Packing list for the Kenyan coast

The Kenyan coast is hot, humid and informal, and it needs a shorter list than a safari. Most first-time visitors get two things wrong: their feet in the water and their shoulders in town. Everything else you forget can be bought locally, often for less than you paid at home.

The list is for a week on the coast, with hotel laundry. It covers the beaches south of Mombasa at Diani and Tiwi, and the north coast at Watamu, Malindi and Lamu. The coast is warm all year, so the season changes the rain, not the clothes. April to June is the wettest stretch, with May usually the wettest month, and a light waterproof layer earns its space then. December to March is hot and calm, and July to October is breezier. The best time to visit Kenya guide covers the coast’s seasons in more detail, and if you live in Kenya, our resident rates for Diani and for Watamu, Malindi and Lamu show what each season costs.

Most of our itineraries that include the coast put it after a few days in the bush. If you are coming down after a safari, you already have most of this. Leave the fleece in the bottom of the bag and add the water kit below. The safari packing list covers the bush half of the trip.

The bag

If you fly to the coast on a light aircraft from a safari camp, the soft-bag rule still applies. Scheduled flights from Nairobi to Mombasa and Malindi use larger aircraft with ordinary baggage rules, so check the allowance on your ticket.

• Soft bagNeeded if you are flying down from a bush airstrip.
• Beach bagOne you do not mind getting wet and sandy.
• Dry bagKeeps your phone and wallet dry on boat days, when there will be spray.
• Refillable water bottleMost hotels will fill it from their filtered supply.

Clothes

It is humid, and you will change more than once a day. Cotton and linen dry faster and feel cooler than synthetics. Pack less than you think and use the hotel laundry.

• Light cotton or linen tops ×5You will change after the beach and again for dinner.
• Shorts or light skirts ×3For the hotel and the beach.
• Swimwear ×2So one set is always dry.
• Long skirt or light trousers ×2For Lamu, the old towns and any village walk.
• Shirt or top with sleeves ×2Covers your shoulders in town and in the evening.
• Light long-sleeved layerFor the evening, when the mosquitoes arrive.
• Brimmed hatThe sun on the reef comes at you from above and off the water.
• SunglassesPolarised lenses cut the glare on the water.
• Flip-flopsFor everywhere around the hotel.
• One pair of closed shoesFor a town evening or a walk in the forest.
• Light waterproof jacketOnly needed from April to June.

The coast is largely Muslim, and away from the hotels and the beach people dress modestly. Covering your shoulders and knees in Lamu, Malindi old town or Mombasa Old Town is ordinary courtesy rather than a rule. At the hotels and on the sand, wear what you like.

Evenings are casual. Smart-casual is as far as almost any coast hotel goes: a linen shirt, a light dress, sandals. A few ask for long trousers at dinner, and we will tell you if yours does.

In the water

The coast has a long, shallow lagoon behind a coral reef, and the tide goes out a long way. At low tide you can walk out over sand and coral, and that is when most urchin injuries happen. Several stretches of the reef are protected as marine parks or reserves under the Kenya Wildlife Service, and snorkelling trips are timed with the tides.

• Reef shoesProtect your feet from sea urchins, coral and shells at low tide.
• Rash vestProtects your back and shoulders from burning while you snorkel.
• Mask and snorkelWorth bringing if you own a mask that fits; boats and dive centres lend the rest.
• Waterproof phone caseFor photos on a dhow or a snorkelling trip.
• Quick-dry towelUseful on boats, although hotels supply beach towels.

Kitesurfing and diving kit is available for hire at Diani and Watamu. If you are a diver, bring your certification card and logbook.

Sun, skin and insects

For vaccinations and malaria tablets, see a travel clinic six to eight weeks before you travel. Malaria is present on the coast, and this is a conversation to have with a doctor.

• High-factor sunscreenYou will need more than you think, and reapply after every swim.
• After-sun or aloe gelFor the day you misjudge it.
• Insect repellentFor dusk onwards, the type your clinic recommends.
• Prescription medicinesKeep them in the original packaging, in your hand luggage.
• Rehydration sachetsThe heat and humidity dehydrate you faster than you notice.
• Small first-aid kitPlasters, antiseptic and something for insect bites.

Documents and money

• Passport and eTA approvalThe eTA is checked when you board and at immigration.
• Travel insurance documentsSaved on your phone and printed, including the emergency number.
• Small notes in shillingsFor tuk-tuks, tips and market stalls.
• Type G adapterKenya uses the British three-pin plug at 240 volts.

Hotels and larger restaurants take cards; market stalls, tuk-tuks and boat captains mostly want cash. The practical facts page has currency, plugs and phone networks in one place, and travel insurance is worth arranging before you book the flights.

Leave at home

Heavy shoes, because nothing on the coast needs them. A hairdryer, because hotels have one and the humidity undoes it anyway. Plastic carrier bags, which Kenya has banned since 2017. A drone, unless permission has been arranged well in advance. Valuables you would hate to lose; use the room safe.

A kikoi is worth buying rather than packing. It is the striped cotton wrap sold all along the coast, and it works as a towel, a sarong, a sunshade and a picnic blanket.