Is Zanzibar Expensive? What 7 Nights Cost in 2026/2027

Zanzibar is cheap to eat and get around, but not cheap to sleep well on the beach. Seven nights in February 2027 cost one person sharing a room about $1,450 to $2,350 with the flight from New York, a room from guesthouse to beachfront, the entry fees and the airport transfers, before food and activities. From London the same week comes to about £1,050 to £1,750.

Zanzibar is the semi-autonomous archipelago off Tanzania's coast that drew 654,880 international visitors in 2025, according to the Bank of Tanzania's visitor exit survey. Those visitors spent $274 per person per night on average, not counting the flight there. Everything below comes from prices we checked on 11 October 2026, so you can see where each number comes from.

Key takeaways

• The room decides the budget. In Nungwi a beachfront room with a review score of 8 or more costs a median $308 a night, three and a half times the typical room there ($89).
• Flights to Zanzibar from New York usually cost $1,100 to $1,450 return, according to Google Flights. February 2027 fares from London start at £657.
• Americans pay $100 for the visa and everyone else $50, and every visitor needs Tanzania's $44 travel insurance. One policy now covers Zanzibar and the mainland.
• The week after Christmas can double the bill.
• April is the cheapest time we priced: RIU's three all-inclusive resorts in Nungwi cost a third to half less than in February on Booking.com, because April falls in the long rains.

What a seven-night Zanzibar trip costs

A seven-night Zanzibar trip in February 2027 costs one person sharing a double room $1,456 to $3,196 from New York, or £1,064 to £2,380 from London, depending on the room. The table prices four levels for seven nights from 10 February. The room prices are Booking.com medians for Nungwi from a search of all 151 places listed there. They include taxes and fees.

Each total includes:

• the return flight, $1,075 from New York or £813 from London, which were the best-value February fares on Google Flights when we searched
• your half of the room
• the visa: $100 for Americans, $50 for British travellers
• the $44 insurance
• your half of a return airport transfer by car, about $45

London totals convert the dollar costs at the European Central Bank's rate of 9 October 2026 ($1 = £0.756). A quarter of Nungwi's listings cost less than the budget row. The mid-range row is the median 4-star hotel, and the beachfront row is the median of the 23 beachfront places rated 8 or more.

Food and activities sit on top, and that part is up to you. "For every budget there's going to be an activity," says GetSafariTours founder Karlis Auzins. "It can be as cheap as $5, and easily up to $500 or more." The Bank of Tanzania's survey gives a real-world check. Visitors who arranged their own trip spent $211 per person per night on the island in 2025, with the room and meals included. Package visitors spent $379.

Flights to Zanzibar from the US and UK

A return flight to Zanzibar usually costs $1,100 to $1,450 from New York, and February fares from London start at £657. There's no nonstop flight from the US or the UK. The cheapest fares connect once, often in the Gulf. The best-value fares we found from both cities flew Etihad via Abu Dhabi, and KLM via Amsterdam was the other New York option on the first page. Allow a long day: our where is Zanzibar guide clocked New York to Zanzibar at 18 hours 25 minutes at best.

Here's how much the dates matter. These are the cheapest economy return fares on Google Flights for one adult, searched on 11 October 2026.

Google flagged the February New York fares as low that day, $205 cheaper than usual. A change is coming for the UK: British Airways starts flying London Gatwick to Zanzibar via Kilimanjaro on 29 May 2027, three times a week.

Where you sleep decides whether Zanzibar is expensive

A typical room in Zanzibar costs about $90 a night for two, but a well-reviewed beachfront room costs a median $172 on the east coast and $308 in Nungwi. Rooms run from $12 to $1,855 a night, and the coast you pick moves the price as much as the stars do. We searched the same February week for two adults in three places and took the medians.

The beachfront gap is the story. Nungwi's sand is lined with large resorts, including three RIU all-inclusives at $474 to $552 a night, so a good room on the beach costs a median $308. On the east coast at Paje the beachfront is mostly small boutique hotels, and the median falls to $172. The catch is the tide: on the east coast the sea goes out a long way twice a day, which our guide to Zanzibar's beaches explains coast by coast.

Stone Town costs about the same as Nungwi for a good room, a median $119 for a 4-star hotel, and its seafront hotels look over the harbour rather than a swimming beach. One or two nights there puts you within walking distance of the old town for less than a beachfront room on the coast. Breakfast is usually included: about four in five places in Nungwi offer a rate with breakfast on Booking.com.

For the resorts we'd pick at each level, see our best Zanzibar resorts guide.

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The visa and the insurance: fees you can't avoid

Every visitor to Zanzibar pays a tourist visa, $50 for most nationalities and $100 for US citizens, plus Tanzania's $44 compulsory travel insurance. Americans can only get the multiple-entry visa. Apply online on the official Tanzania eVisa portal a few weeks ahead; our Tanzania visa guide for US and UK citizens walks through the form.

The second fee is Tanzania's compulsory travel insurance: $44 per adult and $22 per child, valid for 92 days, on top of any policy you already hold. Zanzibar has required it since October 2024 and the mainland since 1 October 2026. You buy one policy for your first point of entry. The Zanzibar Insurance Corporation confirmed in a public notice on 7 October 2026 that a trip covering both the island and the mainland doesn't need a second one.

So the fixed entry costs come to $94 per person, or $144 for an American.

Food and drink prices in Zanzibar

Food in Zanzibar costs from a few dollars for a plate of pilau in Stone Town to $22 to $45 for a main course at The Rock, and breakfast is usually included in the room. Eating is where the island stays affordable, as long as you leave the resort now and then.

At the top of the scale is The Rock, the restaurant built on a rock off Pingwe beach on the east coast. Its menu, with 15% VAT included, runs from $22 to $45 for a main course, $86 for the seafood platter, $7 for a local beer such as Kilimanjaro or Safari, $12 for a cocktail and $9 to $10 for a glass of wine. Two main courses and a beer each come to $58 to $104.

At the other end are the local cafés in Stone Town. At Lukmaan, a cafeteria where you point at the pots of pilau, biryani and curry, a plate costs a few dollars. The Forodhani Gardens night market on the seafront grills fish and Zanzibar "pizza" every evening.

Two things change the bill. Zanzibar is mostly Muslim, so alcohol is sold mainly in hotels, bars and restaurants aimed at visitors, and eating in public in the daytime is against the rules during Ramadan, expected from about 8 February to 9 March 2027. Our Zanzibar safety guide lists the local rules. Paying by card can cost more as well: Flame Tree Cottages in Nungwi, for example, adds 5 to 10% to card payments.

Getting around: transfers, taxis and dala-dalas

A private car from Zanzibar airport to the beaches costs about $40 to $55 one way. The airport sits just outside Stone Town, and the beaches are an hour or more away by road. On our itineraries every airport and island transfer is included in the price. "I really focus on the price being all-inclusive," says Karlis. "The traveller doesn't have to think: do I need to carry cash all the time because I have to pay for something?"

Booked on your own, a car from the airport to Nungwi costs about $40 to $48 one way on online transfer sites for October 2026, for a 67 km drive of about 1 hour 20 minutes. Paje is a similar price, about $40 to $55 depending on the size of the car, and premium cars run $100 to $345. Split between two people, a return transfer comes to about $45 each.

Shared minibuses called dala-dalas link Stone Town with most beach villages and cost a fraction of a taxi, paid in shillings. They're slow and crowded, and they stop wherever someone waves. Arriving by sea from Dar es Salaam, the Azam ferry costs $35 in economy for the crossing of about 1 hour 30 minutes, and a flight from Dar takes 15 to 20 minutes.

What activities in Zanzibar cost

Most half-day trips cost $20 to $40 per person and full days $65 to $100. These are the 2026 prices from our guide to things to do in Zanzibar, where each trip is described.

Three or four of these over a week add about $65 to $320 per person, depending on the mix. A quiet beach week with one boat trip adds almost nothing, which is why two people with the same room can spend very different amounts.

When Zanzibar is cheapest, and when it's dearest

Zanzibar is cheapest in April, in the long rains, and dearest in the week after Christmas, when some hotels double or triple their rates. We ran the same seven-night Booking.com search in Nungwi for three weeks and compared the same hotels.

The week after Christmas is the dearest of the three: Turaco more than doubles and Mnarani triples. Flights follow the same calendar, and the cheapest New York fare for Christmas week was $1,888 against $1,013 in February. April is the cheapest because it falls in the long rains, and the typical room in Nungwi drops to $68. Some hotels hold one price all year, so check the place you want rather than assuming a discount. The February week we priced falls in Ramadan, which changes how Stone Town eats in the daytime but not what a beach hotel charges.

Our best time to visit Zanzibar guide shows what the weather is doing in each of those months, and how much rain an April week really brings.

Is Zanzibar cheaper than Mauritius, the Seychelles or the Maldives?

Zanzibar isn't cheaper to fly to, and at the all-inclusive end it isn't cheaper to stay. Its advantage is the middle: plenty of good rooms for under $100 a night (Nungwi's median is $89), and meals and trips that cost less than resort prices. Here are the cheapest February fares on Google Flights for the same dates.

The Maldives was the cheapest island to reach from both cities that day. At the top end the hotels match too: the same week at Riu Atoll, RIU's all-inclusive in the Maldives, cost $540 a night, against $474 to $552 at RIU's three resorts in Nungwi.

What tips the balance is choice. Nungwi alone lists 151 places to stay, from $24 a night, and you can leave your hotel for a plate of local food or a $25 sunset dhow. In the Maldives most resorts sit on their own island, so the resort sets the price of every meal, and many are reached by seaplane or domestic flight at extra cost.

Adding a safari: what it does to the bill

A safari from Zanzibar costs from about $1,350 per person for three days through Arusha to about $2,900 for four days in the Serengeti. Many visitors add two to four days on the mainland, and that changes the budget more than any hotel choice. Those are our partner operators' 2026/2027 mid-range prices per person for two people sharing, and our safari from Zanzibar guide breaks them down by route.

The insurance you bought for Zanzibar covers the mainland too, so there's no second fee to pay. Our Tanzania safari and Zanzibar beach trips show how the days fit together when you book both as one trip. Every transfer is included.

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Zanzibar trip cost: frequently asked questions

Spend on the room you wake up in

The cheapest good week in Zanzibar is in April or February, in a guesthouse a short walk from the beach, with breakfast included and one boat trip. The dearest is the week after Christmas in a beachfront resort. The second costs about three times the first, and most of the difference is the room.

So choose the room first. If waking up with the sea at the door is the point of the trip, pay for it, and save on dinners at local cafés and a sunset dhow instead of a private charter. If you'll spend the days out exploring, a $100 room a few minutes from the sand buys the same island for a third of the price.