A five star hostel on Ambosei Road in Lavington, out on the ridge among the conference hotels, with its own garden, kitchen and games room. What decides it is location: you are not in the centre, and the city is a ride away.
01What it is
Mad Vervet Nairobi Backpackers Hostel is listed at five stars and sits on Ambosei Road in Lavington. The list is strongest on the self-catering side and on the grounds: a kitchen, kitchenette, oven, microwave, refrigerator and toaster, plus a garden, terrace, patio and picnic area. Inside there is a lounge and fireplace, a games room with table tennis, a bar and lounge, coffee, television, desk, safe and minibar, with free wifi and internet access throughout. Rooms are non smoking, with sheets, shower, bathroom and WC, cots available, and housekeeping and laundry services. Security features, 24 hour security, smoke detectors and first aid are listed. It is thinner on the front desk side, and a five star label on a backpacker hostel is worth reading as a facilities tag rather than a service promise.
For anyone staying at Mad Vervet Nairobi Backpackers Hostel, that adds up to a place built for a longer stay with your own cooking and your own company, not a base for walking the city. You get grounds, a kitchen and a bar, and you get them in Lavington, a ridge of new concrete built for the car and the conference room, where after dark it is safe and dull: hotel bars, and a ride anywhere else. It suits people with a vehicle or a driver, people working at a nearby meeting venue, and anyone who wants quiet and space and does not mind paying for transport. It does not suit a first visit built on the Central Business District, and it does not suit anyone who wants to step out of the gate into the streets this site is about.
02The supplier's photographs
0336 facilities the supplier lists
and 1 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 well outside the centre, in the inner suburbs, and Upper Hill and Community is only the nearest of the ten quarters. That matters more than it sounds: you are staying in the wider city, and anything in the CBD means travelling in and out for it. The ridge itself is new concrete built for the car and the conference room, and most of the CBD's office space has been moving up there since the 2000s, which is why you find the tallest towers in the country, the big hospitals, the aid agencies and an expressway ramp to the airport on it. The quarter sits 1.9 km from Kenyatta Avenue at Moi Avenue, which is 24 minutes on foot in a direct line.
Upper Hill and Community is best for meetings, a quiet night close in, and a fast run to the airport. After dark it is safe and dull: hotel bars, and a ride anywhere else. If you want the centre on foot, this is not the right base.
Read the nearest quarter, Upper Hill and Community05Booking it
Booking here is straightforward, but confirm with the property what a five star listing actually covers at a hostel 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 Mad Vervet Nairobi Backpackers Hostel?+
It sits at 860 Ambosei Road in Lavington, on the ridge west of the centre in Greater Nairobi. The site measures it at 7.03 km from Kenyatta Avenue at Moi Avenue, which is 88 minutes on foot in a direct line, and 5.74 km from Upper Hill and Community, which is the nearest of the ten quarters this site covers.
What does the hostel actually provide for guests?+
The listed facilities centre on self-catering and shared space: a kitchen and kitchenette with oven, microwave, refrigerator and toaster, a garden, terrace, patio and picnic area, a lounge with fireplace, a games room with table tennis, a bar, coffee, television, free wifi, housekeeping, laundry, non smoking rooms, cots, 24 hour security and first aid.
Can I walk into the Central Business District from Lavington?+
Not comfortably. The property is out on the ridge, and the area after dark is hotel bars plus a ride anywhere else. Plan on a car or a taxi for anything in the centre, and treat the hostel as a place to sleep and cook rather than a base for walking the city.
How do I check whether a room is free?+
Availability is checked through the booking link on this page. Enter your dates there and the system shows what Mad Vervet Nairobi Backpackers Hostel has open, along with the free cancellation terms that apply to most rooms, before anything is confirmed.
