One day in Nairobi

Day by day

1. Day 1: Nairobi National Park and Giraffe Centre

   Nairobi National Park, Giraffe Centre, Nairobi Safari Walk and Bomas of Kenya, then Westlands in the evening.

   1. Morning

      Nairobi National Park

      Enter as the gates open in the early morning, when predators are most active and traffic on Langata Road is lighter; KWS gates are cashless, so carry a card. Allow Half a day.

   2. Late morning

      Giraffe Centre

      Combine it with the elephant orphanage and the Karen Blixen Museum, which are all within a 20-minute drive of each other. Allow 1 hour.

   3. Lunch

      Lunch: Nyama choma

      Roadside grills and garden bars across the city; Carnivore in Langata serves it carved at the table from Maasai swords.

   4. Afternoon

      Nairobi Safari Walk

      Pair it with a game drive from the main gate, which is right next to the boardwalk entrance. Allow 1–1.5 hours.

   5. Late afternoon

      Bomas of Kenya

      Ask at the gate about the day's performance schedule and arrive a little early to walk the homesteads first. Allow 2 hours.

   6. Evening

      Westlands

      The main bar and club district, with lounges and clubs around Woodvale Grove and rooftop bars on nearby hotels and malls.

If it rains

• Swap in Nairobi National Museum (Museum Hill): Buy a combined ticket if you also want the snake park, and save time for the garden's nature trail.
• Swap in Nairobi Railway Museum (Central Business District): Spend most of your time in the outdoor yard, where you can walk among and inside the old locomotives.
• Swap in Nairobi Gallery (Central Business District): Combine it with the KICC rooftop and the City Market, all within a short walk in daylight.

Where to stay for this itinerary

Pace and daylight

The sights in this plan add up to roughly 7–9 hours of visiting over one day, before meals and getting between them. Daylight runs from about 12 hours in June to 12.2 hours in January.

Getting between stops: Ride-hailing. Uber, Bolt and local apps are widely used and usually cheaper than hotel taxis; they are the easiest way to cross the city, including at night.

More or fewer days

• 2 days in Nairobi
• 3 days in Nairobi

Questions travellers ask