This is a UNESCO World Heritage Site with many historic buildings and narrow streets. Well worth visiting either walking it yourself or with a guide. It's safe to walk around as a tourist, although I can't comment on the safety after night fall. We had a guide who added to our experience.

Our walking tour of Old Stone Town was fascinating. The narrow streets of the town left room for motorcycle, bikes and walkers only. There were stores and restaurants as well. The the coast is close by with their commerce boats. The spice smells, and flowers added to the experience. Somewhere everyone should visit.

We hired a private guide that was not very informative (but that's on us I guess). We saw all interest points and went in a few places. Market is something else entirely, but fairly priced. I was overall let down of the poor conservation of such a potentially great place. Would have loved to see more preserved. Friendly people all around and possibility to find a few stunning hidden gems.

We walked in this interesting and unique town, which is a historical and a cultural center. It has changed little in the last 200 years. It is under the protection of national heritage. Most of the houses were built in the 19th century. The island's coral stone is an excellent, but rapidly decaying building material, so many buildings are in poor condition. But we liked wandering in the narrow streets and visiting the must-see sites: the Old Fort, Slave Market, Anglican Cathedral, St Josephs Cathedral, Freddie Mercury Museum, etc. The House of Wonders and Peoples/Sultan Museum are closed but we saw it from the outside. It's worth spending a few hours there.

We did the spice tour, prison island and stone town trip via Zanzibar leisure tours and safaris. Our guide Abdul was amazing. Stone Town itself is a maze of small streets, historical forts and of course the birth place of Freddie Mercury. The markets are an attack on your senses with spices, fish and meat smells competing in the warm sun.(not for the faint hearted). You will need a guide to explore here as you can easily get lost. Highly recommend.

When we had the city tour in Stone Town with Masoudy , we got to know that he is also running a taxi service. That was great to know, so we booked him for our hotel pick up to the airport which was in the middle of the night! So we we could be sure that the pick up was in time. When we go to Zanzibar next time we will announce our arrival straight away to ensure the pickup and also during the stay to discover with him the island in his confortable, proper and air conditioned Van.

We came to Zanzibar for a week-long holiday with the kids. We didn't want to do stone town this time as the kids wouldn't appreciate it. So we stayed only for 1 night. We decided to do a few tours during this time, i.e. the prison island tour, spice market, and Nakupenda. All were amazing!

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 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.

Heard some good reviews about Anjam with his private tour and they weren't wrong. Anjam picked us up from Nungwi and took us back. He was very polite, prompt and knowledgeable. Cannot recommend him highly enough. He can be contacted through WhatsApp +255 777 411 013