of a spice farm and Jozani.
Things I Would Tell A Friend Before They Booked
How Many Days
Five nights covers Stone Town, the spice farm and the beach. Seven adds Jozani, Prison Island and the Mnemba snorkel day.
One night in Stone Town with a guided morning and the Forodhani night market, the spice farm on the way north, then four nights at Nungwi or Kendwa with the turtle sanctuary and a sunset dhow.
Two nights in Stone Town with Prison Island, Jozani forest on the way to the beach, five nights in the north with the Mnemba snorkel trip and the Nakupenda sandbank day.
Five or six nights on safari in the Serengeti, Ngorongoro and Tarangire, the flight from Arusha to Zanzibar, then five on the island. Twelve days, and the only Africa trip a lot of families ever need.
Zanzibar With Kids, Answered
Is Zanzibar good for kids?
Yes. Warm shallow water at the northern beaches, a spice farm tour that is a smell test, rescued turtles to feed at Nungwi, red colobus monkeys at Jozani, giant tortoises on Prison Island, and Stone Town’s alleys and carved doors. It works for most ages, with the snorkeling from about 6 up.
How many days do you need in Zanzibar?
Five nights for one in Stone Town and four on the beach with a spice farm and a boat trip. Seven if you want Jozani, Prison Island and the Mnemba snorkel day without rushing.
Which beach in Zanzibar is right for families?
Nungwi or Kendwa at the northern tip. The tide barely goes out there, so the kids can swim all day, and most of the resorts with kids’ clubs are there. The east coast beaches are beautiful but the tide goes out half a mile twice a day.
Do you need a visa for Zanzibar?
Yes, a Tanzania visa, 100 dollars for US passports, applied for online in advance or bought on arrival. Zanzibar also requires a 44 dollar travel insurance fee per person, paid online before you arrive.
When is the best time to visit Zanzibar?
June through October for dry, sunny, 80 degree days that line up with the safari season. December to February is hotter and also dry. Avoid April and May, the long rains, when many hotels close.
Ready To Put Zanzibar On The Calendar
Send me your dates and your kids’ ages and I will build the safari and Zanzibar trip, with the right beach for the tide, the Stone Town nights, the spice farm and the dhow at sunset.
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