Zanzibar Holiday Advice

[vorman]

As the title says, planning a December holiday trip for 6.

i have done research and about to make bookings, just want advice from the people that have already been.

Firstly, i plan to book flights through Travelstart or eDreams. The only websites i know that does not require passport numbers. i cannot provide all passport numbers as yet because one person needs to renew. SO advice regarding this, any of you booked through them before, not only Zanzibar but anywhere and how was it booking through a third party and not directly with airline?

Secondly, accommodation. At the moment, im looking at bookings.com.
Thats it. Any other advice would be great. ive seen places where no credit card is required to secure the booking and decided to choose one of these, mainly for security so i dont get charged and end up there having no accommodation booked.
Also, please advice regarding places to stay at. I dont have anything specific in mind, anything on the coast.
Ive seen places further north of the Island, and just wondering regarding travels to Stone Town and airport and how easy is it to travel day trips from places that are further away from Stone Town.

Thanks Guys. Thats it. Just worried about booking flights through Travelstart and eDreams, and secondly, booking accommodation on Bookings.com.
Also, any other advice about the place would be much appreciated.

 

[falcon786]

Nothing wrong with booking through booking.com,we do it quite often and have never been let down.

 

[vorman]

Nothing wrong with booking through booking.com,we do it quite often and have never been let down.

Thanks man, and agoda? Heard of them or used them before?
Also, with booking.com some places don't require payment now, I see they just take the credit card details but say payment only due on a certain date. Can I trust that my accommodation would be reserved if I don't pay now? I'm thinking it would be better to pay now though due to the dollar price, or pay when the dollar price is low

 

[falcon786]

Thanks man, and agoda? Heard of them or used them before?
Also, with booking.com some places don't require payment now, I see they just take the credit card details but say payment only due on a certain date. Can I trust that my accommodation would be reserved if I don't pay now? I'm thinking it would be better to pay now though due to the dollar price, or pay when the dollar price is low

Yes we've used Agoda twice also no issues there either.I guess that's a guess as to when to pay since you cant be sure if Dollar price is going up or down anytime soon.

 

[rodga]

Also used both before. No problems

 

[TheMightyQuinn]

As the title says, planning a December holiday trip for 6.

i have done research and about to make bookings, just want advice from the people that have already been.

Firstly, i plan to book flights through Travelstart or eDreams. The only websites i know that does not require passport numbers. i cannot provide all passport numbers as yet because one person needs to renew. SO advice regarding this, any of you booked through them before, not only Zanzibar but anywhere and how was it booking through a third party and not directly with airline?

Secondly, accommodation. At the moment, im looking at bookings.com.
Thats it. Any other advice would be great. ive seen places where no credit card is required to secure the booking and decided to choose one of these, mainly for security so i dont get charged and end up there having no accommodation booked.
Also, please advice regarding places to stay at. I dont have anything specific in mind, anything on the coast.
Ive seen places further north of the Island, and just wondering regarding travels to Stone Town and airport and how easy is it to travel day trips from places that are further away from Stone Town.

Thanks Guys. Thats it. Just worried about booking flights through Travelstart and eDreams, and secondly, booking accommodation on Bookings.com.
Also, any other advice about the place would be much appreciated.

Don't go to Zanzibar. It's an over rated schithole.

 

[Johnatan56]

Don't go to Zanzibar. It's an over rated schithole.

I quite enjoyed Zanzibar. "The Residence Zanzibar" on the southern tip was quite nice, stayed there for a couple of nights. One of the perks was canoeing there, also walked out when the tide receded.

 

[vorman]

I quite enjoyed Zanzibar. "The Residence Zanzibar" on the southern tip was quite nice, stayed there for a couple of nights. One of the perks was canoeing there, also walked out when the tide receded.

I think I saw "the Residence" somewhere. Where did you book through?

 

[Johnatan56]

I think I saw "the Residence" somewhere. Where did you book through?

I didn't book, family thing about 8 years ago, came as a package. Was two nights at a hotel, can't remember the name, and 8 days at the resort on the south tip.

 

[Brawler]

Don't go to Zanzibar. It's an over rated schithole.

Care to elaborate?

 

[ice_cubes]

(bump)

Am looking at holidaying in Zanzibar this year - 7 days in March if possible.
Those who have been there, whats nice to do & which are the recommended places to go? Tripadvisor has few tips, but its always nice to get inputs from forumites as well

 

[Mike Hoxbig]

We stayed in Nungwi - probably one of the best spots in the island in terms of the beach.

The problem was if you wanted to do anything, it was usually about an hour's drive. The hotel organised anything that we wanted to do though, so we left straight from the hotel.

We did Safari Blue (the must-do activity in Zanzibar), swimming with dolphins, Spice Tour, Prison Island and Stone Town...

 

[ice_cubes]

We stayed in Nungwi - probably one of the best spots in the island in terms of the beach.

The problem was if you wanted to do anything, it was usually about an hour's drive. The hotel organised anything that we wanted to do though, so we left straight from the hotel.

We did Safari Blue (the must-do activity in Zanzibar), swimming with dolphins, Spice Tour, Prison Island and Stone Town...

Which hotel did u stay at? I saw some nice reviews & pics for Hilton but I'm not prepared to part with 3grand per night

How much did a taxi cost from your hotel to stone town?

 

[ice_cubes]

We did Safari Blue (the must-do activity in Zanzibar), swimming with dolphins, Spice Tour, Prison Island and Stone Town...

Spice Tour, Prison Island and Stone Town - were these trips for different days or all done in 1 day?

 

[SauRoNZA]

Can you go any other time but December?

It literally costs double then.

 

[Mike Hoxbig]

Which hotel did u stay at? I saw some nice reviews & pics for Hilton but I'm not prepared to part with 3grand per night

How much did a taxi cost from your hotel to stone town?

Think it was called My Blue Hotel. No need for taxi, it's included in the price of the tour. They pick everyone up from the hotel.

Spice Tour, Prison Island and Stone Town - were these trips for different days or all done in 1 day?

Spice - half day
Prison Island - half day
Stone Town - you can choose half day or full.

I did everything on separate days because I didn't want it to be rushed...

 

[ice_cubes]

Can you go any other time but December?

It literally costs double then.

I want to go now in March.

 

[ice_cubes]

Spice - half day
Prison Island - half day
Stone Town - you can choose half day or full.

I did everything on separate days because I didn't want it to be rushed...

awesome - thx

 

[SauRoNZA]

I want to go now in March.

Yeah that will be just fine.

Sorry see now it was a necro. Naughty naughty!

 

[scudsucker]

If you want to hire a car / motorbike; or even think you might - the ONLY place you can get a license is Stone Town police station. It might be worth it in case you want to cruise on a scooter. Cost was around R20 I think so not a lot if you don't use it. You can't get one on Sunday without a bribe.

It's worth it just in case you want to go somewhere and you just hire some local's car; cheaper than a taxi by far.

Don't go to the northern island (Pemba) unless you are either super-rich or into serious "adventure" travel. Also there are no ATMs that accept foreign cards on Pemba... which for me added to the adventure when I ran out of money.

Don't try hitchhiking after dark, the public transport ("dala dala", basically a very well packed light truck) stops at sunset. Also speaking of which, in any dala dala bus stop, be sure to ask at least three people which unmarked area your numbered dala dala is going to actually stop; there are plenty of taxi touts who are quite happy to misdirect you so you wait and wait and wait until you eventually give in and hire a taxi.