Stone Town
A Swahili maze of carved doors, between Africa, India and Arabia.
Duration
3 hrs – 5 hrs
Best time
Late afternoon
Open
Every day
Entry price
Free
Stone Town was the heart of the Omani sultanate in Zanzibar and one of the largest slave ports in the Indian Ocean: the slave market operated until 1873, and an Anglican cathedral was built on its site, the altar set where the whipping post had stood.
The town is an African, Arab, Indian and European mixture, legible in its doors: Arab-framed doors are rectangular, Indian-framed ones rounded and studded with brass spikes — a defence against war elephants, imported from Gujarat where it made sense, and purely decorative here.
Getting there
In the middle of Zanzibar City, on the island's west coast. The quarter is entirely pedestrian, the lanes being too narrow for a car.
What to bring
- Covering clothes
- Dry bag
Rules on site
Zanzibar is predominantly Muslim: shoulders and knees covered away from the beaches, and more so during Ramadan. The lanes are a maze with no reliable map — use the sea or the fort to reorient yourself.