Kimkim Trip Reviews for Italy

Our first trip to Sicilia - Taormina and Ortigia/Siracusa - was wonderful because of the planning from Arianna and the Storywalking team! Arianna listened to our feedback and planned a trip that balanced some guided tours and a lot of free time. She shared detailed suggestions on site seeing and places to visit in the free time, so we always had ideas on how to spend our time. We aren't really big on lots of tours, so she created an itinerary that incorporated a few planned activities including Mt. Etna/wine tasting, a boat excursion and a cooking class. The only one we didn't love was the cooking class, but in general we had a great time with the other tours and just wandering around the cities eating amazing food.

The access to the app and Barbara and Jessica once we were in Sicily was a game changer. They were extremely responsive, problem solved our minor issues very quickly (mostly about directions and meeting the guides). It was so helpful to know there was a person we could reach if needed. Luckily the upfront planning and information from Arianna was enough, but in the moments of immediate need Barbara and Jessica were right there to help.

I'd definitely recommend Storywalking and KimKim for trip planning! Grazie mille!

Wonderful trip, Vincenzo did a phenomenal job organizing and making sure that we were comfortable and got to explore what we wanted to.

The only issue we came across was trying to drive in Palermo. We didn't expect it to be as stressful as it was but we could have prepared better or looked into other options. Palermo is a beautiful city but we would not recommend trying to drive in it if you are not accustomed to driving in a city like that.

Wonderful trip overall, everywhere we went was beautiful.

Activity Reviews

Mount Etna Tour

Italy

Our tour guide was wonderful and the whole excursion was great

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Boat tour of Isola Bella

Italy

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Wine Tasting in Mount Etna

Italy

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Day trip to Zingaro Natural Reserve, Scopello and San Vito lo Capo

Palermo

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Our trip was wonderful! It was exactly what we were looking for. Everything was planned for us each day and we have no worry or stress about transportation or waiting in lines. Highly recommend Eleni for all of your Italy trip planning. It will be a vacation you remember forever! Thank you Eleni!

Hotel Reviews

Art Hotel Commercianti

Bologna

We stayed two nights here in October and it was lovely! The uniqueness of this hotel really has a special feel. Also the location could not have been better. There was an issue with our air conditioner, however staff was quick to assist us and help to make us comfortable!

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Hotel Capo d'Africa—Colosseo

Rome

We stayed one night in this hotel after flying into Rome. It was very nice and clean. The staff was extremely friendly and helpful. They assisted in getting us dinner reservations and it happened to be the most amazing meal we had on our entire 9 day trip! Highly recommend!

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Hotel Orto de' Medici

Florence

We stayed three nights in this hotel and were very pleased. The staff was helpful and the rooms were very spacious and clean. We were in a corner room with a balcony and it was wonderful to be able to sit outside in the evenings or leave the door open to enjoy the breeze. Highly recommend!

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Palazzo Alabardieri Hotel Napoli

Naples

This hotel is fabulous! We stayed two nights here and were more than pleased! We had an early morning and ordered room service for our breakfast meal. It was delivered exactly at the requested time and was delicious. The morning we left for the airport, they had breakfast boxed and waiting to send us. Staff was extremely helpful! Very good experience!

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Reviews

Cinque Terre Day Trip from Florence

Florence

This tour was wonderful! We had a blast with our tour guides Marco and Ellenora. Viewing the villages of Cinque Terre by boat was amazing. The view was spectacular. We had lunch at a local restaurant in Venazza and the pesto was to die for! We hiked up the hillside to get a better view point and were able to take some amazing pictures!

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Food, Music & Culture Day Trip

Italy

We adored this tour. We started at the acetaia and learned all about the production of balsamic vinegar. The tasting was a wonderful experience, as was the tour itself. Then we moved on to tour Casa Museo Luciano Pavarotti. My husband and I being very into the musical arts, we very much enjoyed this tour. The self guided tour with the headset was perfect and allowed you to tour at your own speed. Next was lunch at an amazing little restaurant not far from Pavarotti's home. There was a table for two set for us on arrival and the services was amazing. The food even better. We finished the day with a trip to the Ferrari museum. This was my husband's favorite portion of the trip! Overall it was a wonderful day!

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Naples Street Food Tour

Naples

This was out favorite tour of our entire trip. Maria was our tour guide and she was amazing. There was never a dull moment and she ensured that we saw everything we were interested in. The food choices she made for us per our preference and expectations were right on point. We sampled pastries, fried pasta, fried pizza... just to name a few. We ended our tour of The Chapel of San Gennaro. Maria shared the entire history of San Gennaro and explained the meaning and ritual behind everything in the chapel. She was so informative and truly excited to share this experience with us!

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Private Pompeii Tour & Mount Vesuvius visit with lunch and wine tasting

Pompeii

This was an adventure filled day! Our tour guide Giuseppe was wonderful! He was very knowledgeable about Pompei and was able to lead us through Pompei without getting stuck in any large crowds. Next we went to Mt Vesuvius where we hiked to the top of the crater! The view is amazing! Lastly we had a wine tasting at Cantina de Vesuvio. Both the lunch and the wine were spectacular!

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Tuscany Day Trip from Florence with Chianti, Siena & San Gimignano

Florence

This trip was a very busy day! Siena was a very quick walking tour due to an accident on the freeway that required us to take the long way around the our lunch in Chianti. The lunch was a winery and it was amazing! The last stop was San Gimignano. Our guide, Sandra, was very knowledgeable and gave us great information!

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

The kids really enjoyed the Florence city tours, the Artisan Workshop tour was great, and the hotel was good. All the restaurants throughout the trip that we used KimKim recommendations for were great!

Our Montepulciano driver was amazing, as was the winery and truffle hunt. I would not recommend the Dimora nel Corso hotel.
The hotel was good in Rome.

We would definitely book through Kim Kim again. Lorenzo is awesome. Thank you.

Hotel Reviews

Hotel Il Guelfo Bianco

Florence

Hotel Il Guelfo Bianco was great. We didn't want any luxury as we needed to get three rooms for the kids, and this hotel met our expectations.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Raffaello Hotel Rome

Roma

Hotel Raffaello in Rome was good. It met our expectations of a three-star hotel.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Reviews

Florence private guided walk

Florence

The private guided walk through Florence was a great experience. I wasn't able to make it but my kids enjoyed exploring the city with our guide and learned so much about its rich history.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Florence bike tour (small group)

Florence

The Florence bike tour was a unique and fun way to explore the city. My kids were able to see many sights that we wouldn't have found on our own.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Oltrarno Artisan workshops guided walk (private guide)

Florence

The Oltrarno Artisan workshops guided walk was a standout experience. It was less touristy and gave us a unique look into the local culture. We really enjoyed this.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Truffle Hunt and Cooking Class in Tuscany Countryside

Italy

The truffle hunt and cooking class was a definite highlight. The family running the farm were warm and friendly. The dog was great, and the pasta we made was delicious. We had a beautiful lunch on the terrace with a stunning countryside view. It was a lot of fun.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Cheese farm visit and tasting in Pienza area

Italy

The cheese farm visit and tasting was okay. It was interesting, but not as engaging as the other activities. The farm was crowded that day, and we didn't get to see the vegetable gardens. The tasting was great, but overall, it wasn't a highlight.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

We had a great trip to Northern Italy. The trip included 2 nights in Florence,Bologna,and Venice.
We traveled between these cities on rail. The transfers from train to our rooms were flawless.
The Tuscany day trip including wine tasting and meal, visit to Siena and San Gimignano were terrific and our tour guide Stephanie was remarkable and made the whole experience so memorable.
Our next stop in Bologna featured a whole day tour to Parma. Again, transfers were flawless and the tour to Parmigiano,Prosciutto, and Balsamic factories were informative and well hosted by very knowledgeable tour guide.
Last stop was Venice and featured a half day walking tour to many of the major sights but more interesting were the side trips thru the winding, narrow alleys of Venice . Our tour guide Rita was so knowledgeable and shared her own personal experiences of her hometown of Venice.

Barbara and Massimo truly went above and beyond what we expected. They were constantly in contact with us and resolved any questions or issues we had. I would highly recommend them in planning your next trip.

Activity Review

Lake Como Food experience

Italy

Valentina and her family were so warm and kind. It was really a unique experience to go into their home to cook. My only advice might be to improve on the menu selection a bit.

Barbara planned an amazing vacation for us across Italy and on short notice. It ended up including a gondola tour in Venice, riding a Vespa through wine country, and cruising along the Amalfi Coast. Barbara got us to four cities without a rental car. All pickups, whether it was by boat, train or car went seamlessly. The hotels she picked were clean, comfortable, and in walkable areas. During the trip, Barbara and her collegues were extremely responsive and helpful. Any last minute changes we needed, they took care of it. A wonderful experience!

Activity Reviews

Venice Gondola Ride

Venice

The gondola ride was pretty, but it felt like we were in a gondola traffic jam. Each boat just a few feet apart.

Guided Tour and Accademia Visit (Michelangelo's David) - wine tasting

Florence

An extremely informative private tour

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Wine tour by Vespa

Italy

This was just the best. A patient tour guide taught us to ride the Vespa and then guided us out of Florence and into wine country. It was fun, beautiful and the wineries were gorgeous.

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Cooking class. Pizza and gelato making!

Rome

Fun, informative, and generous with the wine. But more people than we were expecting in what was called a small group (about a dozen people)

We were delighted with the trip that Jessica and her team planned for us. They suggested places that we hadn't considered, which proved to be great ideas. Their recommendations for hotels were spot on. The guides and drivers they found were reliable, informative and easy to communicate with. It was easy to communicate with Jessica and her team during the trip, and we appreciated the ability to track our plans using the app they provided. I love working with KimKim because their specialists are embedded in each country, giving them unique insights and connections.

Elena and Andrea made the trip to Italy so very easy. It was the first time I had travel to Europe so was a little nervous. But with both their help everything went fine. Andrea helped us out when the e-bike chain came off. They called the company and had them send out a different bike. Transfers to different site seeing places was made easier by having a driver already booked. Our vacation went smoothly and will definitely use Kimkim again

Hotel Review

Relais Osteria Dell'Orcia Tuscany

Castiglione d'Orcia

Love this place, staff was exceptional. The only thing is out in the country so make sure you have a car or a driver to use.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Review

Florence cooking class with Market Visit

Italy

Barbara was a fantastic teacher. Took us to the fresh market and then we went to her house to cook. She taught us how to roll the dough for gnocchi. My daughter and I both loved the market and the lesson

Fabulous experience with Moreno and his counterpart. Had an excellent time in Italy

Activity Reviews

3 Hours private tour Lake Como from Cernobbio

Lake Como

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Historical Rome walking tour and Colosseum guided Tour

Rome

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Ravello, Amalfi & Positano

Sorrento

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Vatican & Sistine Chapel Tour

Rome

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Irene was fantastic. Was very easy to work out various details and modify the trip to our preferences with hotels, travel and different activities. The best part was the ease of travel as we visited various cities throughout Italy including Rome, Siena, Florence, Sorrento, Positano and Amalfi Coast. Between cities while we saw other folks trying to figure out how to get to hotels, waiting in line for taxi service we had private drivers already setup to take us from city to city. It not only made travel easy (but helped with the wife's luggage) :) !!
I know some people just plan the trip on their own, but it is nice to have a resource that knows the region you are traveling to and the worries are completely removed. I would absolutely recommend the travel service. We are already looking at where to go next year!
Ciao!!

Where to Begin? We had the trip of a Lifetime for our first visit to Italy! It was all because of our Travel Agent, Giulia! We worked with her over a few months to craft the best possible trip tailored to our requests and desires. Everything Giulia recommended and set up for our trip went off with out a hitch! We visited Rome, Venice and Lake Como! It was a great combination of wonderful places to sample some of the best sites, food, wine and excursions that Italy has to offer!
The tours, hotels and transportation while in country were all top notch--all thanks to Giulia!
Thanks Giulia!! We will be coming back soon!
Ciao!

My husband and I just returned home from our incredible 8 day trip to Italy. Andrea helped customize our travel arrangements perfectly and communicated with us along the way. He arranged all of our hotels along with private drivers to pick us up from the airport, train station and to take us to each hotel of our journey. He scheduled private tour guides to walk us through Rome, Naples and Pompeii. If you visit Pompeii you must schedule a private tour with Antonio. Best tour guide ever!! From Sorrento, Andrea arranged a small group boat tour to Capri where we spent the entire day swimming, shopping and enjoying our time relaxing on the boat. Our tour guides were fantastic! For our last night, Andrea scheduled a private cooking class in the home of Emanuela Maraolo. Just an amazing, one of a kind experience! Andrea checked in with us throughout the week to make sure we were enjoying our time in Italy. I would highly recommend working with KimKim and Andrea when planning your dream vacation to Italy. I will absolutely work with Andrea to plan my next trip to Italy- hopefully next year!

Activity Reviews

Day trip to Capri Island from Sorrento - small group

Italy

A day on a boat in Capri- best time ever! Our tour guides were wonderful.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Pompeii ruin visit with a private guide

Italy

Antonio was our private tour guide. He was extremely knowledgeable and passionate about educating visitors about the history and importance of Pompeii. The best!

Quality of Experience

Antonio the tour guide was the best.

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Cooking class with dinner

Italy

We had a private cooking class in the home of Emanuela Maraolo. I highly recommend!!

Quality of Experience

Food

We used Kimkim to plan our 30th wedding anniversary trip to Italy and they did not disappoint! Our travel specialist, Irene, did an excellent job selecting hotels, tours and experiences for us. In addition, all of the details like trains and transfers were booked for us. We received all the details about times, where to meet people and detailed itineraries prior to leaving for our trip and everything worked extremely well. When there were hiccups (only a couple over 3 weeks), the Kimkim team was right there to help. We were very well taken care of every step of the way.

One of the many highlights was arriving at in Venice to a private tour by water taxi to orient us. We arrived at our hotel, Corte di Gabriela, to a bottle of prosecco chilling in our room. The room was very comfortable, the staff was attentive and helpful, and the breakfasts were amazing. We had a wonderful walking tour of the city. Our guide from Liv Tours was very knowledgeable and we enjoyed learning about Venice's history and culture.

We chose to spend time in the Cinque Terre, which was very busy. Thankfully, Irene had recommended we stay in Levanto, a six-minute train ride from Monterroso. Levanto was much less crowded, but still full of history, beauty and things to do.

We loved Siena. The hotel, Residenza d'Epoca Palazzo Borghesi, was charming. We took two tours from there with Tuscan Escapes. Both were fantastic! We had an evening sunset tour of Tuscany, finishing with dinner at a winery. Danielo was an excellent guide, explaining the region and the wines. He was also a pleasure to talk with over dinner, as were the other guests. The next day we visited three Brunello di Montalcino wineries with Giorgia. We had lunch at one of the wineries, with all of the food made by the Mama--it was fantastic!

From there we went to Sorrento, which is lovely and a great jumping off point to visit Capri and the Amalfi coast. We hikes the Path of the Gods with Vincenzo. He was entertaining and very knowledgeable about the flora we encountered along the way. It was a joy to experience the passion he has for his work and to spend time with him.

We finished our trip with two days at the beach. It was the perfect end to a fabulous trip. We couldn't have done it all without Irene's help! We look forward to next time.

Hotel Reviews

Corte di Gabriela

Venice

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Hotel Orto de' Medici

Florence

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Hotel Palazzo Vannoni

Levanto

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Residenza d'Epoca Palazzo Borghesi

Siena

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Hotel Continental

Sorrento

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Reviews

Venice Highlights Walking Tour

Venice

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Grand Canal Private Orientation Tour

Italy

Florence Highlights Walking Tour (Semi-private)

Florence

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Private Monterosso Wine Tasting & Lunch in the vineyards

Italy

There was a little miscommunication about what this would entail. When we arrived, the staff seemed surprised to see us. When we explained what we thought we had arranged, they told us what we would get instead. Despite this, we had a very nice time and the wines were good.

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Tuscany Sunset Tour & Dinner

Siena

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Brunello di Montalcino Wine Tour

Siena

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Hiking the Path of Gods

Sorrento

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Private Amalfi Coast Driving Tour

Italy

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Aperitivo & Stroll around Sorrento

Sorrento

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

I feel the trip was amazingly planned out and left out a lot of the guess work that we would have had to go through which takes a lot of effort and makes the trip more difficult. We had amazing guides, drivers, excursions and accommodations. We had a wonderful trip and cannot wait to go back.

What I would suggest is:

Making sure the snorkeling trip is really a snorkeling trip It was a lovely boat ride but not what we were expecting. The two gentlemen who took us on this trip were great but there was no snorkeling.

Shower size. I'm small so I wasn't affected, but there are people much bigger than I that would find the smaller showers difficult to maneuver in.

Other than that, the trip was beyond our expectations.

Andrea could not have been any more professional, knowledgeable, thorough, or available to us throughout this entire experience. Our trip through Italy was made all the more special because of him. Thank you, KimKim and thank you, Andrea!

Amazing trip. Tours were great, private. Felt like we got to do/see everything we wanted to.

Cecilia made planning a trip to Italy so EASY. She was helpful with everything and SO patient with all my questions. The transfers, trains, tours and experiences were all planned so well and made traveling so nice to have things in place. The hotel we stayed in was exactly what we were looking for. Wonderfull cooking class in Florence. I hope when we are ready to plan our next trip we can have Cecilia!

The trip was great, and everything that Irene/KimKim prepared for us was absolutely amazing. I would recommend KimKim to anyone. Every detail of our trip was planned and executed without a problem. We will definitely be using KimKim on our next adventure.

I had written this review last week:

To Harris Bitsounis and his team - Thank you for a very good experience in Rome, Florence and Venice. An excellent learning experience. All of the transportation connections were spot on. The Travel 12 communication service was very helpful. Of the hotels: The hotel is Venice was very good, perfect location, amenities and a helpful, friendly staff. Room was small and without seating. The hotel in Florence had a helpful and friendly staff. Room was small and without seating. Location was distant and frightening to walk to in the darkness of night. The hotel in Rome had a helpful and friendly staff. The location was good. The room was clean. The presentation was poor. The entrance was dirty. All the cites were busy and crowded with tourists. The planned transportation connections made the entire trip work. The weather was perfect and there was no time wasted. Best regards, Doug and Connie Peden

Additionally, the tour guides for the Vatican, Colosseum and Roman Forum as well as the tour in Florence were excellent. The guides were professional and knowledgeable. The tour through Venice was adequate to gain an understanding of Venice.

Hotel Reviews

Aenea Superior Inn

Rome

Friendly, helpful staff. Good location. Clean Room. Poor presentation. Dirty entrance.

Authenticity & Character

Needs a lobby

Location

Centrally located

Staff

Helpful and friendly

Cleanliness & Comfort

No

Alfieri9 Boutique Hotel Florence

Florence

Friendly staff. Small, clean Room. Excellent breakfast.

Authenticity & Character

Dark and desolate place to walk to at night

Location

Dark and desolate place to walk to at night

Staff

Friendly and helpfull

Cleanliness & Comfort

Room was clean. 2nd floor entrance was presentable.

Hotel Olimpia

Venice

Excellent location, Excellent amenities. Friendly and helpful staff. Good breakfast. Small room.

Authenticity & Character

Full service hotel

Location

Near transportation

Staff

Full time, full service staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Full service hotel. Room was small with no seating within.

Activity Review

Vatican Guided Tour

Rome

Amazing to see. Too much to see. Requires more time.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

knowledgeable , humorous

Transport

Helpful