Price
$25 to $45 shared, $150 up private
Time needed
Two to two and a half hours
Leaves from
Stone Town, Nungwi and Kendwa
Included
Drinks on board, usually snacks
Booking
Days ahead in high season
Departure
About an hour before sunset
Book a sunset dhow cruise
This is one of the two things on the island that genuinely sells out, because the boats are small and each one runs once a day. In high season book a few days ahead, and check the group size, because the difference between twelve people and thirty on the same hull is the whole experience.
Evenings on the water
Prices, ratings and review counts as the partner lists them, read on the date shown below the cards. Check the maximum group size and whether the boat actually sails, because some of them motor the whole way.
Stone Town, spice tour and Prison Island with lunch
The most booked combined day on the island.
From$55per person
Check availability
Safari Blue: lagoon, snorkelling and a barbecue lunch
The classic dhow day out in Menai Bay, full day.
Prison Island and Nakupenda sandbank with barbecue
Century old giant tortoises, then lunch with your feet in the water.
From$29per person
Check availabilityPrices, ratings and review counts read from GetYourGuide on 10 September 2026, and indicative. These are partner links: the price is the same for you.
What a dhow cruise costs
| Option | Price | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Shared, booked on the beach | $25 to $35 | Two hours, drinks aboard. The cheapest way, and you get to look at the boat before paying. |
| Shared, booked through a hotel | $35 to $45 | The same boat with a margin on top, plus somebody else doing the arranging. |
| Private dhow | From $150 | For a group, and often the same price as six shared tickets. The obvious move for a family or a birthday. |
| With dinner afterwards | $60 to $100 | Usually on a beach or a rooftop rather than aboard. Fine, and rarely better than choosing your own restaurant. |
Where the best sunset is
Three places sell this and they are not selling the same evening. The east coast, for what it is worth, faces the wrong way and gets the sunrises instead.
| From | What you look at |
|---|---|
| Stone Town seafrontThe most photogenic of the three, because there is something in the frame besides water. Boats leave from in front of the Old Fort and the gardens. Pair it with dinner at Forodhani, which starts as you land. | The town in silhouette, the cathedral tower, other dhows |
| NungwiThe cleanest sunset on the island. Nungwi faces west from the northern tip, so the sun goes down over open water rather than behind land. The busiest boats and the loudest ones are also here. | Open ocean off a west facing point, nothing in the way |
| KendwaTen minutes south of Nungwi and calmer in every sense. Fewer boats, smaller groups, and the beach you return to is a much nicer place to be at eight in the evening. | The same horizon, from a quieter beach |
Sunset here barely moves through the year. Zanzibar sits six degrees south of the equator, so it falls between about 6.15 and 6.50 all year round, and the dusk that follows it is short. Boats leave about an hour before.
What happens on board
A dhow is a wooden boat with a single triangular lateen sail, a design that has been carrying cargo across this ocean for a very long time and which is still built by hand on this coast. Most of the tourist boats have an outboard as well, and the good ones use it only to get clear of the beach.
- Boarding is off the sand, often through knee deep water. Wear something you can roll up and carry your shoes.
- There is no shade and no rail. You sit on cushions on the deck, which is more comfortable than it sounds and less so if the sea is up.
- The sail goes up once you are clear. Ask whether the boat sails at all before booking, because some motor the entire two hours and it is a completely different evening.
- You come back in the dark. Dusk is about twenty minutes here. Bring a layer, because the wind off the water is cooler than the beach was.
Which boat to take, and which to avoid
- Look at the boat before you pay. The whole point of booking on the beach is that you can. Count the cushions and you have counted the passengers.
- Twelve to sixteen people is right. Above twenty it becomes a party boat, which is a legitimate thing to want and not what most people booked.
- Ask about life jackets. The good boats carry them and will show you. It is a fair proxy for everything else.
- Avoid anything with a sound system. If there are speakers bolted to the mast, the sunset is not the product.
Careful
Fitting it into the week
It costs you an evening rather than a day, which makes it the easiest thing on the island to fit in. From Stone Town it lands you back on the seafront just as the Forodhani food stalls are lighting up, which is the best two hour sequence available here.
From Nungwi or Kendwa it slots on to the end of a beach day with no planning at all. It is the one thing on the list of things to do here that costs almost nothing and disappoints almost nobody.
Questions people ask about dhow cruises
How much does a sunset dhow cruise cost in Zanzibar?
Twenty five to forty five dollars a head on a shared boat, for two to two and a half hours with drinks included. A private dhow for a group starts around a hundred and fifty and rises quickly for the larger, better fitted boats. Booking through a hotel adds a margin of roughly twenty per cent over booking on the beach.
Where is the best sunset in Zanzibar?
Nungwi, on the northern tip, because it faces west from a point and the sun sets over open water rather than behind land. Stone Town is the more interesting photograph, with the town and other dhows in the frame. Kendwa gets the same horizon as Nungwi from a quieter beach. The east coast faces the wrong way entirely and gets sunrises instead.
Is a sunset dhow cruise worth it?
It is the best value thing on this island. Two hours on a wooden boat under a lateen sail, with the light doing what it does here, for the price of a main course at a beach restaurant. Almost nobody regrets it, which is not something you can say about much else that is sold on the beach.
Do you need to book a dhow cruise in advance?
In high season, yes, a few days ahead. The boats are small, they run once a day, and there are only so many of them. Out of season you can book the same afternoon from the beach and often should, because you can look at the boat first.
What time do sunset cruises leave in Zanzibar?
Roughly an hour before sunset, so around half past four in June and half past five in December. Zanzibar sits just south of the equator, so sunset moves far less through the year than most visitors expect: it is between about 6.15 and 6.50 all year round.
Is a dhow cruise good for children?
Yes, and it is one of the few boat trips here short enough for small children. Two hours, flat water in the evening, and something happening the whole time. Check the boat carries life jackets in child sizes before you pay, because not all of them do.