How do I get to Nairobi?

Nairobi has two main airports: Jomo Kenyatta International, for all international travel, and Wilson Airport, which handles the domestic and safari circuit flights. While they are not very far apart, traffic can mean that the transfer between the two takes anywhere from 20 minutes to an hour.

Where should I stay in Nairobi?

For guests using a day room or just staying overnight to facilitate catching a flight, we might suggest a hotel along the route between Jomo Kenyatta International and Wilson Airport rather than somewhere more special to minimize the time you spend in traffic. If you’re spending more than just a quick stopover in Nairobi, we’ll work closely with you to understand your interests and priorities and recommend a property that best fits your needs.

Nairobi Luxury Tours | Extraordinary Journeys

In Nairobi, Kenya, you will find a city that is lively, cosmopolitan, and full of contrasts.

It’s a place of smart office workers, mansions and expensive suburban shopping centers as well as slums crowded with people struggling on as best they can. It hard to imagine that this city of almost 5 million people celebrated its 100th anniversary in 1999 and that where it now stands, only Maasai manyattas stood barely a century ago!

Handcrafted Maasai figurines stand in a row, their beaded jewelry and painted details shown in shallow focus.

Four giraffes stand in green grass with Nairobi’s skyline behind them, their long necks silhouetted in haze.

A young elephant calf presses against a keeper’s leg, its trunk reaching up during a gentle care moment.

Why visit Nairobi?

With major international connections and a good acclimatizing “buffer,” Nairobi makes a smart start or finish for safaris to the Mara, Amboseli, Laikipia, and beyond.

1
With major international connections and a good acclimatizing “buffer,” Nairobi makes a smart start or finish for safaris to the Mara, Amboseli, Laikipia, and beyond.
2
Displaying enormous vitality and buzz, Nairobi is one of Africa’s major cities and is East Africa’s hub for commerce, aid and increasingly, technology.
3
Staying in the quiet, leafy suburb of Karen provides easy access to the Daphne Sheldrick Elephant Orphanage, the AFEW Giraffe Center, Kazuri Beads and the Karen Blixen Museum.

Hands hold a collection of colorful beads and small trinkets, their glossy surfaces catching soft indoor light.

Zebras graze in tall grass at Nairobi National Park, with the city skyline rising in the hazy distance behind.

A guest sits on a balcony at Hemingways Nairobi, looking out over treetops through sheer curtains at dusk.

Nairobi trip itineraries

Use these itineraries as a starting point, or as inspiration to create your own journey.

A zebra stands in golden savannah grass, its striped coat sharply defined against a soft blue sky behind.

Itinerary

Extraordinary Kenya safari

Big Five, tiny camps, and iconic plains

Aerial view of a winding river cutting through dry savanna and hills, with scattered trees along the banks.

Itinerary

Barefoot luxury Kenya safari

An iconic Kenya safari grounded in authenticity and conservation

Two giraffes walk across open plains while a small group of people trails behind, framed by a hazy horizon.

Itinerary

Family trip to Kenya

Inspire wild wonder on this African safari with young kids

Lioness peers through tall golden grass, her face framed by seed heads as the hazy savanna blurs behind her.

Itinerary

Unforgettable Kenya and Uganda tour

A gorilla trekking, Maasai Mara safari, and beach trifecta

A line of people walks across a sandy plain toward a distant hill, beneath dramatic gray clouds overhead.

Itinerary

Multi-generational private safari in Kenya

An all-ages family safari adventure in East Africa

People wade across a shallow lagoon as seabirds wheel overhead, leaving footprints on the pale sand flat.

Itinerary

Bush to beach active safari

A Kenya safari and beach time in the Seychelles

Visitors walk between massive stone columns in an ancient temple, beneath towering pillars and sharp sun shadows.

Itinerary

Egypt and Kenya tour

A dynamic combination of ancient Egypt and a Kenya safari

Explore more itineraries

Key travel information for Nairobi

Other areas to explore

A visit to Nairobi puts you within easy reach of many other beautiful and fascinating parts of Kenya.

Elephants graze on the misty Mara as hot air balloons drift overhead, silhouettes fading into sunrise haze.

Maasai Mara

The Maasai Mara is Kenya’s most famous nature reserve. If you are dreaming about a safari, what you are seeing in your minds-eye is the Maasai Mara. It is classic savannah – grasslands where animals are plentiful and the vistas are spectacular.

A traditional dhow sailboat is silhouetted against a vivid orange sunset over the Swahili Coast.

Kenyan Coast

Kenya’s coastline faces the warm blue water of the Indian Ocean and extends for 360 miles, from the border with Tanzania in the south to Somalia in the north.

Laikipia

Laikipia is a massive region consisting of private ranches, communal gazing areas and game reserves forming an area larger than any national park in Kenya.

Samburu

This arid northern area offers a wealth of animals, good game viewing, and a highly contrasting landscape from the forests of Meru, the rolling hills of Lewa, and the open plains of the Maasai Mara.

Interested in this?

Add to shortlist

Still exploring? Add this to your shortlist so you can easily find it again. When you’re ready, send us your shortlist so we can start organizing your trip.

Contact us

Want to find out more, or ready to start organizing your trip? Get in touch and we’ll take care of everything.