A five star hotel on Mbagathi Ridge in Greater Nairobi, built for the car and the conference room. It suits people who arrive by car and want a pool, a spa and a garden. It does not suit anyone who wants to step out of the lobby into the centre.
01What it is
Hemingways Nairobi is a five star property on Mbagathi Ridge. The list runs long on leisure and comfort: outdoor pool, spa, sauna, steam room, jacuzzi, massage, fitness centre, garden, terrace, patio, restaurant, bars, room service and breakfast in room. Rooms carry air conditioning, balcony, bath, bathrobe, safe and minibar, and the hotel offers free wifi, free car parking, valet parking, lifts, laundry and dry cleaning, concierge, currency exchange, shuttle service and car rental. Family rooms, cots and kitchen or kitchenette units with dishwasher, oven and microwave cover longer stays. Banquet and conference space is the other half of the offer. The list is thinner on the plain things a city hotel usually carries: no business centre is named beyond fax, and no shop or salon appears.
Hemingways Nairobi is a resort in shape, not a city hotel. Its facilities assume you have a car, a meeting or a free afternoon, and the ridge setting is new concrete built for exactly that. The place suits conference delegates, families with a vehicle, and anyone treating Nairobi as a stopover rather than a base for walking the centre. It does not suit a visitor who wants to be on the street, in the markets and back at the room between trips: 14.54 km from Kenyatta Avenue at Moi Avenue, which is 182 minutes on foot in a direct line, is the distance to the middle of the city, and that is the deciding fact.
02The supplier's photographs
0336 facilities the supplier lists
and 33 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 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 Hemingways Nairobi if your trip is built around the hotel and a car, and look elsewhere if you want to walk out into 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 is Hemingways Nairobi?+
On Mbagathi Ridge in Greater Nairobi. It sits 12.74 km from Upper Hill and Community, which is the nearest of the ten quarters this site covers. The setting is new concrete on a ridge, built for the car and the conference room rather than for walking.
What does Hemingways Nairobi have on site?+
A five star list: outdoor pool, spa, sauna, steam room, jacuzzi, massage, fitness centre, garden, terrace, restaurants and bars. Rooms have air conditioning, balcony, bath, bathrobe and minibar. Free wifi, free parking, valet parking, laundry, concierge, currency exchange, shuttle service and car rental are all listed.
Can I walk from Hemingways Nairobi into the centre?+
No. The property stands 14.54 km from Kenyatta Avenue at Moi Avenue, which is 182 minutes on foot in a direct line. The area is built for cars, and after dark it is hotel bars and a ride anywhere else. Plan on a vehicle for every trip.
What does the guest score of 4.7 out of 5 mean?+
It is an average from 3068 reviews, which is a large sample and a high one. Read it as strong satisfaction with the rooms, grounds and service among people who chose a car based, resort style stay on the ridge. It says nothing about access to the centre.
