Kimkim Trip Reviews for Argentina

Overall we had a really positive experience using KimKim. As two people who don't speak much Spanish, we found their services to arrange tours and transportation to be a huge benefit in making our travel throughout Argentina easier. We were thankful for Virginia's responsiveness and recommendations.
We especially loved El Chalten and Los Glaciares National Park. We only had one small tour/transportation hiccup but Virginia responded right away and came up with a solution quickly.

This is my first time using the services. I had Virginia as my agent and I was very happy with her. Things were planned last minute and somehow everything worked out. My highlight was the stay at the Mercure Hotel in Iguazu. I did not do any research at all and I was blown away. Thanks Virginia and KimKim for making dreams come true!!!

Emilce was very responsive and gave us great service. The trip itself was very enjoyable. the only wrinkle was that we had expressed an interest in hiking anddespite the fact the south of Argentina has lots of great hiking, the "hiking experiences" were mostly bus rides to scenic places.

Both Axel (who handled planning before we left) and Jesus (who helped with logistics and last minute changes once we arrived) from On The Go were fantastic - always super responsive, flexible and keen to make our trip absolutely perfect for us. Despite our regular flip-flopping in terms of requests!

Our trip to Argentina was absolutely fantastic - hotels, day-trips and logistics were all wonderful. Using Kimkim and On The Tour made everything very straightforward and we benefitted from excellent local knowledge. The overall price was also very reasonable.

I wouldn’t hesitate in recommending to others.

I loved the visit to Iguazu falls from both Brazil and Argentina sides and the Tango night show which introduced me to Argentinian culture. The tour guides Gustavo and Maria on the Iguazu trip were phenomenal. Muchas Gracias

Macarena did a wonderful job of working with us to get our trip to Buenos Aires and Ushuaia just perfect for our family. While we enjoy taking tours, we like to have free time to wander. Macarena was able to give us the perfect amount of both.

Each day we had some free time to wander, or relax from our tours. We thoroughly enjoyed Laura on our BA and Tigre tours. She was informative, helpful, and delightful to spend time with. Highly recommend her.

While we would have never booked the Argentine Cooking experience or the Tango lesson and dinner, we were so happy Macarena put those in for us. It was great dining with travelers from around the globe, learning about the culture, food, mate, tango, etc. So happy they were included in our itinerary.

And while it was fun exploring BA, we thoroughly enjoyed being in Ushuaia. What a fabulous place. The highlight of our trip was the penguin boating adventure. The weather was absolutely perfect and it was wonderful seeing the landscape of Argentina and Chile.

The tour of Tiera del fuego park was great fun. And we were glad to have a personal guide. She was great! So informative, accommodating and professional. Felt like we really clicked with her.

We loved the Arakur Spa and Resort. Sitting and looking out the windows at the bay and town below was wonderful. Each afternoon we would go to the pool area and hang out. It was great fun being outdoors with the wind blowing, but warm in the pool.

There were some issues with Arakur, though. We were in Ushaia while it was very warm, and the AC did not seem to work in any of our rooms. We kept asking about it, but they told us "it is very slow." I would have preferred them to tell us "we really don't have AC, so it is best to open the windows," which we did open the windows.

Also, we ate at the lobby bar each day for lunch and service was extremely slow. I understand relaxing and not being rushed, but the service was terribly slow. Food at the lobby bar, restaurant and New Year's Eve gala was fabulous!!!

The new year's eve party was loads of fun. A great way to start the new year and decade.

Additionally, Macarena was on vacation during our trip, so Ludi stepped in and made sure we had everything we needed once we arrived in Argentina. The change from one agent to the next was seamless.

Highly recommend both!
Great time!

Wonderful! Plain and simple, our trip to Argentina met and exceeded my expectations. The planning and the execution was nearly perfect. The guides could not have been more informative and accommodating. Gabie, in Bariloche was simply amazing! Her background and knowledge was very impressive. In summary........Viva Argentina!

We just returned home from a 10 day trip to Argentina, visiting Buenos Aires, Bariloche, and Mendoza. From the beginning to end, starting with the planning, guides, accommodations, and even to our drivers who could not speak English but smiled trying, it was a memorable experience.
Thank you.

The trip to Argentina was incredible! Such convenience of having all of our transport coordinated for us. We loved the tango dinner show experience and our tour of Buenos Aires was fantastic. They accommodated the needs of my kids by scheduling us an earlier dinner tango show and a van service for our city tour which made sightseeing much easier for our family. Everything coordinated for us in Iguazu was excellent as well. I really liked Say Heque which was the tour company in Argentina that they used. Our tour guide Laura was friendly, warm, knowledgeable, and her English was perfect. I really liked the games and kid facts she incorporated into the tour. My only suggestion for improvement for Kim Kim and for Mery would be that they should recommend “kid friendly” itineraries and time schedules from the beginning...I really had to specifically ask for this rather than our agent suggesting things from the start. My experience using in Kim Kim for my trip in Ecuador was different in the sense that right from the start they made sure we had everything booked that was kid appropriate. No big deal this time around, as Mery was happy to help and was very flexible, and overall everything was excellent!!! Thank you!

Considering how packed our schedule was for this trip, things ran smoothly. Service by Marcela in Buenos Aires was amazing. Thank goodness for her because we didn't know about the weight limits in our carry on to fly to El Calafate. Tour around Buenos Aires with Nicolas was fun. It was nice that we were the first to get picked up so we could talk about other things that interested us about Argentina
There was a small hiccup when we got to El Calafate and nobody was there to pick us up. It seems like someone missed our reservation entirely since our hotel was also closed for business when we got there. Luckily, another hotel owned by the same company was available for us.
Tours and service after that was great. Noelia was with us during our tour to Perito Moreno. We loved she had lots of information about the area for us.
Private Service from Puerto Natales was a bit scary sometimes. A three hour long trip was done in two hours and 15 minutes. We were going FAST!
When we got to Santiago, the driver was not waiting where we were told. He didn't know he had to wait for us there. All got sorted after I called.
Hotel in Santiago was super convenient. Perfect way to finish; close to parks and restaurants.
We liked that we had a combination of full service hotels to smaller boutique ones. We liked that for the most part things were confirmed for us by Say Hueque before we had to do so.
Thank you Mery for helping us plan this amazing trip!

The entire kimkim team was fantastic! We had several flight delays and changes and could not have been more impressed by the support provided by Mery, our drivers and our tour guides to quickly and seamlessly resolve any issues with the airlines. Knowing we had a team behind us we could depend on was an added bonus.

Our guide, Manuel, in Iguazu was terrific!

I cannot recommend kimkim enough and will reach out to the group first as we begin planning or next journey.

Martin at KimKim, for the last year, has been dealing with your July Eclipse trip to Argentina 2019. He was always helpful with his replies and bookings we needed to change, I even got to call him once which was great to hear someone's voice, not just typing, sometimes you just need to chat to make sure we understand each other.
This was our first time using KimKim and not the last! Argentina was a wonderful experience and we'll be back!

Thank you again for making this one of the most memorable trips!

regards

Marie & Doug from Canada

Dear Martin,
Thanks again for this wonderful trip! Back home, we wish w're back there.

We had issues, but you were there, to get everything right.

Day by day we will review the trip.

Day 1: we had to call you for the car. The changed flight schedule was not known by the car rental company.
For one night it's better to stay in a different hotel or hosteria, because we had the feeling that this was a one-person room.

Day 2: beautiful stay

Day 3: we visited La Garganta del Diablo and the Humahauaca (14-colors mountain).

Day 4: beautiful stay. To buy the extra fuel is not necessary. In Antofagasta is a new fuel station.

Day 5: please mention to others that de Puna de Atacama (Dieserto du diable - seita curvas) is really spectucalar.

In Tolar Grande, maybe you have heard, we were in a beautiful hosteria (Casa Andina), the same name as you mentioned in the detailed information. Because we didn't have any addresses and this is mentioned on Internet we thought we were in the correct place to stay. This hosteria is in line with the previous hotels.
Unfortunately we had to go to a basic stay. Maria was very friendly.

In Tolar Grande there are two places for dinner. You have to step in on the time the miners go for dinner and you have to eat the daily menu.

Day 6: please skip this extra day in Tolar Grande and add this to Antofagaste.
Laguna Santa Maria is far away and the road was washed away on several places. To dangerous because of the rental car. We turned.

Day 7: we drive an awesome route (via Antofalla)

Great stay in Antofagasta (wonderful). To get fuel is easy, because there is a new fuel station.

You can add 2 more nights to stay here because there are a lot of attractions.

Day 8: Campo de Piedra Pómez is awesome.
You arrive after sunset in Tafi del Valle. It's a long trip.

Dag 9 - 11: -

Dag 12: After visiting quebrada de las conchas (amphitheater at last), make the return to Cachi. It was better to stay in Cachi for the night because the drive from Salta via Cafayate to Quebrada de las Flechas was far too long (tarde tarde).

Day 13: Yungas trekking was awesome, very friendly guide, great lunch. We prefer to stay in this village, Villa San Lorenzo instead of Salta.

Day 14: This trip was far too long. We had only a quick stop in Cafayate and in Cachi. Visiting Puente del Diablo was not possible because this point is after sunset. We arrived in San Antonio de los Cobres at 9.30pm. Driving after sunset in the mountains is heavy (don't thin at thime that something could happen).

Day 15: short drive to Salta. In the afternoon we've visited the Teléfirico.

Day 16: unfortunately the guide wasn't there. No hike for that day.

Day 17: plan this trip with a stay in Cachi.

Day 18: -

Day 19: Eclipse Day!

Day 20: as complimentary we got an extra stay in San Juan (you offer it for free on January, 24th) . This hotel was oké, but we don't recommend it to others. We had to pay for the night.

Day 21: We would advise, depending on the flight schedule, to book a hotel closer to the airport.
We had to leave at 5.30am. No breakfast at that time.

Flight Mendoza - Buenos Aires - Rio de Janeiro - Amsterdam (day +1)

Day 21: Delev

KimKim was the easiest travel experience I have ever had! All I had to do was give a rough idea and BOOM! out came a perfectly planned vacation. Not only was all the heavy lifting done by KimKim and Erin, but it was our most affordable option with all the companies we looked at. They were so accommodating to changes and provided excellent documentation prior to traveling.

Patagonia was my first experience with KimKim, but I can assure you it will not be my last. Highly recommend and thank you to the KimKim team for a great experience!

We loved every minute of it. If we had had more time, we would have like to get to know Buenos Aires a little better, but the time we had there was amazing. The Tango Show was excellent! Florencia was our tour for the city tour in BA and she was sooooooo knowledgeable. I believe she is a history teacher and she is an excellent teacher. Our favorite part may have been Mendoza, in part because Jael, our guide, and Carlos, our driver, became like friends and we enjoyed being with them immensely. Jael knew so much and helped us both with our Spanish. The lodging there was particularly memorable.....a winery with spa accommodations. Santiago was excellent as well.....our city and Valparaíso guide, Manual, was good, but my niece “adopted” our driver, Ramon. It was a truly memorable experience from start to finish and we can’t thank Axel enough for putting it together for us!

Positive experiences:
Good price, very good destinations, good internal flight arrangements, except one bad experience good airport pickups and transfers. Excellent arrangements and quality of lunches and dinners. Responses from Carla were very prompt, and Martin’s were generally good.

Negative:
Failure of my transport at Rio was very disturbing and that was a bad start.
While the hotels were all four star rated, Dione of them were below our expectations and well below what we had experienced with other tour operators.
Some of the tour guides were not knowledgeable and did not provide any real information. Our first guide to Petropolice was a disaster and wasted our time at the unscheduled half day stop at a beer factory.
Some of the visits were not good, such as the Conchita winery I n Santiago. We just saw the cellar and the house and no wine making process. There is a scope to improve.

The first stop in Brazil was not good as the hotel was below par. It was very disappointing to see the hotel lobby.

It was a very planned trip and the transfers were seamless. The kayaking guides Carlos and Polina were outstanding, affable and provided great service and kept us safe. Well done team!

The trip was very well planned and all the complicated connections came off as smooth as a babies butt. Hosteleria Cuernos tent situation was the only bummer of the whole trip. They put us in a tent immediately adjacent to the large tent housing the staff for this site. The staff stayed up until one in the morning laughing loudly singing talking and keeping the exhausted travelers up. Someone needs to let them know that we are supporting their livelihood and their behavior is extremely rude and uncaring for their guests.

Hassle-free setup and really responsive support from Emily and Erin. If we were to replay the experience, I would have built in more downtime to the itinerary, as well as taking time for stuff in between the iconic sights and stops that Patagonia offers (which are, to be fair, spectacular). The guides that we had for all the trips and excursions were really great: personable, enthusiastic, knowledgeable.