Things to do in Zanzibar on backpackers budget!

Zanzibar on a Backpacker's budget is no longer a dream, but a reality. Gone are the days when Zanzibar was only associated with rich honeymooning couples and rarely with backpackers! Here are my tips on spending a day on the island with a small budget of $ 101 only - this includes travel, food as well as shopping for spices and souvenirs. Read on to learn more...

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The first time I ever thought of traveling to this gorgeous island was when I saw it's images in a glossy airline magazine. The place had everything I loved - pristine blue-green sea with fine white sand, some of the most exotic looking bazaars I have ever seen and great opportunities of street photography. But the place looked very very expensive as well - I could only see super luxurious resorts suitable for rich honeymooning couples and only very expensive looking restaurants to eat food at. Also, the place was just too beautiful to be affordable, so I quickly gave up the idea.

The famous waters of Zanzibar beaches...

However, once I reached Dar-es-Salaam, I was convinced to try it out on a budgeted trip and the entire trip cost me approx USD 101. Let en tell you how!

Buy the tickets from the Kilimanjaro ferry for USD 40 one way - this will be the most expensive part of the journey and also unavoidable.

Eat food at the local eating places - this is great to not jut save money but also to pick some conversations with the people who live here. I had coffee for shillings 500, lunch for shillings  10,000, ice-cream for shillings 1000. Enough food to last an entire day :) I was also offered Indian pakoras for free because the seller was very glad to see an Indian traveller. There are many Indians here, but rarely do they see an Indian traveller. If you get more hungry, head out to the fruit market and buy some fresh farm produce - you can find some exotic varieties like Dragon fruit etc in sale there. Bananas are great and also extremely very cheap.

Walk everywhere for the one day you have here. The old town and the beaches around are more than enough to keep you very satisfied for one day. So spend absolutely no money on transportation :) Taxis are simply unnecessary, unless you want to drive around the entire island and spend time on the far off beaches.

An old house in the Stone town

Buy some spices or souvenirs but buy them from the local market deep into the city. Bargain as much as you can, if done with skill often you can reduce the price by exactly half. Coffee is great to buy as well as Vanilla.

I also bought the traditional dress of Muslim men from one of the local shops, and it costed me dearly - shillings 15,000.

Here is the total money spent in one day in Zanzibar (in Tanzanian Shillings):

Travel: 13,2840
Food: 12,000
Souvenirs: 5,000
Clothes: 15,000
Others: 3,000

Total: Tanzanian Shillings 167,840 (USD: 101)!

Isn't this amazing? :)

Cycling looks fun, isn't it?

Capturing from across the lane...

A rather short hunk on the beach :)

Here's another excellent guide: Backpacker's guide to Zanzibar