Kimkim Trip Reviews for Finland

We've just spent a wonderful week travelling with Adventure By Design from Rovaniemi (Lapland) to Tromso (Norway). Our trip was all about immersing ourselves in the environment and taking beautiful day hikes. Elina & Sonja organised a great itinerary which gave us a taste of the different types of environment in the Arctic Circle. It wasn't till the end that we reflected how different each day was and how that made the trip so great! The hikes were well marked and really suitable for us in... read more

We've just spent a wonderful week travelling with Adventure By Design from Rovaniemi (Lapland) to Tromso (Norway). Our trip was all about immersing ourselves in the environment and taking beautiful day hikes. Elina & Sonja organised a great itinerary which gave us a taste of the different types of environment in the Arctic Circle. It wasn't till the end that we reflected how different each day was and how that made the trip so great! The hikes were well marked and really suitable for us in terms of difficulty and duration. The night in the wilderness cabin was a highlight- a great way to meet other Finnish hikers and have an authentic Finnish summer hiking experience. The accommodation varied: self-catering cabins (with sauna's) and hotels which were clean and comfortable and in great locations. It was easy to pick up food supplies (snacks, breakfast food) along the way. My partner's need for gluten-free food was NO problem at all in Finland and Norway. Everything is labelled. How refreshing! Gareth and Amanda were fantastic guides and we really enjoyed our time with them. Everything went smoothly, as planned, and we enjoyed every single minute of our fabulous trip. Highly recommended, and we look forward to coming back one day soon.

We absolutely loved Norway. It is a beautiful country with wonderful people. Everyone was so friendly and helpful. Our boat tour through the fjords was gorgeous. We especially enjoyed the Flåm train ride and our trip to Lofoten Islands. A guide named Boyd, from Aktiv took us on a very nice kayaking tour. He was very informative about the people, the culture, and the history of the area.

Planning the trip with Ingrid was a dream! She had excellent suggestions, was thorough in her planning... read more

We absolutely loved Norway. It is a beautiful country with wonderful people. Everyone was so friendly and helpful. Our boat tour through the fjords was gorgeous. We especially enjoyed the Flåm train ride and our trip to Lofoten Islands. A guide named Boyd, from Aktiv took us on a very nice kayaking tour. He was very informative about the people, the culture, and the history of the area.

Planning the trip with Ingrid was a dream! She had excellent suggestions, was thorough in her planning and left us very detailed instructions. She even gave us maps so that we would have a general idea where we needed to go. I have given all of my friends the recommendations on booking travel through kim kim. We had a wonderful experience and every hotel and activity met or exceeded our expectations.

Our only obstacles were generally in the area of language. While everyone spoke English, we really had a tough time reading the signs or following directions that were written in Norwegian. This posed most challenging while driving. Some how we made it through the trip with just a parking ticket!

I cannot rave enough about Gareth & Elina. They were so knowledgeable, responsive, and gracious. The agenda they organized for us was exactly what we wanted - they took our travel goals and interests and turned them into an outstanding programme. Both are true experts, customer-oriented, and kind people. We wanted an active, hiking-centric trip through Swedish & Finnish Lapland and far norther Norway. This is what Elina & Gareth delivered, and we could not be happier.

Rikka was a great guide - very knowledgeable and helpful and so full of energy! She made our two snowshoeing trips very easy and enjoyable!
Elina and Sonja tailored an itinerary exactly according to my interests and gave me very clear instructions so that I had a very smooth trip and was able to do a lot in a short period of time. When she heard that my camera was not functioning, Elina even helped to adjust it to enable me to successfully photograph the Northern Lights.

Right from the start Elina was excellent at helping to plan our trip . Elina and Gareth always responded quickly to our questions and were very helpful in providing us with information from what clothing to wear to what camera to buy.
Our trip was amazing from start to finish . Gareth picked us up in Kittila and drove us to Ylläs and Kilpisjärvi , then on to Tromso. Our accommodation were beautiful cabins in the woods (exactly what I had asked for ). Our activities, snowmobiling, dog... read more

Right from the start Elina was excellent at helping to plan our trip . Elina and Gareth always responded quickly to our questions and were very helpful in providing us with information from what clothing to wear to what camera to buy.
Our trip was amazing from start to finish . Gareth picked us up in Kittila and drove us to Ylläs and Kilpisjärvi , then on to Tromso. Our accommodation were beautiful cabins in the woods (exactly what I had asked for ). Our activities, snowmobiling, dog sledding, reindeer farm , snow shoe walks and Northern Lights hunting were all fabulous. Gareth personally took us on 3 fantastic snow shoe walks which were unexpected highlights . His enthusiasm for Lapland is infectious and he is great company . Gareth guided us on 4 Northern Lights chases. He helped our daughter with her camera and taking the Northern Lights pictures , which we saw 4 nights out of 6 and every night we went looking . Gareth looked after us , took us to the supermarket, lent us bigger boots and ‘grandma’s ‘ knitted socks to help keep us warm. He was totally focused on making our experience as wonderful as it could be .
Thank you Gareth and Elina for an unforgettable stay in Beautiful Finnish Lapland .

Elina and Gareth from Adventure by Design put together an amazing Finnish Lapland experience for our family. After sharing with them the general structure of our holiday they sourced terrific providers and developed an itinerary that would ensure we made the best of the limited daylight. The traditional sauna and ice swimming at Wild Blueberry was a magical experience. As it was a small family business the service was personal and of a very high standard. We had so much fun on a snowmobiling... read more

Elina and Gareth from Adventure by Design put together an amazing Finnish Lapland experience for our family. After sharing with them the general structure of our holiday they sourced terrific providers and developed an itinerary that would ensure we made the best of the limited daylight. The traditional sauna and ice swimming at Wild Blueberry was a magical experience. As it was a small family business the service was personal and of a very high standard. We had so much fun on a snowmobiling tour run by another smaller company, Kinos Safaris. Our nights in a glass igloo and the ice hotel were memorable. The jewel in the crown for our whole visit was our guide Tuija. She was so friendly, welcoming and accommodating from the minute we met her. It soon became apparent that she was a highly experienced and knowledgeable guide, who went above and beyond to ensure our Finnish experience was perfect. She played joyfully in the snow, teaching our children to toboggan, ice fish and snow shoe, and through her local knowledge of weather and location, guided us to see the northern lights. Spectacular! Thank you Elina & Gareth for doing all the background work to prepare for our holiday. And thank you Tuija for making our visit to Lapland even more wonderful than we hoped it would be.

Elina and Gareth did a great job of putting together a nice itinerary for us. We really loved the snowmobile excursion and the boys loved riding the mini snowmobiles. Rovaniemi is just a magical place and I'm so glad we got to see it. There is really so much more to do than I expected so if I ever get the chance to go back I'll know! (Like the amethyst mine!)

The Scandic hotel was just OK. Our friends ended up in the Arctic Light hotel and that is a really lovely place! I loved our night in... read more

Elina and Gareth did a great job of putting together a nice itinerary for us. We really loved the snowmobile excursion and the boys loved riding the mini snowmobiles. Rovaniemi is just a magical place and I'm so glad we got to see it. There is really so much more to do than I expected so if I ever get the chance to go back I'll know! (Like the amethyst mine!)

The Scandic hotel was just OK. Our friends ended up in the Arctic Light hotel and that is a really lovely place! I loved our night in the glass igloos.

Generally the trip went very smoothly. There was one minor miscommunication but I think that was in part due to our friends that joined us on the trip joined the planning late so getting both itineraries synced up was a little challenging.

We had the most amazing trip and a great time with Elina and Gareth. Visits to nature center, raindeer farm and husky farm were interesting and educational. The day-long hike was incredibly enjoyable! Overall our whole group was very happy with the experience, especially living in the cabins, going to sauna and making pancakes on the open fire!

Elina planned a fantastic trip for us. Her and her husband Gareth were very accommodating to us given the late notice we gave them, they even managed to condense a 5 day trip into 4 days for us.
The whole trip was a highlight and all the activities exceeded our expectations!!!
- Accommodation in Tromso was great and the breakfast at the hotel was amazing.
- Husky sledding was brilliant and the lunch in and tour of the ice dome/igloo was an unexpected bonus.
- Snowmobiling was fantastic.
-... read more

Elina planned a fantastic trip for us. Her and her husband Gareth were very accommodating to us given the late notice we gave them, they even managed to condense a 5 day trip into 4 days for us.
The whole trip was a highlight and all the activities exceeded our expectations!!!
- Accommodation in Tromso was great and the breakfast at the hotel was amazing.
- Husky sledding was brilliant and the lunch in and tour of the ice dome/igloo was an unexpected bonus.
- Snowmobiling was fantastic.
- Gareth was absolutely awesome, he checked in on one of our party when they were sick. He hunted down the Northern Lights for us two nights in a row. Even took us to a supermarket to get snacks and "roadies".
- The Reindeer Ranch and the opportunity to be hosted by a Sami family in their own home was very special and unique.

Elina and Gareth were an incredible team and we would highly recommend them to anyone thinking of heading to the region. We would absolutely use them again.

Elina and Gareth were so much fun and really did everything they could to make sure we had an enjoyable trip. Elina always answered all my questions in a very timely manner- so much that I wondered if she ever slept! I wouldn’t hesitate to book a trip with them again.