A three star apartment block on Garden Road in Riverside, west of the centre, with full kitchens, laundry and parking. The deciding fact is that it is a self contained flat, not a serviced hotel: you cook, you wash, and you come back after dark by car.
01What it is
Erica Residences Riverside lists as a three star apartment property rather than a hotel, and the list reads that way: a kitchen with oven, microwave, refrigerator, toaster and coffee; a washing machine, iron and board, and housekeeping and laundry service alongside. There are family rooms, cots, a lounge, a balcony, a terrace and a garden with a picnic area, plus lifts, free wifi, free car parking and a garage. The thin parts are the ones a hotel guest notices: no restaurant, no bar, no gym, no airport transfer, and the entertainment listed is a CD player, a DVD player and a video rather than anything streaming.
What that adds up to at Erica Residences Riverside is a self catering flat in a residential part of Greater Nairobi, west of the city centre, with a safe, a smoke detector and a first aid kit, slippers, towels and toiletries, a shower and a bidet, a fan rather than air conditioning, and 24 hour security. It sits 3.14 km from Kenyatta Avenue at Moi Avenue, which is 40 minutes on foot in a direct line, and 2.52 km from Biashara Street and City Market, which is the nearest of the ten quarters this site covers. It suits people staying several nights who want to cook and park a car and will take a taxi in for meetings. It does not suit anyone who wants a lobby, a bar or the centre on foot.
02The supplier's photographs
0336 facilities the supplier lists
and 10 more on the supplier's own record. Facilities are the supplier's list, not a check made on the ground.
04Standing outside the ten quarters
These hotels sit outside the ten quarters of the centre this site covers. Biashara Street and City Market is only the nearest of the ten, and it is where you would be heading, not where you are sleeping. Take that as the shape of your stay: you are in the wider city, just outside the ten quarters, on the edge of the centre, and anything in the CBD means travelling in and out rather than stepping out of a lobby.
The quarter itself is the market one, 0.63 km from Kenyatta Avenue at Moi Avenue, which is 8 minutes on foot in a direct line. 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. The streets are narrow, shaded, and the only part of the centre where the shops are still one-family wide. It suits kikoi and kitenge cloth, curios without the tour-bus markup, and an hour of architecture. It is a daytime quarter: the halls shut in the late afternoon and the streets empty with them, so plan the return before that.
Read the nearest quarter, Biashara Street and City Market05Booking it
Booking this one is a matter of matching dates to a self catering flat rather than a room, so decide first whether you want the kitchen and the parking. 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 Erica Residences Riverside?+
It is at Truesdaale Apartments Apartment No. 7C on Garden Road in Riverside, in Greater Nairobi. That is west of the central business district, 3.14 km from Kenyatta Avenue at Moi Avenue, which is 40 minutes on foot in a direct line. It is not a CBD address.
What does the property actually provide in the flat?+
The listed facilities include a kitchen with oven, microwave, refrigerator and toaster, a washing machine, iron and board, a lounge, a balcony, a terrace, a garden, free wifi, free car parking and 24 hour security. There are family rooms and cots, and a fan rather than air conditioning.
How do I get into the centre from here, and what is the area like after dark?+
You are in Greater Nairobi, not in the quarter itself, so you cross into the centre by car. The centre is a daytime quarter: the halls shut in the late afternoon and the streets empty with them. Plan evening meals and drinks around Riverside or further west instead.
How do I check whether the flat is free for my dates?+
Availability, not a rate, is the thing to check: use the booking link, put in your dates, and the system will show whether the apartment is open and what the cancellation terms are. Most rooms here can be cancelled free, and the booking runs through app.impt.io.
