Medina Palms

Medina Palms sits on seven acres of seafront land in Watamu, Kilifi County, with a private beach that leads directly onto the protected waters of the Watamu Marine National Park. The architecture follows the layout of a Moroccan medina — a central waterway runs from the entrance down toward the ocean, with gardens and pools on either side.

The fifty rooms divide into two areas: the Medina, where suites, penthouses and ocean lodges sit around gardens and pools, and the Palmerie, where villas have direct beach access. Room sizes run from a one-bedroom suite of roughly one thousand square feet up to a four-bedroom beachfront villa of around four thousand eight hundred square feet. The larger upper-level rooms and villas each have their own terrace with a plunge pool. The standalone Amani Signature Villa adds a fifth option at approximately nine thousand six hundred square feet with five bedrooms, its own pool, and a library.

The Sakina Ocean Spa occupies a rooftop position open to the sea breeze and uses organic Africology products across its treatment rooms, including one aqua treatment room. A staffed children's club, Nemo's Cave, takes children aged two to eight. The kitchen sources herbs and vegetables from an on-site garden and uses locally caught seafood; the restaurant serves Mediterranean, Moroccan and African dishes in an open-air or rooftop-covered setting.

Tsavo National Park is roughly ninety minutes away by road. On the water, the Watamu reef is accessible for snorkelling and diving, and dhow cruises run along Mida Creek, a thirty-two square kilometre tidal estuary. The hotel holds a Gold rating from Ecotourism Kenya and has planted over ten thousand trees on the property, irrigated using a biodigester system.