Nungwi sits at the northern tip of Unguja, about 56 km from Stone Town, and with 30,762 residents in the 2022 census it is the island's second-largest settlement. It grew up as a fishing and dhow-building village, and the boatyards on the beach still build wooden dhows by hand; a lighthouse marks the headland. Since the 2000s it has become Zanzibar's main resort village, with hotel capacity more than doubling between 2008 and 2013 to around a thousand rooms, and its beach was named among CNN's hundred best in 2014. The sand faces west and north-west, the tidal range is small enough for swimming at most hours, and the reefs off the point and around Mnemba atoll, reached by boat, give some of the island's best snorkelling and diving. The Mnarani natural aquarium keeps rescued sea turtles in a tidal pool, and sunset dhow cruises leave from the beach. Nightlife is livelier than elsewhere on the island; Kendwa lies a short walk south.
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