Our recent trip to Kenya with kids was such a huge success! We had previously done many South African family safaris but this one was very special.
We wanted to give you our Kenya family holiday itinerary to help you plan your own trip.
At the end of the post there are suggestions on how you can tweak your own Kenya family itinerary. Maybe you want to select a different destination for your family safari. Maybe you want to add in some beach time.
Either way, if you choose to visit Kenya with kids, you won’t be disappointed.
By the way, thank you for trusting us and not using Chat GPT to create your itinerary. I did an experiment asking it for a family itinerary for Kenya and it told me to take a walk through Nairobi National Park.
That would be great if I wanted to be eaten by lions but I don’t and presumably you don’t either.
If you enjoy Kenya, you won’t want to miss our truly epic 14-day Namibia with kids itinerary or our 2 week South Africa itinerary for families.
And if you go and love KEnya, take a look at our other recommendations for the best family safari destinations in Africa.
This post contains affiliate links. If you click on one and book or buy something, we may earn a small commission but this is at no extra cost to you.
Visiting Kenya with kids
Kenya is very kid-friendly and it is safe to take children to Kenya but there are some things you should know before you go.
I also want to just say that if you don’t feel comfortable booking a completely independent family trip to Kenya, we recommend speaking to Go2Africa. We have traveled to Africa many times over the last 30 years but we still wanted to use an African travel expert.
If you need any help with organising your holiday to Kenya with kids, then Go2Africa are award winners in the African travel industry and know Africa better than anyone.
We have written a review of booking with Go2Africa which explains who they are and why they are so good for families to book with.
Here are a few things to consider about visiting Kenya.
Visa for Kenya
Check whether you need a visa to travel to Kenya. If you are from the UK, you do need a visa and MUST apply online in advance. See requirements here.
See here if traveling from the US.
You can apply for your Kenya visa here. Note that it can take 3 working days (or longer) to process so make sure you do it will before your travel date. Recommended time is 2 weeks ahead of travel.
The cost of a single entry visa starts at $30.
Travel vaccinations for Kenya
It is important to know that taking a family vacation in Kenya means that you will be visiting a malarial area.
If you don’t like the idea of traveling to a malarial area, take a look at our guide on safari destinations with no malaria.
Make sure you consult your medical practitioner about all of the travel vaccinations required to visit Kenya with kids.
If you happen to be traveling from Kenya on to another country like South Africa, you will be required to have a Yellow Fever vaccination if you have spent longer than 12 hours in Kenya.
Getting around Kenya
There are various options for getting around Kenya. If you are short on time then you will probably need to take flights between destinations, especially if you want to do a safari and visit the beach.
Just be aware that when you start looking at charter flights to safari destinations, the costs start mounting. And also be aware that small charter flights have a max luggage allowance of 15kg per person.
Where possible (if you have the time), we would recommend ground travel. Hiring a driver is a great way to get around if the distances aren’t too vast. We drove from Nairobi to northern Masai Mara in 5 hours.
Whilst flights between hubs like Nairobi and Mombasa are fairly cheap (see here – around $150 return) – maybe consider taking the train. The flight takes around 1 hour but when you factor in check-in and security etc (and the hassle of doing this with kids), it is more like 3 hours.
The Madaraka Express train takes a little under 6 hours but it takes in wonderful scenery en route to the coast, passing through Tsavo National Park.
First class (around $36 one way) or premium class (around $100 one way) are recommened. Premium class offers airline business class style seats. Kids aged 3 – 11 are half price.
You can book these train tickets on Bookaway.
It is a good idea to think about what you want to do and where you want to go in Kenya so you can decide how to get around.
At this point it is worth talking your ideas through with an Kenya travel expert like Go2Africa to see what is feasible.
Advice for safaris in Kenya with kids
Something we get asked a lot is how long should you spend on safari with kids?
From experience, we would recommend shorter safaris with kids under 8 years old.
The thing you need to think about is how well your child would cope with getting up at 5am for a morning game drive and finishing the day around 8pm. If you do this for several days in a row, it becomes exhausting.
We recommend staying at least 3 nights in a lodge to get the full safari experience.
If you want to do a longer safari, consider breaking the experience up by changing lodges. After 3 days (6 game drives) you will probably have seen all you’re going to see and might benefit from a change of location to spot different animals.
I don’t think even as adults we’ve done longer than 6 nights on safari in any one go and in those 6 days we changed camps to break things up.
So how many days is too long on safari with kids? Obviously this is a personal choice but bear the above in mind when deciding how long to spend on safari with kids.
See also safari packing list for families and what clothes kids need for a safari.
Things to do in Kenya with kids
Whilst Kenya is not as diverse as somewhere like South Africa in terms of things for families to do, there are still a good variety of things for families to do in Kenya.
In general, families visiting Kenya with kids will:
- Spend time in Nairobi (visit the Giraffe Centre, Sheldrick Wildlife Trust – do read this lovely book)
- Go on safari and view incredible wildlife
- Relax in the sun on a tropical beach
There are obviously lots more things that families can do in Kenya but the above will help form the basis of your Kenyan family holiday.
When you know roughly what you want to do, then you can determine when the best time would be to visit Kenya.
For example, if you only want to visit Nairobi, any time of year is fine.
If you only want to go to the beach, then you would want to avoid rainy season.
If you only want to go on safari, you need to consider whether you would prefer the rainy (low and cheaper) season, or whether you want to see the Great Migration (high season).
Best time to visit Kenya
If you are travelling to Kenya with kids then you are probably restricted to travelling in the school holidays which narrows it down to Easter, summer or Christmas holidays (if you want to take more than a week).
Best time to visit Kenya on safari
July to September is considered the best time to visit Kenya for a safari as this is the dry season and it coincides with the famous Great Wildebeest migration.
Wildlife is easier to spot in the dry season. During the rainy season animals will find more cover among the lush green foliage.
Peak season, however, is a much more expensive time to go on safari in Kenya. Kenya recently increased peak season park entrance fees to $200 per person per day.
If you are looking to do a more budget-friendly family safari, then you need to travel in the low season when park fees are $100 per person per day. Get an idea here of the rough cost of a Kenyan family safari.
There are two rainy seasons in Kenya: Mid-March to June (Easter break) and November to December (Christmas break).
Best time to visit Kenya beaches
The best time to visit Kenya’s beaches is between October and January. Generally they are hot and humid year round but the worst rainfall occurs mid-March to late May.
This is a great guide on when to visit Kenya.
Our Kenya with kids itinerary
We organised our Kenyan family vacation through Go2Africa.
We travelled to Kenya at the beginning of December which was just within the rainy season, however, we only had one day of rain the entire time.
Because it was rainy season, we didn’t include any time at the beach – but as I mentioned before, there are some suggestions at the end of the post on how this itinerary can be tweaked.
- Day 1 – Arrive Nairobi 6am and drive straight to Nairobi National Park. Overnight in Ololo Safari Lodge.
- Day 2 – Morning and afternoon safari in Nairobi National Park and exploring Ololo.
- Day 3 – Morning transfer to Hemingways in Nairobi and visit Sheldrick Wildlife Trust.
- Day 4 – Visit the Giraffe Sanctuary and chill at Hemingways.
- Day 5 – Morning transfer to Naboisho Camp in the Masai Mara (by ground)
- Day 6 – Naboisho Camp – safari
- Day 7 – Naboisho Camp – safari
- Day 8 – Naboisho Camp – safari
- Day 9 – Transfer to airport (by ground)
We took an overnight flight from the UK and arrived in Nairobi airport at around 6am.
Once we cleared immigration and grabbed our bags we were met by our driver from Asilia (the ground handler for Go2Africa).
We were assigned a driver who was responsible for our ground transfers during the trip. He drove us to Nairobi National Park which is just a quick 15 minute drive.
Ololo Safari Lodge
We decided to have a couple of nights at Ololo Safari Lodge in Nairobi National Park because we wanted to have a nice, slow introduction to Kenya after a long flight.
An alternative would be to go straight to somewhere like Hemingways for the first night or two, but honestly – Ololo was just gorgeous. And the first night in Kenya listening to the sounds of the wild animals around was incredible.
At the park entrance we were met by the safari guide from Ololo Safari Lodge. He was to be our driver for the game drives in the National Park.
Can I just say here how amazing it is that you can get off an international flight and be on safari within an hour of landing. If you arrive on an early morning flight, you might be lucky enough to catch the sunrise on your first safari.
Also worth mentioning that Nairobi National Park is the only malaria free safari destination in Kenya.
I can’t think of anywhere else in Africa where you can do this – or see wildlife with a city skyline behind! It really is a unique experience.
If you have time, check out the Safari Walk within the park.
Ololo Safari Lodge is just gorgeous. Reached by a suspension bridge, it is a little oasis of colonial charm.
We had a large three bedroom chalet which is perfect for larger families.
The food was delicious and mostly grown or raised on their own organic farm. The pool area was perfect after a hot and sweaty game drive.
Hemingways
After our stay at Ololo we were transferred to the famous Hemingways hotel where we spent the next couple of days so that we could explore Nairobi.
It is located in the upmarket area of Karen and is within easy reach of the main tourist sites and lots of restaurants.
Whilst here, we used Ubers to get around which were easy to book.
We had a huge 2-bedroom family suite with breakfast included. It was all very grand.
We did visit the Giraffe Centre next door though and fed some giraffe. If we had more time we would have included a visit to the Sheldrick Wildlife Trust. By the way, if you’re visiting Kenya then ‘An African Love Story‘ by Daphne Sheldrick is a must read!
We had a lovely lunch at Hemingways but we also went out to Matteo’s Italian Restaurant and Under the Swahili Tree. Also quite touristy but lots of people recommend is The Carnivore where you can try all sorts of strange and exotic meat.
Transfer to the Masai Mara
We discussed our preference for taking ground transfers over flying to the Masai Mara with Go2Africa. It saved us hundreds of dollars and we much prefer to see the country we are visiting.
The drive took around 5 hours and along the way we passed the escarpment road looking out over the Great Rift Valley. Such an incredible sight.
Our driver provided a huge packed lunch for us so we stopped to stretch our legs and have lunch at a curio stop at around the half way point.
Actually there was so much food that we pulled over and gave half of it to some local kids playing by the roadside.
Naboisho Camp in the Masai Mara
We chose to stay at Naboisho Camp because we wanted to visit the Masai Mara and it was easy to get to (so no need to fly in although the nearest airstrip is 45 minutes away).
It is a private conservancy bordering the north of the Masai Mara.
It welcomes families with kids over 5 years old. We stayed in one of the 2-bedroom family suites which was enormous! There were 2 indoor showers and 2 outdoor showers, a large lounge area. Both bedrooms and the lounge had access to a huge deck overlooking the plains.
As we were here for 4 nights we took advantage of their complimentary laundry facilities.
The food was just amazing. I’m always so impressed with how safari lodges manage to provide such wonderful food in such remote locations.
Our lunch in the grounds in the shade of a tree one day was just magical as was our sundowner around a fire on our last day on safari.
The pool area was a short walk from our tent and looked out onto the plains where we saw lots of wildlife.
Our stay at Naboisho Camp was amazing in every way. The staff there looked after us so well and as camp was pretty quiet (it was green season / low season just before the Christmas holidays), we had our game drives to ourselves.
All too soon our Kenyan holiday was over and it was time to transfer straight back to the airport but not before sponsoring and planting a tree in the Naboisho grounds.
Alternative Kenya itinerary options
As promised, here are some alternative destinations in Kenya to visit with kids for safari experiences and beach time.
Alternative safari destinations in Kenya
- Lake Nakuru National Park – entry fees are low compared to other Kenyan national parks and you can do boat safaris.
- Amboseli National Park – view wildlife with the incredible backdrop of the majestic Kilimanjaro.
- Ol Pejeta Conservancy – home of the world’s last two Northern White Rhino.
- Tsavo National Park – largest protected area in Kenya and accessible by train from Nairobi. Carry on to the coast for a safari/beach holiday.
These safari destination in Kenya are all within 3 – 5 hours drive of Nairobi.
If you wanted to spend more time on safari, you could do a loop incorporating Lake Nakuru, the Masai Mara and Amboseli before heading back to Nairobi.
Alternative beach destinations in Kenya
- Diani Beach – the most popular beach in Kenya with 17km stretch of white sand. Try Nomads Beach Resort for family suites.
- Watamu – known for white sand, clear waters and great marine life.
You could also fly to Zanzibar from Nairobi in 90 minutes. Something to think about.
See here for other Kenya beach destination ideas.
We hope you found our guide to visiting Kenya with kids helpful and that our Kenyan itinerary for families has given you some inspiration.
