Best time to visit Zanzibar

Tanzania · Africa

All twelve months scored on daily temperature, rainfall, humidity and holiday crowding.

The year in Zanzibar

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Sweet spot
Good
OK
Avoid
Busy

Go in Jun–Nov — these months score within a whisker of each other; 30C max, 4 rainy days. Feb is the next best.

Dry season: Jun–Oct, Dec–Feb, 6 or fewer rainy days a month.

Plan this trip

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Flights

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Where to stay

Things to do

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Things to do in Zanzibar

House of Wonders Landmark building in Stone Town, Zanzibar
Palace Museum Museum in Zanzibar
HMS Pegasus 1897 Pelorus-class protected cruiser
St. Joseph's Cathedral, Zanzibar Building in Tanzania
Forodhani Gardens Garden on Zanzibar
Tongoni Ruins Ruins in Tongoni, Tanzania
Bagamoyo Historic Town Historic site in Tanzania

Tours and tickets in Zanzibar

Each site opens on its own search: choose your dates there. A few open on their home page, where you type the place too. Links marked Ad pay us a commission if you book, at no extra cost to you; most pay nothing, and what a site pays never decides whether it is listed or where. How we rank

Sights and their lines from Wikivoyage, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0, and Wikidata; in order of how often each one's Wikipedia article was read on phones in the last 12 months.

Month by month

No fare history for this route yet, so this ranking is climate and crowds only — the price column will fill in as the scanner collects.

Month	Max °C	Rain days	Humidity	Sun h/day	Verdict	Why
Jan	32°	3d	75%	11.2h	goodbusy	busier than usual
Feb	33°	2d	74%	11.2h	goodbusy	busier than usual
Mar	32°	8d	78%	10.4h	good	32C max, 8 rainy days
Apr	29°	18d	86%	8.5h	avoid	monsoon: 18 rainy days, 363mm
May	28°	11d	83%	9.6h	ok	28C max, 11 rainy days
Jun	28°	4d	79%	10.4h	sweet spot	28C max, 4 rainy days
Jul	27°	2d	78%	10.7h	sweet spot	27C max, 2 rainy days
Aug	28°	1d	76%	10.9h	sweet spot	28C max, 1 rainy day
Sep	30°	2d	76%	11.3h	sweet spot	30C max, 2 rainy days
Oct	30°	4d	77%	11.4h	sweet spot	30C max, 4 rainy days
Nov	30°	7d	81%	11.3h	sweet spot	30C max, 7 rainy days
Dec	31°	6d	80%	11.4h	goodbusy	busier than usual

Rain days are the days with at least 1 mm of rain, as a weather station counts them.

Weather read at Stone Town, 8 km from the airport (ZNZ): ten years of ERA5 and ERA5-Land reanalysis, through Open-Meteo's open data.

A busy month is a crowded one, not a bad one — usually it is crowded because the weather is good. It is flagged rather than scored down, and crowds alone never make a month “avoid”: that is reserved for weather worth skipping.

How busy it gets

Busiest in January and February; quietest in May.

Then and now

Zanzibar's January days now average 31.8°C, 2.2°C warmer than in 1981–1990. 10 of 12 months are clearly warmer.

	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
1981–90	29.6°	30.4°	30.0°	28.5°	27.5°	27.1°	26.9°	27.2°	28.2°	28.8°	29.2°	29.2°
2017–26	31.8°	32.6°	31.8°	28.8°	28.0°	27.6°	27.4°	28.4°	29.5°	30.1°	30.2°	30.7°
Change	+2.2°	+2.2°	+1.8°	+0.3°	+0.6°	+0.6°	+0.5°	+1.2°	+1.3°	+1.4°	+1.0°	+1.5°

The average daily high, month by month, for the nearest ERA5 grid cell. Bold is a clear change; grey is within the ordinary spread between years. Every destination, ranked.

Getting there

How far Zanzibar is, and what it costs, depends on where you set off from — the months above do not.

Before you go

Cost of living	very cheap — prices run about 29% of the United States' (World Bank, 2025)
Currency	Tanzanian shilling
Languages	Swahili, English
Plugs	Type G, 230 V
Driving	On the left
Calling code	+255
Travel advice	avoid all but essential travel to parts — UK Foreign Office, updated 2026-10-06
Health	UK Foreign Office health advice

Facts from Wikidata (CC0), the UK Foreign Office (Open Government Licence) and the World Bank, refreshed 2026-10-07. The advisory is written for British travellers; entry rules depend on your passport.

Being there

On arrival

Paying — Since 2025 the law says prices must be in Tanzanian shillings: change money only at banks or bureaux de change, or pay by card, though some visitor services, such as the Zanzibar ferry, still price in US dollars. ATMs in the main towns take foreign debit cards but can run out of cash, and cards are not widely accepted in rural areas.
UPI, for visitors from India — Not accepted for paying here; bring a card that works abroad.
Tipping — Not required but welcome, and often expected in tourism: 5-10% in restaurants unless service is included; for taxis, rounding up is enough.

Getting around Zanzibar

Fast ferries link Dar es Salaam and Zanzibar daily; on Azam Marine's Kilimanjaro boats, non-residents pay from US$35 (economy), booked and paid by card on its website, and must be at the terminal an hour before departure with a passport. On the island, take a taxi booked by your hotel or from an official rank; the UK and Canadian governments warn that dala-dala minibuses are often unsafe.

Apps — Rides: Bolt. Maps: Google Maps.

Although taxis are available, you will probably want to walk through Stone Town. After all, most of the alleys are barely wide enough for a bike to pass. More on Wikivoyage

From the Wikivoyage article on Zanzibar, written by travellers and licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Open in Google MapsZanzibar on the map

Help

Emergency — 112 (any emergency).
TravelCharika is not an emergency service: we cannot call for help or send anyone. Numbers can change; if one fails, ask someone local or your hotel.

Put together by hand from the sources listed, checked 7 October 2026. Apps, cards and rules change, so check before you rely on one.

Sources (15)

Zanzibar in pictures

Zanzibar StoneTown — i

Wegmann, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

High tide, Bwejuu, Zanzibar — i

Kent MacElwee, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Harbour at the picturesque Stone Town — i

Dr. Ondřej Havelka (cestovatel), CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Local fair on Zanzibar Island — i

Simionescu Victor, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

ITB2016 Zanzibar Islands Travelarz — i

Travelarz, CC BY-SA 3.0 pl, via Wikimedia Commons

What Zanzibar is like

Zanzibar is an island off the coast of Tanzania famous for its history, culture, archeological sites, and stunning white sand beaches. Zanzibar Province includes Pemba Island to the north as well as many smaller islands in the Zanzibar archipelago. More on Wikivoyage

Worth seeing: Jozani Forest has excellent nature trails, featuring some very exotic (and large) trees. Even more interesting, though, are the Red Colobus Monkeys that live here. More on Wikivoyage
Worth doing: There are a lot of things to do on Zanzibar Island. It just depends on where your interests lie. More on Wikivoyage
Getting in: Although Zanzibar is part of the Union it maintains its own immigration service and you need to have a valid passport to enter, even if you come from mainland Tanzania. More on Wikivoyage

From the Wikivoyage article on Zanzibar, written by travellers and licensed CC BY-SA 4.0; the full article has far more. The numbers above are measured; this is experience.

Around Zanzibar

Nearby

Kind of place

Zanzibar is in Tanzania, Africa. Distances are great-circle, so a short one can still be a long way round.

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