The 8 best annual events in Nairobi, ranked
Crowds on a lawn at an outdoor Nairobi festival at golden hour
Eight yearly Nairobi fixtures worth planning a trip around, ranked, with the months they land in, ticket prices from free to KSh6,000, and which ones are worth rearranging dates for.
The ranking, and when each falls
1. The Magical Kenya Open in February or March, a DP World Tour golf event at Muthaiga that puts world-ranked players on a Nairobi course for four days. 2. Safari Sevens rugby, usually late in the year, the tournament that made Kenyan sevens a global name. 3. The Standard Chartered Nairobi Marathon in October, when the city closes its main roads to 20,000 runners. 4. Concours d’Elegance at Ngong Racecourse in late September, a classic car and motorcycle show with a genuinely eccentric Kenyan character.
5. Nairobi Restaurant Week in late January and February, when good kitchens across the city sell fixed-price menus at a fraction of normal cost. 6. Ramadan evenings in Eastleigh, dates moving each year, the best street eating of the calendar. 7. The Nairobi International Trade Fair at Jamhuri Park, usually late September into October. 8. Jamhuri Day on 12 December, the independence celebration and the most Kenyan day of the year. Free events sit alongside KSh6,000 tickets here, and every one of them is genuinely annual rather than a one-off.
1. Magical Kenya Open, February or March
Kenya's DP World Tour event has been held at Muthaiga Golf Club, a 1913 parkland course north of the city, and it is the highest-quality sporting spectacle Nairobi hosts. Four competition days plus practice rounds, a field mixing European tour regulars with the strongest African players, and an atmosphere that is close and informal by tour standards: you stand a few metres from players on the tee. Ground tickets are inexpensive by international golf standards, typically KSh1,000-3,000 a day, with hospitality packages considerably more.
Plan the practical side. Muthaiga hotel demand spikes across that week, so book accommodation in Gigiri, Muthaiga or Westlands early rather than the week before. Traffic on Limuru Road and Kiambu Road is heavy at the start and end of each day, so arrive before nine. Wear a hat and take sunblock; there is limited shade on the outer holes and February is one of Nairobi's hottest, driest stretches at 26-28 degrees. If you play golf at all, this is the single event on this list worth building dates around.
2 and 3. Safari Sevens and the Nairobi Marathon
Safari Sevens is Kenya's international rugby sevens invitational, historically staged in Nairobi late in the year, and it has been the tournament where Kenyan sevens built its reputation. Two days, continuous short matches, an enormous social element in the stands, and tickets that usually land between KSh1,500 and KSh4,000 depending on stand and day. Go for the Saturday if you have to choose, take sunblock and a hat, and expect the party in the terraces to be as much of the event as the rugby on the pitch.
The Standard Chartered Nairobi Marathon runs in October and shuts the main arteries through the CBD, Uhuru Highway and Mombasa Road for a morning. Around 20,000 entrants take on the full marathon, half, 10km and family fun run, with entry fees typically KSh1,500-3,500 depending on distance and how early you register. Running at 1,700m is harder than the flat profile suggests, so add several minutes to your target. If you are not running, note the road closures: a Sunday-morning airport transfer that day needs an extra hour or a route around the closures.
4. Concours d’Elegance, late September
Held at Ngong Racecourse on the Ngong Road, this is a classic car and motorcycle competition that has run for decades and has become one of the most enjoyable public days in the Nairobi calendar. Restored British saloons, vintage Land Rovers, Italian sports cars, a huge motorcycle field, judging that people take seriously, and a crowd of Nairobi families picnicking on the grass around it. Entry is modest, usually in the KSh500-1,500 range, with parking extra, and gates open mid-morning for a full-day event.
It is the least touristy thing on this list, which is precisely its appeal: almost nobody flies in for it, so you are in an entirely Kenyan crowd. Ngong Racecourse is 15 minutes from Kilimani and 25 from Westlands outside traffic, and ride-hail costs KSh400-800. Bring a hat, cash for food stalls, and low expectations about queueing systems. Late September sits in the dry window between the two rain seasons, so the odds of a good day are strong. Skip it if you have no interest in cars; the setting alone will not carry six hours.
5 and 6. Restaurant Week and Ramadan in Eastleigh
Nairobi Restaurant Week, usually spanning late January into February, has dozens of the city's better kitchens offering fixed multi-course menus at set price tiers, commonly in the KSh2,000-4,500 band per person, at restaurants where a normal dinner runs well beyond that. It is the cheapest window of the year to eat at the Westlands, Kilimani and Gigiri restaurants that otherwise price for expat and diplomatic budgets. Book two weeks ahead for the popular rooms, because the good slots vanish within days of the list going live.
Ramadan is the other food event and it moves with the lunar calendar, falling in the first months of the year for the next several years. Eastleigh transforms after sunset: iftar stalls along First and Second Avenue, sambusa by the hundred, camel meat, malawah, dates and spiced tea, with the streets at their busiest between 7pm and 11pm. It is welcoming to respectful visitors. Go with a local, dress modestly, take a ride-hail door to door, and carry cash in small notes. It is the best eating in Nairobi in any month it lands.
7 and 8. The Trade Fair and Jamhuri Day
The Nairobi International Trade Fair, the Agricultural Society of Kenya's show at Jamhuri Park off Ngong Road, runs for around a week in late September or early October. It is agriculture first: livestock competitions, seed and machinery exhibitors, county pavilions, plus a fairground and endless food stalls. Entry runs a few hundred shillings. It is loud, crowded on the weekend days, and genuinely informative about the economy that feeds Nairobi. Go on a weekday morning if you want to actually see the livestock rather than a wall of people.
Jamhuri Day, 12 December, marks independence in 1963, with a national celebration usually centred on a Nairobi stadium and a presidential address. Roads around the venue close, security is heavy, and much of the city takes the day off, so shops and offices shut but restaurants and malls run. For a visitor it is more atmosphere than spectacle unless you secure a stadium seat. What is guaranteed is a city in a good mood, flags everywhere and a national holiday feel. Madaraka Day on 1 June and Mashujaa Day on 20 October have a similar character.
What else lands during the year, and what to skip
The music festival circuit is worth watching if your dates are flexible: Nairobi hosts recurring open-air music days on the racecourse, arboretum and other grounds several times a year, usually Sunday afternoons with tickets at KSh2,500-6,000, headline African acts and a heavily dressed-up crowd. Dates are announced only a few weeks ahead, so check listings after you have booked flights rather than planning around them. Kenya's WRC Safari Rally, based around Naivasha 90 minutes away, is another movable but spectacular fixture, typically in the first half of the year.
What to skip: any mall event marketed as a festival, which will be a stage in a car park; and Christmas week in Nairobi generally, when half the city decamps to the coast, restaurants run holiday menus and prices, and the events calendar goes quiet until mid-January. If you want the fullest calendar with the best weather, aim for late September into October, which stacks the Trade Fair, Concours, the marathon and dry, clear 24-degree days in a single month.
Before you book
What people ask before booking Nairobi.
Late September into October. The Concours d’Elegance at Ngong Racecourse, the Nairobi International Trade Fair at Jamhuri Park and the Standard Chartered Nairobi Marathon all fall in that window, and the weather sits dry and clear at 23-26 degrees between the two rainy seasons. Book hotels a month ahead for marathon weekend.
For the Magical Kenya Open, Safari Sevens and the marathon, yes, and marathon entry fills weeks ahead at KSh1,500-3,500. The Trade Fair, Concours and Jamhuri Day are pay-at-the-gate or free. Restaurant Week needs restaurant reservations rather than tickets, and the good tables go within days.
Not on its own. It is a public holiday on 12 December with a national ceremony, road closures around the venue and a good mood across the city, but limited spectacle for someone without a stadium seat. Treat it as a bonus if your dates already cover it, not as a reason to move them.
Ramadan follows the lunar calendar and currently falls in the first quarter of the year, moving about eleven days earlier annually. Visitors are welcome at the evening food streets on First and Second Avenue after sunset. Dress modestly, carry small notes, avoid eating publicly during daylight hours, and use ride-hailing door to door.
