The best bars and cafés Tanzania

This small open-air café, located right by the sea (opposite The Africa House hotel) under a large tree that provides good shade, is interesting for the view from the small terrace tables, over a coffee or a cold drink, all at a low price. You can sip cocktails made of fresh fruit juices. The place doesn't look expensive, it's simple but correct. The seafood and fish dishes are satisfactory, but avoid the meat which is not exceptional. Good welcome from the owner.

Pajé sees new trendy places opening up every year. Mahali is one of these beach cafe-bars belonging to the eponymous hotel, with its feet in the sand and large, shaded chill-out sofas for relaxing. The menu features burgers, sandwiches, wraps, bowls and unpretentious but fresh salads. There's a great young atmosphere here, with festive music playing in the background as the sun goes down. Excellent cocktails are served with fresh tropical fruit juices. Every Saturday, the bar hosts a live concert from 7pm.

This bar-restaurant is exceptional! You'll have to earn your way to it, and take a boda boda or bajaj to climb up via a dirt track. This multi-storey bar-restaurant impresses with its wooden scaffolding architecture. On the top floor, a supplement is charged for the view of Kilimanjaro's Kivu, sublime from morning to night. The best photo spot in front of the summit before or after the climb! The food is good and the music is African and eclectic. Cornfields and an abandoned dala dala complete the setting.

It's secluded on the harbour jetty, and its unique position offers a marvellous panorama. Run by an admirer of Freddie Mercury, this pleasant Zanzibar-style bar-restaurant looks out over the sea as the sun sets, and offers live concerts on Fridays (traditional music) and Saturdays (rock band). Apart from the posters on the walls and a music selection that often includes Queen, there's not much to do with Freddie. Beware, the food is more than mediocre and prices are high. Recommended only for drinks.

Pajé by Night is a lively spot on weekend evenings in season, with large, cosy sofas and poufs, where excellent barmaids serve cocktails facing the sea. Underneath its calm exterior, the place quickly becomes festive after dark, especially around the bar. Well-chosen music and swimming pool. The burger restaurant is also a good choice for lunch or dinner. The place also offers double rooms, all close to the beach (800 m away), but the prices are too high for the services on offer. Yoga classes open to non-guests.

It's an address that's been around forever, and it's one that's gone relatively unnoticed: this small local kiosk and café is located in the Forodhani garden, close to the seafront. All it has is an outdoor terrace sheltered by parasols, not a dining room. A green and calm setting. It serves good coffees (espresso, cappuccino...), fresh fruit juices (the avocado juice is incredible!), excellent breakfasts and light dishes (salads, burgers, wraps, bowls, etc.), at very reasonable prices. We love mixing with the local atmosphere at this address.

This new coffee shop chain has two stores in Stone Town, the first behind the fort (with a pleasant outdoor space) and the second not far away, in the touristy pedestrian alleyway of Gizenga Street. Here, it's no surprise that you can order an excellent espresso coffee, and all its possible variations: latte, cappuccino, café frappé, etc. There are also a few cakes to choose from under cloches and packets of coffee beans for sale in the stores. Here, we appreciate the wifi, the well-designed lighting and the modern furnishings.

A trendy address for fans of a good Brazilian or Tanzanian ground coffee (Kilimanjaro's famous coffee), with ground coffees from all over the world, in a variety of preparation methods from Italy and elsewhere. For those who tire of instant coffee on safari, a freshly roasted espresso awaits you. You'll also find home-made pastries for a gourmet break, and breakfast formulas that are more affordable than in hotels. It's also ideal for a connected break (wifi).

As well as being a boutique hotel in the heart of old Stone Town, this place serves all sorts of coffees, including the spice coffee and the delicious local vanilla caffe latte It sources its coffee directly from the Utengule farm where the Bourbon variety is harvested near the Zambian border. The house also makes fresh juices, lemonades, lassis and smoothies, homemade cakes with exotic fruits... You can enjoy these marvels perched on a rooftop nicely furnished with fabrics and sofas and open on small perched balconies.

Here's one of Dar es Salaam's most popular places to go for a drink or a late night out. This beach bar is frequented mainly by Tanzanians, but also by expatriates and tourists. Well placed for sipping a cocktail or nibbling on a plate of seafood (fish, squid, prawns) with your feet in the sand, with the tip of the Msasani peninsula in your sights. Clubbing every evening and swimming during the day (at high tide to avoid damaging your feet on the coral).

At around 800 m above sea level, Moshi is the base for tourists coming to climb Kilimanjaro or simply to admire it. If you're passing through, make sure you visit the Aroma Coffee House. Created by Asia Kimaryo, co-founder of the Woman in Coffee Tanzania organization, it employs 90% women from poor neighborhoods who are responsible for the subsistence of their families and communities. Aroma aims to equip them with specific skills to help empower them. It also has an ecological and ethical objective: the coffee comes from the slopes of Kilimanjaro.

This new luxury boutique hotel, opening in 2022, overlooks the Indian Ocean from the rocky coral foothills at the southern end of Jambiani, at the very end of the village. A position that guarantees true exclusivity and a sumptuous view from the heights. Its designer pool is particularly beautiful and sophisticated. If you don't want to stay here, you can always come for lunch or dinner to enjoy the setting. The drinks menu, especially the refined cocktails, invites you to stop for a drink, especially at aperitif time.

One really efficient place for the time, complicated to find. From the bus station you have to reach the largest red and white antenna of mobile telephony on a large avenue perpendicular to that of the station. Continue to the end of this avenue. Cross the street facing and turn left. It's on a street parallel to the one where you are, behind the houses you walk. Excellent coffee shop with a connection as fast as possible in Tanzania.

The luxurious Z Hotel has dedicated the top and second floor of its restaurant to a cocktail and champagne bar, overlooking the entire Nungwi beach and the hypnotic turquoise blue water. One of the best spots also at sunset, depending on the time. The bartender offers a champagne menu (after all, this place is worth it) and excellent cocktails (not to be missed during happy hour), house compositions and well-balanced classics. A DJ comes to play some chill tunes to let people chat on big sofas.

It's a good place to try the best "Abuja" in town... Abuja is a recipe for chicken cooked without any added cooking oil... with onions, green bell pepper and other ingredients as desired, on demand. Waiting time is 30 to 45 minutes as it's cooked slowly in its own juices, but it's well worth it. Local bands perform here on weekends. Atmosphere guaranteed. The toilets are dirty, however.

It is a café that used to belong to the ViaVia café chain and kept the name, but has been sold and is still going strong locally. Great atmosphere every Thursday night, and late into the night, at the traditional concert evening which continues afterwards in the gardens by the fire with musicians. Nice setting, and a practical place to get information on the visits of the city, on the cultural activities to do, but be careful it's full of mosquitoes! Take precautions, including repellent and covering clothes.

Located on the ground floor of the guesthouse, this is a warm and musical bar. The beer flows freely, especially on the evenings of sports broadcasts on TV. Concerts are held here at the end of the week. There is a good general atmosphere, despite the growing presence of young daring women looking for love. The good news is that the bar was completely renovated in 2021, and the outdoor area with its convivial bench tables is very pleasant.

This friendly concept-store café prepares... Tanzanian coffee! But also bowls, paninis and salads.... It also sells the black gold in beautiful packages, high-quality beans harvested directly from the slopes of Mount Meru, as well as coffee-based beauty scrubs. The place is really pleasant, with cakes presented under a bell on a wooden counter and good wifi. An ideal place to take a break in the city, not far from the Clock Tower. An outdoor terrace lets you enjoy your coffee in the sunshine.