A three star hotel on School Lane in Westlands, north of the centre, with a pool, a garden, a spa and free parking. The distance from the centre is what decides it: this suits you if you want quiet, space and a car, and not if you want to step out into the quarter.
01What it is
Clarence House is a three star property at No. 8 School Lane, Westlands. Its listed facilities fall into three groups. For eating and drinking there are restaurants, a bar, a cafe and a lounge. For working there are meeting rooms, a business center and a ballroom with banquet service. For resting there are an outdoor pool, a kids pool, a fitness center, a sauna, a steam room and a spa, along with a garden and a terrace. Practical items include a 24 hour front desk, a concierge, lifts, luggage storage, laundry and dry cleaning, free wifi, free car parking and wheelchair access. The list is thin on detail: nothing describes the rooms themselves, and a few entries, such as bars and surcharge, carry no explanation, so treat the facilities as a broad shape rather than a promise.
What that adds up to for a stay at Clarence House is a self contained hotel rather than a base on the doorstep of the Central Business District. It stands 3.85 km from Biashara Street and City Market, which is the nearest of the ten quarters this site covers, so the centre is a trip, not a stroll. The pool, garden, spa and parking make long stays and family stays easier, and the business and banquet rooms serve meetings on site. It suits drivers, families and anyone who wants space around them. It does not suit you if you want to walk out into the centre, and the area after dark is a daytime quarter: the halls shut in the late afternoon and the streets empty with them.
02The supplier's photographs
0332 facilities the supplier lists
Facilities are the supplier's list, not a check made on the ground.
04Standing outside the ten quarters
Before you book, be clear about where these hotels are. They sit well outside the centre, in the inner suburbs, and they are not in any of the ten quarters this site covers. Biashara Street and City Market is only the nearest of those quarters, which is not the same as being in it. You are in the wider city here, and every trip into the Central Business District is a journey in and out.
The market quarter itself is narrow, shaded, and the only part of the centre where the shops are still one-family wide. The oldest retail streets in the city: Biashara for cloth and haberdashery, Muindi Mbingu for flowers, and the 1930s City Market hall behind them for produce, curios and a fish counter. Jamia Mosque's three silver domes close the block. It is best for kikoi and kitenge cloth, curios without the tour-bus markup, and an hour of architecture. After dark it is a daytime quarter: the halls shut in the late afternoon and the streets empty with them. It lies 0.63 km from Kenyatta Avenue at Moi Avenue, which is 8 minutes on foot in a direct line.
Read the nearest quarter, Biashara Street and City Market05Booking it
Book Clarence House directly through this page and confirm the room you actually want, whether that is one near the pool or one set up for work. 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 is Clarence House in Nairobi?+
It is at No. 8 School Lane, Westlands, in Greater Nairobi. That is 4.42 km from Kenyatta Avenue at Moi Avenue, which is 56 minutes on foot in a direct line, so you are outside the Central Business District rather than in it. Plan on motor transport for the centre.
What facilities does Clarence House list?+
The listed facilities include an outdoor pool, a kids pool, a fitness center, a sauna, a steam room, a spa, a garden and a terrace. There are restaurants, a bar, a cafe and a lounge, plus meeting rooms, a business center, a ballroom, free wifi and free car parking.
Is it practical to stay here without a car?+
The property lists free car parking, which tells you most visitors arrive by vehicle, and Westlands is not a quarter you cross easily on foot. Without a car you depend on rides for the centre and for anything after dark, when this daytime quarter empties and the halls shut in the late afternoon.
How do I check availability at Clarence House?+
Use this page. Most rooms can be cancelled free, and you book them through app.impt.io. Availability and room types are shown when you search, and your confirmation comes straight back, so you are not dealing with the hotel directly for the booking.
