Zanzibar

A beach stay after safari

This is how most travellers use the island.

Five or six nights on the coast after a week in the bush is the classic pattern, and it works because nothing is required of you. Flights from the Tanzanian parks are short, and arriving with no plans at all is precisely the point.

A beach and Stone Town combination

Others want some of the island’s history too.

A night or two in Stone Town, exploring the spice markets, the old quarter and the waterfront, before moving to the coast, adds real depth to a stay and takes very little time.

A private island or Pemba escape

A smaller number are looking for genuine seclusion.

The islands off the north east coast, and Pemba further north, offer a handful of rooms, superb reefs and almost no one else. They suit honeymooners and returning travellers rather than first visits.

The key is choosing the coast to suit how you like to swim.

Zanzibar is warm all year, but the rains are pronounced and they shape when to go.

The dry months from June to October are the most reliable, with sunshine, lower humidity and calm seas, and they coincide neatly with the best safari season on the mainland. January and February are hot, dry and excellent too, sitting between the two rainy periods. The short rains arrive in November and December and rarely spoil a holiday, while the long rains from late March into May are heavy enough that a number of hotels close.

Seaweed farming and seasonal algae can affect some east coast beaches between roughly December and February, which is worth factoring into the choice of coast.

Zanzibar rewards doing very little, and the tides are the one thing worth understanding.

On the east coast the sea retreats a long way at low tide, exposing beautiful flats but limiting swimming to certain hours. That suits some travellers perfectly and frustrates others, and it is the single most common reason a hotel does not match expectations. The north coast has no such restriction.

Five to seven nights is the right length, in one place rather than two. Beyond the odd dhow trip, a spice tour or a morning in Stone Town, the island is best left unplanned, which is exactly what makes it such a good end to a longer journey.