Mercury’s

Mercury’s trades on one of the better stories in the Indian Ocean. Freddie Mercury was born in Stone Town in 1946, and this bar on the Mizingani Road seafront claims the name, hangs his image around the deck and lets his catalogue run through the evening. That is the whole pitch, and it is a good one. What it is not is a beach club in the daybed and lagoon sense, and being clear about that is the most useful thing this page can do for you.

Our honest position, the same one we hold on the Zanzibar club directory, is that this island is a place of beach bars, party hotels and one famous rock in the sea rather than Mediterranean lidos, and Mercury’s is the Stone Town entry in that list. It sits on the harbour wall beside the old sea port, its open deck facing straight out to sea, and it earns its place on the strength of the view and the sundowner rather than the swim.

The scene here is built entirely around the west facing deck at golden hour. Come at five and you can watch the working harbour empty of light while a cocktail sweats on the rail and Bohemian Rhapsody plays somewhere behind you, and it is genuinely one of the better sundowner perches in Stone Town. The crowd is mostly visitors doing exactly the same thing, which is the honest character of the place, a tourist facing bar that knows precisely what it is selling and sells it at the right hour.

On the plate the strength is the seafood, grilled fish and prawns and an octopus salad that regulars name, backed by a broad menu of pizzas, curries and pasta for anyone not chasing the catch. The recurring complaint is service that runs slow when the deck fills, and a bill that carries a small view premium, so the trick is to arrive relaxed, order a round and treat the pace as part of an evening rather than a problem. On busy nights, most often weekends, the live music tips it from a drink into a night out.

Where it falls short is simple and worth saying plainly. There is no beach and no swim, the reviews are genuinely mixed, and anyone expecting a polished beach club will be in the wrong place. Treat Mercury’s as a sunset ritual with a story attached, not as your day on the sand, and it delivers. For the actual swimming and the loungers, the island points you elsewhere.

The shore below the deck is the Stone Town harbour front, a working seafront of dhows, ferries and the old sea port rather than a swimming beach, so the water is for looking at, not for wading into. The strip along Mizingani Road is the historic heart of the town, all coral stone buildings, carved doors and evening bustle, and the sunset from here is a Stone Town institution shared with the Forodhani gardens a short walk south. For a real Zanzibar swim you leave the town, and the closest clear water day trip is the sandbank at Nakupenda reached by boat, while the island’s best swimming beaches are gathered on the Zanzibar beach guide.

Mercury’s is easy to reach because it sits right on Mizingani Road by the sea port, so anyone arriving in Stone Town by ferry can almost walk off the boat and onto the deck, and from anywhere in the old town it is a short stroll through the lanes to the seafront. There is no lounger to reserve, but a sunset table on the front edge is the seat everyone wants, so a booking helps in high season and on live music nights. Carry cash, since the bar is widely reported to prefer it over cards, and confirm the current payment and music policy when you sit down.

Want the sunset table sorted before you land? Add your date and numbers to the form here and we will check with the bar on the front row of the deck and any live music that night, at no cost to you.