Kimkim Trip Reviews for Colombia

Laura and Natalia were our travel coordinators.
Many emails were exchanged and many questions were asked and they responded with their knowledge and experience. We were a group of 2 couples requesting specific experiences. The vehicles used were in good condition , clean and comfortable. The guides were informative , flexible and punctual. In particular Victoria, our guide in Bogota was able to gauge our interests and adapted the tours accordingly. Taking us to good restaurants and joining us for meals to help us order authentic Colombian dishes. In Cali, Natalia our young Colombian guide was excellent and passionate about showing us her hometown , she gave us a history lesson and made it fun.
Overall, the trip was well planned and organised.
A tip, be very specific and explanatory about the type of experience you want so that Kimkim can match you with the best guides and tours and the style of hotels.

Congratulations to all your people of the Kim Kim team in Columbia. First we mention Nathalie. She did a great job from the beginning to the end. She was everytime absolutly accurate and punctual.
Every question from or side has been answered immediately and correct. She found an incredible crew in all the places we visited. Every guide and all the translators have done an excellent job. And also the drivers - what is not the easiest job on Columbian roads!

Whenever we come back to Columbia, we will certainly join again Kim Kim an of course Nathalie!!!

Our tour of Eje Cafetero was much, much better than expected. Juan Diego Giraldo was the most knowledgeable, professional, and polite guide we have ever had. He answered our many questions thoroughly and thoughtfully. His vast knowledge of Colombia, biodiversity, the regions was evident. Yuliana was very professional and knowledgeable, as well. Thank you kimkim! We will be sure to contact you again when we need a new tour of somewhere exciting, though our trip to Colombia will be a tough act to follow. Colombia is amazing,

Excellent trip. Hotels were well selected, transfers were all in decent cars and activities all went to plan. Medellin for me was the best location with Salento a close second.

Every aspect of our trip was spectacular. Laura and the kimkim team did an amazing job both on the ground and before our trip to make it simply unforgettable. All of our guides were wonderful including our drivers. I would definitely recommend and use kimkim again for future holidays.

Excellent. Thanks.

Chio was very responsive and accommodating. This was our first time to Colombia so it was great to obtain his guidance and recommendations. All of our booked guides were professional, knowledgeable and fun! Our favorite parts of the trip included the cooking class in Cartagena, the hike in Tayrona and our glamping stay in Minca. I would definitely recommend booking with Chio and KimKim if its your first time to Colombia. Having the accommodations and transportation booked for you in advance was a must! It added a lot of ease to the trip. Can't wait to go back!

Nuestro conductor el señor Eider Zuleta fue la mejor compañía que nos pudieron ofrecer. Siempre estuvo muy atento de nuestras necesidades. En Neyva nos encontramos conque no tenían planeado el hecho de que pedimos guías que hablaron inglés pues mi esposo no habla español. Nos pusieron una traductora que en realidad no manejaba mucho el idioma.
En San Agustin los guías el hotel y todo el servicio en general fue excelente al igual que en Popayán.
En Cali nada de lo que estaba establecido en el plan se cumplió. El hotel excelente pero nada más. los guías son personas poco preparadas. El tour de la ciudad fue bastante limitado y no nos llevaron a ver las mariposas u otros lugares emblemáticos que estaban planeados.
La clase de salsa no la vimos y el club al que nos deberían de llevar fue cambiado por otro lugar horrible en el nos tocó a nosotros pagar la entrada pues según el guía está no estaba incluida. La verdad este tipo de cambios no deberían de hacerse y mucho menos el llevar turistas a un sitio que da miedo.
Al siguiente día en cali fue igual nos llevaron a la hacienda y después nos dejaron en el aeropuerto tres horas antes de nuestro vuelo. En el plan dice que ese día el almuerzo estaba incluido pero Natalia que era la organizadora en Cali dijo que ella no estaba informada de esto así que al final nadie respondió.

Thank you for putting a terrific wonderful outstanding vacation for us. It was one to remember forever.
The team was amazing. From a birthday cake for our son, to cold water bottles delivered unexpectedly in the middle of a hot Santa Marta tour, even loaning me money until I found an atm, the team is exceptional. The best. I highly recommend them.

This was our first time using kimkim and I am very happy we did! We made a short fuse decision to tack on a family vacation to my business trip to Colombia, and Chio put together a great itinerary for us on very short notice (less than 2 weeks). Responses were prompt and we didn't have any issues during our 10 day vacation.

Highlights of the trip for us include the private graffiti tour in Bogota with Anna, Guatape day visit near Medellin and the cooking class in Cartagena. But all of it was great. We all really loved Bogota and Medellin the most. Cartagena old town was beautiful but a bit too hot and touristic for us.

My only complaint was that it was probably more than we needed to spend, but that's on me since I didn't allow time for back and forth planning/optimization. We had private transport to go almost everywhere, but it was easy enough to get around by secure taxi. Oh...and the Hotel Du Parc in Medellin had the smallest water heater ever and we could only get one shower at a time. All small things. Overall we had a fabulous family vacation in a country that I never had really thought about visiting. We all loved Colombia!

Lisa

Fabio and John were both great and easy to travel with.

I traveled with my two boys 10 and 12 years old, we visited Bogotá, Sta Marta, Tayrona, Cartagena, Isla Baru and Cali, everything was so smoth transportation always on time, accommodations, Tayrona trip with the guide, Wilson was excellent my boys learned so much, in regards of organizing our intynery? Laura was always patient, worked with our budget, and always very professional and understanding of our needs. I definitely recommended it.
Ligia
Louisiana, USA

Nathalie planned my vacation experience in Colombia perfectly. Not only was she flexible with my changes but she was also very understanding. From the tour guides to the transportation, everything worked out perfectly and I had no issues getting around since she was able to plan what I needed. I would highly reccommend anyone going to Colombia to use Nathalie if they're unsure as to what to do. Thank you for everything!

We had a fabulous time in Columbia. Cami did a super job in setting up
the middle part of our week, which I think was so successful because of the several conversations we had on kimkim.

We were picked up promptly by our driver, Luis. I know he was called in late, as our our original driver was unable to. My one concern was that he had driven through the night to get us and we had a 6-7 hour drive ahead of us. In spite of that, he was a very cautious driver, talked with us, stopped when we needed to, or when we had to though out the construction zone. I learned much from him about Columbia and never felt in danger.

We arrived late to Hacienda Venecia, but still took lunch and had a very informative tour of the coffee farm by Johan. Again, we learned a lot and he was most generous with his time.

We loved this place and wished we would have had more time there, if only to watch the birds! Just beautiful and the accommodations and staff very nice.

Milton and Victor picked us up promptly in the morning for our trip up to Nevada. Milton gets an A+ in my book. He has a broad and deep knowledge of the region and was eager to share that with us. The paramo was awe inspiring, but I think he felt that way about it too. I did not expect him to stay with us long when we returned to Manizales, but he did and we enjoyed our tour there as well.

The one place I had mixed feelings about was the place we had lunch at. We decided not to take in the hot springs, so enjoyed watching and feeding the hummingbirds in the garden. I also enjoyed talking to one of the employees about the hummingbirds, who obviously was quite taken by them as well.

Milton had asked if we could have lunch in the warmer room, and it seemed that they agreed to it, but when we returned they had put our food in the colder room (we had just come down from the paramo) even though there were no other guests. Two of us had also wanted the traditional soup and lunch, and our driver I think wanted something off the menu, but we were told we could only order off the menu and that Milton and our driver had to have the traditional food. It did not seem quite right, but I do not know if that is culturally accepted. If not, I feel the treatment would have been enough for me to not want to use this place (which is too bad because the hummingbirds were such a treat). By the way, the little cafe we stopped at on the way to the paramo was a treat where we had the traditional cane soup and cheese. Perfect!

After touring Manizales, we were dropped off at the Quo hotel. Very modern and nice-much more than we needed, but very comfortable.

Victor picked us up the next morning and promptly delivered us to the Pereira airport. It was fun to talk to him about the area.

Thank you SO much for putting together a package that so perfectly suited our needs. We loved Columbia! Everyone we met was so friendly, kind and helpful. I hope we get back someday, but in the meantime will highly recommend it to friends (and kimkim). We wish the country and its people well.

With much gratitude,
Cindy

Our guide Milton was absolutely fabulous. A wealth of knowledge, and a great human being. In my opinion, the day we spent with him was the best day of our trip. Visiting the paramo and the volcano was an experience of a lifetime. Being introduced to this beautiful country and unique ecosystem, while at the same time talking about social and contextual issues was quite meaningful. While everything worked out quite fine, I do want to raise one personal concern. Our driver from Medellin to the coffee region, Luis, was quite fine. There was lots of road constructions o we were forced to go very slowly. I was concerned, however, that he had driven through the night to get to Medellin to pick us up, and then drove us at least 6-7 hours back, with still 2 more hours of driving to get home, all without any sleep. Not only is this a safety concern, but I hope KimKim does not expect this of its drivers. Our entire experience was fabulous, but I wanted to make sure to mention this.

Nicolas helped us plan a wonderful trip to Cartagena! He was attentive and informative throughout the entire planning process and as a result, helped us put together an amazing itinerary. Everything from the hotel to the excursions to our informative tour guides, it was all perfect! If you really want to get a sense of the local foods, culture and cuisine, I would recommend a trip to the Barzuto market and cooking class that follows. Carolina, our guide and Chef for the day was wonderful in educating us on all the local products and cuisine.
Our trip was a truly a memorable experience and I would 100% use KimKim again!

This experience was seamless, I had no problems on this trip everything worked like clockwork. There were a lot of moving parts, Two days each spent in four different cities traveling from the vast plateau capital city of Bogotá to the verdant coffeescapes of Salento to the hilly meltingpot of Medellín to end off in the humid Caribbean coast of Cartagena: every move in Colombia had me feeling as if I were in a country more beautiful than the one I was in the night before. The more I moved away from the capital and the closer I got to the coast, the more obvious the mix, the more amazing the food and the more overt the differences. The tour guides were fun and knowledgeable - Ysabel and Carlos - the drivers were helpful - Ernesto, Carlos and Mauricio and the experience was amazing... Carolina of Oh La La was a highlight, touring the market and cooking together with her
fun team! Thank you to Nicolas and KimKim you deserve every star in my five star rating!

Overall, we thoroughly enjoyed our trip and are glad we used kimkim to create a bespoke travel plan! Almost every piece lined up perfectly and we were able to do and see so much more of gorgeous Colombia than we would have been able to do on our own. We would certainly consider using kimkim to organise future travels to up-and-coming holiday destinations.

We've copied the travel itinerary overview below to drop in some feedback for Nicolas and Tucaya to consider when making arrangements for future travelers.

Day 1: Transfer to Santa Marta - Transrubio in Bogota was fine, though the driver arrived at 6am, not 9am which caused some confusion. Al Caribe transport was perfect.
Day 2: Explore Tayrona National Park - Our guide in Tayrona was excellent!
Day 3: Relax on the Beach - We booked Tayrona Tented Lodges ourselves
Day 4: Exploring Minca - Though natural beauty surrounding Minca is breathtaking, but Minca itself is touristy and unappealing to us. Though Hotel Sweet Harmony is a nice place with helpful staff, we would have preferred to stay up in the mountains rather than in the town.
Fidel provided our transfer from Tayrona to Minca - honestly, he might be a little too eccentric for most travelers. He seemed rather loony and made us a tad uncomfortable.
Fidel also offered to take us on a quick ride up to the waterfall once we arrived in Minca. He then charged us $70,000COP which we know was way to much for a 10 minute drive anywhere in Colombia. It was really annoying to be ripped off by an agency that Tucaya partnered with and that we were already paying for transport and tours.
Day 5: Travel to Cartagena - The morning bird watching activity was excellent! However, it overran by 90 minutes so we were pretty hungry and thirsty by the end since it went much later into the morning than anticipated.
There was also some confusion with our transfer time to Cartagena. Given that there wasn’t much to do in Minca itself, we wanted to head to Cartagena right after the bird tour, but the driver’s time had been pushed back.
Once the driver arrived, the transfer was really comfortable and swift.
Hotel Santa Catalina was luxurious. In retrospect, we would have been happy to pay less and stay in a less nice hotel because this hotel was SO fabulous.
Day 6: Escape to Islas del Rosario - We did not like the service provided by Gente de Mar. They were late to leave the harbor and the day was so regimented it was hard to enjoy the beach because they kept interrupting with bells to do this or that. They were very pushy about getting paid early for the drinks we bought and made us get back on the boat at 3pm, so we really didn’t have much time there at all.
Furthermore, on our voucher from Tucaya it said there would be a lobster lunch and an opportunity to kayak. Neither of these things were true. No lobster, no kayaks.
Day 7: Free Day at Cartagena - We were glad to have this day to explore this amazing city.
Day 8: Explore Colombia's Coffee Region - Our transport all the way from Cartagena to Armenia went smoothly. The driver in Armenia was exceptional kind and helpful, we really liked him.
Bosques del Saman Alcala was fine, not great. There was music nearby playing really, really loud all night and we couldn’t sleep. The jacuzzi was dirty and not hot. The food provided was decent and the views spectacular.
Day 9: Explore Cocora Valley - This tour was excellent for the most part. However, Salamanca was very crowded and it was hard to appreciate the town or explore the stores with our guide hovering around the whole time. We would have preferred to just have a free hour there on our own before reuniting with the guide. Actually, we would have preferred to skip Salamanca altogether and spend 1.5 hours on our own in Filandia. That town was cuter, quieter and the people were so friendly!
Day 10: Visit a Local Coffee Farm - Prior to the coffee farm tour, we had a long morning just at the hotel which was boring. As we said, we didn’t think much of the hotel and we wished there had been something else planned for this time.
Finca Casa Vieja was fantastic, as was the lunch provided! This experience felt authentic and we learned a lot. We also enjoyed going into Quimbaya to the cafe to see the coffee culture in a local setting.
Transport to Bogota all went well. Our stay at Movich was very comfortable. Again, we could have stayed in a less extravagant place and saved money overall.
Day 11-14: The luxuriant Amazon Jungle - The flight to Leticia was fine and a representative from Calanoa greeted us. The community boat to the resort was quite uncomfortable.
The staff at Calanoa were really dedicated and attentive and the accommodations were reasonably comfortable given we were in the Amazon!

We did the following activities:
-Short daytime hike
-Long daytime hike
-Kayaking on the Amazon
-Tour of the reservation
-Monkey foundation island
-Nightime hike
-Sailing to look at dolphins
-Sailing around the island to look at wildlife and fish
All activities were quite engaging. In retrospect, I wish we had also gone to Puerto Narino. The food was pretty good, but it would have been nice to have some service there to buy snacks from the kitchen between meal times (hiking makes us hungry!). Between activities there isn't much to do, especially at the really buggy times of day when you can't be outside, but understandably this is part of the Amazonian experience.

Though we had a great trip, there were a few areas we were unhappy with. We had requested Spanish speaking guides and all of the guides were English speakers. One of the purposes of this trip was to challenge our Spanish language skills and we were disappointed to have English guides throughout. Given the prices we saw for things in Colombia, we feel the trip was quite expensive and we would have preferred to stay at some less luxurious hotels in order to save a couple hundred dollars. We had mentioned this to Nicolas prior to the trip, and perhaps he did adjust us down a level, but we could have gone done a bit further even.

What a memorable trip to Colombia, all thanks to the kimkim team!! We usually do not utilize travel agencies and pre-planned itineraries but I am very happy that we did. Couple of friends, my husband and I went on a 9 day trip to Colombia this April, and with our itinerary that kimkim help develop, we enjoyed a wide variety of Colombia - the city life, art history, coffee plantations, farm to table dining, Cocora Valley hiking, city revitalization, every day market shopping to cooking class... it all truly surmounted to an unforgettable experience. What made it powerful though, was the guides we were privileged to meet throughout our trip. Not only were they English speaking (shamefully, my husband and I cannot speak Spanish...), but most were born and raised in the cities we met them at. They were knowledgeable with their tours, but also willing to share their personal stories, giving the tours meaning, passion, hope, beauty. Jairo in Bogota was hands down exceptional and our undeniable favorite - such wealth of knowledge regarding Bogota and Colombia, but seemed so heartfelt and invested in giving us the most out of our day... also it may arguably have been the most delicious snack-filled day of our trip ;) (he apparently also does gastronomy tours!). I also appreciated Santiago's devotion to his and Colombian coffee, Sam's commitment to telling the horrid history, and now progress in communa 13, Diego's willingness to share his stories, opinions, thoughts, which in the end gave hope in human perseverance.

We loved Cartagena and Medellin and the surrounding areas. The tour guide we had in Medellin, was particularly outstanding - Juan Manuel, I think.

Laura was very responsive when any issues arose, and they were promptly fixed.

This was our 2nd experience with KimKim and we'll do it again!