Best Area to Stay in Zanzibar: Paje or Nungwi After 17 Nights in Both
I am not going to lie, I got this decision almost wrong. I booked Zanzibar picturing one long beach and one kind of day, and I very nearly put the whole trip in one place. Then I found out that the ocean on the east coast disappears twice a day, and that the north coast does not do that at all, and suddenly where you sleep stopped being a detail.
We spent seventeen nights on Zanzibar in July 2026, thirteen of them in Paje on the east coast and four in Nungwi at the northern tip, plus a day in Stone Town and a trip down to Jambiani. This is the honest comparison: which coast suits which kind of traveller, what each place is actually like to wake up in, the three properties we slept in and what I would book if I went back tomorrow.
Best Area to Stay in Zanzibar, My Quick Answer
Stay in Paje if you want a town with cafes, a kitesurfing scene and somewhere to work. Stay in Nungwi if swimming matters more than anything else, because the north is the only coast where you can get in the water at any tide. If you have ten days, do six nights in Paje and three or four in Nungwi and you get both.
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| If you want | Stay in | Why |
|---|---|---|
| To swim any time of day | Nungwi | Deep water, barely affected by the tide |
| Cafes, restaurants, a gym, wifi | Paje | The best food scene on the island |
| Kite surfing | Paje | Shallow lagoon and reliable afternoon wind |
| Nightlife and sunsets | Nungwi | Beach bars, a full moon party, boardwalk |
| Quiet and slow | Jambiani | Same coast as Paje, twenty minutes south |
| History and culture | Stone Town | One night is enough |
The Tide Is the Real Decision, Not the Beach
Before anything else, this is the thing that actually separates the two coasts, and I had no idea about it before I arrived.
On the east coast in Paje, the tide moves further than anywhere I have ever been. At high tide it is a bright blue lagoon right up to the beach bars. A couple of hours later the water has pulled back hundreds of metres and you are looking at a huge flat plain of white sand, seaweed farms and kite surfers. I watched it drop from where a man was standing back to the waterline in about an hour, and I still could not really believe it.
It is genuinely beautiful both ways. But if you have come to swim whenever you feel like it, you will spend your week checking a tide chart.
Nungwi, up at the northern tip, is deep enough that none of that applies. You walk out and you swim, morning or afternoon, and that is it! That is the whole argument for the north, and for a lot of people it is the only argument they need.
So the honest version: choose by what you want to do in the water, not by which beach looks best in photos. They both look incredible in photos.
Paje: Where We Spent Thirteen of Seventeen Nights
Paje was the base and I would choose it again in a heartbeat!
It is a proper little town rather than a strip of resorts. There is a food court, a tattoo studio, a gym we went to almost daily, cafes with wifi that actually held up for a work day, and about eight restaurants I would happily send anyone to. The beach itself is enormous and the whole strip comes alive from around 2:30pm when the wind picks up and the kite surfers go out!
What I loved about Paje was that there was something to do that was not just lying down. We worked from beach cafes like Mr Kahawa and ZanziBarista in the mornings, went to Jumbo Fitness for US$5 a day, ate our way through the town, and then still had the beach at the end of it.
What I did not love: you are tide-dependent, and the wind that makes it great for kiting is not what you want if you were picturing glassy still water.
My rating for Paje: 9 out of 10 for a base, 7 out of 10 purely for swimming.
The food in Paje is the reason to stay there
I did not expect to be writing this much about restaurants in a where-to-stay guide, but the food in Paje genuinely changed how I felt about the whole coast, and it is the thing Nungwi cannot match!
al Casbah was our favourite. We stumbled across it, which is always the best way, and the owner Sharif came out and talked us through the menu. He said something I have not stopped thinking about: he is not there to sell, he is there to share his passion, and sometimes he could recommend you the most expensive thing on the menu but he would rather you tried the best thing. We had his homemade bread with a chickpea spread, a Kilimanjaro tea iced infusion, a beef tagine and his banana cake with banana sauce on top. The banana cake was 10 out of 10! You can see straight into the kitchen too, which I love.
Basil, Modern Asian Kitchen and Bar is run by two Vietnamese women and we went twice. They serve popcorn with the entree, which is such a lovely touch, and the nasi goreng, pad krapow and satay sticks were all excellent!
Shanga is the beach one. We went for an early dinner at 5:30, shared a chicken curry and a beef curry, drank Kilimanjaro and Serengeti beers and watched acrobats doing about fifty flips on the sand for tips. I had tipped them the day before because they are genuinely amazing.
Bento is a food court with burgers, sushi, Mexican, pizza, seafood, ice cream and crepes all in one place. We got a sharing platter from Carnival of Flavors for 80,000 shillings when two mains would have been 60,000, so we spent the extra 20,000 and got nachos, burritos, empanadas, tacos and flautas. Good value and such a fun night!
Add ZanziBarista and Mr Kahawa for coffee and a work morning, Hello Capitano and BaraBara for a slow breakfast, and that is a week of eating without repeating yourself.
Where to stay in Paje
Chokoro House
Five nights here. A pool, a quiet garden and a short walk down to the beach. Nothing complicated about it and that is exactly why it worked.
ENVI Paje
Four nights in an oceanfront villa with its own pool and direct beach access. Sauna, ice baths, sound baths, a yoga studio and an outdoor jungle gym next to the water. Closer to a wellness retreat than a hotel.
Be Zanzibar Boutique Hotel
In Jambiani rather than Paje, rated 4.8 from 390 reviews. The pick if you want the same coast with far fewer people around.
ENVI is the one I still think about. Everything on the menu is organic and made fresh, with about 90% of it gluten free and almost all of it sugar free, which sounds restrictive until a smash burger arrives and it is one of the best things you eat all trip. There is a jungle gym in the sand next to the pool, and after a workout you are thirty seconds from the ocean. The staff say tutaonana when you leave, which means see you again rather than goodbye, and that has stuck with me.
Nungwi: Four Nights at the Northern Tip
Nungwi is a completely different holiday, and I mean that literally!
The water is the headline. You can swim whenever you want, which after ten days of checking tide times felt like a small luxury. The beach is busier, the boardwalk is lined with bars and restaurants, and the sunsets are the best I saw anywhere on the island! There is a full moon party, beach acrobats flipping off a tyre in the sand, and constant football.
The food surprised me too. Hanoi House is Vietnamese, run by a woman from Da Nang, and the coconut coffee was as good as anything we drank in Vietnam. Maisha Beach did a king fish fillet that was 10 out of 10 with the sunset behind it. Local beers are about US$5, and yes, that is quoted in dollars, because both currencies float around here.
What I did not love, and I think it matters more than any of the rest of this: Nungwi has the widest gap between what you see online and what is actually there. A three minute walk from where we stayed we came through a village where people were washing clothes by hand in buckets, drying them on lines between the houses, with rubbish piled where a collection should be. Two streets over are the resorts and the beautiful beaches and the restaurants.
It is very eye opening, and honestly Zanzibar is probably the most eye opening place I have ever been. We have been all over Asia, to Egypt, to the Middle East, to almost every continent, and this was the most drastic one extreme to the next I have experienced. Everyone we met was lovely, the kids were happy, people said hello constantly. I would just say that travel is not only about the pretty aesthetic places, and it is worth walking a few streets back to see how somewhere actually works.
My rating for Nungwi: 9 out of 10 for swimming and sunsets, 7 out of 10 for atmosphere if you want quiet.
What a day in Nungwi actually looks like
You wake up, walk a minute to the beach and get in the water, which after ten days of tide charts feels genuinely luxurious! Then you eat somewhere on the boardwalk, and there is a football match happening on the sand at basically all times, and someone doing backflips off a tyre.
We spent a lot of one afternoon at Hanoi House, which is a Vietnamese cafe run by a woman from Da Nang. Daniel rescued a kitten off the roof and then she would not leave him alone, followed him to the toilet, sat on his lap while he worked and made leaving the country emotionally complicated. The coconut coffee was as good as anything we had in Vietnam, and that is not a small claim from us!
For dinner, Maisha Beach did a king fish fillet that was 10 out of 10 and the sunset behind it was ridiculous. Local beers are about US$5, quoted in dollars, because both currencies float around up here.
One evening we sat with a Maasai man called Johari who sells bracelets on the beach. He told us he sells maybe two a day, sometimes nothing for a week, and that he comes to Nungwi for the season and goes back to his village afterwards. Another afternoon we watched a fisherman repairing his boat by setting fire to the hull, because burning it closes the holes. I have never seen anything like it! He works from seven in the morning until midnight, goes out at six and fishes for six hours.
Where to stay in Nungwi
Siri Beach Lodge
Our four nights in the north. Simple and green, with a big room, good air conditioning and a mosquito net, which you will be glad of because the mozzies here are no joke.
The Z Hotel
Beachfront on the Nungwi boardwalk and rated 4.5 from over a thousand reviews. We spent an evening here and the setting at sunset is hard to beat.
Hostel 197
Rated 4.9 from 306 reviews and honestly nothing like a hostel. We ate here and the food was unreal, and the pool and garden are lovely.
Jambiani and Stone Town, the Two Worth Knowing About
Jambiani is the same east coast as Paje, about twenty minutes south, and noticeably quieter. We came down for a local Swahili lunch at Jiwe's Swahili Kitchen, which was fish curry, chicken biryani and skewers that arrived as a whole meal in themselves, and it was 10 out of 10. This is also where we went horse riding along the beach and straight into the water, which produced my favourite photographs of the entire trip! If Paje sounds a bit busy for you, look here instead.
Stone Town is worth one night if you want to wake up in it. We did it as a day trip from Paje combined with Prison Island and that worked fine. The market is hectic in a good way, it reminded me so much of Marrakech, and yes you will get followed by people offering tours until you politely keep walking. Freddie Mercury was born here, which I somehow did not know despite being a huge Queen fan, and standing outside his family home was a genuinely surreal five minutes!
Where I Would Not Base Myself
Two honest ones.
Do not split a short trip across both coasts. A Paje to Nungwi transfer is about two hours each way. On a seven day trip that is most of a day gone, twice, and you will spend it in a car instead of in the water. Pick one, or give yourself ten days.
Do not book somewhere remote on the east coast for your first trip. The coast runs a long way south through Jambiani, Michamvi and down to Mtende, and some of it is stunning and very quiet. But if you are somewhere with three restaurants and no easy way to reach anything else, you are relying on taxis for every meal. Paje exists because it has the density, so use it!
I would also gently say that if you are picturing the calm turquoise lagoon from the photos, book the north or check tide times obsessively. We drove forty five minutes each way to Mtende Beach, arrived at dead low tide, waited, and left without swimming. Completely our own fault and completely avoidable!
What Each Coast Actually Cost Us
Real numbers from July 2026, for two people.
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| Paje | Nungwi | |
|---|---|---|
| Nights | 13 | 4 |
| Cheapest place we booked | About A$128 a night | A$111 a night |
| Typical dinner for two | A$20 to A$40 | A$19 to A$32 |
| Beer | Cheaper, shillings | US$5 |
| Gym day pass | US$5 | Available, similar |
| Transfer from the other coast | About 2 hours | About 2 hours |
Our total ground spending across the island came to A$1,387.09 for two over sixteen tracked days, or roughly A$43 each per day on top of accommodation. Nungwi felt slightly more expensive day to day, mostly because more things are priced in US dollars up there.
Bring cash. We used ATMs seven times in seventeen nights, and shillings and dollars both circulate. I use the Wise card for trips like this because juggling two currencies otherwise gets expensive quietly.
How I Would Split It Now
If I went back with ten days, this is exactly what I would do.
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| Nights | Where | Why |
|---|---|---|
| 6 | Paje | Settle in, cafes, Maalum Cave, a beach day and a scooter or taxi day south |
| 1 | Stone Town | Prison Island early, market, then stay the night |
| 3 | Nungwi | Swim whenever you like, Mnemba trip, sunset dinners |
With seven days, drop Stone Town to a day trip and cut Nungwi to two nights, or skip the north entirely and stay put. With fourteen, add Jambiani and slow the whole thing down.
For everything else about getting there, tides, costs and what to book first, my full guide to planning a trip to Zanzibar has the lot, and every property we have ever slept in is on our Tanzania stays page.
Watch Our Zanzibar Vlogs
Part one is Paje and the east coast, part two heads north through Stone Town and Prison Island to Nungwi and Mnemba, so between them you can see both sides before you book.
Watch part one, Paje and South Zanzibar and part two, Stone Town, Nungwi and Mnemba.
Still planning? Here is our complete first-timer planning guide.
FAQs About Where to Stay in Zanzibar
Is Nungwi or Paje better?
It depends entirely on the water. Nungwi is deep enough to swim at any tide, so pick it if swimming is the priority. Paje has the better cafes, restaurants and kitesurfing, but the tide goes a long way out twice a day. We chose Paje for thirteen of our seventeen nights and I would do it again.
Which side of Zanzibar has the best beaches?
The east coast has the most dramatic beaches, especially at low tide when the sand stretches for hundreds of metres. The north has the most usable ones, because you can actually get in the water whenever you want.
Where should first-time visitors stay in Zanzibar?
Paje, with a few nights added in Nungwi. That combination gives you a town with a food scene, a proper beach, and a stretch of coast where you can swim at any hour, without spending your holiday in transfers.
How long is the transfer between Paje and Nungwi?
About two hours by taxi. It is the main reason I would not try to split a short trip across both coasts.
Is Stone Town worth staying in?
One night, if you want to wake up in it and wander before the day trippers arrive. We visited as a day trip from Paje alongside Prison Island and did not feel we had missed much.
Do you need a mosquito net in Zanzibar?
It helps. Our place in Nungwi had one and I slept better for it. Some properties spray the rooms instead, which also works, but the mosquitoes here are noticeable.
Is Nungwi safe to walk around at night?
We walked back along the boardwalk in the evenings and never felt uncomfortable. It is busy and well lit where the bars are. Use the same sense you would anywhere, and take a taxi if you are going somewhere unlit.
Do you need to book Zanzibar accommodation in advance?
In July and August, yes. It is peak season, the good places on both coasts go early, and accommodation is the decision that shapes everything else about your trip.
Are there ATMs in Paje and Nungwi?
Yes, and you will use them. We took cash out seven times in seventeen nights because so many restaurants, taxis and tours are cash only.
Is Jambiani better than Paje?
It is quieter, on the same coast, about twenty minutes south, with the same tide. Choose Jambiani if you want fewer people and slower days, and Paje if you want somewhere with more going on.
Final Thoughts: Where Should You Stay in Zanzibar?
If I could only tell you one thing, it would be this: decide how you want to be in the water, and let that pick your coast. Everything else on this island is good enough that you will have a brilliant trip either way.
Paje gave us a town, a routine, a gym, cafes we went back to and the best food of the trip. Nungwi gave us water we could swim in whenever we liked and the best sunsets I have seen in a very long time! Doing both, with the east coast as the base, is the version I would book again tomorrow.
