A three star property on Karen Rd, out on the ridge where the city builds for cars and conferences. You come for the garden, the pool, the parking and the quiet, not for the centre. Suits anyone with their own transport and business in this part of Greater Nairobi.
01What it is
Karen Blixen Coffee Garden & Cottages lists the basics of a self contained stay: free wifi, free car parking, a 24 hour front desk, housekeeping, laundry, luggage storage and a concierge. Rooms are non smoking, with a bathroom, shower, WC, TV, telephone, hairdryer, safe, slippers and toiletries, and there are family rooms, a cot, an iron and board, and wheelchair access. Food and drink run through a restaurant, a bar, a pool bar, breakfast, lunch, a buffet and special diets. Outside there is a garden, a terrace and an outdoor pool, with banquet space and a shuttle service. Where the list is thin: it is a facility list, not a description of the rooms, and nothing here tells you how any of it is done.
What Karen Blixen Coffee Garden & Cottages adds up to is a walled, staffed base in Greater Nairobi rather than a city centre hotel. The pool, garden and terrace carry the days when you are not working; the front desk, security and parking carry the rest. This end of Nairobi is safe and dull after dark, so the bar is in the hotel and everything else is a ride. The property suits people with business or family in this part of Greater Nairobi, and people who want their car with them. It does not suit anyone who wants the Central Business District on foot. It sits 13.92 km from Kenyatta Avenue at Moi Avenue, which is 174 minutes on foot in a direct line.
02The supplier's photographs
0336 facilities the supplier lists
and 11 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 this property if you want the grounds, the pool and the parking more than you want to be near 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 Karen Blixen Coffee Garden & Cottages?+
It is at 336 Karen Rd in Nairobi, in Greater Nairobi rather than the Central Business District. It sits 12.09 km from Upper Hill and Community, which is the nearest of the ten quarters this site covers. That puts it on the ridge, away from the office towers.
What does the property actually have on site?+
An outdoor pool, a garden and a terrace, a restaurant, a bar and a pool bar, free wifi and free car parking, a 24 hour front desk, housekeeping, laundry and a concierge. Rooms are non smoking and there are family rooms, a cot, an iron and board, and wheelchair access.
What is it like getting into the centre from here?+
You are outside the Central Business District, on the ridge where the city is built for cars and conference rooms, so you plan on driving or taking a ride rather than walking in. After dark the area is quiet, with hotel bars and little else on foot.
How do I check availability for this property?+
Use the booking link on this page to see which rooms are open for your dates at Karen Blixen Coffee Garden & Cottages. The site shows live availability and the room types on offer, so you can compare what is free before you commit to anything.
