Yuliana Valverde

This was our first experience using a travel agent and will be our last! Although Costa Rica is a beautiful country, our vacation felt very much like a pre-package, impersonal trip comprised of very touristy activities selected from a pre-approved list (no variations, no deviations, no personalizations). Costa Rica, or at least the regions we were sent to, were just huge tourist meccas, overflowing with garish billboards, cheap souvenir shops and ramshackle hotels.

We stayed at two resorts - Los Lomas del Volcan in LaFortuna and The Parador Nature Resort in Manuel Antonio. Both were a bit dated but nice. But without a car, you were at the mercy of the local cabs ($10 to drive the 1.5 km into town on the un-walkable road) or the capricious shuttle schedule offered by the resort. We had to spend almost all your time within the confines of the resort.

Which I guess is fine and might be what many people like. And if that is your vacation objective, then these two properties would be fine.

The adventure activities were, once again, very touristy and focused more on “schlock” than really giving any sort of education about coffee growing or chocolate production. We did a safari raft adventure through Canoa Adventure that was fun. But that was followed by a “hike” to la Fortuna falls which consisted of a young man just driving us to the falls and letting us walk to the falls. Not sure that was worthy of any sort of fee.

BUT - if you are into zip lining and lying around a pool, both resorts would be just fine.

The biggest disappointment was the service provided by KimKim. I am just going to give one example (there were many others). Our last day at Manuel Antonio, we had to check out of the room by 11:00 but our shuttle was not arriving until 3:00. Everything was packed. No air conditioning in the resort (other than the bedrooms which we had to leave). Restaurants on the resort did not open until noon (also not air conditioned). We asked at the front desk if there was something we could do or a place to go. They had no suggestions. Total waste of a day, just sitting around, trying to stay cool and waiting for the shuttle.

And then, the shuttle takes us to downtown San Jose for the night - we had an early morning flight the next day. But we arrived so late we could not do anything in San Jose. So why not just have us stay at an airport hotel, complete with a free airport shuttle, and allow us to 1) sleep a little more in the morning 2) take advantage of the free breakfast and 3) not have to pay the cab fare to the airport.

Terrible planning. If I had planned this myself, I would have taken these timing issues into consideration. But clearly, KimKim did not care. And when I mentioned something, I received a tepid response, thanking me for my patience and saying they would take this into consideration for the future.

Sigh!!!

I know I sound like a complainer - and I am not. I was just expecting (hoping) that when you pay for a travel agent, more care would have been taken and the responsiveness would be greater. In the future, i will go back to doing my own research, booking my own hotels and excursions and mapping out the vacation myself. It just seems, for me at least, the travel agent offered little or no value.

Sorry.

Hotel Reviews

Park Inn San Jose by Radisson

San José

I don’t know why anyone would stay here. The hotel itself is nice enough but it is in a horrible location - not walkable to much of anything. Just a place to sleep.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Hotel Lomas del Volcán

Fortuna

Very nice property. But it is located 1.5 km from the main road, and the access is along an unwalkable road. You are forced to take a $10 cab to get into the town. But the property itself is very nice.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Just not near anythign

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

We never did get hot water in our shower and despite repeated requests, the staff did not really seem to care!!

Parador Nature Resort & Spa

Manuel Antonio

Very beautiful setting. Our stay was somewhat marred because it was very hot and we were just not used to 100 degree temps. Other than the rooms, nothing is air conditioned. Yikes. But beautiful vistas. Nice pools. No beach access (except along a rather rocky path)

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Air conditioning went down for a bit but they were very quick to repair and gave us a tray of chocolate covered strawberries for our trouble. Extremely nice gesture.

Activity Reviews

Travel to Arenal - Doka Coffee Tour

Costa Rica

Very package, tourist activity, but the guide was knowledgeable

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

El Silencio Volcano Hike

Arenal/La Fortuna

Guide was very knowledgeable. Excellent experience

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Chocolate Tour

Arenal/La Fortuna

Just too “schlocky”. Too much time was spent with the guide trying to be cute/funny/whatever. Spitting the chocolate seed??? Too much.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Safari Float & Hike to La Fortuna Waterfall

Arenal/La Fortuna

Good experience and we were able to see many animals. Our guide did a great job. But they sort of dragged the whole thing out to make the “experience” last about an hour longer than necessary. However, that seems to be typical of much if everything we did in Costa Rica.

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

The overall trip was wonderful. The hotels were superb with one exception. The hotel near the beach at the end segment of the beach was less than.. The staff was fabulous and consistently put forth a strong effort.However...the hotel needs a significant renovation and VAST improvement of the food servoce. The breakfast was ok but the dinners we had were sorely lacking in quality. Such a disappointment compared to the other hotels in which we stayed.

Also, in the itinerary, the tours failed to indicate that they were only 2 to three hours long..not a full day. I think this clarification is important to your clients as it is now written in a somewhat deceptive manner.While the guide for the volcano tour was excellent..the tour per se is weak in that travelers are not allowed to reach the peak of the volcano.

For these reasons, I will have to book elsewhere in the future.

Hotel Reviews

Hilton Garden Inn, La Sabana

San jose

Very good breakfast...nice room...easy check in

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Hotel San Bada Resort & Spa

Manuel Antonio

OUTDATED...food needs sign ificant improvement...wonderful staff

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Arenal Manoa & Hot Springs

Fortuna

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Gran Hotel Costa Rica

San José

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Reviews

El Silencio Volcano Hike

Arenal/La Fortuna

Excellent tour guide but unable to reach the peak due to local regulations.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Manuel Antonio National Park Guided Hike

Costa Rica

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

San José City Tour

San José

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Travel to Arenal - Doka Coffee Tour

Costa Rica

Excellent tour

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

I'll start by saying I really enjoyed using the service. We decided relatively last minute (October) to have a family trip to Costa Rica in December (peak season). We promptly were given an itinerary that seemed very good with a total trip price that was much better than I had seen even for small group tours (and group tours was not our first choice). So we booked right away and then made some changes here and there to our itinerary, for example to include a coffee and chocolate tour based on some recommendations. Working with the travel specialist was nice; she made the changes, made suggestions, answered questions etc. There was usually a one day delay to questions/messages etc so I would write, the next day she would respond, I would write back, the next day she would answer etc. I know some of my colleagues had more prompt responses but this was adequate. As for the trip, our hotels were nice, our transfers were seamless, and our tours/activities all were great.
The only negative I have is that while we got a total trip cost, there was no breakdown by hotel, activity, etc. On the one hand this was somewhat liberating; not knowing how much each thing costs allowed us to just experience the trip as planned. We had already agreed on the package price so we didn't need to know the details nor try to attribute value to each experience. Until we did...
One of our days was plagued by pouring rain and we were told that our kayak tour was cancelled but they booked us on a boat tour which was still running. We did not wish to do the boat tour and our son gets motion sickness on boats so we declined (we were never asked nor told about the change...we learned about it when our hotel receptionist called the tour company to check in on the status for us). We asked for a refund for this which was initially declined because they said the tour wasn't cancelled. It took several back and forths and escalation to supervisors to finally be told we could be refunded the cost, which they said was $167. And herein lies the issue. It is very hard for me to believe that a 4-hr guided kayak tour with lunch for 5 people is only $167 ($33/person). The website says $75 per person. It is possible that they are able to offer a discounted rate but I have no way to verify this because of the lack of price breakdown. So, we will take our refund and just have to be okay with it.
So all-in-all, I will probably be willing to use this service again for the ease and convenience of planning a trip to an area with which I am unfamiliar. The planning and adjusting was easy, the platform is aesthetically pleasing, super informative, and user friendly. Having a contact person to help navigate is very helpful as well. Just be aware that you will not know exactly how the total cost is derived.

Activity Reviews

Coffee & Chocolate Tour in Monteverde

Monteverde

My whole family (kids 9, 18, 20) loved this tour. Our guide was fun, funny, informative etc. We learned a lot and enjoyed the hands-on activities.

Quality of Experience

Educational and fun

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Julio was a great tour guide

Transport

Monteverde Hanging Bridges & Zip Lining

Monteverde

The zip lines were so fun and we loved it.

Before starting the planning of this trip I knew the destinations we wanted to cover. I was able to provide kimkim the general itinerary and booked them to help with the logistics and transportation. Parts of the booking went very smoothly and parts were somewhat bumpy. In more than one case I was told that they couldn’t do what I was asking (although I was able to do it on my own). I was very happy with, and very much enjoyed, the excursions that I booked through kimkim. Most of the drivers we had throughout our trip were excellent. I would particularly like to praise Leo, our driver from Amanzillo Travel. He was extremely knowledgeable, professional, & personable. Our biggest fiasco during our trip was when a driver (I can’t recall his name or company) left us at the ferry, “went to park,” and didn’t return. (I’m still not certain that we were refunded all we were due as a result of this.) Yuliana and kimkim were definitely helpful in planning this trip but I think that next time I will try doing it on my own.

First time working with kimkim and I loved it! Yuliana was my local specialist in Costa Rica who worked on all the details of my itinerary until I was happy with it. Answered all of my questions and concerns immediately. She booked the hotels, transportation and excursions and supplied me with confirmation numbers and all the specific details I needed so I didn’t worry about anything during the trip. The drivers were punctual, helpful and friendly, with A/C and clean vehicles. Hotels were great and we had the best time on all the activities/excursions. Definitely recommend.

Hotel Review

Arenal Manoa & Hot Springs

Fortuna

Our family of four really enjoyed our stay here. Clean and spacious room with strong A/C and amazing view of the volcano. 2 main pools were really nice, although not as numerous as other nearby hotels, as only one pool was hot spring. Breakfast is amazing, we also ate lunch/dinner poolside and in the restaurant which has breathtaking views. Depending on your room location, you need to be prepared to walk a bit or call for shuttle service around the property.

Authenticity & Character

Beautiful property, rooms are spread out

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Comfortable mattresses!

Activity Review

Night Tour at the Wildlife Refuge in Monteverde

Monteverde

We did this tour in the rain but it still turned out great! We didn’t have flashlights so the guide provided us with some. A bit scary walking into the forest in the dark but we had our trusty guide who led the way and found us some amazing wildlife.

Quality of Experience

Saw things we never thought we’d see!

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Drivers arrived on time.

Transport

Never would have been able to put this together myself. When I tried to determine where to go/what to do on my own I just got overwhelmed, but Yuliana put together an unforgettable trip. We had a great time with Mauricio (guide) and Fernando (transport). Really appreciate the expertise of all involved in planning and execution of this trip. Thanks so much!

Hotel Reviews

Hotel Lomas del Volcán

Fortuna

Loved the atmosphere and the individual cabins. Walking the hills to the cabins was the only drawback, when you were already sore from hiking.

Authenticity & Character

Loved the atmosphere and the individual cabins

Location

seemed pretty centrally located to the activities that were planned

Staff

all were very kind and helpful

Cleanliness & Comfort

were very clean, beds creaked a little and the hills to walk to the cabins were a little steep when sore from hiking

Parador Nature Resort & Spa

Manuel Antonio

Was everything you wanted in a vacation stay -- food, drinks, pool, beach access, central to other places you might want to visit

Authenticity & Character

It was very comfortable even for a large "upscale" environment

Location

Central to area places to visit

Staff

Very kind and helpful

Cleanliness & Comfort

Very clean and comfortable

Parque del Lago Boutique Hotel

San José

Cute little hotel for an overnight stay. Didn't get the opportunity to explore the area, so unable to report anything outside of rooms, receptions, and restaurant. Rooms were a little small for the amount of furniture in the room, but not a significant negative, just an opinion. Dinner in the restaurant was REALLY GOOD!!

Authenticity & Character

Staff

kind and helpful

Cleanliness & Comfort

Had a good night sleep and was clean

Activity Reviews

Hike to La Fortuna Waterfall

Arenal/La Fortuna

This was my favorite feature although the steps to get there and return were intimidating, it was worth it!

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

The amount of knowledge of the area and the history....it was an educational experience

Transport

Fernando our driver

Arenal 1968 Hike & Visit to Ecotermales Hot Springs

Arenal/La Fortuna

The hot springs were awesome and relaxing, especially after 2 days of hiking. Was less impressed with the Arenal 1968 Hike, if I had know what it was fully, I would not have opted to do it, but thought it was a "had to do" activity....spent most of the time watching my steps to make sure I didn't slip and fall so even if there was a lot to see (which I don't think there was) I wasn't seeing anything but my feet. One of the younger member of our group did fall

Quality of Experience

Hot Springs was fun; 1968 Hike, not so much

Food

Dinner was good, but wasn't fully ready for a 6pm dinner (we had not eaten since breakfast) and some items were not at a proper temperature.

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Mauricio and Fernando were great!

Transport

Catamaran Adventure with Snorkeling

Manuel Antonio

Always love these...so relaxing

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Visit to Costa Rica Animal Rescue Center

Costa Rica

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Although it is stated that drivers may not be bilingual, if the tour group is not bilingual, would be great to try to be sure there was a way to communicate. Makes it difficult to know what is going on when you can't converse with the person driving you to and from locations.

Transport

There was a mishap with the transport from the hotel where we were ready to go at the designated time and got picked up 45 minutes later. I had the hotel call to find out what was going on and had we known we could have stayed in the air conditioned room vs waiting in the open air (pretty warm) reception area. That transport took us to the Rescue, then we changed to another transport that was unmarked -- a little creepy when neither driver was biligual and we were not, so we really didn't know what was going on.

The Costa Rican adventure for our family of four was great. We started in San Jose where we hit the Children’s Museum, then hit a Crocodile tour before spending two nights in Manuel Antonio where we enjoyed a guided hike of the park. We loved our hotel - La Vela Boutique Hotel. Great staff, great pool / lounge area, lots of resident wildlife. We then went to Osa Península and stayed at the Aguila de Osa, which had excellent service, beautiful accommodations, and wonderful day trip options. A highlight was snorkeling at Isla del Cano. We ended with a final night and morning in San Jose where we visited the market before driving to the airport.

Kimkim made this trip so easy… the transportation was seamless and on time! I felt we were able to maximize our experience due to the detailed planning. I wouldn’t have been able to arrange everything they did. Our kids (ages 5 and 8) had a great time.

Hotel Reviews

La Vela Boutique Hotel

Manuel Antonio

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Park Inn San Jose by Radisson

San José

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Aguila de Osa Rainforest & Marine Adventure Lodge

Drake

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Parque del Lago Boutique Hotel

San José

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Reviews

Jungle Crocodile Safari

Costa Rica

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Manuel Antonio National Park Guided Hike

Costa Rica

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

We had a wonderful time on our customized trip to Costa Rica. We loved the Los Lagos resort with the trails, butterflies, and hot spring pools. We added on a hike to the Sloth Park, what a great place! We enjoyed some of the restaurants in La Fortuna for fresh fish and seafood. We wished we would've known to bring swimwear to the La Fortuna waterfall. We jumped in with our clothes anyway. Monteverde was really unique. My favorite excursion here was the night hike! Don't skip it! We also loved the zip lining. We added on a tour of La Trapiche coffee, sugar cane, and chocolate. Lots of tasting and really enjoyable. Next we went to the Manuel Antonio area. Our hotel had a great location right outside the park with a 2 minute walk to the public beach. We really enjoyed the beach a lot. We added on a Mangrove boat tour here which we all loved. Our catamaran tour included snorkeling but we didn't see anything. I wouldnt recommed it. The water was cloudy and it was hard to swim because they didn't provide fins! Our drive to the San Jose Airport was uneventful except we didn't realize the car needed to be returned in a nearby town vs the airport. Once we figured that out the process was smooth.

Activity Review

Night Tour at the Wildlife Refuge in Monteverde

Monteverde

This was my favorite excursion. Our guide was amazing and showed us so much. We saw 2 kinds of toucans and a toucanet, a mot-mot, other birds also. We also saw a tarantula hunting, 2 types of viper, and many interesting insects. I wouldn't skip this one!

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Our guide was very good at finding the wildlife and had a telescope to zoom in.

Transport

We had a very positive experience with our planning through Kim Kim. Our trip planner, Yuliana, was extremely responsive, and recommended interesting excursions, and good lodging. We visited San Jose, and really enjoyed the Museo Del Oro. We went to the waterfall Gardens at La Paz, and really enjoyed that. We visited the Arenal volcano and La Fortuna. We’d recommend a hotel in the town of La Fortuna to have access to more shopping and dinner options. We really enjoyed the sky adventures experience in Arenal. We went to the Monteverde cloud forest. Cute town nearby and we had great lodging. We enjoyed a sunset, horseback riding tour that we arranged on our own, and that was a really memorable experience. Then we went to Manuel Antonio and enjoyed the beach and the national park. That was where we saw the most animals. Overall, we had a tremendous trip, appreciated the ongoing support from the Kim Kim, and Amazilia ongoing Travel Support while we were in Costa Rica, and would definitely recommend their services and a visit to Costa Rica. The private transfers that they arranged were great and the drivers were always on time and very nice! Pura Vida!

Hotel Reviews

Parque del Lago Boutique Hotel

San José

More of a hotel for business travelers. Didn’t have a swimming pool. But close to a nice park. If you’re going to spend time in San Jose, you may want to be closer to the town center where the museums are located. But the hotel was well maintained, comfortable beds, nice staff, and good breakfast buffet.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Close to park but 30 minute walk to museums.

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Montaña de Fuego Resort & Spa

La Fortuna

Far ($15 can ride) from La Fortuna. Very dated. Some amenities were closed. Hot springs pool needed to be skimmed cleaner. Nice breakfast buffet with omelette station.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Hotel & Spa Poco a Poco

Monteverde Costa Rica

Gorgeous grounds. Wonderful spacious room. Terrific restaurant. Made to order breakfast. Beautiful, well-maintained, short trail on the property. Lots of outdoor seating and picnic tables to enjoy the views. Extremely friendly and helpful staff. Very nice pool area. Our best hotel by far!

Authenticity & Character

Location

Walkable to town.

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Extremely comfortable beds. Very clean. Immaculate property. Spacious room.

Shana By the Beach Resort

Manuel Antonio

Good hotel. Very steep climbs on premises. Access to the beach on a private trail. The beach is where all of the snorkel excursions take you, so you can just rent a kayak and snorkel on the beach and save yourself a lot of money. Nice breakfast. Rather expensive Dinner menu. Good pool including adult only pool. Lots of monkeys on the property (balconies). Lots of birds. We saw toucans on the property! The rooms were a little dated and in need of some maintenance.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Difficult to get to restaurant options on foot, but the golf cart driver was able to shuttle us to the Korean BBQ restaurant, Carambola, up the hill. It was delicious.

Staff

When the air-conditioning didn’t work in our first room, it took quite a bit of negotiating to get a new room.

Cleanliness & Comfort

We had two king beds for a family of four, which was nice.

Hampton Inn & Suites San Jose Airport

Alajuela

Good location, close to airport, easy shuttle to airport. Pool on site. Clean and comfortable rooms. Very serviceable. Recommend a top floor room because the hotel guests wake up early and make a lot of noise above you.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Reviews

San José - Arenal - Visit to La Paz Waterfall & Gardens

Costa Rica

Nice hike. We were self guided. Nice lunch buffet included. Enjoyed the waterfalls and animals.

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Zip Lining - Hanging Bridges & Aerial Tram

Arenal/La Fortuna

Great nature guide, beautiful scenery, amazing zip lining. Nice lunch included.

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve Guided Hike

Monteverde

The cloud forest was beautiful. However, we were underwhelmed by our guide. Expect to see more flora than fauna in the cloud forest. Spent too much time milling around the gift shop and café areas and then in the cloud forest.

Quality of Experience

More time in the park. Wish the guy had used his scope to point out more interesting flora and fauna.

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Spent too much time milling around the gift shop and café areas and then in the cloud forest.

Transport