Nakuru
Nakuru is the working capital of Kenya’s Rift Valley and the most useful base in the region. It is a full city with hotels at every price, a large market, hospitals, banks and a matatu network reaching every lake in the valley, and its main gate to a national park is ten minutes from the town centre. Travellers who treat it purely as a stop between Nairobi and the west miss what it is good for.
What Nakuru Is and Why It Matters
Nakuru is the capital of Nakuru County and Kenya’s fourth city. President Uhuru Kenyatta conferred the city charter on 1 December 2021, following a Senate vote earlier that year, making Nakuru a city after Nairobi, Mombasa and Kisumu. The 2019 census recorded a population of 570,674 for the town, and the county’s population rose from about 1.6 million to about 2.1 million between 2009 and 2019.
It sits on the floor of the Great Rift Valley at roughly 1,850 metres, wrapped around the northern end of Lake Nakuru, with the Menengai caldera rising immediately north of the built-up area and the Mau escarpment to the west. The altitude keeps it comfortable: warm days, cool evenings, and none of the heat of the lower Rift at Bogoria or Magadi.
The city grew as a railway town on the line from Mombasa to Uganda and became the commercial centre of Kenya’s agricultural highlands, which is still what it does. It is a market and services city rather than a resort, and that is precisely what makes it a good base.
Nakuru as a Base for the Rift Valley Lakes
Almost every Rift Valley destination worth visiting sits within a half day of Nakuru, which is not true of anywhere else in the region.
| Destination | Direction | What it is for |
|---|---|---|
| Lake Nakuru National Park | Adjoining the city | Rhino, giraffe, fenced game park |
| Lake Elementaita | About 45 km south | Pelican breeding, quiet shoreline |
| Lake Bogoria | North, via Mogotio or Marigat | Geysers, hot springs, greater kudu |
| Lake Baringo | North, beyond Marigat | Boat safaris, birding, freshwater |
| Lake Naivasha | South on the A104 | Boat safaris, walking, day trips |
| Kerio Valley and Iten | Northwest | Escarpment country, running |
Staying in the city rather than at a lodge changes the economics of a Rift Valley trip substantially, and it puts a traveller within reach of dinner, a pharmacy and a mechanic, none of which exist inside a national park.
Attractions Around Nakuru
Three sights sit close enough to the city to be done from it, and each is a destination in its own right rather than a feature of the town.
Menengai Crater is the enormous caldera immediately north of the city, one of the largest in Africa, with a viewpoint on the rim reached by road and a trail down to the floor. It is the closest thing Nakuru has to a signature landmark and it is a short drive from the centre.
Hyrax Hill Prehistoric Site and Museum lies a few kilometres out of the city above the lake. It was declared a national monument in 1945, opened to the public in 1965, and its excavation history runs back to work by Mary Leakey in the 1930s. It is a National Museums of Kenya site and a short visit rather than a day.
Thomson’s Falls is at Nyahururu, northeast of the city on the road towards Laikipia, and is the standard half-day excursion from Nakuru. It is a waterfall on the Ewaso Ng’iro with a viewing area and a walk down to the pool.
Each of these has its own page. This one exists to say where they sit in relation to a bed in Nakuru and how to reach them.
Getting to Nakuru and Getting Around
Nakuru is about 160 kilometres northwest of Nairobi on the A104, the Nairobi to Nakuru to Eldoret highway, and the drive takes two to three hours depending on traffic on the escarpment and through Naivasha. It is one of the busiest road corridors in the country and it is served heavily.
Shuttle and matatu services run constantly between Nairobi and Nakuru and on to Kisumu, Eldoret and Kericho, with the shuttle companies operating fourteen-seat vehicles on fixed departures from stages in both cities. This is the normal way to travel the route and it is quick and cheap. Note that the standard gauge railway passenger service does not reach Nakuru; it terminates well to the south, so the train is not a practical option for this city.
Nakuru Airstrip at Lanet sits a short drive from the centre and takes charter flights from Wilson Airport in Nairobi, covered on fly-in safaris in Kenya.
Within the city, boda bodas and tuk tuks cover short distances and taxis are readily available. The centre is compact enough to walk in daylight, and most of the useful hotels, the market and the matatu stages sit within a few blocks of Kenyatta Avenue.
Where to Stay in Nakuru
The accommodation here is unusually deep for a Kenyan town of this size, because the city serves business travellers, conference traffic and the agricultural trade as well as tourism.
Budget rooms cluster around the matatu stages and the centre, many within a few minutes on foot of transport. Mid-range business hotels sit along Kenyatta Avenue and the Nairobi highway. Above that are a number of country hotels and lodges on the edges of the city and towards the park gates, which is where most international visitors end up if they are not staying inside Lake Nakuru National Park. Rates outside the park are a fraction of those inside it, and the Main Gate is close enough that an early game drive is entirely practical from a city bed.
For anyone camping, the Kenya Wildlife Service sites are inside the park rather than in the city, and are covered on the Lake Nakuru National Park page. Camping safaris in Kenya covers the practicalities.
Markets, Food and the City Itself
Nakuru’s market is the centre of the city’s day and is one of the largest in the Rift Valley, serving a county that grows a great deal of Kenya’s maize, wheat, potatoes, pyrethrum and dairy. It is a working produce market rather than a curio market, and that is its interest. Local market tours in Kenya covers how to visit markets like this well.
The food in the city is Kenyan and unpretentious: nyama choma, ugali, githeri, chapati, and a strong line in roadside grilled maize. There are Indian and Chinese restaurants along the main avenues and a growing café scene. Kenyan food tours sets out what to look for.
Nakuru is also the point where the agricultural highlands meet the Rift, and the drive out of the city in any direction changes the landscape within twenty minutes. That is the argument for spending a night rather than passing through.
Practicalities and When to Visit
The city works year round and the seasons matter more for what surrounds it than for the city itself. The long rains from mid-March into June and the short rains from October into December make park and reserve roads heavy, and the dry months of January to March and July to October are the better windows for the lakes.
Nakuru has the full range of services: hospitals, pharmacies, banks and mobile money everywhere, supermarkets and fuel. It is the last comprehensive stop before the northern lakes, and anyone heading to Bogoria, Baringo or beyond should stock up here rather than at Marigat.
One environmental note is worth knowing. The city’s waste and stormwater drain towards Lake Nakuru, and pollution from the urban area is identified in the UNESCO World Heritage record as one of the pressures on the property. The relationship between the city and the lake it is named after is close and not always comfortable.
Questions Travellers Ask About Nakuru
Is Nakuru worth staying in, or is it just a transit town?
It is worth staying in if the plan involves more than one Rift Valley lake. Nakuru puts a traveller within a half day of Naivasha, Elementaita, Bogoria and Baringo, next to a national park gate, and in a city with proper services at a fraction of lodge prices.
How far is Nakuru from Nairobi?
About 160 kilometres northwest on the A104, usually two to three hours by road. Shuttle and matatu services run frequently in both directions throughout the day.
Is Nakuru the same as Lake Nakuru National Park?
No. Nakuru is the city, and Lake Nakuru National Park is the fenced 188 square kilometre park adjoining it. The park has its own gates, fees and rules, and the city is where most independent travellers sleep.
Can you reach Nakuru by train?
Not on the standard gauge railway, whose passenger service terminates far to the south of the city. Road transport is the practical option, and it is frequent and inexpensive.
What is there to do in Nakuru itself?
The market, the food and the city are the substance of a day here. The sights people travel for, Menengai Crater, Hyrax Hill and Thomson’s Falls, sit just outside the city and are covered on their own pages.
When did Nakuru become a city?
On 1 December 2021, when the city charter was conferred, making it Kenya’s fourth city after Nairobi, Mombasa and Kisumu. It had been the country’s largest town for many years before that.
3 Places to Visit in This Area
Individual sites within reach of here, each with its own guide. Some are written up because the name circulates and the place does not, which is worth knowing before you plan a drive around one.
Safaris That Visit Nakuru
Every safari listed here that visits Nakuru. Each is sold and run by an independent tour company. This site lists them and passes on enquiries; it takes no booking and charges you nothing.
Open the full Nakuru listing
