Kimkim Trip Reviews for Chile

My wife and I had a wonderful time in Chile. Emilce did an excellent job setting up pick-up times, transfer, flights and hotels. Everything was efficient, and we were able to maximize our time on the trip. We especially enjoyed our stay at La Casona. The winery was beautiful and relaxing. The sommelier was knowledgeable, and the food was delicious. We felt comfortable during our entire trip, and Emilce and her team were responsive to any questions or needs. We would highly recommend kimkim and Emilce and look forward to planning our next trip.

Hotel Review

La Casona at Matetic Vineyards

Lagunillas

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Review

Vinolia: Wine Tasting

Santiago

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Kimkim is reliable Travel agency and Leandro is amazing Travel Agent. We used Kimkim for our trip to Chile, our first trip ever to explore South America.
Leandro is very friendly, knowledgeable and always reachable. He is also very flexible when it comes to customising the trip. We had little issue with the tour operator and Leandro helped us to resolve the issue instantly. Lots of people do not see the value of travel agency and think they are overpriced!! You pay for the convenience and stress-free holiday.
I would always recommend Kimkim and Leandro to all of our friends and would contact them again next time I want to travel and explore other parts of the Earth!
Thank you so much for all your help Leandro! You are super star!

Hotel Reviews

Hotel NOI Casa Atacama

San Pedro de Atacama

Amazing from service, from the room to facility, to the service. Foods and drinks are delicious! Location is amazing (only 5 mins to the main road with lots of bar, restaurants and shops).

Tips for future travelers

Nope

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Hotel NOI Casa Atacama

San Pedro de Atacama

Amazing from service, from the room to facility, to the service. Foods and drinks are delicious! Location is amazing (only 5 mins to the main road with lots of bar, restaurants and shops).

Tips for future travelers

Nope

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Review

San Pedro de Atacama: Moon Valley and Death Valley Excursion

San Pedro de Atacama

Quality of Experience

Capricornio Expediciones has done a great job from communicating to taking care of us during the experience. They are very reliable! And I like them because they did not go behind travel agency back and tried to steal clients from travel agency (by telling us to book straight with them to save 2/3 of the cost).

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Paloma was amazing, she is knowledgeable, responsible, reliable and very energetic. She helped us enjoy the Atacama to the fullest

Transport

On time, easy to communicate, reliable.

We just got back from a week in Chile and could not have done it without Lorena! She was there every step of the way - helping curate the itinerary, updating us on covid protocols and requirements, answering any and all questions and so much more! She made herself so available to us and was extremely responsive and communicative.

As for our trip… it was fantastic! Kind, patient, educative guides and drivers. Everyone went truly above and beyond to make our trip wonderful and memorable. We enjoyed our day trip to Valparaiso and getting acquainted with the history of Santiago. But the highlight of our trip by far was Torres del Paine. We did a beautiful (albeit challenging) hike and saw the beautiful glaciers. I cannot wait to go back and will most definitely be using Kim Kim/Lorena for my future travels.

A million thanks!

Let's start by saying that due to Covid restrictions we could not go to Easter Island. But instead our wonderful local specialist Lorena had us travel to the Lakes region, which we would have never thought of it. It was a beautiful part of Chile where we got to tour lakes and towns around them, up to a volcano. It turned out to be even better thanks to Lorena!! We then toured the south, where we were booked in very nice hotels and tours.
My husband and I have been traveling for the past 20 years, mostly on our own, but after this trip and the attention given us by the specialist, we will continue to travel thru an agency!! I would like to specially mention the special treatment we received from our guide in Santiago, Leonides and in Puerto Varas by Joaquin. They treated us like family and gave us a deep introduction to the country and it's customs.

Lorena understood our travel priorities (more outdoor-oriented) and was very helpful in organizing and navigating the Chilean requirements for travel (Mevacuno) and local testing for return to US. The accommodations and internal travel/transfer options were well laid out. Lorena took extra care to accommodate some late changes and was responsive to all our queries and concerns throughout our travel, including making local flight reservations. Would highly recommend her as your travel consultant/organizer. The only recommendation would be for Kimkim to provide more info about local tour providers/contact numbers so we did not have to rely on Lorena as much.

Lorena was very responsive to our questions and concerns throughout the trip. Very helpful to ensure we had everything we needed. The team in Chile was also prompt and informative.

Top notch! Leandro was very responsive, communicated well, and chose excellent guides for my biking adventure in San Pedro de Atacama. Thanks again!

The trip was truly exceptional. The Amazon is a great adventure for anyone traveling with teenage boys. Our guide Robert was patient and able to help us spot monkeys, sloths, spiders, birds and caimans. The next stop was visiting the Sacred Valley. Our guide Dennis gave us a great foundation in Incan history prior to us heading to Machu Picchu. He made looking at the tiered potato fields interesting by talking about the debunked theories around their existence - such as meteorites and UFOs. We of course went to Machu Picchu with Marcellino - the most patient, fun and informative guide on the planet. And we finished with Arturo and Dennis in Cusco. The chocolate making class is so fun. But ultimately the time I was able to spend connecting with my son was the most valuable part of the trip.

We have never had a travel advisor like Loreena with KimKim. We had many issues with government forms and procedures and Lorenna went way beyond the call of duty for us. Her itinerary for our trip to Chile belongs in the travel hall of fame. 10 stars for her and Kimkim.

Norm and Lynda
Colorado

Our city guide Philllippe was knowlegable, informative and was always there to help with any local questions we had. Fernando, our Andes mountain guide, was very knowledgeable about the mountain however the tour we received (5k trek and hot springs) was not the tour written in the itinerary. Leo, our Santiago driver, was great in understanding all of our city activities. The meal at his home with his wife Gloria was a wonderful experience. Jose provided a well guided tour through Maipo vineyards. Valparaiso was very nice but were hoping for more of a beach experience. Our vineyard stays were a special treat. Matetic had exceptional food/wine pairing and we especially enjoyed the bio dynamic tour of the vineyards given by JP. Casa Silva had a very nice restaurant but was only open for lunch. No other restaurants open for dinner in the area. Thus, one night at Casa Silva would have been enough. Remaining time was on our own and Lorena was very helpful setting up wine tours for us. Overall, we loved our trip and the complete experience.

It took a couple of years to organize this trip because of the pandemic. Serena and Lorena put together an excellent ten day itinerary that introduced us to Argentina Tierra del Fuego and Patagonia.
We spent three night in Ushuaia. This was sufficient time to tour the town and vicinity, visit the prison museum, tour the National Park, cruise the channel and experience the penquins on Martillo Island, and tour the Haberton Ranch.
We spent four nights in El Calafate which was plenty of time to tour the town, visit Perito Moreno glacier (boardwalk and boat tour), boat tour of the other glaciers, and Nibepo Aike ranch, including 3 hour horse back ride.
The next stop was three nights in El Chalten. I was able to trek to the lagoon of Fitz Roy, tour the small town, trek to the lagoon at the base glaciar Huemul and take the boat tour of the nearby lake.
We stayed in the Fuegueno hotel in Ushuaia. It was a nice hotel but noisy at night. Our room was facing the mountains; we had to endure a lot of noise from the street below.
In El Calafate, we stayed at the Kosten Aike. This is a nice hotel but it is noisy at night. After the first night we switched rooms from the street side to the court yard side of the hotel - which was very quiet. The staff is excellent!
In El Chalten, we stayed at the Destino Sur. This was a very pleasant hotel and a grade above the others.
There were a couple of glitches. My transit never showed up at the bus stop in El Chalten. I had a ten minute walk to the hotel. On the transit from El Chalten to El Calafate, the driver stopped for about an hour at the airport outside of town to pick up another passenger, but the passenger was a no show.
Ryan's Travel itinerary was vague. They should provide more detail of the daily activities.

Lorena is excellent. Down the road I am sure that I will use her travel agency again.

I was totally blown away with the service I received from Lorena, she had booked a pre and post cruise plan that was excellent. When the cruise cancelled she got right on making plans to fill in the days, basically she saved the trip and turned it into an excellent adventure last minute. She went above and beyond not only making hotel reservations but everywhere we went a driver was waiting to pick us up and deliver us to our hotel. All tickets and passes were waiting, with never a glitch. There is no way I could of done it without her knowledge of where to go and how to get there. Lorena is definitely an invaluable member of your team. 5 stars are not enough.
Sam and teresa

The trip was amazing, start to finish. We enjoyed every aspect of this trip and felt we had a good mix of city and nature experiences. Santiago, Chile was a welcoming city with beautiful historical landmarks, parks, neighborhoods and museums not to be missed such as Sky Costanera, Cerra San Cristobal, Barrios Bellavista and Lastarria, Museos Chileno de Arte Precolumbino and La Chascona. The views from Sky Costanera and Cerra San Cristobal were eye popping and really gave you a sense of the city largess. The museums were a moving historical and cultural experience. We walked the neighborhoods and used the local subway daily, located safe and convenient from our hotels. The Atacama desert was incredibly beautiful and greatly exceeded our expectations. The guided desert tours with José Miguel Ruiz-Tagle were very well done, the mountains, salt flats, lagunas, geysers, natural flora and fauna made this feel like an other worldly place. Hoteles Altiplanico accommodations were peaceful and the manager Oscar was very helpful. Puerto Natales, the national park tour of Torres del Paine and the full day hike to the base of the Torres were both great outdoor experiences. The hike was not difficult but long at 9.5 hours round trip and definitely requires endurance, strong legs and knees. Mauro, our hiking guide was patient and paced the group well. Hotel Noi Indigo accommodations were perfectly located with incredible mountain views. If we could do it over again, we would have spent more time there. We also visited the beach towns of Valparaiso and Viña del Mar, a great place to find a unique artisan gift, dine overlooking the pacific ocean, and experience the beaches. Loved Buenos Aires, Argentina and the trip to Iguazú Falls, both Argentine and Brazil falls and took a fun boat tour to feel the falls up close. Once there, not hard to understand why this is a Unesco World Heritage site. Buenos Aires was beautiful, very large, impossible to see in the short time we were there and we would love to go back again. Really enjoyed walking the city, the many city parks and mature trees lining the roads. We visited Museo Evita, a great tribute to her societal contributions and place in history, as well as MALBA, Ecoparque, Puerto Madero, Palermo Soho and Hollywood, easy walks from our hotel.
The people of Chile, Patagonia and Argentina were warm and welcoming. Emilce, Clementina and all of our ground support/guides (Jose Miguel, Fernando, Vitor, Natalie, Lauren, Mauro and Vitor) were great, particularly during this period of COVID, helping us navigate the testing, locations and timelines. Go and have fun!

We had an AMAZING time in Chile & Patagonia - Lorena (our kimkim local specialist) got us started with the highlights and helped us customize the trip to a perfect fit. With her guidance we were able to squeeze in spectacular stargazing in the Atacama Desert, living like a local in Santiago, rock climbing and breathtaking views in Patagonia. Whenever we hit small bumps, Lorena was there to smooth things out, making course corrections and ultimately saving us days on our trip. We never could have done all this (three weeks of constant adventure) without the planning and help provided. We've never booked though any sort of travel agent before — and while it was initially a little scary to have someone else in the driver's seat, the ultimate trip was one of the best we've ever done. 🎉🎈💯

Lorena was a super duper help before and during the trip. She was flexible, accommodating, super responsive and very available. She arranged for us to have the best tour guides and we loved the hotel she arranged for us. Everything was the best of the best and would recommend to anyone!

The whole process was easy, and seamless. Everything was done through online communication and the response time was often less than one day. Overall our trip was seamless and the only areas that brought up any concern had nothing to do with the travel planner but more with the Covid situation.

Chile is a wonderful country and we will likely go back there soon. While we enjoyed the trip very much, there were quite a few short comings. I would have planned the trip a lot better myself. Chile is extremely strict on Covid protocols. We appreciate the strictness and made us extremely safe traveling to the country.

We spent couple of days in Santiago, but much of the time was spent sitting in the hotel room. We arrived on Saturday morning. We could not leave the room due to quarantine until about 4pm. Our Santiago tour guide arranged a trip to the city only in the afternoon on Sunday. The Santiago tour guide (local) was nice and the van carrying was very nice. We never got to the see the famed Mercado Central and Mercado La Vega. Out of more than 48 hours spent in the city, our tour guide spent about 4 hours taking us around.

Our trip to Punta Arenas was on Monday, with the flight leaving at 11am. There were flights leaving earlier in the day, but we were only booked on the flight that left later in the day and with a hop. This killed more than half the day.

More wasted time in Puerto Natales. The trip to Balmaceda and Serrano Glacier was supposed to be for a full day (9 hours). But the trip was done within four hours. We never stepped foot on the land anywhere. Overall, lots of time was wasted. For a trip that cost us a lot, we would have used the time better.

Finally, our hike to the base of Torres Del Paine was supposed to be on Thursday initially. This was changed to Friday after we arrived in Chile. We did not want to do the hike to the base as we were not sure we would not have enough time to recover as well as time to take the covid test before hopping back on the flight back to the US. We wish the planning was better.

To our surprise, we never met Lorena, our travel agent. We thought we are meeting with a travel specialist based in Chile, not Houston.

Great Trip to Chile - February

Nicholas helped us to organise a great itinerary in Chile at very short notice due to a change in holiday destination!

During our trip we visited Santiago, Vina del Mar, the Atacama desert and then down to Patagonia;. The tours and guides were all fantastic and we managed to fit a lot in in the 10 days we had available and felt like we had seen a lot of Chile by the end of our trip.

The stand out experiences were seeing the geysers in Atacama, visiting Magdalena Island with the penguins and viewing amazing glaciers in Patagonia.

Nicholas was always extremely helpful and available to answer any questions we had; the expert planning meant that everything went really smoothly - overall a big thumbs up!

Chile is such a vast country that next time we visit we would plan to focus on Patagonia and spend some time hiking in the national parks.

Thank you,
Alice and Andy

This is the 14th day of my isolation. I left Santiago. a city then filled with smiling friendly people going about their chores and lives. to return to a place filled with fear and going deeper in civic shutdown, where some are even being encouraged to tell on one another for alleged breaches of the new normal. And I am so thankful for the ten wonderful days we spent in Chile with all of you looking out for us.

I can truly say that our visit owes much of its magic to the care and thoughtfulness of our handlers and hosts. So I want to thank Maria and Lilia and Across Argentina for planning and organizing our Desert and Wine Tour. Your itinerary and accomodation selections were spot on . The local Tour operators Chile Roads and CI Mundo were very professional and always prompt. The tour guides were very friendly and so very helpful. We learned so much from them all, But I want to especially recognize Nelson Silva, a warm and caring person. We came to appreciate his efforts greatly, In general the tour guides (four guides) were enthusiastic about their work and very knowledgeable Their employers should be very pleased with their work Without the guides and drivers such as these, a tour is empty. And ours were full of life and captivating.

Thank You all Please be sure that you share our gratitude with them all

so here we are
not yet home
but almost with these strange circumstances..........
a big thank you to Vi for organising this trip already last summer
long before Corona hit while we were in Chile
how shall i start
good things first
txs for the arrngments and the support
pucon was good
the climbing was though and guides ( Eduardo ) very helpfull and comprehensive
HuiloHuilo was super
puerto varas was not so good as hotel .... but the Corona was laready there
chiloe we missed ( and this would heve been very far away of Puerto varas to get back on the plane)
but Vi made it work
we stayed one day longer and the left for Santiago just to make shure
we could change the flight tickets with the help of the hotel and backed up efficiently by your emergency nr personel
txs again
renting the car in Europ car is always somehow a desilusion
the car promised was ( of course...) not available
the altenative was not what we had expected
these companies always flaw you one way of the other !
the highway billing system is somewhat crazy
we had no cash when leaving Temuko
so the billed us 5€ for the first 500 m highway as we had to get on the usual way tp Pucon
and around Puerto varas one had to pay every single time we hit the highway
not so expensive but not fair i felt ! at least unexpected
but then again chili is super scenic and very friendly and helpfull people
just this coronoa infection busted it up
txs for having us here
thank you for your dedication Vi !
rgds
rene and chantal on our way out tomorow we hope