Kimkim Trip Reviews for Costa Rica

We are so thrilled with our trip. The recommendations were exactly what we were looking for - from excursions to hotel choices. Corresponding with Sofia was easy, quick and she was very knowledgeable. We will definitely book with KimKim again. Thank you!

It was a great experience visiting Costa Rica. Very Beautiful country and very nice and friendly people. We as a family enjoyed a lot. Kids had lot of fun.

Adriana did awesome job in arranging and planning the trip. it was perfect.
I would recommend kimkim to everyone.

I liked the interface--communication was very easy and consistent.

Yenyi did a great job setting up the overall plan and activities in Costa Rica.

Monica coordinated the travel plans locally and solved a couple of minor problems along the way. Our rides were always on time for pickup, the drivers were cautious, and the drivers and guides were always friendly.

Our favorite activities were the float on Penas Blanca river, the hikes in Monteverde, and the tour of Manuel Antonio National Park (and beach), though we also loved Campesina Vida farm and the chocolate tours!

We would suggest that the timing of the events should be more explicit. For example, we were scheduled for a tour in the morning and a tour in the afternoon. The planned pickup times were indicated, but the duration or return time was not consistently indicated. As a result, we were sometimes stressed about the transitions between activities and had to change clothes and/or devour a meal in very little time. We also missed one activity because our transfer took longer than planned. They were kind enough to offer to reschedule, but it just didn't work out for us. (I know that we asked to push back our early morning schedules because of the children, but we relied on your advice about how much flexibility there was.)

The hotels, Arenal Springs and Parador in Manuel Antonio, were both terrific. However, Los Pinos in Monteverde was really not ideal for us. The staff there was incredibly kind and helpful, but the cabin was just too challenging for a group of 6 that included 2 grandparents and 2 children. It was up a steep hill, cramped quarters, small and somewhat uncomfortable beds, poor water pressure in the showers, and no food options on the premises.

Lastly, it would be helpful if the roadbook included all the information in the kimkim trip summary. The two components have complementary information and it would be more useful if all the info could be available in one place.

Overall, I would be glad to use kimkim again, but would more carefully review the timing and other details before the trip.

Our tour of Costa Rica, organised by Randall through KimKim was perfect. Every area we visited and the local guides we used were fabulous and shared a great knowledge of their areas which made for a genuinely phenomenal experience. Our standout tour guide was Warner in Tortuguero who exuded a love for nature and the locale. He was approachable during every stretch of the time spent in Tortuguero and not just when his guided tours were on. Our stay in Monteverde was made greater with the stay at Grace and Renzo's B & B. Grace was such a fantastic host and gave superb advice on places to roam, visit and eat throughout the small town. She made what would have been a great leg of the tour into one of our favourite sections of the holiday. KimKim really excelled in their planning with every section of the vacation running smoothly and I wouldn't hesitate to recommend them to anyone travelling to Costa Rica.

If I'm being honest - I was skeptical at first. I'm typically the traveler who likes to book all my own hotels, excursions and transportation. However, I came across Kimkim online as I was planning my trip to Costa Rica and decided to send an initial message. I was partnered with Randall, who ended up playing a key role in making my trip to Costa Rica unforgettable! He was very patient and flexible as I customized the 9-day itinerary, with multiple iterations, and gave many recommendations for activities and places to see during my stay. We didn't have any hiccups during our stay and all drivers arrived on time. When we first arrived at the airport, our driver even provided us with a folder of our itinerary and all vouches required for the trip. The organization was impeccable! In addition, the activities were awesome and my mom and I had a blast! Some activities included: volcano hike, hot springs, hanging bridges, waterfall hike, ziplining, butterfly garden, guided hike through Manuel Antonio park + more. I highly recommend Randall to help you plan your trip if you are thinking of going to Costa Rica and want to experience as much as possible. I definitely plan on using the Kimkim service again. Thanks Randall!

Overall we had a great trip to Costa Rica.
Our first 4 days of reservations were done by KIMKIM - Lily( Kim Kim guide).

We would like to thank Randall for his fantastic planning of our trip to Costa Rica. Everything went like clockwork from the transfers to and from the airport to the transfers between areas visited and the fantastic accommodation selected for us. All trips booked (which were many) were fantastic and showed how diverse Costa Rica is as a travel destination. The Ticos are warm, friendly and welcoming people and all went out of their way to make our holiday great.
I will have no hesitation in recommending your company and paticularly Randall for any persons planning a trip to Costa Rica.

The only suggestion I would make is on checking out in Manual Antonio we had to be out of our hotel at 11am and our transfer was at 2.00pm normally this would not be a problem but with the heat and humidity it would have been nice to have a later checkout or earlier transfer (we however did not see this a a negative in any way and did not reflect at all on our enjoyment of this holiday) it is merely a suggestion.

Thank you and Pura Vida

Morag and Brett

Our recent 9 day tour to Costa Rica went off without a hitch! All the details were in place so that all our activities happened smoothly. We spent 2 days in San Jose going on a wonderful coffee plantation tour and visiting Peace Waterfall Gardens. Our Hotel Martino was located on the outskirts of San Jose, just 15 minutes from the airport, so we didn’t have to deal with all the traffic in San Jose.
Next we were off to a crocodile and bird tour on Rio Tarcoles, then on to Manuel Antonio staying at the Costa Verde Hotel enjoying all of its amenities, good food, and unbelievably beautiful views. We reached our final location after an hour long boat ride down the Rio Sierpe where we arrived at Drake Bay Lodge near Corcovado National Park on the Osa Peninsula. A day in the jungle seeing a tapir, a mangrove hawk, parakeets, coatis, and macaws, among other animals, made for an amazing first day in the Osa. After a delicious picnic lunch we hiked to a waterfall for a refreshing swim in its cool waters.
On our last day a beautiful ocean boat ride took us to offshore Cano Island where we snorkeled with a plethora of fish in the clear waters followed by a delicious picnic on a gorgeous beach. Costa Rica offers everything an active vacationer could want in a tropical environment.

We used KimKim to arrange our first trip to Costa Rica and we were very, very happy how the trip was planned and coordinated through our awesome travel agent, Randall! We had such a great time hiking, biking, zip-lining, touring and had spa time as well and it was due to Randall who is amazingly knowledgeable and very nice and helped us to maximize our time in the country. He made us feel very comfortable with the planning from beginning to end. He was so responsive always- and even while we were in Costa Rica. Quite simply Randall made this trip easy to plan and fun, fun, fun!! We knew what we wanted to do and he planned it and he was very professional all the way through as well answering and handling all of our questions and needs. I now will use KimKim for all our travel needs!! Thanks again Randall for making our trip so much fun! I highly recommend him!!

Deidre Collins

This was our first time to travel to Costa Rica and first time to try Kimkim.

We believe that our trip wouldn't have been as great if we didn't work with Adriana! She really was the hero of our trip!

Despite the short notice, Adriana delivered and amazing overall plan that made us enjoy Costa Rica to the fullest!

She was very great and fast in responding to our many requests and changes and was very accommodating of our demands.

We appreciated her help since we landed in the airport where we found the driver waiting for us outside, who later gave us a file that had all the detailed of the trip.

In summary, if you are traveling to Costa Rica, work with Adriana and you'll have a grunted fun and smooth travel.

Overall, the planning for the trip was done well. Monica was very good about answering questions and making changes as we did the plan. The activities were as expected.

It would have been helpful to have more information about what was involved in some of the activities. e.g. we arrived at Sky Park to find out that we were going on a 3-hour hike to the hanging bridges before the zipline. There was not a great deal to see on the hike. There was no time to eat before the zipline at 1:00, and 2 of our party were so tired or slightly ill that they didn't go. The ziplining was great for the 2 of us who went.

similarly, the instructions for what to bring could be clearer. It said to bring hiking shoes and a bathing suit for the river trip. We did not need either. Water shoes would have been better.

the tour to Manuel Antonio was well-done with an excellent guide. We were not quite prepared for the long wait to get into the park. Also, you might tell people to wear a bathing suit if they expect to swim. There is no place to change. The hike itself was great with lots of wildlife.

Monica helped us plan an absolutely amazing 10 day trip to Costa Rica for our anniversary. Her communication before and during our trip was excellent. The trip was truly perfect, from accommodations to activities-everything was top notch and exactly what we wanted had we planned it ourselves! We couldn’t be happier! Thank you so much Monica and Kimkim-we definitely plan to use your services again for our future international travels.

Sylvia and her team were Absolutely Fabulous Putting up with me when I was feeling anxious and my big suitcase BRILLIANT!!!!

Our trip to Costa Rica was expertly planned! We had some reservations about how to get around to different destinations and what logistically was possible to do within our travel dates. Olman our together a perfect trip that allowed for adventure, relaxation, all that you want in a vacation, but the best part is that we never needed to worry about any logistics about how to get to our destination, etc. it was all layed out for us, allowing us to truly be on vacation the whole experience. I would highly recommend working with Olman.

Overall, our trip to Costa Rica met our expectations, aside from a small number of issues.

First, the good news. Randall and the KimKim team did a great job of planning a nice itinerary, and the hotels and activities were very good. The people of Costa Rica were delightful, and we had a fun trip. We especially enjoyed the zip-lining and the white-water rafting. The toucans and monkeys at Tortuguero were awesome.

Now to the issues.

We had a miscommunication with Randall on the maximum luggage weight for our internal flights. We thought the 40 lb limit was just checked luggage and that we could also carry on up to 10 additional lbs. The reality was that 40 lbs was the total weight limit, including both checked and carry-on luggage. So, we ended up having to pay for extra weight on all internal flights. Also, the airline, SANSA, told us that several tour operators had special arrangements to allow for extra weight, but that our operator was unknown to them, so we felt let down by this situation. This was not a huge issue, but it was a hassle, and could have been avoided, we feel. We did have an e-mail exchange with Randall about weight limits prior to our trip, but as far as my e-mail record shows, my question about total weight was not clearly answered.

Second, on the morning/afternoon of February 14, KimKim had planned for us to have a tour of the Hanging Bridges and La Fortuna Waterfall, plus lunch. The lunch turned out to be at the same restaurant as the dinner they had planned the night before, and it would have been nice to have a different restaurant for variety. But the real issue was that KimKim had planned for us to have a second tour that day, starting at 3:10 PM: a hike to the base of Arenal. We were really looking forward to this second event, but the problem is that by the time we had finished lunch and got back to our hotel from the first planned activity, it was almost 5 PM! Aside from being too tired from the active morning events to do a hike to Arenal, we were way too late for the second event. So, we felt that they had tried to cram in too much on this day, and it was impossible to have both excursions. The bottom line is that this day was not well thought out and we had to miss a planned (and I assume, paid-for) excursion.

Third, I want to mention that several of the planned activities during our trip involved being picked up and dropped back off by busses that made the rounds to several hotels and thus were filled with many people requiring multiple stops that take a lot of time. It would have been nice to have had private cabs or other transport so we didn't have to wait for other people (both pick-up and drop-off) at other hotels. Although we were always ready early for pick-ups, other guests were late, and so the entire bus-load got delayed. Not fun.

Finally, the KimKIm description of the food tour in San Jose was way off: the food courses that we got were far fewer that described, and we were all hungry after the tour. For examples, the description we were provided by KimKim (and which we got before deciding to purchase this tour), said we would "..try a Costa Rican-style hamburger made with delicious homemade tomato and achiote bread." We did not have a hamburger at all during our tour. Additionally, we did not have a guaro tasting nor any sangria as described in the detailed itinerary. We even asked about the sangria and the guide said that would cost extra. There were other differences as well. Our guide did tell us that he was anxious to get home for a big soccer match that evening, so perhaps we got a shortened version of the tour, and we were too tired from our international flight that morning to push back. But since this was supposed to be our dinner, we missed out on most of the food we were expecting! Our guide was nice and informative, but the tour was certainly far less than what was described.

We spent 9 days in Costa Rica. This was our first visit. Randall at Coast to Coast Adventures and kimkim helped me customize the trip so we got to experience a bit of everything- city, volcano, rainforest, and beach.
We considered renting a car and doing the driving ourselves. I am so glad that Randall gently advised us to go with a driver, instead. The roads can be pretty rough.
Randall arranged all the accommodations, and we received a booklet of vouchers upon arrival for all the hotels and activities, as well as a clear printed itinerary. Things were very well organized, and the drivers were all terrific. Every one of them showed up on time and gave us some great info about Costa Rica as well as more practical advice, such as where to eat.

We stayed at 4 different hotels. With the exception of one of them, they were lovely and comfortable. Even the sub-par hotel had a very friendly and helpful staff.

We did some hikes, visited the fabulous Tabacon Hot Springs, and went zip-lining for the first time. It was an amazing experience. The young guys at the Selvatura zip line were absolutely terrific. They calmed my jitters with their great instruction and terrific sense of humor. I felt perfectly safe, and the view was AWESOME!

Manuel Antonio National Park exceeded my expectations. I was concerned that it would be touristy and crowded. It certainly is a huge tourist attraction, and for good reason. The well maintained trails through the park make for a great way to see some fascinating wildlife. It is definitely worth it to go with a guide. And the beach at the park is fabulous. The crowds dissipate after a short while, and it is just a beautiful place to be.

The trip was for the most part very good. We were met upon arrival and taken to our overnight hotel in San Jose.

The private transfer (drive) to our main destibation point, Arenal, was great, the driver/guide (Jorge) suggested that we could visit a coffee plantation on our way and we took him up on that idea. It was great! (Dona Estate). We also stopped at La Paz Waterfall Gardens, and that was also great! Beautiful place, well worth the visit.

At Arenal, we did many things that had been planned as part of the trip. We did a Skywalk hike that included ‘hanging and suspension bridges and saw some wildlife. We later went on a pretty excited zip line through the mountains and valleys. We hiked close to the foot of Arenal Volcano and learned about the history of it. We kayaked on Arenal Lake next to the volcano. We went to a hot springs, which was wonderful and where we soaked our tired muscles.

Meals were also very good. We ate at one of our hotel’s (Arenal Volcano Inn) restaurants several times, as well as at Don Rufuno’s in the town of La Fortuna.

The only things that were not so great were internet connectivity in our hotel in Arenal (we had to go to the lobby and restaurant to get connected) and communication with our activities planner Carlos (We had some miscommunication and some activities had to be rescheduled). We had requested to stay at a hotel with a hot springs in Arenal, but didn’t get it. We wanted to spend more time at some hot springs, but had just one evening during our stay. Finally, we were a little disappointed with the lack of friendliness on the part of the guides working for Eco Terra. We did several things with them, including a trip to a waterfall in La Fortuna and private transfer (drive) back to San Jose from Arenal. They were a bit dismissive of us and did not interact with us much.

That said, Carlos was very professional in trying to arrange our (many) requests. But perhaps in future he could drop Eco Terra. The other companies (Sky Adventures, Adventuras Arenal) were great.

Best,
Cris

It was the perfect trip! I was amazed at how well organized it was. I felt really safe and taken care of. We got to see so much of Costa Rica with limited amount of time. Thank you!

So first off, thanks to Olman for his great service. The trip that was planned definitely met our expectations. Below is our point by point review:

Arrival: all good, driver was able to accommodate all of us even though one flight was quite delayed. Overnite stay in the Radisson was fine as well. Early pick-up and xfer to La Fortuna went very smoothly.

La Fortuna/Arenal: Casa Luna was VERY nice, the staff super friendly and helpful. A little far from the center of town but still we enjoyed our stay there. The tour of Arenal was fine as well. We organized another outing the following day thru the hotel.

Monteverde: Xfer to Monteverde by car-boat-car the next day was fine as well. The replacement hotel was adequate but nowhere near the standard of the Casa Luna or La Mariposa, so we were glad it was only a one nite stay. The ziplining was fantastic though wet. We skipped the tour afterwards as we did something similar on our own the previous day after our arrival. As a result, we left earlier than planned and Olman was great in helping with that change. The xfer the following day to Quepos was fine as well, the driver very helpful and stopped off at the crocodile bridge for us.

Quepos: La Mariposa was easily the hilite of the stay hotel-wise. Great rooms, great views, great food (great French-trained Costa Rican chef). Super friendly staff. The day after our arrival we went to Uvita to dive. The club was super well organized, the staff very well qualified, high quality equipment. Having said that, this is a dive organization for beginner divers. So they were not really equipped to deal with experienced divers with computers that needed to be installed (a bit our fault as well as we should have had our own tools to do that – but we did not expect that the center would not have the tools either – somewhat surprising). The boat ride out to/back from to Isla del Caño was really fun and the island lovely. The two dives, however, were average at best. The usual marine fauna which is always nice but the flora was non-existent – a very degraded underwater environment, comparable to the Mediterranean but clearly lacking when compared to places such as the Red Sea, Rangiroa or Indonesia. We would not recommend this activity to intermediate and above divers. Plus we found out the there was a dive club at the Quepos marina, not sure if the dives were any better but it would have saved us the 2-hour transit to Uvita.

The rest of the stay at La Mariposa was great. We organized a tour of Manuel Antonio the last day and that was very nice. We made some last-minute changes which appeared to give Amazilia Travel a few problems: we switched the return to San Jose from 10:30 to 11:00, no problem there. But we changed my return as follows: instead of returning to SJ with the other two, I decided to stay at La Mariposa one more nite and xfer to SJO the following pm via air. We asked Amazilia to make this change, but it seems to have been too much: the SJ hotel resa and city tour were cancelled (we assume), the air travel from Quepos to SJO was handled fine, but Amazilia forgot to book an extra nite at La Mairposa or book xfer from the hotel to the Quepos airstrip. Oops. Fortunately it was not an issue and I managed to do everything on my own (although the airport xfer was done in extremis). Then there is the matter of cost: the extra nite at La Mariposa was paid directly by me so no issue there. But the flight to SJO was $65 and the xfer to the Quepos airstrip was $20. Perhaps I have missed something there but that would appear to a less costly initiative than staying overnite in SJ and then taking an all-day city tour. So you may want to have someone look into that.

Overall, an extremely enjoyable experience, and we would definitely recommend kimkim to others. Thanks again.

Chris Welton

When my family decided we wanted to visit Costa Rica we were at lost to where to go and what to do until we discovered kimkim and decided to try it out after reading some very positive reviews. It was a great tool to use and it made paying for our trip very easy and I plan to use it again for future travel as it really is a great way to connect with a local expert in the country you plan to visit. They do not bombard you with tons of emails and when they send email they have some very interesting ideas for travel in unique places.

Sylvia with Horizontes Travel was our Costa Rica specialist and she was able to craft an amazing trip four our family. She patiently worked with us until we had an itinerary that was what we wanted. She also called us a few days into our trip to make sure everything was ok and we had contact information to call Horizontes if we needed anything. There was a little problem with an incorrect pick-up time and Horizontes paid for our supper one night. Having not used kimkim and an out of country specialist we were a little nervous but from the time we arrived in Costa Rica we were blown away by the custom trip and we felt like royalty from the moment we arrived at the Liberia airport. We were greeted by a company representative who took us to our private transport with a welcome package and snacks and drinks for our voyage to Monteverde and the Fonda Vela Hotel which had a great buffet village and stunning views looking down to the gulf of Nicoya. The personal guided walk through the Children's Eternal Rainforest was very good and our guide Marcella with Ocotea tours was very knowledgable and we managed to see and learn about many of the cloud forest treasures. Another highlight was zip lining and the hanging bridges through the cloud forest with Sky Adventures. Next we went to Manuel Antonino and stayed at the Costa Verde Hotel with outstanding views of the national park and its beaches. We had a fantastic guided tour of Manuel Antonio park with Iguana Tours and our guide Andry was absolutely amazing, his passion for his work and skill for finding wildlife and talking up the treasures was awesome. From Manuel Antonio we went to Arenal La Fortuna and stayed at the Arenal Manoa Hotel. A little isolating location if you didn't have your own vehicle but views of the Arenal Volcano were amazing and the grounds of the hotel were gorgeous. Highlights were to the Rainforest Chocolate experience and the guide Chapo was very funny and informative. Rafting the Balsa river with Wave rafting and our boat guide Horacio was very fun afternoon and a highlight. Canyoning with PureTrek canyoning was excellent and the staff helped my youngest daughter calm her fears of rappelling so that she had a fantastic time. We went to Rincon de la Vieja and stayed at the Hacienda Guachipelin and we did the 1 day adventure pass with horse back riding, river tubing, zip lining a canyon and finishing with a soak in volcanic hot springs. The staff for the adventure were excellent and we had guided tour of butterfly gardens and serpentarium. We capped off our 20 day visit to Costa Rica at the fantastic Tamarindo beach and stayed at the amazing Tamarindo Diria Beach resort.

All of our transportation to the different areas we visited were with very safe and conscientious drivers. The transportation was always on time. The vehicles were spotlessly clean and the drivers would usually point out points of interest and stop when asked. Rene from Jacamar Naturalist Tours was a great ambassador for Costa Rica explaining interesting things about Guanacaste province and life in Costa Rica.

We thoroughly enjoyed our trip to Costa Rica and we couldn't be happier with the personalized trip that Sylvia created for us and I would highly recommend her to anyone looking to travel to Costa Rica and I am trying to get my parents to plan a trip through her for next year.