Where
The east coast, 45 km from the airport
Getting there
1 h to 1 h 15 by taxi, $40 to $55
Tidal range
2.5 to 3.5 m
Swimming
Around high water
Feel
Resort strip
Suits
Families, all inclusive, first trips
Where to stay at Kiwengwa
Photo: Hotels.comMeliá Zanzibar
Kiwengwa, north east coast
159 rooms, pavilions and villas on 40 acres above a 300 metre beach, with a private beach club a golf cart ride away.
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Photo: Hotels.comTUI BLUE Bahari Zanzibar
Pwani Mchangani
207 rooms and three villas, all inclusive with a kids' club. TUI's own brand, so it often comes cheaper inside a UK package.
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Photo: Hotels.comNeptune Pwani Beach Resort
Pwani Mchangani
Around 190 rooms, all inclusive and a kids' club. Children thirteen and over pay the adult rate, so check before comparing family prices.
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Photo: Hotels.comDiamonds Mapenzi Beach
Kiwengwa
All inclusive on the same beach, with a kids' club. Children twelve and over pay the adult rate.
See prices for my datesPartner links to Hotels.com: prices and availability depend on your dates, and we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you.
The best known resort on the strip has its own Meliá Zanzibar review, with 2026 prices by season and what The Level adds.
Tours and excursions from Kiwengwa
All three pick up from the resort strip, which makes them the easy way off it.
Mnemba and dolphins from the north east. Mnemba snorkelling with a dolphin search, picking up from Kiwengwa among other villages on the east coast. Check that your hotel area is on the pickup list.
Quad ride in Kiwengwa. Quads set off from Kiwengwa and run off-road, with room for two people per quad and pickup included. Wear closed shoes and long trousers, since the track is dusty.
Jozani nature walk. A guided walk in Jozani Forest, home of the red colobus monkeys, with pickup from the east coast. Wear closed shoes and keep the guide's distance from the animals.
Mnemba dolphin & snorkel: from Matemwe, Pwani, Kiwengwa, Uroa
- 3 to 4 hours
- Hotel pickup included
- Free cancellation
4.5(108 reviews)
from$40per person
Check prices & availability
Quad Off-Road Adventure | Kiwengwa
- 2 to 4 hours
- Hotel pickup included
- Free cancellation
4.5(39 reviews)
from$100per group
Check prices & availability
Jozani nature walk and wildlife tour
- 3 hours
- Hotel pickup included
- Free cancellation
4.5(96 reviews)
from$90per person
Check prices & availabilityAll activities around Kiwengwa
Kiwengwa in four lines
- The all inclusive coast. Large resorts, kids' clubs, and a strip that exists for people who intend to stay in it. The quieter alternative on the same shore is the bay at Pongwe.
- Tide, 2.5 to 3.5 metres. The lagoon empties for part of every day, which is exactly why the pools are the size they are.
- An hour from the airport. $40 to $50, and the shortest transfer of any north east beach.
- Little to walk to. The hotels are the destination. If you want the island rather than the resort, look south.
What the pool is actually for
Every resort along this coast has a pool, and on the east coast a pool is not a luxury but a solution. When the lagoon empties for four hours in the middle of the day, the pool is where the swimming happens.
This is the honest reason all inclusive works better here than it looks like it should. The tide takes the sea away for part of every day, and the resorts have built around that fact.
It is also why a resort with a bad pool is a much bigger problem on this coast than on the north one.
The caves, and getting off the strip
The Kiwengwa caves sit a few kilometres inland, a limestone system used historically as a shrine and now visited on foot with a local guide. It takes an hour and it is the easiest way to see something here that is not beach.
Beyond that, Kiwengwa rewards leaving. Pongwe is fifteen minutes south and holds its water at low tide, Matemwe is twenty minutes north, and Stone Town is an hour away.
What all inclusive actually means here
Most of the resorts along this coast are full board or all inclusive, and the standard is generally decent rather than exceptional. Food is buffet, drinks are local brands, and imported spirits usually cost extra.
What the format buys you is not having to think, which on a coast with almost no restaurants outside the hotels is worth more than it would be elsewhere.
Read what is excluded. Boat trips, spa treatments and imported wine are the usual extras, and on a week's stay they add up to more than people budget for. The full list, and the resorts on this strip, are in Zanzibar all inclusive resorts.
Getting off the resort
This is the coast where it is easiest not to, and worth doing anyway. The Kiwengwa caves are a few kilometres inland and take an hour with a guide.
Pongwe is fifteen minutes south and holds water in its bay at low tide, which makes it a good afternoon if your own beach has gone. Matemwe is twenty minutes north.
Stone Town is an hour away and doable as a day trip, though most people who want the town properly stay a night there instead, at the start or the end of the week.
The beach itself
Genuinely long. You can walk for several kilometres in either direction and pass a resort every few hundred metres, which is either reassuring or exactly the problem depending on your temperament.
The sand is white and fine, the reef sits well offshore and the water inside it is calm. At low tide the flat exposes and the beach effectively doubles in width.
There are beach sellers, and more of them here than on the quieter coasts, because there are more people to sell to. They are polite and persistent in equal measure.
Is an all inclusive at Kiwengwa worth it
The maths is unusual here, because the tide takes the beach away for part of every day, which is also why travelling with children pushes most people to this coast or to the northern tip and there is very little within walking distance to fill the gap.
| All inclusive | Room only elsewhere | |
|---|---|---|
| A night, two people | $180 to $350 | $70 to $200 |
| Food and drink | Included, and endless | $40 to $80 a day for two |
| When the tide is out | Pool, kids' club, bar, all on site | A taxi, or an empty afternoon |
| Eating out | Possible, and you have already paid | The point of being here |
| Suits | Families, and anyone who wants no decisions | Couples, and anyone who wants the island |
The honest test is whether you intend to leave the hotel. If the answer is rarely, Kiwengwa is good value. If it is often, Paje or Jambiani gives you more island for less money.
Should you stay at Kiwengwa
Stay here if
- An all inclusive with a kids' club is exactly what you want
- You want a long beach to walk and a pool for the low tide
- Organising nothing is the point of the holiday
- Value matters more than character
Stay elsewhere if
- You want to eat somewhere that is not your hotel
- Resort frontage is what you were escaping
- You want to swim at any hour, which means the north
- You are looking for the Zanzibar in the photographs of villages
Questions people ask about Kiwengwa beach
Is Kiwengwa a good place to stay in Zanzibar?
For an all inclusive family holiday, yes, and it is priced well for what it is. For anyone who wants to eat in different places, meet the island or swim on impulse, no. The resorts are comfortable and the coast around them is mostly resorts.
Can you swim at Kiwengwa?
Around high water. The tide here empties a wide reef flat and the swimming window is roughly three to four hours, which is why every hotel has a pool. Ask your hotel where the reef flat is deepest, because it varies along the strip.
Is Kiwengwa good for families?
It is probably the best family coast on the island, because the resorts are built for it and the beach is long and flat. The one thing to check is that the pool is good, since it is where the children will swim for part of every day.
