Kimkim Trip Reviews for Nepal

Amanda, Mads, Raj & team are the best.

Amanda, Mads, Raj & team are the best.

We enjoyed everything about our first trip to Nepal! Actually, my husband had been to Nepal on business, but this was his first trip where he was able to mix business with pleasure. Kimkim, Himalayan Trails, and Amanda helped us from our first thought of "We want to see Nepal" to the finished product. We toured Kathmandu and its UNESCO heritage sites with our wonderful guide, Pratikshya; we trekked the area surrounding Pokhara with expert trekking guide Naresh; we toured Chitwan National Park with the folks at Jungle Villa. Himalayan Trails took care of us always, arranging our transfers, tours, hotels, flights, Covid tests, etc. We highly recommend using their expertise to plan your trip to Nepal. Some of our highlights and favorites: we loved our 'luxury lodges' on our trek with happy hour, delicious farm-to-table cooking, and comfortable rooms - a great complement to the fabulous Nepali mountain scenery and the welcoming nature of the Gurung people (hint: prepare physically for your Nepal trek - it's more strenuous than most hiking in the USA). It was wonderful to visit Chitwan National park and the Tharu people; we saw rhinoceros, small animals, and birds (the tour on the previous day saw sloth bear). And, of course, Kathmandu is a treat - a mix of history, art, culture, religion with so much to see and do. All in all, we had a wonderful experience thanks to Amanda, our guides, and the lovely people of Nepal.

Our experience was wonderful and a lot more qualitative than what we expected. Thanks to the great guidance of Naresh and Kunga we always had the best accomodations and often a private room for us two with bathroom attached. This even in the highest point.
Naresh, the guide, was always adapting to our pace, finding the right balance between giving us additional information and explanation, and respecting our privacy. They were always available if we needed anything.
We made it to the top thanks to them!

Our trek of the Manaslu circuit in Nepal arranged by Kripa was outstanding. During this post-Covid planning phase, Kripa answered our hundreds of questions immediately and kept us up to date on travel in Nepal. Everything was handled smoothly, from our airport pickup to assisting us on our shopping adventure in Kathmandu for trekking supplies. Our guide, Gelu, was the best. He took care of us the entire trek, even assisting in the kitchen with meals. The two porters he selected were amazing, carrying our gear effortlessly over passes that took our breath away, powered only by dal baht 24/7. Thanks to Kripa and her team for giving us a wonderful once-in-a lifetime trip.

Sangita did a wonderful time setting up all of the details of my trip. The hotels I stayed at were comfortable and in great locations, the daily tours were engaging and everything was easy and enjoyable. My guide Bipin in Kathmandu was knowledgable and engaging and set the daily tours at my pace. I was able to ask any and all of my questions and he shared so much knowledge that my brain is full of Nepalese history and culture. My time at Chitwan was full of great experiences - I saw so many animals including several Rhinos. I had a wonderful time and will be back one day. Thank you Sangita and Bipin

My daughter and I had a fantastic time during our stay in Nepal. Ngima and his team took excellent care of us. We arrived as clients but felt like friends and family when we left. Everyone took great care of us and we are already looking forward to a return trip with Nepal!

We really like the trekking ! It was as we expected, the organisation was perfect and Sangita is very available and kind. She answers fast and precise and she knows what she’s talking about. We really recommend to travel with her compagny!

I had a 5 days break from work and decided to visit Nepal. From the onset of the trip, I had support from Kripa who provided me with a packed program that captured all of historical and cultural places in the Kathmandu Valley. It was a mesmerising experience made perfect by the local guide Rajiv who was able to give me many insights and information about Nepal. I visited temples, palaces, museums but the highlight of my trip was a hike in the mountain.

Sangita, Bipin were wonderful - they were generous with their time, friendly, and looked after my brother and I very well. Every aspect of our trip was planned well and we knew that they were always available to help if we needed anything. Cannot recommend anyone more. We spent 9 days trekking the Tamang heritage trail followed by the Langtang trek with our guide Palsang and our Porter Kazu, both organised by Sangita. Trekking with knowledgable and friendly experts ensured our safety and made the experience much more enjoyable. My brother and I plan to return to Nepal one day and plan to organise any trip we book with Sangita!

We did a semi custom trip (11 day) for three with some moderate trekking in Annapurna region, tiger safari in Bardia NP, with some cultural activities in Kathmandu. The trip was well organized and flexible. I only provided some general guidance on my desires and Chhewang made suggestions and tied it all together after some feedback from me. We all enjoyed the trekking and the tiger safari, where we we able to see 4 tigers in the wild over 2 days.
Our trip was interrupted by the covid-19 virus with us being one of the last tour groups. Luckily it was near the end of trip, but there were several scares that the airport would be shutdown to international flights. Chhewang and others were very supportive and helpful in altering the last few days of our trip to try to leave early. We ended up making it out about 36 hrs before the airport closed.
We will consider using the company again for a future trip to Bhutan.

Excellent trip. Amanda did an excellent job of understanding my requirements and tailoring a trip to my exact needs. She was very responsive in her communications and ensured that each aspect of the trip was handled smoothly.

The logistics of the trip were handled flawlessly; from various pick ups and drop offs (airport, hotels, trip legs, etc).

My guides were wonderful.

My cultural guide, Suman was extremely attentive and knowledgeable. I appreciated the personal touches; guiding me through receiving a Hindu blessing and lighting candles for departed loved ones to buying me the best frozen yogurt in Katmandu.

My trekking guide, Rishi was a joy to spend 4 days with. He was very attentive and made sure I was safe and comfortable. His warm smile and sunny personality made each day special and fun. I really enjoyed getting to know him through each day of walking and the meals we shared.

The accommodations exceeded my expectations. Each hotel/guest house was very comfortable with modern facilities. The meals and service were excellent. The staff were consistently warm and accommodating. It was clear that everyone wanted to ensure I had an excellent experience.

The trek was perfect for my needs. It was just challenging enough to make me feel a sense of accomplishment when we reached each destination. The countryside is gorgeous and the historic sites fascinating.

My experience with Nepal was made incredible by the warmth and friendliness of the people.

Amanda planned for my travel companion and I a 8-days, 7-nights trip to Kathmandu Valley and Pokhara. It was both of our first trip to Nepal and I must say it was an eye-opening experience!

Here's what I liked and did not like about the trip:

The positives

- The planning was generally good and made sense. We arrived on late night of 20 February right before the Maha Shivatri festival on 21 February. Instead of planning for us to visit Pasupatinath temple that day (which would have been exploding with millions of worshipers and impossible to get in), Amanda and team planned it on the following day, 22 February, when we still got to experience remnants of the festivities and the crowd, but still be able to get around the temple

- Being flexible in terms of our asks and requirements, e.g.: planning two separate hikes for us when we stated that we wanted to experience a bit of hiking during our trip, and planning a really enjoyable white-water rafting session for us even though we were not in the season for white-water rafting yet. (The rest of the crew had to be made up by other members of the rafting team, but we were good to go with two pax).

- Special mention goes to Ritesh from the Operations team, who has been extremely responsive throughout the trip and helping us whenever things did not go as planned. Due to weather conditions, our Everest scenic flight was cancelled twice, our hot air balloon and helicopter flight to Annapurna base camp were also all cancelled, and he was very diligent and fast in helping us liaise with the respective provider companies, and in helping us get our refunds. The trip would have been quite dreary if not for his help, with so many things being cancelled! So I must really thank him for being there (via text) for us

- Keshab as a guide for Pokhara - He is really young but he made up for it by his boundless energy. He doubled up as both a tour guide and as our trekking guide up the World Peace Pagoda, and was really helpful to us especially throughout our hikes, helping to carry not just one but both our bags as we made the journey up the steps. He also told us interesting stories of the attractions we were in, and made jokes and riddles along the way to liven up the atmosphere, and make sure both of us were well taken care of

- The guesthouses that were booked were really charming and full of the flavours of local Nepali architecture. I especially liked Milla Guesthouse in Bhaktapur and Thamel Villa in Kathmandu. The former felt really cozy with a lady owner who was so friendly and accommodating, and specially prepared our breakfast (baked our bread and made jam for us) late into the night! Whereas the latter was a bit more European in its architecture / chandeliers, but still really charming, and it tied up with a restaurant across the road for breakfast that was really delicious.

The (slight) negatives

- Amanda, while being fairly responsive, regrettably had a slightly different communication style from me. The itinerary she planned was a little high level and vague, and I realised I needed to be very specific when communicating with her, if not her responses may still not really answer the crux of the question. Also, there were some errors in what she communicated with us vis-a-vis what eventually panned out: E.g.: there was no heater in our hotel in Patan - Swotha Traditional Homes, even though she sounded pretty sure there were heaters in all our hotels; Or that after whitewater rafting, as we were enroute from Kathmandu to Pokhara, there were no shower facilities and only a small room for changing (we were of the impression from her there were shower facilities). I had also requested for her to try to put some of the information that she mentioned in our fairly long interactions on KimKim into the final itinerary, e.g.: estimated start and end time every day, emergency contacts, etc. But that was eventually not added into our itinerary and only passed to us on a handwritten paper that could have been easily misplaced on the 2nd day. Again, I acknowledge most of my frustrations could be attributed to a difference in communication styles, but at the amount we were paying: ~USD1.8K per pax for 8 days of mostly 3-star guesthouse accommodation, I believe I was justified to expect a little more

- Our guide in Kathmandu Valley, Pratikshya. She was very comprehensive, fluent in English and detailed in her explanations to us, which I agree with some of the other reviews written here. However, I felt there was still a little room for improvement. Throughout the few days in Kathmandu valley when we visited the various UNESCO world heritage sites, other than Pashupatinath temple, I felt she was a little bit rushed, and I did not have enough time to fully explore the various places or imbibe in the local culture and vibe. This was especially the case in the Bhaktapur Durbar Square, which was really pretty. We just briefly walked into the palace for a very short while (and wasn't sure if there were any other buildings in the square to explore), and then continued on our walk to the hotel. Granted, she did give us our Durbar Square tickets so that we could come back if we wanted to. But in the case of some of the venues, like Bhaktapur, it was a very long walk from our hotel and very difficult for two females to come back all the way in the dark. Also, we were travelling in a very small group of two. However, most of the time, she was walking ahead with my other travel companion and explaining to her, leaving me trailing behind and not knowing what is happening. I think the trip would have been more enjoyable if she made a bit more effort to involve both of us (given it is such a small group). Last but not least, on our hike up to Namobuddha, we were given the choice of two places to eat for lunch - the Namobuddha resort that served farm-to-table organic vegetarian meals, and the monastery restaurant. The former needed to be booked half an hour before we arrived. She briefly mentioned the choices the night before and I opted to decide on the day itself. She asked us for our choice again midway through our hike. However, as the information was incomplete / erroneous and my travel companion was extremely strong-minded, I was compelled to make a decision I did not want at a time I was feeling very exhausted - Pratikshya told us that the resort only had a fixed vegetarian menu every day (without telling us what is the menu that day) whereas the monastery restaurant had an ala carte menu where we can order whatever we want. Also, we could drink beer in the monastery restaurant but not at the resort (something I wanted to do to celebrate our achievement of completing the hike). The impression I got was that the resort was more touristy whereas the monastery restaurant was more authentic. But when we finally made the hike up I realised it was anything but! The monastery restaurant had only a menu handwritten on the board of 7 dishes (most of them included things I could find in my local country like Fried Rice and Fried Noodles), was full of tourists, and last but most importantly, could not serve beer because it was a restaurant owned by the monastery. I had to go the the restaurant opposite if I wanted beer. I felt a little cheated because I might have enjoyed it a little better if I went to the Namobuddha Resort and tried food that was actually grown locally. But there was no more time to try or change my decision after the hike, as we could not afford a slightly longer lunch and had to drive down to Bhaktapur, for which she rushed through anyway.

- Kimkim's payment policy: We were a little uncomfortable having to pay 100% of our trip costs even before the trip commenced, and were worried that Himalayan Trails would not be incentivised to put in good service as a result. Thankfully it turned out OK, but it would be good if kimkim can review its payment policy to leave some percentage (perhaps 10% or so) to be paid at the end of the trip.

Sangita was so great from the start. She promptly and patiently answered all questions and concerns when we were coming up with the itinerary. Together with Bipin and Rabin, they gave us a memorable trip that introduced us to how wonderful Nepal is. We hope we'll have the chance to return.

Our party of 4 adults from Thailand were in Nepal for our first time for 4 nights and we all had a safe and wonderful time thanks to kimkim and the team. As the organizer, it wasn't easy to choose a local tour company because there are so many to screen, but I was very happy to have chosen kimkim and this team. Pre-trip, the entire coordination process such as emails back and forth, queries, payment etc was very smooth. I love kimkim's email communication system which basically makes life so much easier than going through regular email chains. Also appreciated the fast response times to queries and for this we have to thank our point man, Chhewang, who met us several times during the trip. Our local guide Gyaljan and trek captain Sonam were both excellent as well, very knowledgeable and highly flexible to accommodate our needs (and we were at times very demanding!) which is exactly what we were looking for in a customized tour. We chose accommodation (btw the Mariott Kathmandu is the best at the moment) but transport, restaurants etc which were pre-arranged were all very good quality. The historical sites in the capital are not to be missed, and we also loved the Chandragiri cable car. However, the highlight of the trip was no doubt our 14km trek (easy one for Nepal) to Nagarkot - the weather was perfect and the views of the Himalayan ranges simply amazing. 5 days and 4 nights was too short. We'd love to go back and if we do, we'll use kimkim and team again.

Yogesh has been very good and helpful, he made my whole trip. Everything went exactly as in the itinerary, except for a minor mistake on Temple Tree Hotel check out and pick up time. The hotel staff told me the wrong time which was one and half hour earlier than the arranged. The last day photograph tour was the best, far beyond my exception. The guide was a super kind and knowledgeable gentleman. He was the best during this trip.

Overall, great experience. I will surely consider Social Tour next time in Nepal.

Had a wonderful time and memorable experiences on the Annapurna circuit. Fantastic scenery and breathtaking mountains.

Tashi organised everything perfectly - it couldn’t have been better. He was very attentive and quick to respond to questions about the trip. Also helped me out making sure I had the right gear.

A special thanks to my marvellous guide and new found brother Pemba - he was a delight to be with. Really experienced and informative. Nothing was too much for him to help out with. He was super company on the treks which made the trip so special.

Thanks again
Dale

Firstly planning our trip with Kim Kim was a delight. The team really asked the right questions and understood what we were looking for in an itinerary. Amanda answered all my detailed questions about safety and they were able to use their local knowledge to suggest the best way to customise our experience. The accommodation exceeded our expectations in terms of cleanliness and luxury. We were given full disclosure regarding the eco lodge not having hot running water but the warmth of the staff (a Nepalese family of three generations) more than made up for it. The highly educated, well informed and friendly guide Surbash gave us insights into Kathmandu that enriched our experience and made lifelong memories.
Himalayan trails provided us with reliable, safe drivers and vehicles that were always in the right place at the right time to smooth our journey, often keeping our luggage secure so we could explore unencumbered. Kim Kim and Surbash only recommended food outlets they had tried and enjoyed and they could vouch for the hygiene standards, so we were able to taste a range of modern and authentic Nepalese food and not risk an upset tummy.
We had no concerns regarding procuring clean drinking water although resources are scarce but I would advise any western woman to take a ‘she wee’ device to ensure comfort during days of visiting historical sights and transiting through local airports etc.
Finally, we were pleasantly surprised by how well the Kim Kim staff communicated with us throughout the trip. I was not expecting each different staff member that dealt with us to be so fully informed of our itinerary and requirements. Kripa remained in daily contact to help us navigate changes to our itinerary due to the weather and maximise the enjoyment of our visit.

Nepal is a stunning location with fascinating history. We had an exciting and memorable trip and would definitely book with Kim Kim again and come back to Nepal in future.

Gathered our far-flung family (Mom, Dad, Son (23), Daughter (20) in Nepal for a couple of weeks' vacation January 2020.

Travel Made Easy:
Amanda crafted an excellent itinerary to meet our request to mix trekking with a few relaxing days. KimKim team headed by Raj worked together to make every transfer from arrival to departure smooth (drivers to/from airports, hotels, trailheads as well as arranging for Trekker's Cards, entry fees).

Guides:
Our trekking guide Rajesh and porters were friendly, knowledgable and helpful. They even found a great spot to dry out and warm up on one rainy day. In Kathmandu, Pratikshya delivered a great crash course on Nepal's World Heritage sites and religions while connecting us with tasty lunches.

Highly Recommend:
Great for families like ours who always wanted to see the Himalayas and are trying fit a lot in to a couple of weeks.

To say this was a perfect experience is an understatement! Sangita and her husband, Bipin, provided my girlfriend and I with the dream excursion around Kathmandu. They made it so special, tailoring each step of the way to our wants, needs and desires. Trying authentic foods, exclusive sightseeing, meeting local friends and even directing us to the best (and fair) shops were all part of our journey - not to mention the stories, laughs and unique exchanges along the way. A hard 10/10! Thank you so much Sangita and Bipin! We're forever grateful for such an incredible adventure.