Where you live in Nairobi decides how much of your day you spend in traffic. Pick the area by where you will be at 8am and 6pm, then by budget. Every neighbourhood below is on the map; rough rents are in Finding housing.
The CBD
The Central Business District is the old city centre: government offices, banks, Huduma Centres, bus stages and markets. Busy and useful by day, quiet and best avoided on foot late at night. Few people choose to live here.
Westlands and Parklands
Westlands is Nairobi’s second centre: offices, malls such as Sarit and Westgate, restaurants and most of the nightlife. Parklands next door is residential, with a long-established Kenyan Asian community, the Aga Khan hospital and City Park. Convenient, busy, and expensive for what you get.
Kilimani, Kileleshwa, Lavington and Hurlingham
These are in Dagoretti North, just west of the centre. Kilimani and Kileleshwa are dense with apartment blocks and popular with young professionals: close to Westlands, Upper Hill and the CBD, with shops and cafés along Argwings Kodhek and Ngong roads. Lavington is leafier, with more houses and townhouses.
Upper Hill
Office towers, hospitals and a few apartment blocks on the ridge south-west of the CBD. A short commute for people who work there.
Gigiri, Runda, Muthaiga and Rosslyn
North of the centre, in Westlands constituency. Big houses, embassies, the UN offices at Gigiri, Village Market and Two Rivers. Quiet and green, with long commutes into town on Limuru Road.
Karen and Lang’ata
South-west, in Lang’ata. Karen has large plots, forest, riding and the Giraffe Centre; it feels semi-rural, and most residents drive. Lang’ata is more mixed, with estates close to Wilson Airport, Bomas and the national park.
South B, South C, Nairobi West and Madaraka
Established middle-class estates south of the centre. Good value, close to Mombasa Road, Strathmore University and the Industrial Area, and a reasonable run to the airport.
Eastlands
The big estates east of the centre: Buruburu, Donholm, Umoja, Kayole, Embakasi and Utawala, across the five Embakasi constituencies and Makadara. This is where much of Nairobi lives. Rents are lower and life is busy and local. Commutes into the centre can be long. Utawala and Embakasi are handy for JKIA.
Along Thika Road
Roysambu and Kasarani, with Garden City, the Kasarani stadium, USIU and Kenyatta University. The Thika Superhighway made the area popular with students and young families. Traffic at the Muthaiga and Pangani end is bad at peak times.
Kibera and Mathare
Two of Nairobi’s largest informal settlements, in Kibra and Mathare. Mathare is by far the most densely populated constituency on the map. Both are home to hundreds of thousands of people, with strong communities and a great deal of small enterprise, but with poor housing and services. Visit with someone who lives there or a community-run tour, not as a spectator.
Just outside the county
Many Nairobi workers live in satellite towns with lower rents: Ruaka and Kikuyu to the north-west, Syokimau and Kitengela to the south-east, and Rongai to the south. They are good value if your commute runs against the rush-hour flow, and a hard slog if it runs with it.