Giraffe Center
Karen · 60 min
Rothschild's giraffes come to the raised platform to eat pellets from your hand; be there at opening and you share them with a handful of people. Open daily, roughly 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., no booking needed.
KSh 1,500
Nairobi · Kenya · 3 days
3 days in Nairobi
Three days in a capital with a national park inside the ring road: the orphan elephants and giraffes of Karen, a dawn game drive among rhino with the skyline behind them, then the markets, a nyama choma lunch and the Bomas dancers. One side of the city a day.
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Checked October 10, 2026. That’s the day we last confirmed the hours, prices and closed days.
- 3 days
- 16 stops
- 12 with a ticket
- from KSh 6,000 a day
When to go
January to February and June to October are dry and clear; July and August are cool enough for a jacket at dawn. The long rains fall March to May and the short rains late October to December, mostly as afternoon storms, so mornings still work. Nairobi sits at 1,800 meters: warm days, cold nights, strong sun.
Where to base yourself
Karen for the animals, gardens and a slow pace; Westlands or Kilimani for restaurants, bars and the shortest rides to everything. The CBD is where the markets are, not where you want to sleep. Book a place with a gate and a night guard; nearly all do.
Getting around
Uber and Bolt are the default and cheap: most rides across the city are KSh 300 to KSh 800, paid by card or M-Pesa in the app. Traffic is the real cost, so budget an hour for anything crossing town between 7 a.m. and 9 a.m. or 5 p.m. and 7 p.m. Boda bodas (motorbike taxis) beat the jams but ride without helmets or insurance; use them for short hops in daylight if at all. Matatus are an experience, not a plan.
Day 1
Karen and Langata: elephants, giraffes and the Blixen house
- FromYour hotel in Karen and Langata
- 1
- 3.2 km · transit or taxi
- 2
Sheldrick Wildlife Trust Nairobi Nursery
Langata · 90 min
The orphaned elephants come in for their 11 a.m. milk and mud bath; the visit runs 11 a.m. to noon only, every day but Christmas. Book by email weeks ahead (no same-day visits), pay the USD 20 donation in cash at the gate, and pay the separate Nairobi National Park entry on eCitizen before you arrive, since the nursery sits inside the park and the gate checks it.
USD 20 donation, USD 80 park fee
- 9.8 km · transit or taxi
- 3
Talisman
Karen · 75 min
A garden restaurant on Ngong Road in Karen, ten minutes from the park gate. Order the feta and coriander samosas and anything from the grill; book a table on the weekend.
KSh 2,500
- 3.4 km · transit or taxi
- 4
Karen Blixen Museum
Karen · 60 min
The farmhouse from Out of Africa, with the Ngong Hills at the end of the lawn; a guide walks you through in 40 minutes, then the gardens and coffee machinery. Open daily 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., and foreign visitors pay in dollars since the May 2026 fee change.
USD 17
- 3.0 km · transit or taxi
- 5
Kazuri Beads
Karen · 45 min
Five minutes on foot from the museum: a ceramic bead workshop that has employed single mothers since 1975. The tour of the kiln rooms is free and the shop is the place for gifts; weekdays are when the workshop is actually working.
- 7.3 km · transit or taxi
- 6
Carnivore, or Mama Oliech
Langata · 120 min
Carnivore on Langata Road is the all-you-can-eat spit roast every tour group does, around KSh 5,000 a head; order the Dawa and lower the flag when you give up. The better local evening is Mama Oliech in Kilimani: a whole fried tilapia with ugali and kachumbari for a third of the price.
KSh 5,000
Day 2
Nairobi National Park at dawn, then the museum
- FromYour hotel in Karen and Langata
- 1
Nairobi National Park game drive
Langata · 240 min
Gates open at 6 a.m. and the first two hours are best for cats; expect rhino, lion, giraffe, buffalo and zebra, but no elephants. Pay entry on kwspay.ecitizen.go.ke the night before (no cash at the gate), bring your passport, and book a pop-top vehicle with a driver through your hotel or a Karen operator for roughly USD 80 to USD 150 per car.
USD 80
- 8.4 km · transit or taxi
- 2
Late breakfast at Tin Roof Café
Karen · 75 min
Out of the main gate and ten minutes into Karen: eggs, Kenyan coffee and a mango smoothie under the trees. Everyone has been up since five, so take your time.
KSh 1,500
- 13 km · transit or taxi
- 3
Nairobi National Museum and Snake Park
Museum Hill · 120 min
Thirty minutes north on Museum Hill: the hominid fossils from Turkana, the bird hall and the Joy Adamson paintings, then the Snake Park across the garden. Buy the combined ticket; open daily 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., and from May 2026 non-African visitors pay in dollars by card or on eCitizen.
USD 25
- 1.9 km · transit or taxi
- 4
KICC rooftop, or the Nairobi Railway Museum
CBD · 45 min
The helipad on top of the Kenyatta International Convention Center is the view over the whole city to the park; open 6 a.m. to 6 p.m., booked and paid for on eCitizen for a small fee. If the skies are gray, the Railway Museum by the old station has the lion-attack carriage from the Lunatic Express and the engines in the yard.
- 3.1 km · transit or taxi
- 5
Westlands dinner
Westlands · 120 min
About Thyme for a garden table and a decent wine list, or Nyama Mama at Delta Corner for modern Kenyan plates: the Swahili chicken, the mbuzi fry. Westlands is where the bars are if you want to stay out.
KSh 3,000
Day 3
Markets, nyama choma and the Bomas dancers
- FromYour hotel in Karen and Langata
- 1
Maasai Market
CBD · 90 min
The market moves by weekday: Tuesday at Kijabe Street Park and Prestige Plaza, Wednesday at Capital Center, Thursday at the Junction mall, Friday at Village Market, Saturday in the High Court parking lot downtown, Sunday at Yaya Center. Trading runs roughly 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., venues shuffle so check with your hotel, and start bargaining at a third of the asking price.
- 11 min · walk
- 2
City Market and the Kenyatta Avenue walk
CBD · 75 min
The 1930s covered hall on Muindi Mbingu Street sells flowers, meat and curios under one roof, and the curio sellers are persistent. Walk Kenyatta Avenue past the Stanley's Thorn Tree café, the McMillan Library and the Jamia Mosque to the KICC square, in daylight on the main streets.
- 3.2 km · transit or taxi
- 3
Nyama choma at Kenyatta Market
Nairobi West · 75 min
Fifteen minutes south in Nairobi West: a row of choma stalls where you pick the goat by the kilo and it comes to the table charred, with ugali, kachumbari and a cold Tusker. Pay cash or M-Pesa.
KSh 1,000
- 4.9 km · transit or taxi
- 4
Bomas of Kenya, or the Nairobi Arboretum
Langata · 150 min
Ten minutes on from the market, on Langata Road; the dance show runs 2:30 p.m. to 4 p.m. on weekdays and 3:30 p.m. to 5:15 p.m. on weekends and holidays, and non-residents pay around KSh 1,500 (USD 20). If you would rather walk, the Arboretum off State House Road is 30 hectares of trees and colobus monkeys for a token fee.
USD 20
- 5.1 km · transit or taxi
- 5
Habesha, Kilimani
Kilimani · 120 min
Ethiopian on Argwings Kodhek Road: a shared platter of tibs, shiro and lentils on injera, eaten by hand, and honey wine. Book for a weekend evening.
KSh 2,000
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Pins are approximate. Tap one for the stop; the directions links open Google Maps.
The practical bits
From the airport
From Jomo Kenyatta (JKIA), order an Uber or Bolt from the parking lot outside arrivals: KSh 1,000 to KSh 2,500 to the city or Westlands, 20 to 40 minutes on the Nairobi Expressway with the KSh 250 toll added to the fare, up to an hour or more in the evening peak. Hotel transfers cost KSh 3,000 to KSh 4,000 and the airport taxi stand quotes more than the apps. Karen is on the other side of the park, 45 minutes in light traffic. Flights land at all hours; the Expressway makes a midnight arrival painless.
What a day costs
About KSh 6,000 to KSh 10,000 a day per person for meals, rides and museum tickets. The park morning adds USD 80 entry plus your share of the vehicle, and the Sheldrick visit USD 20 on top of the same park fee. Carnivore is KSh 5,000; a nyama choma lunch KSh 1,000.
Where to stay
Got a day to spare?
Worth knowing
- Cards work in hotels, malls and most restaurants; everything else runs on M-Pesa. A Safaricom SIM at the airport lets you register for it with your passport, and you can top up in any kiosk. Carry KSh 2,000 or so in small notes for markets, tips and choma.
- Apply for the eTA (electronic travel authorization) on etakenya.go.ke at least a week before you fly: about USD 30 plus a card fee, usually approved within 72 hours, and every traveler including children needs one. Most African passports are exempt.
- A yellow fever certificate is only asked for if you arrive from a country with the disease, but the vaccine is recommended if you go beyond Nairobi. The city is high enough that malaria risk is low; the coast, Naivasha and Amboseli are not, so carry prophylaxis if you add them.
- Do not drink the tap water; hotels leave bottles out and a filter bottle saves a lot of plastic. Ice in good restaurants is fine.
- Walk the CBD in daylight on the main avenues and keep your phone in your pocket; in a car at a junction, keep it off your lap and the window up. Use Uber and Bolt after dark rather than walking. Tipping is ten percent in restaurants if service is not already added, KSh 100 to KSh 200 for porters and guides' assistants, and a few thousand shillings for a driver-guide after a park morning.
Things you can ask once it’s in the app
Plans change. Ask Chat and it proposes a reshuffled day you can apply, or just answers the question.
Book me into the 11 a.m. elephant visit and sort the park feeWhich day is the Maasai Market near our hotel in Westlands?Swap the game drive for something indoors if it poursHow do we get from Karen to the National Museum without the jam?Is Amboseli doable as a day trip from Nairobi or do we need a night?
Questions
Do I need a visa for Kenya?
Nearly everyone needs the eTA, applied for online before travel for about USD 30 and usually approved within three days. It replaced the visa on arrival in 2024; citizens of most African countries are exempt.
Is Nairobi safe for visitors?
With ordinary care, yes. Petty theft is the risk, not violence: walk busy streets in daylight, use ride-hailing at night, keep phones and bags out of sight in traffic, and leave the passport in the hotel safe with a photo on your phone.
Which day works in the rain?
Day 2 afternoon: the National Museum, the Snake Park and the Railway Museum are all indoors, and rain in Nairobi is usually an afternoon storm that clears. Keep the market walk for a dry morning, or ask Waystop to save a rain version of the day that you can switch to.
Can I do the elephants and the park on the same day?
Yes, and it saves a park fee: the Sheldrick nursery is inside Nairobi National Park and the USD 80 entry covers 24 hours, so a dawn drive that ends at the nursery for 11 a.m. is the efficient order. Book the nursery first; the visit sells out weeks ahead in high season.
Before you go
Nearby
Same country first, then the cities people tend to pair with Nairobi. Want two or three in one go? String them together in the trip builder.
Your version
Now make it fit your trip.
Add your dates, your hotel and who’s coming, then ask Chat to change anything: it proposes the edit and you tap Apply. Want a long lunch instead of a museum? Just ask. Every place is checked against Google Maps before it lands on your day, and Chat can tell you when to leave for the next stop. Going on to another city? Build a multi-city trip.