Zanzibar
You can be here in July for about €1,399, 4 days, direct.
Why now
Good time in July: 28°C days, 17 rainy days, sea 27°C.
The dry seasons, mid-year and around the turn of the year, are the ones for beaches and diving; the long rains in spring close some hotels and turn roads to mud. Ramadan is quietly observed in Stone Town, where eating in public by day is discreet, and the Sauti za Busara music festival fills the town in the cooler months.
Best months here: May, September, October. July is not one of them — the label above measures the month against a fixed bar, not against the rest of the year here. Daytime highs, sea temperature and rainy days from three years of Open-Meteo reanalysis; a rainy day is one with at least 1 mm of rain, which is the WMO threshold and not the same as "it drizzled".
The place
Zanzibar is Stone Town, a Swahili port of carved doors and Omani balconies, and an island of beaches that behave very differently depending on where you stand: tidal flats that empty for a kilometre on the east coast, deep water and dhows in the north. The spice and slave-trade history is close to the surface, and the village life behind the resorts is mostly farming and fishing. It suits people who want a beach week with a real town attached, and who can adjust to tides and a slower rhythm.
What you can do
- 01Walk Stone Town early: the Old Fort, the House of Wonders' shell, the doors of Hurumzi and the Darajani market.
- 02Visit the Anglican cathedral and the slave market memorial at Mkunazini, with the holding cells beneath.
- 03Take a dhow at sunset from Nungwi, or a snorkelling boat to Mnemba atoll from Matemwe.
- 04Walk the Jozani forest for red colobus monkeys, then the mangrove boardwalk on the same ticket.
- 05Eat at a Forodhani Gardens night stall with care, or better, Zanzibar pizza and octopus curry in a small restaurant.
Where to stay · neighbourhoods
Stay in Stone Town first, then a beach that fits the tides and mood: Nungwi or Kendwa for swimming at any hour, Paje for kites and cafés, Matemwe for quiet.
Unusual things
- ◦The Kizimkazi mosque in the island's south, with a twelfth-century Kufic inscription, the oldest Islamic site in East Africa.
- ◦Prison Island's giant tortoises and the ruined quarantine station, a short boat from Stone Town.
- ◦The Mtoni Palace ruins north of town, home of Princess Salme, whose memoir describes Omani Zanzibar.
Day trips
Flight options
Routes come from OpenFlights (historical) and a 2026 route reference compiled from public timetables. Durations are the published schedule where we have it, otherwise a block-time model fitted on measured nonstop flights. Verify schedules with the airline before booking.
Flight.Deals has not measured this route from Madrid yet, but it does measure Zanzibar from Lisbon (€1,014 typical).
Entry requirements · IT passport
Source: passport-index-data, March 2026 (coarse indicator), covering 258 of our 268 destinations for each of 199 passports. Always confirm with the destination's official site.
Airports
Distances are centre to airport derived · nonstop counts are our route reference for 2026, not every flight that exists.
Local transport
- Airport to city
- Taxi, 15 min, ~€12
- Car needed?
- No — walkable or good public transport
- Getting around
- Taxis and hotel transfers cover most journeys, and dala-dala minibuses are cheap if slow; a Stone Town to Nungwi taxi takes about an hour and a half. The airport is 15 minutes from Stone Town; ferries from Dar es Salaam take about two hours.
- Clock
- 1 hour ahead of Madrid (Africa/Dar_es_Salaam) derived
- Daylight
- 11.8 hours of daylight in July · sunrise 06:35, sunset 18:23 derived
- Currency
- TZS
Good to know
Petty theft on beaches after dark and touts around Forodhani are the main nuisances; check malaria advice, avoid the ferry on rough days, and dress modestly in Stone Town and villages.
Alternatives at a similar price
Whole trip per person for 4 days from Madrid in July, then the flight time; estimates, like the total above.
Santorini
Mykonos
São Paulo
Nairobi
Rio de Janeiro
Geneva