Costa del Sol vs Zanzibar

Ikos Andalusia's outdoor bar terrace features woven pendant lamps, bar seating, and tall palm trees with pink flowering plants in foreground.

Thatched-roof pavilion with blue curtains surrounded by palm trees, flowering plants, and a small pool at The Palms Zanzibar.

Costa del Sol and Zanzibar, side by side: live travel advisories, our resort catalog's real guest data, and each destination's honest weather picture. Everything you need to break the tie.

By the numbers

Costa del Sol compared with Zanzibar
Costa del Sol	Measure	Zanzibar
Level 2: Exercise Increased Caution	U.S. travel advisory	Level 2: Exercise Increased Caution
6	Resorts in our catalog	15 (better)
★ 4.4	Average guest rating	★ 4.6 (better)
$84–$428/night pp (better)	Nightly rates	$93–$723/night pp
0 of 6	Adults-only resorts	0 of 15
No hurricane season	Hurricane exposure	No hurricane season
November–March	Rainy season	Long rains mid-March to May (April is the wettest month), short rains in November
June and September; July–August is hottest and busiest	Sweet spot	June to October and December to February
Málaga (AGP), most resorts 20–60 min west along the coast	Airport	Abeid Amani Karume (ZNZ); listed transfers run 40 to 97 minutes
May–October; July and August are hottest and busiest	Season	June to October and December to February; long rains mid-March to May

Advisory levels sync from travel.state.gov; catalog figures reflect the resorts we've researched, not every hotel in the country. A marked row is one we are willing to call; rows without a mark are a matter of taste, or we have no comparable figure for both sides.

On the map

Costa del Sol

Zanzibar

Weather, month by month

Month-by-month average high temperature and rainfall for Costa del Sol and Zanzibar
Measure	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
Costa del Sol · high °F	63	64	67	70	75	81	86	86	82	75	68	64
Zanzibar · high °F	89	90	90	87	84	84	83	83	84	86	88	89
Costa del Sol · rain (in)	2.7	2.3	1.9	1.6	0.8	0.2	0.0	0.2	0.9	2.2	3.7	3.9
Zanzibar · rain (in)	3.0	2.4	5.9	15.3	7.8	1.9	1.1	1.4	2.0	3.5	8.0	5.5

Approximate climate normals for Málaga and Zanzibar (ZNZ): planning guidance, not a forecast. A deeper tint is a higher number, read within its own row.