Kimkim Trip Reviews for Italy

All the guides were first rate , the gentleman who walked us round Palermo and the guide at Syracuse we’re particularly good , the latter was very knowledgeable on horticultural matters as well as history and archaeology. We had a series of excellent drivers who took us around the island. They were immensely helpful anddrovewithgreat care.

Carmelo, our tour organiser was excellent , we were delighted to meet up with him in Catania where we could thank him in person. He had enormous patience especially when our friend who was going to drive us had to dropout. He rearranged transport quite brilliantly. His command of English and his care and attention to detail as well as his kindness and thoughtfulness were remarkable. When he was engaged in examinations his supervisorMarianne was equally helpful.

As to memorable places , there really are too many to list ! Sicily is a treasurehouse of history and Archaeology with so many groups and civilisations leaving their mark. I was particularly interested in the Norman influence but theGreek , Roman and Arab civilisations were also very special and remarkable.

This first trip to Sicily was a truly wonderful experience for us. The suggestions of sites and locations to visit as well as the selection of accommodations throughout the trip have been great experiences, thank you Carmelo. We really liked the small accommodations in the rural country side (especially the Terra des Mezzo near Riposto) as well the amazing hotel Palazzo Failla in Modica. The food was truly amazing. It was always a pleasure to talk to people (most could speak English and we also understood a bit of Italian) and get their perspectives, tips and advice (about the excursion to Etna for example which we did ourselves). All local guides were fantastic: Katia di Dio in Piazza Armerina; Eva Greco in Syracuse; and Ambra in Catania who showed us around the markets and other special places and introduced us to a variety of local street foods. All three guides were very approachable, easy to talk to and full of insight of their topics. We can highly recommend them all. Through them we were able to get a deeper insight of history, local customs and food culture, so important for understanding a new country and their people. Thank you Carmelo!

Well what great organisation! Many congratulations Carmelo. We had a fab holiday thank you all very much.
Taxi was waiting at the airport, all the Hotels and B&B's were simply first class, the hosts were so friendly and so helpful, and the local guides were all excellent. We learnt so much from all of them.
The whole holiday was a joy and all places were memorable for their own reasons.
Katia was a particuarly instructive guide at Casale de Romana, her knowledge and manner was lovely.
It would be good for future customers to give more guidance about driving in to Ortigia. There is public car parking and a grid reference for this would have been helpful. As it was we had to ask locals to help us about how and where to park the car, due to the traffic zone car parking.
We will certainly use your services again and recommend you to others.

Kind Regards

Julia and Paul Vincent

Marianne was so easy to work with. Anytime I asked for changes or to fix something she did it with no hesitation. Marianne adapted my trip to my needs, she was so accomodating and managed to schedule a seamless trip for me. Before during and after my tours she took the time to ask me how things were going and she always made sure I was content with my days. At one point during the trip a company accidentally forgot my tour when I called Marianne to explain the situation she had everything fixed in minutes. I would definetly book another trip through kimkim and I suggest it to anyone who wants to feel at ease with their travels.

Our trip to Italy was fantastic! We saw so many sites in such a short time that it was all very exhilarating yet overwhelming! Our plan was to see and experience as much as we could on this trip so when we come back in a few years, we will know where we want to spend our time. Mario did a great job putting this together!

Venice was a phenomenal city, and while we explored and got lost on our own, the private guided tour with Davide was priceless. He took us to and through places we would not have found on our own, and helped us to embrace the local culture in a way we wouldn’t have understood with his help.

Florence was just OK, for us. We much more enjoyed the day trip to Pisa and the Cinque Terre region, and will definitely return for a longer stay in that area.

Rome was exceptional! The colosseum was right near our hotel, so we visited it casually 3 times in addition to the tour! The classic and imperial tours were combined with Ricardo, who went over and above to make sure we knew the history and the culture we were walking through. He treated us like family, and we could have spent the entire day wandering the city enjoying his company! Shortly after we toured the Vatican with Paulo, whose knowledge of the past and present of that location was very impressive! He moved us swiftly yet considerably through the crowds to stop at the best locations.

Pompeii was well worth the extra effort to get there and witness the ruins first hand. Our guide was local to the area, and knew many other people in the city so that helped us better navigate the area as the crowds were large and hard to move through in such tight quarters. He was able to take us to places the other guides were ignoring that we felt were the best parts of the visit! A shout out to Claudio our transfer driver who made the long car rides more enjoyable, and kept our luggage with the vehicle so we did not have to worry about it while enjoying our day trip!

Overall, everything was exceptional! There were a few minor hiccups, but those led to a more enjoyable experience for my wife and I. We will definitely be traveling again to not only this area, but many other places around the world, and we intend to use kimkim again for the next adventure!

Sincerely,

Robert and Patricia Carnicom

Awesome trip that covered the Amalfi Coast, Florence and Rome. Loved the accommodations arranged by Carmelo - its sometimes a challenge to travel as a family of 5 and the hotel, then apartment, then shared suite that he arranged for us were perfect! Each had great locations in easy walking distance to the town centers and attractions. Also had first rate drivers and guides in each location, and appreciated the way Carmelo checked in with us throughout the trip to make sure all was well. Things were smooth from start to finish.

It was a wonderful experience. Mario & team assisted us to customise our trip to the needs of my 4yr old and 65yrs+ parents.
We were a bit pressed for time but our stay in Florence was the best.
Guide Paulo at Rome was very thorough and detailed at all the various historic sites.
Was a great trip.
One thing to note was at some point there was not transport arranged n we were a bit confused about it. Nonetheless arranging ourselves was not tough.

Carmelo arranged an eBike tour for us in Tuscany, starting in San Gimignano, through to Siena and up to Montalcino. We finished it off with a couple of days on Lake Como. This was fabulous, and Carmelo organised everything perfectly. The bikes were waiting for us when we arrived, with very easy to follow route instructions. Drivers were there to pick up and carry our bags between towns when they said they be there. The accommodation Carmelo selected was perfect and the cycling route was exquisite - through rolling Chianti hills, with relatively little traffic. I can't recommend both KimKim and Carmelo enough.

I'm very grateful to Marianne and Carmello and the kimkim team behind them for their patience with my very specific interests and their continuing effort to find matches. Minori, on the Amalfi coast, was just the right size, the Hotel Lucia was simple and impeccable, local bus service to other coastal cities was as promised and their transfer arrangements spot on. I'm an experienced solo traveler but new to this part of Italy and wanted a little local insight beyond what's on the internet. I'll use kimkim again and recommend it to others.

All guides were very good.
We did not go much on Ragusa, this was part due to long trip after previous days journey, plus when we got there we had to search for information office, get town map etc. Maybe KimKim could provide this sort of info within welcoming pack, details of sites where not staying at hotel. Also checking of recommendations the week before would be advisable, the soap museum was closed and also website said booking required for visit. Yes we could of looked on website before we left but also KimKim should not be recommending visits without suppling this sort of info.
Response by KimKim staff , mainly Marianne, mainly on WhatsApp, was very good, when we needed her she was usually there ,if not replied within minutes rather than hours.
Hotel at Palermo is very tired and lacking facilities we had become used to, ie safe in the room, basic toiletries, and fridge. Also it needs to be noted that hotels parking arrangement not available 13.00-21.00 on sundays. Resulted in us spending all of Sunday afternoon at hotel rather than exploring the city.

My wife and I just returned from a 12 day (Sept 30-Oct 12) road trip around the island of Sicily. We worked with Marianne to book our car, places to stay and visit, and local guides. I started to work with Marianne back in early 2018 and she delivered on all counts.

The itinerary for each day provided us many interesting things to do, as well as plenty of time for us to explore this beautiful island. All accommodations were very comfortable and inviting. There were a few in which we would gladly return without hesitation. Our local tour guides were excellent! We were with guides at the Vally of Temples, Villa d'Casele, Syracuse, and Palermo. It was great having our own guide, not like the oters in groups, 30-40, following one person. Our guides also knew of ways to bypass long lines, a great thing at the Valley f the Temples.

During the trip, Marianne was always just a text message away, but we didn't need much from her, since the trip was well planned in advance.

Overall, an excellent experience/vacation/trip! Our first time using KimKim, and not our last I'm sure.

Richard & Brigette

Trip to the Almalfi Coast was amazing! Carmelo was super helpful in planning and tailoring the trips to our needs. The agency was also very quick to respond during our stay in Italy and was very accommodating in helping us work out some last minute changes to our trip. It was truly an unforgettable experience in a beautiful place!

Had an amazing time on our short, self-guided bike trip through Tuscany. The area is beautiful, especially the stretch from the outskirts of Florence to Radda in Chianti. Lots of wineries with consistently good wine. Everything was well coordinated in terms of bike delivery, luggage transport, and hotel booking. Had some initial difficulty with the bikes and with navigation but everything went smoothly afterwards.

Olivier was very helpful, was quick to respond and booked an unforgettable trip for us. Thank you!

Marianne was great! Thanks to her, my mom and I got to enjoy Italy stress free. She was really patient, answering all my questions. She was thoughtful offering suggestions and options for tours and hotels. Marianne while in Italy checked on us, making us feel taking care of.
Thank you Marianne!

This was the first time we have ever planned,booked and paid for a trip totally on the internet. We are older travellers and were a bit hesitant about "faceless" booking, but we are happy to say everything worked out wonderfully. We started planning our trip to Italy with local specialist ,Georgia who put together a fantastic package and was completed by Marianne, with a few changes that we decided to make. All in all, every detail worked out great with no problems with any of the arrangements. What we really liked was being able to plan exactly what we wanted to see and to have the ability to have days to ourselves such as we did in Amalfi for 3days.

HOTELS...... We asked for 3star hotels and were very pleased with all of them. They all were in prime locations for walking to all the sights. Particularly lovely was the Hotel Culture in Napoli, Il Piccolino Giardino in Taormina and the Via Della Giudecca in Syracuse, Sicily.
DRIVERS......Every driver was waiting for us at each airport to take us to our hotel.also punctual were the drivers between cities. Every car was a Mercedes!
TOURS......we had 2 tour guides, both very knowledgeable and approachable. Ludevicia for Napoli and Pompei was exceptional and Eva in Syracuse was very personable. The boat trip around Ortega Island was really fun. The cooking class at Porto Messina restaurant was a great day too.

We would not hesitate to use KimKim again for future travels. The cost was very fair for the quality of trip we experienced. Such a good idea to be able to plan with an agent who actually lives in the area you want to visit and also have the backing of the KimKim company throughout the process.

Julien and Olivier from Allibert Trekking did a fantastic job in planning my itinerary for my Dolomites trek. Given that August is the high season, I thought the task of booking my trip would be almost impossible given that I booked in June. Nevertheless, within 48 hours of initial contact, I had my itinerary mapped out and all rifugios confirmed. It was almost too good to be true!

They were super responsive and possess great knowledge useful for people wanting to take a self-guided tour.

The itinerary they planned was very detailed, and the accommodations were excellent.

I'm already thinking about the next trip I will want to have planned for them. Great job guys!

We had a terrific experience working with KimKim. There were some glitches and problems along the way, but the fact that we had a cell phone number to call and that someone ALWAYS answered the telephone and assisted us immediately made a huge difference in our feeling that we did not have to resolve the issue on our own. The hotels that were booked through KimKim were fine, and without exception the staff at the hotels, many of which were family-run, were kind and helpful. Regarding the guides: the only one who was questionable was the person in Palermo. Although knowledgeable, he was on his phone way too much during our time together. All of the others were friendly, took their job very seriously, and had much to offer. They had great pride in being Sicilian and that was great to see. It made a big difference to be able to just arrive at a location and know that someone was waiting for us and that we did not have to first try to hire someone ourselves. They all (except for the Palermo guide) spoke about the importance of being a professional guide and their concern for quality of service.

Carmelo, Alessandra and Ketty were great. Without repeating myself, we also greatly appreciated how Ketty handled our situation in Lipari. We arrived there not realizing that the hotel we had booked for a week was at the far end of the island, the staff there not particularly pleasant - we had to wait almost an hour for them to pick us up at the ferry despite repeated calls, the beach narrow and all big stones, and that the only way to get to the town was by a bus that ran once an hour and stopped at 7:00 pm. Otherwise, we would have to take taxis at 35 euro each way. There were no cars to be rented. Ketty was wonderful, she booked us into a beautiful hotel 10 minutes walk from Lipari, with a swimming pool which we used daily, and easy access to everything in town. She took care of cancelling the week at Hotel Cutimare and KimKim absorbed the additional cost of the Hotel Tritone, and so the whole situation was hassle-free for us.

The only other inconsistency in the trip was that we drove from Trapani to Agrigento and saw the Greek ruins. The following day you had scheduled us to go to Selimunte, but that would have been at least a 1.5 hour trip each way back to where we had just come from, and we ended up cancelling that excursion. It would have been much better to do these 2 excursions in reverse order.

We really enjoyed every aspect of the trip - probably least favorite was Palermo - the garbage was overwhelming- but the hotel was fine and the sites remarkable. We brought too much stuff - we did not realize that none of the places we stayed would have elevators and our suitcases were heavy, so in the future I would pack much lighter and find laundry places to wash our clothes. it would have been helpful to know in advance that there are no elevators. In Cefalu we had a problem with the taxi not coming to take us to the airport, and it seemed - if we understood right, that it was coming from Palermo - it would probably have been better to hire a local taxi that was not affected by traffic, as we almost missed our plane - but again, Ketty helped us through that.

We also stayed at some wonderful places that you did not book:
La Serenita outside of Noto
Ai Lumi in Trapani
Agriculturismo Casa di Basso outside of Agrigento
and we highly recommend that you explore them for other travelers.

The food was unbelievable - we did not have a bad meal the entire trip. The cooking school was fun. The trip to Mt Etna was great, as was the day-long excursion to Stromboli. We also took a boat to Vulcano one day. We went to a lot of beaches of all kinds, also to Modica and Ragusa, and did much "offbeat" things. At the B&B La Serenita, a woman who works there is also an aspiring chef of typical food, and she invited us to her cava in the mountains and prepared us a wonderful meal.

Thank you again for all your assistance and mostly especially for being available throughout our trip.
Allyson and Bruce

Took forever to get answers on the tour then once in Italy tour was not what I paid for and they were unable to purchase the tickets for the underground Colosseum as purchased. Very disappointing experience in all.

Our feedback from our 12 day trip in May/June 2018 to Sicily organised for 4 adults by KimKim was outstanding to say the least. We asked KimKim to put together a leisurely itinerary that covered the history of Sicily, farmhouse lunches and a Sicilian cooking class.

From our pick-up on arriving by ferry from Malta at 6.30am by Stefano our driver and Maria our guide. Maria and Stefano (supplied by Valdinoto Tours) were both outstanding. So helpful throughout our 3-4 days with them. Maria was so knowledgeable and gave us an in depth history lesson on the areas we covered with her.

All the other transfers and guides were of high standards. They were all on time and helpful throughout their time with us. Only one slight hiccup being one driver could not speak English but was still helpful as 2 of our party could manage with Italian language.

All of the accommodation were to the standards we expected and in very good locations.
They all were very helpful with any requests and the breakfasts supplied throughout each B&B or hotel were excellent.

Our guide in Agrigento was also outstanding. So passionate about the history of the te archaelogical site we visited. One slight problem with our stay in Agrigento the street where this B&B is located is closed to traffic at certain times of the day and unfortunately we arrived during this time. Our driver overcame this by speaking to the police about how to get there and at the end we had to reverse up a one way street! The owner of the B&B met us to carry the bags up a stairway.

The cooking class we had in Taormina at the Porta Messina was excellent they could not do enough for us and it was such fun along with plenty of food and drink.

All the other farmhouse lunches the lunch at Acitrezza were excellent, so much food! We certainly enjoyed the experiences.

From the time we arrived in Sicily to the time we left we did not have to handle our luggage.

We highly recommend KimKim for their excellent organisation and their very reasonable pricing.