Mwanza to Zanzibar train

Trains from Mwanza to Zanzibar start at €102.64 and take 7h 13m at their fastest.

MwanzaMwanzaZanzibarZanzibar
On a walk around Stone Town, Zanzibar. A recently revitalized stone gazebo in Forodhani Gardens

The Trains from Mwanza to Zanzibar starts at €102.64 and takes 7h 13m door to door, run by 1 operator over 929 km, with around 5 departures a day. Fares bottom out about 30 days before departure.

Checked 14 September 2026Priced for 28 September 2026One passenger, all fees included

  • 7h 13mDoor to door
  • 6h 29mMoving
  • €102.64 to €220.89From
  • 06:28 to 07:30First and last departure
  • 5Per day
  • 30.7 kgCO2

First and last are taken from the services we sell on 28 September 2026. The return direction keeps its own timetable and is not these times reversed.

€102.64 to €220.89 for one passenger across the 14 departure dates priced here. The low end is one day, not every day. Worked out from this corridor rather than held for anybody. The operator sets the price on the day.

Fares by date

What this journey usually costs, by departure date. It shows which days run dearer.

Typical fares

  1. about €209.34Tue15
  2. about €203.29Wed16
  3. about €196.14Thu17
  4. about €220.89Fri18
  5. about €188.44Sat19
  6. about €210.99Sun20
  7. about €142.79Mon21
  8. about €123.54Tue22
  9. about €146.64Wed23
  10. about €165.34Thu24
  11. about €164.79Fri25
  12. about €158.19Sat26
  13. about €153.79Sun27
  14. about €102.64Mon28

Based on what this route has cost recently. The operator sets the price on the day, and the live fare is confirmed when you book.

Real services

The cheapest and the fastest on 28 September 2026

Cheapest€102.64
  1. Tanzania Railways TR776207:301h 6m08:36Mwanza Central Train StationBariadi station
  2. Tanzania Railways TR722910:135h 55m16:08Bariadi stationZanzibar station

Changes at Bariadi, with 97 minutes between services and a walk of about 5 minutes.

Door to door 9h 22mCO2 30.9 kgChanges 1Refundable

Fastest€130.69
  1. Tanzania Railways TR459806:286h 29m12:57Mwanza Central Train StationZanzibar station

Door to door 7h 13mCO2 30.7 kgChanges 0Refundable

Carriers

Train operators

Every operator we sell on this corridor. Speed is the carrier's own typical cruising speed, not the average over this route.
OperatorFromFastestTypical speedFlexibilityOn board
Tanzania Railways€109.797h140 km/hRefundablePower sockets, Wi-Fi

The train gets you into Zanzibar. It does not get you a bed, and neither do we.

A hotel room

A room in Zanzibar for the night the train gets in

Sort by distance from KITUONI and you can see which places are ten minutes on foot and which are not.

Partner links. We do not sell accommodation. We earn a commission when a booking completes, and it never changes what you pay.

Booking window

When to book Mwanza to Zanzibar

The same search run across the whole booking window, so the shape of the curve is visible rather than described.

  1. €130.6990 days
  2. €98.7960 days
  3. €120.2445 days
  4. €86.6930 days
  5. €118.0421 days
  6. €102.6414 days
  7. €142.797 days
  8. €196.143 days
  9. €209.341 days
Cheapest lead time
Fares bottom out around 30 days ahead, at €86.69.
How much it moves
The gap between the cheapest and dearest lead time is 141 percent. The dearest point is €209.34, 1 days out.
What that means
Today sits inside the cheap window, which closes about 30 days before departure. Waiting from here has usually cost money on this corridor rather than saved it.
Day of the week

Which departure day costs least

Median cheapest fare for each weekday, taken across the next three weeks of real prices.

  1. €153.79Sun
  2. €118.04Mon
  3. €123.54Tue
  4. €146.64Wed
  5. €165.34Thu
  6. €164.79Fri
  7. €158.19Sat
Terminals

Where you leave from and where you arrive

Mwanza

Rail
  • Mwanza Central Train Station
The journey

What the journey actually looks like

Direct or connecting
20% of the services we sell on this corridor run through without a change. The remaining 80% involve one connection.
How far it really runs
The route covers 929 km against 807 km in a straight line, a detour of 15 percent. Track and road geometry account for the difference.
Where the change is
Connections are made at Singida, Shinyanga, Bariadi, Handeni. The gap between arriving and leaving is 80 minutes, of which about 5 is walking.
If the connection is missed
The tightest connection we sell here has a 12 percent chance of not being made on the timetable alone. Both legs are sold on one booking, so a missed connection is ours to fix and you are rebooked at no charge.
First and last departure
The first service of the day leaves Mwanza at 06:28 and the last at 07:30, across 5 departures The return direction keeps its own timetable, so the times back are not these times reversed.

Questions about Mwanza to Zanzibar

The questions people actually ask about this journey, answered from the same prices and times the page above is built on rather than written once and left to go stale.

How long does the Train from Mwanza to Zanzibar take?

The Train from Mwanza to Zanzibar takes 7h 13m door to door, of which 6h 29m is spent moving. The route runs 929 km. The difference between the two times is reaching the terminal and leaving it at the far end, which every time on this page includes.

How much does the Train from Mwanza to Zanzibar cost?

The Train from Mwanza to Zanzibar starts at €102.64 for one passenger, as of 14 September 2026. A typical fare is €111.99. Both are the total including taxes, supplier fees and our service fee, so the price here is the price at checkout.

Who runs the Train from Mwanza to Zanzibar?

1 operators run the Train from Mwanza to Zanzibar: Tanzania Railways. Between them they file around 5 departures a day. The operator table on this page compares them on fare, journey time, cruising speed, fare conditions and what is provided on board.

Which terminal does the Train from Mwanza to Zanzibar use?

The Train from Mwanza to Zanzibar leaves from Mwanza Central Train Station and arrives at Zanzibar station. Allow about 44m for reaching the departure terminal and leaving the arrival one. That time is already inside every door to door figure quoted on this page.

When should I book the Train from Mwanza to Zanzibar?

Fares for the Train from Mwanza to Zanzibar bottom out around 30 days ahead, at €86.69. The gap between the cheapest and dearest lead time across the window is 141 percent, measured on 14 September 2026. Booking inside the final week has consistently cost more.

How much CO2 does the Train from Mwanza to Zanzibar produce?

The Train from Mwanza to Zanzibar produces about 30.7 kg of CO2 per passenger over 929 km, which works out at roughly 33 grams per passenger kilometre. That figure is for the whole journey and for one traveller, not for the vehicle.

What is provided on board the Train from Mwanza to Zanzibar?

Operators on the Train from Mwanza to Zanzibar publish Power sockets, Wi-Fi. That is what 1 carriers on this corridor state about their own fleets, across a journey of 7h 13m door to door. Where a carrier publishes nothing, this page lists nothing for it.

Where these numbers come from

Places, coordinates, operators, which operator serves which pair, and every distance on this page are real and come from open data. Where a corridor has a filed timetable the departure times are real too, and ferry fares are the prices the operators publish themselves.

Derived from service area No carrier record names this exact pair. The operators listed publish a service area covering both places at a distance their mode plausibly carries people, which is evidence that the corridor is served and not evidence of a specific service. Pages state which, because presenting the two as the same thing would be dishonest.

Where no operator publishes a fare for a corridor, the price here is our own estimate, worked out from the real distance and the real operator through a fare curve that follows lead time, day of the week and season. It tells you roughly what the journey costs. It is not a seat anyone has agreed to sell, and the payment step will not take it.

Defined in full at Door to door, Fares, The booking window, Carbon

On this page
Every figure above was computed for Mwanza to Zanzibar on 14 September 2026: 929 km of route against 807 km in a straight line, 5 services a day, 1 operator a cheapest fare of €102.64, and 7h 13m door to door on the fastest mode. The return direction is computed separately and its numbers are not these numbers.

Related journeys

Being on the water gives Zanzibar a set of days out that do not start at a station. We do not sell those either.

A guided tour group

Day trips out of Zanzibar and across Tanzania

Day trips that leave Zanzibar in the morning and cover a good part of Tanzania by evening.

Partner links. We do not sell tours or tickets. We earn a commission on a booking, and it never changes the price.

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