AFCON 2027 Host Cities in Tanzania: Dar es Salaam, Arusha and Zanzibar Compared

Tanzania's three AFCON 2027 venues couldn't be more different from each other, which matters more than it might seem if you're planning where to spend a week or two around your matches. Here's a straight comparison.

Dar es Salaam — Benjamin Mkapa Stadium (60,000)

Tanzania's largest city and its main gateway by air. Good infrastructure, the most hotel capacity of the three, and the least "holiday" feel — it's a big working port city more than a resort town. If your matches are here and you're not planning to travel elsewhere, it's a fine base; if you have any flexibility, it's also the easiest city to fly out of toward Zanzibar or Arusha.

Arusha — Samia Suluhu Hassan Stadium (30,000)

The one built for combining with a safari. Arusha sits at the doorstep of the Serengeti, Ngorongoro Crater and Kilimanjaro, and has run safari logistics for decades — this is its normal business, tournament or not. Smaller and more manageable than Dar es Salaam, with the trade-off of a smaller stadium and less overall infrastructure.

Zanzibar — Amaan Stadium (15,000) and Fumba Stadium (35,000)

The island option. Beaches, Stone Town, and a genuinely different pace from either mainland city. Two stadiums on one island keeps travel between matches short if both your fixtures land here.

Our honest take

If you've got any say in it and want more than a stadium and a hotel out of the trip, Arusha or Zanzibar will give you far more to do around match days than Dar es Salaam will. Arusha wins if you want wildlife; Zanzibar wins if you want beach. Both are easy to combine with the other by short domestic flight if your schedule allows it.

Tell us which city your matches are in and we'll build a realistic itinerary around them.