Stone Town, Zanzibar: A Walking Guide to the Old City

Stone Town is best understood with your feet. The lanes are too narrow for cars, too twisting for maps to be much use, and full of things you would miss from a vehicle: a brass-studded door left half open on a courtyard, an old man pouring coffee from a long-spouted pot, the smell of cloves drifting out of a shuttered shop. This Stone Town walking guide is the route I would give a friend landing on Zanzibar for the first time: no fixed itinerary, just the places that hold the old city together, in an order that keeps you out of the worst of the midday heat.

Give it at least two full days. One to get lost, one to go back to the places you found.

A city of trade, built in coral stone

Stone Town grew as a trading port on the Indian Ocean monsoon routes, where Swahili, Omani Arab, Persian, Indian and European influences met, traded and built. Most of what you see dates from the 1800s, when Zanzibar was the seat of the Omani sultans and a hub for spices, ivory and, terribly, enslaved people. The houses are made of coral rag stone and lime, which is why the walls are thick and the paint flakes in the sea air. The old town is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and much of its charm is that people still live, work and pray here.

Start early at Darajani Market

Begin just after breakfast at Darajani, the main market on the edge of the old town. The fish hall is loud and wet, the spice stalls are piled with cinnamon bark, cardamom and vanilla pods, and the fruit sellers will cut you a piece of mango or jackfruit to try. It is a working market, not a show. Ask before photographing anyone, and keep your bag in front of you in the crowd.

The Anglican Cathedral and the slave market memorial

A short walk from Darajani stands Christ Church Cathedral, built in the 1870s on the site of the town's last open slave market, closed in 1873. The altar is said to stand where the whipping post once stood. Beside it, a sunken sculpture of chained figures and the underground chambers where enslaved people were held are part of a heritage centre that tells the history plainly. It is hard to see and important to see. Go with time to sit afterwards.

The doors, and how to read them

Wherever you walk, look at the doors. Stone Town is famous for them: heavy wooden doors with carved frames, some with square Omani-style lintels covered in Quranic verses, others with rounded tops and brass spikes in the Indian style, a design said to come from a time when doors had to stand up to war elephants. Carvings of chains, lotus flowers and fish are thought to stand for security, prosperity and fertility. The doors were a statement of a family's wealth, and many are older than the houses behind them.

Coffee and dominoes at Jaws Corner

In the heart of the old town, where several lanes meet, is a small square locals call Jaws Corner. Men gather on the stone benches, called baraza, that line the walls, playing dominoes or bao and drinking strong black coffee from tiny cups, poured from brass pots heated over charcoal. It costs almost nothing. Sit, say hello, accept the cup and listen. This is the social life of Stone Town in one square metre.

In Stone Town, the best map is a stone bench and a cup of coffee.

The seafront: the Old Fort, the palace and the House of Wonders

Head west to the water. The Old Fort, built by the Omanis around the turn of the 1700s, has thick ochre walls and an amphitheatre that hosts music and festival events. Next door is the House of Wonders, the sultan's ceremonial palace and once the first building in East Africa with electricity and a lift. Part of it collapsed in 2020 and it has been under restoration since, so check before you go whether any of it is open. The Palace Museum a little further along shows how the royal family lived, and includes rooms dedicated to Sayyida Salme, the princess who eloped to Germany and wrote a memoir of her life.

Sunset and supper at Forodhani Gardens

Be at Forodhani Gardens, the waterfront park in front of the fort, for sunset. Teenagers dive off the sea wall, dhows slide past with their sails up, and as the light goes the food stalls fire up their grills. You will be offered lobster, octopus, prawns and kebabs on skewers, along with Zanzibar pizza, a thin dough folded around meat, egg and vegetables, or banana and chocolate, and fried on a hot plate. Agree a price before they cook, and choose the stalls where the seafood looks freshest and is cooked through.

Look for urojo too, sometimes called Zanzibar mix: a tangy, turmeric-yellow soup with bhajias, potatoes and crunchy bits on top. Finish with sugarcane juice pressed with lime and ginger.

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Good to know

• Dress modestly in town: shoulders and knees covered. Zanzibar is largely Muslim, and swimwear belongs on the beach.
• During Ramadan, eat and drink discreetly in public during daylight hours.
• Learn a greeting. "Jambo" works, but "Mambo" with the reply "Poa" will get you a smile.
• Carry cash in small notes. Card machines are not everywhere.
• Ask before photographing people, and accept a no gracefully.
• Expect friendly touts offering tours and spice farms. A firm, polite no is fine.
• Check entry requirements for Tanzania with the official government sources before you travel.

Stone Town is not big. You can cross it in twenty minutes. But it repays slowness more than almost anywhere I know. Walk it in the morning, rest through the hot afternoon, and go back out when the light turns gold and the town comes back to life.