Zanzibar visa and mandatory travel insurance

Last checked: 2 October 2026

You need two things to enter Zanzibar: a Tanzanian visa and a mandatory Tanzanian travel insurance. Which insurance depends on where you first enter the country. Land on the mainland and it is the mainland policy. Fly straight into Zanzibar and it is the Zanzibar policy.

You arrange both online, and both well before you fly.

There is no separate Zanzibar visa

Zanzibar is part of Tanzania. The Tanzanian tourist visa covers the mainland and the island. On the form you choose where you arrive first, and after that the same visa takes you to both.

It is the question we hear most, so the answer is short. What you do need separately is the insurance further down this page. That is not a visa, and it is not optional.

Applying for the visa

Most travellers need a tourist visa for Tanzania, including holders of UK, US, Canadian and EU passports.

You apply online at visa.immigration.go.tz, the official site of the Tanzanian immigration service. Make sure you are on that site and not on an agent's.

1. Cost: 50 dollars for a single-entry tourist visa, 2026 rate. Fees vary by nationality, and US citizens pay 100 dollars for a multiple-entry visa
2. Stay: up to 90 days
3. Processing time: the immigration service allows ten days

Check the amount when you apply, because fees change and this page does not update itself.

Start at least three weeks before you fly. Every year we see someone leave it to the final week, and then the sweating starts.

You can also get a visa on arrival, but that means an extra queue at the end of a long flight. Fine as a fallback, less good as a plan.

Your passport must be valid for at least six months on arrival. Everything about the visa is on our Tanzania visa page.

The mandatory insurance

Zanzibar has required a local travel insurance since October 2024, from the Zanzibar Insurance Corporation, the ZIC. Since 1 October 2026 the mainland has one too, from the National Insurance Corporation, the NIC.

You only need one of them: the policy of the place where you first enter Tanzania.

Most of the trips we put together start at Kilimanjaro and end on Zanzibar. Then it is the NIC policy, and only that one.

The Zanzibar policy

The exact age limit for the child rate is not communicated consistently. Check it, along with the current amount, when you apply.

Everything about the mainland policy is on our page about mandatory travel insurance for Tanzania.

Three things that cause confusion

Your own travel insurance from home does not exempt you. However good it is. The local policy comes on top.

The local policy does not replace your own insurance either. It is no substitute for proper travel insurance. If something serious happens, you want to be moved to a hospital on the mainland or further afield, and for that you need your own cover, one that includes medical care abroad and medical evacuation. So keep it.

Mafia is not part of Zanzibar. That island falls under the mainland administration. Going to Mafia for the whale sharks, you need no Zanzibar policy, but you do need the mainland NIC policy. Going to Pemba, the Zanzibar rules apply.

Zanzibar has its own immigration

Even if you come from the mainland. Fly from Kilimanjaro or the Serengeti to Zanzibar and on arrival you walk past the desk and show your passport and your insurance certificate, the NIC policy if you entered on the mainland.

That catches out people who think they are already in Tanzania and have left their passport in the lodge safe. Keep it on you on the travel day.

The same goes for the ferry from Dar es Salaam to Stone Town.

Yellow fever

You need a vaccination certificate if you enter Tanzania from a country where yellow fever occurs, or if you have spent more than twelve hours in transit there.

Flying in from Europe or North America, direct or via a European or Gulf hub, you do not need it. Coming via Nairobi, Addis Ababa or a long layover elsewhere, check. More on our page about vaccinations for Tanzania.

The order to do it in

1. Three months before you fly. Check that your passport will still be valid for six months on arrival.

2. Six weeks before you fly. Book an appointment with your doctor or a travel clinic for malaria tablets and vaccinations.

3. Three weeks before you fly. Apply for your visa at visa.immigration.go.tz.

4. Two weeks before you fly. Buy the mandatory insurance. Landing first on the mainland, that is the NIC policy at inbound.nicinsurance.co.tz. Landing directly on Zanzibar, the ZIC policy at inbound.visitzanzibar.go.tz.

5. The day before you fly. Visa, insurance certificate and passport together in one folder on your phone, and a printed copy in your hand luggage.

What is changing and what is not

The insurance requirement has applied on Zanzibar since October 2024 and on the mainland since 1 October 2026. It is not yet enforced the same way everywhere, and rates and rules can change.

So check the official sources just before you leave: inbound.visitzanzibar.go.tz and inbound.nicinsurance.co.tz for the insurance, visa.immigration.go.tz for the visa, and your own government's travel advice for the latest picture.

Book with us and, once your trip is confirmed, we send you an email that sets out these steps in order, with the right links. You do the applications yourself, because it is your details and your passport, but you will not have to work out where to go.

The rest of your planning

This is not the only thing you will want to sort out for Zanzibar. Below is what our guests ask us most often alongside it.

1. Malaria on Zanzibar, which tablets and what we do ourselves
2. Best time to visit Zanzibar, which month suits which trip
3. Arriving on Zanzibar, the airport and the drive to your beach

Still to book, and want this kind of detail to reach you in good time? Take a look at our itineraries.

View our itineraries