Kimkim Trip Reviews for Peru

Slightly tricky to say who we are reviewing here; all the preliminary bookings, queries etc were expertly handled by Fiama, our KImKim representative in Cusco, but in reality both our trips were organised and run by Andean Lodges, a local company there, and their people were delightful. Especially helpful was that their rep, (Alphonso?) came to our accommodation before the trips to give us a briefing and answer questions, and he looked after the luggage we didn’t need whilst we were in the mountains. Our first trip, to Machu Picchu by minibus/train/bus seemed daunting at first because it required us to juggle several sheets of paper tickets for the various stages of the trip, but everything worked out well and our guide on the day was very knowledgeable and enthusiastic. It was an intense 4 hrs there, though, and with a touch of stomachs-sickness I would have liked to be able to just sit and rest for an hour or so. The included meal afterwards was excellent - but one suggestion from me; it was not explained which part of the menu applied to us, we were lucky that people on the next table had already worked it out.
Next trip - 3 days hike - was great, but let it be noted that altitude sickness made it far tougher than the website hinted at. The Lodges themselves were fabulous, much grander and impressive than the website had suggested. The best aspect of this trip was what I least expected - that the native Indian “road crew” , despite the language barrier, were great fun and good company, whilst staying discreet and not intrusive. Our guides (on different stages), Jeremy and Jacqueline, were excellent and genuinely were enjoying it as much as we did.

Can thoroughly recommend Andean Lodges to anyone looking to do these kind of experiences. One recommendation to the organisers, though - whilst we were totally expecting to give tips to the gang, it was unclear how much, to how many, and when, which could have been a bit awkward (we bluffed our way through) - so a bit more up-front clarity around that would be welcome.

Thanks, everyone!

Stars More than 5
Prompt
Exactly as what is needed
Timely arrivals

I would recommend to anyone.

We recently came back from Peru - we are a family of four (kids are 3 and 5). Kristy was absolutely spectacular. She was responsive and communicating with us throughout our trip. She quickly and efficiently resolved little hiccups along the way. In Lima, our tour guide David was amazing! He was incredibly knowledgeable and more than willing to accommodate variations in our itinerary. From Cuzco to the Sacred Valley to Machu Picchu, we had the same guide - Flor. I cannot put into words how wonderful she was. She has a 5 year old daughter, and was able to anticipate the needs of our children to a tee. Not only was she an amazing tour guide, but she was more than willing to act an extra set of hands for our children. Even now, they still ask for Tia Flor! We were nervous travelling with young kids, but thanks to Kristy and her team, everything was well organized and seamless. Thank you so much for an amazing vacation!

Steve was very responsive. Nestor, our guide, Alex and Guido as well as our boat crew were excellent. The trip accommodations were more basic than expected. The definition of our overnight accommodations as lodges was stretching it. Hot water did not exist for the entire trip. The activities were outstanding!

My trek to Ausangate was the trip of a lifetime and Quechua Treks is a first-class company. Quechua was extremely responsive immediately after my first email inquiry and provided me with three great trek options. They are incredibly knowledgeable about the area and their crew couldn't have been better. Rolfi, my guide, was beyond personable, funny, flexible and extremely experienced. Always felt safe and like I was experiencing and learning so much about the area and culture because of his years of experience.

Loved Edgar, our cook. His food was amazing and he's experienced to cater to any dietary needs.

All in all, couldn't have asked for a better experience and I have traveled to many places around the world.

David was excellent would definitely recommend him and the company.

Edy was the best!! Local tour guide made the trip an awesome experience.
Kimkim company meet our needs but there would have been less travel stress with increased communication form the company. More emails, quick call or check in would have been easy to do and made our travels much better.

Kristy was absolutely incredible! From planning the trip, to the level of communication we received during the trip, I felt well taken care of throughout the whole thing. Kristy was able to create a custom experience for a trip to Peru for my friend and I. No matter what we threw her way (new locations, different sights to see), she was able to revise our itenerary quickly each time while giving us real-time feedback on what she would recommend.

During the trip, my friend and I truly felt like we were VIP. When we arrived at each destination, there would be someone waiting for us to take us to our hotel. It was completely stress-free! The majority of the tours were private, meaning my friend and I could ask all the questions we wanted. We felt like we got the most out of each experience. The tour guides were so friendly and passionate about the history behind each sight or destination.

I would highly recommend traveling through KimKim (as long as all the agents are as incredible as Kristy). It takes the stress out of planning, booking and traveling throughout a foreign country.

5 stars all around :)

Once again another absolutely amazing trip with Quechua Treks. Our guide, Wilson was amazing, as were every single one of our porters (whose names, unfortunately I can't remember). Wilson was a gem, took extra time with my daughter, who has never been to Peru. He got some truly exceptional photos of us along the trek. The planning was seamless and tons of fun thanks to all the hard work from Haley and crew at Quechua Treks. The food was beyond amazing, I always look forward to the food on these treks, the chef is a true magician. He even took into account my daughter's crazy stomach and make what she liked and could eat. She liked the avocado disc so well, she got the recipe from him!!! I love love this group of people!!!

I would like to wish everybody that made my trip so memorable a HUGE thank you. Thank you KimKim for the ease of which you made booking and organizing my recent trip to Peru and Bolivia.

I had been wanting to do this trip for a long time but had previously been put off just thinking of all the organisation it would take. One day I happened to type in to google 'Peru and Bolivia' and their 11 day itinerary popped up, which was exactly what I wanted to do and see. Once I contacted KimKim they transferred me to the Wonderful Clara who was AMAZING. She was quick to respond to all my questions and happy to swap and change out the Itinerary. When we were there the tour operators, drivers and guides could not have been more helpful. The only time we had to wait was when I was an hour early for a meeting! Seriously they were never late and the trip worked like clockwork. I spoke to some other travelers who were only complaining about their tour company.

Thank you KimKim and a MASSIVE thank you to Clara and her team. You made the holiday so enjoyable. I definitely recommend KimKim and if going to Peru ask for Clara she's wonderful.

Thank you, thank you, thank you. Jason - London

A little more guidance as to what is needed each day. A better time line ahead of time. Boxed lunches for Manchu Picchu were heavy and unnecessary since they couldn't be eaten while at the ruins. Did a good job knowing time we needed to acclimate. Great trip- we loved our guide, Ruben. Nicole was very helpful in addition details for my trip to Bolivia Well done. We would recommend to my friends

I had the most incredible trip to Peru! Kristy was amazing to work with from the planning stages to preparing for the trip, to every detail during the trip! For planning, Kristy listened to what we wanted to get out of our trip and planned the perfect, custom itinerary. She was quick to respond and listened to our needs and helped us stay realistic when we were trying to cram too much into our time in Peru.

During our trip, everything was seamless and stress free. We had amazing guides the entire trip! From David & our food tour in Lima, to Lucas & Efrain who took us to the Ballestas Islands and Huacachina and lastly Edwin, who was an expert on all things in Cusco, the Sacred Valley and Machu Pichu. Every guide was well-informed, fun and adjusted everything to fit our needs.

Our hotels were are all in great locations, they were all cute & fun to stay in. Transportation was also a breeze, with Kristy doing an amazing job making getting from A to B so easy. Someone was always greeting us with a smiling face.

Kristy was amazing to work with. It was an incredible trip & would 100% recommend working with Kristy to anyone who is traveling to Peru!

We had a fantastic trip, trip of a lifetime really. Everyone was super helpful from the early stages of planning, a number of changes in dates and people right down to the actual trip where everything was organized well and worked out pretty much exactly how I imagined it. Northern Peru was amazing, super interesting and off the beaten path. The guides were amazing and we learned so much. English guides were hard to come by in the North, but all the Peruvians we met were super friendly and patient with us. The Inca Trail was just a fantastic experience all around. Zac and crew were amazing and we felt like we had the Andes to ourselves. Highly recommended.

Amazing trip! Have not done much traveling outside the U.S., so was a bit nervous. Our travel specialist was James Mackender, and he made us feel very at easy with traveling abroad in Peru. Everything was perfectly planned--flights, pick-ups and drop-offs. Our guide for the Treehouse Lodge/Iquitos was Guido. Very knowledgeable, spoke excellent english, friendly, very personable. The Treehouse Lodge was beautiful, and the day and night excursions were once in a lifetime. Our next part of our Journey in Peru was seamless--the guide from the Treehouse took us directly to the river boat. The 7 man crew on the Spondias was amazing. They were so attentive, knowledgable about the amazon and Peru. My favorite part of this portion of the trip was when we spent time with a local family at the river village. They invited us into their home, we shared some food, and discussed the commonalty and differences of our daily lives. Our guide on the Spondias was Charlie, and he likes birds and was very knowledgeable about the different species of birds. Our chef, Francisco, was wonderful and his creations were excellent. Our waiter/purser was Jairo, he was a friendly young man, full of knowledge and we practiced english and spanish together. The only flaw was that we missed our connecting flight in Lima to Cusco. After an hour of being sent to 5 different desks to get our flight rescheduled, one phone call to James and in 10 minutes the whole situation was remedied. It relieved so much stress to know that James was looking after us. The last stretch of our trip was to Cusco and Machu picchu, and Zac was our guide. Zac was, hands down, the best guide I have ever had. He was so knowledgeable about Peru, Cusco, Incan history, Machu Picchu. The way he introduced us to Machu Picchu was perfect, and he even took video of our initial reaction to seeing this Wonder of the World. He was so kind, so enthusiastic, I definitely would do another trip with him as our guide.

This trip was just perfect. James did an amazing job listening to what we wanted to do, and making all of those wishes come true. Will definitely be using James and/or KimKim again when we travel!!

This was a 5 Star trip, very well organised by Clara, it all went so well it even surprised us. All drivers were there on time, every step was very well sorted out.
Just to give a small suggestion for the next time, I would leave a bit more free time as we couldn't relax or have some more time off to just enjoy the places such as Cusco. The tour including Pisac, Urubamba and Ollantaytambo was like a rally...we had 7 minutes to explore Pisac- it was either walking around or going to the toilet...one choice...and Urubamba was really a road restaurant only. Whereas for Ollantaytambo which was an amazing place, both the ruins and the town we just had some time with the guide and no time to explore and feel the beautiful town. We had to rush to the station to go to Aguas Calientes. It maybe too much for one day...maybe just Ollantaytambo is such a rich experience that there was no need to see the others and to have a lunch at a road restaurant.
Apart from this suggestion, I must say I had a great time, Clara booked us Cicciolina, wich was a great choice of restaurant in Cusco, and also was there for all we needed. I will certainly reccommend the agency and Kim Kim.
Do you have a Brazilian version of the site?
Many thanks
Lorena

Great experience in the Sacred Valley with Nicole and her team...they easily redirected a plan that turned out to be too ambitious, into one that was the highlight of our trip, a hike along an old Inka trail down the mountains through the Pisac ruins. the drivers and guides were wonderful. Scott

I contacted Steve with KimKim travel after striking out with other agencies who were unable to build an "off the beaten path" adventure to Peru. Steve listed and then executed an amazing itinerary which far exceed our expectations.

We had a great time in Peru. We had no issues with transportation and the hotels were great. Clara did a great job and I really enjoyed the tours and Machu Picchu hike and visit. One of my most memorable vacations for sure.

We only had an issue with the amount of events scheduled in our itinerary. By the last two days, we were burned out. Also, prior to booking, we weren't told about the times of the outings. For example, some treks started at 3 am and we were not made aware until it was too late. I'd recommend that if you could send the itineraries with the times on it before people book it would make it easier. If I had seen that, I may have changed some of the events or noticed that it may be too many events for me.

We had a truly amazing trip! We spent 16 days in Peru and visited Cusco, the Amazon, Lima, sacred valley and Lake Titicaca. Despite the complexity of the trip, everything was like clock-work! It was a great combination of hiking, exploring, experiencing the local culture and city visits. Nicole did a great job of staying in touch with us throughout the trip and making sure we were well taken care of. Our guides were superb! They were all very knowledgeable and friendly. Especially our sacred valley guide Rubin did an amazing job!

Thank you!
Ayca

From start to finish, this was an incredible experience. Trip planning was super easy. Trekking was super hard and completely worth it. Our guide, Rolfi, was fantastic, the food was fantastic (thanks to Edgar), the landscapes and people are fantastic.