Kimkim Trip Reviews for Italy

This was the most memorable hotel of our trip, largely thanks to the incredible breakfast buffet overlooking the Amalfi Coast—it was absolutely stunning. The breakfast itself was extraordinary, featuring some of the best pastries we had during our stay in Italy. The room was simple but comfortable: two rooms, each with a queen-size bed, and one shared bathroom. Both rooms opened onto a beautiful terrace with breathtaking views of the coast. On our final night, we even had a front-row seat to a fireworks display from our terrace—an unforgettable experience. We especially want to thank the breakfast and dinner staff, who made us feel so welcome during our 4-day stay. Their warmth and hospitality truly stood out. A special shout-out to our favourite server, who not only provided excellent service but also shared great local tips—including recommending his favourite cake, Peccato di Gola, from Sal De Riso in Minori. It was absolutely worth the trip!

Initially, we weren’t sure about this location, but it turned out to be a great choice. It was within walking distance to both the Vatican and Trastevere, which made exploring very easy. The room was the largest of our trip, with a master bedroom and ensuite, two additional bedrooms and a bathroom for the kids, plus a small kitchen. We especially appreciated the large fridge and freezer for storing snacks and drinks. Breakfast on the 7th floor had a huge variety of options, and everyone in the family found something they liked. Overall, it was a very comfortable stay and a good fit for our family of five.

While this hotel suited our needs, it had a few quirks. The staircase up three flights was very dark, and the shared room for our family of five, though spacious, had only one bathroom. Breakfast was limited and started later than we would have liked. That said, the location was excellent, and it served as a convenient base for exploring the area.

Thank you for sharing your love of Pompeii with our family today. We absolutely loved learning about the city, and even in the scorching heat 🥵, it was incredible to explore a small part of such a well-preserved and fascinating place.

We took a cooking class with Alessandro today—my husband and I plus our three kids (16, 13, and 11)—and it was an absolute hit! We were joined by one other guest and spent three wonderful hours learning and cooking together in a calm, air-conditioned space (a perfect escape from the heat wave!). Alessandro was welcoming, knowledgeable, and great with both adults and kids. We made cacio e pepe, amatriciana, and homemade gelato (coffee and Nutella was the crowd favourite). Highly recommend this experience—fun, delicious, and memorable. Fingers crossed our cacio e pepe and gelato turn out just as good at home!

Fabulous hotel.

Fabulous hotel, outstanding service. Wonderful central location.

Fabulous location. Rooms were a bit on the smaller side with no drawers to store clothes. Amenities were nice as well as the breakfast.

The mosaics here made this church and palace different than what we saw previously. Also, since Doge had a prison, it gave us something more to see

It was nice to have access to the waterway bus line as Venice is made up of hundreds of islands and transport is needed

A nice gondola ride around Venice. Not sure how this service would be different than others available.

One of the highlights of our trip and the only one that wasn’t a tour or a museum or church. Love Italian food and seeing the Grand Market and learning how to make our own pasta was a fun time for all.

Loved the private tour with Martina. She was friendly, personable and added so much knowledge to our visit.

Loved small group tour. Guide was very knowledgeable.

Such a central location, everything was a "10 minute walk". The staff was very kind and helpful. Breakfast had a large selection but I had hoped for some cut fruit pieces. I loved the automatic espresso/cappuccino machines. Spacious room. The bathroom tub/shower had issues.

AWESOME location. Great view of the volcano from my room. The breakfast was extensive [there was an omelet station on my last morning] and the view alone was worth searching the hotel for the breakfast room. Staff was so kind and helpful, especially at 5am.

I DID NOT STAY HERE. I STAYED AT THE ART HOTEL COMMERCIANTI. This review is for the ART HOTEL COMMERCIANTI. Awesome location. Very helpful staff. Breakfast had variety and was worth stopping in the morning. Both the room and the bathroom were clean and spacious, easy to move around in.

3.5 Stars: Superb location. Breakfast was very nice. The hotel main floor was modern and clean, but the room I was given was run down. Apparently they are redoing the rooms [they look fabulous on line], but mine room was obviously still on the to-do list. It was dingy, the furniture didn't work well (doors either wouldn't stay shut or you had to fight to open them), and it was just dark. The bathroom was a struggle. The shower stall was so small that I literally had to open the door when I wanted to raise my arms up or turn around. Considering I am 5'4", that's just too small.

Good location. Lovely room, spacious and well appointed. GREAT STAFF!! They were so very helpful and accommodating.

Small and cozy. SPECTACULAR view! The host/staff were so very nice.

Perfect location and it was extremely nice. Loved the fact that it had an elevator. Staff was friendly and helpful. The breakfast was fantastic and worth making the effort to stop by each morning.

Hotel is charming and well placed in the city. No elevator, so that was a bummer. I could see that the outside seating location would be fabulous but it was too cold when I was there so it wasn't open. The room and bathroom were very spacious, but the layout was not optimal. All this extra space in the bathroom, but the shower was very small and hard to navigate. I'm only 5'4" and struggled. The included breakfast was not appealing and I skipped it.

There really isn't any "skip the line" as you still have to stand in line, but it's nice to have someone guide you to where you need to be. I did a few tours without guides and since I don't speak Italian it took a bit of wandering to find the correct entrance/line/etc. The David was spectacular. Just breathtaking. There is also the Abduction of a Sabine Woman which was beautiful. But really it's all about the David and rightfully so. The guide gave some good information. But I found the most value in the close up photos of the David. He is 17 feet tall and there is just no way to get a good look at the details, so this helped immensely.

What a fun tour! There were only 2 of us (both single travelers) and the guide, so I am grateful they still ran it. Being such a small "group" made it just that much more enjoyable. Marco, our guide was so very personable. We stopped at a castle, 2 wineries, and 2 towns. The castle had the most impressive views. Videos for days! The 2 wineries were small and family owned. The first one served us a delicious homemade lunch. Oh so good! The towns were interesting to walk around and take photos. Overall I enjoyed every minute and highly recommend this tour.

Amazing service!

Loved our room! Very spacious and great location

Beautiful property and friendly staff.

If you are a history person this is a must.

If you have time go to the upper island. We did not but I did before and wished we would have. The water was choppy and the boat ride over was quite rough!

My personal favorite! Loved this place and am planning to order from them to shop to the US. I was very impressed with the whole experience and the care they put into their farm and products.

Loved this and wish we had more time to spend in the other towns. We skipped Amalfi as it was SO crowded but our driver knew the best places to go! He even recommended a lunch spot and made reservations for us, Germano was our favorite guide/driver!

Fun for all ages! My kids teen and preteen had a great time. The staff was amazing!

Great experience and worth the steps but be ready for a work out and know it can be hot and steep stairs.

Beautiful area and I had not thought of this but it was added by Giulia and we are so thankful to have done it. A much quieter and peaceful part of the busy trip.

Loved our guide. Very knowledgeable and it was great to have the private tour to answer all our questions.

I have done this one other time, but would recommend one of the other locations. We were in a main boating area with choppy waters and not the best views/canals

One of the highlights for sure

Beautiful historic hotel! Room was breath taking!!!

Great for families!!! We had enough space for our two teenage daughters! Very clean and great rooftop bar!

We had a fantastic experience on our Lake Como tour, and want to thank our guide Emilio,for making the day so special. We spent almost the whole day exploring—traveling by train and boat—and it was truly unforgettable. The scenery was absolutely stunning, and our guide enriched the experience with fascinating stories and historical insights about the towns, villas, and landmarks along the way. Every stop felt meaningful, and the pace of the tour was just right. It was a perfect combination of breathtaking views, cultural discovery, and relaxing travel. A truly memorable day—thank you for sharing your knowledge and making it such a great experience!

We had a wonderful experience with our tour guide and driver, Fred, during our stay in Nice and the French Riviera. Fred was incredibly friendly, knowledgeable, and professional throughout the entire tour. He shared so much insight into the region’s history, culture, and hidden gems, which made our visit even more special. His communication skills were excellent—he was clear, engaging, and always made sure we were comfortable and informed. Fred was also an excellent driver, navigating the scenic roads with ease and making us feel safe and relaxed the entire time. Thank you, Fred, for making our time in the South of France so enjoyable and memorable!

A highlight of our stay in Turin was a fantastic food tour with Anna. She was knowledgeable, engaging, and passionate about the region’s food, culture, and history. Thanks to her, we discovered fascinating facts about pasta, gelato, wine, and local traditions, along with visiting some of Turin’s most historic and charming spots. It was a truly enriching experience.

More modern perhaps than other Rome hotels. Very clean and comfortable. The only thing is that the layout takes some navigating. In some cases you may be going up a floor and then stepping down a half floor.

Venice is a really crowded city but where Ai Reali is located is very quiet. It's a short walk to St. Mark's square and has all the restaurants nearby. Hotel itself is very nice, very boutique-y. Suites for families are actually separate rooms. Clean and comfortable and good breakfast.

This was one of the best activities on this trip. We would never have learned as much if we didn't have a guided tour.

Marilee our hostess really went out of her way to make this a good experience. She had so much food ready for us, and gave us a little gift at the end, and it was a really long chunk of her day.

Every shop we stopped at was great

The experience was fun overall, esp the walking tour through Venice. The Murano glass part, there was a bit of pressure to buy. I didn't cave to the pressure as we have done our own glassblowing before and I'm not keen on buying souvenirs but our friends who came along bought stuff and then later regretted it because the similar stuff were sold everywhere in Venice

This was a really unique experience, sure beats sitting in a gondola in a crowded canal looking like the quintessential tourist.

Never knew about Venetian masks before. This was fun and a good learning opportunity

Really fun. And guide Angie was very approachable and knowledgeable.

It was fine but the bed wasn’t very comfortable.

It’s great. We had a nice big room.

Great location.

This was underwhelming. The boat ride was not necessary. The fish was good though.

So fun and authentic.

Great experience and guide.

Very convenient and worthwhile.

Fantastic hotel and location. Walkable to all sites and good choice of walkable restaurants. Very close to the Duomo cathedral and Gucci/LV flagship stores! Only stayed one night but very peaceful and plush rooms with spa like bathrooms, marble walled, slippers and bathrobes too. Went to be rooftop bar but was very pricey for a drink so just enjoyed the views which are great. Good breakfast buffet but no omelette station.

Nice location, close to walking to downtown shopping and restaurants. Wonderful front desk staff Glulia and Gaia. Some knowledge about local restaurants. Rooms were clean but dated, in need of new paint with unfinished wood floors and deep gouges. End rooms were very spacious.

Excellent hotel, plush and beautiful. Great staff and food quality and choices. By far the most amazing brunch I’ve seen with fresh juicing station and fresh omelettes. Spa and gym lounge ones clean and equipped enough. It’s not downtown in the lake como village but walkable to the next town Cernobbio. Easy water shuttle service around the lake. Nighttime travel may be challenging without a car but plenty of walkable restaurants. Nice pool and outdoor seating options and outdoor restaurants as well on site.

Be aware that this is a cruise ship tour. We had some delays in the morning as a result. However Lisa the guide was fantastic. You get to see many sites in a short time. The best part was after the last stop and the cruise ship passengers had to depart, you can keep the train tickets and ride from site to site all night if you like. However the crowds did get worse during the day. Luck selections and souvenir shops are plentiful

Nice walk of the town and some boating on the ferry. I hadn’t realized the huge size of the lake and expected more lake time so I rented a boat the next day! Went through some churches, shopping and limited wine tasting. Lunch selection was great. Had a nice walk through Torno, with narrow streets and small coffee shop for a rest. Renzo was great but I wish he was louder!

The most delicious homemade breakfasts. Location was perfect!

Clean, incredible breakfasts, fantastic rooftop bar!

We loved our guide... it was so evident that she was as enthralled with the Colosseum as we were!

The best experience... so fun to have a day on the open water.

Delicious food, excellent instructors, very welcoming and fun atmosphere!

Excellent location

We loved this hotel the best! Our room had an outdoor terrace which we absolutely loved!

The hotel staff did a great job of giving us restaurant recommendations. They were so friendly and helpful!! The breakfast was the best!

Amazing day with Ciro!! He was a gem!!

This was my favorite activity on the trip!! It was fun on the boat, capri was amazing and we got to go swimming!!

Julia was fabulous!! Great day!

Jabar was very knowledgeable and engaging.

Wonderful and insightful

This was a good experience, but not what we expected. We thought we would be involved with the dinner preparations.

Excellent experience

Matthew was excellent!

Hotel panorama was a cute hotel in the middle of a family friendly town. We loved the quietness and we thought that the hotel was comfortable. The rooms are cute, very minimal decoration and our window wasn’t able to open because we overlooked the roof. The lighting could be a little bit better in there and the TV was a standard one with channels only in Italian. It was a very nice location to the beach, but you do have to pay to get an umbrella and chairs. The pool area had a few sets of chairs in the pool is small and shallow. The workers were so friendly and helpful and all the food we had in the area was amazing. We loved playing cards on the rooftop terrace and grabbing a drink while looking out at the view.

We enjoyed our stay at hotel Modigliani. The location was central to walk to everything, we did not buy a single taxi when in Rome. It was nice that it was tucked away in a quiet street away from the hustle and bustle. The beds were a little hard and our shower door was missing, The breakfast was pretty small with not a lot of selection. Otherwise, the front desk was always available and helpful.

Our drivers were amazing our whole time in Italy. Spend the extra money to get private transfers.

Pompei was a very good experience with a very experienced and kind tour guide. It was beautiful and we would recommend viewing it with an in person tour guide such as Ivan who was so kind rather than with the headphones.

This was a super fun experience. We did the five hour tour where we got to go to the market and pick up food for the meals and then we got to cook a five course meal. But the food quality was amazing and we learned a lot! They even send you all the recipes to take home with you!

This is our favorite experience throughout our time in Italy. Our two guides were so kind and intentional. We got to drink wine and eat cheese in a cave, which was a super cool experience. It was the best way to see the city, hands-down. We got to see so many things and a beautiful view of the entire city. We felt safe the entire time which was initially a worry for us. They ask where you have and haven’t been and made us a list of places to go on a Rome map. So kind! It was so fun and we’d highly recommend.

Mauricio made this tour so fun and intentional. We were pretty tired from a long day of travel, but he met us where we were at. He took us to get gelato and showed us the pantheon Trevi fountain, Piazza Navona, and the Spanish steps. He also took pictures for us and gave us a history of each spot

Needs dome painting and cleaning the cobwebs

Very close to everything

Close to town, loved it!