An apartment block on Kijabe Street with its own kitchens, a pool and parking on site. The deciding factor is that you get a serviced flat rather than a hotel room, so it rewards people staying a while and disappoints anyone wanting the centre on the doorstep after dark.
01What it is
Norfolk Towers Serviced Apartments is a three star property on Kijabe Street, and the list is built around self-catering rather than around a hotel floor. Apartments come with a kitchen or kitchenette, an oven, a microwave, a refrigerator, a toaster and a washing machine, plus a desk, a TV, a DVD player, iron and board, toiletries and towels. There are family rooms, non smoking rooms, a cot, a safe, lifts and wheelchair access. The wider list covers a twenty four hour front desk, security, concierge, housekeeping, laundry, luggage storage and free wifi, with free car parking, an outdoor pool, a garden and a bar. Note what is missing or thin: shuttle service and banquet space are the only outward-facing extras, and apart from the bar there is no restaurant or dining room named.
What that adds up to at Norfolk Towers Serviced Apartments is a base for someone running a household rather than a holiday. You cook, you wash clothes, you park the car, and the apartment holds a family without anyone tripping over the luggage. The pool and garden give the block somewhere to sit that is not the room. The verdict: it suits people on longer stays, families, and anyone working in the city who wants their own kitchen and a parking space. It does not suit anyone who wants to step out of a lobby into the middle of the centre, and the quarter around it is the wrong choice for late evenings.
02The supplier's photographs
0336 facilities the supplier lists
and 12 more on the supplier's own record. Facilities are the supplier's list, not a check made on the ground.
04Standing in Biashara Street and City Market
These hotels sit in Biashara Street and City Market, the market quarter, narrow, shaded, and the only part of the centre where the shops are still one-family wide. This is the oldest retail streets in the city: Biashara for cloth and haberdashery, Muindi Mbingu for flowers, and the 1930s City Market hall behind them for produce, curios and a fish counter. Jamia Mosque's three silver domes close the block. It is best for kikoi and kitenge cloth, curios without the tour-bus markup, and an hour of architecture. The quarter sits 0.63 km from Kenyatta Avenue at Moi Avenue, which is 8 minutes on foot in a direct line.
This is a daytime quarter. The halls shut in the late afternoon and the streets empty with them, so plan on being elsewhere for the evening and for a ride back. It suits anyone who wants cloth, flowers, market produce and old city fabric on the doorstep, and it does not suit anyone who wants company after dark or a hotel bar to fall into.
Read the whole of Biashara Street and City Market05Booking it
Book this one early if you need a specific apartment size, because self-catering units in this part of the centre go to people staying several nights rather than one. 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 Norfolk Towers Serviced Apartments?+
It sits on Kijabe Street in Nairobi, which puts it 1.24 km from Kenyatta Avenue at Moi Avenue, which is 16 minutes on foot in a direct line. It is 0.68 km from the centre of Biashara Street and City Market. That area is narrow, shaded, and the only part of the centre where the shops are still one-family wide.
What do the apartments actually include?+
The list is self-catering: kitchen or kitchenette, oven, microwave, refrigerator, toaster, washing machine, plus a desk, TV, DVD player, iron and board, towels and toiletries. There are family rooms, non smoking rooms, a cot, a safe and lifts. Free wifi runs through the building, and parking is free on site.
What is Biashara Street and City Market like after dark?+
It is a daytime quarter. The halls shut in the late afternoon and the streets empty with them. That means the address works well for anyone whose day starts early and finishes early, and badly for anyone expecting the streets outside to stay busy into the night.
What does the guest score of 4.4 out of 5 from 310 reviews tell me?+
It is a solid score from a large number of reviews, which suggests the apartment format and the facilities on offer land well with most people who stay. It is not a perfect score, so read it as broad satisfaction rather than a guarantee on any single detail.
