A 5 Day Dar es Salaam and Zanzibar Itinerary
Five days split between the mainland and the island: two days in Dar, the fast ferry across, two nights in Stone Town and on the north beaches, and back. What to book ahead, what the crossing costs, and how to avoid losing a day to logistics.
Itineraries6 min readUpdated 26 August 2026
Five days is the most common length of trip through this part of the coast, and the most commonly wasted. The usual mistake is treating Dar as an airport, flying straight to Zanzibar, and then discovering the island's best beaches are ninety minutes from where the plane landed.
Done properly, five days gives you a real two days on the mainland and a real two and a half on the island. It does not stretch to a safari as well, and pretending otherwise is how people end up spending three of their five days in transit.
01
Dar: the market, the museums, the waterfront
6:00amKivukoni fish market if you have landed the night before and your body clock is still wrong anyway. The dhows come in before dawn and the auction is finished by the time most visitors are up.
10:00amThe National Museum of Tanzania. The Olduvai and Laetoli fossil material, plus the coastal Shirazi and Omani period, the German and British administrations, and independence. An hour or two, and it will reframe everything you see afterwards.
12:00pmThe Sokoine Drive walk: Azania Front Lutheran Church, St Joseph's, the Old Boma. Half an hour, done before the heat peaks.
4:00pmVillage Museum, once it cools. Traditional dwellings from around fifteen ethnic groups across a green compound.
6:15pmSunset on the peninsula. It happens at the same time all year here and lasts twenty minutes.
02
Dar: a full day on Bongoyo
9:00amBuy the boat and the marine reserve entry at The Slipway jetty. Cash, water, sunscreen, hat.
9:30amTwenty-five minutes to Bongoyo: white sand, clear shallows, a sandbar at low tide, fried fish off a beach grill. Almost empty on a weekday.
4:00pmBack on the last boats. Confirm the return time when you buy the ticket.
EveningPack for the island, and get your ferry ticket sorted tonight if you have not booked online.
Do not skip this day to gain half a day in Zanzibar. Bongoyo is as good as most of what you will see on the island, it is twenty-five minutes away rather than two hours, and a half day in Stone Town is worth much less than a full one here.
03
Cross to Zanzibar, and stay in Stone Town
- Crossing
- About 2 hours
- Operators
- Azam Marine, Zan Fast Ferries
- Terminal
- Kivukoni
- Note
- Carry your passport
6:00amBe at the Kivukoni ferry terminal an hour before departure. Buy at the official Azam Marine or Zan Fast Ferries window, never from anyone who approaches you outside. Non-residents pay a higher published fare, usually in US dollars; this is official policy, not a scam.
7:00amTwo hours across. It can be rough in the June to September wind season, so sit low and central if you are susceptible. The approach into Stone Town harbour is one of the good arrivals in East Africa.
9:30amZanzibar runs its own immigration even though it is part of Tanzania. You need the actual passport, not a copy. People are turned back at Kivukoni for this.
11:00amDrop bags and walk. Stone Town is small enough that no taxi is needed: the former slave market site and the Anglican cathedral built over it, the Old Fort, the House of Wonders waterfront, and the Darajani market.
1:00pmLunch in the old quarter. Zanzibari biryani, urojo, or grilled seafood.
6:00pmForodhani Gardens food stalls as the light goes, then get deliberately lost in the alleys, which is the correct way to spend a Stone Town evening.
04
North to Nungwi or Kendwa
9:00amTransfer north, 60 to 90 minutes. Arrange it through your hotel rather than negotiating at the port.
On the wayA spice farm visit is the standard stop and genuinely worth the hour, or Jozani Chwaka Bay for the endemic red colobus if you are heading to the east coast instead.
MiddayNungwi and Kendwa on the northern tip are the postcard beaches, and unusually for Zanzibar the tide does not strand them: you can swim all day, which is not true of much of the east coast.
AfternoonDo nothing, or take a dhow out. Sunset here faces west over open water and is the best on the island.
05
Back to Dar, or straight out
MorningA last swim, then the transfer back down to Stone Town or across to the airport.
Option AFerry back to Dar, arriving early afternoon, with an evening in the city before an onward flight the next day. Cheaper, and the crossing is pleasant on a calm day.
Option BFly out from Zanzibar. The island has good connections to Arusha and the northern circuit, so you do not have to come back through Dar at all. Worth checking before you assume a return crossing.
If you are flying internationally out of Dar on this day, take the morning ferry, not the afternoon one, and do not cut it fine. A rough sea, a delayed sailing and Dar's evening traffic can stack up into a missed flight very quickly.
What five days will not fit
A safari. Mikumi is a five to six hour drive each way and needs two nights to be worth it. Nyerere is further. Adding either to this itinerary means cutting Zanzibar to a single night, at which point neither leg works.
If a park matters more to you than the island, the better five-day trip is: two days Dar, three days Mikumi. Save Zanzibar for a trip that has seven days in it.
Booking, in order of urgency
- Zanzibar hotels. Nungwi and Kendwa sell out in July, August and around Christmas.
- Ferry crossings, in high season, or at least the outbound one.
- Airport transfer for departure day.
- Nothing else. Dar is entirely improvisable.
The first two evenings of this trip are on the peninsula, and so is the last one if you ferry back. Midtown is on the roof in Masaki, twenty minutes from the terminal.
Book a table at MidtownCommon questions
- Is five days enough for Dar es Salaam and Zanzibar?
- Yes, if you accept the split honestly: roughly two days on the mainland and two and a half on the island, with the crossings eating the rest. What you cannot do in five days is add a safari. If a park matters more to you than the island, do Dar and Mikumi instead and save Zanzibar for a longer trip.
- Should I stay in Stone Town or the beaches in Zanzibar?
- Both, and in that order. One night in Stone Town covers the old quarter, the former slave market site and the Forodhani food stalls without you feeling rushed, and one or two nights north at Nungwi or Kendwa gives you the beach the island is famous for. Doing it the other way round means dragging luggage back through the old town at the end.
- Ferry or fly to Zanzibar for a five day trip?
- Ferry out, and consider flying back if your departure is tight. The crossing is about two hours and the approach into Stone Town harbour is genuinely worth seeing once. The flight is twenty minutes and removes any risk of a rough sea day costing you your onward connection.
- How far is Nungwi from Stone Town?
- Roughly 60 to 90 minutes by road, depending on traffic out of the town. Arrange the transfer through your hotel rather than negotiating at the port, where the arrival scrum is at its worst.
- What should I book in advance for this trip?
- Hotels in both Stone Town and the north, the ferry crossings in high season, and your airport transfer for departure day. Everything in Dar can be improvised. Nungwi and Kendwa in July, August and around Christmas genuinely sell out.
