Day 1
Nairobi Arrival
Arrive JKIA.
Transfer to a Nairobi hotel.
Coffee cupping session with a specialty roaster.
Dinner at a contemporary Kenyan restaurant.
Itinerary detail
← Back
— FOOD & WINE
Swahili Coast Spice Trail
Where India, Arabia and Africa met and started cooking.
Duration
7 Nights / 8 Days
Destinations
Nairobi, Lamu, Mombasa Old Town, Diani Beach
Group size
2–6 people
Best months
Jun–Sep, Jan–Feb
Est. budget
$3,500–$7,000
Highlights
Swahili cooking class, Old Town food walk, Dhow seafood grill
Overview
A thousand years of trade left the Kenyan coast with a cuisine that exists nowhere else — tamarind, coconut, cardamom, and the freshest fish in the Indian Ocean. This route runs Nairobi to Lamu to Mombasa's Old Town to Diani, cooking with local families along the way and eating at outdoor restaurants.
Day by day
Day 2
Fly to Lamu
Fly Nairobi → Manda, boat transfer to Shela village.
Lunch.
Afternoon swim.
Sunset dhow with fresh crab and lime.
Day 3
Lamu Cooking Day
Market shopping in Lamu Town with your teacher — fish, spices, coconut.
Swahili cooking class with a local family: biryani, samaki wa kupaka, mahamri.
Day 4
Lamu Old Town
Guided food walk through the Old Town alleys — halwa, sugarcane juice, viazi karai.
Afternoon dhow to Manda Toto for a beach barbecue.
Dinner at a rooftop restaurant in Shela.
Day 5
Mombasa Old Town
Fly Lamu → Mombasa. Transfer to Old Town.
Spice market walk and a Swahili coffee ritual with the kahawa seller.
Dinner.
Day 6
Mombasa to Diani
Fort Jesus and Old Town architecture in the morning.
Likoni ferry crossing, drive south to Diani.
Beachfront dinner and an early night.
Day 7
Diani
Morning market visit in Ukunda with a chef.
Seafood grill lunch at a beach shack — crab, prawns, octopus.
Sunset cocktails, then dinner.
Day 8
Departure
Final breakfast on the beach.
Fly Ukunda or Mombasa → Nairobi.
Connect to international departure.