Kimkim Trip Reviews for Italy

From the moment Irene reached out to me to start the planning of our trip, to the time we boarded our return flight - everything went as smoothly as possible.
This was our third trip w/ Kimkim and we are happy that it worked out as we expected.
We are super thankful to Irene and Travel12 team for making our trip memorable.
All the guides, drivers were very knowledgable, respectful and we enjoyed talking to them during our tours.
Thank you!!

This is our third experience with KimKim planning an adventure for us. It was just spectacular. Our original concept was seeing the Olympics, which was an adventure unto itself.

Planning began months ago. But it’s hard to understand everything in advance. Our contacts in Italy, Sonia and Lucrezia, worked around the events we had purchased tickets for perfectly. They were also very patient with our silly questions.

It always starts for us with hotel selection, and once again they were stellar. The location of our Milan hotel was perfect, a very short walk to the Duomo and Central hub for transportation. They introduced us to Larissa our private guide for visiting the last supper and other amazing sites around Milan. We are amazed at our local advisors ability to again identify private guides that speak excellent English and are able to give us the special flavor of the city where they live. The guides themselves become an additional set of advisors for us during our stays.

In Verona, the hotel was not only perfect, but it had a history. Our guide in that city was CECILIA. Amazing, lovely, information packed, and personal. We totally see the value of private guides and all recommendations from Kim Kim have been perfect perfect.

Off to Lake Como and another amazing location with a room facing the lake. We enjoyed our calm time there and our boat guide taking us around the lake, pointing out villas and their histories, and a lovely walk around Bellagio. We also met Max for a bike tour that took us up into the mountains around Lake Como. We were on E bikes, while our guide was on a regular road bike. Pretty impressive thing. He also gave us restaurant recommendations locally of his favorite places, and they were delicious.

Cannot forget the car rental. Seems like a simple effort. We like driving in a nice car when we are in another country. Kim Kim saw to it that our selected vehicle perfectly met our standard again and also met the anecdotal requirement of not being too large. If you’ve ever gone to an Italian parking lot, you will know what I am talking about!

Finally, our local concierge Roberta picked us up at the airport and was available to us all throughout our stay. She checked in regularly and in advance for pre-scheduled activities. Always providing Detail on pick up or meet up location, the name of our guide and the expectation. It was in retrospect, very comforting.

I know that in 2026 people fancy using social media to identify ways to visit foreign cities and find unique experiences. From our perspective, Kim Kim is a very unique one stop shop. They anticipate the details and make our experiences into adventures. We are not the type of people who want to travel on a bus or with a group. We are looking to plan our next adventure to bring our children and their mates so they can experience what we have.

Thank you, Kim Kim, again!

—
Paul and Lynn Essner

Flawless trip! All the arrangements were perfect. Maria kept us informed every step of the way. She went above and beyond to add a side trip we requested at the last minute. She gave us such personal service. We felt confident Maria was always available to help if needed.

All tour guides were great, especially Sara in Venice for history, walking tour of city. The mask making class was a highlight! It far exceeded our expectations. The last minute addition of a trip and tour of Murano glass factory was Amazing!

The hotel Bembo and staff were wonderful. Perfect location, great breakfast, very attentive staff.

We had an amazing 17 days traveling the island of Sicily!! Eleonora was great and worked with us to get everything exactly how we wanted it. They checked in almost daily to make sure everything was in order for the day. Would highly recommend!!

Activity Review

Palermo and its street food walking tour

Palermo

So fun, would highly recommend!!

Truly nothing was left to chance. It was a lot but I have all week to recover! EVERY guide was incredible! Knowledgeable, engaging, fun!! No better way to experience ALL the things ! I can’t thank them enough!!

Extreme apologies for this delay
My clients were very slow with their feedback.

They were blown over with the absolutely fabulous experience it was for the whole family.
The services were great and I think the highlight was the boat trip at Amalfi

Thanks very much to Irene who was very patient and prompt with responses and helping fully, for the success of this trip.

Thank you Kimkim

Rosita

Activity Reviews

Private Vatican Guided Tour

Rome

Private Capri Boat Tour from Amalfi for Fernandez Family

Amalfi Coast

Extremely fantastic and loved by the guests Staff were fabulous

Local transfer in Amalfi Coast

Italy

Private Val d 'Elsa Tour for Fernandez Family

Tuscany

Amazing staff and hosts

Private Val d’Orcia Tour for Fernandez Family

Tuscany

Excellent

Quality of Experience

Useful Information

Italy

Clients had a poir experience with the driver who asked for payment

Quality of Experience

Trip of a lifetime.

We talk about how we are afraid we peaked to early in life because every future trip may not be as good.

I truly think we had the perfect itinerary for what we wanted and we wouldn't change a think.

Thanks so much, Melania! The trip to Rome was amazing and really well organized. Thanks also for all your support during our stay.
Next time we’re in Italy, we’ll definitely get in touch.
Take care! 😊

Hotel Review

Condominio Monti Boutique Hotel

Rome

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Reviews

Colosseo and Roman forums adventure

Rome

A real dive into the past, something I’ll remember for many years.

Rome food tour: A deliciously cultural tour for foodies

Rome

I can’t wait to come back to Italy just to do a tour like this again!

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

We had a truly wonderful experience using KimKim for our trip to Italy and enjoyed the trip immensely overall. The organization was excellent from start to finish, and the hotels exceeded our expectations in terms of comfort, location, and overall experience.

We especially loved our time in Rome. Everything there was very well planned, and our Rome tour guide—unfortunately we don’t recall her name—was extremely knowledgeable and demonstrated a very high level of expertise. We spent multiple days with her at the Vatican, the Roman Forum, and the Colosseum, and her depth of historical knowledge really stood out. That said, her accent was fairly strong, and a couple of members of our group occasionally had difficulty understanding her. Even so, the quality and substance of her tours were excellent and greatly enhanced our time in Rome.

In Florence, our guide—whose name we also unfortunately don’t remember—was also knowledgeable and professional. While her expertise didn’t feel quite as in-depth as our Rome guide’s, she was easier to understand, which made the tours very comfortable and accessible for everyone in our group.

The train ride from Rome to Florence was smooth, pleasant, and very well organized. While based in Florence, we enjoyed the day trips to Lucca, Pisa, San Gimignano, and Siena, as well as the cooking experience and wine tasting in the Chianti countryside, which was a definite highlight of the trip.

In hindsight, we think some of the day trips outside of Florence might have been even more enjoyable with more time and with local guides in each destination. Andreas and Enne were helpful, friendly, and cordial, but they did not have the level of historical or local expertise that a dedicated guide would provide. For example, having a guided walking tour of Siena would have been very interesting and valuable in retrospect. Similarly, in Lucca and San Gimignano, spending more time with a local guide rather than just walking through on our own could have added a deeper understanding of the towns.

We also found that trying to visit multiple destinations in a single day sometimes limited the experience. For instance, we arrived in Pisa later in the afternoon and only had time to walk around. We didn’t realize in advance that climbing the Leaning Tower requires advance tickets, and by the time we learned this it was too late in the day to make it work without returning to Florence very late. In retrospect, choosing just one destination for the day—or pairing it with a guided experience—might have made those visits more rewarding.

We would also like to specifically thank Fabio, who did an excellent job planning the trip and was always available to answer questions. We especially appreciated his help toward the end of the trip when my mother’s passport and bag were stolen—his support during a stressful situation made a big difference.

Overall, this was a very pleasant and memorable trip. We made great memories, felt well taken care of, and truly appreciate all the effort that went into planning and organizing this experience. We would absolutely recommend KimKim and would gladly use them again for future travel.

Catering was amazing! She was extremely helpful, always available and attentive in every way!

We had such an amazing time in Florence and Rome thanks to all the planning that Guilia provided for us. I know that people plan trips themselves, but I am not one of those people. I do not have time or or the patience to book everything separately and thanks to Guilia, I did not have to. I loved having the itinerary right in the app with all the tickets and I love the experiences that she picked out and our private guides in Florence and Rome were so nice and knowledgeable. It was also very reassuring to be able to have someone to message in case there were any issues. For us there were only a few times where I wanted to just check in or ask about something and Guilia and Andrea got back to us right away. As someone with a demanding job and a busy family, I loved this trip because it was so full of activities and free time and recommendations and everything went so smoothly and I didn’t have to plan a thing myself.

We had a great trip, my third this year with KimKim. My ONLY feedback is about Naples. Having never been to the area, I did not know how crazy it is!!! I wish we had some advice from our agent to explain what it was like. We might have been better suited closer to Sorento or the coast. Our apartment was amazing, we had a great time and Pompeii was unbelievable, but it was so loud in the City center!! Maybe if our advisor had mentioned this we would have made a different choice BUT, don’t get me wrong we had fun - it just was CRAZY in Naples and our apartment faced the street and it was so loud all night!

Thanks again, KimKim travel!! I recommend you often and you know I’ll be back!

Hotel Reviews

Hotel Piazza Bellini & Apartments

Naples

Beautiful hotel and apartment!! We loved that - the location was brutal. It was SO loud, the city center stays awake all night and our apartment faced the street. No sleep in Naples for us!

Authenticity & Character

Location

Loud!!!!

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

The Glam

Rome

Amazing! Clean, roof top bar, everything is in walking distance!!!

Authenticity & Character

Location

Walked everywhere after an amazing hotel breakfast!!

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Hotel Antiche Figure

Venice

Amazing, great location and included a trip to Murano!! We loved Venice!!

Authenticity & Character

Location

Right on the Grand Canal!!! Perfect!

Staff

They were all so nice and helpful!!!

Cleanliness & Comfort

Great hotel and breakfast!

Activity Reviews

Get Inside the Colosseum with Arena Access

Italy

This was amazing - being in the first group in made the day amazing!!!! The sun rose above the colosseum and it was amazing!

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Testaccio Market: A Local Food Experience

Rome

OMG so delicious and what a great exposure to the food of the area. Amazing day!!!!

Quality of Experience

Food

The food at the market and the lunch - UNREAL!!!!

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Discover Venice: From St. Mark's Basilica to the Doge’s Palace

Venice

We were lucky to be with just us and the guide - amazing!!! We loved our guide, the tour and the history!!!

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Well we didn’t have any!

Venice after Dark: A Cicchetti & Wine Experience

Venice

This was so fun - we were exhausted from traveling but this tour showed us the side of Venice we wanted to see!

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

We had the greatest time in Italy, It started way before arriving. Anita and Rita both help us pick the right places based on what we like (food, culture, cooking classes & local experience) We had several conversation that made our trip unforgettable, down to helping my wife with travel accommodations for her disability and managing a balance between her health issues and allowing us time time to enjoy Italy. They help us with the bringing our daughter from LA and getting her home since she was only able to stay for 2/3 of our trip. All of the tors they set up through LivTours were OUTSTANDING. The tour guides were all scholars of the history of Rome from the tours we took at the Coliseum to the tour of the Vatican. Our Tours were in small groups of no more than 8 people and we moved through security and the long lines with ease. It was worth the money to have these private tour and able to enjoy the sights and not be caught up in lines of tourist, I highly recommend it. We visited Rome, Florence, Levanto, Alba, Milan & Venice. In Alba we had the best personal driver from the area to take us to two well know wine vineyards for wine sampling. There was no worries about driving but just to enjoy the whole day. We also had a tour of the chestnut family who 1st invented what is now know as Nuttelle, which was such a fascinating day. All hotels we stayed at were outstanding. The schedule was even flexible for us to cancel one tour in Milano so we could meet up with my wife's cousin for the day. The train rides were all prepaid for and tickets already validated so there was no panic for us when going from place to place.
I can't thank the experts at KimKim enough for a great trip that we will never forget.

Melanie was a fantastic agent! She was flexible in the planning, switching things around to best accommodate our needs, and had many suggestions about how to make our first trip to Italy a seemless and memorable experience! We would not hesitate to use Kim Kim (and Melanie) again as Melanie communicated at every step, from the initial contact, to the planning of the itinerary and she also organized everything we needed while in country (drivers, guides, tickets, etc). Melanie was extremely professional and responsive and a special thanks also to Agota who was there to keep us up to date on the itinerary, changes and logistics of our travel in and around Venice, Florence and Rome. Thank you!

Our family of four (kids, ages 10, 12) had a wonderful time in Rome and Florence. Melanie planned a trip that was well suited for our children--they were not bored once and thoroughly enjoyed the cooking class, tours and day tours. We could not have asked for a better trip. Melanie and her team were available every day and updated us of any changes to our plans.

Hotel Reviews

U-Visionary Roma Hotel

Rome

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Hotel Calimala Florence

Florence

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Otivm Hotel

Rome

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Reviews

Pisa and Lucca with private driver

Florence

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Vatican & Sistine Chapel Tour

Rome

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

The Accademia Gallery tour - skip the line

Florence

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

COOKING CLASS TO MAKE REAL ITALIAN PIZZA AND GELATO

Rome

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Private Family Experiences: Colosseum Tour for Kids

Rome

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

From arrival to departure this trip was divine! We were able to to relax and take in the history in Venice. Hands down, one of the most amazing guides I've ever experienced took us through St. Mark's Basilica and Doge's Palace. She left us with so many jewels of history we were in awe. It was a great start. Accomodations in Venice were exactly what we were looking for.
The food and wine tour in Florence was truly a highlight! We even went back the next day to purchase more bottles 🥴.
Our guide for the Uffizi & Accademia tour was nothing short of amazing as well.
The following day our day trip to Tuscany and San Gimignano took our breath away. The commute was filled with knowledge, history, and a light chat. Our driver couldn't have been more perfect. He was our absolute favorite!!!!!
Rome personally stole my heart, the Vatican in particular, and our guide was *chef's kiss*. I cried like a baby in the Sistine Chapel and the tears continued as we walked through the holy doors and experienced St. Peter's basilica during Jubilee!

Thank you Irene! This trip was EXACTLY what we were looking for.

Hotel Reviews

Argentina Residenza Style Hotel Rome

Rome

Great location

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

I appreciate them soooo much for helping with a last minute reservation

Cleanliness & Comfort

Hotel Santa Maria Novella

Florence

Great location

Authenticity & Character

Great breakfast

Location

Easily accessible to everything

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Palazzo Morosini Degli Spezieri - Apartment hotel

Venice

This was the best accommodation of our entire trip! I would recommend this place to anyone traveling to Venice.

Authenticity & Character

Right on the canal

Location

Staff

Over and beyond with maintaining the surprise for my mom

Cleanliness & Comfort

No complaints

Activity Reviews

Private Vatican Guided Tour

Rome

Nothing prepared my emotions as we walked through the Holy Doors during Jubilee! The Vatican, along with, St. Peter's basilica left me speechless.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Private Colosseum & Roman Forum Tour

Rome

Our guide had the most wonderful architectural knowledge. His storytelling created images in our mind that encapsulated the height of the Roman empire.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Private Tuscany Day Trip to Siena and San Gimignano

Italy

Highlight of out trip! Our guide was a delight. He quite literally made this long commute a beautiful excursion filled with charm, storytelling, and attention to detail. Give this man a raise!!!!!

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Private Uffizi & Accademia Galleries Tour

Florence

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Florence Food & Wine Tour

Florence

Wonderful guide

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Private Gondola Ride

Venice

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Sunset Grand Canal boat tour in Venice

Venice

Great guide!

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Private Doge's Palace & St. Mark's Basilica Tour

Venice

Ahhhhmazing guide! We were blown away by the history.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

We had a tremendous time in Italy, piggybacking a personal trip on top of a college group trip. Luca worked with us to customize an itinerary and activities in sync with our goals and everything went smoothly. This is our 3rd consecutive overseas vacation we have booked through KimKim and each experience has been quite satisfactory.

Hotel Reviews

Just Hotel

Milano

The hotel was fine - nothing exceptional or bad. It was located right by the train station which we wanted due to our travel so a little bit away from the key areas but that was our choice to be close to the train. The hotel was modern, clean, no issues.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Hotel Saturnia & International

Venice

We loved this hotel and the staff. Perfectly located just a couple of blocks from San Marco square and the Basilica and along the primary shopping district. The hotel had a canal entrance which was great for water taxis and the staff was incredibly friendly - the front desk and concierge team were amazing, helpful and extremely friendly. The room was excellent, very large and spacious and the breakfast buffet was great. We had drinks and dinner at the hotel one night and it was a great decision.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

The entire concierge team was exceptional

Cleanliness & Comfort

Art Hotel Commercianti

Bologna

Beautiful hotel located right in the center of the central district of Bologna. We were located adjacent to the Basilica and town square and everything including shopping and dining was within a few square blocks. Couldn't have asked for a better location. While the room was a bit small, it wasn't unexpected given the older, historical nature of the hotel. The breakfast buffet was incredible, both in quantity and quality of food and the diversity of offerings.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Reviews

Navigli district walking tour

Milan

We had a nice tour of a cathedral and the canals and some back streets of the area. It was fine, just not that much to show or discuss. We finished with a glass of wine together with the tour guide.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Verona Arena skip-the-line guided tour

Italy

The guide was very knowledgeable and had a nice, self-deprecating sense of humor. We enjoyed our time in Verona for the day and the tour.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

PRIVATE - MURANO AND BURANO EXCURSION

Venice

We had a great experience in the Murano glass factory. In fact, we spent so much time there (and money LOL), we missed our time for Burano. But the glass factory made arrangements for us to still go to Burano and get a tour so it worked out well.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Private Gondola Ride

Venice

Extremely disappointed. 20 minutes, one quick loop through a canal and back to drop off. We were refunded our money but still unhappy as we were looking forward to a nice gondola ride through Venice.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Eating in the city centre: Private food tour

Bologna

We were a little disappointed with the tour. We enjoyed the initial walk through of the city hall and square and some of the historical information but the tour of the food and restaurants didn't really get into a lot of detail on the various foods, history, why the popularity in Bologna, etc. The oil/balsamic stop was very nice but the visits to the mortadella restaurant and pasta restaurant were just volume fast food type of restaurants. We were hoping for something more quaint and local. And we finished before the gelato store was open so were given a voucher and came back on our own. The guide was friendly but just not a lot of depth into the food and wine history and specialty of Bologna.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

We had a wonderful time in Rome, Naples, Sorrento and exploring the Amalfi Coast for our 1 year anniversary!
A big thank you to Melanie and her team for arranging reliable and friendly private transfers to each city as well as some very nice excursions!
Their communication via whatsapp was helpful and clear, and we didn't have any issues along the way except for a longer wait at the Salerno train station, but that was due to the transfer company advising we give extra time for the drive from Praiano due to traffic etc. So we were well taken care of and had an incredible vacation!

My husband and I recently visited Italy - our first trip to Rome and Florence. This is the second trip Marina has planned for us - and once again she did a fantastic job!! We were able to see everything you should on a first trip - plus a few extras!!! The sightseeing tours were informative and well-timed - including a golf cart overview of Rome upon arrival - with interesting and knowledgeable guides. The private and semi-private tours of the Vatican, the Colosseum (and the Roman Forum), and the highlights of Florence were exceptional. The food tours in Rome were terrific, and we were introduced to many of the local dishes.

We spent a morning in Pisa where we saw the Leaning Tower and also had a day trip to Tuscany which included a private tour of a winery and olive oil producer. The tour concluded with a very nice lunch looking out over the rolling hills and beautiful landscape of Tuscany. We tasted multiple wines and some olive oil. That afternoon our driver took us to the small town of Vinci - where Leonardo grew up. We saw his childhood home, the church where he was baptized and an interesting museum containing models of the machinery Leonardo drew in his books.

Our accommodations were wonderful - in Rome we stayed in a hotel across the street from Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore where Pope Francis is buried and our hotel in Florence stands on the land once belonging to Lorenzo the Magnificent and home to his art school where Michelangelo was trained.

Our thanks to Marina for again giving us a very memorable trip. Her attention to detail and efforts to accommodate our particular interests was superb!!!

Hotel Reviews

Hotel Orto de' Medici

Florence

Loved this hotel and the historical significance of its location on the property where Lorenzo the Magnificent built the art school where Michelangelo received his training. The staff was helpful and our room was very comfortable. Great location!!!

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Doria Palace Boutique Hotel

Rome

Loved this hotel and the staff was wonderful. Conveniently located across from the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore (where Pope Francis is buried). Breakfast everyday was amazing and we enjoyed the rooftop bar in the evening.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Reviews

A Food Lover’s Rome: Campo de’ Fiori, Jewish Ghetto & Trastevere

Rome

Our guide, Lilly, was fantastic. The food was great and we enjoyed her company.

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Rome Unearthed: Guided Walk of Colosseum & Ancient City

Rome

Terrific tour guide - very knowledgeable.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

From Fountains to Forums: Explore Rome by Golf Cart

Rome

Great introduction to Rome.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

We had the most wonderful time in Italy! Giulia helped us plan a personalized itinerary and was very responsive. Everything was booked easily and without any issues. She gave us great advice on activities and accommodations. We had such a nice trip and will definitely use Kimkim again!

Activity Reviews

Vatican & Sistine Chapel Group Tour

Rome

One Day on the Amalfi Coast with driver (Amalfi, Positano, Ravello)

Italy

Private guided tour in Naples , 2 hours

Italy

Half day tour in Pompeii

Italy

Rome by night in Golf Cart

Rome

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport