West Coast Zanzibar Beaches
Sheltered bays close to Stone Town — sunset dhows, slave caves and easy day trips.
Fumba Beach
Gateway to Menai Bay and Safari Blue
Fumba, on the southwest peninsula 40 minutes from Stone Town, is the launch point for Safari Blue — the full-day dhow sailing trip through Menai Bay's sandbanks, mangrove lagoons and snorkelling reefs. The beach itself is quiet, backed by mangroves and a marine conservation area.
Read guideBububu Beach
The closest real beach to Stone Town
Bububu is a modest public beach ten kilometres north of Stone Town — the nearest place to swim if you are staying in the city. It is used mainly by locals, especially in the late afternoon, and sits beside the historic Bububu railway line and Fuji Beach.
Read guideFuji Beach
Stone Town's sunset beach
Fuji Beach sits just beside Bububu and is the go-to sunset spot for Stone Town residents and visitors who want the sea without the drive north. A simple beach restaurant serves grilled fish and cold drinks while the sun drops behind the dhows.
Read guideChuini Beach
Palace ruins above a quiet west-coast bay
Chuini, north of Bububu, is where Sultan Barghash built a summer palace in the 1870s; the ruins still stand above the beach inside a boutique lodge's grounds. The bay is calm, shaded and rarely busy, and Stone Town is twenty minutes away.
Read guideMangapwani Beach
Coral caves, slave chambers and a swimming grotto
Mangapwani, on the northwest coast, combines a pretty beach with two of Zanzibar's most sobering historic sites: a natural coral cavern with a freshwater pool, and the man-made slave chambers where captives were hidden after the 1873 abolition treaty. It is a moving, essential half-day from Stone Town.
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