Where to stay in Kilifi: Peaceful Stays Along the Kenyan Coast

Kilifi is much more than a strip of identical beach front hotels. Accommodation ranges from boutique cottages, to eco-lodges and backpackers. Here is a comprehensive guide of where to stay while visiting Kilifi. 

1. The Twisted Fig 

The Twisted Fig offers on site accommodation set within 50 acres of protected forest, making it perfect for your next nature retreat. Here you have the option to pick between two self-contained cottages, equipped with Wifi, a private verandah and kitchenette, or safari style tents with shared kitchen and bathroom facilities. The Twisted Fig accommodation is a short walk away from the restaurant, which is ideal when you want to eat something gourmet from our menu. Waking up to bird song and the wind rustling through the trees, the Twisted Fig accommodation is a peaceful nature escape that promises that you’ll leave feeling rested and rejuvenated. 

2. Salty’s Kite Surfing Village 

Salty's Kitesurf Village sits on Bofa Beach, built around an IKO-accredited kitesurfing centre with a boutique hotel, bar, and restaurant attached. Rooms range from budget shared "Surfers Economy" options to private suites with garden views. Whether you’re planning your next watersports vacation or looking for somewhere with beach views to recuperate, Salty’s Kite Surfing Village is definitely one to consider.

3. The Shamba Community 

The Shamba is a small, garden-set guesthouse in Kilifi offering private rooms and cosy tents. They have a shared kitchen, an outdoor fireplace and picnic area. The location is pet friendly and truly cultivates a sense of community. It's a quieter, more residential option, closer to staying at a friend's place than a hotel. 

4. Distant Relatives 

Distant Relatives is an eco-lodge and backpackers on Kilifi Creek, about 3 kilometres outside town. Rooms range from double and family rooms to dorm beds. The lodge runs on permaculture principles with composting toilets, greywater systems, and handcrafted furniture from recycled materials. From Distant Relatives you can access the Creekside beach, there’s a communal kitchen, and a restaurant on-site.

5. Silver Palm Spa and Resort 

Silver Palm Spa and Resort is a 4-star beachfront property in Mnarani, perched on a cliff overlooking the Indian Ocean. It has 38 rooms across a mix of standard rooms and suites, three restaurants, a full-service spa, an outdoor pool, and tennis courts. It's the more conventional resort option in Kilifi, suited to travellers who want spa days and structured amenities alongside the coastline.

Ready to book your next vacation in Kilifi? The Twisted Fig offers two private cottages and four safari-style tents set within the forest grounds, available year-round. Check availability and book here.

What to do in Kilifi: A Guide to Kenya’s Creek Town

Many travellers skip over Kilifi, underestimating it and instead returning to places like Malindi or Watamu. Here are unique Kilifi experiences that are worth visiting for. From water-sports activities in the Creek to unique geographical attractions and experiences in the forest. 

Panga ya Saidi Caves

Panga ya Saidi is an archaeological cave site about 15 kilometres inland from the coast, with excavated deposits showing human activity going back roughly 78,000 years — among the longest continuous archaeological records in East Africa. The cave has domed limestone walls and an open ceiling with trees growing up through the floor, and it's still an active sacred site for the local Mijikenda community. Guided tours cover the excavation history and the cave's role as a refuge during the East African slave trade.

The Twisted Fig Suspension Bridge 

The Twisted Fig Bridge is a suspension bridge connecting Kilifi Plantations to The Twisted Fig, offering an on-foot alternative to arriving by road. Crossing it gives a view over the forest canopy before reaching the restaurant grounds. It’s worth doing even just for the walk, before or after a meal.

A Dhow Ride into the Creek 

A dhow ride is one of the simpler ways to see Kilifi Creek — a traditional sailing vessel gliding across the water rather than a speedboat cutting through it. It's typically arranged through lodges and tour operators along the creek and makes for an easy half-day outing, especially timed for sunset.

Mtwapa Ruins 

Mtwapa Ruins is an archaeological site south of Kilifi with standing coral-stone structures, including a former congregational mosque, from a settlement believed to date back centuries. It sits alongside other coastal ruins in the area, including nearby Jumba la Mtwana, and gives a sense of the trading towns that lined this stretch of coast long before it became a tourist route.

Watersports at 3 Degrees South 

3 Degrees South is a watersports school and rental centre based on Kilifi Creek, offering sailing, windsurfing, kayaking, paddleboarding, and waterskiing. It's the only RYA-accredited sailing and windsurfing training centre in Kenya, with lessons for complete beginners and equipment for those who already know their way around a boat. The creek itself, with mangroves lining parts of the water and a bridge to sail under, is as much a reason to go as the sports.

Ready to book your next vacation in Kilifi? The Twisted Fig offers two private cottages and four safari-style tents set within the forest grounds, available year-round. Check availability and book here.

Destination Weddings in Kilifi: Inside The Twisted Fig

Home to Beneath the Baobabs, one of Kenya’s biggest festivals, The Twisted Fig is no stranger to organising extravagant events. This same property that hosts a weekend for 5,000 people is also a wedding venue on the Kenya coast. One set up to handle everything from a small ceremony to a large celebration. As a destination wedding venue, the grounds are located on 50 acres of protected forestry, with hundred year old baobabs. Designed as a versatile, full-service venue, it offers couples a space to bring together music, art, cuisine, and community for a truly bespoke celebration. On-site catering and bar service mean couples don't need to bring in outside vendors for the basics. Let us tell you why the Twisted Fig is Kilifi's most perfect destination wedding venue on the Kenya coast.

The Scenery 

Located near Kilifi’s Takaungu Creek, The Twisted Fig is within a luscious green forest that you will adore looking back on your wedding pictures for years to come. With ancient baobabs, a deck set on the edge of a small valley, there is more than one location for you to pick for your ceremony. The venue contains three different stages meaning you’ll have no trouble finding a dining and dancing location you’ll adore. And our open air spaces mean that anywhere you pick you’ll be surrounded by the serene sounds of the forest and birds. This is the kind of setting couples searching for a coastal wedding venue in Kenya are looking for.

On-Site Bar and Catering

The Twisted Fig runs its own bar and kitchen on-site:

Bar service — a full bar team on the property, stocked and staffed, with no need to bring in outside vendors or coordinate separate alcohol licensing. Couples can build a drinks menu around what the bar already does well, or ask for something custom for the day.

Catering — our kitchen team that run the Twisted Fig everyday are equipped to cater for much larger events. The menus are shaped around what’s fresh and in season locally. The kitchen can do a sit-down dinner, a buffet, or grazing-style stations depending on the size and feel of the wedding.

Music and Sound, Handled On-Site

Running Beneath the Baobabs every year means The Twisted Fig already has the equipment and the crew to handle sound for a crowd far bigger than a wedding. The property has its own on-site studio and music team, so couples don't need to source a separate sound company or hope a rented PA system holds up for the night. That team can set up sound for the ceremony, the speeches, and the reception, and help plan the music for the dance floor after. We can work with a couple's own DJ or band, or help source one. Paired with a late-night license, it means the music is handled properly rather than pieced together last minute.

Experience With Weddings

The Twisted Fig has hosted weddings before and works directly with wedding planners to handle decor and event setup. Couples can bring their own planner and the venue will work around their vision, or lean on the venue's team if they'd rather have one point of contact handling the day. Either way, the goal is the same: couples get to be at their own wedding instead of managing it. It's this combination — scenery, sound, catering, and experience — that makes The Twisted Fig one of the most complete destination wedding venues on the Kenya coast.

Ready to start planning? Get in touch with The Twisted Fig to check availability and start planning your wedding.

Where to Eat in Kilifi: A Guide to the Town's Best Restaurants

Where to Eat in Kilifi: A Guide to the Town's Best Restaurants

Kilifi's food scene runs from floating creekside restaurants to garden bistros to local spots for a taste of the Kenyan coast. Here are places you don’t want to skip. 

The Twisted Fig

Set among centuries-old baobab trees within the Beneath the Baobabs festival grounds, The Twisted Fig is an al fresco garden dining destination. Serving garden-to-table dining with a menu that leans on what's fresh and in season. Expect dishes like a succulent lamb shank souvlaki or a perfected fish and chips served under the trees for lunch or by candlelight for dinner. The menu consists of hand crafted cocktails that you won’t find anywhere else. There's also an on-site greenhouse supplying part of the kitchen, and a suspension bridge from Kilifi Plantations that gives arriving guests a view over the forest canopy before they even reach the tables.

Distant Relatives

Distant Relatives is an eco-lodge and backpackers with a poolside garden restaurant. The kitchen serves appetizing breakfast dishes, coastal cuisine, wood-fired pizza, and seafood. The atmosphere is perfect for a laid back lazy day where you bask in the sun while waiting for your food to arrive. It is also one short walk away from accessing the creek where you can take a dip if you want to. 

Food Movement

Tucked inside the Kilifi Plantation, Food Movement is easy to miss and worth the detour. The kitchen focuses on organic, locally sourced dishes — tacos, salads, and fresh juices stand out — served in a tree-shaded, laid-back setting with a bar built into the base of a large tree. It doubles as a co-working spot during the day, so it's as much a place to linger as to eat.

Salty's on the Creek

Salty's on the Creek is Kilifi's floating restaurant, moored on the Mnarani Creek and reachable only by boat from the Old Ferry. The menu is built around seafood and vegetarian dishes with Japanese and Mediterranean influences, and the draw is as much the setting as the food — sunset over the water, with the whole restaurant swaying gently on the Creek.

Asian Kitchen

For something outside the usual seafood-and-grill rotation, The Asian Kitchen serves Asian and Korean dishes in Kilifi. It's an ideal option when the craving is for something different from the coastal staples. Based right by the ocean, you can dine in their open air spots with the ocean breeze passing through, or in the restaurant which is inside a Swahili castle. They serve fresh sushi, a range of dishes, a tasty matcha for your afternoon tea and a range of ice creams for dessert. 

Apache

The Kenyan coast has been influenced by both Indian and Arab traders who historically passed through, and the cuisine reflects it. Apache is a perfect local cafe with a huge menu with all the Kenyan and Swahili dishes at affordable prices, including vegan/vegetarian options. Affordable and tasty, this is a spot you don’t want to miss if you’re searching for an authentic feel of the Kenyan coast. 

Ready to book your next vacation in Kilifi? The Twisted Fig offers two private cottages and four safari-style tents set within the forest grounds, available year-round. Check availability and book here.