Budget Honeymoon Lamu
Affordable Tours
Kenya Cheap Safaris
Amu House Or similar, bed and breakfast
Budget Romantic Getaways in Lamu Kenya
A budget honeymoon in Lamu does not feel like a compromise, because the thing that makes Lamu special costs nothing at all. There are no cars here. No matatus, no hooting, no roads wide enough for either. You walk, you take boats, and everything else moves behind a donkey. From the moment your boat pulls away from Manda Airport, the pace of your honeymoon is set by the tide and the call to prayer, and there is very little you can do to speed it up.
You will be staying inside Lamu Old Town, a UNESCO World Heritage Site and the oldest living Swahili settlement in East Africa. Coral stone walls, carved doors, inner courtyards, rooftops built to catch the sea breeze. In the mornings you walk out into the lanes for coffee and mkate wa sinia. In the afternoons you take a five minute boat down to Shela and its twelve kilometres of empty sand. In the evenings you climb to the roof, and the town goes quiet around you.
The centre of this honeymoon is a private sunset dhow sail, just the two of you and a crew, on a wooden boat with a lateen sail that has been rigged the same way for centuries. It is the one thing every couple who has been to Lamu talks about afterwards, and it is included, not extra.
Flights from Nairobi are included, as are every boat transfer you will need on the island. Baecation Adventures meets you at the airstrip on Manda so there is no haggling with touts on a jetty with your bags in your hand on the first day of your marriage.
Details
Summary information about this package
Amu House Or similar, bed and breakfast
Lamu
Couples
Available
Flying
For Adults only (18+)
Bed and breakfast
Included
All year round
Costs
Kenyan Citizen
Ksh. 38500 per person sharing
Non-resident
$ 400 per person sharing
Transport
Options: Flying
Duration and Timing
No
More than >3 Days+
About Package
More information about this package
A 16th century Swahili house, not a hotel. Amu House has seven self contained rooms across two upper floors, each with its own private veranda off an open inner courtyard.
A rooftop with a swinging bed. The roof terrace has day beds, a covered lounge and an open view over the mangrove channel. It is where the two of you will end most evenings.
Two hundred metres from Lamu Fort and Lamu Museum. You are inside the UNESCO Old Town, three minutes on foot from the waterfront jetty where every boat leaves.
Fans, not air conditioning. This is a genuine budget stay in a coral stone house built for sea breeze. Rooms are simple, clean and cool at night.
A private sunset dhow, just the two of you. A two hour lateen sail across the channel with your own crew, timed so the sun drops behind the Lamu Town skyline.
Flights and every boat included. Return Nairobi to Manda Airport, plus private boat transfers to Lamu Town, out to Shela and back to the airstrip.
Package Itinerary
The package itinerary is as follows
4-Day Budget Honeymoon Itinerary to Lamu with Baecation Adventures from Nairobi
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Day 1 — Fly, float, arrive
Morning: The short hop to the coast. We collect you at 7:30 am from your Nairobi address for the drive to the airport. The flight to Manda Airport takes a little under two hours, and the last ten minutes of it are worth staying awake for as the archipelago opens up beneath you, all mangrove green and shallow turquoise.
Afternoon: Across the channel. Your Baecation host meets you at the airstrip and walks you to the jetty, where a private boat is waiting. The crossing to Lamu Town takes minutes. You step off onto the waterfront, and from here your luggage travels the last few hundred metres to the guesthouse the way everything travels in Lamu, which is to say slowly and by donkey. Settle into your room, unpack, and take the rest of the afternoon at whatever speed you like.
Evening: The roof. Climb up to the terrace as the heat goes out of the day. There are day beds, a covered lounge, a swinging bed, and a view over the mangrove channel. Dinner is a short walk away at one of the Old Town cafés, where a plate of pilau or grilled fish costs a few hundred shillings and tastes like the reason you came.
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Day 2 — Old Town and the dhow
Morning: The lanes, with someone who knows them. Breakfast downstairs in the historic part of the house, then out with a local guide into the Old Town. Lamu Fort, the Lamu Museum, the carved doors that families have kept for generations, the donkey sanctuary, the market when the boats come in. Nothing here has been arranged for visitors. It has simply been like this for six hundred years.
Afternoon: Shela Beach. A short boat ride south and the town falls away entirely. Shela gives you dunes, open sand and a long shallow shelf of warm water, and even in high season it is the kind of beach where you can walk for twenty minutes and see four people. Swim, lie down, do nothing.
Evening: Your dhow. The best two hours of the trip. A private wooden dhow, a crew who have sailed these waters their whole lives, the sail up and the engine off. You cross the channel as the light goes gold and the sun drops behind the Lamu Town skyline with the minarets in silhouette. Bring a camera and then, at some point, put it down.
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Day 3 — A day with no plan
Morning: Slowly. Coffee on the roof, and no obligation to be anywhere. If you want structure, walk the seafront from Lamu Town towards Shela along the water, which takes around forty minutes and passes almost everything worth seeing on that side of the island.
Afternoon: The dunes and a long lunch. Behind Shela village the sand dunes rise up and give you the whole archipelago from the top. Come down for a seafood lunch on the waterfront, order whatever came off the boat this morning, and take your time over it.
Evening: Back into the Old Town. Wander the lanes as the shops light up, buy a kikoi, sit on the seawall and watch the dhows come in. This is the night most couples end up staying out later than they meant to.
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Day 4 — Last breakfast
Morning: One more on the roof. Breakfast upstairs with the channel in front of you, then a last walk through the market for cardamom, halwa or a carved piece to take home. Check out and gather your things.
Afternoon: Out the way you came. A private boat carries you back across to Manda, your host sees you through the small airstrip, and you fly back to Nairobi. Arrival transfer to your Nairobi address is included.
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+ Inclusions
Return economy flights, Nairobi to Manda Airport (Lamu)
Return road transfers between your Nairobi address and the departure airport
Private boat transfer, Manda Airport to Lamu Town on arrival and back on departure
3 nights at Amu House or similar, Lamu Old Town, on bed and breakfast
Guided Lamu Old Town walking tour with a licensed local guide
Lamu Fort and Lamu Museum entry fees for two
Return boat transfer to Shela Beach
Private two hour sunset dhow sail for two, with crew
All government taxes and levies
Baecation Adventures airstrip meet and greet
- Exclusions
Lunches and dinners throughout
Drinks, including bottled water outside breakfast
Travel insurance
Tips and gratuities for guides, crew and guesthouse staff
Personal shopping at the market and galleries
Manda Island and Takwa Ruins full day trip
Photographer, spa treatments and all other add-ons listed below
Excess baggage charges on the flight
Anything not listed under Inclusions
What To Carry
Loose cotton clothing that covers shoulders and knees for town. Lamu is a conservative Muslim community and modest dress is simply good manners
A kikoi or light shawl, which doubles as a beach wrap, a shoulder cover and a towel
Sandals or flip flops. You will be barefoot or in sandals for four days
Swimwear for Shela Beach, but not for walking through the Old Town
Reef safe sunscreen, a hat and sunglasses. There is very little shade on a dhow
Insect repellent for evenings on the roof
Cash in Kenyan shillings drawn before you fly. ATMs on the island are few and often empty, though M-Pesa is widely accepted
A small torch or your phone torch for the lanes after dark
A power bank, since you will be out all day
Motion sickness tablets if either of you is unsure on water
ID or passport for the domestic flight
A light daypack for beach and dhow days
Book This Package
Reach out:
For enquiries or bookings, write to [email protected]. We’ll revert within 20 minutes during business hours.