Lodging near Watamu Marine National Park, Watamu

"Hotel staff and location were nice. No hot shower, no keys of the window, and no TV program..... always noisy... Mpango restaurant （next to the hotel)provide amazing Italian food. "

"This was the most magical vacation and guesthouse that we have ever stayed at! The facilities are gorgeous and the staff is so sweet and accommodating (and always available) and we LOVED the big and beautiful pool. I think floating around in the water at night with the palm trees swaying above me was the most magical experience I have ever had. The hotel has wonderful gardens and is situated on a beautiful beach! Concerning the bad reviews- the guesthouse is located in a small town in East Africa and costs under $100 a night for an exotic beachfront guesthouse, I really don't understand why people expect the hotel to be a 5 star resort in California (you want that, you need to expect to pay for it). That means that power is going to go off every now and then (they ALWAYS got it to come back reasonably quickly!), the food is going to be African and take a little while because everything is fresh and often made to order and there may be a few bugs (though we never saw ANY! they were always cleaning and we found everything to be exceptionally clean) I have been a social worker in East Africa for 16 years, and I can say the food is going to be a transition for anyone arriving in the country- it isn't hygiene related, it is just going to be rough for some people who are coming into a new continent with different bacteria. Whenever we host teams, even for the teams that choose to ONLY eat at nice guesthouses and snacks that they brought, people will always get sick. "

"The staff are what make the place. They will go above and beyond for you! It’s also beautiful! The rooms are clean and quiet. Not the fanciest hotel in the world but comfortable and comforting. Nothing left to be desired."

"I had booked a room at Mvuvi 5 months ago and was told when I arrived that they had overbooked. I was thrown into a random house in Watamu, dogs running through the room, the person in the next room being violently sick all night. The house wasn’t even on the map so I got very lost late at night trying to find it. Mvuvi must have known about the overbooking months ago, but only told me on my arrival. I had an option of another hotel originally, which I would have obviously taken if I’d have known what would happen in advance. Mvuvi have charged me the full rate for something that was not a hotel - no food, soap etc. and they have not even offered an apology. It’s the second time I’ve had issues booking with them (last time they changed the dates of my stay without telling me) so I will never be staying there again and I strongly encourage people to avoid it as well."

"Lovely staff who were most helpful"

"We had a lovely, relaxing stay at Kobe Suites. The staff were all exceptionally friendly and helpful and nothing was ever too much trouble for them. It is a well-designed hotel on the best stretch of beach in Watamu which is also part of the nature reserve. When we dined in, the food and drink was excellent and moderately priced. "

"The property (houses on Easter Side) has big issue with the three-phase power input. Finally, we spent our night without electricity (two basic lamps were provided instead for the room and bathroom). The electric generator was not reliable - lights were blinking all the time. I didn`t want to charge my electric equipment when the generator was used (didn`t want risk damaging items). The breakfast was rather basic. The rest of the experience was OK. It was the only only one property we visited with electric problems on the Coast. We didn`t receive any kind of proposal for refund for that unconvenience. We suggest: before renting make sure you are located in the house on western side of the property."

"We stayed in a 2 bed apartment which was well appointed and extremely spacious with a huge balcony (sadly not much sun as facing east) but overlooking the Indian Ocean. The bathrooms were good though beginning to look a little tired otherwise the apartment was fabulous. Plenty of bottled water provided each day and milk, tea and coffee (instant only). Substantial breakfast with plenty of options provided each morning. Lovely little coffee shop selling variety of cakes and muffins, coffee etc and range of smoothies. Hemingways bar fabulous spot for sundowner. Main restaurant was offering a buffet every night we were there but also à la carte, which in our opinion was the better option - and less expensive if you don’t have a huge appetite (buffet was ksh4,500 pp vs eg 3800 for huge freshly grilled king prawns and accompaniments or 1800 for delicious freshly cooked catch of the day). The pools were very clean (one main, one child’s and one quiet pool) and the pool staff attentive. There isn’t a beach to sit on though you can access beach to walk along. Gardens were delightful and well kept. All the staff we dealt with were charming and friendly and made us very welcome. We stayed in July and it was extremely windy (though I liked this as humidity reduced) and a lot of seaweed on the beach. We also used the gym which was well appointed, good a/c and I was allowed to borrow a yoga mat for my stay so I could do yoga on the peace of my balcony overlooking the ocean: nameste!"