You hear about paradises with white sand, turquoise waters, and palm trees all around the world. I would say Malindi is one of them, too—albeit a very unknown one. This rough diamond with pristine beaches undiscovered yet by the general public offers much more than the eye sees at first.

We planned our Malindi trip after already having spent a couple of days in Diani. I didn't have that many expectations as I didn't hear that many people speaking about it. However, spoiler alert: the three days we spent in Malindi were absolutely fabulous.

One thing that comes to mind when thinking of Malindi is bagni. The word sort of became a motto of our holiday. Malindi is also called small Italy as it is extremely popular with Italians who fell in love with this Kenyan gem and started their own little colony. Perhaps one day they will become the next Kenyan tribe, after the recent addition of Kenyan Indians to the list.

As a coastal town with beautiful beaches, lagoons and bright blue waters, Malindi has a very high number of beach bars (or bagni) where you can relax the whole day next to the see. Osteria was the first place we went to. In fact, we were their very first guests of the season! And therefore we were very lucky to have the whole place for ourselves. The owner is a very nice Italian lady and runs her place very well as the food was amazing.



For the whole day, we did nothing but laid on the sunbeds with a glass of Aperol Spritz, enjoying the peaceful surroundings and the pleasant temperatures.

I must say, however, that the real winner in my book was the White Elephant Lodge, which we visited the next day. White Elephant is a vast resort with beautifully luscious gardens, two big pools, a great eating area and, of course, a lot of sunbeds right at the beach with full service at your disposal.


As we entered the place, we were welcomed by a giant elephant statue, which led us to the main restaurant area with a beautiful high ceiling and a great selection of food to enjoy for breakfast.


For one reason or another (it probably is just the shallowness), I am not the biggest fan of the Kenyan sea and thus really appreciated the big pool that the White Elephant had. Apart from a couple of kids playing around, the place felt very peaceful.



In the afternoon, we went on a 15-minute walk to the nearby lagoon, which turned out to be an absolute hidden gem offering stunning views of the brightest turquoise I have seen in Kenya so far. Make sure you take some shoes on unless you want to 'ouch' along the way!



To be completely honest, we have not explored a lot of Malindi, but I have a feeling that in a city so small, there is not much to do apart from enjoying the beautiful coast and enjoying various culinary experiences. My favorite was a little restaurant called The Man and the Sea with extremely nice staff and a very cute atmosphere, which offered amazing fresh seafood. We had the seafood platter and especially the red snapper was absolutely phenomenal.

One of the greatest things about tourism in Kenya is that you get to have amazing experiences for much cheaper than in Europe (even though considerably more than in South East Asia). Our Airbnbs, which was absolutely fantastic and even featured a pool, cost us only €20 per person per night! Even though a lot of seaside resorts are in a much higher price category, you can still enjoy them during the day while sleeping in an affordable yet still beautiful place at night.