DestinationZanzibar City, Unguja, TanzaniaAug 14, 20267 min read

Stone Town and the Spice Coast of Zanzibar

Carved doors, spice farms and sunset on the Forodhani waterfront

Average rating 4.0 out of 5

4.01 review

Neema Mushi

forPublisher Wildside Expeditions

Save Add to trip

A Stone Town street of old buildings with wooden balconies and craft shops — The lanes of Stone Town, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Photo: Richard Mortel from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

Zanzibar is the natural way to end a Tanzanian safari. Start in Stone Town, a maze of coral-stone lanes where Swahili, Arab, Indian and European histories meet.

Getting lost on purpose

Stone Town is the old quarter of Zanzibar City, and it rewards wandering. The lanes are too narrow for cars and too tangled for maps, so put the phone away and follow the sound of the muezzin or the smell of cardamom coffee. Look up at the carved wooden doors, some studded with brass bosses, that mark the houses of old merchant families.

Spend a morning at the Old Fort and the House of Wonders waterfront, and an afternoon at the site of the old slave market, now the Anglican Cathedral and a sobering, well-made museum. In the evening the Forodhani Gardens fill with food stalls grilling octopus, sugar-cane juice presses and the local "Zanzibar pizza", a stuffed and folded griddle bread.

Two nights in Stone Town is enough for most people before heading to the beaches of the north or east coast.