Kimkim Trip Reviews for Chile

CBF. It was an amazing trip.

This trip was exceptional. We were travelling for about 9 weeks throughout southern Chile and Argentina. Everything ran smoothly. Accommodation was delightful, guides were awesome, especially Inti in Puerto Varas, and Eduardo in Puerto Natales. I have no hesitation in recommending the team at Terra, especially Marie and Emily, they went way beyond what we expected. Our thanks go out to them for a hassle free trip.

We enjoyed the trip very much. Marie-Lou was very attentive to our needs, and was very helpful. One complaint was we basically lost a day in Santiago because all the museums were closed on Monday. We should have done Valspario on Monday instead of Tuesday.
Anyway, Easter Island and the Atacoma desert were a lot of fun and we enjoyed our stay in Chile.
Thanks.
Steve & Julie

Emily and Erin were SO helpful throughout the entire process. It was a trip of a lifetime, and we couldn’t have done it without them. Highly recommend this trip and KimKim to anyone looking for adventure!

We went to Chile as a honeymooning couple and had an amzing time... Oxana was incredibly helpful and reactive as we changed the plan a few times to incorporate a lot of things we wanted to do. The hotels chosen were brilliant, the lovely Matildas in Santiago and fabulous Altiplanico in San Pedro were comfortable, well equipped and had great levels of service, something we would later appreciate when we stayed elsewhere. We started in Santiago and went on a brilliant day trip with Javiera who showed us around the pretty and historic town of Valparaiso. Her wonderful knowledge of the history, the hotspots and where to find a good cup of coffee were what made it fun. We then went onto the Emiliana vineyard which was definitely the highlight of the day, learning how an organic vineyard works, the lack of pesticides and chemicals and the use of chikcens instead... The wine of course was very decent ! We chose to drive to Calama but were pleased with the pickup and accomodation once there. We had 3 fantastic day trips to the Tatio Geysers, Salt flats and the atacama salt lakes to see the flamingos. Our tour guide Michaelangelo, once again made the difference. Knowledgeable, smart and with a great sense of humour helped us understand where we were and the significance. He was always on the lookout to show us soemthing different, from the wild Chinchillas to Vicuna's and the Condors circling the carcass of an Alpaca. Many thanks to Oxana and the team for helping us map this out and the recommendations.

Erin and Emily were very knowledgeable, skilled, and helpful. We booked a 4 day W-Trek in Torres del Paine and we received help with booking or good recommendations about every aspect of the trip. On top of this both ladies are very pleasant and friendly, making it easy to ask questions. We had one miscommunication, which was taken care of immediately (on Christmas eve no less). Alexandra was 27 months pregnant, so we had a lot of questions. Erin took the time during a phone conversation to describe the trek to us in such detail that it made us feel comfortable with undertaking the endeavor. All in all stellar service!

We had an incredible trip. Everything went smoothly, we were met and picked up promptly at every location/airport etc. The guides were good especially James? on the half day tour of Santiago and Ozzie (Ozwaldo) on the half day Altiplanics Lagoon Trip in Atacama Desert. The street art and painted houses in Valpariso were interesting , Vina Del Mar was not.
I would highly recommend the drive we took from Puerto Montt through part of the lake district to Bariloche, while Bariloche is very touristy and commercialized the scenery around it is breath taking.
Our accommodations were all good especially as we were on a budget. It would have been nice to have had an early check in at San Pedro Atacama Hotel as we had been travelling since 3 AM and had arrived at the hotel at 10:30 AM and had to wait until 2 PM to check in. This was NOT disastrous but it would have been great to get into the room earlier.
The small hotel in Francis Drake in Porto Natales was really lovely and comfortable and the people there very sweet and accommodating.
The mix up with our final hotel in Santiago was unfortunate but Mery took care of it the moment we contacted her and it all worked out very nicely in the end.

We had a great trip and everything Oxana recommended and organised for us was fantastic. I would highly recommend both Kimkim and Oxana.

An absolutely awesome trip. The W Trek was simply remarkable. Mayra and Quechua did an amazing job of arranging everything. All our transfers came off without a hitch. Hotels and guides were wonderful. Will definitely work with them again on my next trip to South America.

I cannot recall any disappointment during the five weeks I was in Chile.
The only comment I would make is this. Twice my transfer rides were thirty minutes late which caused me worry and, in one instance, an email to Oxana to confirm there was someone on the way. It turned out that the transfer company had scheduled the pickup at a different time from EcoChile but I wasn't informed of the discrepancy. It worked out in the end, but it caused some anxiety. There was another mix up at the airport on my arrival but the owners of EcoChile, much to their credit, made amends and the remainder of my tour of Chile was sensational.
I would absolutely recommend EcoChile to any visitor looking for someone local to organize their vacation. I'm impressed. Considering the number of flights, hotels, venue changes I experienced, things went very well.

We spent an amazing 4 weeks in Chile. Mariano helped us organize the trip from beginning to end and absolutely everything went according to plan. The local guides were knowledgeable and professional. Roberto went out of his way to help us with a minor health issue and still managed to show us the best of Vina del Mar and Valparaiso. Mario shared his love for Chile, and especially the Atacama and all its diversity, and Anna from Akorn was there 24/7 if we had any questions. Chiloe and Pucon were also on our list, and biking in the Lake District surrounded by volcanoes was an absolute highlight.
Thank you!

We have just returned from a spectacular four week journey to Chile. Thanks in no small part to all the stellar folks at Kimkim and their wonderful contractors, our diverse wanderings went off without a hitch. Mariano, our Kimkim specialist was there for us at the start. We were a group of four people with diverse interests and pretty much zero prior knowledge of the country. We threw our various desires into a pot and Mariano sorted us out with a trip which took us from the high plains of the Atacama desert to the rugged coastline of Chiloe, from the bustling city of Santiago to the bohemian hills of Valparaiso. We had amazing local guides set up by Acorn where Ana was our 24/7 "go to" for requests, wrinkles and suggestions. From finding dentist to dealing with a missed flight, Ana was always there for us - cheerful and helpful!

We would definitely use Kimkim again any time!

This was a complete mess.
We were given no details regarding the tours beforehand. Only what time they began.
The paperwork said someone would be in touch to confirm our pickup time, etc. We didn't hear from anyone. I had to make an international call at midnight the night before to find out when we should be ready. When I inquired about a drop-off time, she couldn't tell me.
Then, we hated our guide (about 99% sure she was hungover). She threw up the entire first half of the tour, told us next to nothing about the places we saw. Then we were dropped off in town at the tour office, so had to walk back to the hotel. We only had about an hour and a half in between tours. The morning tour was so miserable, we didn't even go on the 2nd tour of the day.
We did however, stop by the tour office to find out what time our next morning pick up would be.
And lo and behold, we had the same guide. At least she was not sick the following day, but we were once again underwhelmed with her knowledge. We basically ended up eavesdropping other tours who had knowledgeable guides with interesting information.

Overall, our experience in the Atacama desert was underwhelming, which was extremely disappointing considering all the wonderful things we heard about it before going.

Loved every part of it. Erin and team saved our holiday and made our trip to Patagonia unforgettable. THANK YOU!!!

Amazing day with Juancho and Andres in Torre del Pine. Juancho is very knowledgeable and is happy to share his knowledge. Fantastic views and opportunities to take photographs of wild life. Totally recommended.

Another amazing day with Claudia, Christian and Pedro from Kayak Agua Fresca. Memorable moments watching the dolfins playing near our zodiac. Watching the sea lions and so many different birds. Claudia is an amazing guide who speaks very good English and Christian is a very experienced sailor. Totally recommended

I worked with Emily and Erin in planning my solo hike through Patagonia. It was ane ady process and they were happy to answer all my questions. They even put my mind at ease when I voiced my concerns about my readiness to do this experience, having never hiked before and feeling a bit apprehensive about doing it self-guided. They were right though, it was amazing and I'm so glad I did it. Highly recommend Dittmar and the ladies for the care and professional service.

Silvia and the team at Argentina / Chile on the Go are great. Silvia designed a 16 day trip for us to see the highlights of Chile including Atacama, Santiago, the Chilean Lake District, Torres del Paine and Easter Island. Everything went according to plan and without any hiccups. Thank you Silvia!

Martin was easily contactable and helpful in providing tours, and selected some perfect tours for us in the end. However it was hard to determine the exact day itineraries to see what was involved. It would have been useful to have been sent final overviews to what each day covered and what was included with more information than was provided. This lead to a bit of confusion on arrival as there was a misunderstanding of the plan for the day and being dropped at the hotel for lunch when we thought we were out all day, and when we were late being picked up on day 1 we weren't sure who to contact.

The local agency was very good - very knowledgeable guides and great trips.

I can't say enough about how effective and awesome Erin was -- and everyone I interacted with at the local guiding company Dittmar Adventures. Erin was very fastidious with her correspondence, always answering quickly and thoroughly, from our very first exchanges, when I was outlining what we wanted to do, and what our budget was. She tweaked the itinerary to suit our, quite unique, needs. Because our situation was pretty unusual -- in that I was traveling with a 3-year-old and a 6-year-old alone while my husband hiked the "W" trek in Torres del Paine -- Erin really had to think hard about what would work for me and two small children to do that would be manageable. Her itinerary worked so well. It was a combo of two days of group tours (one to an estancia, Estancia La Peninsula, which was INCREDIBLE, and the other a boat tour aboard the Agunsa to the Bernardo O'Higgins national park to see glaciers) and one day of a privately guided tour to Torres del Paine national park, with a guide (Victor, also amazing, who Dittmar uses with some regularity). Everything Erin chose was awesome, including the days off for the kids and I to recuperate from long days of activity! We thoroughly enjoyed the inn she chose for us, the Amerindia, and the staff there were so helpful and friendly, particularly with my boisterous children. The owner of Dittmar, Laura, even lent me two carseats to use for the children on the day-trip to Torres del Paine. All I can say is that Erin, and all others from Dittmar I associated with, were so personal, so interested in us having a good time, and so available to help when needed. We ended up needed some help because a member of our party had her hiking backpack lost by LATAM, and Erin coordinated with Laura and another Dittmar employee (the amazing Emily) to be sure our traveling companion could rent everything she needed the night before their trek began. All I can say is that my whole experience with KimKim, and then with Erin and Dittmar, was excellent. Erin is so generous with her time and all the information she shares. I highly, highly recommend working with her!

For the most part, Oxana did a very good job planning and organizing out trip to Chile. We had printed our itinerary and had access to the Axios app of our daily activities. The itinerary was well organized and structured with lots of helpful information(I.e., confirmation codes, flight #s, seats, check-in and departure times, hotel names, et. al. info). The bilingual tour guides were all knowledgeable, capable, well-prepared, punctual, and professional. We were especially impressed by two tour guides: Maria Teresa Vargas Casanova on Easter Island(Rapa Nui) and Felipe Maureira, our driver, tour guide and sommelier for Colchagua and Maipo Valley tours to the wineries. They were exceptional. We would highly recommend them and now consider them lifelong friends.
The connections went smoothly and our pickups/drivers at the airports were always there waiting for us with our names on signs. First, the accommodations on Easter Island could have been better since the room looked old and needed an update. It looked better from the outside. The service, and breakfast were good, as well as location to the airport,
However, in retrospect, we would have liked to see what other places were available in that category or even a higher category hotel. We would not recommend this hotel If there is a better choice available.
Each time we based out of Santiago at the Ismael Hotel and it was great. It was a nice boutique hotel with great service and breakfast and was centrally located in a fashionable area close to Lastarria, the art museums, the seafood market, and other places of interest. It was a great choice. Our only criticism was during our time in the Atacama. Oxana, even though we did have your telephone #, there were times when the communication could have been conveyed more clearly. For example, though you organized the itinerary, it would have been better to know that local tour operators(i.e.
Rutas Andinas) were handling the tours and schedules. The itinerary you gave us was suddenly in question as the driver who picked us up at El Loa Airport in Calama handed us a different itinerary. The order of activities and the days were changed. The first activity was supposed to be at 5:30am and not at 8:00am as now scheduled. We didn’t want to miss an activity so we prepared for the earlier time. This could have been more clearly communicated to us and the night person at reception was not sure himself. Also, while we had a very nice, modern room, there was no telephone in the room of this new wing of the Hotel(Don Jose). One activity had us going to the salt flats(Salares) with a stop off at a village famous for its church bell tower and the market in the plaza. Unfortunately, we were there so early, the market was closed,! Somebody should have clarified this since it was part of the tour. A big highlight of the Atacama, which we greatly anticipated, was the astronomical observation. Since we had cloudy weather all week, the day was not promising, but it wasn’t until ten minutes before that it actually came off. It was spectacular and we highly recommend this activity with Jorge Corante F. The Atacama part of the trip was where we felt that communication was not clear and we needed more help from you, Oxana. This is the only reason we feel you didn’t get the 5th star rating. However, you did respond quite well after this and notified us of what the last three days of our itinerary were and we considered those updated. We really appreciated that since I had requested help initially with checking in for our flights. You did that with confirmed Check-in info, but we found it was more helpful and direct to just go to the Latam app which we had from our trip last year to Ecuador to get our Tarjetas de Embarque(Boarding Passes). These were superior to what was sent us. For future travelers with Latam, download the app and put in the confirmation codes. A couple of other considerations we would have wanted.
We wanted to go to Pablo Neruda’s house near Valparaiso, but we were given The choice to go there or to do the walking tour as scheduled. We opted for the latter. Luckily, it was closed on Monday so that made it easier. Our good tour guide, Javiera, recommended his house in Santiago. Finally, given our time constraint, we probably needed another day of “down time” in Santiago to more fully appreciate Lastarria, the art and cultural museums, the seafood market, and other places of interest. Santiago has really good food. Dine at Aqui Esta Coco. We started our walking tour in Santiago with our good tour guide, Max, and ended in Santiago walking in Lastarria by ourselves. All in all, we appreciate the itinerary organized for us by Oxana and want to compliment her for her efforts. Gracias por todo(Thanks for everything).