A three star hotel with a garden and a pool on Dennis Pritt, in Greater Nairobi rather than the centre. The conference room decides it: this suits people driving in for meetings or family stays, not anyone who wants the centre on foot.
01What it is
Gracia Gardens lists the full set: a 24 hour front desk, breakfast, free wifi, free car parking, a garden, laundry service, a meeting room, multilingual staff, restaurants, a safe, a swimming pool and wheelchair access. The three star rating fits that list well: everything a car borne visitor needs is here. What is thin is the part of the list that matters for the centre. There is no airport transfer, and no mention of a gym or a business centre beyond the meeting room.
What that adds up to is a hotel built around the car and the conference room, which is exactly what the street feel describes. Gracia Gardens is for you if you arrive with a vehicle, have meetings on the ridge or in Upper Hill, and want a pool and a garden at the end of the day. It is not for you if you want to walk to Kenyatta Avenue, or if you want the noise and choice of the centre on your doorstep.
02The supplier's photographs
0312 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 this site covers. They sit just outside the ten quarters, on the edge of the centre, and Upper Hill and Community is only the nearest of the ten. That puts you in the wider city rather than in the grid itself, so anything in the CBD means travelling in and out rather than stepping out of a lobby into it.
The ridge above the centre is new concrete, built for the car and the conference room: 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 sits 1.9 km from Kenyatta Avenue at Moi Avenue, which is 24 minutes on foot in a direct line, though that is the quarter's own distance and not a walk from these hotels.
Read the nearest quarter, Upper Hill and Community05Booking it
Book Gracia Gardens if the conference room and the parking matter more to you than being in the centre. 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 Gracia Gardens?+
It stands on Dennis Pritt in Greater Nairobi, on the new concrete ridge above the centre. It is 3.92 km from Kenyatta Avenue at Moi Avenue, which is 49 minutes on foot in a direct line, and 2.8 km from Upper Hill and Community, which is the nearest of the ten quarters this site covers.
What does the hotel list for guests?+
The list covers a 24 hour front desk, breakfast, free wifi, free car parking, a garden, laundry service, a meeting room, multilingual staff, restaurants, a safe, a swimming pool and wheelchair access. There is no airport transfer and no gym. Parking and the meeting room are the strongest parts of it.
What is it like getting into the centre from Greater Nairobi?+
You are on a ridge built for the car and the conference room. The centre is not a walk you would choose, so plan on driving or taking a ride in. After dark the area is safe and dull: hotel bars, and a ride anywhere else.
What does the guest score mean?+
It scores 4.2 out of 5 from 1889 reviews. That is a solid, consistent result from a large number of stays. Read it as a hotel that does the basics well for car borne visitors, rather than one that sets out to surprise you.
