Zanzibar beach hotels by type of beach
Pick the beach first and the hotel second. The tide rises and falls one to one and a half metres on the northern tip and three to four metres on the south east coast, so two hotels with identical photos can give you two completely different holidays. Here are the four kinds of beach you will be choosing between.
| Beach type | Where | At low tide | You can swim | A night | Suits |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Any tide | Kendwa, Nungwi | Pulls back 20 to 40 m | Any hour of the day | $70 to $500 | Anyone who wants to swim when they feel like it |
| Tidal, north east | Matemwe, Kiwengwa | Pulls back 100 to 300 m | 3 to 4 h around high water | $60 to $900 | Divers, all inclusive resorts with a pool |
| Tidal, but holds water | Pongwe | A reef pocket stays full | Most of the day | $90 to $350 | The east coast without the long walk to the sea |
| Strongly tidal | Paje, Jambiani, Bwejuu, Michamvi | Pulls back 200 to 500 m | 2 to 3 h around high water | $30 to $250 | Kitesurfers, budgets, quiet, sunrise |
The short version: Kendwa and Nungwi if you want to swim whenever you like, Pongwe if you want the east coast with more water, and Paje to Michamvi if you want quiet and lower prices and are happy to swim when the tide says so. The night prices are the range of each beach, from guesthouse to top resort. The side by side of the two coasts is on the north or east coast page.
Beach hotels where you can swim at any tide: Kendwa and Nungwi
On the northern tip the sea pulls back only 20 to 40 metres at low tide, and there is deep water within swimming distance at every hour. That is why almost every resort photograph of Zanzibar is taken here, and why a room costs more than the same room on the east coast.
Kendwa beach hotels
Kendwa is the one to pick if swimming is the point of the trip. The beach is wide, quiet for most of the month and faces west, so you get the sunset. The exception is the full moon party night at Kendwa Rocks, when the beach is anything but quiet. More on the beach itself in the Kendwa guide.
Zuri Zanzibar
Kendwa, north west coast
56 bungalows, suites and villas in a sloping garden above a 300 metre beach you can swim from at any tide. The most complete hotel on this stretch, and priced like it.
From $790 a room, half board (2026 low season)
See rates on Hotels.com →
Elewana Kilindi Zanzibar
Kendwa
Fifteen pavilions, each with its own plunge pool, all inclusive and adults only. The choice if Zuri feels too big.
From about $676 per person a night, all inclusive, 2026
See rates on Hotels.com →
Gold Zanzibar Beach House & Spa
Kendwa
A classic five star resort with a lagoon pool between the rooms and the sand, on the same any-tide beach as Zuri. Busier, and the beach is shared with the walkers heading to Nungwi.
See rates on Hotels.com →
Kendwa Rocks Beach Hotel
Kendwa
Bungalows right on the sand, and the home of the full moon party. Loud one night a month, simple and cheap the rest of it.
See rates on Hotels.com →
Sunset Kendwa
Kendwa
A three star with parasols and loungers straight onto Kendwa beach. You pay for the location and not much else, which on this beach is the right trade.
See rates on Hotels.com →Nungwi beach hotels
Nungwi has the same water with more bars, restaurants and boat trips on foot, and more touts between ten and four. Budget rooms start around sixty to ninety dollars, mid range runs a hundred and twenty to two hundred, and the good resorts sit above three hundred. The Nungwi guide splits the frontage into its three parts.
Riu Palace Zanzibar
Nungwi, west side
Big all inclusive on the western side of the point, a minute's drive from Kendwa. The resort sits on a low coral bank with steps down to the sand. Adults only until November 2025 and a family resort since.
See rates on Hotels.com →
Sandies Baobab Beach
Nungwi
105 rooms sold all inclusive only, directly on the beach. The infrastructure levy is charged separately on arrival, so add it to the comparison.
See rates on Hotels.com →Two more Kendwa addresses have their own review: Zuri Zanzibar and Kilindi, with prices by season and which room to book.
Pongwe: the east coast beach hotels that keep their water
Pongwe sits in a pocket of reef that holds water when the beaches either side of it have drained. The sand slopes off quickly in the cove, so at high tide you are swimming within a few strokes and for most of the day there is still something to swim in. The effect fades towards the ends of the bay, so the hotels in the middle of it are the ones to book. The full picture is in the Pongwe beach guide.
Pongwe Beach Hotel
Pongwe
Rooms and a pool on the rocks above the curve of sand. The cove in front holds water when the shore either side has drained, which is why this hotel keeps being recommended for swimming.
See rates on Hotels.com →
Seasons Lodge Zanzibar
Pongwe
A small lodge with decks looking straight at the sea, steps from Pongwe beach. Quieter than anything on the northern tip, with more of the day in the water than the rest of the east coast.
See rates on Hotels.com →North east beach hotels: Matemwe and Kiwengwa
On the north east coast the sea retreats 100 to 300 metres and you get three to four hours of swimming around high water. It varies a lot from one hotel to the next: a kilometre along this shore can be the difference between swimming at noon and swimming at four. Matemwe faces the Mnemba atoll, where most snorkelling trips go, and Kiwengwa is the long resort strip where the big all inclusives have the pools to cover the low tide hours.
Matemwe Retreat
Matemwe
A plunge pool on each rooftop and a private chef per villa, twenty minutes by boat from Mnemba. It sits above the shore rather than on the sand, which is the point at low tide.
Roughly $450 to $860 per person a night, full board
See rates on Hotels.com →
Matemwe Lodge
Matemwe
On the beach at Kigomani, with a sea-facing terrace and bar. Matemwe is the departure point for Mnemba snorkelling, so the boat trip starts at the hotel.
See rates on Hotels.com →
Sunshine Marine Lodge
Matemwe, Muyuni
Thatched buildings, a pool and a wooden jetty on a rocky stretch, two and a half kilometres from Mnemba. A coral shore rather than a sand beach, so the pool is the swim for most of the day.
See rates on Hotels.com →
Meliá 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.
From $193 per person a night, all inclusive (2026 low season)
See rates on Hotels.com →
TUI BLUE Bahari Zanzibar
Pwani Mchangani, Kiwengwa
207 rooms and three villas, all inclusive with a kids' club, on the beach between Kiwengwa and Matemwe. The pool is where the afternoons happen when the lagoon drains.
See rates on Hotels.com →The biggest of them, Meliá, has its own Meliá Zanzibar review. For the rest of the coast, see the Matemwe and Kiwengwa beach guides.
South east beach hotels and the tide: Paje, Jambiani, Bwejuu and Michamvi
This is the most beautiful coast on the island and the hardest one to swim from. At low tide the lagoon empties 200 to 500 metres out, leaving sand flats, seaweed farms and tidal pools. You swim for two to three hours either side of high water, and that window moves about fifty minutes later each day. In exchange, rooms cost a third less than on the northern tip and the beach is far emptier.
Paje and Jambiani beach hotels
Paje is the kitesurfing beach, with hotels on the sand from about ninety dollars and guesthouses below that. Jambiani, four kilometres south on the same lagoon, is a working village and the cheapest beachfront on the island, with rooms from around thirty dollars. Both empty at low tide, so a pool is worth paying for. More on each in the Paje and Jambiani guides.
Bwejuu and Michamvi beach hotels
North of Paje the coast gets quieter and the hotels get smaller. Bwejuu is the place to do nothing on purpose. At the tip of the peninsula, Michamvi has a bay side that faces west, which gives a handful of hotels the sunset the rest of the east coast never sees. See the Bwejuu beach guide.
Zanzibar White Sand Luxury Villas
Paje
Nineteen villas and three rooms, Relais & Châteaux, family owned and solar powered. Paje drains at low tide, so the private pool does the work at midday.
About $1,100 to $1,600 per person a night, half board
See rates on Hotels.com →
Mwezi Boutique Resort
Jambiani
A small resort steps from Jambiani beach, the pool between the palms and the sand. Jambiani is a working village and prices here are among the lowest on the coast.
See rates on Hotels.com →
Casa Del Mar
Jambiani
A three star with its pool and parasols directly on the sand. The kind of place where you walk out to the reef at low tide and swim when the water comes back.
See rates on Hotels.com →
The Palms
Bwejuu, Dongwe
Seven villas, all inclusive only, the small adults only option on this coast. The tide goes out a long way in front of it, so it is a beach to look at as much as to swim in.
See rates on Hotels.com →
Michamvi Sunset Bay
Michamvi Kae
On the bay side of the Michamvi peninsula, a minute from Kae beach, with a pool and parasols directly on the sand. The bay side gives you the sunset the rest of the east coast does not have.
See rates on Hotels.com →
Qambani Luxury Resort
Michamvi
Full board or self catering. Michamvi faces west at its tip, so this is one of the few east coast addresses with a sunset.
From $412 per person a night, 2026/27
See rates on Hotels.com →Things to do from a Zanzibar beach hotel around the tide
Safari Blue is the full day in Menai Bay, with snorkelling, a sandbank stop and lunch. It leaves on the tide, so the operator sets the time, not you.
The Mnemba boat trip from Kendwa takes you by boat to snorkel the atoll, with a chance of dolphins on the way. It is the easiest way to see the north east reef from an any-tide beach.
The Rock, the restaurant on a rock off Pingwe, is cut off by the sea only at high water. At low tide you walk to it across the sand, which makes it the obvious lunch on a day when the east coast lagoon is empty. The listing below books the table with a hotel transfer.
Safari Blue Lagoon Trip with Snorkeling and Lunch
7 hoursHotel pickup included
from$90per person
4.6(674 reviews)Free cancellation
Check prices & availability
From Kendwa: Mnemba Boat Trip and Dolphin Snorkel Adventure
4 hours
from$55per person
4.7(1,491 reviews)Free cancellation
Check prices & availability
The Rock Restaurant Reservation & Hotel Transfer
2 hours 30 minHotel pickup included
from$21per person
4.6(70 reviews)Free cancellation
Check prices & availabilityTop rated on GetYourGuide
All activities in Zanzibar
Stone Town, Spice tour & Prison Island with Lunch
4.5(1,386 reviews)
Kendwa: Tandem Skydive in Zanzibar
5.0(40 reviews)
Jozani Forest & Salaam Cave + Pickup & Entry fees
4.8(535 reviews)
Prices, ratings and review counts read from GetYourGuide on 2 November 2026, and indicative. These are partner links: the price is the same for you.
Zanzibar beachfront hotels: on the sand, or across the lane?
"Beachfront" covers three different things in Zanzibar, and listings use the word for all of them. On the sand means you step off the terrace onto the beach. On the shore means the hotel sits on a coral bank or low cliff above the water, with steps down, which is common on the north east and around Nungwi. Across the lane means a sandy track and sometimes a row of bars between you and the sea. All three get sold as beachfront, and only the first one really is.
- Open the map pin and zoom in. If there is a road or a building between the hotel and the sand, it is not on the beach.
- Look at guest photos taken from the rooms, not the hotel's pictures of the beach, which can be taken from anywhere along it.
- On the east coast, look for low tide photos. A hotel that only shows high water is telling you something.
- Check that there is a pool anywhere outside Kendwa and Nungwi. On a tidal beach it is where the middle of the day happens.
Being on the shore rather than on the sand is not always a loss. Hotels on a coral bank often have a jetty or a deck over the water, and at high tide on the east coast that is the quickest way into the sea.
Booking a Zanzibar beach hotel around the tide table
If you are going to the east coast, look at the tide table before you pick your dates. High water falls about fifty minutes later each day, so in a week it moves from morning to evening. A week where high tide falls between ten in the morning and four in the afternoon gives you the most usable swims.
Spring tides, around the full and new moon, are the biggest: the sea goes furthest out and comes furthest in. Neap tides, in between, leave more water in the lagoon at low tide. None of this matters on the northern tip, which is why the simplest plan for a mixed trip is a few nights at Kendwa or Nungwi and the rest on the east coast. How to read a tide table, and which activity needs which tide, is on the Zanzibar tides page.
Questions people ask about Zanzibar beach hotels
Which hotel has the best beach in Zanzibar?
For swimming, the hotels on Kendwa beach: Zuri Zanzibar, Kilindi, Gold Zanzibar and Kendwa Rocks share a wide strip of sand where the sea stays within reach at every tide. For looking at, the east coast wins: Paje, Jambiani and Bwejuu are whiter and emptier, but the lagoon drains twice a day.
What are the best hotels for staying on the beach in Zanzibar?
Zuri Zanzibar and Kilindi at Kendwa at the top end, Gold Zanzibar and Riu Palace for a classic resort on an any-tide beach, Kendwa Rocks and Sunset Kendwa on a budget. On the east coast, Pongwe Beach Hotel and Seasons Lodge are the ones where the sea stays longest in front of the room.
Where is the best beach area to stay in Zanzibar?
Kendwa if swimming at any hour matters most, because the tide there only pulls back a few dozen metres. Nungwi for the same water with more restaurants and bars. The south east, from Paje to Michamvi, if you want quiet, lower prices and do not mind planning swims around the tide table.
What is the nicest beach in Zanzibar?
Kendwa is usually named for swimming and sunsets, Paje and Bwejuu for the colour of the lagoon. They are not the same kind of beach: one keeps its water all day, the other turns into kilometres of sand flats at low tide.
Can you swim at low tide on the east coast of Zanzibar?
Not really. At low tide the sea retreats 200 to 500 metres from Paje, Jambiani and Bwejuu, leaving ankle deep pools and coral rubble. You swim for two to three hours around high water, and that window moves about fifty minutes later each day. That is why every resort on this coast has a pool.
Are Zanzibar beachfront hotels really on the beach?
Not always. Some hotels sold as beachfront sit across a sandy lane from the sea, or on a coral bank with steps down to the sand. Check the map pin and the guest photos taken from the room, not the hotel's own pictures of the beach.
Hotel buttons open the hotel's own page on Hotels.com, a partner of this site: we may earn a commission if you book, at no extra cost to you. Prices shown on the cards are the 2026 rates we read for our hotel reviews; hotels without a verified 2026 rate show none.