Karen Gables is a four star hotel on Mbagathi Ridge in Greater Nairobi, set well out from the centre. It has a pool, a garden, a terrace and parking. That distance and the car are what decide it: right for drivers and conference guests, wrong if you want to walk to the city.
01What it is
Karen Gables is a four star property on Mbagathi Ridge in Greater Nairobi. The listed facilities run to the practical: a 24 hour front desk, concierge, free wifi, free car parking, breakfast, a bar, laundry and dry cleaning, luggage storage, a safe, a smoking area, a garden, a terrace and an outdoor pool. Horse back riding is also on the list, and the property is wheelchair accessible. What is thin is meals beyond breakfast and any fitness or spa offering, so plan dinners elsewhere.
Karen Gables works if you are in Greater Nairobi for a conference or a quiet stay and you have a car or use the shuttle service. The front desk, parking and pool cover the basics, and the guest score of 4.6 out of 5 from 224 reviews points to solid delivery. It does not suit anyone wanting to step out into a city centre, since the quarter is 13.27 km from Upper Hill and Community, which is the nearest of the ten quarters this site covers. Treat it as a base you return to, not a place you walk out of.
02The supplier's photographs
0318 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 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 Karen Gables if you want the ridge, the garden and the car parking, not a central address. 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 Karen Gables?+
Karen Gables is on Mbagathi Ridge, No 76D, in Greater Nairobi. It is 13.27 km from Upper Hill and Community, which is the nearest of the ten quarters this site covers. The street feel is new concrete on a ridge, built for the car and the conference room.
What facilities does Karen Gables list?+
The list includes a 24 hour front desk, free wifi, free car parking, breakfast, a bar, concierge, laundry and dry cleaning, luggage storage, a safe, a garden, a terrace, an outdoor pool and horse back riding. The property is wheelchair accessible. There is a smoking area, and a shuttle service is listed.
How far is Karen Gables from central Nairobi?+
Karen Gables is 15.07 km from Kenyatta Avenue at Moi Avenue, which is 189 minutes on foot in a direct line. That makes a car or the listed shuttle service the practical way in. After dark the area is safe and dull: hotel bars, and a ride anywhere else.
What does the guest score mean for Karen Gables?+
Karen Gables holds 4.6 out of 5 from 224 reviews. Read that as consistent delivery on the basics: the front desk, the parking, the pool and the garden. It does not tell you the hotel is central, because it is not. It suits drivers and conference guests based on the ridge.
