KENYA - SOUTHERN SUN MAYFAIR HOTEL REVIEW

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What better place to write this post than sitting beside the pool on a cool, fresh sunny afternoon in this excellent hotel in Nairobi?

I’ve stayed here at the Southern Sun Mayfair Hotel before (in November last year) and my current experience is a repeat of that one. For a start the weather is absolutely perfect, not too hot and not too cold with a light refreshing breeze. The meet and greet is excellent and although I’m not really a regular client (just these two visits) the people at the front desk and in the excellent Oasis restaurant remembered me. I was given a room in the same part of this sprawling hotel (one colleague commented that you need a GPS to get around) so my surroundings were familiar. And to cap it all I enjoyed the superb poolside buffet last night, fresh green and crispy vegetables for the first time in three weeks (don’t try and get them in Juba, South Sudan – take your vitamin pills instead).

The Southern Sun is adjacent to the Mayfair Casino in the Westlands/Parklands part of Nairobi, seemingly a reasonable area but somewhat out of the centre. So there’s some pretty sophisticated entertainment if you wish it. It’s also located about an hour and a half from Jomo Kenyatta International Airport when the traffic is heavy – and that’s most of the time in Nairobi.

A quick comment on the airport: Kenya welcomes tourists and the food, ambience and service one gets at the Southern Sun certainly reflects that. But the airport is atrocious. Old-fashioned, confusing, crowded and it takes almost an hour standing in the Visa on Arrival queue to get the necessary stamp which takes up a whole page of your passport even if this is a transit stopover ($10 for a transit visa, $25 for a longer stay – make sure you have the correct bills or you’ll wait even longer).

This is a hopeless welcome for what is otherwise one of the most charming countries in Africa. I’d make the 8 hour flight from Bangkok anytime with the family for a holiday here, but the airport is a real disincentive – Tanzania has good game parks and beautiful beaches and it takes 15 minutes to get through immigration.

Sorry for the rant, but it completely amazes me that countries that have tourism as a major industry simply can’t get the message through to their airport and immigration authorities. Go figure.

But nothing detracts from the Southern Sun. This is an old hotel, dating back to the colonial era and consists of only two levels of rooms spread over a wide area connected by pleasant walkways through beautifully kept gardens. The best rooms are grouped around a particular garden with doors that open wide giving a cosy feel to what is in really a very large hotel. Rooms are spacious enough with nice wood block floors and BIG baths and lots of hot water. They probably need to update the TVs into flat screens but I guess this will come soon. The bed is large and very comfortable.

Not too far is the business centre that provides internet at a reasonable price (but I wish these big hotels would throw it into the room price) and there is a pleasant lounge with comfy big chairs for when the weather isn’t so clement. You can also have a haircut or beauty treatment at a rather nice salon. The gym is just adequate but can get crowded when locals arrive after work.

Southern Sun Mayfair Hotel

Tel: [phone]
Fax: [phone]

Postal:
PO Box 66807
Nairobi
00800

Physical:
Parklands Road
Parklands
Nairobi

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Photos

BY THE POOL
What better place to relax?

ROOMS AND GARDENS
I love these rooms situated around and opening into their own small gardens

THE OASIS
The open-fronted Oasis Restaurant leads right to the pool.

COLONIAL PERIOD INTERIORS
I loved these wide corridors, part of the overall spacious feeling in this 12 acre estate