Not to miss in Mombasa & Diani

Vegan café inside a jewellery boutique with a sand terrace. Try the injera platter or a smoothie bowl with Ethiopian-roasted coffee.

Weekday evenings for live music

Beachfront café with hammocks, swings and sunbeds. Staffed partly by deaf team members. Good for brunch and a long sit by the sea.

Closed Mondays; open until 8pm

Bright, airy café-bistro with outdoor seating. Reviewers rate the coffee; cakes, pastries and burgers fill out a menu running from breakfast to late.

Open early, late on weekends

Mall coffee house open from early morning to midnight, known for iced drinks and milkshakes alongside burgers, pasta and pizza.

Good air-conditioned midday break

Long-running Swahili canteen with generous, cheap plates of pilau, biryani and chicken tikka. Politicians and locals both eat here.

Go at lunchtime for biryani

Ocean-view seafood restaurant on the creek. Order sizzling prawns or grilled fish and time dinner for sunset.

Book a sunset table ahead

Dinner inside a natural coral cave lit by candles. Seafood and French-leaning dishes; the setting is the draw.

Book the 5:30pm slot

Seafood-focused Diani restaurant with healthy options, currently among the highest-rated and most-reviewed places in town on Tripadvisor.

Check opening hours before going

Portuguese fort from the 1590s on a coral spur, with bastions, ramparts and harbour views. UNESCO-listed and run as a museum.

Open 8am-6pm; go early

Coral-stone mosque from 1570 with a rare rounded minaret, set among narrow lanes, carved doors and balconies.

Dress modestly; shoot exteriors

Seafront promenade overlooking the Likoni channel, with ships passing and lantern-lit street food stalls after dark.

Evening light, then snacks

Long white-sand beach about 30 km south of Mombasa, with palms, shallow tidal flats and the 16th-century Kongo Mosque at its north end.

Low tide, early morning