Little, laid back and gloriously low key, Watamu is a slice of unadulterated tranquillity on Kenya’s Indian Ocean coast. This isn’t the place to come if you’re looking for the razzmatazz of glittery hotels and cocktail bars – you’re more likely to find old men playing games of bao and untethered donkeys trotting down the village streets than people sipping piña coladas. But the beach is blindingly white and beautiful, and the Watamu Marine National Park offers sublime diving and snorkelling among pristine coral and multi-coloured fish straight out of Finding Nemo. Don’t miss seeing the Gedi Ruins, a mysteriously abandoned Swahili city, or Mida Creek, a tangle of mangroves and tidal wetlands with a profusion of feathered wildlife.