A three star apartment block at Sarit Center Roundabout, out in Greater Nairobi rather than the centre itself. It lists the practical things: parking, wifi, luggage storage, a concierge. The thing that decides it is the address, since this is a daytime quarter, the halls shut in the late afternoon and the streets empty with them.
01What it is
Gracious Apartment carries a three star rating and a short, practical list. Free wifi and free car parking are the two most people will use, and parking is listed twice, which tells you the car is the point here. There is a concierge, luggage storage and multilingual staff, and dry cleaning service for anyone staying more than a night or two. That is the whole of it. There is no restaurant, no bar, no gym and no airport transfer on the list, so plan on eating and spending your evenings elsewhere.
What that adds up to is a quiet, functional base at Sarit Center Roundabout, west of the centre in Greater Nairobi. Gracious Apartment suits someone with a car, or someone whose business is in this part of the city rather than in the CBD, and it suits a longer stay where dry cleaning and a place to leave bags matter. It does not suit anyone who wants to step out of a lobby into bars and restaurants, because the surrounding quarter goes quiet in the late afternoon. If you want the centre on foot, this is the wrong address.
02The supplier's photographs
037 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 Gracious Apartment directly if you want the free parking and the quiet, and check the cancellation terms before you commit. 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 Gracious Apartment in Nairobi?+
It sits at Sarit Center Roundabout, in Greater Nairobi rather than the central business district. It is 3.31 km from Biashara Street and City Market, which is the nearest of the ten quarters this site covers. That puts it outside the centre, so treat it as a base for the western side of the city.
What facilities does Gracious Apartment list?+
Free wifi, free car parking, parking, a concierge, dry cleaning service, luggage storage and multilingual staff. That is the full list. There is no restaurant, bar or gym, so you will be going out for meals and for anything to do in the evening.
How do I get into the centre from Greater Nairobi?+
The centre is not on the doorstep here. Kenyatta Avenue at Moi Avenue is 3.86 km from Kenyatta Avenue at Moi Avenue, which is 49 minutes on foot in a direct line. A car makes the trip straightforward and the free parking is the reason to have one.
How do I check availability at Gracious Apartment?+
Check live availability for your dates through app.impt.io, where most rooms can be cancelled free. You can confirm what is open for the nights you need and book there. There are no rates shown on this site.
