About Us

  Nothing special  – Very loud and crowded. You cannot really enjoy the city, as most of the time you had to be careful and avoid cars, pick-pockets and chase away street vendors.

  Glad we went but didn’t wow us.  – Having read such mixed reviews on here I wasn’t really sure what to expect from Stone Town but felt compelled to see for myself.
You need a guide and… read more I think the quality of guide will determine what you get from the trip. Ours was sourced via the hotel’s taxi driver and he wasn’t the best, he spoke good English but had a very strong accent so it was often hard to understand him and we weren’t totally convinced by the depth of his knowledge. He was keen to take us to shops presumably to get a cut but we declined all of those as that wasn’t what we came to see. The ‘sights’ were rather disappointing, we didn’t see much that we couldn’t see online, and with the many souvenirs shops open the old doors weren’t really visible. The market was interesting and to a point the narrow lanes were too. We stayed 2 hours and left as it was seriously hot and one of us wasn’t feeling that well. The journey to and from our hotel were the most interesting part as you really get a sense of what life is like. Glad we went but it didn’t wow us.

  Disappointing. – Unsure where to start with the experience. After arriving by ferry, we were hounded so much that we ducked into the mercury bar next to the port (which is lovely… read more and would recommend). Quite a few times, after politely saying no thank you to taxi offers, we would be met with a response not in English and from the tone, and it certainly didn’t sound positive.
When we sat in beach front bars, people would hound you for money to buy them food. Not only were we offered drugs multiple times, but when wandering the streets, we saw people doing it. Although dressed appropriately, men were staring, and someone actually stopped in front of me on a moped, forcing me to go back into a wall in the middle of the day! We couldn’t enjoy walking through the streets because of the harassment and the mopeds speeding around.
This town needs more police present and is certainly not safe for solo female travellers. I can not understand how this is a UNESCO site. It’s hugely disappointing.