Zanzibar Travel Guide
Stone Town, Zanzibar
The short answer
If you make one trip away from the beach, make it this one.
Stone Town is the historic heart of Zanzibar and a UNESCO World Heritage Site, inscribed in 2000. From the east coast it is about 75–90 minutes by road, and only 15–20 minutes from the airport. Give it a full day: the Old Fort, built 1698–1701; Darajani Market for spices; the Forodhani Gardens night food market; the house where Freddie Mercury was born; and the sobering Slave Market Memorial.
| Status | UNESCO World Heritage Site (since 2000) |
| From east coast | ≈ 75–90 minutes by road |
| From airport | 15–20 minutes |
| Don’t miss | Old Fort (1698–1701), Darajani Market, Forodhani night market |
| Eat | Forodhani night food market — Urojo, Zanzibar pizza, mshikaki |
| Dress | Cover shoulders and knees; be mindful near mosques |
| Last verified | August 2026 |
The trip
Getting to Stone Town
If you make one trip away from the beach, make it Stone Town. The old quarter of Zanzibar’s capital is a maze of coral-stone houses, carved doors and narrow lanes, and a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2000. It rewards a full, unhurried day — markets in the morning, history in the afternoon, street food at dusk. From the quiet east coast it is about 75–90 minutes by road, and we help you arrange a private driver for the day.
Allow a minimum of 75 minutes for the drive, and give the town a full day rather than an afternoon. With a private driver you keep your own pace instead of a tour bus’s; our guide to getting around Zanzibar has the distances and transfer times in full, and our activities guide puts the town in the context of everything else the island offers.
One useful quirk of geography: Stone Town is only 15–20 minutes from the airport, so it slots neatly into an arrival or departure day if your flight times allow. From Michamvi the drive is about 1h15 by road — the same trip, counted from the other end. If you haven't settled on a base yet, our where-to-stay guide compares the east coast villages this drive starts from.
The old town
The Old Fort and the streets around it
Start at the Old Fort (Ngome Kongwe), the heavy stone bastion built between 1698 and 1701 by the Omanis on the ruins of an earlier Portuguese chapel. From there the old town opens up — a walkable maze where the pleasure is as much in getting slightly lost as in any single sight.
Stone Town earned its UNESCO listing in 2000 for exactly this: a rare, intact Swahili coastal trading town where African, Arab, Indian and European influences meet in the doors, balconies and stonework. Locally it is Mji Mkongwe, the old town, and it was the Sultanate capital long before it was a heritage site.
Half the experience is the doors. Stone Town’s carved wooden doors, many studded with brass, are among the most photographed details on the island, and no two are quite alike — older Arab doors with rectangular frames, later Indian ones with rounded tops. Looking up at the balconies and down at the doorways is most of the walk. Add the Palace of Wonders on the seafront, and the shape of a guided day is already there.
The markets
Darajani spices and Forodhani by night
For spices, skip the tourist spice farms and go to Darajani Market — it has the island’s highest daily turnover, which means fresher stock and better prices than the farm tours. It is busy and a little chaotic, in the best way, and the spice-and-fish theatre of the market hall is worth an hour on its own.
At dusk, head to the Forodhani Gardens night food market on the seafront. This is the place to eat Zanzibari street food: Urojo (the tangy “Zanzibar mix” soup), Zanzibar pizza, mshikaki spiced-meat skewers, samosas, and fresh sugar-cane juice pressed in front of you. It only really comes alive after sunset, when the stalls light up and local families arrive — go hungry, carry small notes, and order what is busy.
The history
The history you should know before you go
Stone Town’s past is both grand and painful, and worth understanding before you go. The town grew prosperous as a hub of the spice trade — and of the East African slave trade. The Slave Market Memorial, on the site of the old market, is a sobering and important stop, not a comfortable one. The arc runs from a fishing village in the 1830s to the capital of a Sultanate, and a good guide turns that arc into cinema.
The island was a British Protectorate until 1963, then merged with Tanganyika to form Tanzania in 1964. One lighter footnote: the singer Freddie Mercury was born in Stone Town, and a small museum marks the house.
Allow a little quiet time for the Slave Market Memorial. It is the part of the day guests most often tell us stayed with them, and it sits in deliberate contrast to the markets and the street food — worth giving the space it asks for.
Manners
What to wear and how to behave
Stone Town asks for more modest dress than the beach. Women should cover shoulders and knees — a sarong or shawl is enough — and everyone should be mindful near the many mosques. Men in shorts above the knee are not breaking a rule, but tend to draw looks.
It is a conservative, lived-in town rather than a museum, so the same courtesies that work everywhere on Zanzibar apply here: greet before you ask, and always ask before photographing people. Our guide to Zanzibar etiquette has the rest.
Guides
Booking a guided tour, and a driver
You can wander Stone Town perfectly well on your own, but a good guide turns the maze into a story. We work with Semeni Tours and Safaris, a trusted local operator run by Seif Haroub, whose drivers also cover the airport run for our guests. For a larger, more established agency, Zantours is the alternative.
Whichever you choose, ask for a day driver as well, so you are not waiting for taxis between stops and can fit the markets, the history and the food into one unhurried day. None of this needs to be booked before you fly: a Stone Town day, a spice-farm outing or a Jozani visit just needs a heads-up to your butler a day ahead, usually over WhatsApp, with payment settled at the hotel rather than upfront.
In practice
How the day actually falls
The honest shape of it: leave after breakfast, be in Darajani before the middle of the morning, give the Old Fort and the lanes the hours either side of lunch, keep the Slave Market Memorial for the quiet part of the afternoon, and stay for Forodhani rather than driving back hungry. Give Stone Town a whole day and a good guide and it delivers; rush it into an afternoon and what you will remember is a car park and a spice stall.
Two easy pairings. Jozani Forest and its red colobus monkeys sit on the road back towards the east coast, 40–45 minutes from Michamvi, so the monkeys cost you almost no extra driving on a Stone Town day. And the Nakupenda sandbank lies just off Stone Town on the west side of the island, which makes a boat morning and an old-town afternoon a workable single outing. Our day-trips guide has the rest of the shortlist with real drive times.
If your trip is short, prioritise ruthlessly. With three days on the island the advice we give is to skip the spice tour and Prison Island, keep Stone Town and one reef morning, and protect an empty day — the town is the one excursion that repays the whole day it takes.
Good to know
Questions travellers ask
The questions guests ask us the evening before they go.
How far is Stone Town from Zanzibar’s east coast?
About 75–90 minutes by road — allow at least 75 minutes — and only 15–20 minutes from the airport, so it pairs well with an arrival or departure day.
Is Stone Town worth a full day?
Yes. Between the Old Fort, Darajani Market, the Forodhani night food market and the historic sites, a full day is about right; rushing it in a couple of hours sells it short — you leave having seen the inside of a taxi and one spice shop, and none of the reason people come.
What should I wear in Stone Town?
More modest than at the beach: cover shoulders and knees (a sarong or shawl is enough), and be mindful near mosques. Swimwear and short shorts are out of place in town.
Where do you buy spices in Stone Town?
At Darajani Market, not the tourist spice farms. Darajani has the highest daily turnover on the island, so the spices are fresher and cheaper.
What is the best place to eat in Stone Town?
The Forodhani Gardens night food market on the seafront — Urojo soup, Zanzibar pizza, mshikaki skewers and fresh sugar-cane juice. It comes alive after sunset.
How do you book a Stone Town tour?
We help you arrange trusted local guides and a private driver — Semeni Tours, run by Seif Haroub, or the larger Zantours — so you are not relying on roadside taxis between sights. A day’s notice through your butler is normally enough.
Have your dates?
Tell us your dates — we’ll hold the beach week and send the tide table for it.
Send us your dates