Try to avoid late February as elections are slated for early March.

As above, if you have not already booked I would not go or advise to around election time.

Having stayed at both Diani Sea Resort and Amani Tiwi Beach Resort, my vote would be Tiwi. The hotel is about to reopen after a devastating fire, we stayed in January of this year in the midst of the construction and the hotel will be stunning, the rooms are bigger with a separate dressing area and then air conditioning much more efficient. The staff at Tiwi are just more attentive and efficent. There are no other large hotels on Tiwi beach so there are fewer beach boys to hassle you, the hotel does have an area of beach with sun beds on and on which no beach boys are allowed, you can also choose to eat at restaurants situated on the beach. Amani Tiwi Beach is some distance to any where, though the hotel does run a mini bus into Diani the shops and bank - there is a charge for this. If you like to swim in the sea you will need rubber shoes because of the coral, though this does mean there is excellent rock pooling opportunities and just a short walk away there is a perfect sandy place to swim but please ask the staff about safe swimming times as this stretch of beach is very close to a river estuary.

The pool at Amani Tiwi Beach Resort is huge with a verity of water depths and a swim up bar. The pool at Diani Sea Resort is tiny in comparison and doesn't have the swim up bar. Because the pool area is so large at ATBR it is always possible to find some where quiet to put your sun bed while it is definately 'cosy' around the pool at DSR.

Don't get me wrong there is nothing wrong with Diani Sea Resort and it does have the advantage of being able to walk to local shops, bars and restaurants. They don't have sun beds on the beach as the sea comes up to the hotel sea wall at high tide. The beach outside the

hotel is beautiful and although there are loads of beach boys the security staff at the hotel are good at intervening if they notice hotel guests being unduly hassled.

If you want peace quiet, good food and to be treated just a little bit special then choose Amani Tiwi Beach Resort. If you like to be closer to other hotels and like good honest value for money chose Diani Sea Resort.

No matter which hotel you chose, please do go out and about, Kenya is a beautifu and diverse country which deserves to be explored.

We are going back to Tiwi at the end of January, so if you chose Tiwi early February we might well meet up - I can' wait:)

I'd seen it mentioned by several people in these forums that Diani is in a list of the world's Top Ten beaches, being insatiably curious I googled 'top ten beaches in the world' and started wading through the results, I couldn't find it in any of the lists on the first page, for example it does not feature in National Geographic's Top Ten, nor The Guardian's, or Conde Naste Traveller's, Fox News's, Yahoo Travel's. It's not in Tripadvisor's top 25 for this year or in CNNGo's Top 50, I was nearly at the bottom of the second page and just about to give up when I came across it at No 2 on Rhino Car Hire's list written by their Content Manager,

rhinocarhire.com/Top-Ten/Beaches-in-the-worl…

Ok thanks very much for your helpful replies especially snugglepus. We were swaying towards the Amani as its 4*, has more choice of restaurants & the beach is more private but we're definately sold on it now. In the reviews I had seen on here for it, some people said the beach was a dissapointment & there was lots of seaweed. Just trying to decide if we can afford 2 weeks & not just the one. We were planning on going in March for our first wedding anniversary but after reading about the scheduled election on 4th March we're now looking at going 1st or 8th Feb which I hope is not too close to the election for us to encounter any trouble if there is any. So we will probably see you there snugglepus if we go ahead book!

Clare, try and go as early as possible in February. You never know when the issues (if any) will start.

Ok 1st Feb it is then. I can't go any earlier as I can't take any leave from work until 1st Feb. thanks for the advice.

I have stayed at both hotels, Tiwi albeit some years ago. If you want a nice classy hotel that is isolated and not looking to go out anywhere then Tiwi is the place to go. The hotel owner is very attentive to detail but I notice that unfortunately they haven't changed the naff slatted windows in the rooms that never shut properly, second time we stayed there we asked to move rooms twice as the first one was flooded from the air con unit (these should have all been replaced now though) and the second room the slatted window would not shut to the extent of two inch gaps.

Diani Sea Resort is a totally different hotel and a star rating less, the food was good, rooms adequate. The advantage of this hotel is that you can go a walk outside up to the shops. Both are on the South coast and have lovely beaches, Tiwi has the advantage of private beach frontage which DSR doesn't.

If I were going for a quiet, isolated holiday for major chill out then I would go with Tiwi of which we always booked through Somak. If I wanted an out and about holiday then would go for Diani Sea Resort which we book through Monarch.

Hope that helps.

going to Tiwi is the best choice ever done by my friends whom visited South Coast last year August