André Larsen

For me, the most memorable part of our sensational trip was the train ride to Myrdal & then down to Flam. We have seen many things, but the scenery and its dramatic changes on the way up and back down. We loved the golden trees of Autumn. For George, it was the trip through the fjords.
Every part of our trip exceeded our expectations in every way. The Thon Opera Hotel was great and so well located. Stig was an excellent guide and great guy, in Aurland, the innkeeper had no rooms & said we could stay in our own cottage right on the fjord which was great-there is that word again! Bergen was charming & we had a full day of sunshine with our guide. He was OK but had not gotten the certification training and just wasn’t as knowledgeable as Stig. He did a good job, but Stig was extraordinary.

Wow! A magical trip to Norway! We started our journey in Oslo and ended in Tromsø. We opted to go with KimKim because the logistics we had in mind were more complicated than what we wanted to deal with... Definitely a very good decision on our part. I sent Andre a list of what we had in mind and he came through like a champ. Our desire was not to have to rent a car but travel using buses, trains, ferries and planes. Andre put it all together and made reservations for us a much as possible. A summary and detailed itinerary was provided just prior to the trip.
We stayed in Oslo (our own reservations), Aurland, Voss, Bergen and Tromsø. We visited museums, cruised fiords, took Flam scenic tour, rode cable cars and funicular up mountains for tremendous views, took a great walking tour of Bergen with David (knowledgeable fun guy), hunted Northern lights with Opel (very entertaining and knowledgeable) and an outstanding 5 hour Tromsø boat cruise with professional and fun Captain and mates (shoot, forgot their names) that including a bit of eagle and seal sightings, fishing and a delicious soup prepared while we were google eyeing the beauty of the waterways.
Our hotels were very comfortable and clean. The dinners at our inn in Aurland were so good and the service was outstanding. The hotel breakfasts in Bergen and Tromsø provided a huge variety of excellent foods. And the service at both hotels were good. The hotel in Voss was good but the breakfasts lacked appeal.
Each city, town and village we visited had its own unique characteristics and we found it all very interesting and beautiful.
We did have one boat cruise cancellation but opted for the later trip. Andre was extremely helpful in rearranging our day and reservations. Also we requested a change in hotel upon our return to Oslo as we wanted to be near the airport given an early morning flight back to the states. Andre made the change and all went amazingly well. Thanks KimKim staff (Andre and Ingrid) for your outstanding communications and excellent planning expertise. Although we normally like to make our own travel arrangements I would not hesitate to request KimKim's services again. We've already spread the word on their 'job well done'!

My son and I were planning for a trip to Norway in early October, without knowing that it was the period in-between Summer and Winter when the standard Norway Nutshell tours were not available. Then we came across Kim Kim Travel and decided to give it a try.

The decision won us a wonderful trip. Our specialist Andre was instant with his responses. He was thoughtful in planning for our itinerary, and patient in answering my endless questions and requests. He even provided maps indicating where, when and how to go for our cruises, trains, taxis, etc. This provided the assurance I needed, and a promising start.

All arrangements on our 6-day Fjord trip from Oslo to Bergen went as smooth as silk. We enjoyed in particular the waterfront cabin at the Vangsgaarden Gjestgiveri Hotel in Aurland, and the delightful room at the Midtnes Hotel in Balestrand, both of which provided panoramic view of the Sognefjord. It was not a trip which would make one bubble with excitement; it was one which was so scenic and tranquil that it felt like being in paradise. And all these due in no small part to Andre!

Andre was quick to respond and always accommodating. The hotels he chose were excellent, as were his suggestions for our day trips. We totally appreciated not having huge drives to make. His planning was superb!!! We can’t thank him enough for such an amazing experience!!!!!

We were so happy with our kimkim experience! André was responsive and very nice to deal with. He set up an itinerary that reflected our interests. All transportation, information, transfers, hotels were nicely chosen and there were no problems or glitches. André gave us great recommendations for restaurants, as did our guides in Bergen, David and Vilde. These two were so important in terms of our overall experience in Scandinavia. They were knowledgeable and fun; it was like going around town and on a hike with friends. David's tour was personalized and quirky while encompassing the city's history and significant places. We got a real sense of contemporary Bergen from him, deeper and more interesting than on a typical tour. Vilde took us on a rigorous, enjoyable hike. We learned more about Norway while talking to her about her life.

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.

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.

Booking our trip with KimKim was a breeze. André and Ingrid from the Ethical Travel team were extremely responsive and helpful with questions we had as we prepared for our trip. The itinerary they created for us was great and we thoroughly enjoyed the trip and Norway in general.

They also provided many great recommendations and options of what to do or see in each location, which we really appreciated. They helped take the hassle out of figuring out the best route, hotels to stay at things to see, etc.

Overall a positive experience with the team and reccomend to others.

Andre did a great job helping me coordinate logistics. Vilde and John were great hiking and walking guides in Bergen. Really enjoyed the entire trip and experience. Will work through KimKim again on future trips.

Andre did an incredible job planning our trip from start to finish. Vilde was also very helpful once we got on the ground in answering a variety of questions as well. We really enjoyed all of our accommodations that Andre selected, especially the places we stayed in Aurland and Fjaerland. In hindsight, we wish we had made the decision to stay at each of those places another night each, as we realized we prefer little towns to larger cities. Alesund, and especially Hotel Brosundet, was very nice. But Alesund got a little old after 2 days. The food scene there was very disappointing. There was little variety and options were either on the high end (expensive) or on the low end (fast good). Big contrast to a city like Copenhagen, which is obviously much bigger, but has a lot more options, especially cheaper options when you think of a place like the Toverhallerne food market. Overall, we absolutely loved Norway. The country is incredible beautiful and picturesque, and many of the landscapes we saw left us speechless. We look forward to coming back in the future to visit and would definitely recommend kimkim and book through kimkim again. Also a shout out to Snorre, our guide in Bergen. We really enjoyed our walk around the city. Snorre took us to places and areas within the city that we definitely would've have seen ourselves. We were expecting a bit more of a history lesson on Bergen, based on Andre's description, but we really enjoyed getting to know Snorre and see the city through his eyes. Wish we had more time in Bergen!

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!

I enjoy planning and booking trips on my own, however for this last minute vacation I felt pressured. We would be meeting family in Europe then travelling on together for just 5 full days in Norway. The itinerary (Norway in a Nutshell based) involved several connections by train and ferry at the beginning of tourist season, and I was worried that by the time I did my research the tickets we wanted would be unavailable. So I decided to let kimkim expert Andre handle everything. Good move; no worries and everything went smoothly. Andre sent a detailed plan that included the tickets for the Norway in a Nutshell trains/ferries; information for the hotel bookings for two nights in Oslo, two in Balestrand and two in Bergen; directions and options for transportation from the airport to the hotel in Oslo, and how to get to the airport in Bergen. He tailored activites and sight-seeing according to our interests and offered hotel options to fit our preferences. The communication was excellent, and Andre had great suggestions and lots of patience with my many questions as the plans were tweaked. We enjoyed the Bergen and Flam trains and the ferry to the glaciers in Fjaerland, and a highlight was the quiet time we spent in Balestrand. Jon at the Midtnes Hotel was a very thoughful and accomodating host (picking us up unexpectedly at the dock, and offering earlier breakfast times around our ferry trips) and our room had million dollar views. I would highly recommend Andre and kimkim.

Overall really solid job with the trip planning and execution from the KimKim team and happy with their service - I would recommend it to others. (I worked with Andre and Ingrid.) I booked on short notice and they were able to turnaround a fun, cost-effective, well-organized trip built around the input I provided (interests, timeframe, preferences, etc.) Pre-trip communication was timely and thorough, they were quick to adapt activities based on seasonanilty and want made sense with thoughtful recommednations. Covered a ton of ground and saw a wonderful mix of natural and urban sites and activities in a Wednesday to Sunday window.

Though not significant enough to dock the ratings relative to all the wonderful things provided with the trip, the criticism I'll highlight is to provide more detail around some of the transportation for future trips with the below examples in mind for mine that were pain points:

1) "At 17:00 the transport to Aurland will pick you up from the Flam station (same place you arrived by train)": Didn't have any detail around which company and/or individual this was, any contacts for them, or what I should be looking for which would have been helpful. Eventually asked around and was able to find the cab driver that had been booked by asking various people in the train station lot if they were there for a , but we were both waiting for each other for awhile and eventually asked if he was there for a pick-up.

2) "You'll catch the five-hour ferry to Bergen through the stunning Sognefjord, arriving to the city in the evening." Ticket had a company name [Norled] and route cities listed, but no clear instructions on where to pick up the ferry in a city with extensive feasible port locations. (Booking company [Norled] was closed on the weekends for the departure day and no contacts were available here.) This was a stressful scramble when asking a dozen locals (including the hotel) were unable to help direct me to where I'd need to be to board the ferry based on the information provided. Ended up walking along a dangerous one-way road with my luggage before eventually hitch-hiking with a local that was more familiar with the ferry system and just making the ferry in time because of it. Situation was panicked and making my flight home would have been difficult with few alternatives if I hadn't gotten lucky finding a friendly local here to help me out in a significant way. Reached out to KimKim here, they weren't available immediately when the need was urgent, but they did eventually get back to me in a pretty quick turnaround that would have been otherwise fully acceptable had it not been an immediate need.

Otherwise, found the activities to be great, accomodations reasonable (and close to transportation), and trip thoughtfully planned/enjoyable at a solid rate. Enjoyed my time in Norway with a lot of special experiences that would be difficult to find without KimKim's service. The reps were knowledgable, kind, and thoughtful and would be a returning user after my first experience with them.