Zanzibar beyond the resort

Arrive in Zanzibar and make your way to Stone Town, where we meet at the hotel at 18:00.
No packed programme today. Flights arrive at different times, so the first evening is about meeting the group, settling in and getting your first taste of the island at your own pace.
Tomorrow, we leave the city behind.

In practice
Meeting: 18:00 at the first hotel

Today Zanzibar starts from the water.
We head out by boat for a Three Islands Tour, exploring the waters around Stone Town. The route includes Prison Island and Nakupenda sandbank — or another sandbank during peak season, when conditions and visitor numbers make it the better choice.
Lunch is included and served during the excursion, so for the first part of the day there’s nowhere particularly urgent to be except somewhere between boat, sand and sea.
Back in Stone Town, we return to the hotel, collect our luggage and change mode completely: bags on the bus, music optional, and road to the south.
We cross the island towards Paje or Jambiani, where we settle into our next base and meet Zanzibar’s east coast for the first time.
Boat in the morning, road in the afternoon. Zanzibar has more than one way of getting around.

The morning starts with a choice.
If you want to, you can head to Jozani Forest for an optional visit before we meet again for the experience that brings everyone back together: Zanzibar’s spice country.
We visit a spice plantation to see where some of the flavours and scents so closely associated with the island actually come from — considerably more interesting than meeting them already packed in a souvenir shop. Lunch is included during the visit.
Later, we return to the coast and the rest of the afternoon and evening are yours.
If you want to make a night of it, you can book a table at The Rock, Zanzibar’s famously improbable restaurant perched in the Indian Ocean. Reservation is essential, and evening transport is not included — so plan both before setting off.
Or don't. A free evening in Paje or Jambiani is a perfectly respectable alternative.

Today we change coast and head north — but there’s a very tempting way to spend the first part of the day.
Safari Blue is optional, but strongly recommended. It’s a full experience out on the water, combining sailing, swimming and the small islands and sandbanks of Zanzibar’s south-west coast.
Those joining Safari Blue will spend the first part of the day at sea before we continue our journey north.
Later, we get back on the road and cross the island towards Kendwa / Nungwi, our base in the north.
Once we arrive, nothing else is required. Check in, find the beach and slow down. After boats, roads and a change of coast, relaxation is officially part of the programme.
In practice

Optional: Safari Blue · strongly recommended
Route: South Zanzibar → Kendwa / Nungwi
Transport: private vehicle

Today, we slow things right down.
No transfers, no early start, no list of places you need to see. The day is completely free to enjoy the north coast however you like: beach, swim, a long lunch, an even longer nap. You get the idea.
Then, in the late afternoon, we come back together for a sunset dhow cruise.
We head out on the Indian Ocean as the light starts to change, with nowhere else we need to get to before dark. After a full day of doing very little, this is about as demanding as the programme gets.

Another completely free day in the north.
Stay on the beach, take things slowly or head back out to sea. If you feel like exploring, our recommendation is a trip to Mnemba Atoll, one of the most beautiful marine areas around Zanzibar, with clear water, reefs and plenty of time in the ocean.
The excursion is optional, so today can just as easily involve absolutely nowhere to be.

Today, the group gets to decide how the last full day should look.
We can leave the north in the morning and head back to Stone Town, leaving the afternoon free for some last-minute shopping, getting deliberately lost in the old streets or joining an optional guided walking tour.
Or we can do exactly the opposite: stay by the sea for one last day, leave Kendwa / Nungwi at around 17:00, and return to Stone Town in the evening.
There’s no better option. By Day 7, you’ll know whether you’re craving narrow streets or one more swim.
Up to the group.

The journey officially ends after breakfast and check-out — but Zanzibar doesn’t need to end the minute you hand back your room key.
Depending on your flight time, leave your luggage at the hotel and squeeze in one last coffee, wander through Stone Town, buy the souvenir you’ve been thinking about since Day 1, or simply take your time over lunch.
Then it’s off to the airport — or wherever Zanzibar is sending you next.
No organised activities today. Just one last rule: check the room twice before leaving. Passports have a surprising fondness for hotel safes.