Kimkim Trip Reviews for Ecuador

Tamer was fantastic with planning on vacation with excellent recommendations and knowledge of tourist sites in both Quito and Galápagos Islands. Sebastian was our guide in Quito and was fantastic at not only explaining the sites but the cultural importance as well. The Cotapaxi volcano visit was spectacular.
All of snorkeling trips were beautiful in the Galapagos. Our favorite and area we saw the most sea life was the Kicker Rock tour

We really enjoyed the snorkeling and travel to Bartlome Island, but the travel to Pinzon Island was very bumpy. Napo Wildlife Resort was very good but quite a long trip from Quito. Sebastian did a good job taking us around Quito.

Our guide Linda was AWESOME and so easy to work with. We threw a lot at her -- lot of requests and preferences -- but she did a great job creating a great itinerary for us. And if we had any feedback or wanted to make any changes, she was so easy to work. We got to do everything on our travel wish list and would absolutely work with Linda again on our next Ecuador trip.

Activity Review

Visit Quilotoa Crater Lake, Transfer to Baños

Ecuador

This was one of the highlights of our entire trip! Such a stunning location (and a good hike/workout!)

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

A very well organised trip, with excellent and well planned tours. Had an amazing time and exceeded expectations. Will definitely use KIM KIM again.

Hotel Reviews

Ikala Quito Hotel

Quito

Had a lovely time here, made very welcome and comfortable. Front desk are amazing.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Itamandi EcoLodge

Quito

Loved being out in the middle of the rain forest. Very comfortable and authentic

Authenticity & Character

Location

Deep in the rainforest, which is a deal good experience.

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Hotel Blue Marlin

Puerto Baquerizo Moreno, Galapagos

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Hotel Cally Galapagos

Puerto Villamil

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Hotel Deja Vu Galapagos

Pto. Ayora

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Reviews

Kicker Rock: A Snorkeling Adventure

Isla San Cristóbal

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Into the Amazon Rainforest, Arrive at Itamandi Eco Lodge

Ecuador

Quality of Experience

Food

Amazing food and service.

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Colonial Quito City Tour & Mitad del Mundo (Middle of the World) Monument

Quito

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Danny was our guide he was awesome perfect fit for a relaxing vacation. Alvaro planned our trip he did a awesome job very happy with both of them

We had the most amazing trip to Ecuador. It was a group of 5 family members. The activities were of a wide variety to satisfy everyone. Our guides and drivers did a wonderful job. They were informative but also gave us time to sit back and enjoy the scenery. All of our provided meals were delicious.

The places most memorable include the hacienda resort in the high amazon and banos. Getting into the nature of ecuador was great. Our guide in the high amazon Miguel was great, easy to understand knowledgeable about his content and the flora and fauna.

We had a transition from Daniel to Lucia around November. So will start off to say that Daniel was AMAZING. Lucia was really good as well - very friendly and responsive. Also we had a fantastic trip, so that’s the most important part. Ecuador is beautiful and we enjoyed each day immensely!

What could have bumped both ratings to five stars:
- we could have benefited from more attention to detail. For example our Sierra Negra hike was 10 miles, which we didn’t know about until the morning of from the guide.
- some of the transport seemed like overkill. I’m some instances we had a taxi drive us for what could have been a 5 min walk.
- would have liked to have an itemized list of cost breakdown. At times I wondered, “what’s the mark-up for going with KimKim?”

Best guides:
- Israel for the Quito city tour. So knowledgeable and personal! Felt like we were getting a great locals perspective.
- Carmen on the first snorkeling trip. Really knowledgeable and friendly.
- Javier on the second snorkeling trip. Really well prepared and adjusted took videos of our snorkeling excursion which was an awesome bonus.

Guides that could have been better:
- both guides for the Cotopaxi and Sierra Negra hikes had poor communication and didn’t set many expectations. We also didn’t learn much from them during those hikes. Finally, the bikes on the Cotopaxi tour were broken down and unsafe.

Hotel Reviews

Hotel La Jungla

Puerto Villamil

Felt more like a hostel and really dated room. But friendly staff and great view from our treehouse room.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Great view of the beach from our room!

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Really dated and sheets here felt really old.

Kitu Hotel

Quito

FANTASTIC hotel. Really friendly staff, the BEST and breakfasts and the room was perfect and even had a deck.

Authenticity & Character

The wood floors and tile work was amazing.

Location

Close to a nice part of town.

Staff

Very helpful and friendly! One even let me practice Spanish with him.

Cleanliness & Comfort

Very clean.

Hotel Deja Vu Galapagos

Pto. Ayora

Close to town and generally clean. Can be noisy at times though and lots of loud children. Rooms were dated. Breakfast wasn’t as good as Kitu.

Authenticity & Character

Good beach side place. A bit run down.

Location

Right on the edge of town. Perfect

Staff

Staff helpfulness varied. Had an issue with loud kids at 10am one night that the staff wasn’t addressing so I had to intervene directly which was awkward and frustrating.

Cleanliness & Comfort

Had to chase out a cockroach the first night. Overall the rooms were clean, but the sheets felt really old. Plumbing was dated.

Activity Reviews

Welcome to Santa Cruz Island: Highlands & Charles Darwin Research Station

Puerto Ayora

Quality of Experience

Everything.

Food

The restaurant at the tortoise center was top notch!! Best meal of the trip.

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Enrique was awesome! You could tell he was passionate about wildlife.

Transport

Colonial City Tour, Cooking Class & the Middle of the World Monument

Quito

Our guide (Israel) made this a great excursion. Learned a lot!

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Biking day Cotopaxi National Park

Ecuador

Loved the experience of Cotopaxi. The guides and tour itself were terrible.

Quality of Experience

See rest of comments.

Food

The lunch portions were laughably tiny. The whole tour was pretty annoyed.

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Guide wasn’t very informative and didn’t really set expectations for what we were in for. During meals and downtime they just went into a corner.

Transport

Wildlife Tour on Isabela Island

Galapagos Islands

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Carmen was awesome!! Really fun and knowledgeable

Transport

Fun boat ride!

Sierra Negra volcano - Speedboat to Santa Cruz

Galapagos Islands

Quality of Experience

See below.

Food

Had to share half my lunch with someone else. Really paltry portions given the hike length.

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Driver was late. Terrible communication from the guide. Ended up just hiking on our own.

Transport

Late driver.

Experience the Pristine Beauty of Galápagos Islands: Discovering an Uninhabited Island

Puerto Ayora

Quality of Experience

Food

Fantastic food and drink service!

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Boat staff was top notch!

Transport

Excursion to Los Túneles

Galapagos Islands

Quality of Experience

Great time seeing and learning about the blue footed boobies. Such a cool bird!!

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Javier was amazing!

Transport

Daniel and Lucia at KimKim helped to plan our trip to Ecuador - listening to our needs and wants then catering the trip to our wishlist. The initial trip was planned for March 2020 and was delayed due to Covid. Finally, when we were ready- Kimkim helped to make this trip a reality. We visited Quito, Cotopaxi, and the Galápagos Islands. Their efforts allowed us to relax and enjoy all of the beauty of Ecuador- including fantastic active excursions (hiking Sierra Negra, Volcán Cotopaxi; snorkeling with penguins, sea lions, and sharks; and learning the rich history of Ecuador) without being concerned with logistics. Each of our excursions was special and unique- our favorite being visiting Tintoreas with Carmen, full day Quito tour with a cooking class with Israel, snorkeling at Bartholem, and snorkeling at Los Tuneles with Javier. Thank you Daniel and Lucia for being our main points of contact, answering our questions, and planning an unforgettable adventure!

Hotel Reviews

Kitu Hotel

Quito

We had a room with a balcony overlooking Quito. The room was clean and comfortable. The staff were helpful and supportive.

Authenticity & Character

Enjoyed the breakfast

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Hotel Deja Vu Galapagos

Pto. Ayora

Authenticity & Character

Location

Easy walk into town

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Some challenges with bugs

Hotel La Jungla

Puerto Villamil

Nice hotel at the edge of town. A little outdated and no room lockbox. Could use some upgrades but staff were pleasant and helpful

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Reviews

Colonial City Tour, Cooking Class & the Middle of the World Monument

Quito

Full day of history in Quito. The cooking class was special. We could have walked more throughout downtown Quito. Felt a bit rushed in the afternoon trying to get everything in

Quality of Experience

Food

Chef was fantastic. We learned so much about Ecuadorian food and ate well doing so!

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Israel was knowledgeable and provided tons of information on the history of Ecuador

Transport

Nice and easy to get around. Nice to have the car. Could have also walked more.

Biking day Cotopaxi National Park

Ecuador

Cotopaxi is beautiful. We enjoyed seeing wild horses and a fox. We hiked and bikes on Volcán Cotopaxi. Expectations were not clear so didn’t realize the hike was going to happen, so didn’t pack all of the right gear. Our guide didn’t share too much on Cotopaxi itself - so might consider a different tour group

Quality of Experience

Food

Lunch was fine, just the whole group could have eaten more :)

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Experience the Pristine Beauty of Galápagos Islands: Discovering an Uninhabited Island

Puerto Ayora

Great last day activity! The boat staff were amazing. Had the best snorkeling experience of our life! Saw penguins, shark, starfish, sea lions and more! Learned a lot about the geological history of the Galapagos!

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Welcome to Santa Cruz Island: Highlands & Charles Darwin Research Station

Puerto Ayora

Arriving on the Galapagos, this is a great way to get introduced to the islands!

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Wildlife Tour on Isabela Island

Galapagos Islands

Carmen was a great guide - showing us wildlife and taking us snorkeling! We even had seals come join us on our snorkeling adventure!

Quality of Experience

Food

N/a

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Excursion to Los Túneles

Galapagos Islands

Opportunity to see blue footed boobies, Tortugas, and sea horses! Javier was a great guide even took pictures on his go pro he shared with us after!

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Sierra Negra volcano - Speedboat to Santa Cruz

Galapagos Islands

Seeing the Sierra Negra was worth the experience. It was a 12 mile hike which took all morning. Group was very large and the guide struggled to help everyone

Quality of Experience

Food

Fine, a box lunch

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Our guide struggled with the large group and bringing 20+ people on a 12 mile hike. As avid hikers we were fine, but worried about others during the experience

Transport

All of our guides were amazing but especially Danny and Louis for our Quito/Banos piece!! Absolutely amazing! Will definitely recommend all of our activities!!

The mainland portion of our Ecuador adventure and our guide, Christian, were wonderful and exceeded our expectations. This includes the visit to Asuni National Park and Napo Cultural Center with our guide for that area, Jose.
Unfortunately, we cannot say the same for kimkim's travel vendor in the Galapagos. Who that vendor actually is, we were unable to determine. We had carefully and intentionally scheduled a down day for our first full day on Isla Santa Cruz so that we would have a chance to rest and recover from our busy and arduous many days on the mainland, plus another rest day for after the island trip. This did not happen. We were informed on arrival to arise the next morning for a 6am departure to Isla Bartolome. The guide who met us at the airport was unsympathetic. The trip itself was great, but we were not prepared (no previous contact about a change to our itinerary, let alone agreement on our part) for a full day trip on our first day there, and suffered accordingly. Not only was the schedule changed without our knowledge or agreement, but they couldn't even get the departure time correct. We were told to be outside our hotel at 6am and we were. Our pickup was late and had to speed to catch up to the bus halfway back to Baltra. Unbeknownst to us, the bus had actually left at 5:30am from a pickup point we didn't even know about. After a full day of sun and fun, instead of taking us to our hotel, the bus took us to the pickup/drop of point we had not even been to and we had no idea how to find our hotel. Fortunately, our guide for the Bartolome tour, Elizabeth, did not abandon us. Although she didn't know our hotel, the bus driver did and amid much confusion agreed to drop us there. Thank you Elizabeth!

We paid big bucks for our private tour and an itinerary that met our needs. But instead of our carefully planned rest days before and after the Bartolome trip, we had first the taxing trip then two unnecessary rest days after. Simply unacceptable and prevents a five star review and recommendation for kimkim. We are flexible, but not that flexible. Otherwise we had a great trip, but are not likely to use kimkim again as a result.

Hotel Reviews

Napo Cultural Center

Quito

Wonderful people and experience! Bring an appetite - they give you enough food for an army!

Authenticity & Character

Location

Jungle canopy tower, parrots and parakeets at clay lick, blackwater canoe trip.

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Casa de Vista Alta

Mindo

A beautiful area and bed and breakfast. Very nice and accommodating hostess.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Hotel Las Plazas

Quito

Beautiful old (but renovated) hotel with very helpful staff.

Authenticity & Character

All the highly polished wood and the unique dining area.

Location

In Old Town. Area seemed safe enough to us.

Staff

No elevator but desk clerk took care of our heavy bags.

Cleanliness & Comfort

La Floresta

Baños

Modern and convenient.

Hotel Spa Casa Real

Riobamba

Adequate and spacious, but funky electrical outlet locations. Adequate but unremarkable restaurant with less than stellar menu. Surrounding area appeared possibly unsafe/unwalkable for a alternative restaurant.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Hotel Boutique Carvallo

Cuenca

Wonderful old but fully renovated hotel with very helpful and courteous staff. Conveniently located in Old Town Cuenca.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Posada del Mar

Santa Cruz

This is not a luxury hotel but was comfortable and more than adequate for our needs. Very kind and helpful owner and his staff. Conveniently located to the pier area and central restaurants/activities in Puerto Ayora. The deli downstairs is one of the best places to eat that we found in Puerto Ayora.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Air conditioning was great and essential for the hot and humid climate. A spacious balcony overlooking the port.

EB Hotel by Eurobuilding Quito

Quito

This was by far the most luxurious hotel we stayed in during our Ecuador trip. Unnecessarily luxurious and over the top. The automated room lighting system was a constant pain with lights coming on and off unnecessarily. Hard to imagine how much the designers/architects must have been paid to design this inconvenient system.

Authenticity & Character

This building belongs in Europe. not Ecuador

Location

convenient to the airport

Staff

Very helpful and stored our luggage for us on the day after we checked out.

Cleanliness & Comfort

With three shower head to choose from, we think we got pretty clean!

Activity Reviews

Indigenous Encounter and Hike to Mama Cuna Path

Yasuni National Park

Don't know what Mama Cuna Path is, but we had a great time in the Amazon, and all the staff and people we encountered were friendly, helpful and professional. We were well cared for.

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Exploring Cuenca and surroundings, Gualaceo, Chordeleg

Cuenca

See previous. The old weaving factory was a high light as was the amazing "Panama" hat factory where we acquired our beautiful hats.

Colonial Quito City Tour & the Middle of the World

Quito

Our Quito tour was good but a few too many churches, though they are all beautiful in their own ways. Mitad del Mundo is the worst tourist trap we visited in Ecuador.

Quality of Experience

Food

Ecuadoreans have some strange ideas on "dressing up" a hamburger.

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Afternoon Adventure to Teleferico Cablecar

Quito

We skipped this so can't really rate it but are forced to give one.

Sacred Wayusa Ritual, Goodbye and return to the City (Yaku Kausay Experience)

Yasuni National Park

We were given the opportunity to skip this early early morning activity, and the staff seemed as relieved as we were. We enjoyed the cultural activities we experienced in the village on the previous afternoon.

Relaxing Free Afternoon in Mindo

Mindo

We didn't have the free afternoon because our faithful guide, Christian, took us to a hummingbird sanctuary where we fed these beautiful creatures from a bottle cap placed in the palm of our hands. Having wild hummingbirds perched in our hands was a big highlight of our trip. Christian also took us to an amazing butterfly research and propagation station where we observed all life phases of many beautiful and fascinating butterflies.

Expedition to Mindo Cloud Forest

Quito

See previous

The Adventure Continues - Hiking Day at Cotopaxi National Park- Baños

Ecuador

Saw some interesting birdlife, but owing to the rainy season, we couldn't see Cotopaxi. Nobody's fault, just the season.

Reconnecting with Nature at Baños de Agua Santa

Baños

The waterfalls, especially the Devil's Cauldron, were truly awesome. We were looking forward to a soak in a hot pool, but this turned out to be unavailable and uninviting.

Journey to the Peak From the Center of the Earth: Chimborazo!

Ecuador

A snow and ice storm on top of the world! Again, because we were here in the rainy season, we didn't see much of the mountain, but we saw many wild vicunas including a heard running through the snowy countryside. Our local park guide, Alfredo, was a great and humble guy and local farmer who we much enjoyed meeting. The surrounding agricultural areas outside the park were a green checkerboard of fields extending to unbelievable heights up the mountain slopes. Much interesting local color and indigenous people in these areas.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Exploring the Ancient Ingapirca Ruins: A Journey through History and Culture

Cuenca

Very interesting and well maintained historical area.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Welcome to Cuenca! The Athens of Ecuador - City Tour

Cuenca

A beautiful, modern yet historic and cultural city and surrounding area. We can see why it's so attractive to expats. The artistry and craftmanship exhibited in nearby villages is outstanding.

From the Highlands to the Coast: Cajas National Park to Guayaquil

Ecuador

Beautiful mountain and lake vistas. Many landslides on the highway due to the recent rains, but we made through thanks to Christians excellent driving. The clouds parted at just the right time for us to have beautiful vistas above Guayaquil.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Welcome to Santa Cruz Island: Highlands & Charles Darwin Research Station

Puerto Ayora

The tortoises at the farm were truly amazing and a big reason for our visit to Galapagos. We would have preferred to have gone straight to our hotel for check in and refresh ourselves and gone to the farm later.

Quality of Experience

Experience the Pristine Beauty of Galápagos Islands: Discovering an Uninhabited Island

Puerto Ayora

The actual trip to Isla Bartolome was fantastic and we were able to see Galapagos penguins! Screwing up our agreed upon itinerary was not appreciated.

Exploring Local Culture: Otavalo Market & Hike the Cuicocha Lake

Otavalo

An interesting/scenic drive to Otovalo and a great unexpected side trip to a local park and waterfall. The market itself was repetitious and of varying quality, but useful if you want to buy items to take home. I wouldn't drive all the way there just for the market, but there is much else to see.

Tl;dr: I’d absolutely use kimkim and work with Alvaro again! It was overall a great experience. I’ll admit, I was a bit uncertain about it at first — I like being fully in control of all planning, and I’ve never used a travel agency before. Turns out it’s incredible to have local help with trip planning. All our guides were great (Hugo especially — he was our guide during the hiking, and was simply incredible) and there wasn’t a day I didn’t enjoy. Alvaro was wonderful throughout the process, helping us plan the entire trip beforehand and during the trip was incredibly responsive (despite it being over holidays in Ecuador!) to help us solve any problems.

A few highlights of Alvaro’s helpfulness:
- Alvaro strongly encouraged us to keep the two rest days between our hiking in mainland Ecuador. We’re fit and used to hiking, so we were going to cut them out — and we were SO glad he insisted that we keep them. Hiking at altitude is totally different from at sea level; we appreciated the rest days.
- When our flight from Quito to the Galapagos was delayed, Alvaro had been tracking our flight and rescheduled our afternoon tour before we even messaged him about it. It was so nice not to have to worry about that or be contacting multiple people!
- We got altitude sickness during our acclimatizing hikes, so had to cancel our plan to hike Chimborazo. In the moment, Alvaro helped us make a new plan and adjust our accommodations for those nights. It was a little stressful to change plans last minute, but he made it extremely easy.
- One of our tour guides was late in picking us up and — despite it being 7:30AM — Alvaro helped us figure out what was going on and had the local guide come explain the situation. (The other people in our group tour had overslept.)
- We left our larger bags in the kimkim offices during our time in the Galapagos, and one of their drivers dropped it off with us at the airport to help us avoid an extra 90 minute drive to and from the airport. It really was the little things like this that made working with kimkim/Alvaro feel totally worthwhile. We would’ve had to rent a locker at the airport or something, and not having to deal with that hassle was a huge help.

Suggestions / things I would do differently:
- Know who your guide is each day. We never knew ahead of time who our guide was going to be, or if they’d be the same later. It would’ve been nice to know ahead of time that we’d have the same guide for all our hiking, for example. The pickup timing / structure was incredibly well coordinated, so we didn’t have trouble with finding/meeting our guide, but knowing who would repeat would’ve made tipping easier. And speaking of tipping…
- Figure out tipping expectations. Tipping is always confusing, all the time, but we still wish we’d’ve known more about norms. Alvaro gave us a general guideline to go off, which helped, but I wish we’d’ve asked him about specific days ahead of time.
- Get the direct contact info of your guides. While Alvaro was incredibly helpful, it would’ve been easier at times if we’d been able to communicate directly with our guides. One day our guide didn’t show up or communicate a delay to us (they arrived 90 minutes late, after we messaged Alvaro and he messaged them); another day we were at the departure spot in town, but had to walk back to our hotel for a pickup to drive us back there — it would’ve been nice to be able to just message the guide directly and tell them we’d meet them at the dock.
- Be well prepared for the weather, especially when hiking. We didn’t quite have the right expectations for the weather when hiking. I expect this is partially due to weather on mountains always being variable, but I wish we’d’ve been in contact directly with our guide beforehand to know how to prepare. (More notes in the daily activities, but tl;dr, we were colder than expected.)

Overall, kimkim made the entire travel experience much easier! Alvaro was incredible to work with and we appreciate all his help and expertise; truly the trip of a lifetime!

Hotel Reviews

Ikala Quito Hotel

Quito

Catered toward tourists: it's located in a touristy / wealthy part of Quito, the staff speak English, overall it was a very comfortable stay. Within walking distance of Quito's historical center, good restaurants, and a supermarket. - Breakfast (included) was incredible, seriously the best hotel breakfast I've ever had. - They have a laundry service, but it's priced per item and very expensive -- we ended up washing clothes in the sink. - Rooms and grounds are clean and well-kept. - The lighting is incredibly harsh and white. This seems to be the norm in Ecuador, but wow was it brutal turning on the lights in the morning. - Dinner (not included) is just okay; I'd go elsewhere for dinner. - Staff is very helpful! We left bags at the desk for a day while hiking (one night of camping, before returning to the hotel) and it was no problem.

Location

Within walking distance of Quito's historical center, good restaurants, and a supermarket.

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Cuello de Luna Mountain Lodge

El Chasqui - Pastocalle

Isolated hacienda on a hobby farm -- it is not within walking distance of anything, so expect to stay and eat here. Their food is good though, so for a rest day it's a lovely place to be. - They own a few friendly dogs that we played with outside. - Charming rooms; beds had heated blankets because it was a bit chilly -- no problems with temp for us. Rustic-feeling, but clean and comfortable. - Breakfast was simple and tasty (toast, eggs, cold oatmeal-type dish, GREAT coffee) - Dinner options were limited -- not really a menu, more of a "this is what's for dinner tonight, or you can have a sandwich" -- and tasty. They did accommodate vegetarians!

Authenticity & Character

Staff

Family run B&B; everyone was very kind, friendly, and welcoming!

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Reviews

Afternoon Bay Tour in Santa Cruz

Puerto Ayora

We took a boat around the Santa Cruz bay, stopping to observe blue-footed boobies, learn about some of the unique animals of the Galapagos, and snorkel. The water is beautifully clear, the salt water buoyant, and there is SO MUCH wildlife, snorkeling is incredible. We were within meters of iridescent rainbow colored fish, sea turtles, starfish, sea lions, stingrays… so much to see.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

We were with a group that included families with younger kids, and the guide did a great job keeping them engaged while still talking with the adults. I was very impressed!

Colonial Quito City Tour & Mitad del Mundo (Middle of the World) Monument

Quito

On our first day, we went on a walking tour of the historical center of Quito and visited the equator. The historical center had beautiful old architecture, gold gilded churches, and a market where we ate local tropical fruit. We then visited the equator at the Intinan Museum and the fake equator at Mitad del Mundo. (As a bonus, we learned the process for making shriveled heads.) Incredible start to the trip!

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Reaching Guagua Pichincha Summit

Quito

We hiked Guagua Pichincha, an active volcano! It was very cloudy at the top, so we couldn’t see the crater, but we could definitely smell the sulfur. And could definitely feel the altitude — it does make hiking (walking, moving, breathing) harder. At least for us: one of the many stray dogs in Ecuador was with us for the entire hike, more often leading than following. Instead of hiking back the way we came, we “land skied” by sliding on our feet down a sheer slope of sandy rocks. Our shoes were filled with rocks, but it was super fun!

Quality of Experience

I felt like this was "just" an acclimatizing hike. The weather wasn't great when we were there, so we couldn't see much. As a first hike at altitude, it was good.

Food

Vegetarians, be aware that options will be limited. We wished we would've said chicken was fine (we're not strict vegetarians) to open up our food options and have protein for all our meals. Many of our lunches while hiking had little / no protein.

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Hugo was an amazing guide who really understood our experience level and how to best acclimatize.

Transport

Hiking the Extinct Volcano Pasochoa

Quito

An absolutely beautiful hike up the dormant volcano Pasochoa. We had perfect weather for hiking — and for getting sunburned. Getting there by car may have been more treacherous than the hike itself — we drove down a narrow cobbled road with holes / ruts / ??? that could swallow a few humans. If we were driving, we never would’ve imagined a car could make it through. The summit itself was incredible, passing through a short, verdant rainforest-like section, then leaping over a small chasm. 10/10 would recommend.

Quality of Experience

One of my favorite days of the trip, absolutely incredible.

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

I'm afraid of heights, but Hugo made me feel safe to jump across a "chasm" and not panic on the summit.

Transport

Discovering Climbing Iliniza North

Quito

This was our first hike above 5000m. The way up was challenging but great: we had nice weather, were feeling pretty good after our past two acclimatizing hikes, and there was lots to look at. We reached the refuge at 4700 m feeling tired but good, ate some food, then put on our helmets and harnesses to hike the last 425 m. It got tough quickly, scrambling up rocks using hands and feet, and the altitude was starting to really hit us. Right when we neared the summit, a storm began approaching, so we took a couple quick pictures, then headed down. We didn’t quite beat the storm, as the entire way down was in dense fog and it hailed on us for a few minutes, but avoided the deluge that started once we were in the car on the way back. It is a tough hike because of the altitude, but non-technical and a great first hike over 5000m!

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Kayaking on Tortuga Bay

Puerto Ayora

We started the day with a walk into the national park to Tortuga Bay, where we kayaked among sea turtles (!), little hammerhead sharks (!), marine iguanas (!), and so many birds. It was SO COOL. The water is shades of azure and teal — it truly felt like we were in a movie.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

We technically had a guide who walked there with us and a larger group, but he didn't actually say or do anything, except show us where the kayak rental was. Not sure if he was supposed to be teaching us about the flora and fauna of the Nat'l Park we were walking through, but he did not. We felt we could've done this activity on our own.

Discover the Wonders of Tintoreras Islet: A Journey into Breathtaking Biodiversity

Puerto Villamil

We took a boat from Isabela to Tintoreras Islet with a small group. Walking along the islet we saw lots of marine iguanas (they’re in their nesting season, so it’s only the females) as well as white-tipped sharks, crabs, and pelicans and lots of other birds. After the island walk we went snorkeling again and saw a pair of blue-footed boobies doing a mating dance.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Hiking the Sierra Negra Volcano

Galapagos Islands

The volcano hike was long (~9 miles) but still far easier than hiking in altitude! We walked up to the caldera (nearly 10 km across) then down the south side and saw the remnants of lava flows from the 2005 and 2018 eruptions. The landscape felt a bit otherworldly, due to the lack of vegetation and lava rocks / fissures. We also saw on our hike three Galapagos hawks — a rare sighting according to our naturalist guide.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Was nice to have a guide explain the landscape to us, because it was so unique. Our guide, Pablo, was friendly and happy to chat with us about his experiences and the history of tourism on the Galapagos. It was interesting hearing a local perspective about the changes there over the past few decades.

Transport

This was the day we were ready at 6:50AM for a pickup and didn't get picked up or any communication until after 8. Apparently the other people in our group had overslept. We were tired and had rushed through breakfast to be ready on time, so sitting and waiting for over an hour, and not hearing anything until after we messaged Alvaro at kimkim, was really frustrating.

Visit Highlands Tortoise Reserve & Charles Darwin Research Station

Puerto Ayora

Our guide for the day took us to the Charles Darwin Research Station, where we learned more about the ecology of the Galapagos and the efforts to combat ecological destruction. It’s pretty cool how committed the islands are to preservation and environmental sustainability. At the research station we also got to visit the tortoise breeding center where we saw baby tortoises (younger than 5 years, when they’re returned to the wild), as well as a few old ones who were recovered from their early life as pets and can’t be released into the wild. After the research station, we went to the Highlands of Santa Cruz Island to visit a lava tunnel and tortoises in their natural habitat. It was, in a word, amazing. Because of the relatively short time humans have been present on the island, and the lack of predators, the wildlife here is shockingly unafraid of humans. They’re certainly aware of us, and the tortoises moved away if we approached from the front (threatening), but in general are fine with us being close and wandering around with them.

Quality of Experience

Food

The lunch at the Highlands Tortoise Reserve was honestly one of the best meals we had in the Galapagos, it was great.

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Viviana was a great guide; she knew SO much about the history, ecology of the islands, tortoises, really everything we wanted to know! Very knowledgeable, informative, friendly, and gave us restaurant recs as well :)

Transport

Experience the Pristine Beauty of Galápagos Islands: Discovering an Uninhabited Island

Puerto Ayora

An ideal final day in the Galapagos. The whole day we spent on a sailboat with a dozen other tourists and crew and took a 3 hour ride to an uninhabited island. There we did a short "hike" (it was climbing 365 stairs) to an incredible viewpoint — our guide kept telling us it’s been named one of the most beautiful places in the world. By whom, we have no idea, but it was beautiful. After the hike, we went snorkeling again. We saw sharks and a Galapagos penguin, the only species of tropical penguin. The penguins are tiny — no more than a foot tall at full grown. The boat ride back was close to perfect — warm air, sea breeze, a few sightings of jumping rays — a great end to a Galapagos vacation.

Quality of Experience

Food

We were served full sit-down meals for breakfast and lunch in the boat, with good food! I get motion sickness, so I honestly would've preferred a more casual box lunch on deck -- just something to be aware of if you also get motion sick.

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Our guide and all the boat crew were so kind and welcoming. Our guide chatted with us and the rest of the tourists, gave recs for food, and overall made sure we were all enjoying ourselves.

Lucia was very responsive and helped us plan a great trip. The drivers and guides she organized for us were excellent. Thanks!

I am impressed at the flexibility and ease of planning we had with Alvaro. He was more than willing to change our itinerary to meet our priorities, preferences, and last-minute changes. He also helped to structure the trip with personal time, one-on-one tours, and group activities, as well as with enough active, rest, and free time.

I also appreciated Alvaro’s honesty throughout the planning process, including retroactively seeing how truthful he was in suggesting swapping certain aspects of our original, preconceived trip ideas.

Alvaro was also proactive and quick to respond, usually checking in with us throughout the planning process and the trip itself to keep us in-the-know.

Alvaro also seemed to have connected us with a brilliant mountain guide, Hugo, who is a wealth of knowledge and always made us feel comfortable on the mountainsides. This was invaluable.

Overall a great experience, a great part of the world, and great guides and people.

Hotel Review

Cuello de Luna Mountain Lodge

El Chasqui - Pastocalle

Very friendly atmosphere!

Authenticity & Character

Location

Perfect for a rest day, though constrained if we’d wanted to walk somewhere to visit.

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Review

Colonial Quito City Tour & Mitad del Mundo (Middle of the World) Monument

Quito

Enjoyed the day’s more historical lessons/sites regarding Ecuador’s history than other aspects (e.g. visiting the Intiñan Site Museum seemed more worthwhile than the Mitad Del Mundo site).

Isabel planned the perfect trip for the 4 of us (2 couples 50 -62)! We spent 3 nights in Quito at a remarkable hotel in Old Town, which included a city tour, visit to the Equator, a cooking class, and a free day (on our own). Lucia was our guide and went above and beyond to make us happy! We even stopped at her home to pick up bug repellent bracelets for our trip to the Amazon. Her English was very good and her pride for her Country was impressive. The cooking class with Josue and Jonathan exceeded our expectations! Our driver for the day, Manuel, became our driver/guide for the hiking days in the Andes, and transport to/from Quito Airport, which was a huge benefit as we developed a rapport and special relationship with him. Manuel was patient, professional, and accommodating. He is an experienced and accomplished hiker, guiding us on high elevation hikes in the Andes covering dormant and active volcanos, an 8.2 miles section of the Quilotoa, Pasochoa, and the trek to Jose Rivas Refugio at 16K"! The mountain lodges/hotels Isabel booked for us were each very different and uniquely special.
Our stay at the La Selva Lodge in the Amazon was more laid back and a nice change from the city in Quito and the high-country, moderate/strenuous hiking in the Andes. We saw numerous jungle animals and birds, fished for (and caught) piranha, climbed a very tall structure (205 stair steps) towering above the jungle to observe birds, and visited a native/indigenous tribe to learn about their culture and lifestyle.
Finally, we spent our last afternoon/evening (and the next morning) at the Terme de Papallacta Thermal Springs which also had spa treatments available and a gorgeous hike.
Overall, we were thrilled with Isabel's attention to detail and adventurous itinerary and Manuel's thorough, caring attention. I would absolutely recommend both and would book a future trip with Kimkim again.

Isabel, our local specialist, rocked it! She checked in on us and was always there with any guidance if needed. She provided us with Manuel, who guided us during this trip. He amazed us with his knowledge of the places he took us, both on the road and while hiking areas that were very remote. He was always on time picking us up, always kind and courteous and worked very hard to make our time in Ecuador special. It was like we had a good friend in Ecuador showing us around! We asked for 3 days in Quito, 5 days of hiking the mountains and volcanos and 4 days in the Amazon and could not have written a better script. Anyone wanting to visit this beautiful country should use Kimkim...we will use them for our next trip back. My wife is already talking about a girls trip in the future! Thank you for some amazing memories!!!!

Our guides were amazing. Christobal had so much to share with us on this trip. He gave us a real feeling for the national parks. He is kind, funny and great company. Not to mention, being a great photographer!
Sebastian was bursting with information, and insights. He took us to various artisans.

Victor knew his territory and was fun to be with.

The layout of the trip was great, with all the beautiful national parks, the visit to Cuenca.
The only suggestion I would make would be less time in Loja— it’s a bustling city, more like a college town.
All of our guides were wonderful, full of knowledge about Ecuador, local customs, and easy to get along with.

Our trip to Ecuador was indeed amazing (meeting and exceeding our expectations). The excursions were excellent! The trip was fabulous!! From start to finish, the KimKim team (Mathais, Danny and excursion guides) were responsive, on time, professional and courteous. Prior to our trip, Mathais listened carefully to our requests and helped us prepare the perfect itinerary. From the minute we walked off the plane in Quito, we were met by our personal guide Danny who was outstanding! He escorted us every leg of the trip and made sure our travels went smoothly and were top notch throughout our mainland journey that included 2 days in Quito, a day in Banos, a day in Archidona, and hours in Papillacta thermal baths before we flew to Galapagos. In Ecuador mainland, we visited all the places on our itinerary, never felt rushed, and were able to indulge or move along at our own pace - Danny had a great knack for knowing when to be there for us or leave us to venture on our own. We opted for standard hotels that were lovely, clean, hosted by nice folks, and served good breakfasts before we ventured out on our excursions. Mathias made a point to meet and welcome us while we were in Quito, which we thought was classy. Danny spent hours driving us between cities and time flew - Danny was a great conversationalist and shared a wealth of knowledge and love for his country and people and nature and history, which made our drives and excursions all the more enjoyable. Great mix of private and small group tours. Highly recommend all the excursions on our itinerary: Quito City, Middle of the World, Swing, Banos waterfalls (esp Devils Cauldron) and tram, Amazon basin Napo river, rainforest lodge and hike, and Papillacta hot springs. Be aware there are some touristy areas (Banos, Middle of world) and lousy internet, but chalk it up to part of the experience. The people, the country, the food, the nature all beautiful. If you are planning to go to Galapagos following mainland trip recommend the Holiday Inn by airport to reset.

The trip was fabulous!! The guides and drivers were on time, professional and courteous. No issues, it was seamless!

This was my first-time using Kim Kim for my travels and I was impressed with the entire process. Mathais was quick to provide information and was very knowledgeable. Milton was an amazing guide and we really enjoyed spending time with him on the first part of our journey. The staff on the Galaxy was also nice. Enjoyed the entire process and plan on arranging another trip to Ecuador in 2024 to see more sites.