Things to do in Watamu
And where to stay, the best time to visit, what a day costs, and the traps to skip.
Best time to visit Watamu
• a note or something on ✦ an occasion worth the trip
Classic season: calmest and clearest sea, peak snorkelling and diving, marlin season, clean sand, and the festive peak in late December.
Long rains: heaviest rain, rough murky seas, boats cancelled and some businesses closed. The worst window for a beach trip.
Kusi monsoon: strong kite winds and cooler air, but choppy cloudy water, poorest snorkelling in June and July, and seaweed on the beach.
Humpback whale season, best in August and September, overlapping the Kusi so pick calm mornings for boat trips.
Insider shoulder: the sea settles and clears, sailfish season opens, brief short rain showers, and prices and crowds below peak.
What's on
- Watamu Triathlon October, two day weekend
Two day triathlon weekend, back after a long break, opening with a beach run. Worth timing around for sporty travellers.
- Humpback whale season July to October, peak August to September
The annual humpback migration past Watamu to breed and calve, watched by boat under distance rules.
Best things to do in Watamu
Watamu Marine National Park
A boat trip to coral gardens with hundreds of fish species and turtles, best on a calm morning tide in season.
Mida Creek
A mangrove creek with a community boardwalk, rich birdlife and the best sunset in Watamu across the water.
Local Ocean Conservation
The Watamu Turtle Watch centre, with nest monitoring, a bycatch programme and a rehab hospital for injured turtles.
Gede Ruins
A ruined Swahili palace town under coastal forest, brought to life by a gate guide and full of monkeys.
Watamu Beach
A chain of reef sheltered bays from the Blue Lagoon to Garoda, made for low tide walks and rock pools.
The Watamu Snake Farm
The Bio-Ken research centre, where herpetologist guides show East African snakes and the antivenom work behind them.
Kipepeo Butterfly Project
A community butterfly house at the Gede gate where forest farmers rear pupae for export, best paired with the ruins.
Isola dell'Amore Watamu
Love Island, a rocky islet you can walk to across the sand flats at low tide if you watch the tide times.
Where to stay in Watamu
Turtle Bay
first trip, marine park and best all round base
The long beach south of the village with the marine park frontage and most established hotels, walkable to everything.
Garoda
kitesurfing and quiet resort stays
The same beach running south, quieter and home to the kite sandbar and the big all inclusive resorts.
Watamu village and Kanani
restaurants, local life and value
Among the village restaurants and local life rather than on prime beach, a short walk or tuk tuk to the sand.
Think twice about
- Malindi as a base
A bigger, brasher town about 25 km north with a seedier nightlife strip. Visit as a day trip, sleep in Watamu for the reef and village.
- Mida Creek side for a first trip
Beautiful for creek sunsets but not a swimming beach base, and residential lanes go very quiet and dark at night. Better for self drivers in houses.
- Far Jacaranda all inclusive strip
Isolated resort compounds at the far south end where you need a vehicle for everything outside the resort. Fine for a resort only trip, poor as a Watamu base.
Best restaurants in Watamu
Amandina Restaurant
Medina Palms' seafood led fine dining room, the most formal service in Watamu and the occasion dinner pick.
The Liars Club
A small owner run Italian kitchen with coastal produce and genuine hospitality.
Pilipan Restaurant
An Indian kitchen on the coast, with tandoori king prawns, layered curries and fresh roti.
Crab Shack Dabaso, Mida Creek
A community crab farm restaurant on a boardwalk deck over the mangroves, made for sunset seafood.
Lichthaus
The sundowner institution over Mida Creek, with deck swimming, coal grilled skewers and the village sunset party.
Papa Remo Beach
The beach day institution on Watamu Bay, Italian led kitchen and bar that becomes the village beach party at night.
Hosteria Romana Watamu
A Roman style kitchen doing the classics properly, singled out for the best carbonara in Watamu.
Non Solo Gelato Watamu
Proper Italian gelato at cafe prices, the correct end to every Watamu dinner, with coffee and light food too.
Outdoor things to do in Watamu
Aqua Ventures
Small group diving on the outer reef from Ocean Sports, with thorough briefings and a free pool refresher.
Tribe Watersports
The established kite school at Garoda, with a shallow lagoon for learners and reef waves for experienced riders.
Mida Creek Sunset Dhow Cruise
A lateen sailed dhow drifting the mangrove channels at sunset, sheltered even when the ocean is rough.
Arabuko-Sokoke Forest
East Africa's largest coastal forest, walked at dawn with a gate guide in search of rare birds and elephant shrews.
Hemingways Watamu Deep Sea Fishing
A full charter big game boat for sailfish and marlin on tag and release, the top tier day out of Watamu.
Hell's Kitchen, Marafa
An eroded sandstone canyon past Malindi whose bands of colour intensify at sunset, the best land day trip from Watamu.
Tsavo East National Park
Red earth safari with big elephant herds, best as an overnight from Watamu that buys a dawn game drive.
Watamu Whale Watching
Seasonal boat trips to the humpback migration, monitored with the Watamu Marine Association since 2011.
Best hotels in Watamu
Hemingways Watamu
The grand Turtle Bay boutique hotel in the marine park, with two pools, a spa and its own fishing boat.
Medina Palms
Spacious suites and beach villas around palms and pools on Turtle Bay, with an adults only pool and beach bar.
Turtle Bay Beach Club
The best value all inclusive on Turtle Bay, a family workhorse with a founding role in marine conservation here.
Garoda Resort
A large all inclusive at the quiet south end of the beach, by the kite sandbar and the widest stretch of sand.
Watamu Treehouse
Towers rising through original forest on the quietest beach stretch, with roof yoga and views over forest and sea.
Ocean Sports Resort
The clubby sailors and divers hotel on Watamu Bay, simple rooms, an institution of a bar and diving on site.
The Charming Lonno Lodge Watamu
A small owner run lodge on Kanani Road with a pool, hammam and a deliberate policy of quiet, a step below the big two.
Tembo Village Resort Watamu
The best evidenced budget base, 14 village rooms with a pool near the restaurants and a walk to the beach.
Is Watamu expensive? What a day costs
| Budget | KES 8,500 a person |
|---|---|
| Classic | KES 18,000 a person |
| Splurge | KES 45,000 a person |
A day of food, drink, sights and getting around, before the room
What to book ahead
- Watamu Marine National Park: a few days ahead
- Aqua Ventures: a few days ahead
- Tribe Watersports: a few days ahead
- Mida Creek Sunset Dhow Cruise: a few days ahead
- Hemingways Watamu Deep Sea Fishing: weeks ahead
- Hell's Kitchen, Marafa: a few days ahead
- Tsavo East National Park: a few days ahead
- Watamu Whale Watching: a few days ahead
- Book the small top hotels weeks to months ahead for Christmas to March and for August.
- Reserve The Liars Club, Pilipan, Amandina and a sunset edge table at Crab Shack a day or more ahead in season.
- Arrange boats, diving, kite lessons, the Arabuko guide and Tsavo through your hotel, the Marine Association or the operator, and ask if park fees are included.
- Book multi day PADI or kite courses before you arrive in peak months.
Is Watamu safe?
- Dengue occurs on the coast, so use repellent and cover up at dawn and dusk, and the coast is malarial.
- Watch tidal flats and reef channels, which flood fast, take tuk tuks at night, and use reputable transfers on the Malindi to Mombasa highway.
Watamu travel tips: tourist traps to skip
- The 40 passenger Blue Safari version with a crowded snorkel stop and mediocre lunch is the most complained about purchase in Watamu.
- Do not pay for a car package to Arabuko Sokoke, where the morning is on foot and the car sits in a car park.
- Do not expect the March beach in July, when Kusi seaweed, chop and murk drive most overrated verdicts.
- No ethical operator guarantees a nesting turtle, a hatching or a release.
Getting around Watamu: public transport and more
- Fly to Malindi Airport, about 25 km and 25 to 40 minutes by road, and pre book the hotel transfer.
- Mombasa airport is about 120 km and 2.5 hours south, and Nairobi is a flight, not an 8 hour drive.
- Walk the beach by day and take tuk tuks after dark, because the beach road is unlit with no pavement in stretches.
- Get the week tide table, with Malindi as the reference port, and plan snorkelling and reef walks around it.
Who Watamu suits
| Solo travellers | Good |
|---|---|
| Groups of friends | Good |
| Couples | Great |
| Bachelor parties | Not ideal |
| Families | Good |
| Bachelorette parties | Not ideal |
Make Watamu your trip
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