Know before you go
Zanzibar at a glance
Best time to visit
June to October, December to February
- January: hot, some showers
- February: hot, some showers
- March: hot, rainy
- April: warm, very wet
- May: warm, rainy
- June: warm, some showers
- July: warm, some showers
- August: warm, some showers
- September: warm, some showers
- October: hot, rainy
- November: warm, rainy
- December: hot, rainy
Some showers Rainy Very wet
- Capital
- Zanzibar City (Stone Town)
- Currency
- Tanzanian shilling (TZS); US dollars widely accepted
- Language
- Swahili, English
- Time zone
- EAT, UTC+3
- Plugs
- Type D / G, 230 V
- Driving
- On the left
Emergency112
Zanzibar guides
All 5City, area and place guides: where to stay, what to see and how to get around.
Zanzibar itineraries
All 2Day-by-day trip plans with routes, timings and overnight stops.
Zanzibar food & drink
All 1Restaurants, street food and the local dishes worth travelling for.
Zanzibar budget & costs
All 1Real price breakdowns and ways to make the money go further.
Zanzibar tips
All 2Visas, safety, transport, holidays and the best time to visit.
More in Africa
All 2
Photo credits
Thank you to Harvey Barrison from Massapequa, NY, USA, Adam Jones from Kelowna, BC, Canada, Diego Delso, Zoheb, Rod Waddington, Moongateclimber, Jonathan Dalrymple, No machine-readable author provided. Mbz1 assumed (based on and Petar Milošević for sharing these beautiful photographs and helping bring this guide to life.
