House of Waine is an excellent place to stay in Karen, a tony suburb of Nairobi. We spent our first two nights there after our long flights from the west coast of the US. Excellent in every way! Very close to the elephant orphanage, giraffe manor and Karen Blixen's house/museum. Road construction makes getting there from either Nairobi airport a bit of a time consuming event, but it's worth it if you're interested in what's close by. Highly recommended.

The House of Waine is located close to the Giraffe Center and is a good base for stay in Nairobi. We were not able to use the swimming pool because it was too cold in the morning and evening when we were at the hotel. We found the staff to be spectacular, from the kitchen to the crew that takes your bags and the managers. Unfortunately we weren't able to sleep because they had some 3am arrivals who were a noisy group and hung out in the hallway to chat until 5:30am. Our room was directly over the front desk so perhaps that contributed to the noise. I also found the bath tub/shower a bit awkward.

The hotel itself is lovely, but it is a little out of the way and with Nairobi's traffic congestion can take more than an hour to get to from the city - this will probably be fixed with the new road that is under construction, but until then, if you want to visit the city, it might be better staying somewhere else.

If you are looking for lush gardens; peace and quiet then this is the place to be. It has conference facilities and a swimming pool. the gardens are well maintained and it is placed in a quiet surrounding. this is perfect for those who want to be in the city but away from city noise and traffic. the food is also well thought of and nicely done.