My husband and I will be in Tanzania for about 10 days in June, visiting relatives who live in Morogoro. On our return, we will have a free day in Dar es Salaam and are considering a day trip over to see Stone Town. Has anyone taken the hydrofoil over to Zanzibar from Dar? We've been to Dar before, but not to Zanzibar, and thought this might be a good day trip. It looks like we can catch an early boat and be there well before noon, and return either at 4:15 or 10:00 pm. Any advice will be greatly appreciated!

I was on Zanzibar in October, 2006, and, really being on business, had little time for sightseeing, other than to refresh memories of my first visit thirty-five years ago (!). Having flown to Zanzibar from Kampala, I continued my journey by taking the first ferry of the morning to Dar. It was very satisfactory. I recommend that you purchase first-class tickets to avoid the crowded lower deck. I believe that there are more trips in the late afteroon than you mention, but maybe not. Stone Town is very compact and you can easily get an idea of old Zanzibar by wandering its streets. I strongly recommend a nice lunch at the Serena Inn. From the dining room, you can watch activity in the harbor.

I'm confused, on the day of your trip to Zanzibar, why are you returning to Dar, do you have an early morning flight the next day? We took the fast ferry last fall to Zanzibar but flew back as the cost was about the same. There was an 8 AM flight that got to DAR around 8:20 AM so if you can, spend the night in Stonetown and return to DAR in the morning.

Thanks, Zambezi and tuckeg, for the info. We'll plan on booking first class, and check on other times for the ferry -- those were the ones I'd seen in a guidebook, so may not be current. We plan to return to Dar because we don't like having to pack up and move all of our stuff every couple of days. We'd rather do daytrips out from a central location. But thanks for the tip on flights -- we'll look into that alternative.

Just be aware that if the sea is rough, the hydrofoil can take a lot longer. We were at least 45 minutes behind schedule because of that. Have a great trip.

Thanks for the tip, tuckeg -- I had not thought about that, but it makes sense. We're really looking forward to the trip -- haven't been to Africa in almost 10 years.

Just an update on the trip to Zanzibar: we ended up flying to Zanzibar from Dar, not only because of the time factor, but also because our relatives who live in Tanzania told us horror stories about taking the boats over when the sea was choppy and having everyone on board getting sick at once. The flight cost about $100 US apiece, and we were there in less than 1/2 hour. We were able to spend the entire day in Zanzibar, taking a tour of the spice plantation in the morning and a walking tour of Stone Town in the afternoon. It was extremely hot, but we stopped twice to have cool drinks at restaurants overlooking the beach, including lunch at Mercury's, which was excellent.

Glad to hear it worked out for you.

Ditto. ZZ