Kimkim Trip Reviews for England

Kate was an excellent resource in planning our recent trip to the UK in August! We traveled all around Scotland and England. There were 11 people in our party and she did a great job at coordinating all the details and ensuring that all the key things that everyone wanted to do fit into our agenda. She was organized, very responsive to all my questions, provided great input and insights, and was available to answer questions during our trip. I highly recommend kimkim especially for large group travel planning. And, I especially recommend Kate. She was great!

Hotel Reviews

Kimpton - Blythswood Square Hotel, an IHG Hotel

Glasgow

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Inverness Palace Hotel & Spa

Inverness

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Apex Waterloo Place

Edinburgh

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Radisson RED Hotel, Liverpool

Liverpool

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

The Clermont London, Victoria

London

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Reviews

Loch Ness Cruise and Urquhart Castle

England

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Edinburgh Old Town Tour

Edinburgh

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Thames Cruise with Dinner

London

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Beatles and History Guided Walking Tour

Liverpool

Quality of Experience

Didn't happen

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Didn't show up to our planned location

Transport

Private Transfer from Edinburgh to Inverness via St Andrews

England

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Discover London in a Private Black Cab

London

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

St Andrews History Tour

England

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Isle of Skye Tour including the Eilean Donan Castle, Portree and other attractions

Inverness

Quality of Experience

It was very rainy so we couldn't do everything we wanted to

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

The Royal London Tour: Changing of the Guard and More

London

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Stonehenge and Windsor Castle from London, private group

London

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Salomé was very helpful planning our trip. He was even able to accommodate a last minute change and add my other daughter to the trip. We loved seeing Stonehenge. Our driver David was very pleasant and knowledgeable. We saw the book of Mormon at the Prince of Wales Theatre and had amazing seats.. the sanctuary house hotel was a very nice place to stay and would love to stay there again.

Hotel Review

The Sanctuary House Hotel

London

Great place to stay. The rooms.were clean and comfortable. we had two rooms and we were able to get them right next-door to each other. Would definitely stay there again.

Authenticity & Character

Quaint but modern amenities.

Location

Walking distance to most places

Staff

Staff was very helpful

Cleanliness & Comfort

Rooms were exceptionally clean and comfortable

Activity Reviews

An Evening at the West-End! Tickets to a Show of Your Choice

London

Excellent show “the book of Mormon“. Our seats were dead center right up front. Lovely theater.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Thames River Cruise

London

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Changing of the Guard Guided Tour

London

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Private tour of Stonehenge from London

London

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Tower of London Early Access Tour with Beefeater

London

The Beefeater was very knowledgeable and interesting. You get a nice history prior to exploring on your own. Love the ravens.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

All local tour guides were absolutely incredible, and I enjoyed talking to every single one of them as a means of learning about local life. Jack in London then Ruari and John in Inverness particularly stand out. Also, the Inverness Taxi company was amazing in their flexibility and reliability.

Hotel Reviews

Glenmoriston Townhouse Hotel

Inverness

Really enjoyed our stay here, and the staff as well as the restaurant were excellent.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

The Bonham

Edinburgh

Beautiful, but we were in the basement and it felt that way.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Montcalm Brewery, London City

Looks wonderful from the outside, definitely needs updating on the inside. It was hot without AC, which was broken, and they seemed to struggle with providing two beds in one room.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Reviews

Private Scotch Whisky & Artisan Food Tasting Tour

Edinburgh

Loch Ness and Caledonian Canal Cruise

Inverness

Cairngorms National Park Wildlife Tour

England

Our guide, Ruari, grew up on the land and was incredibly knowledgeable and fun to talk to.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Half-Day Loch Ness Tour from Inverness City

Inverness

Our guide, John, a former detective, was fantastic.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Stonehenge and Windsor Castle from London, private group

London

Tower of London Beefeater Welcome & Crown Jewels

London

Discover London in a Private Black Cab

London

Loved our guide, Jack. So knowledgable, and he did such a good job navigating the London traffic.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Jack the Ripper Walking Tour in London

London

This was my favorite activity, and the guide, a PhD student, was incredibly knowledgable.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Explore Harry Potter's London Tour

London

The tour guide, Domiano, was excellent, but the sites scene were mid.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

The palace of Versailles and our guide were just incredible. All of the destinations Alessandra recommended were perfect. All transfer rides were timely and professional.

Hotel Reviews

Villa Eiffel

Paris

Great place a second toilet would have been helpful.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

2 Bed 2 Bath Central Shoreditch Modern Flat By Spitalfields Market

London

The home is fantastic and spacious. All the windows allow for a lot of air to circulate as there is no AC. Location is great!

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Reviews

Eiffel Tower Summit Tickets

Paris

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Moulin Rouge Evening Performance with Dinner

Paris

Great seats and the show was fantastic.

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

We had difficulty getting water from the wait staff. They were great with everything else.

Unlock the Secrets of Perfume-Making!

Paris

An absolutely incredibly fun experience. We were all so excited to create our own scent. The staff were so knowledgeable and friendly.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Private Transfer to the International Train Station

England

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Private Transfer from Paris to Paris Charles dea Gaulle Airport

France

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Giverny & Palace of Versailles: Art, Royalty & Gardens

Paris

Tour guide was amazing!

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Aleksandra planned a trip of a lifetime to London & Scotland for my husband & I. We spent 6 nights in London & 4 nights in Ediburgh. Aleksandra was excellent at communicating with my husband & I. We exchanged many e-mails over the course of several months, planning each day & constantly tweaking what we wanted to do. In addition to that, we had a ton of questions that Aleksandra answered, always within a day or two of sending the e-mails.

When planning this trip we needed the most amount of help with laying out, organizing & optimizing our time in each location so that we could do everything we wanted without running ourselves ragged. Aleksandra accomplished this objective. She planned activities each day that were close to each other or an underground stop or two away so we could move easily & efficiently between locations. Alexsandra fit the days together seamlessly & used every second to the fullest. Her directions to get us from one place to another were a godsend. In both London & Edinburgh we never got lost nor frustrated trying to find a particular location. While planning our vacation, she always provided fabulous choices & presented multiple options so we could select what most excited us. This was true in particular for restaurants & hotels. Aleksandra made us dinner reservations at our selected restaurants & every one of those restaurants worked out beautifully. She was even available to us during the trip, when a small problem or question arose. It was a nice feeling to know that no matter what we needed, she was there for us, both in the planning & while we were on the trip.

There were a few standout tours that Aleksandra booked for us. The first was a private tour while we were in London to see the Changing of the Guard with Delianne. A bucket list item for me. Delianne knew just where to stand for the best viewing in several locations. We did not have to line up hours in advance. All we did was follow her & each time we were exactly where we needed to be at the right time. She had a lot of interesting tidbits to share & we thoroughly enjoyed our morning with her.

The next tour in London that we loved was a small group historical pub tour. Our tour guide, Freddie, was fabulous. We went to 4 interesting pubs, all different from each other. He had a lot of fun information to share & we spent just the right amount of time in each pub. This was our last night in London & it was a perfect way to end our time there before traveling to Edinburgh.

In Scotland, we did two private tours. Both of them were well worth the money. The first was a 3 1/2 hour walking tour of Edinburgh with Zander. He was our introduction to Edinburgh. He took us to so many places & told us so many engaging stories. It was more interesting to us than to just be told a list of facts. The time went by very quickly & we attributed that to his way of telling us information about Edinburgh.

The second private tour was a highlight of our entire trip. We spent the day with Calais, a true gentleman & a delight to have as a tour guide. We went through the East Neuk, even stopping in Calais' hometown & going to his local cafe. We loved seeing where people live & learning a little about why they lived there. St. Andrews golf course was next & it did not disappoint. We could feel the history there & appreciated it all, even though neither of us are golfers. We loved taking our picture on the famous bridge, Swilken Bridge, which made my golf loving brother very jealous. We also toured St. Andrews University. The school is even more beautiful than we had imagined & again we enjoyed learning about the history there. The sad, but true story of the the St. Andrews Castle was very interesting & one we had not heard before.

We are only home a few days & are still talking about all the highlights of this trip. We have fabulous memories & many of them are from the tours outlined above. Both my husband & I highly recommend Aleksandra. Her work in preparing for this trip enhanced our trip & resulted in making our trip extraordinary. Using Aleksandra & her team was well worth it & gave us an unforgettable vacation experience!

Hotel Reviews

Leonardo Royal Hotel Edinburgh

Edinburgh,

This hotel was perfect for our 4 night stay in Edinburgh. Room was clean, quiet & was located right off the Royal Mile. It was a good fit for us.

Authenticity & Character

It wasn't that anything needed to be improved. It was just your regular hotel with few amenities, but perfect for what we needed.

Location

Very near to Royal Mile

Staff

There was a small problem at check in that the manager quickly resolved.

Cleanliness & Comfort

Bed was comfortable & room was clean.

Roseate House London

London

We had a wonderful 6 night stay at this hotel. The hotel manager went out of his way to make this an outstanding experience for us. We were lucky enough to stay in a junior suite which provided lots of extra room. The king bed was comfortable which was important to us as we had long days of sightseeing & were exhausted when we arrived back at the hotel. What set this hotel apart from your usual hotel was the staff. They wanted to make our stay the best it could possibly be & they did. We appreciated every bit of that! Highly recommend this hotel!!

Authenticity & Character

The hotel was a boutique hotel which was just what we wanted for this stay.

Location

It was super quiet, but very close to Paddington Station so convenient for seeing all the sights.

Staff

Exceptional in every way!! They went out of their way to make our stay fantastic!

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Reviews

St Andrews & Kingdom of Fife Private Tour

Edinburgh

This tour was one of our highlights of our entire trip to Scotland! Our tour guide, Calais, was the reason for this. He was absolutely wonderful & made this tour great! He picked us up promptly at our hotel & had the day completely laid out for us. He told us many interesting stories throughout the day; enough to get a good idea of the areas we saw without bombarding us with too much information. He took us to a few villages in the East Neuk, one of them being the village where he lives. We loved this because we got to see daily life in a non touristy area. We ate lunch at the St. Andrews Clubhouse which was delicious. Our view out the window during lunch was the golf course & we watched several people play through the hole we were near. Neither my husband nor I play golf, but we couldn't help but be taken in with the history of such a famous golf course. Of course we took our picture on Swilken Bridge which made my golf loving brother very jealous. Our tour also included St. Andrews University which was incredibly beautiful & also steeped with history. We had wanted to see something other than Edinburgh during our visit. We were very glad that we took this tour. It was a fantastic day!!

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Calais was a delight to spend the day with. Request him for an amazing day!

Transport

We were picked up in a Mercedes SUV which was quite luxurios.

Historical Pub Tour of London

London

We thoroughly enjoyed our historical pub tour with Freddie. He was an excellent guide through the 4 pubs we "toured". He gave us just enough interesting information without giving too much. We loved all the pubs he selected. They were very different from each other, but each had a lot of character. We never would have found these pubs on our own. We would highly recommend this tour! A really fun evening!!

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

We were happy with how the trip was arranged around all the priorities we expressed interest in and the guides and trip planning were excellent. Our only comment for improvement is a little more transparency on some of trip details that would have improved some of the train travel connections, as it was not always clear which exact train line we were looking for. It worked out fine, but there was a little anxiety when changing trains in the larger stations. The hotels were all great and completely met our needs and expectations.

Hotel Reviews

Sofitel Hotel Heathrow T5

London

The hotel is great, its modern and efficient, thus somewhat lacking in charm. Its proximity to Heathrow is its main advantage. We had no problems here, but no standout experiences either - it met all our expectations, it just didn't excel at anything.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

The Manor House Hotel

Moreton-in-Marsh

This hotel was very much in character with its surroundings in Moreton-in-Marsh. The staff were great and the room was quite nice. We took advantage of its proximity to the high-end restaurant Henne to enjoy a wonderful dinner one evening.

Authenticity & Character

A wonderful slice of English charm and hospitality.

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

No. 15 by Guesthouse

Bath

This was probably the best hotel of our trip. The room was well appointed and overlooked the street (pedestrian and automobile traffic was no issue). There was a nice park right outside the rear entrance that was nice to relax in. The staff were helpful and the food excellent. Walking to and from central Bath was easy from its location.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Nice location that was very accessible to the center of town, as well as two very nice parks close by.

Staff

Always pleasant and helpful.

Cleanliness & Comfort

Georgian House Hotel

Pimlico

The location was great and both the staff and the breakfasts were excellent. The hotel does not have AC, so the heat wave this summer in London created some stuffy conditions in the room, but not uncomfortable.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Easy to navigate to and from Victoria Station and local restaurants were plentiful.

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Reviews

Hidcote Gardens Visit - Arts and Crafts inspired intricately designed spaces

England

I think this would be a great addition to anyone's itinerary to experience these gardens at the height of their greenery. Unfortunately for us, the drought and heat in England at this time lessened the experience somewhat. Not a fault of anyone, just mother nature intervening.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Good taxi driver to and from the Gardens.

Private transfer

England

Taxi transfer from Hidcote Gardens back to the hotel. The driver was on time and efficient both coming and going to the gardens.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Private transfer

England

Taxi trip between the hotel and Hidcote Gardens

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Private Taxi at the station

Moreton-in-Marsh

Short trip between the station and our hotel. The same drive brought us to the Hidcote gardens tour.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

London Globe Theatre Tour

England

This tour allows you to experience the reconstructed Globe theater and the learn the history of the original and the revival of the current theater.

Quality of Experience

Good tour - a little dry, but to be expected with a group of about 25 or so.

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Easy use of the underground and walking to and from the stations to get to the theater.

Classic Cotswolds 1-day Private Tour

England

Ian was our tour guide and he provided a fantastic tour for us, visiting several villages and other sights and unique areas of the Cotswolds. He was not quite the same outgoing personality as our guide for Bath and Stonehenge, but he was very good at getting around and helping us learn about the unique history and culture of the area. We thoroughly enjoyed this tour.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Entry into the Roman Baths

Bath

A must see and must do tour. It's self-guided, but informative and engaging tour of an unique aspect of English and Roman history.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Less interactive staff than at other locations, but still very good.

Transport

A nice and pleasant walk from the hotel to the Roman baths.

Private Stonehenge Tour with Inner Circle access from Bath

Bath

Wonderful and enthralling experience. We had the same tour guide - Dan - for this as for the walking tour of Bath. Dan is fantastic and really gave us a detailed experience within the stone circle of Stonehenge.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Dan was wonderful and helped us both understand the context of Stonehenge and shared some wonderful insight both on the ancient history, but also more recent history of visitors.

Transport

Private transfer to your destination

England

Quick and efficient taxi service between the hotel and station.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Private transfer to your destination

England

The driver was on-time at the station, were a little confused about where he was waiting for us and it took a while for us to find him.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Short trip between the station and hotel.

Tower of London Tour with Beefeater

London

We thoroughly enjoyed both the tour guide that preceded our entry into the Tower area and the Beefeater (Tower Guard) that provided the tour within the Tower castle area. Both were engaging and knowledgeable and very responsive to questions.

Quality of Experience

There is about a 15-20 minute pre-entry tour guide that escorts you to the meeting place with the Beefeater - he was very good at setting the stage for the second part of the tour. The Beefeater guide was similarly fantastic.

Guides, Drivers and Staff

The guides blended humor with history - thoroughly enjoyable.

Transport

Standard transport through the London Underground.

Tickets to Windsor Castle

England

The self-guided tour of the castle and grounds was great. There is almost always a queue for the Doll House, so come expecting that. We made some decisions about the order in which we proceeded through the grounds based on where larger groups were heading.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

The staff throughout the castle and castle grounds were always happy to answer questions.

Transport

Using a city map app on our phone helped us make decisions about which underground lines and train lines were best based on our time of entry at Windsor. This was quite helpful to navigate London's public transportation system for novices.

Afternoon Tea at the Savoy Hotel

London

A experience in and of itself. The tea was great and the accompanying selection of small sandwiches and desserts were wonderful. We were just a bit sluggish since we had just arrived in London with little if any sleep on the plane.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

We struggled to find the proper entrance to approach using the map app on our phones and there was a queue for children's concert at the Savoy that created confusion about how to get to the restaurant.

A Private Classic City Walking Tour of Bath

Bath

Our guide, Dan, was absolutely fantastic. He was very engaging, and was able to link his and our experiences to the elements of the tour. We thoroughly enjoyed our day with him. There were many highlights, but his choice of pub for dinner on the drive between Bath and Stonehenge was inspired - hard to beat a pub with about 700 years of service history.

Quality of Experience

Incredible knowledge and a very engaging personality.

Guides, Drivers and Staff

I run out of superlatives with our guide.

Transport

Landed at Heathrow and were taken straight to Windsor. Castle tour and wandering through town. First (and best) cheese toastie of the trip (and we had several). Then off to Henley. A cute little place and Tanya was a wonderful guide for the next few days. Hever castle, Highclare and then a night on the water at Leeds. There is a great market next to the train station for lunch, snacks, gifts…
Landed in London and had a short walk to our very centrally located hotel in Covent Gardens. Had a wonderful pub tour, went to Michelin star restaurants, and found it quite easy inconvenient to walk or take the tube to get everywhere.
Then back on a train and off to Scotland. A couple of nights in Edinburgh with a city and castle tour, walk of the royal mile and more good food. Off to the countryside with a stay at a lovely hotel with its own Michelin starred chef, right next door to a world renowned chocolate shop. Had a wonderful and educational tour of the Dewars/Aberfeldy whisky distillery and trips to Blair and Stirling castles.
A short flight over to Dublin where we had a wonderful city tour with Seamus and then a standout connoisseur’s tour of Guinness. A drive over to the Atlantic coast with a tour of Galway and a couple of nights on the water. Fortunately we had no rain the entire two weeks, unfortunately until the last day. Our trip to the Cliffs of Moher was disappointing due to no visibility, but I should point out that the visitor center was well worth stopping in.
Thanks to Kimkim for helping us have a wonderful trip!

Kateryna did an amazing job planning our trip! I could have never done it without her. We packed in so many things in two weeks in Europe ! With all the complicated schedules and hours of the many places we wanted to see and go she fit it all in like clockwork.

THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!!

IT WAS A TRIP OF A LIFETIME

Thank you so much for all you did to make our vacation/holiday memorable for years to come.

Day one was great to keep moving…our tour with Deliane was great, it did not match the description at all but what she covered we loved, my daughter especially since they have similar interest…she was a lovely lady and really knows her history, especially detailing Dickens. The Tea at Savoy was wonderful, we were somewhat Zombies by then, but it was amazing.

Day2
Buckingham Palace and Westminster Abbey were both amazing and worthy of the visits. St James Park was good. We saw a lot of it with Deliane on day 1

Day3
St Paul Cathedral was magnificent. A fair warning of the climb to the top might be good for those not in any type of physical shape, we were all winded and legs burning but we enjoyed immensely, Borough Market….OH YEAH! The chocolate Strawberries definitely worth the time. The Tower of London was beautiful and only started our beefeater tour when a young girl passed out from heat and dehydration. My wife is a nurse and provided aide. For my wife’s heroic actions and help, they invited us back that evening for a 700 year tradition. It was amazing and unbelievable that every night for 700 years, this ceremony is carried outs! We never actually finished our guided tour due to fainting distraction but that led us to something very special in the retiring of the keys ceremony.

Day4
British Museum…I want to be positive here, but we didn’t really see any British History and that was what we were looking for…it was extremely crowded and amazingly Hot inside…we couldn’t handle the heat and left early for the shopping between Oxford Street and Harrods. The day was saved and we enjoyed ourselves. Can’t give a good recommendation for the British Museum

Day5. The tour of Parliament and Westminster Palace was our favorite, it is unfortunate that we could not have the guided tour, but understand staffing. This was everything to my daughter as her University Major is Public Policy and Leadership which fits right into Parliament. We did not go to the Tate museum so I cannot rate it. We instead went to the National Gallery in Trafalgar Square…it was great! We loved it and would recommend.

Day 6. Notting hill and all the markets were great….we asked to go ona Saturday and it didn’t disappoint with merchandise and crowd. Hot and tired after many hours in the markets, we did not venture to Little Venice.

Overall we truly enjoyed our itinerary ! Thank you. We love a structured environment as a family, so this worked well. Everyone has different tastes, but if you wanted to include possible recommendations for food at the conclusion of the day, I am sure it would be appreciated by your clients in the future. We found ourselves looking around and wasting a lot of time to find dinner at the end of the day, but managed to find many different types of cuisine.

Finally a shout out to Aleksandra for her communication during the building of the itinerary, she was awesome and during the actual holiday, she was always a message away and willing to go the extra mile got what we needed.

Thank you

Hotel Review

The Cumberland

London

Great location

Location

Staff

Concierge greet desk staff aren’t helpful and wouldn’t answer phone pre-trip

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Reviews

Tower of London Beefeater Welcome & Crown Jewels

London

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Guided Tour of the Palace of Westminster (UK Parliament)

London

Guided tour cancelled last minute do to staffing…audio tour only, still awesome

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Retired Royal Guard Central London Walk

London

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Our seven day trip to London with our ten and eleven year old grandchildren was great!! We had two hiccups and Aleksandra responded right away. Everyday our schedule was laid out for us. We used the tube while in London and had private drivers to and from Heathrow and the Harry Potter Studios. Our tour guide David in London was great! He used to do security for the palace and was assigned to Prince Harry . He had a ton of good stories! Our Beefeater tour guide at the Tower of London was really good and engaged the children a lot. We were scheduled at the Natural History Museum but got done early and also went to the Science Museum. Our grandchildren like the Science Museum better. We saw the show Come Alive!! Highly recommend but get the VIP ticket. We were always busy, very little down time. Never waited in any long lines. We stayed at the Marriott Residence Inn in Kingsington in a two bed two bath apartment. Right across the street was Cacciari's Italian Restaurant and they would deliver right to your room. Also we were just blocks away from Earl's Court Tube station and a Tesco.

Hotel Review

Residence Inn by Marriott London Kensington

London

This place is a bargain for London. We had two bedrooms, two baths, a small kitchen and a living room with a dining table. They serve a daily breakfast buffet but it is not very English and sort of bland. The place is clean, the staff is attentive and very accommodating. Lots of families stay there. It is a few blocks from the Earl's Court Tube station, a Tesco and Cacciari's Italian restaurant is right across the street. Eat in or they deliver to your room.

Authenticity & Character

It is starting to look a little tired. It has been updated but I don't know how they keep up.

Location

Staff

Dining room, front desk and luggage attendant were all great. Remembered the kids names.

Cleanliness & Comfort

Daily maid service was good . It just gets a lot of wear and tear.

Activity Reviews

Arsenal - Emirates Stadium Tour

London

Awesome experience

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Audio guide

Transport

Used the tube

Thames Cruise

London

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Tower of London Beefeater Welcome & Crown Jewels

London

Awesome Beefeater Tour

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Took the tube

Royal London Tour

London

Our guide was great. However 3 hours for the kids was a lot of standing.

Quality of Experience

David was veryngood.

Guides, Drivers and Staff

David was our guide

Transport

We used the tube!

I think everything went pretty well overall. Our drivers were wonderful and always on time. The tour guide Tony for the Bath walking tour was great. Jamie who drove us from Stratford to Bath, touring through the Cotswolds was wonderful. The gentleman who drove to and from Henley was fantastic. We just had a little minor minor logistics issue with the Oxford tour.

The hotels were very nice. For me as part of a couple, our rooms were the right size for us. I felt for our friend staying in a room as one person, she should get the same size. I understand that maybe UK hotels work differently than my expectations. Maybe kimkim can take this as a suggestion.

Our coordinator Liam was very responsive whenever we had questions or needed some things adjusted.

We had a very lovely time. Thank you.

Hotel Reviews

Apex City of Bath Hotel

Bath

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Room was just a little small

The White Swan Hotel

Stratford-upon-Avon

Really lovely, comfortable and wonderful service!

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Reviews

Punting in Oxford

England

This is just so relaxing and wonderful!

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Entry into the Roman Baths

Bath

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Oxford University & City Tour with Alumni Guide

Oxford

This was very informative and almost TOO much info. We spent an hour in one college and based on the description we weren't sure how it was all going to be fit in. We were a little overloaded so we politely excused ourselves at a good point.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

A Private Classic City Walking Tour of Bath

Bath

Tony met us at the hotel and he was wonderful. Very knowledgeable and professional. The description listed on our itinerary was a little different: it specifically said Dan and that there was a drive involved? However, Tony just walked us around and gave us a fabulous overview of the town.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

A Classic Cotswolds Private Driver Guide - South Cotswolds

England

Jamie was amazing and very professional. Great stops and history! Very accommodating to our needs.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

We were amazed at the support we received from our specialist Kateryna. She took really good care of us and adapted our trip to meet our needs right up until we were ready to leave. She was very friendly and responded quickly to all our requests. We had a great time on our trip as well. The tours she planned for us were a blast. SoHo food tour, Jacobite train and the Caledonia Sleeper train were among the highlights. Only complaint was at least one of our rooms did not have working air conditioning at every hotel we stayed at except one. Unfortunately we planned our trip during one of the worst heat waves in British history. The hotel Lemonde in Edinburgh was an amazing place to stay. If I were to take this trip again I would definitely request more days at that hotel.

Hotel Reviews

Leonardo Royal Hotel Oxford

Wolvercote, Oxford

Pretty decent hotel. Lobby and some rooms were nice and cool but ours was incredibly hot. One of our rooms was ice cold and the other was extremely hot and we could not get another room. Really amazing breakfast though

Authenticity & Character

Location

The hotel location was pretty good being halfway between Oxford and Blenheim Castle

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Our A/C was not working and it got incredibly hot in our room. Luckily my mother-in-law's room was incredibly cool so she was lucky.

The Garrison Hotel

Fort William

Rooms were too small for what we were looking for. Since we were on a longer trip my wife and I had some large suitcases and we didn't have room to open them in the room while we were inside. Wished we would have booked the larger suites instead.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Good location. Furthest from train station but it is a small town so not a far walk

Staff

Staff were wonderful and took good care of us

Cleanliness & Comfort

Hotel seemed clean but the bathroom was so small water kept leaking out of the shower into the bedroom carpet

Le Monde Hotel

This was a wonderful hotel. We all enjoyed our stay and wish we could have stayed longer

Authenticity & Character

Cool boutique hotel and rooms were huge

Location

Not terribly far from the train station and we found some good restaurants nearby

Staff

Staff took good care of us. No restaurant but they did give us good recommendations

Cleanliness & Comfort

A/C worked great and the rooms were large and very clean

Montcalm Brewery, London City

Hotel was nice but we had 3 rooms and 2 did not have functioning air conditioning. We were not asked if we would like to have a new room but were given fans that unfortunately only moved around the hot air. Would not have mattered but we were staying for 5 days and would have liked to have had the option of trying to move to a new room.

Authenticity & Character

Very unique hotel. Would have liked to try the brewery but the pub downstairs was a lot of fun

Location

Too far from Tube station

Staff

They were very friendly and helpful. Our reservations got messed up but they finally got it straightened out.

Cleanliness & Comfort

Rooms were incredibly hot in our room. Our daughter's room was very cool and comfortable so we knew some had working A/C. Hotel was very clean though and the housekeeping staff was very attentative

Activity Reviews

Discover London in a Private Black Cab

London

This was a great experience. Our guide was willing to take us to see whatever we wanted to see and had some amazing insight into the city. I would highly recommend this tour

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Holyrood Distillery Tour

Edinburgh

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Seal Spotting Loch Linnhe Cruise

England

We had a blast on this cruise and the scenery was unbelievable

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Evening SoHo London Food Tour

London

This could very well be the most fun and entertaining food tour me and my family has ever done. Our guide was amazing and she engaged with each one of us. The food choices were delicious and we got to experience a whole world of flavors.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Our guide was the best

Transport

Tower of London Beefeater Welcome & Crown Jewels

London

This was a nice adventure and was great to say that I have had this experience

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Wish we would have done a private guided tour since we had trouble getting over to the Tower

Transfer to Oxford

London

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Islander Workshop Experience in Edinburgh

Edinburgh

This was a surprisingly wonderful experience. The employees were so helpful in helping all of us put the bags together and we were able to build some amazing bags for gifts

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Jacobite Steam Train

Scotland

This was the highlight of the trip. Train was like stepping back in time and the scenery was beautiful. We had a wonderful time and would do this again in a heartbeat

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Train was fantastic

One Day Trip Canterbury & Dover Cliffs

England

Our guide was great and very informative. Canterbury was such a beautiful city and the Cliffs of Dover were something everyone needs to experience. While we were there Spitfires were flying over the cliffs which was another amazing experience.

Quality of Experience

Guide was funny and kept us entertained. Beautiful area to get out of the bigger city

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Guide was funny and kept us entertained. Driver was great as well

Transport

This was great for a larger tour. I would also like to try the smaller group experience one day but this was very well organized for such a large group

Stonehenge and Windsor Castle from London

London

This was a highlight trip for us. Were really surprised at how much fun we had in Bath.

Quality of Experience

Bath was a hidden gem we weren't expecting

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Taking this bus tour was a great option for us. By this time we were worn out with walking tours in London and this was a great opportunity to get out of the city and into some more remote areas.

The Royal London Tour: Changing of the Guard and More

London

Our guide was wonderful and we had a great time with her. She got us into all of the best location for photos.

Quality of Experience

We had a great time on this tour

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Guide was amazing

Transport

This did not apply. We had to take the tube to this experience

Our itinerary was just right for us, and the hotels you chose for us were all great! We loved touring the villages nearby, and you helped insure there were no major travel issues. Thank you!

We had great guides, Amanda, Trevor and Jim. It was a real treat spending time with each of them. We happened to be in Wales during the heatwave, but that didn't detract from the wonderful sites and people we met.

Trip was a lot of fun and Jane did a great job helping us feel comfortable navigating England without a car. We had a couple hiccups, most notably an issue with the hotel reservation the final night that meant we had to rent another room separately from the original reservation. But Kimkim was able to follow up and reimburse us for the additional cost.

Hotel Reviews

Moxy Hotel Heathrow

Hounslow

Authenticity & Character

Trying very hard to be hip, but kinda failing. Quite loud inside and had cars using the back parking lot to race and rev engines late into the night. Got very little sleep.

Location

Staff

Front desk staff did not honor our reservation as it had been booked under another credit card by kimkim. We had to rent a second room and were not reimbursed for the original reservation.

Cleanliness & Comfort

Trash on floor under beds. Uncomfortable pillows.

The Head of the River

Oxford, Oxfordshire

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

The Townhouse

Stratford-upon-Avon

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Edgar Townhouse

Bath

Staff were super helpful and always offered to go above and beyond my expectations.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Wilde Apartments Tower Bridge

London

Small room but had everything we needed. Easy walk to underground and London Tower.

Authenticity & Character

Clean and comfortable, but rooms quite small.

Location

Slightly dodgy feeling area of town but we didn’t have any issues.

Staff

Friendly and always greeted us upon entry

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Reviews

Private Walking Tour in Stratford Upon Avon

Stratford-upon-Avon

We did this on a dreary rainy late afternoon but our guide was wonderful and really help turn a somewhat gloomy feeling afternoon into a pleasant experience.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Entry into the Roman Baths

Bath

Interesting tour, busy but not super packed in the late afternoon.

Quality of Experience

London Globe Theatre Performance

London

Really special to see a show in this theater and experience the really interactive atmosphere between the audience and actors.

Quality of Experience

Oxford University & City Tour with Alumni Guide

Oxford

Late in the day tour that meant we couldn’t enter any of the colleges (they lock doors at 4pm). Would have preferred an earlier tour if we had known. Guide was very nice but not as informative on the history of the colleges as we would have liked. No entry into the Bodilean libraries or other buildings included. MUST book this separately and in advance if you want to see them. Another item I wish we had know as it was on the must see list for our trip.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Afternoon Tea at The Swan (Near The Globe & Borough Market)

England

London Globe Theatre Tour

England

Entry tickets to historic Kew Gardens

London

Quality of Experience

Tower of London Timed Entry Tickets

London

Really interesting place but got crowded quickly the morning we went.

Quality of Experience

Stonehenge, Avebury and Cotswolds Villages Small Group Tour

Bath

Great day and enjoyed our guide.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

I will recommend to anyone planning a trip to use KimKim. I was looking for an itinerary that included many British gardens and our specialist Kateryna delivered a fabulous Grand Garden Tour trip that I never could have planned on my own. Our trip went smoothly with all the tickets bought and available quickly in the Kimkim app. I cant say enough good things about the app which is fantastic ! Our tour guides were experienced and personable and Kateryna arranged transportation to and from places when it was appropriate. We spent 9 days in London and then took a train to Oxford. Spent a day privately touring in the Cotswolds where our driver/guide made sure we saw the best gardens and had a fantastic lunch at the oldest inn in Britain. We ended our trip in Windsor and had private transport back to the airport. What I liked the most about using Kimkim is that I told them what I specifically wanted to see and they made suggestions for other excursions and we communicated easily back and forth until the trip was exactly what I wanted. We had flexibility on some days while we were there to change our plans and truly make it our own trip. My husband and I usually plan our trips independently but after this wonderful experience I will use KimKim instead.

Activity Reviews

Iconic Oxford Private Walking Tour

Oxford

We loved this tour so much it made us want to stay in Oxford longer. Our guide was a PhD student who gave us a unique perspective and some great stories about student life at the university. This is a must tour if your in Oxford!!

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Secret Gardens of the City of London Private Tour

London

Delianne was a great guide and if you want to see places in London most people dont see take this tour!

Quality of Experience

Delianne is a great storyteller!

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

NA

Discover London in a Private Black Cab

London

Our driver John was funny, knowledgeable and told us fantastic stories. Highly recommend doing this tour first when going to London.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

We enjoyed this trip very much and are very appreciative of the support we received from KIMKIM. We worked with Aleksandra for several months finding a way to include all the cities and areas we wanted to visit.
In terms of cities I think Dublin was our favorite. We liked the Mercantile Hotel - a great location, nice room, amazing breakfast and a very good bar and restaurant. We enjoyed the stores and pubs in the neighborhood a lot. The Hop On Hop Off bus stop was very close to our hotel and we used this system to make our way around Dublin.
We're so glad Aleksandra recommended the tour of 14 Henrietta Street. It was a little tricky to find but we had a very nice guide and appreciated his words about the history of the building.
The day tour of the Cliffs of Moher was disappointing. The bus was very cramped and Bill especially was uncomfortable because of no leg room at the seats. Galway was a big disappointment it was very crowded with tourists and we saw no charm in the city.
Kilmainham Jail was fascinating. The guide provided an excellent exposure to the many different eras of the jail including why people were jailed and executed there. Experiencing the small cells and limited access to the outside was chilling.
The Guiness Experience Tour was a struggle. It was packed with people - mostly young people who's purpose was to enjoy the free beer.
We were so glad to visit Trinity College and the Book of Kells. It was a graduation day for medical students so the plaza was filled with family members bearing numerous floral bouquets. It's too bad the books are being removed from the "Long Room" and it will be closed to the public for several years.
Edinburgh was our next stop and our lodging issue was extremely frustrating but NOT the fault of Aleksandra. We thought the apartment building had a lift but it did not. Only a very large spiral staircase and there was no way we could have handled that climb daily. Aleksandra was quick to respond and found us another hotel very close to the areas that we were scheduled to tour. My only suggestion about Edinburgh is that people who are considering Edinburgh need to understand how steep the streets are and how difficult it is go get around. Our food tour was excellent. The castle tour was very strenuous. The Real Mary King's Close was difficult due to uneven flooring and small doorways but the guide was very accomodating to the senior citizens. Holyhood House was very interesting to see - we enjoyed that opportunity very much.
Our hotel in Bayeux was very nice close - to the train station and the downtown area. We were a bit challenged by all the football fans who had filled the bars close to us to watch Arsenal but we enjoyed the fun, Our all day tour of the Normandy beaches was a real highlight of our trip. We booked this tour ourselves but I would suggest that KIMKIM include this gentleman for Normandy tours in the future. His name is Bertrand Saudrais and his email is [email protected].
Our hotel location in the West End was great. The changing of the guard was very crowded and took quite a long time but we wanted to see it. The Royal Mews was very interesting and our lunch at Buckingham Arms Pub was a great recommendation from Aleksandra.
Unfortunately our trip to the Victoria and Albert museum was cancelled. Bill had a cold and we both thought we needed a day off.
The river trip to Hampton Court didn't work out. It was raining heavily and the wind gusts were difficult. The boat did not have enough room for everyone and we ended up on the front deck chairs. After an hour we got off the boat and found a local pub where we enjoyed a great lunch and a very friendly group of people.
The next day our Hidden Pubs of London tour was a wonderful history of London pubs over the centuries. Drinking beer wasn't the focus but the guide Lynden was excellent. - very informed and very cognizant of all the people on the tour.
Our day long tour of Stone Henge, Bath and Windsor Castle began at 7:00 AM anded at 6:30 PM - a long day. However, the coach we had was very comfortable we covered many miles hearing from our guide and talking with our fellow tour people. All of the stops were just as we had hoped but it would have been nice to have more time in Windsor Castle - guess we'll have to go back.
On Saturday it was raining again as we waited in line at Parliament. Once we got inside we really enjoyed the different rooms for the various political groups. Very interesting.
Our last day we toured the British Museum that was very close to our hotel. Seeing the ancient artifacts from around the world was such a pleasure..
Overall, we were once again very pleased with KIMKIM. Aleksandra worked very hard to fulfill our wishes in the way that made the most sense. What we learned is that we may have over booked this trip with tours - we should have included at least one more day of rest.
As we talk to our friends about our travels we always mention the KIMKIM name so I hope you'll get some new customers.

This was the first time we used Kimkim, based on a recommendation by my college classmate. It was great - I chatted back and forth with Aleksandra to customize our vacation just the way we wanted. Then she took care of all the bookings - hotel, transportation, guides, theater tickets, attraction tickets. I usually do the planning for vacations in our family so it was hugely relaxing to not have to be the 'cruise director' on this one. Everything was great, especially the London Black Cab guides, Chris and Jack. We got to see everything we wanted, and had some free time as well.

I like Kimkim because of this customizability - as much or as little planning as you want, the price level you want, and elimination of all the hassle. On big travel events in the future, we will definitely utilized them again.

Hotel Review

Apex City Of London Hotel

London

Very friendly staff, and an excellent breakfast buffet. We fueled up every morning for adventure. And I confess we all enjoyed the tea / hot chocolate and biscuits in the evening! Housekeeping was also great. My wife loves coming back to a clean room and made bed when we are on the road.

Authenticity & Character

Great rooms, and I liked the emphasis on sustainability.

Location

Central to all the things we wanted to see in London - the Tower, British Museum, Eye, LSE.

Staff

The dining staff were all fantastic.

Cleanliness & Comfort

Housekeeping every night did a great job - it was nice to come back to a clean room. With hot chocolate and tea waiting for us, as well as filled water bottles.

Activity Reviews

Hampton Court Half-Day Tour

London

English Heritage does a great job with all the historic sites. Hampton Court is my favorite because of the range of history and the preservation of the artifacts. The audio tour is great, and the cafe was really charming - lunch in the gardens. Don't miss the Great Vine and the gardens.

Stonehenge and Bath

England

Had a great trip to Stonehenge. English Heritage did a great job making it fun for the kids as well, with photo ops and the mythical creature hunt. And Bath is just lovely - my favorite town in Britain. The Roman baths tour is awesome, and the whole town is relaxing.

Tower of London Beefeater Welcome & Crown Jewels

London

Kids loved the tower - they really got into the history, which I was surprised and gratified by. The Beefeaters are of course amazing - don't miss that on the tour.

The hotels selected and the daily schedule were great. All four of us had a great time and it was nice to have it all planned for us.

Loved our trip and it was well planned. Any questions or problems were answered quickly and resolved quickly.

Hotel Reviews

The Roseate Villa

Bath

Nice hotel but no lounge areas to congregate

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

The Slaughters Manor House

Lower Slaughter

Great hotel and great staff.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Easy drive to towns

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Review

Hidcote Manor Gardens

England

Beautiful even in the rain