Nairobi first. Then everything else in Kenya.
Which half-day game drive leaves early enough to matter. What three nights in the Mara actually costs. When the elephant nursery opens. Every tour in Kenya, read before you book it.
Three ways out of Nairobi before lunch.
Nairobi is the only capital in the world with a national park on its boundary, and the elephant nursery and the Rift Valley lakes are both a morning away. Pick the one that fits the day you have.
Big game at dawn, seven kilometres from the tower blocks
Black rhino, buffalo, giraffe and the occasional lion, with the skyline standing behind them in every photograph. The half-day drive leaves before the traffic and is back by lunch.
See all 145 →
The elephant nursery, then the giraffe platform
The Sheldrick nursery opens to visitors for a single hour each morning while the keepers bring the youngest calves in for milk. Most days pair it with Langata and finish by two.
See all 70 →
Cycle Hell’s Gate, then take the Naivasha boat
One of the very few Kenyan parks you are allowed to enter on foot and by bicycle: zebra beside the track, a gorge walk at the far end, and hippos on Lake Naivasha on the way home.
See all 64 →Almost everything in Kenya leaves from Nairobi.
This is a working capital with a national park bolted to its southern edge, and it is where the Mara trucks, the Amboseli minibuses and the coast flights all begin. Give it two days before you go anywhere else.
What travellers in Kenya actually book.
Every review →Ordered by how many people have been and rated them. The half-day drive at the top has more traveller reviews than anything else in the country.
1
Nairobi National Park Half-Day Tour; Free Wi-Fi connection
Half-day Nairobi National Park safari with hotel pickup, open-rooftop game drive, Nairobi skyline views, and free Wi-Fi plus a Karen market stop.
From · $45
Read our review →
2
National Park & Optional Elephants & Giraffe Center
from $80
3
Nairobi National Park Half-Day Game Drive
from $36
4
Historic and Modern Highlights Walking Tour
from $23
5
Safari Tour; Nairobi National Park
from $43
6
3 Days Masai Mara Group Joining
from $540
7
Elephant Orphanage and Giraffe Center Tour with Options
from $35
8
3 Days, 2 Nights Maasai Mara Group Safari
from $199
Kenya’s reserves are not interchangeable.
One has the migration, one has elephants under Kilimanjaro, one has rhino and flamingos in a fenced valley, one has red dust and lion country, one has hippos and a walk-in island. Choose on that, not on the brochure.
In Kenya a safari is counted in nights.
The Mara is five hours of road from Nairobi and Amboseli is four, so the length of the trip decides what you see rather than how far you get. Here is what each extra night buys.
Two days, one night
Out at dawn, one full afternoon drive and one morning drive, home the next evening. The shortest version that is not mostly road.
2 Days Tsavo East National Park Tour From Mombasa/Diani (1 Night)★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 50 reviews · from $506See all 51 →Three days, two nights
The shared 4WD standard, and the length most people end up booking. Two full days of game drives with the transfer split either side.
3 Days Masai Mara Group Joining★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 486 reviews · from $540See all 157 →Four days, three nights
Adds Nakuru or Naivasha on the way, usually with the Rift escarpment viewpoint and a second park gate.
4 Days Safari Lake Nakuru NP Naivasha and Masai Mara★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 132 reviews · from $1,961See all 80 →Five nights and longer
Mara paired with Amboseli or Tsavo, lodge stays, the private-vehicle itineraries where you keep the same guide throughout, and the multi-day climbs on Mount Kenya.
5 Days Masai Mara, Lake Nakuru & Naivasha Budget Joining Safari★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 229 reviews · from $810See all 37 →Mombasa, Diani and the reef out past Wasini.
Kenya’s coast is a separate holiday with its own language: Swahili stone town and Portuguese walls in Mombasa, white sand and casuarina at Diani, and a dhow south to Kisite marine park where the dolphins genuinely turn up.
From a Nairobi city walk to a private week in the bush.
Every published review sorted by what the operator asks per person. The gap between the two ends of this list is enormous, so start in the band you are actually shopping in.
City walks, the giraffe platform, coffee and tea farms, and the half-day park drive.
The full Nairobi day, Hell’s Gate and Naivasha, and the coast dhow trips.
Two and three nights in the Mara on a shared 4WD, and the Amboseli day runs.
Longer circuits, lodge safaris, and private vehicles where the guide is yours for the week.
Three things Kenya has that nowhere else does.
Beaches and game drives exist all over the continent. A national park inside the capital, a gorge you are allowed to cycle through, and an elephant nursery with a public hour do not.
The Park Inside the Capital
Nairobi is the only capital city on earth with a national park on its boundary. Black rhino, buffalo, giraffe and lion live inside a fence that stops where the ring road starts, and the office towers stand behind them in every photograph anyone brings home. Drives leave around six in the morning and are back for lunch; the main gate is twenty minutes from the city centre.
- 1Nairobi National Park Half-Day Tour; Free Wi-Fi connection★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 878 reviews
- 2Nairobi National Park Half-Day Game Drive★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · 738 reviews
- 3Safari Tour; Nairobi National Park★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · 594 reviews
Hell’s Gate on a Bicycle
Almost nowhere in Kenya lets you leave the vehicle. Hell’s Gate does. You rent a bicycle at the gate and ride past zebra, giraffe and warthog to the Ol Njorowa gorge, then walk down into it with a local guide. Steam from the geothermal plant drifts over the track all day, and the cliffs are the ones every animated-lion comparison is reaching for.
- 11 Day trip to Hells Gate and Lake Naivasha From Nairobi★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 332 reviews
- 2Day Trip: Hell’s Gate Bike Ride & Lake Naivasha Boat Ride★★★★★★★★★★ 4.4 · 251 reviews
- 3Hell’s Gate National Park Private Bike Tour from Nairobi★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 192 reviews
The Elephant Nursery Hour
The Sheldrick Wildlife Trust raises orphaned elephant calves on the edge of Nairobi National Park and opens to the public for exactly one hour a day, while the keepers bring the youngest in for milk. It is a working conservation operation rather than a show: the calves are eventually released back into Tsavo, and the hour is reserved in advance because it fills.
- 1Elephant Orphanage and Giraffe Center Tour with Options★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · 457 reviews
- 2Nairobi National Park, Elephant Orphanage and Giraffe Centre★★★★★★★★★★ 4.6 · 365 reviews
- 3Elephant Orphanage and Giraffe Center Day Trip★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · 235 reviews
Kibera has its own guides, and they live there.
Several hundred thousand people live and work in Kibera, in south-west Nairobi. It has schools, a football league, a recording studio, hundreds of small businesses and a long wall of street art beside the railway line. The walking tours are led by people who grew up on those streets.
We list them under the neighbourhood’s own name and we do not rank them against each other. What is worth reading before you go: who your guide is, where the fee goes, and what the guides ask about photographs.
More of Kibera →What Kenya needs booked before you land.
Most of Kenya can be arranged from your hotel the night before. These three cannot. Kenya also wants an electronic travel authorisation approved before you board, and the migration months fill the Mara camps long before anyone starts looking.
- 01David Sheldrick Elephant Orphanage Half-Day Tour in NairobiThe nursery opens to visitors for one hour a day. The slot is reserved ahead, not bought at the gate.
- 023 Days, 2 Nights Maasai Mara Group SafariJuly to October is migration season. Shared 4WD seats and Mara camps are taken months in advance.
- 03Climbing Mount Kenya 5 Days Via Chogoria RoutePark fees on the mountain are charged per day and the route huts are allocated before you arrive.
Maasai village visits are visits, not viewpoints.
These are paid visits arranged with a community, usually added onto an Amboseli or Mara day. The fee is the point of the arrangement: it goes to the group hosting you, which is what makes the afternoon a transaction between adults. Ask what it is before you go, and expect to be asked before you photograph anyone.
Bomas of Kenya, in Nairobi, is a different thing altogether — a national cultural centre with a resident dance company, and a performance venue rather than a village.
More community-hosted Maasai visits →
By base — where you are actually sleeping
Nairobi973 tours
Mombasa102 tours
Diani Beach69 tours
Maasai Mara37 tours
Nakuru20 tours
Malindi18 tours- Every review →
The newest Kenya reviews on the site.
All recent →
Day Trip To Crescent Island And Hells Gate National Park
Read our review →
4 days group joining budget safari to Maasai Mara only
Read our review →
13-Day Uganda Mgahinga Gorilla Trek, Maasai Amboseli Park
Read our review →
Nairobi National Park and Giraffe Center from Kenya with a Guide
Read our review →
8 days Kenya highlights safari starting from Nairobi.
Read our review →