Kimkim Trip Reviews for Norway

We loved the trip, especially Kalvåg. That is an amazing little village.

A couple of improvements:

Flåm was beautiful- but they don’t allow kids younger than 12 months on the bike down and our baby was 8 months and our guide knew this. She couldn’t even fit the kids helmet. Maybe they didn’t tell her, but the experience was awful.

One of the ferries ran every 2 hours, and our itinerary said it ran frequently.

There was an overall lack of recommendations on what to see each day, We relied on hotel staff to tell us where to go.

We did a Nordic Visitor tour and they provide a detailed itinerary for each day that you have to choose because there are so many options. They also provide you with a huge published guide book - we spent half a day looking for a book for Norway.

Stig in Oslo and Ingrid in Bergen had insights that normal guides may not have as they had lived in their respective city’s all their lives. The walking tours were exceptionally and a great way to see these city’s and also have exercise and fresh air. Myself and my three adult children thought this was a fun time together and we got many beautiful pictures.

Emily was amazing and the trip was perfect! We had a sense of what we wanted to do, and Emily made it absolutely flawless. We saw the most amazing scenery, our guide Julia was delightful, and we had the trip of a lifetime! Highly recommend pulpit rock, Kjerag, Via Ferrata Trolltunga, Trollstein, overnight cruise up fjord, kajaking....amazing service and trip!

thank you!

The trip I did was just incredible thanks to Linda! I came across kimkim while I was doing some research of Norway but finding most of the websites being fragmented and easy for me to get lost. The process of communication and enquiries to shape the schedule has been very easy and seamless. Linda was able to make detailed and immediate feedbacks to address my questions or concerns. My partner and I have bought two more guide books for reference and we were constantly surprised by how the most frequently visit spots or must-see have been incorporated in our trip one way or another. Not only did we not miss the most beautiful spots of Norway, yet thanks to Linda’s help on the routes and sequences, we were also able had the luxury of time to explore ourselves and avoid crowds. We started a road trip around Sognefjord, this part is my favorite. Driving around the fjords via the national scenic routes and through the small towns really showed the authentic Nordic experience! The night we spent on the classic Nordic cruise, Hurtigruten, was truly memorable as well. It was the first time for both my partner and I to soend the night on the cruise. The ship is well equipped and the food was freshly made, was certainly one of the best meals I had during Norway. City wise, my fav has to be Oslo! I wish we had more time there. The city is full of beautiful architecture, colours, parks and ever district has its unique things to offer and see. Certainly want to go back!
Weather was a lil extreme to begin with but that gave us wonderful opportunity to see the fjords in difference ways. Jenne, who gave a hike in Fjærland was friendly and energetic. The view we got after an 3 hours hike was breathtaking!
We really enjoyed the trip and truly thankful for the help and coordination provided by Linda and Kimkim. I have traveled quite a lot in the world this i’ve considered myself hard to satisfied when it comes to logistics and planning, Kimkim and Linda certainly outbeat my expectation!

We planned this trip last year, but I broke my foot and we had to cancel. We easily re-booked the whole trip this year, same hotels, same activities. The trip was splendid, we spent time in Copenhagen before and Stockholm after, but Ingrid and kimkim planned the Norway part of the trip with us.

Ingrid was so easy to deal with and so knowledgeable, and always readily available to answer any questions. We were pleased with all our accommodations and activities. We even got to meet Ingrid in Bergen and got a personal walking tour!

We particularly liked Balestrand, the area is so beautiful and just getting there is wonderful.

We generally do our own planning, but our experience with kimkim has been very positive and we will likely use their services again.

Wonderful trip! Hiking the Romsdalseggen ridge was a highlight -- absolutely stunning. (One note -- we took the bus from town but learned afterwards that for two or more people a taxi directly to the trailhead is actually more cost effective). Ingrid was fantastic -- we had a few mix ups with transfers but she fixed it immediately.

We had a wonderful time and it was very well planned and stress free. Ingrid did a wonderful job both before, during the planning stages and once we arrived at each destination all was arranged perfectly. Oslo was a beautiful city Stig Torset our city guide was personable and so much fun to be with. He made our tour around the city personal and enjoyable. Our stay in Stavanger was also lovely. We hiked to Preikestolen (Pulpit Rock) with a guide Raul "Off the Beaten Path" recommended by Ingrid and now recommended by us. Honestly i think i would have been disappointed walking up with so many people the normal path. So coming up a trail where we were the only ones on the path was awesome. From Stavanger we took the Bus to Bergen a fun relaxing trip. Once in Bergen we enjoyed the local shops and food and then took a cruise to Rosendal passing through the Hardangerfjord it was a very cool experience. Then off to Voss by train to White Water Rafting with Voss Active. All i can say is Exciting! They were right on time to pick us up at the Train Station. Again No worries everything went smoothly. After Voss it was off to Finse (all arranged by Ingrid) for our three day hike to Vassbygdi Aurlandsdalen the hike was beautiful with more waterfalls then i could count. After our hike we stayed in Aurland in a very quaint hotel. Then off to Oslo by train the next day to catch a plane to Svalbard. The northern trip was planned by us personally, the landscape was beautiful and quite different from the Southern part of Norway. So we were excited to see both parts of Norway. So happy we found Kimkim and Ingrid would use them again in a heart beat.

I had an amazing trip and with the help of Fridur's booking I was able to navigate very easily. I liked a lot that the hotels were near transportation and sightseeing opportunities. It was also pretty cool that the first hotel in Bergen and the hotel in Balestrand were historical hotels. And of course Norway itself was just beautiful, so I will certainly want to return! One thing which may be good to note for anyone visiting Balestrand is that there is a tourist office (where I did an awesome Kayaking excursion!) which will guide you to the nearby hiking and activities. Overall, I am very grateful for Fridur's help & assistance booking. Likewise I would certainly consider using kimkim for future travels as well as recommend it.

A big thank you to the Kimkim team and particularly Ingrid. We could not have asked for better planning and would highly recommend this company if you are planning a trip to Norway.
On a personal note
Thank you Ingrid for for everything you did for us we had the most amazing time and the scenery was breathtaking. This is a trip we will never forget and having it organised for us took any stress away and allowed us to just enjoy beautiful , no breathtaking Norway.
We loved everything Ingrid, we loved the hotel choices (not everyone I guess can afford these) but we loved coming back to a comfortable classy clean hotel room.
We loved the Flåm railway and the tips for restaurants and places to see.
All in all 10/10 or 5 stars :)
Thank you from all of us. We would not hesitate to use your company again and recommend to others
Kindest regards Pam Noel Bryce Pri and little Zayne

Linda was great with all the planning and we really enjoyed our Norway trip thanks to all the arrangements made by Linda. We were 5 families and her recommendations were spot-on considering the kids in the group. We did have an issue with mix-up in dates for the local tour on one of the days. However, Linda was quick to take ownership of the issue and was able to arrange the same tour for the same day but at a different time. Our Guide Samuel for the Undredal village tour was awesome.
Other than that issue with the local tour date/time- everything was seamless. We loved the hotel we stayed at with the gorgeous fjord views and the relaxed itinerary that was setup for us. I would highly recommend Linda for anyone planning a trip to Norway.

Our trip to the fiords and western isles of Norway was extremely well organized by Ingrid. The only issue was that she could not control the weather which was generally wet and cold!! But we learned a new Norwegian saying "there is no such thing as bad weather only bad clothes"! Despite the weather, we had a great time. The travel details were very specific and all the connections etc. worked like clockwork. All the hotels were first rate. We had some excellent dinners, especially in Alesund (Sjobua and No. 5), Kalvag (Knutholven) and Bergen ( Bare). Our guide in Bergen, Vilde, was delightful and showed us parts of the city we would have missed by ourselves. In hindsight, we would have changed 2 things. First, a shorter stay in Floro (or to be there on a different day of the week as very little was open on Sunday) as ideally, we would have liked an earlier connection to Kalvag. The food at Knutholmen was world-class and we would have much preferred to have dinner there than in Floro. Secondly, we thoroughly enjoyed the boat ride from Bergen to Flam, and then on to Oslo by train - stunning scenery the whole way. However, we then flew back to the States the following day which basically meant sitting for 2 whole days. We would recommend a day between the Bergen- Oslo travel and a long flight, but please note that was our planning, not Ingrid's! We would definitely use KimKim again and have recommended to friends.

Thanks Linda for a great trip in Norway in the 3 main cities and UNESCO listed fjords. Bergen is a jewel. Looking forward to discovering the North in a future trip.

Thanks for a fantastic trip. We loved the experience and our time spent in Norway. Thank you to Andre for making it a memorable occasion. From tailoring the experience to our liking to being flexible in adding day guides at places we wanted. I have to say overall we were very satisfied.
I do have two suggestions for improvements. Both are not under your control, so just future recommendations. 1. Oslo city center is very noisy during the summer evenings and without air conditioning we are force to keep windows open in the hotel room, which leads to late lot of street noise and sleepless nights. 2. During Norway holidays, nothing is operational. Including restaurants, transport or even grocery stores. Need to account for those especially if you are in remote locations like Kalvag.

Trip was great. Andre was very responsive to our questions. We had a tour guide cancelation on the first day and he quickly found us another. He also quickly helped verify our kayaking trip when the company had questions about a voucher #.

A few thoughts about the locations:
We didn't know what to expect at each location, and relied on the local experts for that. That being said, Bergan was a nice jumping off point. Flam was probably our favorite mainly because of the bike ride and kayaking. 3 days there was just right because we had activities planned for each day. Had there not been any activities, there is nothing to do there as it's a cruise ship port with nothing but tourist shops. The hotel was nice in Bergan and Flam.
The visit to Bordund on our way to Skei was great. Skei didn't have much to do as it seemed like a midpoint between driving destinations. The hotel there was just ok.
The next stop was Gerainger. The location of the hotel was amazing. This was another tourist/cruise ship stop. We never went down into town as there wasn't much to see there. instead we went on some nice hikes up to the waterfall and up to the viewpoint of the fjord above the hotel. That was very nice. The last stop was Alesund. I read a lot about this town and everything written said it was an amazing town, lots to see and do. We had 3 nights there which was 2 nights too many. Walking around the town, it was nice, but it looked like any other mid size European town. There also wasn't a whole lot to see. When looking at activities to do in town, almost every one was something that we had already done (day trip to Gerainger, Stave Churches, kayaking....). There really didn't seem like a whole lot to do there. The day long road trip to Trollstigen was really nice. I found a few other stops along the way which made it more interesting (Andalsnes and Valldalen didn't offer much to see).

Overall, the countryside was incredibly beautiful and we wouldn't have been able to see it had we not rented a car and drove through the smaller villages and towns. Kimkim was very helpful in arranging the tip, but some of the locations didn't offer much to see.

Thanks again!

Ingrid was fabulous. She planned our trip perfectly and was always quickly available and pleasant to work with when I had questions. I would highly recommend kim kim and Ingrid.

Linda planed our Norway trip with not very much notice and the trip was absolutely amazing!!! It was exactly what we want and even with one minor issue which Linda dealt with immediately even though it was not her fault. Would highly recommend Linda for organizing a trip again.

Our trip to Norway was wonderful! Bergen with Vilde was perfect! Fjaerland with Jennie also! And Oslo with Stig awesome! Tks KimKim for doing such a good job!

We had a great trip to Norway and wholeheartedly recommend KimKim. Everything was taken care of for us perfectly. We had so much fun. Truly, it was the trip of a lifetime, and having everything planned and booked for us made the experience so easy and stress-free. We loved it and recommend the service so much. Ingrid was a delight to work with, and so responsive. Thank you!

We had a wonderful trip. All the upfront organization and communication by Ingrid was excellent. The itinerary was perfect. The hotels, ship accommodations and transportation options were great. We loved the mix of the cities and the natural beauty of Norway. Thanks.

My adult daughter and I just returned from a seven day Norway Fjord and Viking Adventure (June 17 through June 23, 2019) and could not have been more satisfied with our journey that was handcrafted for our special interests by Linda.

Linda collaborated with us every step of the planning. She was accessible and responsive, listening to our "wants" list and devising an itinerary that included well known sites of interest as well as our own unique jaunts. The end result surpassed our wildest expectations. Linda had to preplan multiple modes of transportation, tour events and guides. Everything went smoothly and she selected well appointed hotels that were so conveniently located as our bases of exploration in Oslo, Flam and Bergen.

We made a special stop at Viking Town with Nick, a fabulous private guide who was very knowledgeable and passionate about Viking life, lore and history. We also felt so fortunate to get a tour in Bergen with a local, Ingrid, who was simply delightful and eager to share her love of Bergen, highlighting what it is like to live in this beautiful and interesting city.

We could not have been more satisfied and will always remember being only 2 of 7 people cruising a fjord in the early morning as the mists hung upon the cliffs and we were humbled by the sheer beauty before us and the sounds of the roaring waterfalls we seemed to encounter at each turn.

We would recommend kim kim and, in particular, Linda's selections and guides without reservation for anyone considering a trip to Norway.

Cheryl and Samantha Steindel-Cymer