At the end of a quiet cul-de-sac in Avis, on the eastern edge of Windhoek, Ti Melen Boutique Guesthouse looks out from high on a hillside. It is a small guesthouse in a big garden. The pool lies on the sun terrace, and in the lounge a fireplace keeps the evenings warm. About ten minutes by car from the city centre, it makes a calm first or last night on a trip through Namibia.
The view drops over the rooftops of Avis to the Auas Mountains.
Mornings start on a balcony or the terrace. The view drops over the rooftops of Avis to the Auas Mountains. Avis Dam and its trails are a five-minute walk from the house, near enough for an early stroll, a run or a slow hour with binoculars on the birdlife around the water. Breakfast, cooked to order, waits in the main lounge on the way back.
Avis lies on the airport side of Windhoek, and Hosea Kutako International Airport is about 40 km away, reached without driving through the city centre. At the end of a trip it gives back the morning. The Auas Mountains fill the view through one last unhurried morning. There is time to linger over breakfast before the long-haul flight home.
The Auas Mountains fill the view through one last unhurried morning.
Breakfast is served at the house, and the evenings belong to the city. The team books a table at a restaurant in town and arranges the car there and back, so a first night in the country can end over a proper dinner with nothing to work out. Afterwards the car climbs back up to the quiet end of the cul-de-sac. Airport and city shuttles come through the same team.
Ti Melen Boutique Guesthouse runs on a domestic scale, and the main lounge shows it best. The one room serves as reception, breakfast room and sitting room. The fireplace is the heart of it, and on a winter evening this is the warmest place to wait for the car to dinner. The bedrooms are decorated in warm, earthy tones.
The house sits at the end of its cul-de-sac, and the big green garden around it does most of the talking. Birdsong comes from the trees in the morning, and there is shade for an hour with a book. The pool is small, set on the sun terrace with the Auas Mountains on the horizon and sized for a cooling swim after a long flight. After weeks out in the bush, a quiet late afternoon here, with a cold drink and nothing to organise, is an easy way back into city life.
Birdsong comes from the trees in the morning, and there is shade for an hour with a book.
Families travelling together have a dedicated room, with a king bed and two singles in one space and its own entrance. After a long-haul arrival that keeps everyone together, not scattered across separate rooms. Outside, the garden and the pool give children somewhere to burn off a day of airports while the adults sit out on the terrace. The other rooms open either onto the garden or towards the mountains. Each has its own balcony, terrace or patio, and that is the place for the first coffee of the day.
Reception is the place to plan a free day in the capital. City tours booked there take in the Christuskirche and the Independence Memorial Museum. A stop at the Namibia Craft Centre puts the work of Namibian makers within reach before the trip heads out into the wider country, and horse and mountain-bike rides are booked at the same desk. A first day spent shaking off the journey, or a last one waiting on an evening departure, can be filled with any of it. It can just as easily be left to the garden and the view of the Auas Mountains.
accommodation
Each room at Ti Melen Boutique Guesthouse is individually decorated, and each has a balcony, terrace or patio, looking over the garden or towards the mountains. The air conditioning also heats for winter, and every room has a safe, a minibar, satellite TV, tea and coffee, and Wi-Fi. The family room has a king bed and two singles.
activities
The trails around Avis Dam are five minutes from Ti Melen Boutique Guesthouse on foot, for an early walk or run, or a morning's birding. Reception books city tours of the Christuskirche and the Independence Memorial Museum, along with visits to the Namibia Craft Centre. Horse and mountain-bike rides are booked the same way, and dinner in town comes with transfers.
dining
Ti Melen keeps to what a family house does well. Breakfast is a buffet, included in the stay, taken before the morning flight or the drive north. There is no restaurant in the evening, and the team treats that as their job: they book your dinner table in Windhoek, with Joey's Beerhouse, an institution for hearty Namibian plates, the usual first choice, and arrange the transfer there and back. Rooms carry a minibar and a tea and coffee tray.
Get in touch and let’s start the conversation. An initial consultation helps us understand what you’re looking for, whether that’s specific experiences, luxury touches, or marking a special occasion, and from there we’ll guide you through what’s possible so you can decide if we’re the right fit.
About 40 kilometres by road from Hosea Kutako International Airport, roughly forty minutes' drive. Because Ti Melen sits on the eastern edge of the city, in the suburb of Avis, the drive in from the airport joins the city's bypass and never has to cross the centre, which makes it an easy first stop after a long flight and an easy last one before the flight home.
We arrange the airport transfer as part of the trip, timed to your flight. If you are collecting a hire vehicle for a self-drive, the guesthouse has secure parking on the property, so you can leave it there for the night and set off fresh in the morning.
No. Ti Melen is a bed and breakfast, and breakfast is the one meal served, with hot dishes cooked to order and eaten inside or out on the terrace. For the evening, the team at the house books a table at one of Windhoek's restaurants and arranges a safe transfer there and back, so dinner in town takes no planning on your part.
It is worth telling us at booking if there is a particular restaurant you want, because a table at the popular places is easier to secure when it is reserved at the same time as the room. Vegetarian breakfasts are no trouble.
Walk to Avis Dam. The water and the recreation area around it are about five minutes on foot from the guesthouse, with trails for an easy stroll, a run or a longer hike, and good birding along the way. The garden itself, some 4,000 square metres of lush planting with a pool on the sun terrace, is the other obvious answer after a long journey.
For something more, the reception books outings run by local guides: a city tour of Windhoek's colonial buildings and the Independence Memorial Museum, a guided visit to Katutura township and its markets, crafts at the Namibia Craft Centre, or a mountain-bike or horse ride in the hills around the city.
Yes. The family room is on the ground floor, about 40 square metres, with a king-size bed and, behind a dividing wall, two single beds, so two adults and two children sleep in one room with their own terrace onto the garden. Children are welcome at every age, and the house charges them by age band.
The garden gives children space to run after a long flight, and there is a pool on the sun terrace, which, like any pool, needs an adult watching young swimmers. Tell us the children's ages at enquiry so we can hold a family room when we book.
Windhoek is very low risk, though very low risk is not no risk. TravelHealthPro, the UK's official travel health service, rates the risk as very low in the parts of Namibia outside the northern regions, Windhoek included, and advises awareness of the risk and avoiding bites rather than tablets there. The American CDC states that there is no malaria transmission in Windhoek itself.
We are travel planners, not medical professionals, and we do not make medical recommendations. Much of Namibia's safari country lies further north, where the official advice changes with the region and the season, so take your whole route to your own doctor or a travel clinic and let them advise on what suits you.
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our approach
Every journey starts with a conversation. We take the time to understand your vision before we start planning.
Whether by phone or in person, we work with you directly to shape something that is considered, personal, and expertly delivered.
