In 2021 at the beginning of the year, the only available winter holiday route was Tanzania's Zanzibar. And even before the coronavirus disaster, border closures and numerous lockdowns, Thai Phuket was among my favorite vacation options during the snowy period.
Tourists who have repeatedly experienced the joys of rest in Thailand, unwittingly compared this tropical island with Zanzibar. We went through the comments and travel blogs to collect the highlights that became the subjects of comparison – and prepared this material.
Aerodrome
The first thing that a traveler sees when he gets to another country is the airport terminal - an idea of future rest, the degree of development and readiness of this tropical paradise to receive dear guests begins to form.
The Zanzibar air hub is old. Of course, this is Africa: everything south of the equator should be discounted. But is there decency? Getting off board the plane, which can accommodate more than five hundred people, travelers get into a tiny and wretched hall of the air terminal, where there are no more than a hundred seats in the waiting room and there is no air conditioning (I remind you: it happens in the tropics).
There is no comparison with the airport in Phuket - that small, but comfortable, cozy, fresh air in the building, excellent accommodation and conditions, queues for luggage rarely exceed ten to twenty minutes. This is how the air hub should look, whose task, in addition to transport, is to represent the country for people who came to rest.
Hotel
In terms of accommodation facilities, the hotel industry in Zanzibar is not worse than the domestic one, that's for sure. The coastal zone is full of hotels, and although most of them have a modest three stars. The level of service is quite high, there are swimming pools and doctors on duty (not everywhere), linen is changed daily, and water and food are of high quality, allowing you not to think about the degree of danger of consumption inside. Bottled water is in every room of even very shabby hotels.
Surprisingly, the promoted Thailand loses in terms of accommodation: the East Asian flavor turns into a very dismissive attitude to cleanliness, free water and drinks are not even four stars. There are swimming pools and various entertainments, but there is a non-zero risk of acquiring a contagious disease or catching an outlandish parasite in the local water. Service in inexpensive hotels, whose daily cost is comparable to Tanzania - weak, for more and does not pull. In short, you need to get used to Asia, as guides and bloggers correctly note.
Surprisingly, poor Africa bypassed the tropical resort consecrated by three decades of premium recreation!
Restaurants
This is the third most important thing – the ability to find food outside the hotel.
On an African island with a long history (who does not know - in former times this island was the center of the empire, and before that belonged to the sultans of Oman and Muscat), everything is complicated in terms of catering points. On the one hand, the menu is European or Pan-Asian, with a touch of local exoticism. On the other hand, the view is the most reseedable, and an unprepared visitor is more likely to ignore the institution. On the other hand, shouldn't any transgressions be forgiven for the view of the ocean?
Thai restaurants are not offended by exoticism, and in terms of the variety of offer and appearance will give the competitor a hundred points of handicap and still win in any martial arts. It is worth trying all the local dishes - for nothing that they are flavored with spicy seasonings and sauces, their taste and components perfectly fit with the European stomach and food habits. There are also conservative options - panasia, China, Japan and even the usual Western business lunch.
In general, the tourist will not remain hungry, but in Tai there is more choice and better establishments, and Zanzibar makes it exotic.
Tourism industry
Millions of people travel the world not only for new experiences, but also in search of entertainment, shopping, unusual nightclubs and the like.
In this dimension, the African island loses to Tai outright - there is nothing like the European and Arab shopping centers in all their splendor in Africa. Rather, the streets of local cities remind of Tambov, only in a tropical paradise. Imagine that Adam and Eve from paradise were driven to a communal apartment for 20 squares in Mytishchi, and then relitiated and sent them good weather. On the streets in the cities of Zanzibar there is no hard asphalt pavement, very dusty, and in terms of trade there are duty-free, markets and bazaars.
Patonga – a tourist enclave in Phuket – is something fundamentally different, pleasing to the eye, stomach and wallet. There is a lot of entertainment at any level of income and quality of living, and designed to send the need for a pull Bangla street in terms of disco and party is able to compete with the Balearic Islands and the south of France. Nightlife is in full swing – and not literally, as in Africa, where after sunset outside the hotel complexes to appear dangerous to life and health.
Beaches
Well, the most important thing that people expect from an overseas holiday is the beaches. The latitude of the islands is approximately equal, there and there reigns eternal summer, except that they are on opposite sides of the equator.
The white sands of Zanzibar beaches are distinguished by spacious, magnificence and beauty. Silicon particles are so white that the sand does not heat up in the sun's rays. Above this rise rocks, replete with cliffs and natural grottoes. All this is on the shores of the Indian Ocean. Resort places - Naungvi and Kendva - are devoid of active tidal life, and the coast here is extremely gentle, reminiscent of the Azov "puddle": in another place you can walk more than three kilometers to plunge with your head, so swimming here is sometimes accepted from boats.
Phuket is no less famous for its beaches - sandy, smooth and with the same almost zero scope of tides, which makes swimming very pleasant and safe even with small children.
Excursions The African version offers few. In general, it is difficult to choose one, but I am inclined to Tai because of the familiarity and low risk of unpleasant surprises. But when will the borders open? It's an open question.
