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HomeUK TravelHotel review: Hemingways Nairobi with kids, Kenya

Hotel review: Hemingways Nairobi with kids, Kenya


After a long-haul flight to Kenya, the thought of staying somewhere luxurious and family friendly to acclimatise (and explore the capital) easily beats moving on immediately – so our first stop was a couple of nights at Hemingways Nairobi with kids.

View of a double bed with mosquito netting tied back, living space and themed photos in a room at Hemingways Nairobi - my review of Hemingways Nairobi with kids
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Flying from the UK, the three-hour time difference means there’s not too much jetlag but any excuse really!

But can somewhere five-star really be great for families? Checking in for our stay to review Hemingways Nairobi with kids, I set about trying to answer that question.

Hemingways Nairobi review: vital statistics

The hotel is part of the Hemingways Collection, currently a set of four properties across Kenya – we went on to stay at Hemingways Ol Seki and Hemingways Watamu for our Kenya family holiday (plus lunch at the smaller Hemingways Eden).

There are 43 suites, all with the same 80 square metre layout (plus two bigger presidential suites), decorated on six different themes including writers, leaders and Africa.

View of the pale green facade with balconies facing the gardens at Hemingways Nairobi - my review of Hemingways Nairobi with kids

As well as twin and double rooms, you can also get rollaway beds and cots added to the room if you’re staying with kids, although realistically you’d need two interconnecting rooms or a larger suite for a bigger family or teens.

The hotel itself is set in the Nairobi suburb of Karen; it’s around a 30-minute drive from both the international airport and Nairobi Wilson airport for domestic flights, and just a short drive from Nairobi national park, the Giraffe Centre, and the Sheldrick Wildlife Trust among other attractions.

There are all the usual facilities you’d expect from a luxury hotel too: restaurant and bar, pool and spa, plus there’s an assigned butler for each suite, and golf buggies to take you from reception/the restaurant to your room if you want.

The hotel is set in its own grounds, so it’s easy to walk between everything, especially if you’re strolling up to breakfast or dinner outside the heat of the day.

Hemingways Nairobi with kids

It’s always reassuring to check into a hotel and see you’re not the only person with kids there – in fact the hotel’s weekend brunch was evidently a highlight for lots of families.

But even without that, my 10-year-old was as warmly welcomed as I was, before we were whisked down to our room – the Nelson Mandela suite.

The rooms are gorgeous, and lots of space if you’re staying with one child or a baby. Our twin beds were swathed in mosquito netting (and the double beds looked equally tempting when I saw some other rooms).

There’s a separate space for luggage in the bathroom so you’re not constantly falling over your suitcase.

Add in a living area with sofa and table, plus a hidden TV which emerges from a retro-style trunk at the click of a button, and we instantly relaxed with the welcome fruit juice and some room service.

There are plenty of other little touches depending how your room is themed: at one end, photos of elephants in the Masai Mara got us excited about our upcoming safari, while at the other, there were photos of Mandela along with other items relating to his life.

I got a peek at some of the other rooms, including the biggest Karen Blixen suite, and each had its own little twist.

The bathroom seems even more spacious: there are twin sinks, one at either end, a big deep oval tub (although our brief stay meant I never got to try it out) and a walk-in shower with a blissfully powerful showerhead and toiletries provided.

There’s lots of storage and hanging space (with proper hangers!), which you can hide away behind the sliding doors, along with a small safe.

Each room has its own outdoor space too: a terrace for the ground floor Deluxe Suites, a balcony for the first floor Executive Suites with comfy furniture and a lovely view out across the grounds to the Ngong Hills. From this side of the rooms, there’s also a path running up to the hotel’s main building.

Small terrace of our ground floor room at Hemingways Nairobi hotel with outdoor furniture covered and view of the grounds under a blue sky - my review of Hemingways Nairobi with kids

And that’s where you’ll find the restaurant, bar, spa and pool, plus a lounge with squashy traditional leather sofas dotted around.

Breakfast with a view is always a great way to start the day, and here, there’s the usual buffet plus additional options, including some great waffles and eggs, fresh pastries and bread, gorgeous fruit and a lot more.

The outdoor tables sit by a small pool with fountains – I never get tired of the weather being good enough to eat breakfast outdoors – plus tables inside if you prefer.

Because while temperatures rise in the middle of the day, if you’re up early (as we were for an early flight on the morning of our departure), sitting outside would have been on the chilly side, so they can come in handy.

In the evening, more outdoor tables open up for dinner, along with heaters if they’re needed, candles and burners to repel any insects.

There’s a great kid’s menu including the biggest milkshake my daughter has ever been allowed to drink – her face was a picture! – and a delicious tuna burger on the adult menu.

If you have time to head to the bar beforehand, you can get some lovely sunset views too, plus there’s the option to have afternoon tea if you fancy.

Sadly there was no time for me to check out the spa, but if you’re looking for a massage after being crammed into a plane for eight hours, the option is there if you can sneak away.

View of the pool seen through foliage and bright orange flowers, surrounded by shaded sunbeds at Hemingways Nairobi in Kenya - my review of a stay at Hemingways Nairobi with kids

After exploring, we cooled off and chilled out by the lovely pool, snaffling a couple of loungers in the shade.

It’s worth knowing that hotel pools in Kenya close at 6pm (and this is usually enforced), plus they tend to be unheated.

With the sun on them, that’s not a problem, but you may want to consider packing short wetsuits for younger ones. In February, it was definitely refreshing but not essential here though.

For more of my tips for visiting Kenya with kids, check out all my advice for a family holiday

Things to do in Nairobi with kids

Hemingways Nairobi is also a great location if you’d like to see some of the sights of the capital while you’re in Kenya.

In the suburb of Karen, it’s not far from either airport or from a lot of the animal attractions in the city. A new expressway which has recently opened has helped lighten some of Nairobi’s traffic, but sitting in queues of cars is never a fun thing to do on holiday, so it pays to avoid too many long drives.

Giraffe Centre

One of the biggest highlights in Nairobi with kids is a trip to the Giraffe Centre in Langata, home to endangered Rothschild giraffes.

Girl walks along a curving walkway through the Giraffe Centre at Nairobi - one of the best places in Nairobi with kids

Although the main focus is helping to protect the rescued animals, with visitors able to learn more about these beautiful creatures, the big highlight is being able to feed them.

When you arrive, you’re given a coconut shell bowl filled with a couple of types of pellets, and there’s a raised walkway where the giraffes can come to eat from your hand.

Previously you could ‘kiss’ the giraffes by putting a pellet in your mouth but – thankfully, given how long their tongues are – that’s no longer allowed.

It’s incredible to be able to get so close to them. If they don’t want to, there’s space for them to roam in the trees nearby, but as one positioned himself cleverly to take pellets from three different groups one after the other, I’m pretty sure we’re the equivalent of a breakfast buffet.

The Centre also has a short nature walk trail across the road, where you can discover some of the local trees and plants. It’s worth visiting early before the crowds arrive and the heat builds.

Sheldrick Wildlife Trust

As well as getting up close to giraffe, you can also meet elephants at the Sheldrick Wildlife Centre nearby, which rehabilitates orphaned elephants.

Visitors are only allowed here between 11am and 12 noon so it does get booked up very quickly, especially during holidays, so do make sure to sort your tickets early if it’s on your list.

It’s worth knowing that there used to be an option to visit later in the day if you sponsored an elephant (and a chance to meet the one you’d sponsored at the same time) but this option has now been stopped.

You can find skip-the-line tours which visit both the Giraffe Centre and Sheldrick Wildlife Centre, including transport

Nairobi National Park

Nairobi is the only city in the world with a national park on its doorstep, and it’s a great place to get a taste of safari without an additional stop (or cost).

You can take a guided tour of the national park, or a private tour of Nairobi National Park can be a good option if you’re visiting Kenya with kids, as there’s more flexibility than with a larger group.

If you have longer to spend, there are also day tours from Nairobi to Nakuru National Park and the hippos of Lake Naivasha

Giraffe in Nairobi National Park with a view of the buildings of the Kenyan capital in the background - one of the best things to do in Nairobi with kids

Nairobi Museum

Slightly further away from Karen and Langata, you can visit the Nairobi National Museum, which is a great introduction to Kenya’s culture, history, arts and nature.

Alongside displays on the ‘Cradle of Man’, focused on human origins in Africa, there are also exhibits on the history of Kenya, including the different communities and language groups, colonial period and independence.

Entry is around £7.50 for adults (1200 Kenyan Shillings) and half price for under-16s.

Nairobi Snake Park

The Nairobi Snake Park is set in the grounds of the museum if you want to learn more about the country’s reptiles too. A rescue and rehabilitation centre, all its creatures have been rehomed here after being taken from illegal collections or abandoned.

There are crocodiles and tortoises as well as the snakes, which include puff adder, black mamba, Egyptian cobra, African rock python and Gaboon Viper (which has the longest fangs of any snake species in the world) – needless to say, all kept safely separate from visitors!

You can interact with some of the more harmless snakes and reptiles and even handle them if you fancy. Combined tickets for the snake park and Nairobi National Museum are available.

Hemingways Nairobi review: the verdict

With the chance to go on a family safari and to lounge by the turquoise waters of the Indian Ocean, it can be tempting to speed through Nairobi and head straight on from the capital.

But not only is it a good idea to break your trip after a long-haul flight for practical reasons, it’s well worth saving at least one day to get a taste of the Kenyan capital.

View of the pale green facade with balconies facing the gardens at Hemingways Nairobi hotel - my review of Hemingways Nairobi with kids

While you might not have lots of traditional family-friendly options like a kid’s club at this particular hotel, the location makes it easy to explore and the pool and gorgeous rooms make it very tempting to stay on site anyway.

The service is fantastic too, so children are as welcome as adults (if not more so), and there’s never a feeling that families are merely tolerated here.

With a hotel driver to collect us from the airport and ferry us to the next one, as well as driving us around to see some of the attractions in our limited time, it also made everything so easy, especially if you haven’t travelled much in Africa with kids, are battling jetlag and don’t have long to explore.

The downsides? Realistically, if you’re travelling with older kids or larger families, the room set-up isn’t designed for adding lots of beds, but the rooms are spacious enough that it works with younger ones.

Needless to say, it’s not the cheapest stay, but with the chance to bundle the night here in with both safari and beach, you can find packages covering all three hotels with a better overall rate than booking individual nights – ours was booked with Far and Wild Travel.

But for a thoroughly indulgent start to a trip, it’s hard to beat Hemingways Nairobi with kids.

Disclosure: My stay at Hemingways Nairobi with kids was courtesy of the hotel as part of a press trip, including flight support from Far & Wild. All opinions, including the best things to do in Nairobi with kids, remain my own. This post contains affiliate links – any purchases you make are unaffected but I may receive a small commission

Nairobi National Park image courtesy of Depositphotos, all other images copyright MummyTravels

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