Muthu Nyali Beach Hotel and Spa

The hotel is located north of Mombasa, right by the sea (Indian Ocean) with direct beach access.

The distance from the airport is about 15 km.It is a large resort with many accommodation units that are interconnected throughout the entire building.Right outside and in front of the hotel, there are plenty of taxis and tuk-tuks, which you can either book directly or order via Uber.

The rooms are spacious. We had a room with a sea view and a large balcony.In front of the hotel is a large pool. The hotel also features a gym, a massage parlor (which was closed when we were there), and a prayer room for Muslims.The staff is friendly and attentive!The beach is a public beach, so you get approached a lot by vendors and hustlers. You have to be careful here because, of course, they "only want what's best for you" (your money).

The hotel itself is mainly visited by locals and is not as international as the hotels at Diani Beach. During our first few days, an entire school was staying there. That really brought some life to the place 🥳🥳🥳. But we never felt disturbed at any point. The rooms were spacious and perfectly adequate for two people. It had one large bed plus an additional single bed, a bathroom with a shower, and a large balcony.The balcony was very comfortable with a table and two chairs, offering a direct view of the beach and ocean.In the room, we had a TV that didn’t really work (and it was during the World Cup... 😂😂😂), but that wasn’t too important for the holiday anyway, a fridge, and a large wardrobe.

The room was cleaned daily if we wanted it to be. Generally speaking, you can tell the hotel is a bit dated. It’s no longer the newest or most modern.We noticed this every now and then, especially in the bathroom.Sometimes we had issues with low water pressure in the shower. The bathroom windows didn't close properly, which meant we had a "battle with mosquitoes" every now and then 😂😂.

We had booked half board, but that wasn’t really necessary because we mostly ate out in the evenings.The food was OK. There was a good selection available, but it became very repetitive over time. We did eat dinner at the restaurant in the beginning, but the taste was rather average.You can save the money for half board and prefer to spend it on eating out, especially since you're doing the local economy a favor that way. And cost-wise, it's not too expensive to eat elsewhere in the evening (although you usually need a means of transport, which is also relatively cheap if you take taxis or tuk-tuks).We can highly recommend our favorite driver, Patrick. He even took us on tours "off the beaten path" or waited for us outside when we wanted to go shopping or run errands.Breakfast is fully sufficient because the location isn't central enough to just quickly pop into a bakery.Unfortunately, coffee lovers won’t get their money's worth. The coffee pretty much tastes like nothing.However, the staff was always friendly, both at breakfast and dinner. We shared many laughs with the employees 🤗🤗🤗.

If you like, you can do a safari to Tsavo East National Park. But if you only do a day trip like we did, you need a lot of stamina for sitting.We were picked up at 4:30 AM. With one intermediate stop, it took us over 4 hours to reach the park.Warning: They try to sell you hats and other things there, significantly above the market price. Even if you bargain hard, you won’t get the price you would pay elsewhere.We did the tour with AliAsante Tours. Ali speaks fluent German and is a wonderful person. He even came all the way to our hotel to pitch his tour, even though his office is located in Diani Beach.The tour was great, informative, exciting, and very interesting. Ali told us a lot about the park and its "inhabitants." It was truly a blast. And the lunch was better than the dinner at our hotel 😆😆.Exhausted, we arrived back at the hotel around 8:00 PM after covering a driving distance of over 600 km. If you have the time (and the budget), a multi-day tour is definitely highly recommended.

We had a pool right in front of our hotel, which we rarely used, but it was available. The hotel also features a bar where we watched football.There are plenty of activities to do on the beach. For instance, there was a jet ski rental (30 mins for KES 7,000), or you could eat fresh coconuts and drink the coconut water. You also had the option to go out on a boat (we paid KES 1,000 per person for an hour and could watch Mombasa from the water and splash around—the only downside: the boat didn't look very trustworthy and kept filling up with water).And, of course, you can swim at the beach. At low tide, you can walk out quite far. Unfortunately, the ground was very sandy/muddy.Also, you always had to be careful because some show-offs and attention-seekers would come quite close to the shore with their jet skis just to pose, completely reckless. There were no boundaries separating swimmers from the idiots on the water.

If you don't want to swim, you can work out in the gym. Unfortunately, the condition of this facility is quite old, just like the equipment. You had to be careful not to injure yourself. There are good shopping options by taxi or tuk-tuk (e.g., the Nyali City Centre), where you can buy drinks as well as souvenirs.Our favorite restaurant, however, was a chain (CJ's) that isn't very common in Kenya, mostly just in major cities. The food was delicious and affordable, so we became repeat customers. 😅😅

If you're looking for a nice place nearby in the evening, you can go to the Moonshine Beach Bar, for example. It is located at the Reef Hotel, a bit further north of our hotel. It has a cozy atmosphere and good prices for both food and drinks. You can get good cocktails starting from KES 700 (approx. EUR 4.20). The food there also only costs between KES 600 and KES 1,400.

On the other hand, we found the Al Capone Lounge not recommendable because it felt like a pure rip-off. On the day we visited, there was a promotion (buy 1 get 1 free on drinks). When we asked if we had to order two of the exact same drinks, they said it wasn't necessary. But when it came to paying, they charged us for each cocktail separately. Suddenly, the waitress claimed to know nothing about her initial statement.It’s a shame because the Al Capone Lounge is actually very, very beautiful. A huge bar with lots of seating, TV screens everywhere, a massive outdoor stage with live music, and a genuinely great ambiance. But they don't seem to take honesty with guests very seriously there.

As a white tourist, it is not recommended to walk independently from the resort into town or to bars/restaurants after dusk, as the risk of muggings is very high. We were warned about this from many sides (hotel/drivers). The Federal Foreign Office homepage also warns about this.We were also verbally harassed on the beach from time to time during the day when we didn't want to buy anything. The police presence in Nyali is very limited. I

They can certainly do better. While the room was spacious, the overall experience was disappointing. The bathrooms were underwhelming, and despite being in an area known for heavy mosquito presence, the room did not have a mosquito net. I eventually had to wait nearly two hours to be moved to an alternative room, which, unfortunately, had not even been prepared.

The dining experience was equally frustrating. I placed an order, but the staff member who took it never submitted it and ended his shift without informing anyone. As a result, I waited an additional hour for a meal, and only received attention after repeatedly following up. When the food finally arrived, it was not even the correct order.

Overall, the service and attention to detail fell far below expectations. Sadly, based on this experience, I would not consider returning.