Forodhani Gardens, Stone Town: night market and park guide

Daily News calls the gardens one of Zanzibar’s busiest tourist attractions⁴. The evening market is popular and tourist-oriented², so you won’t be eating alone.

What you’ll find on the grills:

• Seafood and chips: the stalls sell everything from crab claws and calamari steaks to plain chips cooked in big woks³.
• Local snacks: look out for grilled seafood, samoosas, cassava and sweet potatoes⁵.
• Zanzibar pizza: a Stone Town street food made with a dough much thinner than pizza dough, almost like filo⁶. Think of it as something like a savoury crêpe³.
• Sugar cane juice: Wikivoyage recommends the local sugar cane juice³ to wash it all down.

The market suits you best if you want a cheap, casual dinner outdoors. Not everyone is won over, though: some consider it overrated because the food quality can be mixed³. For sit-down alternatives, see where else to eat and drink in Zanzibar.

The site was once the port and a landing point for the former Sultans of Zanzibar¹⁰. In the 19th century Stone Town was a flourishing centre of the spice trade and the Indian Ocean slave trade¹.

• Restoration: the Aga Khan Development Network announced in July 2009 that its restoration was complete, at $2.4 million¹¹. Wikipedia puts the cost at $3 million⁵.
• Size: the AKDN calls it the largest open space in Stone Town¹⁰.
• Today: Daily News reported in September 2026 that the Zanzibar City Council had taken over managing the gardens and begun a cleanup, repairing damaged sections and replacing dead trees⁴.

Questions people ask