20 BEST TOURIST ATTRACTIONS IN TANZANIA (Destinations)

First up, it goes without saying that you have to travel to the Serengeti during your trip to Tanzania. Just like Mount Kilimanjaro, the Serengeti is one of the biggest tourist attractions of Tanzania, and it is perfect for any animal lover.
These vast plains are home to millions of wildlife, and animals passing through. It is home to the Big Five, and a very popular location for game drives.
It is also the second-largest national park in Tanzania, and the location of the great wildebeest migration every year. Many people visit Tanzania purely to go on a safari to the Serengeti.

If you want to go to an area where you can see both immense natural beauty, and lots of wildlife, then you should head to Ngorongoro Conservation Area. This area is home to thousands of animals, including some of the Big Five.
Ngorongoro Conservation Area literally combines both nature and wildlife. This is because the biggest geographical draw to this area is the Ngorongoro Crater.
However, this crater is also home to all the thousands of wildlife that we mentioned earlier. It really is a tourist attraction in Tanzania you don’t want to miss!

As you have probably noticed, quite a lot of the tourist attractions in this guide are national parks.
Tanzania isn’t a country that you visit to spend your time indoors, instead it is somewhere that you visit to immerse yourself in nature. One of the best places to do this is Lake Manyara National park.
This national park is incredibly diverse, with areas of grasslands, swamps, woodlands, and forests. A large amount of the national park is composed of water, so it is the place to go if you love birds.
It is also home to the largest concentration of baboons on the planet, so if you want to see these beautiful creatures, consider a trip to Lake Manyara.

Zanzibar is famous for its crystal clear waters and sparkling white beaches, so we won’t say too much about them.
But what we will say is that you shouldn’t make a trip to Tanzania without fitting in a trip to at least one of these beaches. If you do, you will live to regret it!
Some of the best beaches in Zanzibar to visit are Paje, Jambiani, Kendwa and Nungwi, so these are excellent areas to explore during your trip.

Julius Nyerere National park was formerly known as Selous Game Reserve and it was the largest game reserve in Africa, and it covers around 5% of Tanzania’s land mass.
It had been a game reserve since the 1920s, and to this day there are still forbidden areas of the reserve where humans cannot go. Of course, it is now a National Park rather than a game reserve.
Julius Nyerere National Park is home to more than 350 recorded species, and it is truly beautiful. It is definitely worth spending a day exploring this area during your vacation.

Tanzania really is jam packed with National Parks, and another one that attracts many tourists to Tanzania is Mikumi.
There are lots of different animals that reside in Mikumi, including zebras, buffalo, elephants and more.
Of all the different National Parks in Tanzania, Mikumi is the best place to go for lions. Specifically, tree-climbing lions as the chances of you seeing tree climbing lions in this National Park are the highest in Tanzania.
So it is definitely worth a visit!

Many people consider Mafia Island to be a step back in time. Even when Tanzania was becoming a tourist destination, Mafia Island remained untouched, and this is why it is still so beautiful today.
If you enjoy diving or snorkeling, you have to go to Mafia Island during your vacation. It is packed with lots of different varieties of fish and coral gardens too.
Perfect for anybody who enjoys spending time exploring the water. Mafia Island also has a whale shark season, so it is a great place to go diving with whale sharks if this is something that you are interested in.

A lot of the attractions that we have spoken about in this list have been natural attractions, but Dar es Salaam is a little different.
Dar is the biggest cities in Tanzania, and it is somewhere that you should definitely try to visit during your trip!
Dar itself is packed with different attractions, such as the Open Air Village Museum, and it is a great opportunity to explore a built-up city that is located in a country that is mainly associated with nature.
You should definitely squeeze a visit to Dar into your Tanzania trip.

Similar to Dar which we mentioned earlier, if you are interested in visiting cities during your trip to Tanzania, we would definitely recommend going to Mbeya.
Mbeya is a city in the Southwest of Tanzania and it is located at the base of Mbeya and Poroto Mountain Ranges.
This city is the perfect place to experience man-made and natural beauty alongside one another, and it is very different to cities that you might visit in other countries.
It is totally unique, thanks to its green lakes, exciting waterfalls, and the garden of God, and well worth visiting if you are in the area.

18. BAGAMOYO

If you want to explore the history of Tanzania, then we would recommend a visit to Bagamoyo. Bagamoyo is a historic coastal town that was founded in the 1700s, and it is truly beautiful.
If you want to learn more about Tanzania during your trip to the country, we would recommend adding a trip to Bagamoyo to your itinerary.
You will also be able to find out lots of information about the slave trade that occurred in Bagamoyo during your trip, as this is the location from which slaves were shipped to Zanzibar.

20. MWANZA AND LAKE VICTORIA

Finally we would recommend a visit to Mwanza and Lake Victoria. Lake Victoria spans across multiple African countries, and it is a very popular destination for tourists.
However, the banks of Lake Victoria in Tanzania are some of the most sparsely visited, so why not take advantage of this?
It is the same lake that you will see in Kenya and Uganda, it is simply less busy, so why not enjoy the peace and explore Mwanza while you’re there during your trip?