Kimkim Trip Reviews for Norway

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).

Thanx Ingrid. Norway was great. So friendly, clean and beautiful. Kelvag was very special.

I have used the tour services for the first time and my interactions with Ingrid were simply outstanding. She was always prompt with her responses and provided not just the relevant information, but something extra as well. She took on the recommendations positively and was a life saver when we had to make a last minute change in the fjord cruise. Over all we had an amazing experience and I will be using kimkim for my future travels!

It was sublime. Well organized, varied and very personalized. We loved all of it.

Bergen is a beautiful place to be and walk
We had a guide John great person
Who took us through the little streets
We were very lucky we had great weather
Than we took the ferry to balestrand
Just so beautiful and looks like a postcard!
Time to relax ,walk and bike
After two days We took the ferry to Flåm stayed few hours(rainy) but still beautiful
And from Flåm we took the train to Myrdal (must do) and back to rainy Bergen
But still beautiful
Must do climb the 722stairs and walk till the funicular we enjoyed the view ,the place
Was fun
Thank you Ingrid

We had a very great experience in Norway thanks to Ingrid's advices! We planned our trip taking inspiration from "Nordic Road Trip for Nature Lovers - 14 Days", we've been put in contact with Ingrid, who did a great job by adapting the tour to our requests. We've had 16 fantastic days hiking and exploring the most scenic views in southern Norway!
We highly recommend this service, as we're totally satisfied with it.

Our travel guide Fridur helped me plan a once-in-a-lifetime trip to Norway for me and my family. She quickly assessed what types of activities we were interested in and proposed an itinerary that perfectly met our needs. We're adventurous outdoor enthusiasts, so she tailored the Nordic Adventure for Outdoor Lovers to allow us to spend extra time in the beautiful Hardangerfjord area and to change the Trolltunga hike to the Via Ferrata + Sunset/Sunrise Combo. We had an amazing experience and look forward to going back to Norway to explore more someday. Having the kimkim team provide local expertise takes a lot of pressure off in planning travel to a new country. Definitely recommend working with them!

My wife and I visited Norway in August 2019 and Ingrid has been a key part of planning and executing our itinerary. We visited Bergen, Balestrand, Tromso, Lofoten Island and Oslo. Ingrid arranged our local travel visiting fords, Balestrand and then the most beautiful train ride via Myrdal. Ingrid also came to meet us personally at Bergen and walked to the city centre. She is a great asset to her company and I found her extremely helpful. Highly recommend Ingrid and Kimkim,

The trip was very well organised by Andre. I found him to be responsive, friendly and helpful all the way through the process. We needed a change of bike (to an e-bike) at the last minute and he organised it for us. The places we stayed varied in quality. The hotel in Oslo was not bad - the rooms and feel of the place was that it was a little pokey but clean. Reception was frequently overloaded when more than a couple of guests arrived. The hotel in Gielo was pretty good. It was crowded with a bus load of tourists and the hotel had a bit of difficulty handling the numbers. The absolutely loved Balestrand and the Midtnes Hotel. The owner of the hotel really took pride in the place and could not do enough for us. We are glad we had two nights there. Bergen is a beautiful little city and we also enjoyed that. The hotel had a lot of difficulty dealing with crowds from bus loads. The staff were very friendly and worked hard but they were unable to deal with the peak periods and the place was bedlam. Our guide David was hilarious. I liked David and his tour because he didn’t really seem to know any detailed history about Bergen but gave us a good idea of the society and life of the Bergen people. It felt like a stroll around the city with a nice guy who knew a bit about the city from living there for many years. His recommendations for a good coffee shop and restaurants were spot on. The restaurant he recommended was Naboen. We loved it. Reasonable prices and very nice food and service. So his tour suited me but would not be for someone really interested in the history of Bergen. My kids thought it hilarious that outside the oldest church he read out a few points straight from the sign next to the church. Thanks again Andre for organising our tour so we’ll.

Overall the trip was great. The activities were fantastic and varied, and it was all relatively seamless. 2 areas of feedback:

1. Some of the hotel information wasn't provided until a little later, so it gave us a little anxiety since it was our first time using the service.
2. The first hotel took payment from us even though the hotel was paid by kimkim. I think that was the hotels fault though.

Besides those 2, I am very satisfied with the service!

The whole itinerary was very well planned and we had a great time in Norway. We couldn’t have visited all the beautiful and scenic locations without Nina’s recommendation. All the hotels are very well located. Nina Andreassen was very helpful and responsive to our queries.
Overall we were satisfied and happy with the service provided by Kim Kim and the team.
We would recommend Kim Kim’s service to anyone who wish to visit Norway.

I consider that one of my luckiest "finds" to be when I ran across a personal travel posting that mentioned kimkim. I had already spent many unsuccessful & frustrating hours on my computer trying to plan a week long trip to Norway with our son, daughter-in-law, 6 yr old grandson and 2 year old granddaughter. It had become abundantly clear that I was out of my depth. Linda answered my initial inquiry at kimkim and we began planning an agenda that included the areas we wanted to see, bolstered by what sites and activities she recommended in each of those areas. Through efficient and prompt emailing, she helped build a travel schedule with the 6 yr and 2 yr children in mind. At no time, however, did I feel that she was pushing us in any particular direction. She was happy to adjust, consider, re-arrange, explain why something might not work, suggest alternatives --- all with the goal of reaching an agenda that met our varied personal needs. Once the final agenda was set, I was SO impressed when everything we needed was emailed to us about 2 weeks before departure: a very detailed trip agenda; hotel reservations; pre-paid train & ferry tickets; timed taxi reservations; individual maps to use once we arrived at each destination; pre-paid entrance tickets to Viking Valley; names of guides, their contact information, time & place to meet; even a dinner reservation at a popular restaurant -- plus her contact number if we needed anything during the trip. In addition, she double-checked each reservation right before we arrived. I realized how carefully we were being "shadowed" during the trip when I received an email from Linda, just "checking in" to see how we were doing, and a text another day advising me that a guide had become ill, and giving me the name & contact information of the new guide. That was when I clearly realized the most valuable difference in kimkim and the "brick & mortar" travel agencies I have used in past years: a travel agency here in the U.S. would have been finished with us once we paid, and certainly once we had departed on the trip. Linda and our guides (Matilda & Vilde --- both delightful, by the way) were there for us throughout the trip. We knew intuitively that we could count on Linda and her colleagues to help us in any situation that might arise, or even to just answer a question.

I consider myself a walking kimkim advertisement now. I am spreading the word to everyone I know, as this business model offers a level of excellence & stress-free travel that is completely unique in today's world of limited, impersonal customer service. Thank you, Linda! We LOVED your gorgeous Norway! We hope to use kimkim again!

Norway - Road trip scenic landscape (17 days)

This was my first trip booking through KimKim. Our local agent in Norway (Linda) was fantastic! She did a great job fitting in all our requests of things we wanted to see while in Norway as well as including destinations that were "must sees" for our time in this beautiful country! The hotels were terrific (safe, clean, in nice central locations) and our guides for Oslo and Bergen were fun, knowledgeable, and personable. Linda was also very responsive to any questions we had while we were on our trip. The price we paid for this service was well worth the money given the time it saved us in researching recommended places to visit as well as to book hotels and transportation. I highly recommend using KimKim and plan to use them again for our next overseas trip!

Kimkim was easy to use and my agent, Fridur, was fantastic. Super easy to work with and planned a trip that was spot on what I wanted. Everything was communicated clearly. All the places he chose were excellent. Top notch hotels, great local tours, wonderful all around.

The help we received made the trip perfect fir us. We had a few snafus along the way but they managed them through with us. The private tour we had in Oslo was great, the one in Bergen not as knowledgeable. Could have had some more knowledge on how to get on and off the cruise on check in times for luggage when we need to be out of cabin.

More guidance on good side of the bus for views, more detail on how the nutshell bus works. That sort of thing.

We were disappointed with the service from Kim Kim. The Nærøyfjord fjord itinerary that Ingrid chose for us routed us through the same fjord three times: Flam to Balestrand, then Balestrand to Flam, and then the first hour of the Nærøyfjord “tour” was through the same area for the third time. You called it a tour, but it wasn’t: there was no commentary or information given during the Nærøyfjord trip. On the Norled boats between Flam and Balestrand, there were announcements about towns we were passing, and they steered the boat close to various waterfalls along the way so we could get a view. On the Nærøyfjord boat there was nothing like that- we just passed scenery we had already seen (twice), then went around the corner, then got dropped off.

Then came the stop in Gudvangen. In the itinerary it says, “Map of bus stop will be provided,” but you did not provide a map. The instructions said to catch the NX450 bus and pay the driver. There was a sign near the boat dock that said “public buses,” but a man in the ticket office said we needed to go to the main road. In the pouring rain, I went to the bus stop on the street, but it didn’t have the Skyss logo or the NX450 schedule on it, so I walked back to the dock area. Worried that we would miss the bus on the main road if it came by, we took our bags to the road, in the rain. Then the bus came, and many people had advance tickets and got on (why didn’t you book us advance tickets?). The bus driver told us the bus was full, so we dragged our bags back to the dock area- still in the rain- and waited there. The next bus came well before its departure time, so we were able to talk to the driver. We finally knew for certain when we would be leaving, so we could relax and have some dinner.

When I mentioned this to Ingrid, she said, "I was honestly not aware that there would be a chance that it would be fully booked on the bus. " Of course there's a chance: if enough people show up.

The whole reason we booked through your service was because we didn’t want to book things ourselves and end up standing in the rain, not knowing where to go next. And yet, that’s exactly where we found ourselves, after paying Kim Kim a large sum of money. It was frustrating to go through that, when it could have been avoided through advance bus tickets or putting us on different transport.

We have a note for you regarding the Gone Paddling tour in Balestrand, as well. The weather was predicted to be rainy and cold the morning of our kayaking trip, and I called them about switching to their 3pm tour, but it wasn’t running that day. We went ahead and took the morning tour, and Gone Paddling had dry suits for protection against the rain. However, they didn’t offer any sort of gloves or headwear, like a hat or hood. You didn’t mention that we should bring a hood and gloves, and neither does their website. The dry suit kept us dry at first, but as we continued paddling in the rain, my wife in particular got very cold and needed to return to shore. I recommend mentioning to future clients that they need to bring their own gear in case of rain, besides the dry suit, and we’ve mentioned it to Gone Paddling, too.

Overall, we booked with you to make the logistics of our trip go smoothly. In the end, there were more bumps than we expected.

Our trip to the Norwegian Fjords was wonderful.
Until Oslo, our hotels were owned and staffed by local people who provided excellent and friendly service. Our rooms were all different, a good size, clean and colourful with interesting art works on the walls. Our rooms at the Augustin in Bergen and the Kviknes in Balestrand also had lovely views. All hotels were well sited for making the local area easy to explore. In Oslo, the Scandic Byporten was well sited but our room was very noisy all night and the hotel was a little grubby.
Our 2 guides, John in Bergen and Yunelene? [that will not be the spelling of her name!] in Fjaerland for the Mundal Valley hike were a highlight for us. They were each knowledgeable about their area and shared their knowledge and something of themselves as we walked these 2 very different places together.
Balestrand and Fjaerland were our favourite places to be. The scenery, the friendliness of the people and the peacefulness made it such a special time. When we arrived from there to Flam with its rushing crowds of people we were reminded of how lucky we had been to stay in Balestrand.