Matemwe Beach, Zanzibar

Where to stay at Matemwe

Matemwe in four lines

• Twenty minutes from Mnemba. The closest land to the best reef in Zanzibar, and the only real reason to choose this coast.
• Tide, 2.5 to 3.5 metres. It empties, and it varies sharply between hotels along the same shore. Ask about your specific stretch, or move twenty minutes south to the one bay that keeps its water.
• A working fishing village. Quiet, lived in, and with almost no nightlife of any kind.
• Small hotels rather than resorts. The range runs from $70 guesthouses to some of the most expensive rooms on the island, which is why it appears so often in planning a honeymoon here.

The atoll offshore

Mnemba is a private island with a marine conservation area around it, and the reef on its western side is the best snorkelling in Zanzibar by a clear margin. Boats leave Matemwe in the early morning for the twenty minute crossing.

You cannot land on the island itself unless you are staying on it at considerable expense. Nobody minds: the reason to go is what is under the boat, not the beach you are looking at.

Going early matters more here than anywhere else on the island. The first boats out get flat water and no other boats, and by ten it is a different experience.

What the village is like

Matemwe is strung along several kilometres of coast rather than gathered into a centre, so it never feels like a resort strip even though there are plenty of places to stay.

The fishing goes on around the hotels rather than being displaced by them. Boats go out at dawn, the catch is sold on the sand, and the seaweed lines come out at low tide as they do all down this coast.

The morning boats, and why the time matters

Boats to Mnemba leave from the beach in front of the hotels, and the good operators go at seven. By nine thirty there can be twenty boats on the same stretch of reef.

Your hotel will book it, and the question worth asking is what time rather than how much. A trip that leaves at seven and one that leaves at nine thirty cost the same and are not the same experience.

The crossing is twenty minutes and dolphins turn up on it often enough to expect them. That, rather than a dedicated dolphin trip from Kizimkazi, is how most people here see them.

Where to eat

Almost entirely in hotels, and there are enough of them along the coast that walking to a neighbour for dinner is normal. Most will take outside guests with a phone call in the afternoon.

There are a handful of local places in the village proper, which serve grilled fish and rice for a few dollars and close early. They are worth doing at least once, and your hotel will point you at the good one.

Nothing here stays open late. The coast goes quiet by ten and that is part of what people come for.

Low tide on this coast

The lagoon empties less dramatically than at Paje but it still empties, and the reef flat in front of the hotels becomes walkable for a few hundred metres.

It is worth walking. The pools hold urchins, starfish and small reef fish, and the seaweed lines come out of the water the same as they do further south.

Reef shoes rather than bare feet, and an eye on the water coming back. On flat ground the incoming tide moves faster than people expect.

Why divers and snorkellers base at Matemwe

One reason, and it is decisive. This coast also holds several of the most expensive rooms on the island. Nowhere else on the island is this close to the atoll, and on this trip the crossing time buys you the departure hour.

The full picture, including the $10 conservation fee introduced in September 2025, is in the Mnemba guide.

Should you stay at Matemwe

Questions people ask about Matemwe