Kimkim Trip Reviews

Our trip to Italy was truly unforgettable, and we couldn’t have asked for a better experience from start to finish. 🇮🇹❤️

A special thank you to Chiara, who helped us plan our trip and was absolutely wonderful to work with. She was knowledgeable, responsive, thoughtful, and always made us feel like we were in good hands. She took the time to understand what we wanted from our trip and helped make everything come together so beautifully.

From exploring Rome and the incredible history of the city, to our time along the Amalfi Coast, the boat day, Positano and Amalfi, and our hike along the Path of the Gods, every part of the trip gave us memories we will treasure for years to come.

Italy was even more beautiful and special than we imagined, and having someone like Chiara helping behind the scenes made the entire experience feel easy and stress-free.

We are so grateful for the memories we made and would absolutely recommend Chiara to anyone planning a trip to Italy. Thank you, Chiara, for helping make our Italian adventure so amazing! 🇮🇹✨

We had a lovely trip; a few small hiccups, but nothing major. Guides ranged from very good to fantastic,. We especially enjoyed Barcelona and Porto. In Barcelona we had Ruth from Runner Bean Tours. She was very accommodating and informative-the best! Delighted Tours provided a wonderful gentleman who rearranged our schedule since tickets were not obtained as planned. Cool Tour provided another great guide who took us to DouroValley for the day. The river cruise was disappointing - on a small boat for a short distance, but the rest of the day was wonderful.

kimkim trip makes travel so easy and effortless. The app tells you exactly where to go, who to meet, and what to expect. One particular highlight, for all our trips, is the tour guides with whom we've worked. In Mykonos we went on a hike with Yummy Pedals, and Dimitra was fabulous, and Pako took us on an amazing food tour. Our day on the water in Santorini was the standout, but our wine tour with Yannis was a blast, too! The true standout was our tour guide in Athens, Katerina. We went on a food walk with her one night, and then two days later a neighborhood walk. She was beyond wonderful- it was like walking around the city with a friend, and I was so sad to say goodbye to her after our second tour. All in all it was a fun, memorable trip :)

The Vespa was a very good experience. The food, roof top bar and night club was fantastic. Harry the driver was awesome. Very memorable . Sam the guide was a 5 star guide!

Aur Island was a very unique accommodation and experience. They were so warm and welcoming and the snorkeling was fantastic.
We loved Kuching. What a charming city and Amen was a fabulous guide

Hector, our local specialist, was incredible in the planning process. He was excellent at responding to numerous questions and making changes to multiple itineraries to prepare a customized trip for my family in Spain. This is the second trip Hector has planned for us. Last year, he customized an itinerary for us to Portugal which also was an exceptional trip. I would highly recommend booking a trip with Hector.

Our top three excursions were: a tapas tour on arrival, a paella cooking class with Claudia from "Just Royal" and the Caminito del Rey.

The tapas tour set us up for a wonderful introduction into the Spanish culture of slowing down in the afternoons and sharing tapas at an outdoor cafe. Brais, our tour guide was engaging, energetic and knowledgeable on the varieties of foods/wines. He even had us participate in a tradition called Porron, which numerous tour participants engaged in. Fun, fun!

We loved our excursion of the paella cooking class. Claudia, our formally trained cooking instructor, engaged all six of us in the cooking class in the preparation of the food which included: food selection, chopping, sautéing and even browning the brûlée. The excursion culminated in a lunch expertly presented of the food we had cooked. Delicious!!

The Caminita del Rey was an excursion I had read about which involved catwalks 300-feet above the river which were formerly used by maintenance workers for a hydro-electric power plant. Although the height could be dizzying for some, my husband who is afraid of heights was able to partake in the hike/walk. What an amazing engineering marvel knowing the catwalks were originally built in the early 1900's (but were recently upgraded with added safety features in 2016).

Least favorite excursion: Cycle the Via Verde. I had originally thought this would be a guided trip, however, it was not. The maps and GPS given to us by the company were not helpful. Fortunately, we had our smart phone that eventually allowed us to get out of the city. It took us 4 hours to get to our destination and 2 hours to return which shows how lost we were getting out of the city. If I were to make a recommendation, I would not choose this company to do the trip again. I would also have preferred to select a bike company on the outskirts of the city so we would not need to navigate the city if we were biking independent of a tour guide.

Best Hotels: My daughter was a huge fan of the Casa Romana Hotel Boutique and the tastefully decorated contemporary rooms. She described it as being "the classiest hotel she has ever been in". She is actually very accurate. My husband and I loved the "Catalonia Ronda" because it had additional space in the room with a couch and chairs that provided a place for us to gather and play a game or two in the privacy of our room.

The kimkim app is invaluable to all in our party. It was a great resource because it was well-organized with our vouchers, directions with links, updates and chat feature. This is such a bonus to traveling.

Thank you for your kindness and expertise in planning our trip. We will continue to use Kimkim for any future guided trips.

Karen and company!

We were very happy with our trip even with a few bumps in the road . But the team was quick to take care of the situation. We look forward to using Kim Kim again . Thank you for planning a amazing trip

Hotel Reviews

Hotel Viminale

Rome

The staff was very helpful and accommodating

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Ai Mori d'Oriente Hotel

Venice

Great location away from the busyness,staff great

Authenticity & Character

Location

Close to things but away from the crowds

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

La Villa di STR

Siena

Authenticity & Character

Location

We enjoyed being able to walk to town but not being in town

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Hotel Orto de' Medici

Florence

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Hotel Donna Francesca

Rome

It was a little hard to find being the location was on the forth floor and no obvious entrance

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Reviews

St. Mark's Basilica with Terrace Access & Doge's Palace Visit

Venice

Enjoyed it the guide was great but very crowded

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Private Tuscany Day Trip to San Gimignano & Volterra

Italy

Guide was very knowledgeable and good but long drive .for the amount of time we spent there . Would of been better for us to went back to Florence from there instead of going back to senna then to Florence the next day

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Private Tuscan Countryside Cooking Experience

Italy

The class was wonderful. But getting there and back was a little tricky because it was 40 minutes from the city. So a little pricey to get there and back . A little disappointed that the staff left us there as it was getting dark and our ride had not arrived yet knowing our phones didn’t work to call with in the country.

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Depart Italy

Italy

Quality of Experience

Private Borghese Gallery Visit

Rome

Our guide was wonderful and very knowledgeable . It was my birthday and she even gave me a small gift.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Private City Walk with Michelangelo's David

Florence

Was great the guide planned a few special stops for us that catered to our likes .

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Private Family City Highlights by Golf Cart

Rome

A great way to see and learn about the city

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Self-Guided Venice Exploration

Venice

A beautiful city

Quality of Experience

Day Trip to Cinque Terre

Florence

The driver was great and made the trip seamless. Took us to the city’s told us a little about it and gave us time to explore on our own the we moved on .

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Self-Guided Siena Exploration

Italy

A great city and lots of restaurants and sights to see . The streets can be a little confusing easy to get turned around and be going the wrong direction when you get off the main streets .but that added to the adventure

Quality of Experience

Vatican & Sistine Chapel Highlights with St. Peter's Basilica

Rome

Guide was great and moved us right along in spite of it being very crowded

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Evening Trastevere & Jewish Ghetto Culinary Walk

Rome

The guide was good and a great way to see the city at night. But the food was ok not quite what I thought but a good experience.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

We group has used Kim Kim for many trips. As a group we get frustrated with the preplanning communications of each traveler with Kim Kim. Any communications get dinged to all other travelers. Paying deposits and balances individually and not as a group is cumbersome.

I was not the trip lead for this trip so was not the person doing all the communications with Nick but I feel he did a great job from what o know

Hotel Reviews

Verdant Hill Hotel

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

The Rock Resort

Aur Island

Many in our group had spectacular rooms with extra bathrooms. We were 4 senior women who were put into a bunk room for 8 without a bathroom and told we needed to use the bathroom down the path. Really???? We were then moved to another room that smelled of waste and were told we were going to be charged more. After discussion we’re not charged more but would rate that experience as poor.

Authenticity & Character

Location

It is great as a dive resort. We were not divers

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Already discussed

Waterfront Hotel

Kuching

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Hotel Grandis Kota Kinabalu

Kota Kinabalu

Authenticity & Character

Location

K

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Casa Del Rio Hotel Melaka

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Review

Kuala Lumpur Walking City Tour

Kuala Lumpur

Would have liked more tasting as part of the tour

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

An adventure to remember with memories, people and activity. Ben and KIMKIM went beyond with solutions that will always be cherished. In our original discussion with Ben we asked for our adventure of Japan to be our adventure of Japan 2026. He made that come to be and even more.
The route from Osaka to Hiroshima to Miyajima Island to Kyoto to Nara to Toyko and full immersion with Toyko Disneyland and Disney Sea made our excursion exciting, historical and exhausting. It all came together with planning and coordination with Ben and his beautiful excursions added into the itenerary. I cannot fail to mention, the local guides at each major stop:
Eiicgu Shirakawa aka 'Mr. H'; Hideo Uematsu and Ryuji Kanie where fantastic with local color, culture and great coaching keeping our journey on schedule. Everyone at KimKim was extremely helpful in making any adjustments to the travel on the spot. The travel associates where ready to make adaptations and Ben was there to check on us every day with additional choices when necessary.
Our adventure had many highlights to name a few. World Heritage Himeji Castle, Kobe feast, Peace Memorial, Okonomiyaki, Kayaking under the Floating Torii Gate, Samurai and Ninga Museum, Todaiji Temple, Mount Fuji and the Panoramic Ropeway, Japanese Tea Ceremony, Harajuku, Shinjuku, Shibuya crossing and sky, Akihabara, Senso-ji and Disney Sea and Disneyland. All of the above, with local train, bus, ferry Shinkansin (bullet train) and private vehicles. We all had perhaps favorites but how can you immerse in many more areas and come out totally fulfilled.
We challenge our fellow tour groups to match this event. Please do not forget Japenese yen, Suica card, Pasamo and great hiking footwear along with your appetite!!
Thanks from the bottom of our hearts to KimKim and our favorite Ben Tanaka.
Theo, Kyle, Linda and Natalie

Isabel, Jaime were amazing guides and driver Roberto was great too! Thanks to them for making the attractions memorable!

This was one of the best trips we’ve ever taken. Julia, Summer, and the Kimkim group tailored our experiences to our needs. We moved at our pace, and never felt overwhelmed or rushed. Most of our tours were private; and, were with very knowledgeable and experienced guides. Our transfers were all premium, and first class. All our tours were personal, informative, and high end! Kimkim went above and beyond more than once, when there were unexpected events. We communicated easily by WhatsApp, text, and phone. Kimkim responded quickly to all questions, and accommodated us expertly. We will recommend them to anyone; and, look forward to travel with them again soon.

Hotel Reviews

Hotel Villa Emilia

Barcelona

Centrally located. High end

Casa Clarita

Valencia

Great location. Cozy boutique feel.

Location

Room Mate Macarena

Madrid

Fantastic location, great breakfast, nice rooftop bar and pool.

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Las Casas de la Judería

Seville

Our favorite hotel of all. Great atmosphere. Historic. Beautiful nooks and mysterious tunnels!

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Hotel Casa Morisca

Granada

Not our favorite. Great location. Dated rooms that weren’t the cleanest. No shampoo or conditioner. Threadbare towels.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Reviews

Private Alhambra & Generalife Gardens with a Historian

Granada

Good enough! Due to a tour company mistake, our tour was rushed and cut short.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Tapas & Flamenco Experience in Seville

Seville

Maria la Serrana, our private guide, is a legend in Flamenco circles! She travelled the world dancing Flamenco! We were super lucky to have her as a guide.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Best guide ever for this experience!

Private Gothic Quarter Walk

Barcelona

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Expert guide. Super nice

Park Güell & La Sagrada Família Experience

Barcelona

I would suggest a smaller group

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Paella Cooking Class with Mercat Central Visit

Valencia

Lots of delicious fun

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Private City Highlights Walk

Madrid

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Short Prado Museum Visit with Skip-the-Line Ticket

Madrid

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Private Visit to Seville's Cathedral & Alcázar

Seville

After a little mishap in the time of the tour, had a great experience.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Ronda & White Villages Day Trip

Seville

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Evening Tour of the Albaicín in Granada

Granada

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Marcel was our favorite

Self-Guided Local Markets Trip

Barcelona

Private Valencia Old Town Walk

Valencia

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Self-Guided Retiro Park Walk

Madrid

Perfect location for a self-guided tour

Quality of Experience

Self-Guided Visit of Madrid's Renowned Museums

Madrid

Quality of Experience

Everything was perfect! The hotels, and the tour guides and even the drivers were all wonderful, exactly as decribed and on time everyday. We loved the hotel in Cinque Terre, The Hotel Porto Roca, with the balcony overlooking the sea and town. We hiked the hills and enjoyed the free time shopping and exploring. We enjoyed the beautiful Cathedral complex of Pisa and had enough time to eat lunch where Maria recommended, overlooking the leaning tower. The central location of Colle Val D'Elsa was very nice to be able to drive to the hill top towns. The choices of wineries were all amazing, with views, history, delicious wines and food also. We loved each one and learned that 2 in one day was too much! Our favorite may have been Colle Bereto. They were so hospitable, and had top quality organic wines & olive oil. They even showed us the pasta being made for our lunch that day, delicious! The amazing landscape and historic hilltop towns were beautiful, we loved getting lost in these towns, and eating gelato along the way. Lucia was very accomondating in every way, even when we had a change on the last day of tours. We will recommend KimKim and it's tour companies, and plan to travel with them again. Maybe Austria? Thank you and Ciao!!

Hotel Reviews

Hotel Orto de' Medici

Florence

Wonderful quiet historic hotel in the heart of Florence. Great location and delicious buffet breakfast!

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Hotel Porto Roca

Monterosso

Such a wonderful location and great balcony! The rooms were very spacious and clean, and the food was all delicious. We especially loved the breakfast buffet. Thank you for sending the shuttle to come pick us up at the bottom of the hill! Loved It!!

Authenticity & Character

Location

very close to town, but on the hillside overlooking the Mediterrean sea

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Hotel Palazzo San Lorenzo & Spa

Colle Val D'Elsa

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Reviews

Museums special: small group guided tour of Uffizi and Accademia Galleries

Florence

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Private transfer with stop in Pisa

Italy

Our very nice driver with Maria, our guide, arrived on time to travel to Pisa. Maria was very informative and sweet and explained all about the Catedral complex. It was all so beautiful and amazing.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Our trip to Argentina and Brazil was more than I dreamed it could be. Mater Sustenable did an excellent job organizing and coordinating our adventures. Herve was prompt in answering any questions and made suggestions of other activities that we could include. All of the guides that we had during our time were excellent. They were knowledgeable and were willing to include stops at our requests. All transfers were on time and if they were delayed, they let us know. It is so difficult to choose just one experience to highlight. While we enjoyed the big cities, we thoroughly enjoyed the smaller locations. Going to San Antonio de Areco and on to the Estancia El Ombu to ride horses, dance, meet actual gauchos and experience the Asado was a highlight. I could go on and on about the beauty of the Igauzu Falls, our original reason for booking this trip. We loved staying in Puerta Igauzu where we felt comfortable walking to locations in town. Seeing both sides of the falls is a must and the boat ride up to the falls was exhilarating. Then on to the South Pantanal where we stayed on the cattle farm. We were greeted by the Hyacinth Macaw and had Toucans chatting outside our room. The activities brought us close to the animals and birds of the area. We even saw the elusive giant ant eater. Finally, on to Rio where we had three days of tours with knowledgeable guides. And the food in all of the places was amazing. The best ice cream ever was in Puerta Iguazu, and I could live on the Pao de Quejo in Rio as well as the Feijoada. I had looked forward to the coffee and it did not disappoint. We learned about so many other places that we can visit in Argentina and Brazil. I think that it will be in our future.

Our trip was wonderful! We traveled to Porto (City Food and Wine Tour and a day trip to Duro Valley), Sandigo de Compostella (day trip to Galicia) and Lisbon (a day trip to Sintra, Cascais and along the coast) over an 11-day period.
The hotels were all in a great location. The hotels were exactly what we were interested in, small boutique in the city center. Our favorites were Jardim Da Batalha - Porto (wonderful, helpful staff, fabulous breakfast, great location and neighborhood and very quiet room), also The Art Inn - Lisbon (very unique, helpful staff, great location, and wonderful roof top restaurant!
We All our guides and drivers were expectational, on time and professional!
Janelle truly listened, communicated and did an outstanding job helping us coordinate the trip.
Thank you for all your help and guidance. We would highly recommend KimKim

Hotel Reviews

Jardim da Batalha Boutique Hotel by Shiadu

Porto

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Hotel Compostela

Santiago de Compostela

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

The Art Inn Lisbon

Lisboa

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Reviews

A Day to Discover La Costa da Morte: Exploring Fisterra & Beyond

Portugal

We had a great day! The guide/driver did a great job!

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Culinary Highlights of Porto: Food Delights & Bolhão Market

Porto

Great experience and guide

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Douro Valley Highlights: Wine, Olive Oil & River Cruise

Porto

The guide was great - we had a great experience

Quality of Experience

Food

We liked the second vineyard very much! Our lunch on top of the mountain in a small family restaurant was unique and the food and wine was wonderful! We had a great day!

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Exploring Sintra & Cascais: Palaces, Cliffs & Coastline

Lisbon

The guide/driver did a great job! We really enjoyed the day! We really appreciated the walk up to the Palaces via the paths through the gardens - it was a bit of a walk-up hill, therefore not for everyone, but our small group really appreciated it! The only negative was that the tour of the Pena Palace was very crowed, we would have skipped tour of the inside of the Pena Palance and spent more time in Sentra.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Portugal - Important Trip Information: Please Review Before Departure

Portugal

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

This was my third (or was it fourth) excellent trip that was planned by Esther Ruempol with The Eco-Travel Boutique. She is really good at listening as to what you want to see or experience and can come up with things you never knew existed or that you wanted to do.

Mauritius and the Seychelles were excellent and I am already looking into a trip to Zimbabwe planned by The Eco-Travel Boutique.

So if you looking into a trip to almost any part of Southern Africa, and countries off the coast of Africa, like Madagascar, Mauritius and the Seychelles, you should consider reaching out to Esther.

Winnie listened to us and helped build a very special itinerary.

Thais was outstanding and made herself available for us at all hours. Thank you for creating an amazing trip!!

Considering the many flights, shuttles, ferries, hotels, excursions and guides, this was one of the smoothest trips we have ever had! All of our accommodations were exceptional. The guides were knowledgeable and friendly, we really enjoyed them all. There was one though, Foutis was his name, October 8, the 3-7pm walk. It was a great walk in some old neighborhoods with a stop for amazing ice cream. But at the end he said, now I will take you to your dinner reservation. We were surprised by this. We asked who made the reservation and he replied that he did not know. Then he proceeded to take us to a restaurant we had no idea about. It wasn’t the best experience. Just curious if you were aware of this. It all worked out fine.
We all felt our itinerary was a good mix of activities and down time. Even though we missed Paros, we were happy to experience the other side of Milos which someone we had met had suggested that area. We learned a lot about Greek history, culture and landscape. I can’t say I had a favorite island or activity, all were unique and very fun. The food was awesome. There is so much to praise. Thank you so much for all your planning and making this a wonderful trip to remember. And thank you for helping us through the cancelled ferry and change of hotels and all our questions. We would absolutely love to use Kimkim in the future! The whole team was excellent! Thank you so much! I highly recommend you to my friends.

Jorge was very helpful pre-trip and set up the entire itinerary- the highlights of the trip was the Sky pod lodge up in the cliff

Hotel Reviews

Casa Andina Premium Arequipa

Arequipa

Clean, Helpful staff and amazing ambience

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Aranwa Pueblito Encantado del Colca

Arequipa

Clean, Helpful staff and amazing ambience

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Casa Andina Premium Puno

Puno

Absolutely perfect location and amazing Ambience. Great staff and very clean

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Casa Andina Premium Cusco

Cusco

great location and great staff. Very clean and great bar....very clean rooms

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

SkyLodge

Urubamba

Was waiting for this adventure for last 15 years and did not disappoint. Awesome and amazing. Nicely challenging but not impossible

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Reviews

Walking City Tour in Arequipa

Arequipa

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Colca Canyon: From Arequipa to the Colca Valley

Peru

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

The Colca Canyon 2/2: The Condor’s Cross View Point & Journey to Puno

Peru

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Trang was amazing to have as a resource, and our guides for our Ha Giang loop were amazing! Hoay and Luan were our guides. Our guide Liam for the Indochine Cruise was also amazing! Food was great across the board, and we had a very enjoyable time. We appreciate Trang’s hard work, and coordinating everything for us. It made our honeymoon very enjoyable. We loved seeing how beautiful Vietnam was and our accommodations were lovely.

Activity Reviews

Ha Giang Easy Rider - Day 01

Vietnam

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Ha Giang Easy Rider - Day 02

Vietnam

Quality of Experience

The guides

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

They were very lovely and professional, and also very fun guides

Transport

Halong Bay, Overnight on Cruise (Day 2: Indochine Grand Cruise)

Vietnam

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport