Hotels - Kenya, South Coast

Jadini Beach Hotel, Diani Beach

Description: Twinned with Africana Sea Lodge, Jadini is a 161 room hotel set over 3 Floors. Whilst only a 3 star tourist class hotel it is very well equipped and is located directly on the spectacular Diani Beach. Rooms are air-conditioned and comfortably furnished. Most have sea views. Food is buffet-style and the selection and quality is good. There is also an excellent sea-food restaurant and pizza restaurant, ideal for a light lunch. The hotel regularly has themed evenings, with dinner around the floodlit pool, followed by entertainment ranging from locals bands to acrobats and Masai dancers. There is also a disco on site; entry is free for guests.

Rooms: 24 deluxe rooms, 119 superior rooms with ocean view, 18 superior garden cottages, 9 standard rooms. Rooms are available as King, double or twin. Rooms equipped as follows: Air Conditioning, Balcony/Terrace, Refrigerator, Mini-Bar, Bathroom (with Bathtub + Shower), Telephone, Radio/Alarm Clock, Daily Maid Service

Facilities: 3 restaurants, 5 bars (including ice-cream bar and coffee bar), 2 Swimming Pools, Fax, Teen Programs, Babysitting or Child Care, Shops (Newsstand + Gift Shop), Laundry/ Dry Cleaning Service, Safe deposit Box, Secretarial Services, Conference Centre, Car Rental, Concierge Services, Wheelchair Accessible, Barber/Hair Stylist, Currency Exchange, Front Desk (24 Hour), evening entertainment, animations team, Photocopy Service, ATM/Bank, Internet Access, Doctor On Call, Room Service, Health Club, Squash Courts, Tennis Courts, beach-volleyball, football pitch, Health Spa/Massage, Pool table, table-tennis, Snorkeling, , PADI dive centre.

Notes: Jadini is located next to Nomads, the site of H2O Extreme Watersports Centre. There is also a PADI and SSI accredited dive centre on site - click here for more details.

Rates: US$75-145 per person per night (half-board). High season and single person supplements may apply.

Bookings: Please email us for rates and availability.

Indian Ocean Beach Club, Diani

Description: The 5 star Indian Ocean Beach Club is one of the best hotels on the South Coast build in Swahili Architecture to match the original local surroundings of a 16^th Century Kongo Mosque and a 600 year old Baobab tree in the gardens. The hotel overlooks the white sand beach at the Tiwi river estuary and is sited next to a Marine Park.

Rooms: 100 airy Deluxe Club guest rooms set in white washed Makuti roofed structures surround the grand white arches of the main buildings. Each room has its own veranda, en-suite with bath/shower and separate toilet. The furniture is beautifully crafted and of local supply and each room has air-conditioning and ceiling fan as well as a mini-bar.

Facilities: The pool is a wonderful 200-meter freeform pool adjacent to three plunge pools. There are 2 floodlit tennis courts; volleyball, croquet, jogging trail and bird watching are available.

Spices restaurant – situated on the first floor overlooking the pool and the sea in the cooling sea breeze serves a large buffet and waitered breakfast as well as a very generous dinner consisting of far too many courses to manage!

Ocean terrace – adjacent to the beach is a great spot for lunch

Bahari Cove - is an open air, a la carte restaurant pretty much on the beach and serves great shellfish and Swahili seafood

Dhow bar - right on the beach on the beach towards the estuary serves drinks and cocktails is a great place for sundowners and the watch the local fisherman bring in the catch.

Trader's Room – for conferences or cocktail parties with the capacity for 100 people.

Notes: 10 mins taxi (£2) or 15 minutes matatu (£0.20) to H2O Extreme’s dedicated kite and windsurf centre does not leave you stranded if you want to experience the best watersports on the beach. For pre-booked courses H2O will arrange collection.

Rates: US$75-150 per person per night (half-board). High season and single person supplements may apply.

Bookings: Please email us for rates and availability.

Leopard Beach Hotel, Diani

Description: A spacious, stylish and cosmopolitan resort based on Kenya’s famous Diani beach just 34 km from Kenya’s colourful, historic and exotic second city, Mombasa. The hotel is recently renovated to provide a spacious and panoramic environment, the epitome of Swahili style, raised on palm-fringed coral cliffs overlooking the endless blue horizons of the Indian Ocean.

Rooms: Set amidst 25 acres of lush tropical gardens, this extensive resort boasts 114 standard rooms and 35 superior rooms, most of which enjoy panoramic ocean vistas and private terraces. The 6 master and honeymoon suites also offer such additional luxuries as power-showers-for-two and sunken Jacuzzis. All the rooms are exquisitely interior designed and offer air-conditioning, mini bars, satellite TV and 24-hour room service.

Facilities: Dining arrangements are varied to keep things interesting with meals at the panoramic Horizon Restaurant, the breezy Nyama Choma Terrace, the moonlit poolside buffet, a tropical beach barbecue or colourful Afro-international ‘market’ of food kiosks on the beach.

Other options include: A la carte Chui Grill a member of the prestigious ‘Chaine des Rotisseurs’ is white-tented, blue-chandeliered, spans a lily pond and serves freshly caught seafood, world-class wines and gourmet cuisine.

Tornati Pasta ‘n’ Pizza Restaurant - Secluded beneath the arches of the wave-lapped colonnade, this intimate and relaxed restaurant offers homemade pasta and pizzas at the Ocean’s edge.

American-styled Pool Bistro serving burgers and short-order favourites or the cooling fruits, juices and shakes of the Tutti-Frutti ice-cream parlour.

Coco Beach cuisine - Gaily dotted with coconut-hat sunshades, Coco Beach is a lunchtime beachside grill serving everything from sizzling lobster skewers to spicy seafood stir-fries.

Other factilities on site are the business centre and cyber café, dive school, beach sports and an adjacent 18-hole golf course, hair and beauty salon, relaxation massages, a full laundry and valet service, baby sitting, doctor-on-call and a wide range of shopping options.

Notes: With an animation team present on site activities are encouraged such as snorkelling, volleyball, ping-pong, wind surfing and an eco-nature trail through one of the last stretches of indigenous coastal forest in Kenya. For kitesurfing - best to contact H2O Extreme who can collect you for the 5-minute trip down the beach. Caters well for honeymoons as well as larger functions such as weddings and conferences.

Rates: Please contact us for information

Bookings: Please email us for rates and availability.

Description: 123 room Swahili style hotel built in 1987 with traditional makuti (palm thatched) roof set in landscaped gardens & ponds. Rooms are set around the outside of the hotel, looking down over the garden, pool and Indian Ocean. Located directly on Diani Beach.

Rooms: Airconditioned, balcony/terrace, refrigerator, bathroom with shower, television, telephone, combination safe, room service and porter service.

Facilities: Babysitting, Laundry/ Dry Cleaning Service, Secretarial Services, Shops (gift shop, newsagent), Car Rental, Concierge Services, Wheelchair Accessible, Barber/Hair Stylist, Currency Exchange, Scuba Diving, Health Spa/Massage, Snorkeling, Pool (+ Children's pool), Tennis Courts, Deep Sea Fishing.

Rates: $86-158 per night (all inclusive). High season and single person supplements may apply.

Bookings: Please email us for rates and availability.

Photos courtesy Glen Rogers.

Africana Sea Lodge, Diani Beach

Description: All inclusive beach hotel, twinned with Jadini Beach Hotel. Set in beautiful grounds, the 160 rooms are designed in African-village style with whitewashed thatched rondavels. Each rondavel has air-conditioning, two rooms, telephone, radio, terrace and en-suite bathroom with shower.

Facilities: As per Jadini Beach Hotel

Rates: US$65-145 per person per night (all-inclusive). High season and single person supplements may apply

Bookings: Please email us for rates and availability.

Safari Beach Hotel, Diani Beach

Description: 4 star, 220 room beach hotel set in tropical surroundings overlooking the broad white sands of the famous Diani Beach. Safari Beach was built in 1986 and renovated in 1994. This is the most sophisticated of the three Alliance Hotels on Diani (the others being Jadini Beach and Africana Sea Lodge). All rooms overlook the extensive gardens and are arranged in seven informal villages, each named after Kenya's most famous game parks. The rooms are designed in a traditional rondavel style, with thatched roofs.

Rooms: Luxurious, two storey African style cottages with garden views. All rooms are spacious, air-conditioned, with private bathrooms (bath and shower, some single rooms have shower only), radio, telephone, minibar and private terrace or balcony.

Facilities: 2 swimming pools, 4 bars, Lobsteria Terrace, Beachcombers Brasserie, airport transfers, dive centre, 3 Tennis courts, 2 Squash courts,Table tennis, etc.

Rates: US$60-185 per person per night (all-inclusive). High season and single person supplements may apply.

Bookings: Please email us for rates and availability.

Photos courtesy Alliance Hotels