Nairobi itinerary

Earlier this year, my family and I went on a trip to Kenya. My dad was born in Mombasa and spent his early years in Nairobi. This trip was his first return back to the country and my first time in Kenya. Once I got a feel for the city, I became very fond of Nairobi and I wanted to share my Nairobi itinerary.

All up, I spent about a week in Nairobi. Because Nairobi is the central hub for transport to tourist destinations, we ended up staying in 3 different hotels on 3 different occasions. Personally I loved this as it gave me a chance to get a feel for each location and experience a new part of Nairobi.

Must-do experiences for your Nairobi itinerary

• Personally, my highlight was a morning safari in Nairobi National park. It was absolutely incredible to be on safari so close to the city; we spotted a lion with the city skyline in the background which I found mind boggling. This was also the only place we saw a rhino (we didn’t see one in the Masai Mara).
• Of course, a morning safari is most often grouped with a trip to the Sheldrick Animal Trust elephant sanctuary and the Giraffe Centre (where you can feed giraffes!). Make sure you book the Sheldrick Animal Trust well ahead of your visit and get there early if you’d like a spot up close to the elephants.
• I did a cooking class in Nairobi which was such a fun experience. We took a matatu to Nimoh’s house which was an incredible experience in and of itself. We also went to a very local market to shop for the food which was super cool to see.
• I also did a walking tour of Nairobi CBD. This was good to do because we had been advised not to walk in some places alone, so I wouldn’t have been able to see the CBD on foot otherwise. I met some lovely fellow tourists and had drinks with them afterwards which is always nice when you’re a solo traveller (this was at the end of the family trip). The walking tour didn’t go to all the spots on their itinerary, so make sure you enquire about anywhere you particularly want to go. We didn’t go to the Masai Market which I was a bit sad about.
• I recommend going up the KICC building for a panoramic view of Nairobi. It does cost but it’s a very cool experience and if you time it right/the weather behaves you might catch a lovely sunset.

How many days do I need in Nairobi?

This depends on what sort of a tourist you are, how long you have and your budget. If you’re on a tight timeline, you could see the highlights of Nairobi in 2-3 days.

I had about a week in Nairobi, split up into different little chunks and in different parts of the city. If you are going to be in and out of Nairobi, I do recommend splitting your stays into different parts of town. I would be very happy to stay in the CBD and Westlands, although the CBD and Karen might be more of a scenery change. A number of the tourist destinations (Giraffe Centre, Sheldrick Animal Trust, Karen Blixen Museum etc) are out Karen way.

Where should I stay in Nairobi?

I stayed at Fairmont the Norfolk (between Westlands and the CBD) Sarova Stanley (CBD) and Hyatt Place in Westlands. Personally, I really liked the split between different areas as it gave me a sense for each.

Each hotel had an advantage, too: Fairmont was beautiful and had a fun safari vibe with safari cars pulling into the foyer at all hours. It also felt like a little oasis in a bustling city. Sarova Stanley was very centrally located and, if you had a top floor room, gave you a great vantage point of Nairobi CBD. Hyatt Place was in the trendy Westlands area and allowed me (as a solo female traveller at the end of the trip) to walk small distances to the mall and other spots.

As I have touched on, Nairobi (as a whole) is not a walkable city for a tourist. I recommend booking a hotel in the general vicinity of what you intend to be doing (particularly because traffic is SO BAD). However, there’s no need to book a hotel in walking distance of things because you probably won’t be walking to everything.

Options for where to stay in Nairobi

• If you’re interested in restaurants and malls, stay in Westlands. Be aware that it doesn’t necessarily look like the ‘upscale’ part of a city that you might be used to, but there are a lot of cool restaurants and activities tucked away in Westlands.
• If you’re in Nairobi for a short amount of time and doing lots of day trips, stay in the CBD.
• If you’d like a lush green vibe and you’re big on animal activities, stay in Karen. My dream is to stay at Giraffe Manor but it is so expensive and booked years in advance. Karen also has a farmer’s market which is on Saturday in Karen and Sunday in Kilimani.
• If you’d prefer a lush green vibe but more expat ‘local’ or residential, have a look at Gigiri or Muthaiga. Keep in mind that the traffic is ROUGH and these areas aren’t super close to the major tourist activities.

Best restaurants, bars and coffee in Nairobi

• Cultiva in Karen is a must-do. Super tourist focused but absolutely delicious food and cocktails in a gorgeous setting.
• Beit e Selam in Westlands. Delicious food in a gorgeous trendy courtyard and the cocktails were also delicious.
• Hero Bar for cocktails. This bar is at the top of the Trademark Hotel in a gated mall in Gigiri. Hero is on the World’s 50 Best Discovery List and also does delicious looking food. The mall is sits alongside also has some cute food and wine options.
• Bamba Restaurant in Lavington. Absolutely delicious food in a tucked away little courtyard.
• Hikuri Coffee in Lavington. Right around the corner from Bamba, this was one of the best espressos I had on the trip.
• Sacred Mill Coffee Roasters for coffee for excellent coffee. There are also a number of restaurants in this complex that looked very cute.
• Spring Valley Coffee (we went to the Westgate Mall one).
• We didn’t have the best food there, but Nairobi Street Kitchen is a really cool idea and would be a vibe on a busy Saturday. We went on a Sunday evening and it was extremely quiet, but so were the roads. We wondered if religion had anything to do with that since it was a Sunday.
• Again, not life changing, but I think you have to go to ArtCaffe while you’re in Nairobi. We went to the CBD one which was in an absolutely lovely building.

Restaurants, bars and coffee shops I wanted to go to

• Cave A Manger in Karen is on lots of recommendation lists but I didn’t get a chance to try it.
• Urban Eatery in Westlands. I picked a hotel close by but was too scared to cross the road and too embarrassed to get a taxi 300m down the road lol.
• Connect Coffee Roasters in Westlands.
• Trunk and Tandoor in Westlands.
• The Good Grain in Westlands. Not for a gluten free gal like myself but I had this on my list for my gluten eating family members. It looks so good!
• Stream Coffee in Muthaiga North (near the Trademark hotel/Hero Bar).
• The Coffee Lab (which has multiple locations). I planned to go to the one at Mugumoini Close because it looks gorgeous but sadly ran out of time.

Suggested 3 day Nairobi itinerary

Day 1: Morning

Hire a Safari driver for an early morning Safari in Nairobi National park. The animals are up early, so go as early as you can stomach. Make sure your E-citizen paperwork is done the night before (or earlier) despite what anyone tells you. This allows you to skip the queue at the gate and get straight into the park. E-Citizen is an absolute pain to work with, in my experience, but it has to be done.

After the Safari, make your way to the Sheldrick Animal Trust Elephant Orphanage. You will need to book a ticket well in advance which is done via email (you can find more information on their website). As per their website, you have to pay the Nairobi National Park fee to get to the Sheldrick Animal Trust, so I recommend organising your safari driver to take you after the morning safari. We had our driver for the day which I also recommend. Most tourism providers will be happy to quote you for a full day experience.

The elephant viewing is from 11am-12pm at the time of writing, which makes it important to get up early for the safari so you can fit both in comfortably. Nairobi National Park is enormous and the drivers go where the animals are, so you might need plenty of time to reach the Elephant Sanctuary after a game drive.

After the Sheldrick Animal Trust, the next stop is the Giraffe Centre. How long the Giraffe Centre takes depends on how keen you are and how keen the Giraffes are. They are free roaming and it can take a while to coax them over to the feeding platform and then over you to specifically. We spent about an hour there.

Day 1: Afternoon and evening

Next (if you haven’t already) is lunch! We went to Tamarind Brasserie which is in the Karen area and it was excellent. It was one of the better meals I had in Kenya and actually better than the Tamarind in Mombasa (which I still recommend). Better yet, it was Kenyan food (a lot of the recommended restaurants are Western). If you drink, have a dawa with lunch (it’s better than it sounds, I promise). Dawa was invented by the Carnivore Group (who own this restaurant) and is a very popular drink in Kenya. Other restaurant options include Cave A Manger, Talisman, Hatton’s Lounge or Cultiva.

In the afternoon, you can go to the Karen Blixen museum, the Oloolua forrest walk, Bomas of Kenya or back to your hotel for a nap or swim. If you’d like to have dinner at Cultiva, I recommend staying in Karen and having dinner early. It’s a 40 minute drive from Nairobi to Karen without peak hour traffic (which is absolutely horrendous).

If you’d prefer to head back to your hotel, I’d recommend Nairobi Street Kitchen in the CBD area or Beit E Salam in Westlands area.

Day 2

Start your second day with a cooking class with Nimoh. Even if you’re not big on cooking, the market tour and the matatu ride were both highlights of my trip and things I couldn’t do alone. You’ll experience crossing the road in Westlands (seriously) catching a matatu, a local market, a Kenyan home AND learn how to cook a Kenyan meal. She also has some very cute cats.

In the afternoon you can go to Karura Forrest (solo or with a walking tour), The National Museum of Kenya, the KICC building or the Masai Market.

The Masai Market changes places every day. Reading through the reviews, it seems as though some of the locations are more prone to ‘buyers advocates’ who follow you around and pretend to help you purchase souvenirs (when they get a cut of the profit and are not really advocating for you). People seem to say that the market at Village Market in Giguru (the same gated complex as Hero Bar) is a stress free experience.

Day 3

For your last day in Nairobi, you can do the walking tour of Nairobi CBD. I recommend doing a walking tour in the morning; I went in the afternoon and it was quite hot. You do cover a lot of ground so I recommend going early, bringing water and wearing comfortable shoes.

In the afternoon, you can do whichever activity you missed yesterday. Whether that is the KICC building, The National Museum of Kenya, Bomas of Kenya or Karura Forrest. If your visit falls on a weekend, check out the links in the resources section – In Nairobi has lots of local events listed every weekend. If you’re tight on time and not fussed on the above, see the day trips below which could be an option for your third day.

Day trips from Nairobi

If you’re only in Kenya for a short while and want to see further afield, consider a day trip to Lake Naivasha (about 1 1/2 hours drive). You can go to Hell’s Gate National Park, see the Great Rift Valley, go to Crescent Island and visit The Coffee Hut for lunch. I have a full post on Lake Naivasha here (although we stayed there for 3 days so it wasn’t a day trip).

Another alternative (which is a huge undertaking) is a day trip to Amboseli National Park. We did this and it took about 4-5 hours to drive there and 4-5 hours to drive back. It is an enormous day but a chance to see some incredible wildlife and maybe (if you’re very lucky) Mount Kilimanjaro in the background.

We got up at about 4am to be on the road at 5am. Our driver ended up being an ex- Governor’s Camp safari guide which was very lucky (I can share his Whatsapp details via email). Our hotel (Sarova Stanley) packed us a big breakfast and we slept most of the way to Amboseli. Although we didn’t see Kilimanjaro (a cloudy day, sadly!) we saw a huge amount of elephants and some stunning scenes. If you don’t have much time to do a safari, this is a great option and I would do it again.

Another option is to do an organised day trip and hike to Mount Kenya. Mount Kenya is the second tallest Mountain in Africa (after Mount Kilimanjaro) and it looks absolutely gorgeous. This day trip is an early start but definitely a cool experience for the active traveller.

Nairobi is also surrounded by tea and coffee plantations, so if that interests you then there are plenty of 1/2 – 1 day tours available.

Tips for Nairobi

• The reality is that if you’re a tourist, a taxi will try (and probably succeed) in overcharging you. It’s much easier to get an Uber because of the set price. It also alleviates potential language barriers.
• Yes, the traffic really is that bad! Plan way ahead.
• Don’t book a hotel with the idea that you’ll walk everywhere. Crossing the road is terrifying, it’s not always a walkable city and your hotel will discourage you from walking, particularly at night.
• Wifi is widely available but having an e-sim would have been so helpful. I never ended up getting one because the queues were always so long and so slow, but I’d highly recommend getting one if you can.
• Bring cash. A lot of places are cash only and would prefer smaller notes.
• MPesa is a term you’ll hear a lot in Kenya. As far as I can understand, it’s a money account connected to your phone – kind of like Apple Pay (but a bit different as it’s not connected to a bank card per se). I don’t think it’s necessary to set up MPesa as a tourist – we never needed it. If you want to try, you will need a physical sim card from Safaricom. As a side note, a vendor told us that MPesa costs the consumer more than using their own bank card, so there’s that.
• A lot of trendy little spots are hidden in gated malls or behind big steel gates. You wouldn’t know they were there unless you know what you’re looking for, so I highly recommend researching before you go. TikTok was a huge help for me – I found most of my recommendations there.
• Learn some basic Swahili! Honestly, people were so thrilled with any attempt and were also keen to help us learn more Swahili. It’s basic courtesy in a new country and also fun to learn.

Resources for your trip

• In Nairobi has lots of suggestions for local things going on in Nairobi on the weekends.
• Nairobi Disclosure on TikTok was the source of a lot of my information. At the moment the account seems to have been removed, but hopefully it will pop back up. If not, AfroVics is another helpful account and I found that after my first ‘best food in Nairobi’ search, recommendations started popping up on TikTok.
• If you’re going to Lake Naivasha, I have written up a guide.
• I have also written up a guide for Mombasa.