Adrian Murphy

We have an awesome time in Ireland. It was our first tune and Adrian did a fabulous job putting the trip together. All of our drivers were great - they were timely and knowledgeable. We had Agnes, David , Lukas and Peter (I think.. the one who took us to Derry) - if I missed a driver it’s not intentional - they were all very good. We loved rhe Carrick - Rede - Rope bridge. It was scary but doable😂, the Giant Causeway was a fun hike with great views.

Derry was our favorite city. The people were friendly, the city felt very safe to walk around at night. My husband made friends with the locals in a couple of pubs and my daughter and I loved the mall next to the Starbucks in the center of town. We did the walking tour and learned a lot about Bloody Sunday and got a feel for the politics and tension in Northern Ireland. It was very educational for everyone and especially for my daughter who is 17 and knew nothing of that part of Ireland’s history.

The Titanic Museum was amazing. Note: my husband’s great uncle was the violin player (Hartley) on the Titanic. His violin was also featured in the museum.

We enjoyed all the cities and got so many souvenirs that we had to buy another piece of luggage. Derry being our favorite city does not minimize the other beautiful locations to note - The Castle at Waterford, Kilkinney Castle, the Tombs, the waves on the coast at the Giant Causeway.

The accommodations were very good.
We were happy to have the apartment type spaces. We were happy to have the higher end accommodations for comfort. The Celtic Show in the last night was fun and a good farewell to Ireland… we were all sad to be leaving. This itinerary covered a lot of ground for a 1st time visitor.

We would definitely book with Adrian again. Next time we want to go back to Derry and then to Scotland.

Hotel Reviews

Waterford Castle

Waterford

Beautiful property. The rooms were high end and very comfortable for a long stay.

Authenticity & Character

Feels like a throw back in time

Location

Just be aware that you will need to consider that you need a ferry to go back and forth.

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Diamond House Apartments

Londonderry

Location was excellent. The apartment was well decorated and comfortable furniture. For some reason the bedroom doors had an automatic spring which forced them closed. So, the bedroom doors would slam shut. Usually this is only see n in industrial buildings. Nonetheless.. we would stay there again!

Authenticity & Character

Location

Cleanliness & Comfort

Hotel Kilkenny

Kilkenny

Very nice hotel.. unfortunately Ireland was having a heat wave and the room was very hot. But, the hotel had 1 portable fan.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Staycity Aparthotels - Christchurch, Dublin

Dublin

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Cordia Serviced Apartments

Belfast

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Staycity Aparthotels Dublin Mark Street

Dublin

Interestingly this hotel was very nice, new and modern! The staff was ok.. not terribly friendly like the other locations. They weren’t rude but just not helpful. No explanation about how the doors worked with the keys so when we got stuck in the hallway not knowing to push the green button to open the doo.. the staff was annoyed that had to call them. Another example, the sheets provided for the pull out bed were not clean. I took them downstairs and politely asked for new sheets. The woman took the sheets, didn’t say a word and said that someone would bring me clean sheets. I said thank you and she mumbled a response like “no problem”. Like I said, not rude but distinctly different than the other experiences that we had. It didn’t take away from our trip but probably not a place that we would stay again.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Reviews

Titanic experience

Belfast

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Celtic Night Show & Dinner

Dublin

Quality of Experience

Visit Brú na Bóinne and the Newgrange Tombs

Ireland

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

The guides were incredibly knowledgeable

An Epic Walking Tour of the Viking Triangle

Waterford

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Guided Bogside History Walking Tour

Londonderry (Derry)

Highly recommend! Gives a great history of the city.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Authenticate.. the tour was given by a resident of Derry who clearly had a passion for the city.

We started looking on the internet at some tours to Ireland but they all didn’t seem right. We recently went to Costa Rica and used KimKim travel company to plan it. So, we contacted them and they put us in contact with Adrian who is their Ireland consultant. We told him basically who we were and what we wanted and the time frame for our journey. After several back and forths by email and a couple of video calls, he came up with version 3.5 which appeared to be our ideal setup for this vacation and as it turned out it was.
We made our own airplane reservations with Aer Lingus and the whole process was easy. They included one checked bag in the price which was better than a similar United flight and the flights in both directions were essentially on time. I say essentially because the flight back to Dulles Airport landed twenty minutes early. One of the perks of flying to and out of Dublin, a tip Adrian gave us, is that you go through US passport control and customs in Ireland so when you land after the long flight you can just go and get your bags and leave.
Upon arrival our driver was there awaiting us and texted on WhatsApp exactly where he would be. We had a nice ride to our Dublin home, the Ashling Hotel. While it wasn’t right in the center of town, it was in a nice area that wasn’t congested and was only a ten to fifteen-minute taxi or FreeNow ride in traffic to the center of the city. When we arrived, our room wasn’t ready, so we went to the breakfast buffet. Their breakfast buffet was very good. It had just about everything you could think of except for my favorite, lox. We ate long enough that when we were finished our room was ready.
We rested a little and then went on a walking tour of Dublin. The Dublin Highlights and Hidden Gems Walking Tour. Unbeknownst to us, this was the end of the Bumblebee 1000 Charity weekend which essentially closed many of the streets in downtown Dublin, so we were late. The tour was to start at 1:00. At about 1:03 I got a call from the tour guide wondering where we were. He talked with our FreeNow driver and together they figured out that we would have to walk the rest of the way (actually only two alleys away) and gave us directions to get there. The point here is that the guide cared enough to call and waited for us even though we got to the starting point more than 10 minutes late.
The tour itself was fantastic. Even though we were jet lagged, we enjoyed every part of the two hours. Not only did we see the main sights of the Dublin city center but the information about the city, the Irish culture, and the history of the country from the earliest Gaelic settlers through the Vikings, the plague, and the Normans, and the English and even the famine. He was not only informative but entertaining as well. Even our twelve-year-old grandson made it through the two hours and didn’t complain once or look for his phone, although that was on airplane mode.
When the tour was over, we finally hit the wall. We hardly slept on the overnight flight. Actually, they slept a little bit, but I didn’t sleep at all. We went and looked for a taxi, which wasn’t so easy because of all the blocked streets. We did find one and went back to our hotel. Unfortunately, we didn’t make our 5:00 PM visit to the St. Patrick’s cathedral although we did see the outside on our walking tour.
The next morning, we had a private driver who would take us to Galway after a stop at Clonmacnoise. This was basically fascinating ruins of a monastery that was founded some time in the sixth century on the banks of the River Shannon. There was a Cathedral there and two round Towers. There were also three high crosses, one of which was erected in 914. There were ruins of several Churches. What I found most interesting was that there were many early Christian graves dating back over a thousand years old and even some recent graves. There even were some of the graves of Irish kings and even the grave of the last high king of Ireland who was buried in the 10th century.
From there our driver took us to our hotel in Galway.
That was the Hotel Leonardo Galway. It was in an excellent location at least for us. After a brief rest we went to explore. Just outside the hotel was Quay Street, a pedestrian-only street. It is exactly what I imagined a truly Irish street would look like. There were several pubs all with big Guinness signs. Many of these had Irish music blasting out into the street. Since we were hungry, we had lunch in one of the pubs. There was an outside table at the appropriately named Quays Bar and Restaurant. We both had fish soup which was listed as a light bite. Not only was this remarkably delicious but very filling. Our grandson had chicken tenders and fries. He is a connoisseur of chicken tenders and gave them a 5 out of 5 and the fries were wonderful as well. Neither my wife nor I enjoy beer, but we were in an Irish pub. I had a Guinness and she had a beer that was lighter in color also made by Guinness. The beer was very tasty at least for beer, but we at least did this Irish rite of passage.
The other aspect of that Irish street of my imagination that came true is that the rest of the street was comprised of shops. Wool shops, jewelry shops, and Irish gift shops. We did our share of boosting the Irish economy and bought many of our gifts for family as well as gifts for ourselves in those shops. It was time to rest our feet and our bodies so back to the hotel we went.
Later we went back to Quay Street and went to dinner at the Kings Head which was a truly iconic Irish pub. The decor was just as I imagined. This building was erected in the 13th century, and the ambiance was loud and joyous. There was loud Irish music and lots of beer. We ate in a second room that was much less noisy and not only was the setting great, but the food was too.
The next day we had a full day tour and our tour guide, Frances, was great. He was very knowledgeable and told some funny stories. Our first stop was at a chocolate factory where there was a brief presentation and especially some good chocolate tasting as well.
Next, we drove through the Burren, which is an interesting geological area made of, if I remember correctly, is mostly limestone. Frances explained in good detail about this formation. In the Burren we went to one of the activities we were looking forward to, the sheep dog demonstration. He took us to Caherconnell. There we had one of the highlights of our trip. The sheep dog handler and the dogs were terrific. I won’t go into it further because I recommend everyone experience it on their own. What I will say is that the dogs herded the sheep and they were not sheepdogs but Border Collies.
Also, at Caherconnell was their Stone Fort. This was the remnants of a fort that was initially used over a thousand years ago and was in use up until the sixteenth century. The guide told us interesting facts about the history of the area and how the fort was used to protect the people of that area. Not too far from Caherconnell was the Poulnabrone Dolman, a structure that was erected over 5,000 years ago.
After that we went to lunch at McGanns Pub in Doolin, another traditional-looking Irish Pub although since it was midday the decibels were a lot lower. I took a picture of one of the signs on the wall. “Everyone who visits this place brings happiness. Some by coming in… Some by going out.” My wife and I both had the fish chowder and it was both sensational and filling and we were sufficiently sated to go on to our next stop, the Cliffs of Moher.
We arrived at the parking lot and at Frances’s urging we took the golf cart up to the entrance. From the entrance we took another golf cart up to the top of the cliffs. This was a good idea especially for us older people. It cut out a lot of the uphill walking. The views were truly like the proverbial statement “No words can describe the beauty of the sight.” It really was majestic and to imagine the years, the decades, the millenniums, that created them. We also went into the museum which was there and also the gift store.
We then took a different route back to our hotel in Galway. We rested up and then went to a seafood restaurant that Frances had recommended. Oscar’s Seafood Bistro was a short walk from our hotel in the opposite direction. We went over a bridge and turned right and after a short while we were there. The daily specials were written on a sign on the wall. The food was very good as advertised.
The next morning our private driver met us in the hotel lobby and drove us to our stop at Birr Castle. We did not do the castle tour, but we did explore the grounds. There was a waterfall, beautiful flowers and a field of green but the most interesting was “The Great Telescope”. It was built in the 1840s and was the largest telescope in the world at that time. It was standing in the middle of a field that was designated for it. It was huge and I could imagine the astronomers of the day being excited to explore the universe. In the science center, there was a display that explained how the telescope was made and some of the issues related to it.
We got back in the car and continued on to our hotel in Kilkenny. We made it to the Hibernia Hotel and after checking in had a good lunch. We then went to the Kilkenny Castle. The Castle, built in 1260, is just what you would think a castle should look like. We did tour this Castle, and it was just what you think the Castle Rooms should look like. Don’t misinterpret this was a marvelous place and I recommend it. We then went out to the beautiful grounds where there were many picnickers, a couple of frisbees flying through the air, and even a couple of young women doing some back flips. Kilkenny wasn’t much of a town to walk through so we had dinner back at the hotel.
The next day was our last full day in Ireland. We took a Freenow ride from the hotel to the train station. As I mentioned earlier, we actually used Freenow several times in Dublin as well. Freenow is an Uber type company that uses essentially the same process as Uber does and it worked well for us, each time we used it. The train from Kilkenny to Dublin was right on time. We had reserved seats and the ride was pleasant. The one thing I will point out is that each of the seats were two and two facing each other over a small table. We had three seats in a row, so one of us, me was across the aisle and there were other people across from me. If you are going to take the train and are more than two, I would suggest that you look at the train seating chart.
We returned to the Ashling Hotel for our last night of our vacation. That evening we went to the Celtic Show and Dinner. The dinner was as you would expect from a dinner theater. It was unremarkable. In my mind that was good because since my expectation of dinner theater meal is that it could be uneatable, but this meal was OK. On the other hand, the show was fantastic. It had the energy that was electric. The band leader, who was the emcee, was engaging and had a good rapport with the audience, including reading notes from the crowd for shout outs.
The band played, no surprise, Irish music and then called out the Irish dancers. Then there was double energy. They moved their feet so quickly, it was hard to imagine. They did many different dances. The one I remember is the broom dance. I don’t know how they managed to jump over the brooms and keep dancing. It was a memorable evening.
The next morning our driver came to take us to the airport. The Dublin airport was nice and clean and had a nice area of duty-free shops. Since we didn’t have to go through passport control or customs when we arrived back to Dulles airport, we did not have to wait on the lines going to have our passports checked and then through customs.
In conclusion, we had a wonderful trip to Ireland. The journey was exactly what we wanted and what was planned. Adrian was very helpful in arranging what we had in mind into specific activities that worked within our timeframe and our budget. This is the second time we used KimKim and both times we have been very, very satisfied.

Caherconnell.

Sheepdog Presentation

Poulnabrone Dolman,

Cliffs of Moher

Kilkenny Castle

Celtic Nights

A fantastic trip, all around. Adrian personalized our journey perfectly. Our knowledgeable and courteous drivers and guides, made us feel like family. I highly recommend Kimkim for your next adventure.

Activity Reviews

Private Guided Tour of The Ring of Kerry

Ireland

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Cliffs of Moher Visitor Center tickets

Ireland

A must see for any Tour. Beautiful and inspiring.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Dublin Private Walking Tour

Dublin

Very knowledgeable and fun guide. A great way to see Dublin

Quality of Experience

K

Guides, Drivers and Staff

The guide’s sense of humor and personal recommendations

Transport

Professional service

Welcome to Doolin

Doolin

The whole drive was beautiful. The guide chose to take us to the cliffs of Kilkee; they were so beautiful and amazing. What a great day!

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

I was a late add on to this trip so I did not participate in any planning. Adrian was always quick to respond to questions…and this group certainly had questions and often couldn’t find things which were on the app. 😉 Again, Adrian was always patient and quickly responded,

Adrian was amazing. Easy to work with and ready to help resolve any last minute glitches and responsive to any questions that we had throughout the trip. For example, in Oban, Scotland we were scheduled to be picked up at 11:00 a.m. by a taxi (and driven to Edinburgh). A day or two before, we learned via the bus and ferry schedule that we would not arrive in Oban until noon. Peggy contacted Adrian and he quickly contacted the taxi company (we did not have the contact info for the company) and made the adjustment so that everything proceeded smoothly. We are pleased that we used kimkim services (and Adrian in particular) and would use kimkim again on a future trip.

Feedback on one excusion: The day trip from Edinburgh to St. Andrews and back. We were transported in a 16 passenger van. However the seats were so close together that there was not much leg room (especially for me at 6'3") and the seat back were so high that you could not really see the scenery as we were riding from point A to B. Personally, I would not want to do any future excursions in 16 passenger vans.

Activity Review

Fishing Villages of Fife & St Andrews from Edinburgh

Edinburgh

See my early comments in the general section re: the 16 passenger van

Transport