A first morning in Nairobi CBD

The best part of staying in the Central Business District is that everything you want in a city is within a short walk, and the walk itself is part of the visit.

Before the traffic

Nairobi moves quickly after seven. If you are the kind of guest who likes a city before it is busy, ask for an early breakfast and walk the block before eight. The coffee at the hotel is worth it on its own, and the walk past Biashara Street at that hour is quiet enough to hear the street sellers setting out.

What is close by

Within a few minutes on foot you will find:

• City Market, two hundred metres away, best for fruit, smoked fish and matoke, and for the walk itself.
• Jeevanjee Gardens, a short walk north, the best place to sit with a book between meetings.
• The Nairobi City Hall and its clock tower, a landmark that tells you where you are in five seconds.
• KICC, the convention centre, and a useful reference point when you are meeting people for the first time.

Meeting people

Most business visitors find the CBD easier to work in than they expect. The offices are close together, the light is good in the morning, and a walk between two meetings is usually shorter than the drive would be in another city.

Tell the team your first day's timings before you arrive. We can have a table ready, a car waiting, and the day's route checked against the traffic so you are not standing on Biashara Street with a brief and a watch.