August 2025 confirms the success of Kilifi County in terms of numbers and variety of offerings for international tourists on the Kenyan coast. Destinations such as Watamu, Kilifi, and Malindi complement each other and at the same time attract different social groups, ages, and nationalities with different tastes and objectives for spending their vacations in the best possible way. Leaving aside the unique relaxation and entertainment offered by the two additional queens of coastal hospitality, Diani and Lamu, Mombasa, increasingly a city with its pros and cons and its satellite seaside resorts, has had to contend with the economic crisis affecting the upper-middle classes in Kenya and has not recorded large numbers this year.

But let's return to Kilifi and its surroundings: on the one hand, Watamu has definitively taken the reins of tourist numbers after the pandemic, with an explosion of small structures, private houses and apartments, and the expansion or renovation of large hotels and resorts. As far as Italians are concerned, Alpitour and Neos charters have returned. The Paparemo beach party, which attracts more than a thousand people every Saturday, but only because it cannot hold three thousand, is now a reference point for the whole country for parties of this kind, with the best DJs in East Africa taking to the decks.

While Watamu is a sure bet, we are pleased to see the gradual rebirth of Malindi at the start of this season, as it seeks to establish itself as a town of services and pleasures, far from the logic of mass tourism and all-inclusive resorts and the cliché of the ‘Kenyan cocoon’, to use a euphemism.
In this sense, Briatore's Billionaire has made a significant move by deciding to open up even more to external customers with its ‘piazzetta’, which mirrors the modern commercial attractions found in the most popular international holiday resorts. It is no coincidence that an Italian brand of excellence such as Non Solo Gelato has chosen to support the philosophy of Billionaire which, as happened thirty years ago when the Italian tycoon decided to focus on Malindi, could lead to its rebirth and influence other entrepreneurs who for years have lived too much on their laurels and have been unable to renew themselves by looking at the trends of their time.
But Malindi is not just thinking about the high-class, because it is now a town with over 150,000 inhabitants and can offer entertainment solutions for both residents and tourists.
In this sense, the new management of the Olimpia Club in Casuarina, with its events and inclusive Sunday brunch, its focus on desserts with a master pastry chef, aperitifs, and Wednesday night disco, is a welcome addition to the historic Rosada Beach, which, with its two beach parties on Mondays and Fridays, lunch and dinner options, and sun loungers by the ocean, is always a must in the area.

And finally, there is Kilifi: the emerging capital that has long attracted young people from all over the world and is becoming a trendy destination with some of the tendencies of ‘Generation Z’, such as attention to the environment, gender freedom and the combination of sport and new eating habits, but also with new traditional offerings, such as the Italian restaurant White Star, and its ever-evolving peculiarities, such as the volcanic mind of its owner: the large boat where you can have lunch and dinner, or even book parties, birthdays, and floating weddings in the creek, has been joined by a slide for young and old alike to enjoy the sea in the peaceful safety of the inlet.
But Kilifi remains an unspoiled paradise (fortunately!) where you can enter the creek in an ancient sailing dhow, stop at a bar at sunset, or find yourself in a wooden stilt house on the quiet Bofa beach, or relax in the green and youthful Kilifi Plantation, among creative types and niche tourism.
Completing the picture with the growth (hopefully sustainable and not just concrete) of Mambrui and the world's only golf club with savannah herbivores on the fairways, in Vipingo, we can say that Kilifi County really has something for everyone.