The wind dropped. Or it is your no-wind day. Or your partner is happy to read on the sun lounger while you ride and wants to know what they can do in Paje. Good news: this strip of east-coast Zanzibar is far more than a kite beach. We have been here since 2006 and we have spent every no-wind day finding things to do. This is the locals’ shortlist of what is actually worth your time in Paje when you are off the kite.
Pole Pole. Let’s go.
In short
- Paje is small but everything good is within a 5-minute walk or a 10-minute tuk-tuk.
- Half-day trips (Jozani, Stone Town, Mnemba snorkel) are easy from Paje and turn a no-wind day into a memory.
- For the spa, the food, the sundowners, you do not even have to leave the village.
- Cash matters. Paje has one ATM (the Stanbic at Paje Police Station roundabout). Bring backup TZS.
- Most things start late. Lunch from 12, dinner from 18:30. Pace matches the island.
1. Eat at the Paje village classics
Paje punches well above its weight on food. We send students here every week. The current shortlist:
Mr Kahawa. Beach-front Italian-leaning kitchen attached to our kitesurf resort. Sourdough pizza, fresh fish, real espresso, sunset cocktails on the deck. Their wood-fired oven is famous beyond Paje. Open all day.
Mahi Mahi. Beach-side, big shareable mezze plates, swing chairs, sunset views. Great for groups.
Boom Boom Cafe. Locals’ spot. Cheap, fast, generous portions. Pilau rice and grilled fish for under 15,000 TZS.
Cuban Coffee. Tiny, blue-painted, run by a couple who roast their own beans. Best flat white in Paje. Closes after lunch.
The Mwani. Newer, plant-forward menu, perfect for a lighter lunch after a morning session.
Walk-in is fine almost everywhere. Reservations only needed at Mr Kahawa on weekends.
2. Swim or float in the high-tide lagoon
When the kites come down and the wind drops, the same lagoon you saw shredded all afternoon turns into a glassy swimming pool. High tide is the move. Walk out from any beach access, float on your back, watch the dhows. The water is 27-28°C. Bring goggles: there are starfish, little reef fish, the occasional ray. No surf, no current, kid-safe.
Tide times shift roughly 50 minutes later each day. Ask anyone at the kite school and we will tell you the day’s high.
3. Spa or massage in the village
Two recommendations and both are walkable from the main strip.
Spice Spa at Paje by Night. Sister to the restaurant. Coconut oil massage 60-min for around 60,000 TZS. Open-air treatment huts.
Heart of Paje. Smaller, more intimate, the owner is a Zanzibari-trained therapist. Book ahead.
After a week of kite lessons your shoulders and forearms will thank you. We send our own instructors here on their days off.
4. Half-day trip: Jozani Forest
The only national park on Zanzibar is 25 minutes from Paje by tuk-tuk or taxi. Jozani is famous for Zanzibar red colobus monkeys, found nowhere else on earth. About 6,000 of them live in the forest, and a guided walk gets you within 2-3 metres of a habituated troop.
Practical: 25,000 TZS entry, 30,000 TZS guide. Bring water, closed shoes, mosquito repellent. The mangrove boardwalk after the monkey walk is worth the extra 30 minutes: totally different ecosystem, atmospheric and quiet.
Total time door-to-door: 3-4 hours.
5. Half-day trip: Mnemba snorkel or dhow
Mnemba is the small atoll off the north-east tip of Zanzibar with the island’s best snorkeling: turtles, dolphins (if you are lucky), coral that is actually still alive. Operators run from Matemwe, but you can join a transfer from Paje. We organise this for guests; just ask at the centre.
Half-day with breakfast and snorkel kit: around USD 50-60 per person depending on group size. Pure tropical-postcard energy. See our Mnemba day trip writeup for the local-knowledge version.
6. Half-day trip: Stone Town
1.5-hour drive across the island gets you to Zanzibar’s old town. UNESCO heritage site, swirling alleys, spice market, Freddie Mercury’s birthplace, dhow harbour, the slave-trade memorial museum. Do not try to do it in half a day if you also want to see the museums. Go for a full day and have lunch at Lukmaan (local) or Emerson Spice (fancy).
Easiest: pre-booked taxi USD 50-60 each way for a small group, or USD 30 each via shared tuk-tuk if you are flexible on timing. The drive itself is a window into village Zanzibar.
7. SUP the mangroves
Stand-up paddle through the mangrove channels behind Jambiani is calm-water magic. Glassy, sheltered, full of birdlife and tiny crabs. Half-day with guide and boards is 50 USD per person.
We run this from KCZ during peak season. See our SUP mangrove tour page for the format. No SUP experience needed; if you can stand on a kiteboard you can stand on a SUP.
8. Sunrise at the kite beach
Nobody tells you this one. Get up at 05:45, walk to the beach, see the sun come straight out of the Indian Ocean horizon. Twenty minutes of pure quiet. The fishermen are pulling boats in. The colour goes from black to navy to pink to gold. Take coffee from Cuban Coffee on the way back.
It is the best free thing in Paje and almost no tourist does it.
9. Visit a spice farm
Zanzibar’s nickname is “the Spice Island” for a reason. Cloves, vanilla, cardamom, nutmeg, cinnamon, peppercorns: all grown here. A spice farm tour (typically near Kizimbani, 1 hour from Paje) gets you walking through living plants, tasting the differences, watching how cloves dry and vanilla pods cure. The guides will weave you a hat out of palm fronds and feed you fruit you have never seen. Touristy in the best way.
USD 25 per person, half-day, normally combined with a Stone Town leg.
10. Eat with a local family (dinner experience)
Several Paje families now host visitors for a Swahili dinner in their home. Coconut rice, pilau, octopus curry, chapati made fresh, sweet karkadeh tea. It is the most direct way to understand Zanzibari life. Around USD 20 per person, you sit on cushions, you eat with your hands (or a spoon, no judgement).
Ask at the centre and we will connect you to a family the team trusts.
Bonus: rainy day in Paje?
The rainy season in Zanzibar is mostly short bursts, not all-day downpours. But if you wake up to grey skies:
- Coffee plus a long lunch at Mr Kahawa with a book
- Massage at Spice Spa
- Stone Town day trip: the city is actually atmospheric in rain
- Swim regardless: the water is warmer than the air on a wet day
The classic Paje rainy-day rotation: brunch, spa, lunch, nap, sundowners. Hakuna Matata.
Practical tips for a Paje rest day
- Tuk-tuks wait at the Paje roundabout. Negotiate before getting in. Paje → Bwejuu = 5,000 TZS. Paje → Jambiani = 8,000 TZS. Paje → Jozani = 50,000 TZS round trip with wait.
- Mosquitoes appear at dusk. Bring repellent or order a citronella candle at any restaurant.
- Sun protection. The breeze fools you. Reapply SPF every 2 hours, even on cloudy days.
- Cash. Stanbic ATM in Paje works on most cards but goes down for hours. Have backup TZS.
- Wifi. Most restaurants. Speed varies. Plan video calls for early morning.
- Stay in the lagoon side of the village for kite-school proximity. We are at the main kite beach, five minutes from everything in this list except Jozani and Stone Town.
Why this list (and not the Tripadvisor one)
Most “things to do in Paje” lists are written by SEO contractors who have never been here. Ours is the team’s own weekly rotation. We eat at these places, we drink at these places, we send our own friends to these spots when they visit. If we do not rate it, it is not on the list. If you want our take on anything else (kite or non-kite), drop in at the centre. Ask for Stephi, Baris, or any of the team.
Karibu Paje. Take it slow. The wind will be back tomorrow.
