Kiwengwa Beach, Zanzibar

Where to stay at 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.

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.

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

Questions people ask about Kiwengwa