Kimkim Trip Reviews for Colombia

Like a few other travelers on here, I just happened upon KimKim while doing research on our trip to Colombia, and I'm so glad I did! Andrea was an awesome travel specialist to work with. She provided great advice on what would be feasible in the time that we had, and was really flexible in changing things around based on our preferences. We even had a hiccup with food poisoning (be very careful with the tap water!) but our local guides and Andrea worked together to make sure we could recover some activities we had to miss. Shout out to Jesus, Juan David, and Yube - we couldn't have asked for better guides in Minca. Having local guides who could share their personal experiences was one of the best parts of the trip. Hotel wise - Casa San Agustin in Cartagena is beautiful, centrally located, and has some of the best service of any hotel I've stayed at. I am already missing Colombia and all of the friendly people we met there. I will definitely be back!

Hotel Review

Hotel Casa San Agustín

Cartagena de Indias

Casa San Agustin is beautifully kept and the location is ideal, but our favorite part of our stay was the staff. Everyone that we met was friendly and eager to help.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

The beds were probably the most comfortable hotel beds I've ever slept in.

Activity Reviews

Rum & Chocolate Tasting

Cartagena

I'm not a huge rum (or alcohol) fan in general, but this experience was worth it because of our host, Jesus. He made the tasting fun and educational!

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Hiking in the Tayrona National Park

Colombia

Yube was an awesome guide - helping us spot all three monkey types and giving us more context on Colombia.

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

This was my first experience with Kimkim. I was honestly blown away by the level of detail in the planning of the itinerary and the level of customisation available. Michael and his team went above and beyond to maintain a channel of communication and provide constant updates and information, at every stage of the trip. If I had any questions or issues, Michael was more than happy to assist- he even checked the entry requirements for the USA before I left Colombia and organised a nurse to come to my hotel to collect a PCR swab.
The highlights of my trip were visiting an organic Coffee farm in Medellin (Observatorio Agroecologico El Cafetal), hiking through Tayrona National park with a very knowledgeable guide and staying at Villa Maria and doing a historical biking tour in Cartagena with Tavo Reyes. I couldn't fault even fault the drivers - everybody was very friendly and accommodating and helped make this trip a memorable experience. Thank you so much :)

Hotel Review

Villa Maria Tayrona, a Kali Hotels

Los Naranjos

This is a beautiful, secluded hotel in the Tayrona National Park area. The staff were extremely friendly and went above and beyond to help with any issues or questions. I had difficulty booking a flight on my iPad and reception staff went out of their way to let me use their computer. It's little things like this that make a huge difference. The cabin itself was beautiful and clean, nestled within the jungle. The hammock was a nice touch! The food from the restaurant was also very tasty. I also loved seeing the resident Macaw interact with the guests. The hotel grounds were also beautifully maintained and there was a private beach located a short walk from the main area.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Secluded

Staff

Extremely friendly and welcoming

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Review

Coffee-Culture Tour

Medellín

This was an awesome experience. The coffee farm was a small, organic, family run farm on the outskirts of Medellin (around the Envigado area). The owner himself conducted the tour and greeted us with cake and freshly brewed cups of locally grown coffee. It was very interesting hearing about the coffee production process, as well as the impact of covid and recent weather events on global production. As a consumer of coffee from a Western country, we often don't consider or understand all of the hard work that goes into growing the trees, harvesting the fruit and processing the beans. We even had the opportunity to plant our own coffee plant seedlings. A very educational experience!

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Thoroughly enjoyed the trip, everything was planned perfectly and Michael was more then accommodating for any last minute alterations that we had.

Hotel Review

BH Bicentenario

Bogotá

Authenticity & Character

No

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Review

Bogotá Walking Tour

Bogotá

Our tour guide luis was awesome

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Thanks to Margoth my trip to Colombia was more than amazing! It was my first time traveling solo and after my experience I would’ve done it again & again. Thanks to all the team and especially to Margoth who made this an experience of a lifetime.

This was our first time leaving the country since the pandemic and we were very nervous about travel restrictions. There were a number of things that did not go as planned with flight cancelations and delays that affected our vacation. All things out of Kim Kim's control. Michael sprung into action and made adjustments to extend our vacation, reorganized our activities and contacted the hotels and vendors. His help was priceless. Michael worked to ensure we had a wonderful, stress-free, dream vacation.

Cartagena is a vibrate city with beautiful art and delicious foods. Having the guide and driver made getting around easy and gave us insights into the city that we would not have known.

Picturing ourselves at Punta Faro in our Bungalow or on the private beach sipping a margarita is now our mental escape. I cannot describe how relaxing this experience was, I can still hear the waves, feel the sun, and smell the sea salt water.

Amazing trip and customer service. Our family of 3 had the most incredible 9 days in Colombia - split between Cartagena, Tayrona and 4 days hiking the Ciudad Perdida trail. Margoth fielded my numerous questions in advance patiently and graciously! And then once there we were still able to reach out and make tweaks to our itinerary. We ended up catching a bug on our penultimate day, and Margoth and team had the driver show up with gatorade and extra hydrating drinks. So thoughtful! We would love to return to Colombia and will definitely use Margoth and team again. Absolutely loved Colombia and its people. We felt totally safe and it was so relaxing to have everything set up front (drivers, guides, restaurant reservations) so we could just sit back and enjoy!

The trip plan was great. Andrea made sure to provide us with a real taste of the cities and country sides of her beautiful country. The Guides in all locations were knowledgeable friendly and accommodating. We would recommend such a trip to many of our friends.

Hotel Review

BOG Hotel

Bogotá

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Review

The Salt Cathedral & Zipaquirá

Colombia

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Went with some girlfriends to visit another friend in Columbia. I was unsure about an online travel agency but KimKim and Michael had very good service. Our 2 main guides and all the transfers were also good.

We had some changes with another person being added after to our original plan. We also had to change the last hotel on our itinerary on the fly but I realize this was our fault as we told Michael that our friend was in Santa Marta while she was really was in Minca. So we changed on the fly to spend an extra night in Tayrona instead of Santa Marta and have a relaxing day, but of course it was too late for a refund on our last hotel.

I don't think we were quite prepared for the "night bug" situation in the Colombian jungle (i.e. you must go to bed early and turn off all the lights if you don't like giant insects!) and if I knew I would have gone for hotels with both A/C (better sealed rooms) and mosquito netting. Strangely by coincidence, our hotel in Minca was down the road from our friend ... but the "night bug" situation was rather terrifying even with the mosquito netting (although I don't think there are any fancier hotels in Minca). I think our original hotel in Tayrona had AC + netting but we had to change once we added another person to our trip. Our plans were not done far in advance so I would advise any people with similar insect fears to get the nicest hotels possible with A/C + mosquito nets. If you have no compelling reason to stay in Minca I would stay in Santa Marta and do the day trips to Minca instead, and enjoy the bug free nights and hot water in Santa Marta :)

Tayrona National Park was beautiful but we weren't prepared for the exertion of hiking 14 km total in searing heat. We really enjoyed the bird-watching and coffee farm in Minca.

In Santa Marta, I could have skipped the city tour and spent the day at one of the nicer beaches outside the city ... we still managed a half day at the beach which was lovely.

Based on the experience I would definitely use KimKim again.

Hotel Reviews

Casa de Isabella, a Kali Hotel

Santa Marta

Very close to tourist / restaurant area downtown. Has a nice little lounge and tiny pool area. Breakfast is okay although not amazing. Rooms are fine, good hot water.

Tips for future travelers

It's noisy downtown so bring earplugs.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Sweet Harmony by Xarm Hotels

Minca, Magdalena

We mainly stayed here because our friend lives in Minca very close to this hotel. However, we were terrified of the bugs at night and went to bed early with the lights off to keep them away. Room was very stuffy with the doors closed. No hot water or lukewarm water depending on which room. Some room's had no frosted glass on bathroom and was totally visible to hotel guys who were digging a trench in the morning (so she couldn't take a shower in the morning).

CASA BAMBÚ

Los Naranjos

Only 8 huts so you may get the pool to yourself. Good food although portions too large. Very nice staff. When we went - end of April - loads of beetles come out and are attracted to light once it got dark. Makes sitting outside impossible after about 7:30 pm (unless you have no bug phobia). Light in room may also attract beetles so we all went to bed early and stayed in bed in the dark, looking at our phones. Would give hotel 5-stars if there was mosquito netting in room and a screened area outside where we could hang out without being attacked by beetles.

Activity Reviews

Hike Tayrona National Park

Tayrona National Park

Very difficult on a hot, humid day. We didn't realize it involved such a long hike to get to a swimmable beach. Beach did not have much shade. Would be more enjoyable on a cooler day. Long wait for entrance tickets (although tour guide did that and we got to wait in van).

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Birdwatching in Minca

Minca

Nice quiet area, our guide found lots of birds including Toucans. They give you binoculars if you don't have any.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Our family of 5 had an awesome trip to Colombia with the help of Felipe and the arrangements we made through kimkim. Felipe made the planning process easy by suggesting an itinerary and being very responsive to changes I requested before we finalized. Alba, our guide in Medellin, made us feel like family from the moment we arrived. Diva was also terrific for our time in Santa Marta and Tayrona. Staying in historic Cartagena was fun for the kids, and Eduardo was a very informative guide. The drivers were great and it was so nice to have all the domestic travel arrangements taken care of for us. We also appreciated the restaurant reservations, and all the help we got with needs that arose during the trip. We would all love to go back to Colombia, and if we do we will definitely book through Felipe and Margoth again.

We had a wonderful trip to Colombia, and working with KimKim/Chaska Tours made the planning very easy. Michael listened to all my requests, and his expertise ensured we had some really interesting experiences that I would never have known to look for when planning the trip myself. I still feel like I played a part in the planning of the trip, but I didn't have to worry about making sure everything was booked as it was all done for us. KimKim also has a wealth of resources which helped with the planning process. Overall, I feel we got a really good feel for Colombia, and learned a lot about the country and it's history from our amazing guides.

Hotel Review

Villa Maria Tayrona, a Kali Hotels

Los Naranjos

Really enjoyed our stay here. Very comfortable, and a cool experience. Our hut was isolated off in the trees, so it felt very secluded and peaceful, and we really loved the hammock. The food and drink options were good. Overall, one of our favourite hotels of the trip because it was different and a unique experience.

Tips for future travelers

I would give yourself a day to enjoy the beautiful surroundings and the pool/spa/beach.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Review

Tour of Guatapé

Medellín

Really beautiful area to visit, and Guatape is a neat little town to walk around. Would definitely recommend this excursion if you're visiting Medellin.

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Great experience! Emilce listened to all my needs and surpassed all our expectations!!

Once in Colombia, the tours were fascinating and the guides even better.

Highly recommend

I had such an amazing time! Everything was so well organized, I didn’t have to think about anything other than showing up. Our guides were so sweet and made every effort to make sure we were okay. Michael planned an awesome trip, one I will never forget!

Booking my tour through kimkim, made my travel to Colombia worry free. I just told them what my interest were, and they came up with a plan the suited my requests.

Hotel Review

Hotel Kartaxa Cartagena

Cartagena

Loved the hotel and the location. Friendly and helpful staff

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Review

Visit Cocora Valley, Coffee Farm & Salento

Salento

Hiking in the cloud forest was the highlight of my trip.

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

One of the BEST, most incredible trips of my life!! Huge huge thanks to Andrea, who took such wonderful care of me, and carefully planned everything, taking into account my preferences and feedback, and was always available and in contact to help with anything. It was so much fun to meet up with Wendy as well, one of the other planners. Both Andrea and Wen were incredibly kind, and all of the guides were also phenomenal (Edgar, Johan, Roberto). I had a fantastic time in Medellín (especially Comuna 13), Guatapé, Minca, Tayrona, Barú, and Cartagena. From hiking and forests and waterfalls, to swimming in the Caribbean, to relaxing and eating wonderful food in amazing hotels, to meeting and laughing with lovely people, everything about the experience was amazing. I’m a vegetarian (which can be very difficult in South America), but they took very good care of me. I’m incredibly grateful to the KimKim team and all their partners, and hope that I have a chance to come back to Colombia. I could go on forever about how great it was. Gracias por todo :)

Hotel Review

Sofitel Baru Calablanca

Cartagena

Incredible hotel. Super private, wonderful pools and access to the Caribbean, amazing food and spa.

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Reviews

The City of The Eternal Spring & Comuna 13

Medellín

Amazing city tour with Edgar, really loved walking thru Comuna 13 with him, and generally just chatting.

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Minca: Explore a paradise in the mountains

Colombia

Amazing experience with Johan, hiking up thru a forest to waterfalls

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Hiking in the Tayrona National Park

Colombia

Incredible day with a loooong hike thru Tayrona but super worth it for the scenery and the beaches at the end of the route. Amazing stuff, loved going with Johan

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Mountain Bike Experience in Turbaco

Cartagena

Really fantastic, unique experience with Roberto. Biking up the hills in Turbaco was tough but the views and the ride were exhilarating.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

We made a last minute decision to go on a trip to Colombia. We had very specific interests and goals and Michael's service made it easy to customize our itinerary. Communicating through WhatsApp was quick and efficient and all our questions and changes were answered promptly. The pre-trip information was detailed and organized. It would have been nice to see a breakdown of expenses as opposed to a lump sum payment. We have travelled extensively through Central and South America and feel the prices were reasonable. The accommodations, guides, and transportation chosen for us were of top notch quality and the professionalism and expertise of our leaders were evident. We never felt unsafe and would definitely use and recommend KimKim for future trips.

Hotel Review

Mundo Nuevo Eco Lodge

Santa Marta

This location is just so unique. SUBLIME. It is called an EcoLodge and it does try to live up to this image--the delicious vegetarian meals, the connection to the local indigenous community, and the ambiance and proximity to the natural environment. The interactive social setting in the dining area added to the travel experience. Though it is very remote, we still had access to modern conveniences such as Wifi, warm showers, and filtered water. In fact, it was the only lodge that we stayed at that had potable water in our rooms.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Constant cleaning and maintenance was evident

Activity Review

Birdwatching Tour in Minca

Minca

Our bird guides were extremely knowledgeable about the local endemic birds of the Santa Marta area. They were able to find, identify, and communicate the various bird sightings with us during the hikes. We appreciate the ethical way in which the outing was conducted and didn't feel like nature was being impacted for the sake of the tourists.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

My husband and I had an amazing trip to Colombia through Chaska Tours this past month! We knew that going on our honeymoon right after the wedding would be a lot of planning stress, but Micheal took care of all the logistics. We were able to coordinate with the team to ensure that we fit everything important to us on our trip and made requests for hotels we really wanted to check out, and then they took care of all the logistics. Every drive from the airport pickup to transfers across the northern coast was taken care of and every driver was punctual, if not early, but flexible to our needs. We also had three different tours that Chaska organized for and every guide was so incredibly knowledgeable, whether it was identifying Cartagena landmarks, explaining the medicinal and traditional uses of various forest growths, or identifying and calling to the endemic birds of the region. We felt the tours that were lined up through Chaska all enriched our trip and left plenty of time for solo exploring/beachside relaxation. We are so glad we booked our trip this way and would recommend to anybody planning a big trap.

I just happened upon KimKim in trying to figure out what to do on our Colombia trip.

We were randomly assigned Andrea as our KimKim Consultant and Colombia local expert.

We hit the lottery of travel agents! Having Andrea as our consultant was like having an old friend giving us all the best recommendations, everywhere we went!

Andrea arranged all the details of our trip! We had great guides and drivers in Bogota, Medellin & Cartagena. The tours were professionally organized and really great. The logistics were all streamlined and detailed, and nothing was missing anywhere along the way.

Some highlights for us (Andrea arranged):
1. Bogota Fruit Market Tour- Maria was an absolute subject matter expert! She was so passionate about everything she did, and we loved it!
2. Medellin- Andres was an amazing tour guide and took us to amazing sights.
3. Cartagena- Juan was great taking us to Baru and the Rosario Islands!

I can't recommend Andrea more. She was always available on Whats App, and went above and beyond to serve our needs.

Thanks Andrea for being amazing!

Overall, Michael was very responsive, with a diverse and exciting itinerary, and would use him again!

The company, Chaska Tours, that they used for the actual services in Colombia I would give 3.5 stars. For the money that was paid, I would have expected fewer problems.
1. Driver was not ready for pickup at first airport
2. Wrong and worse hotel during one part of the trip
3. One not so good tour guide and one average one. One excellent one and one good one.
4. Missed a flight bc of traffic (not their fault, but made the rest of the itinerary very difficult)

What an amazing trip! I found kimkim through a random google search and their tour options interested me-but especially the customization. After figuring out the details with the representative I had an exciting trip to look forward to.

I visited Bogota, Pereira region, a nice hike around Corcora along with a visit to Salento, Medellin, Guatape Day trip to hike up la Piedra rock for beautiful views, Cartagena, Minca and finally Palomino over a two week period. The accommodations selected for my budget were nice and in the large cities, centrally located. Every driver was professional and Michael booked knowledgeable and friendly guides as necessary. Luis in Bogota was wonderful and told me more than I could possibly remember about the city, the gold museum, etc. Tito was very friendly and helpful at my stay in the coffee region, Jose in Medellin was helpful despite my late arrival (he stayed until I got to the hotel and since it was too late for the planned city tour he recommended me places to visit and restaurants to eat at), Cristian found some wonderful toucans in Minca, my guide in Cartagena was wonderful but his name escapes me, and then Palomino was relaxed beach time on my own. The driver's were also great with Diego in Pereira, Emerson around the Cartagena (plus transport to Minca) and the others I can't recall.

Colombia is a beautiful country you need to see for yourself to believe! Gorgeous scenery, delicious food, friendly people, there is so much to see and do. I almost wish I could keep it a secret so it does not become overrun with even more tourists :).

My only suggestion is maybe offer different vendors for the Guatape trip. A boat trip is pretty unnecessary as all you do is sit on the boat for an hour. I would have preferred to have that extra hour in Guatape because it is such a beautiful little town. Aside from that, no complaints!

Thank you for such a wonderful trip!

My husband and I had a wonderful trip to Colombia. We visited Bogota, Medellin, Santa Marta and Cartagena in our 9 day trip. Andrea, our local Colombian specialist was extremely resourceful and thoughtful in planning out the itinerary customizing it to our liking. We were making this trip to celebrate our 5th wedding anniversary and Andrea ensured we were treated to a surprise in every location! From upgrading us to a suite in a high end hotel, to a surprise beach picnic lunch with wine, to having chocolate-covered strawberries and roses in our room, we were delighted :)

Colombia as a country for sightseeing is underrated. With such breath-taking landscapes, beautiful weather, wonderful people, we loved Colombia for all that it had to offer,
Kim Kim through its association with local travel agencies in Colombia, not only made us feel safe and gave a true local experience but also help the community by giving them job opportunities.

All our travel guides and drivers were fantastic. Bogota was fun with Rosita, we had a 4 hr city tour but got a great glimpse of what the city had to offer. Medellin with Maria was excellent . Santa Marta with Yubelis was exceptional. We stayed the longest in Santa Marta and was probably our favorite city amongst all that we visited. Marlon and Tavo in Cartagena were wonderful as well.

Couple of recommendations from our experience:
We wish KimKim does better by having fluent English speaking guides, some guides/drivers were not proficient and barely beginners in English speaking and that made conversations and experience very difficult. While we appreciated their efforts, but communication was almost impossible.

We traveled in times of Covid. Although arrangement of testing and receipt of test were seamless, we wish KimKim had informed us of the costs upfront. We had assumed it was covered in the overall quote they mentioned and we paid. This came as a surprise and was the need of the hour that we didnt account for. We managed but budgeting can be tricky for many.

Overall we enjoyed the experience working with KimKim and loved Colombia! I would highly recommend friends and family to use KimKim and work with Andrea. She was with us every step of the way ensuring we had a great time. I was lucky to have met her in person in Colombia! She even gifted us a keepsake when we met.