Best Time to Visit Zanzibar

The best time to visit Zanzibar is January to February and June to October, when the average temperature is 26–28°C and rainfall is low for Zanzibar, at 13–64 mm a month.

Zanzibar weather by month

The wettest month in Zanzibar is April with 256 mm of rain, and the warmest is March at an average 29°C. The coolest is July at 26°C.

MonthAverage temperatureRainfallVerdict
January28°C / 83°F
62 mm
Best
February28°C / 83°F
51 mm
Best
March29°C / 83°F
119 mm
Hot
April28°C / 83°F
256 mm
Wet
May27°C / 81°F
186 mm
Wet
June26°C / 79°F
29 mm
Best
July26°C / 78°F
13 mm
Best
August26°C / 78°F
14 mm
Best
September26°C / 79°F
22 mm
Best
October27°C / 80°F
64 mm
Best
November28°C / 82°F
101 mm
Rainy
December28°C / 83°F
92 mm
Rainy

How we pick the best months

  • Best: an average temperature of 1528°C and low rainfall for Zanzibar: under 150 mm, and no more than 79 mm, a quarter above Zanzibar's median month (never set below 60 mm).
  • If no month qualifies, we show the three driest months that average 10–30°C instead.
  • Wet: 150 mm of rain or more. Rainy: more than 79 mm. Hot: 29°C or more on average. Cool: under 15°C. Cold: under 5°C.

Averages cover day and night, so afternoons are warmer than the figure shown. Weather is only one reason to pick a month: school holidays, festivals and prices matter too.

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Where these numbers come from

Monthly averages for January 2001 – December 2020 from the NASA POWER project, for the area around Abeid Amani Karume International (ZNZ) at -6.22, 39.23. The model covers a grid about 50 km across, so a coastal or hilly spot can run a degree or two different. Retrieved 12 September 2026.

The data was obtained from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Langley Research Center (LaRC) Prediction of Worldwide Energy Resource (POWER) Project funded through the NASA Earth Science/Applied Science Program.