Getting Around Zanzibar: Taxis, Drivers and Transfers

Arrival day

How do you get from the airport to your hotel?

Zanzibar is a small island, but it is not always a quick one — the roads are single-lane and unhurried, and the distance on the map rarely matches the time on the clock. Almost everyone gets around the same way: a private car with a driver, booked with the hotel's help. It is comfortable, it is traceable, and it means you are not negotiating fares at the roadside after a long-haul flight.

Plan on 1h15 to 1h30 from Zanzibar's airport to the south-east coast by private car — and treat any promise of 45 minutes with suspicion, because the road simply does not allow it. It is about 65 km south-east, through the Jozani Forest corridor rather than through Stone Town. We help you arrange a driver who meets you outside the arrivals hall with a sign showing your name and the hotel's. The car costs USD 60 for up to 6 people, paid to the driver's company, not to us: in cash to the driver, or by card on the company's own machine at the hotel. Our airport transfer guide walks through the route.

Day to day

Dala-dala and bajaji: should you use them?

The dala-dala minibuses run across the island and are very cheap; the bajaji, a three-wheeled tuk-tuk, and the boda-boda motorbike taxi fill the gaps in towns. They are part of island life and worth knowing about, but the UK government is blunt: these vehicles often have poor safety standards, are badly maintained and rarely have proper insurance, and accidents are frequent. Pickpockets work crowded buses and bus stations. Ride one once for the experience if you like, in daylight and with your bag in front of you; for anything that matters, take a car.

Can you rent a car or scooter in Zanzibar?

You can, and most guests decide against it. Traffic drives on the left. You need your own licence and an international driving permit, and on Zanzibar also a local Zanzibar driving permit, which the hire company arranges; carry copies of all of them. The UK government warns that road accidents are common, advises against driving outside towns at night and notes that hire cars vary in condition. Police checkpoints are frequent: a fine comes with a government control number for payment, never as cash on the spot. A hired scooter on these roads is the one thing our safety page is blunt about.

Distances

How far apart are the coasts?

Distances on Zanzibar are best measured in hours, not kilometres. Michamvi Pingwe sits on the south-east coast; from there it is about 1h15 to Stone Town in the centre-west, and about 2 hours up to the north coast around Nungwi and Kendwa. Those northern beaches are the island's busiest strip — worth a day trip if you want to see them, but a different feeling from the quiet south-east. For most journeys you will be in the car for one to two hours, so it pays to group sights into full days rather than darting back and forth.

It also means there is no need to change hotels mid-trip to see Zanzibar. From one quiet base, Stone Town, the north and the south coast are all reachable as day trips; our day-trips guide covers what is worth the drive.

Who drives

How do we help you arrange the driving?

Rather than leaving you to find transport, we help you set everything up in advance with local operators we trust. Our regular driver works with Semeni Tours and Safaris, run by Seif Haroub, who has handled Matlai's airport runs and day trips for years; for larger groups, the established agency ZanTours is an option. You step off the plane to a named driver holding a sign, and every onward trip — Stone Town, the north coast, or the airport for your safari flight — is set up before you arrive, with your butler holding the flight number so the driver waits when the flight does not cooperate. For the sights worth the drive, see our Stone Town guide; for the flights themselves, our flights page.

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