Serena Beach Resort and Spa

Serena Beach Resort & Spa sits on Shanzu Beach on Mombasa's north coast, thirteen kilometres from the city centre. The buildings are laid out as winding lanes of single-storey blocks with whitewashed walls and carved doors, modelled on the architecture of a Swahili coastal settlement. Inside the rooms, hand-painted Maasai frescos, fretwork cabinets, and four-poster beds in the suites carry that reference further. There are one hundred and nine rooms in total, running from garden rooms with terrace access to Lamu Suites with direct views over the pool and the Indian Ocean.

The main dining room, Fountain, serves buffet breakfast and themed evening dinners overlooking the water. The Jahazi Grill is built around a dhow theme and serves fresh-caught fish and seafood at lunch and dinner beside the ocean. Sokoni, a brasserie-style café beside a fishpond shaded by bougainvillea and coconut palms, hosts acrobatic and traditional dance performances in the evenings. The Pizzeria next door uses a wood- and stone-fired oven. A rooftop bar, a thatched beach bar, and a swim-up pool bar cover drinks through the day and into the night.

The Maisha Spa offers massage, facial, and body treatments using Healing Earth products, centred on a water feature with a suspended meditation platform. On the beach, the resort runs a turtle conservation project that has been operating since 1993 and has released more than forty thousand hatchlings into the Indian Ocean. A butterfly conservation centre on the property nurtures indigenous species. Water sports on offer include catamaran sailing, windsurfing, kayaking, snorkelling, and glass-bottom boat rides to the marine park. Solar panels have been installed on-site since 2017.