5 Days Zanzibar Family Beach Holiday

Overview

Highlights

• ✦Family resort with established kids' club
• ✦Calm reef-protected lagoon for safe swimming
• ✦Family rooms and interconnecting room layouts
• ✦Half-day dhow ride suitable for children
• ✦Optional Stone Town and Spice Tour day trip
• ✦Kid-friendly food and snack menus

Day-by-day itinerary

1. 1

   Arrival → Beach resort

   ZNZ → Beach

   After a leisurely breakfast, transfer to Kilimanjaro International or Arusha airport for the short scheduled flight to Zanzibar (about 75 minutes). Your Zanzibar driver meets you at Abeid Amani Karume International Airport and transfers you to your beach resort on the north or northeast coast — about 90 minutes through clove and spice plantations, traditional fishing villages and the unique landscape of the Spice Island. Check in, change into beachwear and walk straight onto the white sand. The Indian Ocean here is bath-warm and the lagoon perfect for swimming. Sunset cocktails on the beach terrace, dinner of fresh-caught seafood, and the soft sound of palm fronds in the trade wind sending you to sleep. Welcome to Zanzibar.

   Meals: D · Stay: Diamonds Mapenzi or Karafuu Beach Resort

2. 2

   Beach day with kids' club

   Zanzibar

   A full beach day at your own pace. Breakfast on a sea-view terrace, then choose your day: pure beach time on the powdery white sand; snorkeling on the offshore reef where turtles and reef fish teem; a traditional dhow sunset cruise with cocktails as the sun sinks behind the horizon; a kite-surfing lesson at Paje on the east coast; a SCUBA dive trip to Mnemba Atoll (one of the Indian Ocean's best dive sites); a swim with dolphins at Kizimkazi; or simply a hammock between two palms and a good book. Spa treatments are usually available at the resort, and the kitchens serve some of East Africa's best seafood — grilled red snapper, prawn pilau, octopus curry, fresh tropical fruit. Dinner on the beach as the moon rises over the sea.

   Meals: B, L, D · Stay: Same as Day 1

3. 3

   Family dhow ride and beach

   Zanzibar

   A full beach day at your own pace. Breakfast on a sea-view terrace, then choose your day: pure beach time on the powdery white sand; snorkeling on the offshore reef where turtles and reef fish teem; a traditional dhow sunset cruise with cocktails as the sun sinks behind the horizon; a kite-surfing lesson at Paje on the east coast; a SCUBA dive trip to Mnemba Atoll (one of the Indian Ocean's best dive sites); a swim with dolphins at Kizimkazi; or simply a hammock between two palms and a good book. Spa treatments are usually available at the resort, and the kitchens serve some of East Africa's best seafood — grilled red snapper, prawn pilau, octopus curry, fresh tropical fruit. Dinner on the beach as the moon rises over the sea.

   Meals: B, L, D · Stay: Same as Day 1

4. 4

   Optional Stone Town & Spice Tour

   Zanzibar

   A full-day Spice Tour and Stone Town excursion. Morning visit to a traditional spice plantation outside Stone Town, where a local guide leads you through groves of clove, cinnamon, nutmeg, vanilla, cardamom, ginger and turmeric — taste each one fresh, learn the history of the spice trade that made Zanzibar one of the wealthiest islands in the Indian Ocean by the 19th century. Lunch of traditional Zanzibari biryani at a spice-farm restaurant. Afternoon walking tour of Stone Town — the UNESCO-listed labyrinth of coral-rag alleys, carved Swahili and Indian doors, the old slave market, the Anglican Cathedral built on its site, the House of Wonders, the Sultan's Palace, and Freddy Mercury's birthplace. Sunset at the Forodhani night-food market — grilled seafood skewers, fresh sugarcane juice, octopus and chapati.

   Meals: B, L, D · Stay: Same as Day 1

5. 5

   Departure

   Zanzibar → ZNZ

   A leisurely final breakfast on the beach, late check-out, and transfer to Abeid Amani Karume International Airport for your international or domestic departure flight. If your flight is in the late afternoon or evening, we can arrange a half-day Stone Town walking tour or a final swim at the resort. End of holiday — though we hope this is a "see you next time" rather than a goodbye.

   Meals: B · Stay: N/A (departure)

What to bring

• • Swimwear and beach cover-ups
• • Reef-safe sunscreen (high SPF)
• • Hats and UV-protection swim shirts for kids
• • Beach toys (or buy locally)
• • Light evening wear for resort restaurants
• • Power adaptor (UK 3-pin)

Frequently asked questions