A three star bar and resort on Magadi Road, built for drivers rather than walkers, with a garden, a restaurant and a bar on site. It suits you if you have a car or a driver and want the western edge of the city. It does not suit you if you plan to walk into the centre.
01What it is
Balis Best Bar and Resort is a three star property on Magadi Road, 2 km from Galleria Mall. The listed facilities cover the practical end of a stay: 24 hour front desk, concierge, luggage storage, laundry and dry cleaning, free wifi, wheelchair access and a smoking area. There is a restaurant, a bar, a garden and a picnic area on site. The list is thin on the things a business traveller might look for: no meeting rooms, no gym, no airport transfer, no pool. Parking is not named either, which matters on a road built for cars.
For someone staying at Balis Best Bar and Resort, the offer is a self-contained stop on the western side of Greater Nairobi rather than a base for the centre. The garden, the bar and the restaurant mean you can eat and drink without leaving, which is the point in a place where the evening is hotel bars and a ride anywhere else. It suits drivers, people with business along Magadi Road or at Galleria, and anyone who wants a quiet night. It does not suit you if you want to walk to the CBD, the museums or Upper Hill, because you cannot.
02The supplier's photographs
0313 facilities the supplier lists
Facilities are the supplier's list, not a check made on the ground.
04Standing outside the ten quarters
These hotels are not in Upper Hill and Community, and they are not in any of the ten quarters of the centre this site covers. They sit a long way out, in the wider city, and Upper Hill and Community is only the nearest of the ten quarters to them, which is not the same as being in it. Treat the quarter as a reference point, not an address. Anything you want in the CBD means travelling in and out.
The quarter itself is the western ridge above the centre: new concrete on a ridge, built for the car and the conference room. It is not the CBD proper but the ridge immediately above it, and the place most of the CBD's office space has been moving to since the 2000s: the tallest towers in the country, the big hospitals, the aid agencies, and an expressway ramp to the airport. It is best for meetings, a quiet night close in, and a fast run to the airport, and after dark it is safe and dull: hotel bars, and a ride anywhere else. The quarter lies 1.9 km from Kenyatta Avenue at Moi Avenue, which is 24 minutes on foot in a direct line.
Read the nearest quarter, Upper Hill and Community05Booking it
Book Balis Best Bar and Resort if you are driving and want the western edge of the city, not if you plan to be in the centre on foot. Most rooms here can be cancelled free, and you book them through app.impt.io. Every confirmed booking removes one tonne of CO2, at no extra cost to you. Five percent of what you pay comes back as IMPT credit, out of the hotel commission rather than added to your bill.
Facts on this page come from the booking supplier's record: star class, address, photographs and facility list. Guest scores come from verified stays. Nobody from this site has stayed here; the quarter copy around it is this site's own.
06Questions
Where exactly is Balis Best Bar and Resort?+
It is on Magadi Road, 2 km from Galleria Mall, in Greater Nairobi. That is 10.44 km from Kenyatta Avenue at Moi Avenue, which is 131 minutes on foot in a direct line. It is a car-first location on new concrete, not a walking address.
What does the property actually list?+
A 24 hour front desk, concierge, luggage storage, laundry and dry cleaning, free wifi, a restaurant, bars, a garden, a picnic area, a smoking area and wheelchair access. There is no pool, no gym and no meeting room named, and parking is not listed.
What is it like getting into the centre from here?+
You are 8.55 km from Upper Hill and Community, which is the nearest of the ten quarters this site covers, so the centre is not a walk. The area is safe and dull after dark: hotel bars, and a ride anywhere else. Plan on a car or a driver for every trip.
What does the guest score mean?+
The property holds 4.3 out of 5 from 1779 reviews. That is a solid, consistent score rather than an exceptional one, and it lines up with a three star property that does the basics well: a bed, a bar, a garden and a desk that stays open.
