Kimkim Trip Reviews for Nepal

Alex at Kimkim was very helpful with the initial enquiry, putting me in touch with Kunchok Nima of Responsible Treks.

Kunchok dealt very patiently with my many questions and several changes of plan and dates. All the arrangements he made for me worked out very smoothly.

On the trek I was guided by Gyaljan Lama and Keshab Magar. They were patient, kind and helpful, and spoke excellent English. Hopefully they will remember 'undulating' and 'clearing', which I suggested they add to their already amazing vocabulary! Their help and encouragement got me up to Khayer Tal, an exhausting but spectacular 11 hour round trip from Kopra Danda lodge.

My favourite village? Swanta, where I spent a rest day!

Thank you Alex, Kuncholk, Gyaljan and Keshab. Maybe see you again one day, for Humla or Kanchengjunga...

Amanda and Himalayan Trails were amazing at planning a customized trip for my honeymoon. It was such a memorable experience. Exactly what we needed although we couldn't explain it exactly at the start...she knew what we wanted.

And execution was flawless. A few things on my trip didnt work out (flights, altitude sickness) but Amanda managed to adjust the trip on the spot each time with no extra cost or headache.

Wonderful experience. Unique memories.

Thank you KimKim team for my bespoke tour of Nepal. Ngima organised my itinerary customising the places I wanted to visit.
Lakpa Thapa and Saraswoti were always on time to accompany me and fill in the details of the places I visited and I thoroughly enjoyed my stay in Nepal
Thank you
Subha Naidu
Sydney Australia

We just completed our first vacation with Kimkim support - and we absolutely loved it! Our family of four travels a lot, and we consider ourselves pretty sophisticated travelers. Our trip was to Nepal where my wife and I lived for a year 15 years ago - so why Kimkim, you might wonder? I sure did, initially! I stumbled over their website and loved it (and Nepal info I can judge, I feel) and then started my online discussion with Amanda from Kathmandu-based Himalayan Trails. She was incredibly available and quick and proactive in her responses. Based on her recommendations, we added a few real gems to our itinerary: Two nights at an herb farm just outside Bhaktapur - rammed earth homes which are beautiful and home grown food which was amazing. A final night at Traditional Homes Swotha in Patan, a beautifully restored Newari house in an unbeatable location.
Amanda met with us at the beginning of our trip and even loaned us a simple local phone...invaluable as our US Iphones did not accept the local SIM cards.
Beyond some great recs, everything organized by Kimkim was top notch: The jeeps were a bit better than what we could find ourselves (and you do want the AC to work when you drive through KTM!) - and Amanda was incredibly helpful when we had to make a late adjustment to our itinerary.
Overall a truly memorable trip, made possible by the incredible support Amanda and Himalayan Trails provided!

From the moment I ‘found’ Kripa I knew we were in safe hands. Her suggestions and recommendations were exactly what we wanted. She and her colleagues accommodated our every need-including bringing extra bags to the airport so we could repack before leaving on a domestic flight! We stayed at two beautiful places in the Chitwan, played golf in Kathmandu and finished with a fun day wizzing through the streets on the back of vespas eating momos-perfect. Thankyou Kripa.

I did a Poon Hill + Annapurna Sanctuary trek, travelling alone (besides my guide and porter). Incidentally, this was my first trekking experience. Prior to my trip, Ngima was very prompt in helping me craft (and re-craft a couple of times) an itinerary that suited what I wanted, as well as answering any queries I might have. He helped made planning for my trip as stress-free as it could possibly get, while still retaining autonomy over my plans.
A typical day on the trek involved walking (that is, climbing up and down) through varied scenery, from lush bamboo forests to mountain-flanked snowfields, stopping for a leisurely mid-morning tea and lunch along the way. Most days, we reached our resting lodge for the night by around 3pm, and the rest of the day was spent relaxing, reading, chatting with fellow travellers, all over a pot of brewed tea. It is worth pointing out that I went in winter, meaning the flowers are not in bloom, but, in my opinion, that is more than made up for by the fact that there is a smaller crowd on the trails and in the lodges. The visual highlights of the trek are undoubtedly the 7000s-8000s giants, whether they be shyly peeking out from behind lesser mountains (or hills, as they call them in Nepal), laid out in a stunning vista at Poonhill, or subsequently transformed into a panoramic amphitheatre at Annapurna Base Camp. For an urbanite like me, the chance to slow down one’s pace, escape from the bustle and grind – not to mention digital spam – of city life, and just live in the moment, all the while soaking in nature, was incredibly rejuvenating.
Credit must also go to my guide Pemba and my porter Pasang, who attended to my every need – voiced or otherwise (requests for extra blankets, tea and meal orders etc). Importantly, I did not once felt rushed, Pemba encouraging me to take my time, set my own pace and just enjoy the journey. (Too many trekkers seemed to forget to do just that, too focussed as they were on the endpoint.) Pemba has also been very helpful in customising the itinerary on the fly based on the pace we were making. Besides all these, through the chats we had, and their easy-going, quick-to-laugh nature, I felt I had experienced a bit of Nepali culture and Sherpa warmth and good cheer. Pemba and Pasang have grown to be friends to me, whom I hope to trek with again in future.

All in all It was a fantastic trip, and I’m very satisfied with your help during planning and the flexibility you were giving by changing one night from Kathmandu to Balthali. That change gave the highlight of the tour, Namobuddha and Balthali plus hike to Balthali. Great day.

Nagarkot itself was beautiful, but the hike from Sankhu was very disappointing.

Nice warm up thru the rice fields. Splendid ending with Mountain View’s in Nagarkot. But nothing to see and experience on the was. Just a dusty road that could have been anywhere. No nature, no views and nothing to experience.

To compare, our walk last 2 km to Balthali was amazing all the way. Nature, bridge, village and views. I recommend this route, just make it longer.

Namobuddha and Balthali was the highlight of my tour, so I recommend this combination. Namobuddha was so great. In fact this was my own idea, and we had to discuss a lot to include it. I think it’s a bit strange that you don’t recommend it to everybody.

Dhulikhel was nothing to see, as far as we experienced.

Bhaktapur was very nice. Wonderful atmosphere. Patan also perfect as 1 hour stop.

Bungamati and Khokana- a bit disappointing. As suspected, these were small cities, not country side villages as I would say Balthali is.

Kathmandu tour was as good as it can be. Combined with Bhaktapur and Everest flight, a perfect first day.

I will also recommend others to stay more than one night other places than Kathmandu.

Everest flight was great in itself, but I got the worst possible seat.

I asked my contact months ago, and also just after payment, to reserve a good seat for me, as was recommended by many on TripAdvisor. He told me there are no fixed seats, just make sure to enter the plane early and sit on the left side. So I did, but then I realized that we all had specific seats. And I got the worst in the entire plane, beside the rotor on the right side. Probably because everybody else had reserved better seats.

I wasn’t very happy with that during the flight, since the rotor were blocking my sight and pictures. Fortunately the hostess took some nice pictures of Everest for me, so the memories after are OK.

Our contact in Nepal, Anura was wonderful. She was extremely organized & efficient. Her expert planning covered every single detail of our trip.
Our guide, Jangbu was extremely knowledgeable & very attentive to our individual needs.

We had an AMAZING trip to Nepal!
Me, my wife and two daughters (aged 8 and 7) spent an incredible two weeks in Nepal on a trip arranged through Kimkim. We were met and looked after by the wonderful Tashi in Kathmandu at the beginning and the end of our trip. We completed a jaw-dropping 5 day trek in the Annapurna region with our first-class Sherpa guides Pemba and Cherring (these guys feel like family now - they were SO good with our kids!) followed by a few days in Pokhara and Chitwan national park. It was the trip of a lifetime and the service and care that we received from everyone in Nepal was the best I've ever experienced. Prajwol and Tashi had thought of everything and we were incredibly well looked after every step of the way.
Nepal is an amazing country due to the cultures, food, landscape, wildlife and most importantly the people. Prajwol had arranged everything for us before we left Scotland so all we had to do was enjoy ourselves and have our minds blown by a truly unforgettable two weeks.
I can thank or praise the guys enough. Thank you Kimkim!

The white water rafting trip my partner and I did was amazing!!! Everything was planned extremely well thanks to Chrissy and our guides were highly trained and made us have a great experience! Thanks for a wicked time!

This trip was amazing!!
Raj and Anura were excellent help prior to trip. Anura very patient with all of my questions!
Jangbu, Anura, Robin, and the entire Social Tour’s team were terrific during the trip. Anura took us to two really delicious restaurants and made us feel very comfortable.
Well organized!
Very good value.
Jangbu Sherpa was excellent guide for trekking. Modified the trip as needed for me. Wise and professional, warm and caring. Exactly the kind of person I need to guide me! Our porter was just terrific as well.
Would definitely recommend Kimkim and Social Tours.

If its your first time going to Nepal and you don't use Himalayan Trails, you are making a mistake. period.

Just back from an amazing unforgetable 7 day trek to Pikey Peak. from the first contact with Erin through to our last day in Kathmandu Erin was amazing. We met Erin and our guide (Mingmar) the night before the trek to go through the finer details and also when the trek had finished we met again with Erin at our hotel to see how it went and if she could assist us any further, Erin arranged for my friend to take the Everest plane trip.
I ve back- packed all over the world and never taken up a service of this type before but when up a mountain alot can go wrong so felt this was the right choice as all the guides and sherpas are trained and excellent at their job.
Throughout the trip if we had any questions Erin was 10 mins down the road from our hotel and also contactable while on the trip.
Physically i found the trek ok but did get a bit of altitude sickness which Mingmar took care of with some tablets.
This tea house trek is quite new so the accomadation is very basic which is what we wanted also with it being new we had the mountains to our selfs and probably only saw 2 others treking. the most amazing views of everest and the landsape changing daily. many thanks Erin.

8 day trek in Langtang Valley Nepal . Stunning and unforgettable ! Great Guide (Chhiring) and the organisation of everything was great. The Langtang Trek is perfect for a first timer but it is not easy, so make sure you have done plenty of walking before and have got yourself reasonably fit! Tips? take your own toilet roll, a face flannel for washing ( may not get a warm shower for several days), travel light and take layers of clothes not heavy jumpers, and one or two walking poles. Don't bother buying a Nepal phone card or wifi connection - just enjoy being out of touch , its still all there when you reconnect! I saw a post you can do this trip cheaper on your own . Well maybe you could , but if you want someone to take care of everything and not have to worry about who, what, when, where and how, then I recommend Amanda and the team

The Manaslu trek was excellent. It had great changing scenery, interesting people, nice teahouses and good food. We visited a remote school by chance on a Sunday and meet one of the teachers, and some of the kids, which was a real highlight of the trip.

Our guide Nawang was excellent, always making sure we were enjoying ourselves and full of information and a good sense of humor. He was helped by two great porters in Ngima and Gelbu, and this team of 3 made our trek so enjoyable, thankyou!

Thanks Mads and Amanda, organisation was great and thanks again for your time and efforts.

My guide was Tmazin Tamang or Timal
He was professional, reliable, attentive. I was very satisfied with his service
I spend with him 14 days on the trek, and i always felt safe and the journey was very pleasant with him in general.
the places we visited were all interesting and different.

My bespoke trip to Nepal for 15 days in November 2018 was a brilliant experience.
My local agent, Sangita was informative and efficient in helping me to put an itinerary together within my budget and covering all the places I wanted to visit.
She met me in Kathmandu, introducing me to the guide I would have on my trek to Ghandruk village and was really considerate in checking in with me at every destination to ensure I was safe and happy and that I knew what was happening next. If something needed changing, she did it. Nothing was too much bother and her care was very reassuring, particularly as I was a solo traveller.
Each of my guides along the way, Mr Bhim, Mr Diwakar and Mr Govinda were helpful, good company and informative.
I covered a diverse range of places from Kathmandu, Lumbini, Pokhara, Ghandruk, Bandipur and Chitwan National Park where I had the rare privilege to spot a tiger. As part of my safari itinerary I did a canoe ride, a jungle walk, a jeep safari and ox-cart ride. The guides at Chitwan were knowledgable; the resort was eco-friendly, comfy and sustainable.
At Ghandruk, after a 6 mile uphill trek, I had an awesome clear view of the sunrise over Annuparna 1 and Macchupichre the next morning. That will be etched in my memory forever. The beauty and calm of the mountain village landscape more than made up for the uphill ascent.
Pokhara was a relaxing area and is a destination for foodies - the choice and quality of food was impressive.
Sangita and her husband saw me off with a lovely dinner and cultural show on the final evening.
I couldn’t have been better looked after.
Sangita is an excellent agent and I couldn’t recommend her highly enough.

Fantastic trip, very well organised with good communication from Kripa. Pemba was a fantastic guide and Darwa a very good porter. Just a shame we couldn’t have done longer!

We had a great time everything was very well organised and we didn’t have to think about anything. A special thanks to Naresh and Pemba for making our trek to Pikey Peak so easy and fun! It was a great trip and the Himalayas are truly beautiful and amazing. Highly recommend it to everyone!

Guide was Rishi
Trip arranged with Amanda

Everything went as planned . Very professionally managed . Rishi was a seasoned guide who took care of everything