Jambiani Beach, Zanzibar

Where to stay at Jambiani

Jambiani in four lines

• The cheapest good beach on the island. Guesthouses from $30, dinner from $8, and the same lagoon as Paje ten minutes north.
• Tide, 3 to 4 metres. The sea goes out several hundred metres twice a day. This is the tradeoff for the price.
• A working village, not a resort strip. People live here, the seaweed farms employ most of the women, and it is the best place on the coast to see how it works.
• Cover up away from the sand. More so than anywhere else on the east coast, because you are walking through somebody's street.

The seaweed farms, and why they matter

At low tide the flats in front of Jambiani fill with women tending lines of seaweed staked into the sand. It is Zanzibar's largest employer of women and it has been since the eighties.

The crop goes into cosmetics and food thickeners, mostly for export, and the income it generates is a large part of why this stretch of coast has not simply been sold to resorts.

Several places in the village run walks out onto the flats with the women who work them. It costs very little, it goes to the right people, and it is the most interesting hour most visitors spend on this coast.

What a night out looks like

It does not, particularly. Jambiani has a handful of beach bars and restaurants and they close early. This is not an accident or a shortcoming, it is the whole proposition.

For anything more, Paje is four kilometres up the coast and a five dollar taxi ride. Plenty of people staying in Jambiani eat there once or twice a week and come back.

Where to eat, which is the good news

Jambiani has a proper spread of places to eat that are not hotels, which is rare on this coast and is a large part of why people stay longer here than they planned.

Local restaurants in the village serve grilled fish, rice, beans and chapati for three to six dollars. Several beach places do the same food with a view and a beer for twice that, which is still a third of resort prices.

It is worth asking your guesthouse which places are open on which night. Kitchens here are small and a few close on rotation, particularly out of season.

Living here for a while

Jambiani has quietly become a long stay village. Guesthouses do weekly and monthly rates that fall well below the nightly price, and there are a handful of places set up for people working remotely.

The connection is decent for the coast, though not as reliable as Paje's coworking spaces four kilometres north. Anyone with fixed calls should test it in the first day rather than assume.

Power cuts are short and frequent. A power bank matters more than an extra gigabyte of data, and the better guesthouses run a generator that picks up within a minute.

The village, and how to be in it

Several thousand people live here and the guesthouses are inside the village rather than fenced off from it. That is the appeal and it comes with a small obligation.

Cover shoulders and knees when you are away from the beach. Ask before photographing people. Buy from the shops rather than only from the hotel. None of this is demanding and all of it changes how the week goes.

The seaweed walks are the single best thing to do here, cost a few dollars, and the money goes directly to the women who run them.

What Jambiani costs

This is the cheapest good beach on the island by a clear margin, and the gap against the northern tip is the reason people end up here on a second trip.

The tradeoff is the tide, which takes the sea out several hundred metres twice a day. If the price is the point, doing Zanzibar cheaply costs a week here at sixty dollars a day. Read what the tide does before you decide whether the saving is worth it.

Should you stay at Jambiani

Getting to Jambiani, and getting about once there

Fifty kilometres from the airport, an hour by road, forty to fifty dollars for a taxi. The route runs through Jozani, which makes the forest the obvious stop on a transfer day.

Dala dala run from Stone Town for about a dollar and take two hours with stops. Fine if you are travelling light, unworkable with a suitcase.

The village is strung along five kilometres of coast, so where you stay decides how much walking you do. Most guesthouses lend bicycles, which is how the long stay crowd gets around, and a taxi anywhere within the village is two or three dollars.

Paje is four kilometres north: an hour along the sand at low tide, five dollars by taxi otherwise.

Where to eat, and where to buy food

The village has a genuine spread of places that are not hotels, which is rare on this coast. Local restaurants do grilled fish, rice, beans and chapati for three to six dollars, and several beach places do the same with a view for twice that.

Kitchens are small and a few close on rotation, particularly out of season. Ask your guesthouse which are open tonight rather than walking hopefully.

For self catering, the village shops carry rice, pasta, eggs, bread and tinned goods, and the fish comes off the boats in the morning. Anyone staying a fortnight ends up shopping rather than eating out twice a day, and that is where the budget really drops.

Questions people ask about Jambiani