Planning a Trip to Kenya? Then read about the best and most exciting places to Visit in Kenya – A Complete Kenya Travel Guide, which will help you in planning your trip with many tips, suggestions, hotel stays recommendations, and a detailed Kenya 10 days itinerary.
Far to the east of Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean and Uganda, Somalia, Tanzania, and Ethiopia is Kenya. Few countries in the world rival Kenya for its safari destinations and perfect, idyllic coast. In Kenya, wildlife and humans exist side by side. Even in the capital city of Nairobi, the animals walk the streets. You’ll spot elephant families from the train, hippos in your lake, warthogs in your garden, and crocs in the river.
CLICK HERE TO BOOK 3 DAYS MAASAI MARA TOUR
WHY SHOULD AFRICA BE YOUR NEXT HOLIDAY DESTINATION? – KENYA ITINERARY Planning
- Africa is home to the world’s longest river – Nile.
- The largest hot desert – Sahara.
- The second largest lake – Lake Victoria
- One of the seven natural wonders of the world – Vic Falls
- The world’s fourth-largest Island – Madagascar
- The world’s tallest animal – the giraffe
- The largest animal – the elephant
Kenya has all-year-round good weather, unique tribal culture, and endless opportunities for ‘Out of Africa’ style escapades. It’s a bucket-list destination for many and with good reason.
KENYA ITINERARY 10 days | Interesting Places To Visit In Kenya – A Complete Kenya Travel Guide
Read this Kenya Travel Guide to plan your Kenya Tour and Kenya Itinerary.
Suggested Itinerary for Kenya
Day 1 : Spend the day exploring Nairobi; visit the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust to visit the orphaned elephants and the Giraffe Centre to hand feed Giraffe. Stop for lunch at Utamaduni where you can also shop for authentic Kenyan and African crafts.
Day 2 : Visit Nairobi National Park for a safari. Allow yourself a minimum of 4 hours to drive the park. You may choose to take lunch at the KWS clubhouse or the fabulous Emakoko restaurant and do a second safari in the afternoon.
Take sundowners on the terrace at the incredible Hemmingway Hotel.
Day 3: Drive to Naivasha. Take a boat tour to get up close and personal to the hippos and then do a walking safari on Crescent Island.
Day 4 : Drive to the Maasai Mara (5 hour drive). Take an evening game drive. Maasai Mara is one of the best Kenya Safari and must be included in your itinerary.
Day 5 : Spend the day in the Mara, making sure you head to the Mara triangle where you may be lucky enough to witness a crossing.
Day 6 : Morning game drive in the Mara before heading to the landing strip for a flight to Diani Beach. Spend the evening with sundowners on the Indian Ocean.
Day 7: Relax on the beach, go scuba diving or Kite surfing.
Day 8: Relax on the beach, go on a Dolphin cruise or take a trip on a traditional Dhow.
Day 9: Head to Mombasa, Kenya’s second city. Shop for antiques and Swahili treasures in the old town and visit the 14th century Fort Jesus.
Take an evening train to Voi, where you will stay overnight in Tsavo National Park.
Day 10 : Safari in Tsavo National Park, the largest park in Kenya home to the Big 5 and with amazing views of Kilimanjaro. Evening train back to Nairobi.
KENYA VISA INFORMATION AND OTHER USEFUL DETAILS
- All foreigners are required to obtain a visa before entry.
- Whilst this can be done on arrival, it is far easier to apply online. Visit this official website to avail Kenya’s Visa.
- It costs approximately 50 USD and is valid for 3 months with an option to renew for another 3 months.
- Also for immunization, you have to take shots of Yellow fever before visiting here.
When to visit Kenya? Planning a trip to Kenya?
- The climate in Kenya varies dependent on your location. Lake Turkana and the northern deserts are eternally hot with little rain. Mount Kenya is surprisingly cool, even in mid-summer.
- The capital city, Nairobi, is temperate all year round, rarely going above 30 degrees C in summer or dipping below 12 in winter.
- As with many other places, it is affected by the long rains from April – to June and the short rains from October to November. Mombasa and the Indian Ocean offer a tropical climate with high temperatures throughout the year.
About Nairobi
Nairobi is the capital city of Kenya. A gritty, colorful, chaotic dust bowl of a city that sits atop the Great Rift Valley. It’s huddled in highlands that are marked by significantly cooler weather than the rest of Kenya. For this reason and the fertile farming land, British colonists settled here in the 1800s. Kenya is a new city, and few buildings of historic worth litter the town; instead, you will be greeted by an unending landscape of high rises and construction work. Nairobi used to have a shady reputation as a high-crime city, but this is no longer true.
Where to stay in Nairobi | HOTEL SUGGESTIONS IN NAIROBI
Nairobi is a vast sprawling city with intermingling neighborhoods and no apparent ‘downtown’ destination. When booking the best hotels in Nairobi, where you stay depends greatly on why you are visiting. Tourists may prefer to remain in the outer suburbs of Karen and Langata where the Elephant Orphanage and Giraffe Centre are situated and there is easy access to Nairobi National Park.
Business visitors might opt for the CBD, the hustle and bustle of Westlands, or the chic restaurants and hotels within the Village Market at Gigiri.
Central Business District – Neighborhood of Nairobi
Sarova Stanley Hotel – Part of the Sarova Group of hotels, the Stanley is one of the older hotels in Nairobi this Victoria landmark has been updated with modern facilities and is ideally located for business within the CBD. A 5* hotel, its rooms retain an elegant grandeur. It has 4 restaurants, a heated pool, and a gym, as well as extensive conferencing facilities.
Click here to book SAROVA STANLEY HOTEL
Airport hotels in Nairobi – Neighborhood of Nairobi
Ole Sereni – The Ole Sereni sits right on the edge of Nairobi National Park and has one of the best views in Nairobi. You can arrive from the airport and in 10 minutes be enjoying a sundowner and watching a lion kill. Its 4 restaurants and outdoor heated pool maximize the view over the park.
Click here to book OLE SERENI HOTEL
Westlands – Neighborhood of Nairobi
Villa Rosa Kempinski – This towering monolith is as pink as its name and is full of all the luxuries and mod cons one could wish for. 200 rooms, 4 restaurants and bars, gym, wellness spa, conferencing facilities, and easy access to all Westlands offers.
Click here to book VILLA ROSA KEMPINSKI
Karen & Langata – Karen Gables – This Cape Dutch-inspired boutique hotel is situated down a quiet lane at one of the most prestigious addresses in Nairobi. Once inside you are spirited away from city life into a world of tinkling streams and nature-filled gardens.
Click here to KAREN GABLES BOUTIQUE HOTEL
Hemingway’s Nairobi – Part of a collection of elite hotels it’s hard to imagine that this grand plantation hotel has only 45 rooms. Its elegance and serenity are unmatched in Nairobi. It houses an excellent restaurant, a sun downer bar with views over the Ngong Hills, and an onsite spa and pool.
Click here to book HEMINGWAY’S NAIROBI
Gigiri – Neighborhood of Nairobi
Tribe Hotel – The original Village Market hotel is fabulous in a great spot. 137 rooms, a top-end restaurant a luxurious spa. This boutique luxury five-star hotel doesn’t feel like it’s in a mall.
Click here to book TRIBE HOTEL
WHAT TO DO IN NAIROBI
Nairobi National Park
Nairobi is the only city in the world with a bonafide safari destination within its limits. Nairobi National Park isn’t a safari park in the western definition; it is a natural piece of land where animals are free to roam. It isn’t enclosed, meaning the natural corridors are maintained and animals come and go. You never know what you will see on a safari at Nairobi National Park, but all of Kenya’s animals are here, except for elephants, which had to be removed due to human-wildlife conflict. Drive yourself or take a tour through this 100 KM park to see lion, leopards, cheetahs, rhino, hyena, jackal, hippos, and all the other Lion King’s domain residents.
The Giraffe Centre
The Giraffe Centre is a sanctuary for the endangered Rothschild Giraffes. At the Giraffes Centre, you can hand-feed a wild Giraffe. Upon entry, you are given pellets, which the Giraffe gobble up. Platforms are built, allowing you to see the Giraffe eye to eye. A genuinely fascinating wildlife experience, not to be missed.
David Sheldrick Elephant Orphanage.
The Elephant Orphanage rescues juvenile elephants from all over Kenya and Tanzania and raises them in the orphanage adjacent to Nairobi National Park. Visitors can meet these tiny elephants, learn about them, and, depending on when you visit, touch, and feed them. The DSWT is amazing and must visit.
WHERE TO VISIT IN KENYA | Interesting Places To Visit In Kenya – A Complete Kenya Travel Guide
The Maasai Mara
The Maasai Mara is home to the great wildebeest migration, one of the natural wonders of the world. The migration is a cyclical event where herds of over a million wildebeest and zebra travel between the Serengeti in Tanzania and the Maasai Mara National Reserve in Kenya. There is no better place in the world to go on safari. The ‘Mara’ itself is a landscape of rolling hills broken only by dirt brown rivers and those treacherous cliffs. Any time of year it is one of the best places in the world to spot games and is renowned for having one of the largest numbers of big cats in the world.
Diani Beach on the Kenyan Coast – Interesting Places To Visit In Kenya – A Complete Kenya Travel Guide
Kenya has 1420 miles of coastline bordering the Indian Ocean. The white sand beaches are a global top tourist destination. Diani beach will fulfill every shell scattered, the palm-filled tropical dream you ever wished for. Little development marks the coast besides an odd beach bar, dive shop, kite surfing place, and a few boutique hotels. Do nothing but gaze at the blinding white sand, swim in the Indian Ocean, and sip the local ‘Dawa’ cocktail.
Lake Naivasha – Interesting Places To Visit In Kenya – A Complete Kenya Travel Guide
Down in the Great Rift Valley, there are several lakes; some pink with flamingos, some white with salt. Lake Naivasha is the closest lake to Nairobi and it is filled with hippos and populated with huge numbers of bird life. People come to Lake Naivasha to see the hippos, either from the shore or on a boat, but I love Naivasha for its silence and its serenity.
Acacia trees dot a lakeshore that is home to giraffes, hyenas, honey badgers, zebras, and more. Naivasha is a peaceful haven that has several good restaurants and hotels. Take a walk through Crescent Island for guaranteed sightings of the animals. Naivasha is the ideal day trip from hectic Nairobi.
IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT KENYA | Interesting Places To Visit In Kenya – A Complete Kenya Travel Guide
- Currency of Kenya – The Kenyan Shilling, Some places US Dollars are accepted.
- Language of Kenya – Swahili & English. Due to English colonial rule, language is not a problem here.
- Time Zone of Kenya – East Africa Time – GMT +3.
- Electrical sockets of Kenya – Sockets are of a G type. With a standard voltage of 240 V and a standard frequency of 50 Hz
- What to shop in Kenya – Masai Blankets, African Maska, Ebony crafts, Kazuri Beads, etc.
- Kenya follows strict plastic ban. So be sustainable while traveling to Kenya.
- Like India, Kenya too is chai or tea lover. Kenya exports tea which is a highest earner for them.
Kenya is a mix of good and bad. Like many African nations, the division between rich and poor is vast; the wealthy live in luxurious estates and the poor sleep 3 families to a one-room shack. Kenya’s economy is doing well but it hampered by a corrupt government. It leads the way in wildlife conservation yet is still crippled by poaching. It has clement weather and unsurpassed beauty and yet yearly droughts and floods. Kenya is savage, beautiful, rotten and glorious, one of the last frontiers for people seeking to get off the beaten track
More On Africa – RELATED READS
- 6 Rules for a Successful Holiday Trip to Kenya
- Best Egypt 1 Week Itinerary (Things To Do In Egypt In 7 Days)
- Perfect Seychelles Itinerary Honeymoon 7 Days Holiday
Loved it … Then Pin it…
If you wish to collaborate/work with me then contact me at [email protected].
Follow latest updates about travelwithme247blog on social media channels at
Facebook Twitter Instagram Pinterest
All content and photos belong to travelwithme247blog(dot)com and the use of content/photos without permission would result in legal action.
DISCLAIMER – The content of the blog is solely my views of a place or a thing. This is not to offend any class, religion, ethnicity or nation. My views can change from time to time. This blog may contain some advertisements or links to commercial products and for that, this site is not responsible after you click those advertisements.
We are the independent owner of this site and views expressed in this are our own. All photographs are owned by me. There can be slight differences in distances, locations or some details for which I (owner) am not responsible. This post may contain some affiliate links, which means at no additional cost to you. I will earn if you will click through affiliates and make a purchase
all things beautiful about this post, thanks Yukti…i wish things ease out soon for international travel…i realised the plight of caged animals during this lock-down period and my heart goes out to them, that’s why i so love to see the wide expanses of kenya letting animals be the way God meant for them….such a blessing…
We did one stop in Kenya for a game drive. It was awesome. But not nearly enough time. We would love to visit the Nairobi National Park. It would be fascinating to see the animals roaming in natural corridors. Visiting the Maasai Mara during the wildebeest migration would be absolutely stunning. We hope to get back.
I have not yet managed to get to this part of the world. It looks very tempting and beautiful! Thanks for sharing!
Thanks for loving it
Kenya has been a dream destination for me since long. Most of my travel wishlist are after some books I had read or movies I had seen. I had read about Africa in story book as a child and since that day I have been dreaming of seeing the Masai Mara. I have heard mixed reviews of Nairobi as a city, but I think Nairobi is as interesting as any big bustling capital city is. Thanks for this detailed guide. I would come back to it whenever I am planning Kenya!
Kenya is a beautiful place inside and out. This guide is perfect for first-timers to Kenya. I’ll recommend flora and fauna lovers to visit the Kenyan rose farm in Naivasha, they are the biggest suppliers of flowers to the European markets.
I’ve been to Nairobi several times, but always en route to another destination in Africa. Kenya isn’t really a country that I’ve explored outside of Nairobi but I would love to go on safari to the Maasai Mara someday. Diani Beach looks stunning too, great tips!
Kenya appears to be such a beautiful place, at least out of the city. However, Nairobi would make me crazy. It reminds me of traffic in China. Everyone doing their own thing. Viewing the wildlife would be my favorite thing to do for sure, although the beach would be a fun break too. The sand is so white and seeing people walking their camels would be a kick in the pants.
Yes wildlife is really amazing here.
Wow, this is a thorough guide to Kenya. Loved my trip there, the giraffe centre was such a highlight. It was just amazing getting so close up.
I have always wanted to go to Africa on a safari. Kenya sounds fantastic. It would be awesome to see the animals just wondering around with no confinement. They need to ban poaching though.
I agree with you.
I have wanted to explore more of Africa and Kenya has been on my list. Thank you for such an in depth guide to what to see, do and where to stay.
The only place that I have visited in Africa is South Africa and Johannesburg the capital city was as we were told not too safe after evening being out on the streets. I have always wanted to visit Kenya and have been keen to understand how safe it is. But as you mention it no longer is so unsafe as it used to be. It would be lovely to be in Maasai Mara, home to the great wildebeest migration and Maasai Mara National Reserve in Kenya for a safari. Thanks for the wonderful insights and tips on planning a trip.
What a great itinerary! Kenya has been a longtime dream. Maasai Mara and the Elephant Orphanage sound incredible, at the top of my Kenya list!
You would love it.
aww…the more you say that, the more tempting it gets Yukti….
absolutely….the masai mara will always be a dream travel destination Kendra
It was perfect the first time. I learn so much from you as well! Keep it up great post.
I have been to South Africa and loved it and when I return to Africa I think Kenya would be my next port of call. Lovely photos really inspiring the feel of the country and a detailed post on what to expect once there.
This is so detailed and organized. I want to book this right away, especially the elephant orphanage. I went to Botswana and South Africa in 2018 and Kenya is next!
You know just before the lockdown I was scouting on the cheap tickets to Nairobi and was almost planning my trip to Kenya and for the great Serengitti Migration . But alas pandemic shelved all my plans. I do wish to visit Kenya as I have hear so many stories about it . Dont know when but sometimes for sure..even i have heard about the great crime scenes but your post assures me a bit now.
Yes we thought to plan for it.
Kenya has been on my radar for quite some time – honestly, mostly just to visit the the Maasai Mara. But from your post I can so there is so much more to do around, and even alternatives to traditional safaris. Thanks for the helpful tips, saving for my future travels!
hi
i loved reading this post especially even the hotel recommendations. speaks a lot about the quality of the write up. Truly said Africa is a destination which is a just visit. Its just bad that there is so much uncertainty wrt political upheavals which have affected Kenya too but Africa has been a dream for me to visit