Name: Lake Kivu Serena Hotel
Address: P.O. Box 226 Gisenyi, Gisenyi, RW

10/10

Exceptional

15 Jul 2026

Jacqueline

Best place, best staff, bwat food we will come again

Friends_and_family Family

10/10

Exceptional

04 Apr 2026

Vishal

was on the lake side

10/10

Exceptional

23 Mar 2026

Andrea

Love staying here! The customer service is top notch. Highly recommend getting a spa treatment. Natasha was amazing. Will definitely be back.

10/10

Exceptional

16 Mar 2026

Andrea

Great place to stay! Excellent customer service. Will definitely stay again.

Family

10/10

Exceptional

05 Jan 2026

Divine

Clean room and wonderful breakfast

6/10

Pleasant

31 Dec 2025

James

Set on a beautiful spot

Friends_and_family Family

10/10

Exceptional

06 Dec 2025

John

Great service

Leisure Self

10/10

Exceptional

01 Oct 2025

Edwards

It’s an exceptionally good hotel with very friendly staff. Very efficient service.
Great breakfast. Lakefront. Will come back

8/10

Excellent

22 Jul 2025

Arun

A lake shore property, near a small sandy beach. Amazing view of lake and boats. Selection of fruits and juice in breakfast is amazing. Rooms and toilets and furniture are dated and can be improved a lot.

Leisure Friends

10/10

Exceptional

26 Apr 2025

David

Wonderful hotel and staff.

10/10

Exceptional

09 Dec 2024

Calvin

Beauty meets fantastic service

Beautiful setting and view. The comfort and cleaniness of the rooms were amazing. The restuarant and bar services were fantastic

Self

10/10

Exceptional

29 Oct 2024

Martin

Beautiful propertyz beautiful town

Leisure Friends

10/10

Exceptional

21 Aug 2024

Matthew

I did NOT want to leave…. Thats all I’ll say.

Leisure Friends

10/10

Exceptional

05 Aug 2024

Ryan

Lovely hotel. Very relaxing and ina nice neighborhood.

Leisure Partner

10/10

Exceptional

03 Dec 2023

Catriona

The Serena Hotel in Lake Kivu was lovely. We had a great room with a lake view. Since we traveled with a guide we did not use any of the extra guest services but we did take a boat ride out to the Nyamyumbo hot springs which was quite an experience. The opposite of a hotel spa!

Staff were very pleasant and accommodating. I would recommend this hotel!

Leisure Partner

6/10

Pleasant

30 Sep 2023

YOUKYOUNG

Great lake view, beautiful landscape and relaxing place. It was a nice stop after hiking Volcano National Park. The property is a bit outdated. Carpet and chairs in our room had lots of stains. Bathroom door was dusty, but shower (hot water & pressure) was good.

Leisure Friends

10/10

Exceptional

09 Jul 2023

Murithi

Enjoyed the stay on the serene , quiet and scenic environment. The service and hotel dining is great

Leisure Family

10/10

Exceptional

01 Mar 2023

Verified traveler

The staff are really good. They provide high level customer care.

Business_and_leisure Family

8/10

Excellent

28 Feb 2023

Adeola

Would recommend

Leisure Friends

8/10

Excellent

16 Jul 2022

Michal

Hotel is run down with most in-room amenities in bad shape.

Food was decent

Leisure Family

10/10

Exceptional

26 Mar 2022

Rosemarie Jeanne

Everything was as expected from a 4 to 5 star hotel.

Leisure Self

8/10

Excellent

27 Dec 2021

Aderemi

Nice and comfortable

Business

8/10

Excellent

09 Jan 2021

Verified traveler

Always love the Serena, especially for the pool + beachfront and excellent breakfast. Rooms are a bit dated (small, older TVs and AC units) but they recently updated to new mattresses and all rooms have balconies. Also the grounds are beautiful!

Self

10/10

Exceptional

12 Feb 2020

Verified traveler

The staff were courteous, very solicitous, and helpful at every turn.

Perched on the lake, the location of the property is superb.

Friends_and_family Family

2/10

Poor

06 Jan 2020

Raz

There is nothing in the rooms listen in the booking list. Even not a hairdryer or a toothbrush available in the bathrooms.

Leisure Partner

10/10

Exceptional

15 Dec 2019

Verified traveler

Staff very helpful and supportive. Special the receptionist called Love she was magnificent and very supportive. Breakfast was excellent variety of different types of food and excellent taste. All the staff were excellent and excellent location with private beach. The hotel required to be upgraded to modern style

Leisure Partner

4/10

Poor

24 Aug 2019

Verified traveler

It was loud the two days I was there . Music blaring from 730 am until 830 pm. It’s not a place to go if you need down time like I did

Leisure

6/10

Pleasant

21 Aug 2019

Verified traveler

Place is ok stay overnight but nothing special. Location is nice.

Leisure Friends

4/10

Poor

06 Aug 2019

lionel

serena

The hotel is perfect but the restaurant is not clean
have been ill all the 2 days due to the food intoxication certainly fish not fresh

Family

10/10

Exceptional

13 Jul 2019

Jill

Cant wait to come back!

What a great spot! Three nights = total relaxation. Gorgeous room (upgraded to a suite!), fabulous pool, great breakfast included and wow was Leon Munyeshuri a super accommodating front desk assistant manager. Thanks for making the stay truly unforgettable!

Partner

8/10

Excellent

30 May 2019

Verified traveler

The property and staff were very good BUT the mattresses and pillows were not.....it’s too bad because everything else was good especially the food. Maybe they will get enough negative reviews about their mattresses to do something

Friends_and_family Family_with_children

10/10

Exceptional

11 May 2019

Jack

Will go again

I had a great time and was extremely well looked after, Duncan the GM offered an upgrade which was very welcome. Leon and Loce at the Front Desk were also eye helpful assisting me with scanning and copying of documents. Philbert in the restaurant was most attentive along with all of his colleagues - all in all a great stay and well worth it.

8/10

Excellent

04 May 2019

Arista

Wonderful lakeside view

The hotel was real nice, clean, room spacious and we had an excellent seaside view. The room was clean and serviced well. The bed was really soft so be warned for those with back issues. The checkin was excellent. Service at restaurant was really slow.

Partner

10/10

Exceptional

27 Apr 2019

Charles

Amazing Experience

It was really amazing experience. Friendly environment and an excellent location by the beach on lake Kivu. Very clean with many amenities, including fast internet.

Friends

10/10

Exceptional

25 Mar 2019

TK

Fantastic holiday...quite exclusive! Perhaps opprtunity too access a broader market.
Staff all very very friendly, very enthisiastic, welcoming and very hospitable throughout. Rooms and general environment spotless.

Leisure Partner

10/10

Exceptional

12 Feb 2019

Verified traveler

Nice hotel, a bit dated. Not too much else near by other than the Lake, which was beautiful.

Family

6/10

Pleasant

28 Jan 2019

Verified traveler

From having stayed at several different serena locations and seeing the very nice pictures online we thought the serena hotel was a no brainer for our stay on lake kivu. When we arrived we were surprised to find an old looking place that clearly had it’s prime time in the 70’s (green carpeted floors, dark wood everywhere) in short is was not the modern inviting place we had expected.
Besides the look the room was clean and fairly comfortable, but be careful not to close the balcony door behind you when you step out as it has no outside door handle and we locked ourselves out on our own balcony. Awkward.
The pasta I ordered for dinner was more salt than pasta, the eggplant spinach dish was pretty good.
The service is slow, I went to the bar to ask for a towels for the pool and waited 30 minutes just to find out they brought them to my room even though they saw me at the pool, why woul I want them to my room? Same happened with bottles of water.
The pool seems like no one ever uses it, some tiles on the floor of it are broken, the longchairs definitely date back to the 70’s as well and the pool table must have been out of service since then too.
We made the best of our stay but this hotel was definitely a bit of a dissapointment.

6/10

Pleasant

31 Dec 2018

Verified traveler

Could do with a facelift, however location is great and facilities good. Service is ok for Rwandan standards but not for a 4star hotel

Family

8/10

Excellent

17 Nov 2018

Zoe

Wonderful relaxing spot on Lake Kivu

Lovely hotel with beach lake front or pool to relax by. We really enjoyed our stay here and would highly recommend this spot after hiking the rainforest. The staff were really helpful and the breakfast overlooking the pool was excellent. The food and alcohol for lunch or dinner was expensive and on our first night we were encouraged to have the buffet which was disappointing.There are many other places to dine in the village and I would encourage you to try those - Tam Tam bar is where the locals go and is fun, walking distance from the hotel. We really enjoyed our time here and in fact booked an extra night.

Family

4/10

Poor

15 Nov 2018

Didace

Poor service at check in and check out. The AC is too loudl. Poor breakfast

Leisure Family

8/10

Excellent

01 Oct 2018

Rachel

Overall good

Dinner was amazing with fantastic service. However check in receptionist was quite rude - he asked if we had proof of payment, as though he didn't believe we had a reservation, even though it was in their system.

Partner

8/10

Excellent

31 May 2018

Verified traveler

Good location and comfy beds, but pricey

Great location and comfy beds. The prices are pretty high for what you get and there are other nice places to stay with more affordable prices.

Friends

10/10

Exceptional

17 Mar 2018

Verified traveler

By far the best hotel in the city. Everything is top notch. Still not worth the money imo. Location is great.

10/10

Exceptional

18 Feb 2017

Ulla

It was a little oasis! Beautiful!

Partner

10/10

Exceptional

01 Nov 2016

Andy

Great place near Lake Kivu

Wonderful time with staff and room was amazing - highly recommend...

10/10

Exceptional

20 Jun 2016

Kimberly

All Around pleasant

I just stayed one night, but very nice. Great staff, very attentive. Great breakfast in the morning which was free. Nice amenities like the pool and gym. I wish I could have stayed longer.

8/10

Excellent

06 May 2016

Verified traveler

Great lakeside escape with good food

I am a regular guest. Food generally very good by Rwandan standards. Pool view rooms are best - the ones on the other side are noisy due to music from a nearby bar (at least on weekends). Efficient service except for breakfast - tables often are not cleared / re-set and cutlery / juice glasses have to be requested.

8/10

Excellent

30 Mar 2016

Francisco

Programme Manager

Our stay al the hotel was pleasant but felt that the children playground needed a substantial upgrade. The child seat for use at the restaurant was also very old and dirty. The President of the country was visiting the area during our stay at the hotel so there were many soldiers patrolling the hotel grounds and the lake waters which was not very pleasant. The cleaning of the room was also conducted very late in the day, around 4:30 pm in the case of one of the days.

Family

10/10

Exceptional

17 Dec 2015

AMELIA

Delightful surprise!

The view of Lake Kivu is so gorgeous, it can't be captured by photographs so none of the pictures do it justice. The hotel is stunning and the staff is superb. This was such a pleasant surprise and good value for the dollar, I was amazed at how beautiful the hotel really is!

8/10

Excellent

13 Sep 2015

Brandy

Kivu Serena

We loved our stay at Kivu Serena! It was far from the gorillas and such, but was worth the long drives to be next to the lake. I missed the misquito net over the bed, and found a few bugs in the room. And found the food to be over priced. Otherwise -- a really great experience.
A great place to rest after days with the gorillas and monkeys.

Partner