Kiriri Garden Hotel

The property features modern facilities, spacious rooms, and friendly staff. Its convenient location provides safety and stunning views. However, some reviewers noted the lack of certain amenities.

We booked an Executive Suite which was on the third floor with large windows on two sides and great views of the city and Lake Tanganyika in the distance. The suite was large and nicely furnished but there was not one single shelf or drawer for clothes. These are the good features but now for the long list of bad. The water in the sink and shower was a trickle and the temperature was impossible to adjust, so it was always either scalding hot or very cold. It took three complaints to reception before they finally fixed the pressure a little but not the temperature on our last of three nights. There was no box of tissues or slippers and when we called to ask for them we were told to use toilet paper, or they are available for sale in the hotel shop. There were no amenities whatsoever. The first night my wife and I both ordered the local grilled Capitaine fish, which we’ve had many time in other countries on this 7 week African trip and loved, but here we think the fish washed up on shore after it died of old age. The wine prices are very high even for mediocre wines but I suppose that’s because of import duties. Service was very slow and unfriendly to boot. The staff are very poorly trained, actually not really trained at all. Only one young, female server ever smiled and made us feel welcome. The breakfast buffet is poor especially for an alleged 5 star hotel. In the afternoon it took forever for the waiter to understand that my wife wanted a glass of wine and not a whole bottle, and that’s even though we speak French. On the last night, after a big lunch, we just split a $25 pizza for dinner and it gets the award for the absolute worst pizza ever, one that we suspect was a commercial frozen one. We loved Burundi, which far exceeded our expectations but this hotel was horrible.

An amazing hotel on the hillside above Bujumbura with a tremendous view of Lake Tanganyika. Staff were competent and pleasant. Room was clean and the studio layout with a loft bedroom was excellent. Food in hotel was very good. This was our first trip into Burundi and Kiriri Garden Hotel made us ready to return someday.