Overview
** MOMBASA TOURS, KENYA **
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interactive local people who are kind and ready to help on giving information towards various water sports such as jetski, boat ride, dhow ride and snorkelling.
prices are affordable from 15 usd to 30 usd per one hour on each activity.
spot at sarova whites and beach resort : https://www.sarovahotels.com/whitesands-mombasa/
I actually had a business trip to Nairobi and thought it would be a good idea for some rest and relaxation to head to Mombasa. My round-trip ticket from Nairobi was only about $100 (US) and I stayed at the Diani Reef Beach Resort & Spa. I have to say that it took a very long time to get there keep in mind when you are headed to tourist area from the airport the traffic is horrible. A ride that would normally take maybe 30 minutes can double or triple depending on what’s going on with traffic and road stops from the police. They were constructing a bridge to fix this problem (Mar 2020). I think that Mombasa is a relatively safe area but I must admit that I was a little leery at night going out too far from the resort not because of anything specific but just the poor lighting and standing out as a tourist Diani Beach was absolutely beautiful. The water was warm and calm the sand was white and felt like talcum powder it was just gorgeous. I booked my hotel on hotels.com which was substantially cheaper than the hotels website there were not many “fancy” restaurants outside the resort but very good mom & pop dining. There were plenty of convenience stores. I can definitely recommend Mombasa and skip Nairobi altogether!
Visited the Safari and stayed at the Amboseli Serena Lounge and had the time of my life. Right before entering the Safari you will see a lots of Maasi people who are extremely nice, friendly and just overall beautiful. They will try to sell you jewelry, house products and all kinds of souvenirs. If I were you, I would buy directly from them. You can negotiate and you should! Ask your tour guide to take you to their community and learn about them and their culture. They welcomed me with their traditions, prayers and just their way of life and I was blown away. They taught me a lot and I am so appreciative of my overall experience and I will definitely go again. Not to mention, I went solo and felt completely SAFE!
Best times of the year to visit Mombasa is between July to September. I personally prefer August mostly because the weather is the coolest then.
Mombasa is known to have one of the best dish selection in Kenya. There food is rich, yummy, and affordable sure to give you a mouthgasm.
Must try food places here are:
the tamarid dhow – a dhow cruise while enjoying your dinner and sunset also qualifies in the romantic list. You have to book in advance and it costs around 55usd( abit costly but worth it)https://tamarind.co.ke/restaurant.php?tamarind-dhow
Mama Ngina Drive – This is located in fort Jesus area( cone here after the fort tour). It has the proper street food from Viazi vya karie( spiced potatoes), madafu( coconut water), kachiri( cassava crisps) freshly made you can have them hot, warm or cool; with or without chilly. Then the number of ice cream vendors are numerous with some selling home made ice cream( coolies), sugar cane juice and tamarid juice( super duper must try).
Then most restaurants in town offer a neat breakfast ….. mahambri and mbaazi this will literally drive you crazy and craving for more, samosas, kitumbua, mkate wa sinia( rice cake) …. 50kes – 300kes
Mombasa also has street food all around the town who sell Shawarma( wheat bread with chicken or beef), mshikaki ( roast beef of sorts), mkate wa nyama( loosely translated as swahili pizza) – most of these go for 150kes – 300kes(1. 5 – 3 usd)
Tarbosh a famous restaurant in the town famous for their Friday Biriani – 500kes(5usd) and the Somali wa kupaka( special swahili spiced fish) the spice can always be very moderate or to the extreme depending on how you want it.
Don’t forget the sweet swahili treats easily gotten at the market- mabuyu( flavoured baobab seeds), kashata( sweet coconut), acahri( sweet flavoured dried mangoes), halua
P.s: these are the local names and some dont really have English names per say. I do hope you get to enjoy
Mombasa is a gorgeous island that must be visited when you’re in kenya. Kenya is sooo much more than Safari’s and Slums …. it’s also has paradise which is Mombasa. i stayed at the gorgeous Swahili Resort which has Moroccan and Turkish.vibes.
Mombasa is located on the coast, it’s a nice city with many things to do.
It’s very different compare to Nairobi, people are warm it’s very friendly and safe at night.
You can visit the old town, the fort Jesus, from Mombasa you can travel to other city by matatou, kuk-kuk or plane and you can reach Nairobi y train for only 1000 shillings.
From Mombasa you can go to Ukunda by matatou (40min) From Ukunda you have another 15mim to go to Diani. Everybody knows Diani beach, it’s the famous beach in Kenya.
From Mombasa you can go to Watamu who is a 5 hours by bus you can also visit Lamu island (such a nice island) which is 20min by plane or 10hours by bus.
All of those places are very nice to discover on the Kenyan coast.
Fort Jesus is the most popular tourist attraction in Mombasa which holds alot of history to it. It holds artifacts from slave trade era as it was a transit point. It also has prison cells and torture rooms where the captive salves were kept. The arab architecture is interesting. The place has a long sad history but it really is worth visiting. Entry fee is alround 33€. Check it out fam. Opposite it there is an amazing restaurant with good service called The Fort. It offers delicious sea food and pizza and refreshing cocktails and it has AC fam.. that is a double place considering the mombasa heat 30+°C so you don’t have to worry about eating hot food and sweating?
Another place to visit in Mombass is the largest crocodile farm in Africa, Mamba Village. I would advise to visit it in the evening at from around 16:00 cause at 17:00 the crocodile gets fed and you can watch, entry fee costs around 7€ but the one of the guides there wanted us to pay an exrtra like 10€ to watch them get fed which was strange and we didn’t pay so be sure to ask before paying extras for anything. Guests are allowed to carry the baby crocodiles which is nice, the big ones.. I watched from a distance, I wasn’t going to take any chances?
In the same area there is a snake park too where as my brothers told me guests were allowed to carry the snakes too but I didn’t go, my snake phobia wouldn’t let me.
Be sure to try some of street food which are unhealthy but extremely delicious, lots of pastries, fried food. There is Bahjia..local speciality (fried spiced potatoes) mahamri, samosas… shawarma which is bread like bun filled with either chicken or beef with some salad and sauce, costs about 1.60€. Then the refreshing.. Maji ya Miwa which is sugar cane juice.. it’s made all fresh direct from the sugar canes.. you can even pick out which sugar cane you want. It’s really sweet.. tastes like sugar and water.. bio but I will be honest with you fam..I didn’t like it, everyone did but I didn’t so just try it.. cost less than 1€. Try casava crips too which are also fresh from the frying pan accompanied with chillies.. really delicious. Don’t forget the famous Madafu which is coconut water.. fresh.. costs less than 1€.. refreshing. We moved around using Tuk Tuks (the Bike like carriage with 3 wheels) they are quite fast, convienient, affordable form of transport that can also give you a heart attack if you are light hearted. When moving sometimes you feel like it’s about to break down or if moving between lorries you may think you are about to get squashed, there are no seatbelts in them so your head will hit the ceiling a couple of times. Take the smaller Tuk Tuks as they are more compact and less shaky.. it’s an exciting experience for sure though. Most of the street food are under 2€
I arrived solo from an overnight bus out of Nairobi for about $30usd. In Mombasa I took a matatu and a motorbike taxi from the bus station to Diani Beach which took about 45 minutes to an hour. Cotton-like sand and above average warm water – the perfect recipe for relaxation. I stayed at Diani Beach backpackers for 25/night. It was a 5-minute walk to the beach. Diani isn’t that crowded so there was plenty of areas just to chill out and relax. The only thing that became a nuisance was getting solicited to be prepared! There’s also a seafood restaurant (Seafood & Pub Restaurant) where you can get lobster squid shrimp PLUS two sides all for like 13/ plate. If you take a walk down the beach north you’ll run into a place that supplies chairs and their pool for a whole day for only $5usd. There are plenty of things to see back in the city of Mombasa like Ft. Jesus Museum. A lot of history here.
Wow! Talking about relaxation ! Here for a family members wedding we really enjoyed our stay and views from English Point Marina Hotel . Right on the water this location was very tourist friendly . From sunrise breakfast to the spa and late night lounges with great food. The suites were luxurious filled with a constant breeze from the ocean. We spent majority of our time down on the pier which over looked the historic side of Mombasa which was also where the wedding was held . The venue above had an in and outdoor area perfect for the reception. There is also a small public beach available below . The hotel security was adamant that we left all belongings with them before going due to possible locals which didn’t not seem threatening . accomidation and room service was alittle slow and forgetful but we will definitely be going back !