Private Airport Transfers in Tanzania

For most beach holidays in Tanzania, the arrival point is Zanzibar. International flights land at Zanzibar Airport, officially Abeid Amani Karume International, about 5 km south of Zanzibar City on the island of Unguja, and domestic flights from the mainland use its Terminal 2.

From there we run fixed-price transfers to Nungwi at the northern tip, about an hour and a quarter away, and quote any address on the island: Kendwa, Matemwe and Kiwengwa on the north and north-east coasts, Paje, Jambiani and Michamvi in the south-east, and the hotels of Stone Town. Your driver tracks your flight, meets you after the visa and insurance checks and drives you straight to your hotel. The price is for the whole vehicle, so a family or a dive group pays once.

Most visitors need a Tanzanian visa. The simplest route is an e-visa from the official site, visa.immigration.go.tz, applied for before you travel; single-entry tourist visas are also available on arrival at the main entry points, and you should be ready to show a return or onward ticket.

Foreign visitors must also hold the government’s mandatory inbound travel insurance, even if they have their own policy. If Zanzibar is your first point of entry, you buy it from the Zanzibar Insurance Corporation, online before you fly or on arrival. The UK Foreign Office warns that you can be refused entry without it.

Tanzania drives on the left. Visitors who hire a car in Zanzibar need a local Zanzibar driving permit, which hire companies can usually arrange, and police checkpoints are common. The Foreign Office advises against driving outside towns at night and recommends booking taxis through your hotel or a reputable company rather than accepting offers from strangers.

Shared dala dala minibuses link Stone Town with the villages, including Nungwi, but they mean changes with luggage and can have poor safety standards. A pre-booked transfer takes you from the arrivals exit to your hotel gate.

Zanzibar's busiest months are the dry seasons, June to October and December to February. The rains generally run from the end of March to May and from October to mid-December, when heavy downpours can slow the roads. Zanzibar is mainly Muslim: dress modestly away from the resorts, especially in Stone Town, and during Ramadan avoid eating or drinking in public outside hotels and restaurants.