Airport
Abeid Amani Karume (ZNZ), 8 km from Stone Town
Fare
$15 to $60 depending on the coast
Drive
15 min to 1 h 30
Payment
Cash, US dollars or shillings. Cards rarely
Booking
Worth it at night and in high season
Public transport
Nothing usable with luggage
The transfer in four lines
- $30 to $60 each way, per car. Not per person. The north coast is the expensive end and Stone Town the cheap one.
- Agree the fare before you get in. There are no meters. A price settled at the door is final.
- Booking ahead costs a little more and removes the negotiation. A name on a board after a twenty hour journey is worth ten dollars to most people.
- Dollars or shillings, both accepted. Bring small notes, printed after 2013, because nobody at the rank has change for a hundred.
Book ahead, or take a taxi on the kerb?
Both work, and the answer comes down to what time you land. Long haul flights into Zanzibar tend to arrive in the evening or at night. Haggling over a fifty dollar fare after twelve hours of travel, with children and suitcases, is rarely anyone's finest hour. Here are the three routes compared.
Booked online
Fixed when you book
- In its favour
- A driver holding a sign in arrivals, your flight tracked if it slips, air conditioning, and free cancellation on most listings.
- Against it
- You have to sort it before you leave home. Sometimes a few dollars above a well negotiated taxi.
- Suits
- Night arrivals, families with luggage, a first trip to Zanzibar.
Taxi on the spot
$15 to $60 by coast
- In its favour
- Leave immediately, commit to nothing, and pay less if you know the going rate and are willing to haggle.
- Against it
- Negotiating after a long flight, no guarantee of air conditioning, and prices that stiffen at night and in high season.
- Suits
- Repeat visitors, daytime arrivals, short runs into Stone Town.
Through your hotel
Usually $10 to $20 more
- In its favour
- Nothing to organise, a driver the hotel knows, and the easiest option for isolated resorts.
- Against it
- Almost always the dearest of the three, because the hotel takes its cut of the fare.
- Suits
- Honeymoons, remote resorts, anyone who wants to think about none of this.
Book your transfer from ZNZ
The driver tracks your flight and waits at the exit with a sign. The price is fixed when you book, and in most cases it covers the whole vehicle.
Private airport transfer, ZNZ to your hotel
Driver waiting in arrivals, fixed price for the whole vehicle.
Airport transfer to the north and east coasts
Built for Nungwi, Kendwa, Matemwe and Paje, so 1.5 to 2 hours of road.
Private transfer to any hotel or resort
Covers the whole island, up to five people in one vehicle.
Prices, ratings and review counts read from GetYourGuide on 10 September 2026, and indicative. These are partner links: the price is the same for you.
The short version
- No airport bus, no ride hailing app. Taxi or private transfer.
- Roughly $15 to Stone Town, $40 to $60 to Nungwi.
- The fare is per vehicle, not per person.
- No meter and no official tariff: agree the price before you get in.
- Pay in dollars or shillings, in small notes, in cash.
- Allow 1 h 15 to 1 h 30 of road to reach the north.
What a taxi costs from the airport, coast by coast
One thing sets the fare, and it is where your hotel is. The ride is charged per vehicle, not per head, so it stops feeling expensive the moment there are two of you. Pick where you are heading to see the going rate, the drive time and what to watch for.
ZNZ airport → Stone Town and around
7 to 8 kmTaxi agreed on the spot
$15 to $20
Booked online
$15 to $25
Time on the road
15 to 20 min
The shortest run on the island, and the one where a taxi off the rank is genuinely fine in daylight. If your hotel sits inside the old town lanes, no car will reach the door: the driver drops you at the nearest access point and you finish on foot with your bags.
Indicative prices seen in 2026, per vehicle and not per person. On the spot the fare is agreed before you get in: there is no meter.
Every route at a glance
| Where you are going | Drive | Taxi on the spot | Booked online |
|---|---|---|---|
| Stone Town and around | 15 to 20 min | $15 to $20 | $15 to $25 |
| the north, Nungwi and Kendwa | 1 h 15 to 1 h 30 | $40 to $60 | $40 to $55 |
| the north east, Matemwe, Kiwengwa and Pongwe | 1 h to 1 h 15 | $40 to $55 | $40 to $50 |
| the south east, Paje, Jambiani and Bwejuu | 50 min to 1 h | $40 to $50 | $35 to $50 |
| the Michamvi peninsula | 1 h 10 to 1 h 20 | $50 to $60 | $45 to $55 |
| Kizimkazi and the south | 40 to 45 min | $35 to $45 | $30 to $45 |
Those are daytime figures. After dark a surcharge of five to ten dollars is normal, and anyone doubling the fare because it is late is trying it on. In high season, from December to February and again in July and August, drivers have less reason to move on price and the whole range shifts up a notch.
Landing at ZNZ, step by step
Zanzibar's airport is small. Between leaving the aircraft and meeting your driver, allow thirty to forty five minutes. It goes in four stages.
Immigration
International flights land at terminal 3. With an e-visa done before you fly, the queue moves. Visa on arrival still exists at fifty dollars, and it adds a good half hour to the wait.
Bags and customs
Luggage rarely takes more than twenty minutes. Porters in high visibility vests will offer to carry it for a dollar or two. Accepting or declining are both fine, and a plain no thank you is enough.
Money and a signal
There are cash machines in the terminal. Draw shillings for small spending, because the airport exchange desk gives a poor rate. Local SIM counters sell data bundles, though an eSIM installed before you fly has you connected the moment you land.
Outside the terminal
Booked drivers wait at the exit with your name on a sign. The unbooked taxis sit alongside them, and that is where everything is agreed, before anyone touches your bags.
Two things done before you fly buy back most of that time: the e-visaonline, and a data plan that works on landing. Being reachable matters more here than it sounds, because it is how you message a driver who has parked somewhere else and how you check a fare before agreeing to it.
The ways people get caught
Nothing here is dangerous. Zanzibar is a calm island and the airport is a calm airport. It is about not paying double the going rate on your first hour, which is when you know least and are tired most.
What works
- Agree the price and the currency before anyone loads a bag.
- Know the normal range for your route. It is in the table above.
- Carry small notes, so nobody can run the no change routine.
- Have your hotel's name and phone number to hand, on paper.
What to refuse
- A price that changes on arrival. Without a clear agreement you lose that argument.
- The your hotel is closed, I know a better one detour. It never is.
- Paying in euros or pounds at a rate the driver invents.
- Worn or pre 2013 US dollar bills, which Tanzania routinely refuses.
A transfer booked online removes most of this, because the money is settled before you land. If you take a taxi on the spot, the whole thing is decided in the thirty seconds before you get in. Say the price and the currency out loud, and repeat where you are going.
Where the airport actually is
Abeid Amani Karume international, code ZNZ, sits eight kilometres south of Stone Town on the western side of the island. Every drive to a beach begins by skirting the built up area around Zanzibar City, which clogs at rush hour, before picking up the road north, east or south.
The main roads are tarmac and in decent condition. It is the last few kilometres to isolated hotels that turn to track. Worth knowing if you were planning to drive yourself.
And going back to the airport
Arrange the return the day before, not on the morning itself. Your hotel can call a driver it trusts, and the booking platforms take hotel to airport runs as well. Prices match the inbound leg, and so does the rule: everything is agreed before you get in.
On timing, aim to be at the airport three hours before an international departure, and add half an hour if your route crosses Stone Town between seven and nine in the morning or between four and seven in the evening. From Nungwi or Michamvi that means leaving four and a half to five hours before take off. Keep a few dollars back for the fare, because the airport cash machines are not always in the mood.
Questions people ask
How much is a taxi from Zanzibar airport?
Between fifteen and twenty dollars to Stone Town, and forty to sixty dollars to Nungwi or Kendwa in the north. The fare is per vehicle, not per person, which makes a taxi good value for two people or a family. There is no official tariff and no meter: the driver names a price and you agree it before getting in.
Is there Uber or Bolt at Zanzibar airport?
No. No ride hailing app works reliably on the island, and certainly not at the airport. The market belongs to local taxis and transfer companies. Booking online before you fly is the local equivalent of a ride hailing price, in the sense that the fare is fixed before you land.
Can I pay for a Zanzibar airport transfer in euros or pounds?
Sometimes, but at the driver's own rate, which will not be in your favour. The currencies that work are US dollars and Tanzanian shillings. Bring small dollar notes, and note that Tanzania often refuses US bills printed before 2013 and any note that is torn or heavily marked.
Are there buses from Zanzibar airport?
Dala dala minibuses pass on the main road outside the airport heading for Stone Town, for a few cents. It is an option if you are travelling very light. There is no room for suitcases, they stop constantly, and nothing runs reliably at night. With bags, after a long flight, a taxi is the only realistic choice.
Should I book my Zanzibar transfer in advance?
It depends on when you land and where you are going. For a daytime arrival and a short run into Stone Town, the taxi rank is fine. For a night landing, a family, or the ninety minute drive north to Nungwi, booking costs about the same and removes the negotiation at the worst possible moment.