Mombasa Beaches and the Old Town
Mombasa is the entrance to the coast of Kenya and with many luxury hotels is the major holiday destination in Kenya.
Mombasa has some of the best beaches in Kenya with many restaurants, night clubs, shops, activities and safaris. This beautiful coastline with fascinating history is one of the top locations in Africa.
Welcome to Mombasa and its extraordinary old town
Mombasa is one the major tourist destinations in Africa and offer some of the best beaches in the world.
The major is Nyali, but well know and popular are Kenyatta, Bamburi and Shanzu beach as well.
The Kenyan people say: Kisiwa Cha Mvita” which in Kiswahilli means “Island of War” This local name for Mombasa was adopted centuries ago and definitely does not reflect the nowadays atmosphere.
The population of Mombasa is more then 1 000 000 000 inhabitants and the city is considered to be one of the oldest human settlements on the eastern coastline of the African continent.
What are the flights to Mombasa? How to get from Nairobi to Mombasa?
The Moi International Airport has been recently renovated and equipped with a new terminal in order to increase the passenger traffic. The most frequent flights to Mombasa are provided by Kenya Airways. A further airline that offers flights to Mombasa is Air Kenya.
With Kenya Railways you can take a train from Nairobi to Mombasa. To travel by train from Nairobi to Mombasa takes approximately 13 hours.
The trains of Kenya Railways are very clean and safe and you can travel either in first or second class.
The best time to travel is during full moon as you will cross Tsavo National Park towards the coast of Kenya and with the light of the full moon you will be able to some of the night wildlife!
Safari in Mombasa
There are many tours and safaris in Mombasa.
You can enjoy watersports such as kitesurfing and windsurfing, relax on one of the beautiful beaches, go on safari to Haller park, take an excursions through the old town or visit ancient Fort Jesus built by the Portuguese.
The Fort Jesus in Mombasa is a proud fortress located right on the beginning of the old town and has very interesting history.
The old town has amazing architecture with many historical buildings in beautiful Indian, Arab and Swahili style. The most of the buildings are built very narrow and tall in order to provide shade during the hot days.
The old historical buildings in Mombasa have beautiful hand carved doors made of heavy wood. You might see similar doors in Zanzibar or Lamu.
If you visit Mombasa during November, you will have the opportunity to experience a carnival. Carnival in Mombasa is one of the “must see” events on the Kenya coast!
The ancient streets of Mombasa will fill up with colorful parades made up of ornamented musicians, artists, comedians, singers, beautiful African dancers, Swahili Taarab, Maasai warriors and tribes from the coast and other places all around Kenya. The carnival is accompanied by African music with powerful drum beats.
Let’s go shopping in Mombasa!
The best shopping areas are the four major roads, Digo Road, Nkrumah Road, Nyerere Road and Moi Avenue. Here you will find all the African shops with traditional goods and tourist items, markets with spices, vegetables and fruits. You will also find around the best restaurants, discos and nightclubs.
Nightlife & Casinos
Mombasa is famous as a lively holiday destination. There is an excellent night life with many discos and night clubs. The most famous are Mamba International Night Club located in Nyaly, the large open-air Tembo Disco with its capacity for up to 3000 people and the Casablanca night club with its five bars.
You can try your luck in some of the casinos in Mombasa – Florida Beach Casino, The Nyali Beach Hotel casino, Golden Key Casino or the Royal Casino.
For all lovers of the beautiful African girls, Russian dancers and cabaret shows with great music there is the Bora Bora club with its great relaxed and intimate atmosphere. The club is located on the northern part of Mombasa.
Holidays in Rhythm of Africa! Excellent music festival and life concerts on Mombasa beach
There are a variety of live music concerts or festivals directly on the beach all year round, where the visitors can see African bends, African singers and African dancers.
When it rains in Mombasa, there are cinemas, meeting clubs darts clubs and bowling. You can visit the traditional coffee and tea shops, where you can enjoy spicy local Masala tea with ginger, cloves and cinnamon during the rainy season or taste traditional Arab coffee with a puff of a oriental shisha pipe. There is no hurry in Africa! You may take a short nap on many comfortable pillows in Arabian style.
