Self-catering apartments on Utawala Kibiku Road, out in Greater Nairobi and well away from the centre. What decides it is whether you have your own transport, because the location works for drivers and hardly at all without one.
01What it is
Shalom Apartments Utawala near JKIA Airport is a four star apartment property on Utawala Kibiku Road, and the list is built around longer self-catering stays rather than hotel service. Each unit gives you a kitchen with a microwave, refrigerator, toaster and sink, plus a bathroom with shower, WC, towels and toiletries, a desk, a sofa bed, a TV, a safe, a balcony or terrace, and air conditioning. Free wifi, parking, a garage, laundry and housekeeping are all listed, along with 24 hour security, a garden, a barber and beauty salon, massage, a bar, and a market. The list goes quiet on anything else: no restaurant is named, no gym, no airport transfer, and no guest score is on file.
What that adds up to is an apartment you provision and run yourself rather than a hotel that looks after you. Shalom Apartments Utawala near JKIA Airport suits people with a car who want space and a kitchen for several nights, and it takes pets. It does not suit anyone planning to walk to the centre or rely on being collected: it sits 15.18 km from Kenyatta Avenue at Moi Avenue, which is 190 minutes on foot in a direct line, and the surrounding streets are a market that shuts in the late afternoon. Treat it as a base for the eastern side of the city, not for the centre.
02The supplier's photographs
0336 facilities the supplier lists
and 9 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 Muthurwa and the east markets, 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 Muthurwa and the east markets is only the nearest of the ten. That is the whole point of the distinction: you are sleeping outside the grid, and you will be travelling in and out for anything in the CBD.
The quarter itself is the eastern edge of the grid: wholesale produce, bus termini, before dawn. Trucks, handcarts and the entire city’s vegetables changing hands at 5am. It is the wholesale edge, where Muthurwa’s market and the country bus termini push up against the railway land, and it feeds the rest of the grid. Best for an early-morning market walk with someone who knows it. After dark it is closed, dark and not a place to be, and mornings are the only sensible time. Muthurwa sits 1.23 km from Kenyatta Avenue at Moi Avenue, which is 16 minutes on foot in a direct line, and that figure describes the quarter, not your journey from these hotels.
Read the nearest quarter, Muthurwa and the east markets05Booking it
Book this one directly if the location and the self-catering setup already match how you are travelling, because a car is close to essential here. 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 Shalom Apartments Utawala?+
It stands on Utawala Kibiku Road, in Greater Nairobi rather than in the centre, on the eastern side of the city. It is 13.99 km from Muthurwa and the east markets, which is the nearest of the ten quarters this site covers. Plan on driving rather than walking in.
What is in the apartments?+
Each unit lists a kitchen with microwave, refrigerator, toaster and sink, a bathroom with shower, WC, towels and toiletries, air conditioning, a desk, a sofa bed, a TV, a safe and a balcony or terrace. Bedding, iron and board, and cleaning are listed as well. Free wifi runs throughout.
What is the area around it like?+
It is a working market street: trucks, handcarts and the entire city's vegetables changing hands at 5am. After dark it is closed, dark and not a place to be, so this is a mornings-only district. The property itself lists 24 hour security, a garden and parking.
How do I check availability?+
Availability and room types are shown when you search on app.impt.io, and free cancellation applies to most rooms there. The apartments take pets, so note that when you check. If you need a specific unit for a longer stay, confirm it at the time of booking.
