Stone Town

Stone Town is where you understand what Zanzibar actually is. The island's position in the Indian Ocean made it the central trading hub for centuries: Arab dhows, Indian merchant ships, Persian traders, Portuguese explorers and Omani sultans all moved through here, and the architecture reflects every layer of that history. The old city is built almost entirely from coral rag stone and carved teak, with narrow streets barely wide enough for two people to pass, ornate wooden doors at every corner with brass studs and Islamic geometric carving, and mosques, Hindu temples and Catholic churches within metres of each other. It's a UNESCO World Heritage Site and one of the best-preserved historic port cities in the world.

Walking the alleys is the main activity, and you don't need a guide to do it, though a good local guide adds considerable context that changes what you're looking at. A single hundred metres of street can pass an 18th-century Sunni mosque in active daily use, a Hindu temple still serving the island's Indian community, and a Catholic cathedral built on the site of the former slave market. The old slave market memorial itself is one of the most sobering places in East Africa. The underground holding chambers survive intact, and the history documented there is important enough that it reshapes how you see the island's wealth for the rest of the trip. Don't skip it because it sounds heavy.

Food in Stone Town rewards serious time. The Forodhani Gardens night market opens at dusk along the seafront; for the equivalent of a dollar or two you can eat Zanzibar pizza, grilled seafood, sugarcane juice, octopus, mishkaki (spiced meat skewers) and urojo (Zanzibar mix soup) at low plastic tables facing the water. Darajani market runs all day and sells everything from fresh fish to whole spice sacks to bolts of kanga cloth. The better sit-down restaurants do proper seafood biriyani and pilau rice that reflect the island's layered spice heritage more accurately than most of the beach resorts manage.

Stone Town is typically where Zanzibar trips begin and end. It's fifteen to twenty minutes from the airport by road, and most international flights connect through here. One day covers the essential walking tour, the night market and a wander through Darajani. Two days lets you add the spice tour out to the plantations, the slave market memorial done properly and a trip to Prison Island to see the giant tortoises. Stone Town is also the departure point for Prison Island, the Safari Blue trip and Jozani Forest day trips.