Landmarks, museums, historic sites, parks and viewpoints that draw visitors to a city, with practical notes on planning a visit.
15 places · Updated November 12, 2026
Our top 3 attractions in Tanzania
Attraction
Tanzania's first modern museum, on Shaaban Robert Street beside the Botanical Gardens, covering human origins, ethnography, colonial history, art and natural history.
View details — National Museum and House of CultureAttraction
Zanzibar's historic Swahili trading town, a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2000, packed into 96 hectares of coral-stone houses, carved doors and winding lanes.
View details — Stone TownAttraction
A square, battlemented Omani fort on the Stone Town seafront, now a cultural centre with craft shops, an open-air amphitheatre and the main festival venue.
View details — Old Fort (Ngome Kongwe)Attraction
An open-air museum founded in 1967 north of the centre, with more than 30 traditional Tanzanian houses, craft stalls, music and dance, and a restaurant.
View details — Village Museum (Kijiji cha Makumbusho)Attraction
A 1927 bronze statue of an African soldier on a roundabout at the centre of downtown Dar es Salaam, honouring the askari and carriers of the First World War.
View details — Askari MonumentAttraction
Anglican cathedral built on the site of Zanzibar's last slave market, with a heritage centre and exhibition on the East African slave trade beside it.
View details — Christ Church Cathedral and East African Slave Trade ExhibitAttraction
Small museum in Mercury House, Shangani, tracing Freddie Mercury's Zanzibar childhood and rise to fame with photographs loaned by Queen Productions.
View details — Freddie Mercury MuseumAttraction
A Gothic-style Catholic cathedral built by German missionaries between 1897 and 1902 on Sokoine Drive, facing the harbour, and seat of the Archdiocese of Dar es Salaam.
View details — St Joseph’s CathedralAttraction
A Bavarian-style Lutheran church built by German missionaries in 1898 on the Kivukoni waterfront, with a red-tiled roof and belfry, now the diocese's cathedral.
View details — Azania Front Lutheran ChurchAttraction
Ornate 1890s seafront building with carved wooden balconies and stained glass, restored by the Aga Khan Trust for Culture and now home to a small history museum.
View details — Old DispensaryAttraction
Shady colonial-era gardens on Samora Avenue, laid out in 1893 by Franz Stuhlmann, with indigenous and exotic plants including the Seychelles coco-de-mer palm.
View details — Dar es Salaam Botanical GardensAttraction
Twin-spired Roman Catholic cathedral built by French missionaries in the 1890s and modelled on Marseille Cathedral, tucked into the lanes of Baghani.
View details — St Joseph’s CathedralAttraction
An uninhabited island in the Dar es Salaam Marine Reserve, about 30 minutes by boat from the Slipway, with a beach, snorkelling, forest trails and coconut crabs.
View details — Bongoyo IslandAttraction
Public baths built for Sultan Barghash between 1870 and 1888 by Shirazi architects, now a quiet guided visit through hot and cold bath chambers.
View details — Hamamni Persian BathsAttraction
A protected, uninhabited island north of Bongoyo in the Dar es Salaam Marine Reserve, reached by speedboat from the Kunduchi coast or by boat from the Slipway.
View details — Mbudya Island