Kigoma to Zanzibar train

Trains from Kigoma to Zanzibar start at €140.04 and take 9h 6m at their fastest.

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

The Trains from Kigoma to Zanzibar starts at €140.04 and takes 9h 6m door to door, run by 1 operator over 1,229 km, with around 5 departures a day. Fares bottom out about 30 days before departure.

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

  • 9h 6mDoor to door
  • 8h 22mMoving
  • €140.04 to €291.84From
  • 06:28 to 07:30First and last departure
  • 5Per day
  • 40.6 kgCO2

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

€140.04 to €291.84 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 €276.44Tue15
  2. about €268.74Wed16
  3. about €258.84Thu17
  4. about €291.84Fri18
  5. about €248.39Sat19
  6. about €278.09Sun20
  7. about €187.89Mon21
  8. about €167.54Tue22
  9. about €193.39Wed23
  10. about €228.04Thu24
  11. about €223.64Fri25
  12. about €223.64Sat26
  13. about €210.99Sun27
  14. about €140.04Mon28

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 September 28, 2026

Cheapest€140.04
  1. Tanzania Railways TR574707:302h 54m10:24Kigoma stationTabora station
  2. Tanzania Railways TR614312:005h 49m17:49Tabora stationZanzibar station

Changes at Tabora, with 96 minutes between services and a walk of about 5 minutes.

Door to door 11h 3mCO2 40.7 kgChanges 1Refundable

Fastest€172.49
  1. Tanzania Railways TR203206:288h 22m14:50Kigoma stationZanzibar station

Door to door 9h 6mCO2 40.6 kgChanges 0Refundable

Carriers

Rail 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€144.449h 6m140 km/hRefundablePower outlets, 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 Kigoma to Zanzibar

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

  1. €171.9490 days
  2. €138.3960 days
  3. €162.5945 days
  4. €114.1930 days
  5. €157.0921 days
  6. €140.0414 days
  7. €187.897 days
  8. €258.843 days
  9. €276.441 days
Cheapest lead time
Fares bottom out around 30 days ahead, at €114.19.
How much it moves
The gap between the cheapest and most expensive lead time is 142 percent. The most expensive point is €276.44, 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. €210.99Sun
  2. €157.09Mon
  3. €167.54Tue
  4. €193.39Wed
  5. €228.04Thu
  6. €223.64Fri
  7. €223.64Sat
Terminals

Where you leave from and where you arrive

Kigoma

Rail
  • Kigoma 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 1,229 km against 1,069 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 Kibaigwa, Dodoma, Tabora, Singida. The gap between arriving and leaving is 64 minutes, of which about 5 is walking.
If the connection is missed
The tightest connection we sell here has a 15 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 Kigoma 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 Kigoma to Zanzibar

The questions people actually ask about this trip, 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 Kigoma to Zanzibar take?

The Train from Kigoma to Zanzibar takes 9h 6m door to door, of which 8h 22m is spent moving. The route runs 1,229 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 Kigoma to Zanzibar cost?

The Train from Kigoma to Zanzibar starts at €140.04 for one passenger, as of September 14, 2026. A typical fare is €149.39. 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 Kigoma to Zanzibar?

1 operators run the Train from Kigoma 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 Kigoma to Zanzibar use?

The Train from Kigoma to Zanzibar leaves from Kigoma 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 Kigoma to Zanzibar?

Fares for the Train from Kigoma to Zanzibar bottom out around 30 days ahead, at €114.19. The gap between the cheapest and most expensive lead time across the window is 142 percent, measured on September 14, 2026. Booking inside the final week has consistently cost more.

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

The Train from Kigoma to Zanzibar produces about 40.6 kg of CO2 per passenger over 1229 km, which works out at roughly 33 grams per passenger kilometer. That figure is for the whole journey and for one traveler, not for the vehicle.

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

Operators on the Train from Kigoma to Zanzibar publish Power outlets, Wi-Fi. That is what 1 carriers on this corridor state about their own fleets, across a journey of 9h 6m 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 Kigoma to Zanzibar on September 14, 2026: 1229 km of route against 1069 km in a straight line, 5 services a day, 1 operator a cheapest fare of €140.04, and 9h 6m 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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