For a honeymoon
Zanzibar: the week after the safari
Not a safari, which is exactly the point.
The case
Forty minutes by light aircraft from the Serengeti airstrips, and an entirely different week: reef, dhows, Stone Town, and nothing whatever to be up early for.
That contrast is the whole argument. A safari costs you sleep and gives you adrenaline; a week on a reef gives the sleep back. Doing it in that order — bush first, coast second — is the single most useful structural rule in honeymoon planning.
At this level Zanzibar runs from design-led beach hotels of twenty rooms to private villas with their own staff, chef and boat, and the villas cost less than most couples expect.
The caveat
Which coast you pick is a real decision and it is not cosmetic.
| Coast | Character | The caveat |
|---|---|---|
| North — Nungwi, Kendwa | Swimmable at every tide, best sunsets, liveliest | The busiest part of the island |
| East — Paje, Jambiani | Long white sand, kitesurfing, a young feel | Big tidal range: at low tide the sea walks out hundreds of metres |
| South-east — Michamvi | Quieter, good villas, calm water | Little to eat outside your own hotel |
| West — Stone Town | The old city, dhows, spice markets, history | Not a swimming beach. One or two nights, not a week. |
Seaweed is the other thing nobody mentions: certain coasts collect it seasonally with the monsoon shift. Hotels rake their frontage, and it is a non-issue at some and a real one at others. It is a fair question to ask before booking rather than after.
When to go
June to October and December to February are the best windows. January and February have the calmest sea and lowest humidity of the year. April and May are the long rains and much of the island is quiet or closed.
How many nights
Four. Three feels like arriving and leaving; five starts to feel long unless doing nothing is genuinely the plan — which, after a safari, it sometimes is.
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