What to Wear in Mombasa

When planning a visit to the coastal town of Mombasa, you will find yourself asking a number of questions, one of these is: how to dress while in Mombasa: what is appropriate and what isn’t.

When Visiting Mombasa, wear light, loosely fitting clothes that breathe well. Mombasa is hot all year round so light clothes will help to keep you cool. To avoid offending anyone with what you are wearing, avoid overly revealing clothing when out in public unless you are at the beach.

I have been to Mombasa a couple of times and also visited the beaches of Watamu in the northern coastal town of Malindi and in this article, I will help you understand what kind of dressing is appropriate in Mombasa and a few other wardrobe considerations you need to think about.

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What to wear to the beach in Mombasa

The beaches of Mombasa are pretty liberal in what you can wear. Although very skimpy swimsuits are frowned upon, tourists regularly wear them and the locals are generally used to this.

However, you will need to be careful not to wear swimsuits that are very revealing when on the public beaches that are crowded. You will be attracting the wrong attention.

Carry something to cover yourself up when you are not in the water. However, it needs to be light since Mombasa can get really hot.

What to wear in the hotels in Mombasa

As a general rule, dressing within the hotels is more liberal than when out on the streets. Hotel staff are used to seeing their guests lightly dressed and will not take offense when they see you in clothing that would easily offend other Kenyans.

That being said, you will want to avoid clothes that are very revealing. Though you may not offend the hotel staff you are likely to get disapproving glances from other tourists who are in your hotel.

What to wear in Kenya’s coastal towns like Mombasa

When out in the town you want to dress more modestly than you would within your hotel or at the beach. this is because though Mombasa is pretty liberal there are people who will look down upon very revealing clothes and so plan to wear something that covers up sufficiently not to offend. For women, this would be something that covers up your knees and above and does not reveal too much up top.

What to wear in the evenings in Mombasa

If you are going out in the evening, wear what you feel comfortable in but remember that even in the evenings Mombasa is really hot and so you may not want to wear very heavy clothing.

There are lots of mosquitoes in Mombasa and they can get very annoying.  Since you do not want to cover yourself too much when going out in the evenings at night your best bet is using bug repellent.

Places on the Kenyan coast you need to be careful about when choosing what to wear

It’s important to think about where you’ll be going in order to make sure that you do not offend the people that you will be with when visiting them. Here are a couple of places in Mombasa and the Kenyan coastal towns that need to be careful about when choosing what to wear.

1. Mosques, churches and religious shrines: when visiting religious buildings, you’ll need to take care not to expose too much skin because some of the places may buy you from entering if you are not appropriately dressed.
2. Markets and Bazaars: You need to dress more conservatively when out in crowded places like markets. This will reduce the amount of attention that you would get from the people around you. Keeping a low profile when in public places will help you become less conspicuous to pickpockets.