Kimkim Trip Reviews for Norway

Andre was quick to respond and always accommodating. The hotels he chose were excellent, as were his suggestions for our day trips. We totally appreciated not having huge drives to make. His planning was superb!!! We can’t thank him enough for such an amazing experience!!!!!

Balestrand was wonderful, probably the highlight of our trip, especially the Fjord boat trip there and from. The hotel was also quite special

Flam was also wonderful as well, as was the train ride.

Given the objectives (truly scenic, awe-inspiring nature), I felt like we could have been guided differently.

The others were fine and reasonable for the price paid, but I have some feedback for the rest of the trip

1. Initially we had a day in Bergen set aside, which I changed and I was glad we did because Bergen while more enjoyable than your typical European city wasn't why we were in Norway

2. Tromso we knew was a risk given the low probability of seeing the Northern Lights, but I wish we had given a more thorough pros/cons discussion of going. We didn't see the lights, it was raining (none of which can be predicted), but I feel like we wasted a day a few thousand dollars on that decision. I would have rather spent another day in a city like Balestrand or Flam

Besides that, the packing guidance was less helpful as we were told to pack thermal underwear, jackets and clothing that took up a lot of room in the suitcase, and we ended up not needing because the Tromso bus was warm (where you spend the majority of the time on the tour) and they have thermal jackets, so I wish we were guided to pack differently.

The water bottle was unnecessary as well, more of a nice to have.

3. I wish there was more detail about the transportation (e.g., length of trip, where to sit on the train, boat, etc)

4. I wish we had more choices about the hotels. Balestrand and Flam hotels were very nice, but the Bergen hotel was not great and the Tromso hotel was terrible and dirty

5. I wish I had more flexibility to change the room bookings. I ended up needing an extra room, and it proved impossible to do through KimKim

We had a very very positive experience each step of the way, from planning the trip with Emily (who listened very carefully to what we wanted, found the kinds of places we wanted to stay at, and developed an excellent itinerary that allowed us to see and experience truly beautiful places) , to the places we stayed, all that we saw, our hiking and kayaking experiences, and especially with our guide, Thomas Riis. He was an exceptional guide, outstanding in every way. Thomas was friendly, flexible, patient, extremely helpful, and very very knowledgeable. He radiated a very positive energy all the way through our time with him. We would wholeheartedly endorse him and would gladly have him as our guide again.

There was one mixup on the travel arrangements but Kim Kim, and specifically Emily, responded quickly and efficiently.

We took an 11 day road trip through Norway that was a fantastic experience. We wanted to be on our own for the most part, but appreciated having the hotels and activities suggested for us. From there, Fridur helped us to customize something that worked for us. Fridur was also VERY helpful mid-trip proactively helping us to manage detours caused by unexpected weather.

We also very much enjoyed our time with David, our guide in Bergen. It was more like a friend of friend showing you his city than a stuffy tour. That was perfect for us.

Larry

Rose and I could not be more impressed with the attention to detail that we received from our Kim Kim contact - Julia . Her attention to detail could not have been better

The Trip Julia put together for us was the perfect way to start discovering Norway.

Excellent accommodation in the perfect position to see all the local sites along with the right adventures that suited our style of traveling. This allowed us the time and space to really enjoy the sheer beauty of Norway.

We will certainly be traveling with Kim Kim in future

Rod and Rose

Overall, we ended up having a fantastic trip. our 2 private guides (Curtis from viking Biking in Oslo and Romain in Bergen) were both excellent and very informative. The Fjord cruise and Flåm railway were also highlights. On the flip side, we had some challenges along the way that could have been avoided with careful planning. For example, it took awhile for the hotel to find our reservation at the Thon hotel in Oslo because it was booked under Axel Garber, our guide. I also had to email Axel to find out where to go for our bike trip since it didn’t say in our detailed itinerary. In Flåm, we missed the ferry to Balestrand because our train was late. Had we known to look for the ferry to Bergen (which stopped in Balestrand) we would not have missed it as that ferry was held for a large tour group. That night, we had to stay in Flåm but also had a room booked in Balestrand which we were unable to cancel. Apparently, the kayaking tour we had booked in Balestrand was booked by the tour company in error so it was canceled. Finally, we had an issue checking out of our hotel in Bergen because the CC on file was from a name that we didn’t know and the hotel did not have authorization to charge the card. After quite awhile, Julia called back and straightened out the situation.

Ingrid was lovely to chat with when planning our trip. Her responses were always very prompt. However, we were planning a trip for Bergen for mid-late September. Our group would have greatly appreciated and benefited from having her insider perspective shared ahead of time. For example, many of the attractions on the Bergen card (which she sold us as part of the package) were closed or on very limited hours due to the fact that it was “late” in the season. Additionally, we feel Ingrid should have shared the fact that our ferry back from Flam was 5 hours long and part it after the sun went down. Our group was left with dead phones and nothing to do for about 2 hours. She did a great job purchasing the tickets but then didn’t always give clear instructions for which port or which platform to go to- creating some confusion for us.

We absolutely LOVED our tour guide Jon who lead our hike in Bergen. His energy and friendly attitude were perfect for our steep incline hike.

Overall, we felt the service provided by KimKim was very friendly but maybe not worth the price because we didn’t receive any extra information or guidance from the team (other than navigating and purchasing tickets for transportation). The companies they used for both the ferries were very welcoming!

We had an excellent experience with Kimkim in planning our trip. We gave Vilde the general outline of where we wanted to begin and end and she planned it all, hotels and excursions. We drove over 650 miles during our stay and thoroughly enjoyed the drive and landscapes. We loved the Dragsvik Fjordhotel , Bergens Bors hotel, the Fjord Cruise and walking tour of Bergen. Our guide, ( forgotten his name) during our walking tour was great. We were a bit more vigorous than his typical clients, so we finished his usual tour in 2hrs rather than 3. No problem we still enjoyed it!! We realized that we prefer a la carte dining rather than the dinner buffets offered in two of the hotels we stayed, for the tour bus crowd. During our trip we needed to adjust our travel and Andre easily took care of cancelling and rebooking our hotel. The Viking Village was a major tourist destination, not our type of thing but the drive there was beautiful! we will most definitely use Kimkim again on our next visit to Norway, when we plan to venture further north!!

My two sons (19 & 21) and I wanted to visit Norway but due to my work schedule I left everything to the last minute. I found Kim Kim per chance on the Internet and decided based on their excellent reviews for Norway to give them a try. I completed the questionnaire and Fridur quickly contacted me. She was extremely helpful, knowledgeable and patient in helping us to plan our Itinerary. She focused on basing it on our own special requests - active with multiple hiking days in Bergen and Balestrand plus white water rafting near Geilo. We even squeezed in visits and morning tours of both Bergen and Oslo. The local guides, Fartein in Bergen and Stig in Oslo, were informative and fun to discuss the history of their cities and country. I had never been on a personal local guided tour before and they have convinced me that this is the way to go. We saw so much and learned a great deal in our three hours together.
Fridur sent details on how to travel to the airports and tips on saving money by purchasing the day passes, etc. She responded to all of my 1,000 questions. I also must comment that I had braced myself for sticker shock but was pleasantly surprised that Fridur kept the cost down in our price range while booking us into comfortable 4 star hotels that were well located.
There is so much to see in beautiful Norway, I hope that we are able to return soon. I definitely would love to work with Fridur again.

Ingrid was great, the whole process made easy.
All hotel bookings and transport bookings ran smoothly.
Always available and ready to help
Will definitely refer and use KimKim again
Highly recommended

We were so happy with our kimkim experience! André was responsive and very nice to deal with. He set up an itinerary that reflected our interests. All transportation, information, transfers, hotels were nicely chosen and there were no problems or glitches. André gave us great recommendations for restaurants, as did our guides in Bergen, David and Vilde. These two were so important in terms of our overall experience in Scandinavia. They were knowledgeable and fun; it was like going around town and on a hike with friends. David's tour was personalized and quirky while encompassing the city's history and significant places. We got a real sense of contemporary Bergen from him, deeper and more interesting than on a typical tour. Vilde took us on a rigorous, enjoyable hike. We learned more about Norway while talking to her about her life.

Outstanding service from Ingrid and the KimKim team before and during my trip - including helping me though an unplanned hiccup in my itinerary!

I absolutely loved my stay in the Lofoten Islands and especially Reine. I'll definitely head back there some day to explore some hikes I had to cancel due to the inclement weather I experienced on my trip.

Bergen was a ton of fun too - great charm, cool vibe along with tons of great shops and restaurants / pubs!

Transportation throughout the country - airfare, buses, trains and taxis - were all super easy and convenient too.

We had a wonderful time in Norway thanks to the Kim Kim team!
To everybody who got involved during our vacation.I would definitely recommend the Kim Kim crew to anyone.

Ingrid did an excellent job putting our busy trip together.We only had 6 days in that beautiful country and we got the most out of it !Even on that rainy day we had in Rosendale. Thanks for Sjur and Laila.
Ingrid booked everything (train and ferry tickets,glacier tour, hotels) for us so we did not have to worry about those and everything went perfectly well.Ingrid even helped us during the days we were there with the transportation in Oslo.Very helpful staff in the Kvikness and Thon hotels as well.
Many thanks Ingrid!!!

Emily did a super good job building a trip around my existing constraints and interests. Two wishes for the kimkim platform:
- Itemized cost shown both as the trip gets built and when I’m billed.
- Not asking me to review twice, once in TrustPilot and once here.

We had a fantastic holiday in Norway. Our 11 day trip was planned and booked last minute and the KimKim service in designing the itinerary and booking hotels was definitely something we could not have done at such short notice.

All the hotels had distinctive character - we particularly liked the Steens Hotel in Bergen, the Knutholmen in Kalvåg, and the Eplet in Solvorn.

Ingrid did an amazing job of organizing our trip, keeping us informed, sending appropriate materials and tickets in a timely manner, and answering our questions with helpful answers. Both of our city guides, Stig and Flemmet, gave us unique perspectives of their cities, an off the beaten path stroll through the city and excellent recommdations of where to eat. Hiking through the hills around Kalvag was enjoyable, even in the light rain. The ride on the ferry from Bergen to Aurland was memorable. The beautiful sunshine made it even more impressive. The 2.6 km hike up to Stegastein viewpoint in Aurland was exhilarating and fun. We ate at a variety of different local restaurants and had some very delicious dishes.
When we first started looking at how we wanted to see Norway, we were looking for something, where the transportation and lodging were taken care of, but where we could do the things we wanted to at the different places. Kimkim's tour offerings and flexibility to add things seemed to offer this. Our 12 day tour, as you described it, is exactly what we wanted and what we got. If anything it exceeded our expectations.
Thank you again to all, who were involved with planning our trip. We are very appreciative of your efforts. We will highly recommend you to anyone, who is considering seeing Norway.
Tusen takk,
John and Sharon Nichols

I cannot thank Nina & kimkim enough for the help planning this trip. My friend and I had an absolutely incredible time in Norway – we were able to fit in so many activities/locations in only 10 days because the trip was so well coordinated. It was the perfect mix of cities and smaller villages (Oslo, Balestrand, Bergen, and Rosendal) – there is nothing we would have changed.

This was also a VERY last minute trip and I was genuinely nervous we were going to show up in Norway with no plans until I found kimkim when I was googling Norway itineraries. I was connected with Nina only about two weeks before we were set to leave. She was so helpful, responsive, and thoughtful when she was putting together our trip plan and she was also available for quick questions when we were in Norway. There is a good chance that our trip may not have happened without Nina – thank you!!!

Ingrid and all the supporting specialists were very helpful to make sure our Norway trip was amazing. All of our activity requirements were executed, which made for a VERY active vacation. We expressed that we wanted to do a lot of hiking, kayaking, eating and fly fishing. They were very much able to piece together a trip that made for a lot of memories and epic photos.

I will definitely use Kim Kim again, as having a specialist select your hotels, itinerary, book train/bus tickets, find a fly fishing guide, etc is extremely worth the money. Ingrid was more than communicative when planning, asking if we preferred one thing over another, sticking within our budget, giving us weather updates, recommending restaurants and mostly being available when we were in Norway for any questions.

Thank you, Ingrid for all your help!

When we were planning our trip to Norway, we had two goals in mind - to see as much of this beautiful country as possible and to discover my family roots. With Linda Verasdal's help, we were able to do both. I presented her with a wishlist and she made it all happen. We like to travel on our own and not with a tour group but Linda took care of all of our hotel reservations, train tickets, domestic plane flights and great suggestions for excursions. We also LOVED our local guides -Stig in Oslo and Vilde in Bergen. With their help, we got an inside look of Norwegian culture - touring neighborhoods, having coffee at an "non-touristy" restaurant and a true feel of Norwegian hospitality. We are seasoned travelers and have used many different travel agents but Linda, in our opinion, is the best. We even had a chance to meet her for lunch. Please check her out if you want a fantastic Norwegian experience. And yes, I discovered my grandfather's family - uncles, aunts, the house he was born in (year 1884) and even his school records. Just awesome.

We had a GREAT trip! everything went smoothly and we had a fantastic time! Highlights were the Trolltunga hike, the Oslo-to-Myrdal train (and the Flam train), and Fjærland, but everything was fantastic.

One thing that would be helpful is including a short overview of how to see schedules / pay for public transportation. It wasn't hard for us to figure out, but would be good to have folks download things like the Skyss app if they are taking a lot of buses and light trains.

The itinerary that Fridur provided was just perfect for us (lots of activities and sightseeing).