The islands you can visit from Zanzibar are Prison Island, Chumbe, Bawe, Tumbatu, Uzi and the sandbanks by boat, plus Pemba and Mafia by air for overnight stays. Day trips leave from the Stone Town waterfront and from the northern beaches and are booked through hotels or on the beach. Zanzibar’s main island is Unguja, ringed by smaller islands within a Tanzanian archipelago in the Indian Ocean.
One clarification that saves disappointment: Mnemba is a private island and you cannot land on it, whatever a tour listing says. The reef around it is the destination.
Prison Island Trips to Changuu and the Giant Tortoises
The easiest island trip from Zanzibar and the one most visitors do first. Changuu, universally called Prison Island, sits twenty to thirty minutes by boat from the Forodhani jetty in Stone Town.
The draw is a colony of Aldabra giant tortoises, descended from animals gifted by the British Governor of the Seychelles in 1919, with the oldest carrying painted ages well past a hundred and fifty. Alongside them are the ruins of a prison completed in 1894 that never held a convicted prisoner and served instead as a yellow fever quarantine station, a small beach, easy reef snorkelling and a population of peacocks.
A visit takes three to four hours door to door and is usually combined with the Nakupenda sandbank for a full day.
Entry fees at these islands are collected in cash on the day and are frequently not included in the boat price you agreed on the beach. Ask before you pay, and carry small dollar notes printed after 2000.
Chumbe Island Coral Park Day Trips
Off the southwest coast, Chumbe Island is a privately managed marine and forest reserve with some of the healthiest coral in East Africa, protected from fishing since the 1990s and helped by decades inside a military exclusion zone before that.
Day trips are all inclusive and run on a single package: boat transfers, lunch, drinks, a guided snorkelling tour with a ranger, forest and mangrove walks, the historic lighthouse and the visitor centres. Departure is around ten in the morning with return in the late afternoon.
Daily visitor numbers are capped deliberately, which is the whole point and the reason it must be booked well ahead. Seven off grid eco bungalows allow overnight stays, running on solar power, rainwater harvesting and composting toilets.
It costs several times what a standard snorkelling trip costs. For anyone who cares about coral rather than fish volume, it is the best water day on the archipelago.
The Nakupenda Sandbank and Other Sandbank Trips
Not islands exactly, and among the best days out here.
Nakupenda is a bar of white coral sand in the channel off Stone Town that surfaces at low tide and disappears entirely as the water returns. Boats stop for two to three hours with a seafood barbecue cooked and served on the sand, and the timing shifts daily with the tide rather than the clock.
Other sandbanks appear off the northeast coast near Mnemba and off Fumba in the southwest, and most reef trips include a stop at one. Bring far more sun protection than you think you need, because there is no shade of any kind out there.
Mnemba Atoll and the Island You Cannot Land On
Mnemba Atoll off the northeast coast is the best known snorkelling and scuba ground on the archipelago, reached in about fifteen minutes by boat from Matemwe or an hour from Nungwi.
The island inside the ring of reef is occupied by a private lodge and is closed to day visitors. Trips work the surrounding reef from moorings and stay on the water. Any operator promising a walk on that beach is not being straight with you.
What the reef delivers is real: over six hundred fish species are recorded in Zanzibar’s waters, and Mnemba shows angelfish, parrotfish, moray eels, lionfish and stingrays, with turtles seen regularly and dolphins passing through. The catch is volume of boats, so take the earliest departure available.
Tumbatu, Bawe and Uzi: The Lesser Visited Islands
Tumbatu. The archipelago’s third largest island, off the northwest coast and roughly ten kilometres long. Settled for about two thousand years and a Swahili power of real standing between 1100 and 1300. The reefs around it see far fewer boats than Mnemba.
Bawe. A small island west of Stone Town with good snorkelling and quiet beaches, often included on Prison Island trips as an extra stop or visited on its own for a calmer alternative.
Uzi and Vundwe. South of the main island, with Uzi connected by a causeway through mangrove. Undeveloped, used mainly for fishing, and of interest for the mangrove systems and the red colobus populations that survive there.
Kwale and the Menai Bay islands. Reached on Safari Blue dhow trips from Fumba in the southwest, combining sandbanks, snorkelling, a mangrove lagoon and lunch aboard a traditional dhow.
These are the choices for return visitors, or for anyone who has done Prison Island and wants water without a queue.
Everyone goes to Changuu and Mnemba. Tumbatu and Bawe sit in the same sea with a fraction of the boats.
Pemba Island Trips: The Archipelago’s Quiet Second Island
Pemba lies fifty to sixty kilometres north of Unguja across the deeper Pemba Channel, covering about 988 square kilometres with a population of around 543,000.
It is a different island in character: greener, hillier and far less visited, with clove production at its centre and almost none of the beach tourism infrastructure that defines Unguja. The reefs off Pemba are regarded among the best in the region, with steep walls and strong currents that suit experienced scuba divers rather than casual snorkellers.
Access is by a short flight from Zanzibar or Dar es Salaam into Chake Chake, taking around half an hour from Unguja, or by ferry, which is considerably longer and rougher than the Dar crossing.
Pemba is an overnight destination rather than a day trip. Budget at least three nights, and expect limited accommodation and a slower pace throughout.
Mafia Island and the Wider Archipelago
Mafia Island lies further south and is administered separately from Zanzibar, though it is usually grouped with the archipelago geographically. It is reached by air from Dar es Salaam rather than through Zanzibar, which surprises people who assume it is a hop from Unguja.
Its marine park is the draw, along with seasonal whale sharks and turtle hatching around Juani Island in Chole Bay from June onwards.
Latham Island, a coral outcrop of about 0.03 square kilometres roughly sixty kilometres southeast of Unguja, is administered by Zanzibar and is an important breeding site for greater crested terns, masked boobies and brown noddies. It is uninhabited and not a visitor destination.
Safari Blue Dhow Trips Through the Menai Bay Islands
The longest island day available from Unguja leaves from Fumba on the southwest coast and works the islands and sandbanks of Menai Bay, the largest marine protected area in Zanzibar at around four hundred and seventy square kilometres.
The format is a traditional dhow rather than a motorboat, and the day runs to seven or eight hours. Typical stops include snorkelling over coral, a sandbank for swimming and sunbathing, a mangrove lagoon reached through a narrow channel, and a seafood lunch served ashore with tropical fruit laid out afterwards.
It suits people who want a full day on the water rather than a transfer to a single site, and it is one of the better options for anyone based in or near Stone Town. The dhow sailing itself, under canvas with the engine off, is a large part of why regulars rate it above the shorter Prison Island run.
Conditions matter more here than on the shorter trips, since a dhow in choppy water is a long day. The dry months from June to October and January to February give the calmest sailing.
Choosing Which Island Trip to Take From Zanzibar
Work from where you are staying, since that decides more than preference does.
Based in Stone Town, Prison Island, Nakupenda, Bawe and Chumbe are all within easy reach, which makes the old town the best base for island variety. From Nungwi or Kendwa, Tumbatu is a short hop and Mnemba about an hour around the northern tip. From Matemwe, Mnemba is fifteen minutes and nothing else is close.
On budget, Prison Island and Nakupenda are the cheapest and easiest, Mnemba sits in the middle, and Chumbe is several times either. On crowds, Chumbe caps numbers, Tumbatu and Bawe see few boats, and Mnemba gets busy by mid morning in high season.
One island day per three or four nights is about right. More than that and the boat trips start blurring into each other.
Frequently Asked Questions About Islands Near Zanzibar
How much do island trips from Zanzibar cost?
Prison Island entry has historically been about $4 plus a $3 government tax, though combined Prison Island and Nakupenda fees are commonly charged at $21 to $25 per person in cash. Boat hire negotiated on the beach runs $20 to $30 for a small group, with combined day tours around $40 to $70 per person including lunch. Mnemba trips start around $50 shared and reach $200 private. Chumbe day packages run $90 to $110 plus a government levy of about $25.
Can you visit Mnemba Island?
No. The island inside the atoll is occupied by a private lodge and is closed to day visitors. Snorkelling and scuba trips work the surrounding reef and stay on the water, often with a stop at a nearby sandbank instead. Any tour promising a landing on Mnemba’s beach is misleading you.
Is Pemba worth visiting from Zanzibar?
For experienced scuba divers and anyone wanting somewhere genuinely quiet, yes. Pemba is greener, hillier and far less developed than Unguja, with reefs regarded among the best in the region. It is reached by a short flight of around half an hour to Chake Chake, and it is an overnight destination rather than a day trip, so budget at least three nights.
Which island trip is best for families?
Prison Island combined with the Nakupenda sandbank. The crossing is short, the water is shallow and calm, there are tortoises to feed and sand to play on, and the whole day runs six to eight hours. Check the boat carries child sized life jackets, and bring far more sun protection than you expect, since the sandbank has no shade.
How do you get to Chumbe Island?
By boat from the coast southwest of Zanzibar City, taking around half an hour, on an all inclusive day package departing around ten in the morning and returning late afternoon. Road transfers from Stone Town to the departure point are usually arranged separately and add roughly $30 return. Daily numbers are capped, so book several weeks ahead in high season.
Can you island hop around Zanzibar?
Day trips only, for the most part. The smaller islands around Unguja have no accommodation, with the exception of Chumbe’s seven eco bungalows and the private lodge on Mnemba. Genuine island hopping means flying to Pemba for a few nights, or to Mafia via Dar es Salaam, rather than moving between the small islands off Unguja.
The island trips are where quoted prices and final prices most often diverge, usually because entry fees and marine levies sit outside the boat cost. Holidays To Zanzibar states the full figure up front, uses boats that carry proper safety gear, and times the sandbank runs to the tide rather than the clock.
For a day on the water arranged around your base and your swimming confidence, get in touch with Holidays To Zanzibar and a real person will answer.