The first decision most people make about Zanzibar is which coast to sleep on, and it matters more than the hotel. The north tip and the east coast are an hour apart by road and feel like different islands: one gives you the sea at your feet all day and a sunset over it, the other gives you the tide, the wind, and the quiet. We run a six-room hotel on the east coast, so read this knowing where we stand — but the trade-offs below are real, and half the people who ask us about them would be happier in the north.
The one difference that decides it: the tide
Zanzibar's east coast has a tidal range of two to three metres. Twice a day the sea walks out several hundred metres across the reef flat and comes back, and the whole cycle shifts by roughly fifty minutes each day. At low tide in Michamvi you walk across firm sand and shallow pools to the reef; at high tide the water is at the beach and the swimming is at its best. It is beautiful, and it is also a schedule. Your butler texts you the swimming window each morning because you genuinely need it.
The north tip, around Nungwi and Kendwa, sits where the reef flat is narrow, so the water stays close to the beach through most of the tide. You can swim at eleven in the morning without checking anything. If a beach that is always ready to swim is the point of your holiday, that single fact should send you north, and we will say so.
Our own tides and swimming guide for Michamvi explains how to read the cycle and plan around it.
Sunset or sunrise
The north tip faces west; the sun goes down over the sea every evening and the beach bars are built for it. The east coast faces the sunrise, which is quieter and, at six in the morning, worth getting up for. From Michamvi you can still see a sunset over water, but you go to it: an evening ngalawa trip across to Chwaka Bay, forty-five minutes to an hour by the local outrigger canoe, with a car back. It is a lovely excursion; it is not a nightly default.
Wind, season and seaweed
From June to October the Kusi trade wind blows steadily from the south-east. On the east coast that means cool evenings, a constant breeze, and the kitesurfing that has made Paje famous; on the north tip it is calmer. December to March, the Kaskazi season, is warmer and stiller everywhere, with the sea at its clearest. The long rains come in April and May, when most of the island's hotels, ours included, close for part of the month.
Seaweed drifts onto every Zanzibar beach at times, most often on the spring tides around the full and new moon and a little more in the Kaskazi months. Where it matters is what happens next. Michamvi sits on a long, open stretch of coast, so the tide carries it back out within days and our staff clear the beach every evening; sheltered bays hold onto it. The neat rows you will see at low tide on the east coast are not washed-up weed at all but seaweed farms, worked mostly by women from the villages — one of the more interesting things to watch from a sun lounger.
The atmosphere
Nungwi is the island's busiest tourism hub: dive centres, sunset cruises, beach restaurants, and a bar for every mood. Kendwa next door is known for its full-moon parties. It is social, easy and lively, and in high season it is crowded.
The east coast is not one place. Paje in the south is the lifestyle hub — kitesurfers, cafés, a proper evening scene. Matemwe in the north-east is quieter, with villas and the boat trips to Mnemba. Michamvi, the peninsula between them, is the slow end: a fishing village, a handful of small hotels, The Rock restaurant ten minutes' walk along the beach, sundowners at Kae Funk, and Paje twenty minutes away when you want noise. There is no nightlife here, and that is the reason people come.
Getting there
Both coasts are about an hour to an hour and a half from the airport. The road to Michamvi runs through Jozani Forest and a string of villages and takes 1h15 to 1h30; a private transfer is US$60 for up to six people. Stone Town is the same distance in the other direction, so a day trip works from either coast.
So which one?
- Choose the north if you want to swim at any hour, watch the sunset from your bar stool, and have people around.
- Choose Paje if you kitesurf, or want the east coast with a social scene attached.
- Choose Matemwe or Michamvi if you want quiet, space, small hotels and the lagoon colours — and you are happy to live by the tide.
- If it is Michamvi, our guide to the peninsula and our honest beach guide say what it is and is not.
For the full picture of every region, including the ones we have not covered here, see where to stay in Zanzibar and the best time to visit.
Questions people ask us
Which coast is better for swimming?
The north tip. The water stays close to the beach through most of the tide, so you can swim whenever you like. On the east coast you swim around high tide — roughly half the day, and it moves fifty minutes later each day.
Is the east coast tide a problem?
It is a rhythm, not a problem, but only if you know about it before you book. Guests who arrive expecting a swim-any-time beach are the ones who are disappointed; guests who plan the day around the tide tend to love it.
Where is the kitesurfing?
Paje, on the east coast, especially in the Kusi wind from June to October.
Can I see the sunset from the east coast?
Not from the beach. From Michamvi you take a ngalawa across to Chwaka Bay in the evening, or drive to Kae Funk on the bay side of the peninsula.
Which is quieter?
Matemwe and Michamvi on the east coast. Nungwi and Kendwa are the busiest beaches on the island.