Kimkim Trip Reviews for Colombia

We've just returned from a wonderful four week trip to Colombia, and were extremely pleased with our local specialist, Marine, who was helpful during our detailed planning process and who was always in touch with us during our trip to make certain that everything went smoothly.

All of our guides, Remy, Guillermo, et al, were excellent - well informed and a pleasure to have on our adventure. We covered a great range of places in Colombia, from the beginning of the Amazon region in the south to the mountain town of Minca in the north. All of our drivers were excellent and always right on time, and we felt confident and comfortable throughout the trip.

In planning our trip, we emphasized that we were interested in archeological sites like San Agustín and Tierradentro, as well as doing some hiking and visiting some of the culturally important cities of Colombia, like Cartagena and Medellin. From swimming/floating down the Sarabando River to the hike in Las Nubes (the clouds), each day was filled with very pleasurable activities. Because we spoke Spanish, it was also fun to have Spanish speaking guides and go to less visited areas of Colombia.

Thanks, Marine, for helping us to organize such a terrific experience.

Bernard and Ann Rubenstein, Santa Fe, New Mexico

We had a wonderful time on our 1 1/2 Medellin tour last week. Our guide couldn't have been more friendly and informative. It was abundantly clear he loved his city and his job! Despite the mix up with the itinerary at the start, everything was smooth and fun, especially the fabulous hike to Angel Waterfalls. Definitely recommend Kimkim Tour for any sort of tour and adventure! They are so responsive and professional from all the emails to their vehicles, thank you!!
Octavia Jones

My wife and I had arranged a holiday to Peru and took advantage of the international flights connecting via Bogota to spend a week in Colombia on the return journey.

I then researched via the internet for itineraries and transport options around Colombia, which is when I came across the Kimkim site for the first time. From then on the trip fell into place very nicely with Elisabeth from Aventur making contact with a suggested itinerary based on my stated preferences. A few changes were made at my request, and were accommodated by Elisabeth readily until we had the perfect itinerary for us. The proposal we received was detailed and clear, and included all transfers, guided tours and internal flights as well as a breakdown of hotels booked and inclusive meals . Everything was covered. The payment system was simple and secure via credit card.

The holiday itself was super, having come off the back of a great time spent in Peru I was concerned that our Colombia stay might have been overshadowed, but not at all! The variety of Colombia was reflected in our itinerary and made for a great experience.

Following our arrival at Bogota airport our polite private transfer driver was waiting at 'Arrivals' and drove us to our standard accomodation in the Candeleria area of Bogota which we found to be a bustling and lively part of the city. I admit that the press and government advice regarding security and safety in Bogota did have us slightly on edge but spending the best part of 2 days there we did not feel threatened at all, but we were sensible about where we walked and careful that we didn't make ourselves look like tempting targets. That said , we did see a bag snatched from a young woman on the walk to the Monserrate funicular/ cable car station, but police were very quickly on the scene.

Our guided bike tour around Bogota, ably guided by ex pat Californian Mike 'the bike', was a great experience where he introduced us to the key sites over quite an area of the city centre, to places that we would not have ventured on our own or on foot. We really covered quite a distance in the 5 hours. In addition to seeing key sites Mike explained historical connections and context to the places that we saw as well as generally giving us an understanding of Bogota and Colombian society, culture. politics, and yes the past influences from the darker side of the Colombian economy.

Time spent in a neighbourhood cafe where they roast their own beans in the back was a worthwhile experience (we were given a peak at the process in action at the back of the shop), and the time that we spent wandering through the central fruit/veg market between stalls tasting different fruits was great. Mike seemed to know everyone!

Ending with a drink and a game of the national sport 'Tejo' which involves throwing rocks at paper wraps filled with gunpowder on a clay base the whole tour was definitely a success. I would recommend the Bogota bike tour to anyone who can ride a bike.

Food options in Candeleria were endless, we ended up having an evening meal in an Israeli restaurant just down the road from the hotel and it was nice food at a good price.

We were transfered on time to the airport for our internal flight to Armenia from where we were transfered to our hotel(Salento Real) in Salento, which was a very nice place just at the edge of the town centre. It was a good location because we were staying over the weekend and the town gets very busy, we were 2 minutes from the wonderful centre but not efftected by the noise at bedtime.

We had a leisurely guided tour to see the Wax palms in the nearby Cocora valley which involved a bit of light hiking, amazing views and lots of flower and bird spotting. Our guide, Blane, was passionate about the environment and had us catapulting wax palm seeds into the jungle to help spread the area where they are growing(as he explained, they are under some threat from agricultural development) Blane had us climb a wax palm(not easy!) followed by him playing the flute pipes while we had a rest at a view point. Then to a restaurant with a view for lunch, where we ate trout on a crispy plantain flat bread, delicious.

In the afernoon we were led, again by Blane, to a small scale coffee plantation, about 45 minutes walk, which was a very informative experience.
The next day we were taken on a full day driven tour of the Quindio villages/ small towns, guided by David who again was a very capable guide with environmental matters being part of the discussion. The villages were varied and beautiful, we took the time to experience churches, crafts , local flora and architecture as well as a coffee producers with a difference, a fermented raw milk cafe and a Bar of memories, all quirky and interesting. We had a 'locals lunch' by the Rio Verde and all in all a great day.

Salento town itself is a fantastic destination, beautiful buildings and open spaces, with a buzzing plaza and central streets with old fashioned entertainment and fair rides, lots of craft shops and bars/ restaurant of good quality.

We transfered early the next morning to Cartagena(internal flights) on the Caribean coast. On arrival at Cartagena airport there was a slight confusion with the transfer driver who was there on time(as it later turned out) but had the incorrect name for pickup, which led to a short delay while we called Aventur on the office number to fix it. Within minutes the mixup was resolved and we were matched up with our driver.

It was just gone lunchtime when we arrived at the hotel(Casa Deco), which is an attractive old boutique place with friendly, helpful staff. The hotel made a room ready early for us while we had some lunch around the corner and then we were met on time at the hotel by our guide for a walking tour of Cartagena. The city is a beautiful, fascinating place, with a rich colonial history but we did find the guided tour which was suposed to be 4 hours but was barely over 2 hours quite light on historical, architectural and cultural details and we came away feeling underwhelmed by the experience... maybe the guide was having an off day!

Anyway, we had a great meal out later and enjoyed the hospitality of the hotel, including the pool.

The next day was speedboat ride to one of the Rosario islands, Isla Bella, which was tiny but beautiful. after an hours boat ride we spent a few hours lounging on the beach-front paradise, enjoyed an inclusive meal and caught the speedboat back, which was a scarily exciting journey, as the wind(and waves) had picked up. We got quite wet but not a problem in the tropical heat and it was quite a laugh.

Another great night out and the next day gave us the morning to explore the city ramparts, and have lunch before getting our transfers back to Cartegena airport to start our journey home.

I have gone on at some length with this review because I wanted anyone reading to get an idea that the trip was a great experience and well organised by Elisabeth (Eventur) with a good selection of interesting activities along the way. The balance of planned activities and free time worked well for us, others way want more time to relax, or want to be more full on. I am confident from our experience that all holiday styles would be ably catered for by Elisabeth.
The Trip was well organised and the itinerary was spot on, with the only exception being the name mix up on arrival at Cartegena, which lets be honest is nothing, and was sorted without delay.

So well done to Aventur, thanks to Kimkim for getting us connected, and our gratitude to Elisabeth for taking care of us so well.

Our tour of Bogota was fantastic, thanks to Katiana. She had all the patience and energy needed to give us real insight into the history and culture of Colombia. She really made the Gold Museum come to life with the backstory she provided. She’s probably the best tour guide we’ve ever encountered.

Susan also did a great job on showing us the sites in Villa de Leyva. What a beautiful setting.

We had both a translator and a guide in Barichara. Waste of time and money. We translated for ourselves much more quickly and accurately. The Spanish speaking guide had only very rudimentary comments on the town. We ended the tour before it ever really got started. Nice guys but they need to look for other work.

Marine and Elizabeth at kimkim are both excellent. Patient, thoughtful, and articulate.

My only complaint about kimkim is that it is not transparent in its pricing. No price breakdown is given for the individual components of the trip. Difficult to decide among various trip components / options when planning the itinerary if you don’t know what the individual pricing is. We requested a breakdown on numerous occasions but were politely refused the information. For this reason alone we will most likely not return to kimkim for future travel planning.

Trip to Colombia was fantastic. Guides were terrific, car services were prompt, which made this trip run very smoothly.

This was my first experience using KimKim. I was refered from a friend. I recently traveled for 9 days in Colombia. I use travel agents for most of my international pleasure travel. On the plus side my agent, Flor was very responsive both via email and with telephone calls.

Booking the trip was a bit frustrating. I think this was partially due to my unfamilarity with kimkim. Also my impression was that while Flor was very responsive and doing her best to help but she lacked in-depth travel experience. For example, I thought I had booked both hotel and intrastate travel. I had challenges securing a particular hotel and also plane travel times that I thought were confirmed ... but actually were not. We had to go back and forth a few times.

On the plus side I had a situation in Medellin with a hotel I was unhappy with. The room had a leak under the sink and they really were not too friendly. Flor was very responsive and moved me to a wonderful hotel. Both the private tour guides and the tours in Bogota, Medellin and Cartenga were all very good with the exception of the private tour in Cartenga- the guide was a bit flat.

If there were a 3.5 star rating, that is what I would give. That being shared, I would give Kimkim another try on my next international trip. Thanks!

We booked our Columbia trip using Kimkim. This was the first time we used Kimkim. What a great company. We will use them again. Nathalie, our specialist, was awesome. She was very helpful in tailoring the trip to what we like. The ideas and suggestions she had were great for us and our kids. We did things that even books such as lonely planet did not even list as activities. Everything we did in Columbia was great. Nathalie even called us several times during the trip to make sure everything was going smoothly.

The people Kimkim used in Columbia, from drivers to guides, were all very nice, always on time, very helpful and knowledgeable. We loved everything we did, from the beautiful Spanish colonial towns of Barichara and Villa de Leyva to the beautiful beaches of Tayrona and around Cartagena. We loved the lush coffee region and the Valle de Cocora. We all enjoyed a private coffee tasting that even our 10 and 11-year-old daughters loved and asked for more coffee! Best coffee ever. As outdoor lovers, we especially enjoyed hiking, zip lining, white water rafting, tubing on a river and mountain biking.

Just back from 13 days in Medellin, Tayrona and Cartagena, Colombia.
What a wonderful country, full of beautiful scenery, friendly people, good food, interesting (though somewhat tortured) history.
Of course, not all is rosy, and the guidance of the Kimkim team and Marine was crucial in keeping us safe and fulfilled.
Medellin, for example, has its rough spots, but we never felt insecure or vulnerable.
The day trip to Guatapé was great, as was city tour, Park Arvi. Staying near Parque Llera was great.
Cartagena was a great experience too, and staying at Bovedas Santa Clara allowed free access to the Sofitel, a world class beautiful resort.
Tayrona was unique as well though be forewarned, no hot water showers!
Summary.....all connections went without a hitch, all guides, drivers on time, all reservations as described. The trip was perfectly tailored to our preferences. I was very happy with the Kimkim engagement and would definitely use them again.

All of the guides were fabulous. Very knowledgeable and respectful. Most of our tours were in Spanish as requested. Drivers were on time, very courteous and hospitable. Every day on this trip seemed to top the day before. Don't miss the Valley of the Cocora (Wax palms) and a shopping trip through Salento. Staying in the coffee region was a great relaxing time between Bogata and Medellin and provided a feel for the more rural part of the country. Also great was the bike tour of downtown Bogota. Kimkim was attentive and flexible every step of the way. They made our trip! Thank you.

Jules and his colleagues made the trip a wonderful and memorable one. We cannot speak more highly of their guidance, hospitality, support and knowledge.

The trip was great! Nathalie was very responsive and tried to accommodate our requests for the trip. Everything from the hotel to the events for la Feria went extremely well and I would recommend travelers use this service. Especially first time travelers.

All the arrangements were great and professional. Medellin was the highlight. All tour guides were knowledgeable and professional.

12/20 our driver is very nice and did a good job driving us to our destination.
12/22 our driver came with a very old pick up truck, for the price we contract and discription from our agent we should have professional driver with Duster car brand, the driver not only driving super fast on winding road also passing car frequently, we were so worry all the way, the car does not come with air condition, we were suffer from the bad air, dust plus very hot, it was a very uncomfortable trip. We will not recommend this car company for future customer.
12/24 our pick and hotel pick are ok.
12/26 our tour with driver and guide are good.
12/27 airport pick up is good
12/31 we were waiting for airport pick up , when the time passed hotel front desk call Nathalie and found out there was no pick up , we paid and schedule for the pick up, Nathalie didn’t confirm for us and kept us waiting , luckily front desk checked for us and hurry arrange a taxi for us, so far I have not receiving any explanation from Nathalie, iwouldliketo request refund and apology for almost missed our flight.
Fran lee

Thank you Marine for all of the calls to check up on us. When our guide handed the phone to me, I knew it was Marine and could talk to her about how things were going.

Guides and transfers:
Every guide and transfer showed up on time or early. We soon learned that this country runs on time. Our first transfer was not an exception but was a bit of a shock when they arrived 30 min early and we were not quite ready. This happened to be the only bus trip we had.

The guides who stood out as exemplary were: Elvis at Calanoa, Fernando at Villa de Leyva, and David and driver who picked us up at Hacienda Combia. David and the driver (sorry, can't remember his name) were so much fun and went out of their way to make our stay excellent.

The one exception to all of the good guides was the one at Tayrona. He told us at the beginning we had to keep up with him as we had a long trip and that's exactly how it was. When my foot got stuck in the mud he was far ahead and not there to help, he never slowed down or stopped to interact with us, when we passed buildings he didn't stop to explain what they were. We had to keep our heads down to keep up the pace while still looking ahead to keep him in our sight. Not a fun trip!

Hotels:
Loved Casa Pizarro in Cartegena and the area it was in. Really liked staying in a residential area with lots of restaurants nearby.
Maloka Barlovento was so beautiful. Would have loved to stay there another day so we could see the beach. We only had time to see the building we stayed in. Bit of a shock to find only cold water shower. This may be normal here, but this is not normal for us. Maybe a heads up would have helped.
Posada Suenos De Antonio in Barichara was lovely and peaceful. Really liked the patio and view.
Casa Deco in Bogota was in a good location but our room overlooked a hostel and could be noisy.
Calanoa Lodge was excellent! The food was superb, our cabana was superb, and all of our interactions with staff (even if we didn't speak Spanish) was superb!

Hacienda Combia had a lovely setting, but was the big disappointment of the trip. When we arrived I asked for water and was told that it was only supplied with dinner. All other hotels had water accessible either in the form of the first bottle free or a fill up station. Seeing as we could not use the water from the tap to even brush our teeth, this was a major drawback to this isolated hotel.
We asked for a glass of wine with our dinner and were told that they did not have this and we could buy an overpriced bottle.
The food was the most disappointing. We spoke with them about the selection and they added a couple of things to the menu, but this didn't really help. Really, really disappointed in 4 dinners here and no option to go elsewhere. The meals we were offered were a stripped down version of the regular menu.
We didn't feel welcomed here.

We loved Colombia and would like to thank kimkim.com and Marine for making it such a memorable trip. We will definitely recommend the country and booking company to anyone who will listen.

We wanted an Amazon Jungle experience and Nathalie recommended Calanoa Reserve.
We booked a 2 night 3 day trip. We were very unsure as to what to expect.
Before the trip Nathalie was very helpful and answered all our questions very promptly.
The trip itself was absolutely amazing! And exceeded all our expectations- it was as Nathalie had described- but we didn’t expect it to be so good!!
The accommodation was beautiful - we had a double bed in the ground floor and twin beds on first floor and a private bathroom.
The staff were amazing - the cooks, the organisers and the guides - all so helpful and couldn’t do enough for us.
It was easy to swap activities around and add extras. The whole 3 days worked like clockwork - such a slick operation- very impressive.
We saw pink river dolphins (and grey), went pirhana fishing, went to a monkey orphanage, indigenous village, forest walk in day and night, early morning bird watching and watched the sun set over the Amazon...... incredible!!
Food was good (lots of fish!).
We would highly recommend Calanoa Reserve and the services of Nathalie at KimKim. Nothing went wrong so we didn’t need to contact her during the trip - but it was reassuring to have her number just in case.
Thank you Nathalie for your recommendation and help with the booking.

We had an excellent trip!! Great local guides, amazing eco-lodges everything flowed well. We especially like Jorge, the guide who took us to Tayrona (and hope he passed his exam on tourism). the whole journey in the Tayrona was spectacular, as was tubing down the river in Palomino and the expertise on birds from our guide David in Minca. The only caveat was that the arrangement was to have our baggage brought to Palomino while we were trekking in Tayrona, and there was no info on that - no guidance given to myself and the driver was also unaware. So instead we made our own arrangements to leave the bags at Finca Barlovento. It would have been better if this piece of info on the trip had been communicated to me so we knew what the arrangement was instead of improvising along the way. All in all the trip was exactly the adventure we were looking for - thanks!!

1. Driver on time - great
2. Jeannine checked to be sure we were aboard - BETTER THAN GREAT
3. Rony Perez- excellent guide - good English , really good with my husband who walks (little) and Slow! Good information - will definitely recommend in the future
4. Meal great - so very fresh
5. experience overall - exactly what we were looking for - thank you Nathalie for suggesting
6. interacting with the local people very good experience - they were very kind to us

We needed to arrange this on very short notice. Marine was very responsive and we we got this planned quickly. We stayed in beautiful small hotels and ecolodges that were immersed in natural beauty. We went to Tayrona Park and Minca and our guides were very good, very knowledgeable. Unfortunately we were slightly disappointed that when in Minca we had car trouble early in the day, another car was not sent to continue our trip but to return us to town.
Cartagena is a beautiful historic city and we stayed in lovely boutique hotels in the old part of town. Our guide for here, Sergio, was terrific. He took us to neighborhoods out of the tourist area to see how the locals live and to his favorite places.
Our last days were spent at Punta Faro on an island. Great place for a couple of days to relax. A boat ride is the way to get there and can be a bit choppy but well worth it. Due to weather, our return was difficult. The hotel arranged an alternate method for us (and a few others) to get back to the mainland (shorter boat ride and a bus) including a taxi back to our hotel at no additional cost.
Marine and Elisabeth were in constant contact throughout to check on things. Always easy to get in touch with if necessary. We happened to be there during the rainy season and a holiday weekend so more potential than usual for issues to come up.

We had a really great time in Colombia last October. The trip was adjusted to meet our various requests prior to departure, and everything was perfectly organized once there (visits, drivers, hotels...). We would recommend KimKim and Marine without hesitation. Thanks again!

Nathalie was extremely responsive and our holiday went incredibly smoothly. The guides and activities we did were really high quality and we had a fantastic trip, in large part because of the well organized trip and recommendations we got from Nathalie. The only thing I would have changed is the booking of our flights, which had to be changed due to the strike. These were not booked immediately and therefore the price went up again. However, this is fairly minor as we appreciate that those were unusual circumstances. We otherwise found the service to be very responsive and easily facilitated through Kimkim.