Kimkim Trip Reviews for Colombia

The trip was well-planned but had a couple of glitches. We did not receive the packet of materials including daily schedule until 2 days before the trip. It probably should have been sent earlier. Also we were scheduled to leave the hotel in Santa Marta several hours before out flight. Since it was a domestic flight and the airport is only 25 minutes from the hotel, that was too early. Fortunately our birding guide was able to call the office and have it changed so we arrived only 90 minutes in advance.

Our birding guide, Breiner, was excellent. He is only 20 year old, but is able to recognize birds almost instantly by sight or sound, even when the birds are mostly obscured by foliage or flying high in the sky.

The accommodations at Eldorado lodge were fine and the food was good.

We did not like the hotel in Santa Marta, Casa del Farol. It was conveniently located very close to the center of town and restaurants, but the water for the shower was not even luke warm; the shower heads were broken; and their advertisement of an afternoon happy hour was not correct. They did not even have sodas to purchase.

Natalia was superb. I initially indicated there would be about 10 people traveling and ultimately there were 17. She did an excellent job of structuring an itinerary (consisting of Santa Marta- Zipaquira- Villa de Leyva-Bogota-Medellin-Guatape-El Penol- Santa Elena) to accommodate my requests. She graciously and quickly accommodated every change as needed. She did a terrific job of planning the trip, choosing the hotels, securing the airline tickets, acquiring all the subcontractors, responding to inquires, and making adjustments as needed 'on the go'. She was totally accessible, even responding to What'sApp texts on Sunday morning during the tour, and immediately interfacing with bus drivers when there was confusion about their location.

Her choice of subcontractors for guiding and transportation was excellent. All of the vehicles were new or nearly new, and had ample space for all passengers and luggage. The 6 personable guides were always on time, spoke excellent English, and had a immense grasp of the history, culture, and noteworthy information of the locations we visited.

KimKim's pricing was very fair. It's 5% surcharge became somewhat confusing from time to time, and it's payment system for payments from multiple guests was somewhat clunky, but we managed to get it straightened out quickly and completely before the trip even started.

In summary, I would gladly recommend KimKim and Natalia to anyone who wanted a great travel planner and booking agent in Colombia.

Nichols was an amazing guide. He was very knowledgeable, great communicator, available at all times via WhatsApp, Kimkim site email, and personal cell. It was our first time traveling to Colombia and relying on a local host to fully arrange a trip to Providencia gave us comfort and reduced our burden of researching and planning. We saved days by going with Kimkim and following Nicholas’s recommendation. Providencia was the most memorable part of our trip and every suggestion Nicholas made was worth it. Kimkim team, especially Yoos, was very helpful. I got sick two days before our trip and contacted Nicholas and Yoos and both very extremely supportive and gave me several options including cancellation with full refund. Luckily I got better and made the trip. If you are looking for trust worthy, easy to work with, knowledgeable, deliver as promise group KimKim is the best.

The Kimkim team was great in helping me plan this trip. I would give Nicolas 10 stars. He was so attentive and responsive to all my questions. Everything was as planned. Thank you Nicolas for helping us with this amazing trip. All the guides were great, especially Melissa from Foodies and also Enrique from the tour to Boquilla. I can’t thank everyone enough.

Desiree

Our experience using KimKim to book our trip to Colombia was amazing. It saved us time and made our trip run smoothly and painless.

Sharon was our guide in Bogota and she was very knowledgeable and gave us great recommendations for things to do or places to eat after our tours were over. We really enjoyed the trip up to Monserrate and eating the delicious food in Paloquemao market.

Juan Carlos was our guide for 2 days in Medellin and we had a great time. He went above and beyond and added in a few stops between our tours to show us more of the city.

In Cartagena we had a great guide who answered all our questions and even took us to a grocery store when we needed to grab a few items.

We are already set up with kimkim to book our next vacation to South Africa, we hope that we get the same great service we received from all the ladies in Colombia from kimkim.

We loved our trip to Colombia, it completely surpassed our expectations. The country and people are so warm and vibrant!

Nicolas helped us to build a great itinerary and he was available for us to contact in country. There were a few issues where information seemed to be lost between Nicolas and the tour providers on the ground, but everyone worked quickly to rectify them and ensure we had a great trip.

All of our guides were very knowledgeable, friendly and keen to ensure we experienced the best of Colombia.

Natalia did a wonderful job planning our trip to Colombia. She worked with me to ensure that I had the accommodations and tours that I wanted. We loved all our tour guides. Everyone was on time and super friendly. We loved our hikes, coffee tour, and bird watching. Thanks for a great trip!

Overall, we had a very nice trip. Nicolas prepared a diverse itinerary for us. We got to see a lot, although we all found the pace to be too rushed. My primary criticism is the car trip from Tayrona to Cartagena. We were told that the trip would take 4 hours but it took 7 hours due to heavy traffic.
I would recommend either flying to Cartagena or driving at night, if the roads are safe. As far as the guides, Jairo in Bogota was by far the best, due to his knowledge and enthusiasm. The guide in Bambusa was adequate and the guide in Cartagena was poor. The hotels were very nice- especially Bambusa, and Cartagena Sofitel. The setting of Los Naranjos in Tayrona was beautiful, but the meals were not very palatable. Bogota's EK Hotel, although very nice, charged for water, which left a bad taste in our mouth (no pun intended). Nicolas, although mostly responsive, did not receive our message that we were canceling trip to Rosario because we were too tired from long day of travel to Cartagena. He called us and woke us up early in the morning. Nor did the driver to the airport in Cartagena show up, so we had to order a taxi. We should be reimbursed for the boat excursion to Rosario. Overall, I would commend Nicolas for a job well done but urge him to take relaxation time into account when planning a trip.

While the planning process was quite smooth initially, at the last minute there appeared to be a rush to assemble information from us. Further, we did not received an updated itinerary to include hotel changes before we left on our trip.

But, those details aside, we had a great experience overall and an especially memorable experience with two of our local guides; namely Maria and Vivi. Their attention to detail, promptness and professionalism was outstanding.

Working with Brian and his colleagues was truly a great experience. Brian was very responsive from the start and provided great input. After my initial contact, Brian suggested a call to learn more about what we were looking for and to share with us what his company was about. We travel quite a bit and have used local guides for tours, but this was the first time that someone suggested a call to better understand the travel experience we were looking for. We wanted a more cultural experience vs just the usual tourist sites and we are so grateful for the experience we had with Brian and his colleagues. Brian and his team handled the logistics from start to finish.
We were a family of 11, including 4 children, traveling on a family vacation. We couldn't get enough of the delicious fruits at the local market with our lovely guide Ana and her husband Freddy. We then cooked dinner with Brian and his fiance at their place...what a treat. Added bonus was Freddy playing his cello after dinner. We were lucky enough to visit a couple of private homes and meet the amazing owner and her family in Santa Fe de Antioquia and visit a coffee farm that does not do public tours and can only be visited with Brian and his team. On our last day, we visited communa 1, which was led by the local artists in the neighborhood and had lunch at one of the local artist's home cooked by his mom. It was truly a special moment to have met these amazing people with their inspiring stories. We very much enjoyed talking to our guide Diego as well as his story started off in a neighborhood similar to communa 1 and his journey that took him from Medellin to US and now back to Medellin.

From reading the review, one would think our trip went without any glitches. However, on our 2nd day in Medellin, the glass shower door broke while my niece was in the shower and cut her right foot deep enough to cut a couple of tendons requiring an emergency surgery in Medellin. As unfortunate as this situation was, we were very grateful that if it had to happen, it happened in Medellin where there was good medical care and Brian and his team along with the staff at the hotel were just amazing in the care they gave us. The hotel had someone Spanish/English speaking with my niece and brother-in-law the whole time at the hospital and must have pulled some strings as they were able to operate on my niece's foot the same day.

Overall, we feel very lucky to have visited this very special place and very lucky to have found Brian and his team for our journey.

We just returned from our family 8 day vacation to Colombia. Jules, our specialist, helped us plan, organize and get ready for our trip. He was also available during our trip to answer questions along the way. This was so helpful.
Once we got to Colombia we had a great driver, Evan and a wonderful guide, Fabian. Fabian was an energetic, personable guide and great with our kids. He took our 10 year old son all over the beach, climbing rocks and exploring the shore. We enjoyed his genuine positive attitude.
We also enjoyed our beach time, river float and the sunset cruise!

Natalia at kimkim helped us with our 8 day Columbia itinerary,
that consisted of 3 days at Tayrona National Park, 2 days at Cartegena, and 3 days at Salento.
All hotels, activities, and ground transportation was arranged by Natalia.
Everything went perfect. Drivers were always on time and helpful. The hotels, while not very expensive, were perfect. (Boutique hotels that were perfect value for money).
We were especially impressed with the guides for our Cocora valley hike (full loop at 7 hours) and Tayrona hike (9 hours). Overall, we were very happy with the value we received.

Overall a great experience, we really enjoyed Colombia. We were in Bogotá, Medellin and Cartagena and they all were worth the visit. We had very good guides in Bogotá and I think we should have stayed longer. Our guide in Medellin (day trip to Guatapé) was really good too, he really was engaging. If I were to do it again I would arrange more guided trips with kimkim in Medellin. The last guide we had was in Cartagena and a tour of the city, our guide here was not the best guide, while she was personable, her English was hard to understand and she spoke very softly making it almost impossible in the city to hear what was being said.

Our transfers were always extremely professional, on time with only the best and most comfortable transportation for our family. I will travel again using kimkim to help me make the arrangements. I would highly recommend Colombia to other families. My kids are aged 8, 10 and 12 and together with my wife we had the family adventure that we wanted.

Jess was very helpful in planning the trip and made all the changes we wanted. Laura took over and was super helpful when we needed to make a couple of changes part way through the trip. She was quickly responsive over What's App which made it much easier for me to communicate with her than through email. At one point we needed to go to the hospital and Laura arranged private transport for us at the last minute from Taganga to Cartagena and found out hospital recommendations for us which was very helpful, especially when we were stressed out about the situation.

Rio Claro was terrific, we loved everything about it. The activities there were also crazy cheap (like 8 USD to go rafting!)

The Los Nevados Trek was beautiful and incredible. Highly recommend this trek. I would not recommend the guide that we got though. He was nice enough but didn't interact with us much and was not a great guide. He didn't bring very good food, had a water filter that was not appropriate for group use (small in-line water filter for himself), and told us the water was fine to drink "because it didn't look that dirty." (even though he was filtering his own water and the other guides for other groups were like "do NOT drink the tap water! It's definitely not safe to drink!" We were fairly cold at night. I would have liked to bring my own water filter and a sleeping bag in hind sight. (I was told we didn't need them.) Also, there was an error with the pick up for the trek in the morning. We were told 10 am by the travel agent and got picked up at 5 am by the guide. (Something to work out for the future.)

The transportation arrangements were invaluable with private transport.

We had a fantastic trip to Colombia over the 2018 winter holiday break. For a family of four, Nathalie Clavet helped personalize and customize our Colombia trip experience and provided a multitude of options for us to select from as we were in the planning stages. While in Colombia, Nathalie and her colleague, Mathilde, took care of us, checking in and were available to help us with any additional questions. Thank you Nathalie! My family and I really had a memorable time in Colombia and we can't wait to visit again!

A very good trip. Tatiana and Pablo were great guides and we all enjoyed the places we were at. Favorites were Bogota and Salento. Great food and lots of fun.
Just a few hiccups, not unexpected in South America.
Some suggestions for future travelers around Christmastime.
Do Salento on the 24th and Christmas Day. Everything is open there.
Do the coffee farm in Salento on one of the days instead of Cocondo. Too many bugs at Cocondo. We all got eaten up despite the repellent.
Don't do Medellin on the 24th. Everything is closed.
Thanks.
Ezra

Our trip to Colombia took me and my husband to Bogota, Salento, Cocora Valley, Tayrona National Park, and Cartagena. I think what was most striking to us was the multitude of landscapes that exist within the country - mountains, valleys, beaches, tropical forests - it was all very beautiful and steeped in a tradition of ceremony, sustainability, and conservation. We were also impressed with the knowledge of our guides and the variety of their subject matter expertise. One was a world-traveled artist (Camilo in Bogota) who was able to give us a deep, immersive lesson on the famous street graffiti, Botero, gold craftsmanship, along with a brief history on the origins and expansion of the city. Christian, an extroverted and boisterous botanist, was our guide in Salento and Cocora Valley. He knew everyone. And vice versa. We learned a lot about Willys, wax palms, coffee, and Tejo under his watch - he was an attentive guide, ensuring that we were well taken care of...and entertained! Jose was our trusty and tireless guide through the depths of the jungles of Tayrona National Park. He led us to Pueblito one day and the playas the next, providing a history of the pre-Colombus indigenous people and pointing out monkeys, caimans, and sacred rocks without breaking a sweat. In Cartagena, Rafa took us inside the minds of the engineers and architects, pointing out the strategy behind the construction of the fort and the wall. He also took us through the Old City neighborhoods, giving us a brief overview of of the plazas - and advice on where we should eat and shop. That said, our only negative experience was with the boat trip that was arranged in Cartagena. Our itinerary promised we'd be "treated to a boat around the Islas del Rosario...Aboard this boat you'll visit 3 beaches, in some top-secret locations that the day-tripper crowds have not heard about (nor are they likely to)." Instead, we were jammed onto a boat with 40 other people and taken to Bendita Beach about an hour away. The boats anchored off of the beach ensured that we sucked in gas fumes all day. Trying to redeem the day, we signed up for a snorkeling trip, which again was super crowded and the guides kept yelling at us to hurry up as we swam through the reefs. This was not a tour, nor was it 3 beaches, and it was anything but top-secret. We were very disappointed in the huge disparity between what was described and what we experienced and wonder how it happened and who benefitted off of our misfortune. We will never get that day back.

Nathalie was incredible, she knew exactly what my husband and I were looking for and designed the perfect trip for us in Colombia! She passed the "baton" to Mathilde during the holidays and it was totally flawless. The tour guides were all different in their own ways which gave us an interesting flavor of the culture and the hotels were perfectly located, in the heart of the city and in safe neighborhoods. The people we met during our journey were very kind and very sweet and I believe that a big part comes back to Nathalie, Mathilde and her organization. Bravo!

This was our first experience in Colombia and with KimKim. We worked with Nicolas while before our trip and he was very prompt and accurate in providing the detail level of information as well as customizing the entire trip for us.

The entire trip went very flawless and smooth as planned and committed. One thing to consider and be patient with is that there are several companies involved in the service chain including the KimKim, their domestic office, their local agent and their subcontractor which might make it a bit complicated but they planned all well. For example the driver picked us up on time from airport however he did not know the person who we had made the reservations, but everything went great.
The driver Anderson in charge of all transportation for the entire trip was fantastic, although he did speak almost none to minimum English, made every attempt to understand us and specially my limited Spanish.

The Coffee farm tour at Santiago's farm was amazing, the tour, lunch and their hospitality was amazing. Also the Cocora Valley and Finlandia tour guide Alberto was extremely knowledgeable and great company for the entire day.

Overall we were very pleased with the tour and highly recommend KimKIm company for Colombia and Zonacafetera visit.

At the end thank you Nicolas for this wonderful memory and experience.

Thanks
Greg G

Overall we had a really good trip. We were greeted at airport by Daniel, who was sweet, engaging and very knowledgeable. His English was quite good and he was very informative, sharing personal insights on history and culture. We never felt threatened or unsafe on the trip - we're also assuming that the second man who accompanied us during our first afternoon tour, and did not speak English, was there for security! Our lodging at Casa Canabal was very comfortable and very accommodating - though the rooms are small and have no windows. A very creative lighting system in the walls, however, gives the semblance of outdoor lighting and ended up being fine. Breakfasts were good and the waiters were wonderful and very friendly. I would suggest that the hotel have towels available at the pool.
We enjoyed the cooking class the second day with Sandra and Ellie. The trip to the market was eye-opening and truly a cultural experience. Visitors should be forewarned, however, not to wear nice shoes! We made ceviche, guacamole, fried plantains, salad, fried fish, coconut rice and passion fruit panna cotta - all delicious!! Sandra was engaging and very interactive - teaching us new skills and lots about Columbia.
We had been told in our tour itinerary that we would be going to Playa Azul in the Rosario Islands and getting there by private speed boat. We were surprised and a bit confused when we arrived at the dock, and amidst a large and equally confused crowd of tourists, found out we were going to Bendita Beach on a speed boat with 30 other tourists. No one spoke English, other than the other tourists, so all the safety and general information given once we got on the boat was entirely in Spanish - not very helpful OR safe! Once we got to the beach, we were pretty disappointed with the number of people there (masses) and being "herded" to the lineup of beach chairs which weren't very comfortable. All activities were pretty haphazard - again, because English was limited and there were so many people. The lunch was good. I'm not sure we would have gone if we had known it would have been so crowded and uncomfortable - it certainly wasn't very relaxing and not what had been depicted and described in our itinerary. There certainly wasn't any place to go walk and "explore the island" and no one was around to talk about the flora and fauna.
All transfers were very good and on time. Our driver to the Tayrona region was excellent - Jorge was a wonderful driver and spoke relatively good English. Our lodging at La Mer de Bien was lovely - though we didn't we didn't realize we were staying there until we read the fine print itinerary (it wasn't the lodging listed in the larger itinerary which was actually quite a bit closer to the park). We loved La Mer de Bien - and Sergio and Diana couldn't have been lovelier hosts. Food was delicious and they were very accommodating making us sandwiches to take with us with our pre-breakfast early departure. Tour of Tayrona and the Victoria Coffee plantation in Minca with José were great. At Tayrona we had a great hike and saw monkeys and lizards. The afternoon at the beach was terrific. The tour at the coffee plantation was incredibly interesting and very well done. Again, visitors should be forewarned about the bumpy road from Minca to the plantation! We were fine, but our driver seemed worried in the van he was driving - especially since the road is so narrow and there was definitely traffic going both ways. Overall - a great trip and we very much enjoyed seeing this part of Columbia. We felt the country has done an amazing job making visitors feel welcome and safe.