Hotel Review: Three 5-Star Stays in Nairobi, Kenya

During my recent visit to Kenya, I stayed at three different 5-star hotels in order to be able to report on them. Here is my assessment of each.

Sarova Stanley Hotel. This historic property is located on a busy street, but my room wasn’t noisy. Built in 1902, it was the place where the late Queen of England gave her first public address as Queen and the home of the first stock exchange in Kenya. Guests have included Karen Blixen, Ernest Hemingway, Clark Gable, Grace Kelly, Ava Gardner, Sidney Poitier, and Sean Connery.

Since it was my first hotel during my time in Nairobi, they arranged for a car to pick me up at the airport and transport me upon my arrival. After a 14-hour flight, there’s comfort in seeing someone standing there with your name on a card. This transfer was quite reasonable at only $40US, and the amount was conveniently added to my total hotel bill.

My stay there was very comfortable, although the building is quite old, so you won’t find any USB ports in the room. Nevertheless, it’s a beautiful hotel with a lovely breakfast room that served traditional Kenyan dishes cooked over hot coals one morning. All of the food served at the hotel was excellent. I especially loved the chicken sandwich – simple but exceptional.

The service at this hotel was also extremely fine. One day, I left before breakfast, and one of the hotel’s staff noticed and worried about me. She sent someone up to my room to make sure I was okay.

Villa Rosa Kempinski Hotel. This beautiful property is pink with a sculpted garden at the entrance and a small, narrow garden in the back. The interior is large, and it has a lovely cafe in the lobby from which I got a croissant in the mornings. The room was more modern than the Sarova Stanley, and the food was very fine. My first room service order arrived on a wheeled table covered with a tablecloth and included a fresh flower in a vase.

The staff at this hotel was also very attentive and helpful. In fact, at all of the hotels in Kenya, I found the attentiveness of the staff to be better than any I’d had anywhere else in the world.

The one drawback to the Villa Rosa Kempinski was that it’s located on a highway, which didn’t make it particularly walkable.

Fairmont The Norfolk Hotel. This property is also historic. Built in 1904 in a Tudor style, it incorporates a few buildings with a gorgeous garden in the center. The garden contains vintage rickshaws from the early days in Kenya, as well as a vintage car. Like the Sarova Stanley, many famous people have stayed at the Fairmont, including Theodore Roosevelt, David Niven, Richard Burton, Water Cronkite, James Stewart, Michael Caine, Mick Jagger, and Robert Redford.

The lobby of the main building is stunning with a piano, a bar, and lots of lounging couches and chairs. There are three restaurants, and the breakfast buffet is especially fine with many choices, including pancakes and eggs made to order. I also loved that passionfruit juice was a common offering at breakfast.

My room was also lovely with a small balcony containing a table and two chairs. Again, the staff was exceptionally attentive, and the food was wonderful. My only complaint is a drawback to that special garden – mosquitos in my room. I felt the need to wear deet on my face overnight, yet I still got a couple of bites. I didn’t even have that problem in my luxury tent at the Maasai Mara safari camp.

But every time I visited that garden, I decided the mosquitos were worth it. Malaria is certainly a possibility in Nairobi, but it’s rare.

So … which of these three hotels would I recommend the most? Honestly, I don’t think I could choose. I enjoyed all three and can’t imagine you’d be disappointed with any of them. All of them have restaurants with excellent food, a spa, a gym, and free WiFi.

Note that security is intense throughout Nairobi. At both the Villa Rosa Kempinski and the Fairmont, cars were searched before they were allowed to drive up to the entrances. At the Kempinski, they even used a car-sniffing dog. The Sarova Stanley did not have a drive-up entrance. Instead, its entrance was close to the street, so I was dropped at the curb.

Of the three, the Villa Rosa Kempinski was the most expensive, but the prices of 5-star hotels in Nairobi are generally lower than in many cities around the world, such as New York, Paris, or London – possibly even less than $200US per night depending on the time of year you visit.

Enjoy!