Authentic Swahili style villa Milele House

Everything was great. Beautiful rooms , friendy staff, exceptional place.

The place is very beautiful and nice furnished. the location is easy to find (one you know how to). the host is very nice and gives good tips about Lamu. rooftop terrace is amazing!

the place is hard to find (we called the host but noone picked up the phone) so had to use local guide. the pool in the property is for decorations only. there are no glass on the windows, also no air conditionaire (just a fan) so it is really hot and full of mosquitos.

Milele house is absolutely beautiful - we stayed in the biggest room, that has a lot of space, a large private bathroom and a private balcony with a sea view. That room is on a different floor from the other rooms and is more isolated. Tarik, the property owner, was quite helpful with my questions before the trip and provided us with some contacts for tours and transport - we highly recommend doing a tour with Abu. Jamuhuri, the housekeeper, was very kind and nice, making us feel at home. We enjoyed the pool and the rooftop, as well as the well equipped kitchen. The house is located right in the middle of old town Lamu, where you can walk around and immerse in the life of the town. We very much enjoyed our stay.

Considering the house is traditional Swahili architecture, do expect the doors and windows to not have glass and be open to the outside. This does mean a bit more noise comes in, the house is close to a school, you can hear mosque prayer calls, and a lot of mosquitoes indoors, that you can manage with spray and sleeping in the net. If you need a lot of quiet to sleep, I do not recommend.

Very authentic and stylish home with attention to the smallest details. Rooms were spacious and the shared kitchen was well-equipped with anything you might need. Cute rooftop with a sea view. The on-site caretaker was always positive and helpful. Just steps away from the main square, near the fort.

As it's a multilevel home, there are plenty of steep stairs, probably unsuitable for children and elderly. Wifi was choppy and slow; unfortunately, the pool wasn't usable during our stay either. Lots of mosquitos but the nets on the bed helped.

Amazing house, friendly staff.

Note that you will be sharing the house and pool contrary to other reviews!

Mosquitos can be a menace

Please see previous review.

Communication is not great. The house manager is lovely, however he seems to never have the booking / availability information that is required for things to run smoothly. We had booked 5 nights in the small room, but on our arrival, were offered an upgrade. Upon viewing the new room there was no question it was much nicer. Unfortunately we then were informed that it was only available THAT night as opposed to the entire stay. We were then offered the medium room however the dates were still unconfirmed, so we did spend 2 nights in the small original room which was by far the least comfortable or nice. Also from the photos it appears as if there is a kitchen in the suite… there isn’t. It’s communal and not great.

Due to unforeseen circumstances, we were fortunate enough to spend at least 1 night in each of the 3 available suites. ( 1,2 @ 2 ). The largest suite is spacious, well appointed and very comfortable, with its own terrace. The mid sized suite is also comfortable & roomy. The small space is the smallest and very spare, tho it does have access to seating areas just outside. Milele is in a great location, close to, but far enough from the centre of life in Lamu. The house is managed by a lovely man, Jamhuri… super friendly and always happy to help.