Every figure below is all-in as published — USD, per vehicle (never per person), meet-and-greet and flight monitoring included where the operator’s card says so, no night surcharge at either operator on this page. Each figure carries the date we read it. How we price.
The one thing to get right
Transfer prices in Zanzibar are quoted per vehicle, not per person.
That single sentence is worth more than the rest of this page. It is the most commonly misread number in Zanzibar trip planning, and getting it wrong makes a family transfer look four times more expensive than it is — which is exactly the confusion a padded quote relies on.
A family of four going to Paje pays for one car, not four seats.
The published prices
Both operators below publish these as fixed rates per vehicle, not estimates, on their own websites, checked 31 Jul 2026.
| Destination | Sedan, up to 3 | SUV or van, up to 5 | Larger vehicle, up to 7 | Journey time |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stone Town | $15 | $20 | $15–25 | ~15 min |
| Paje / Jambiani | $35 | $40 | $55 | 50–65 min |
| Nungwi / Kendwa | $35 | $40 | $65 | 60–80 min |
| Matemwe / Kiwengwa | $35 | $40 | $45–60 | ~75 min |
| Kizimkazi / Makunduchi | $40 | $45 | — | — |
Sedan and SUV/van columns are TaxiTrip Zanzibar’s published rate card; the larger-vehicle column is GoZanzibar Transfers’, both read from the operators’ own sites, 31 Jul 2026. Journey times for Paje and Nungwi combine both operators’ published figures; the Stone Town and Matemwe times are TaxiTrip’s alone, same source and date.
For the two areas we cover in depth: Paje is 50–65 minutes and about 50 km, at $35–55 per vehicle; Nungwi is 60–80 minutes and about 65 km, at $35–65 per vehicle — prices re-checked 2 Aug 2026; journey times and distances as read 31 Jul 2026, same sources.
$35-55 per vehicle is what we recorded on (read -1 days ago).
Ledger row transfer-znz-paje-price — source; every point dated and sourced.
Range = the lowest and highest we have recorded, not a market estimate. We do not predict prices. We publish every figure we have recorded, dated and sourced, and you can check each one.
$35-65 per vehicle is what we recorded on (read -1 days ago).
Ledger row transfer-znz-nungwi-price — source; every point dated and sourced.
Range = the lowest and highest we have recorded, not a market estimate. We do not predict prices. We publish every figure we have recorded, dated and sourced, and you can check each one.
Why the quotes you get vary so much
Compare the two rate cards above and you will notice something odd. They disagree about whether distance should be priced at all.
TaxiTrip charges the same $35 to Paje and to Nungwi, despite Nungwi being roughly 15 km further. GoZanzibar charges $10 more for Nungwi than for Paje. Both are published, fixed, and internally consistent. They simply take different views.
This matters because of what you will hear on arrival. If a driver tells you the north coast costs more because it is further, that is a pricing choice, not a rule of the island — and one of the two operators on this page does not price it that way at all. Distance is a reason someone can charge more. It is not a reason you have to accept a particular number.
The other reasons a quote drifts upward, in rough order of how often we see them:
- Per-person pricing. The single biggest one. A “$35 each” quote for a family is a four-fold markup dressed as a rate.
- Vehicle upgrade you did not ask for. A van sent for two passengers, priced as a van.
- A night surcharge you should probably not be paying. Neither operator on this page publishes one — see below. If a quote gains a late-arrival premium, ask what it is for.
- Hotel-arranged transfers. Often genuinely convenient, sometimes carrying a booking margin on top of the rate card. Worth comparing rather than assuming either way.
What we could not verify, and why we are telling you
We rejected two widely-cited sources while building this page, and it is worth saying which and why:
- One popular Zanzibar guide publishes a transfer table that looks authoritative but disclaims its own numbers as “approximate and subject to change” and advises negotiating. That is honest of them, but it means the figures are not prices and we will not restate them as such.
- Another publishes ranges on a blog page rather than a rate card. Useful context, not a quotable rate.
We have no figure for a shared shuttle, and we are not going to invent one. Neither of the two operators whose rate cards this page uses publishes a shared or per-person rate at all — both sell private transfers priced per vehicle, and that is all they publish. The $10–20 per-person figures circulating online come from sources none of which publishes them as a rate-card entry, and when we put the question to two independent research tools (31 Jul 2026) they disagreed with each other by two and a half times — a good sign nobody is reading a real rate card.
If someone quotes you a shared shuttle price, it may well be genuine. We simply cannot show you where it is published, so we will not repeat it.
Booking a fair transfer
Three things get you a fair price without haggling on arrival:
1. Agree the price and the vehicle before you land, in writing, including whether it covers your arrival time. 2. Confirm it is per vehicle and say how many of you there are and how much luggage. 3. Ask what happens if the flight is late. A transfer that does not monitor your flight is worth less than one that does; at least one operator on this page includes flight monitoring and meet-and-greet in the published price.
We do not yet name a vetted operator on this page, and that is deliberate. A recommendation appears here only after we have checked the operator’s published rates, confirmed how it actually handles a delayed arrival, and disclosed whether we earn a commission on it. Until that work is done, the rate cards above are your fair-price benchmark — take them to any operator you like.
Landing late: there is no published night surcharge
Several long-haul routings reach Zanzibar late in the evening, which is when transfer pricing gets least transparent and when you are least equipped to argue about it. So this is worth knowing before you land:
Neither operator on this page publishes a night rate at all. TaxiTrip Zanzibar and GoZanzibar Transfers both advertise their fixed per-vehicle rates as 24/7, with no late-arrival band anywhere on their rate pages, checked 31 Jul 2026. The price is the price whatever time you arrive.
TaxiTrip goes further and states it in writing: your driver monitors the flight and adjusts the pickup, and “you won’t pay extra for waiting time caused by flight delays” — quoted from its own transfer page, 31 Jul 2026. GoZanzibar lists meet-and-greet, 24/7 availability and flight monitoring in the published price, same date.
That does not mean nobody in Zanzibar charges a night premium. Other firms may — one guide site (ZanDrive, checked 31 Jul 2026) says “some companies” add $5–10 after 22:00, though it says so generically, about other operators, without publishing a rate of its own. What it does mean is that a late-night premium is not a fact of the island you have to accept. Two operators publishing fixed rates do not charge one, and you can book either of them before you fly.
We looked for a specific published night band and could not find one on any operator’s own rate card. A widely-repeated late-night surcharge figure circulates online; we could not trace it to any operator that publishes it, so we do not repeat it.
Spot an error? Every figure here is checkable, and we correct in the open: the corrections log.
30
facts verified at source
14
independent sources cited
39
dated observations on record
our oldest still-standing check
Related
Area detail for the two destinations we cover in depth is in the Paje area guide and the Nungwi area guide.
We earn a booking commission on some listings on this site — the bands are stated in the footer of every page. This page recommends no transfer operator, so we earn nothing from it.
FAQ
How much is a taxi from Zanzibar airport to Nungwi?
$35–65 per vehicle, depending on vehicle size and operator, from two operators’ own published fixed rate cards, re-checked 2 Aug 2026. The journey is about 65 km and takes 60–80 minutes (read 31 Jul 2026). That price is for the whole car, not per passenger.
How long does the transfer to Paje take?
50–65 minutes, covering about 50 km, from the same two rate cards, read 31 Jul 2026. TaxiTrip notes on its rate page (31 Jul 2026) that Stone Town traffic between 07:00–09:00 and 16:00–18:00 adds 20–30 minutes.
Are Zanzibar airport transfers fixed price?
Pre-booked ones can be. Both operators on this page publish fixed per-vehicle rates with no haggling. Taxis taken on the spot at the airport are negotiated, which is why agreeing a price in advance is worth doing — the published rate cards give you a number to compare against.
Is there Uber in Zanzibar?
Uber does not list Tanzania among the countries on its own global city list, and its Zanzibar city pages return “not found”, checked 31 Jul 2026. Bolt does list Zanzibar among its Tanzania cities on its own site, same date.
We are being careful with the wording, because the two halves are not equally strong evidence. Bolt’s is a positive listing on Bolt’s own site. Uber’s is an absence from Uber’s list, and a company can restructure its pages — so we are telling you what each company’s own site does and does not list on the date we looked, rather than declaring what is running on the ground. What we have not checked is how good Bolt’s coverage actually is, whether drivers take airport pickups, or what it costs — so for a transfer from the airport with luggage after a long flight, a pre-booked fixed rate from the table above is the thing we can actually stand behind.
Is the transfer price per person or per car?
Per car. Every price on this page is per vehicle, with the passenger capacity stated. This is the most common misunderstanding about Zanzibar transfers and the one most often used to inflate a quote.