Goma Serena Hotel

Goma Serena Hotel stands on Avenue De La Corniche on the northern shore of Lake Kivu, in the centre of Goma. It is the city's only five-star hotel, and its position means Lake Kivu is visible from every one of the one hundred and nine rooms — each has a private balcony or large windows facing the water.

Rooms run from thirty-five square metre King Deluxe rooms, each with a Jacuzzi bathtub, up through Junior Suites with separate living areas, Executive Suites with kitchenettes and dining tables, and a Presidential Suite on the fifth floor with a private boardroom and twenty-four-hour butler service. Interiors use Congolese artefacts and African-inspired décor throughout.

Three dining venues serve different needs. Rumoka Restaurant is the all-day option, with a patisserie at breakfast, themed buffet lunches, and nightly à la carte dinner with lake views. Kahuzi-Biega Bar — named after the national park to the south — is an outdoor terrace for cocktails, wines, whiskies, and live music. The Bambara Lounge is a quieter café space reserved for hotel guests. The Nyiragongo Nightclub runs Lingala, African, and contemporary music on site.

The Maisha Spa and Health Club offers massages, aromatherapy, sauna, steam room, gym, and an aerobics studio. Five hundred and thirty-six square metres of event space includes a ballroom, boardroom, and two meeting rooms. The hotel is ten minutes from Goma's airport. Lake Kivu is directly accessible for boat rides, jet skiing, and stand-up paddling, and Virunga National Park — with mountain gorilla trekking — and the Nyiragongo Volcano, fourteen kilometres north, are both reachable on day excursions.