Karen View Palace is a three star hotel on Ngong Road, out on a ridge built for cars and conference rooms. The one thing that decides whether it is right for you is the car, because on this street the hotel bar is the evening and everything else is a ride.
01What it is
Karen View Palace lists lifts, a smoking area, wheelchair access and a surcharge, and nothing else. That is a thin list for a three star property, and it is thin in the places that matter most at the end of a day: there is no restaurant named, no bar named, no gym, no pool, no airport transfer and no business centre. What the list does tell you is that the building has been fitted out for movement, not for lingering: the lifts carry you between floors, the wheelchair access is there for anyone who needs it, and the smoking area is set aside rather than left to the entrance. Treat the surcharge as the honest part of the listing. Something on the bill is not folded into the room, so ask at the desk before you sign.
For someone staying at Karen View Palace, that adds up to a straightforward sleeping base rather than a place to spend the day. The location governs everything. You are on a ridge of new concrete in Greater Nairobi, 10.2 km from Kenyatta Avenue at Moi Avenue, which is 128 minutes on foot in a direct line, and 8.59 km from Upper Hill and Community, which is the nearest of the ten quarters this site covers. The street is safe and dull: hotel bars, and a ride anywhere else. Karen View Palace suits a driver or a delegate with a car or a booked ride, and anyone content to make the hotel bar the evening. It does not suit a visitor who wants the centre on foot or the city at the door.
02The supplier's photographs
034 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 View Palace if you have a car or a reason to be out on this ridge, and confirm what the surcharge covers before you arrive. 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 View Palace?+
It is on Ngong Road in Greater Nairobi, on a ridge of new concrete built for the car and the conference room. It sits 8.59 km from Upper Hill and Community, which is the nearest of the ten quarters this site covers, so plan on driving rather than walking into town.
What facilities does Karen View Palace have?+
The property lists lifts, a smoking area, wheelchair access and a surcharge. That is the whole list as given, and it is thin: no restaurant, bar, gym or pool is named, so check directly with the hotel if you need those before booking a room here.
Can I walk from Karen View Palace into central Nairobi?+
You can, but set aside real time. It is 10.2 km from Kenyatta Avenue at Moi Avenue, which is 128 minutes on foot in a direct line. Most people staying here take a car or a booked ride instead, and the street itself is safe and dull after dark.
What does the guest score mean?+
Karen View Palace has a guest score of 5 out of 5 from 6 reviews. Read it for what it is: a very small sample of guests, all of them apparently satisfied. Six reviews is not enough to call a pattern, so weigh the thin facility list just as heavily.
