Anna Grindevoll Strønstad

This was my 2nd trip with KimKim. Planning couldn't have been easier. Anna was very attentive and responsive to our questions and always had good suggestions for tailoring the trip to our needs/wishes. Accommodations were all good. Tours and scheduling also good. The only real miss for us was the Aurora Dinner Cruise in Tromso. Maybe during summer months when it's not dark and you can see something it might be better. But the cruise itself was boring - there was nothing to see and the food was unexceptional. Walking tours of Oslo and Bergen were great ways to orient ourselves in the cities and the guides were top notch. Snowshoeing/Northern Lights Chase/Hot tub on Tromso Polar Cruise and Bergen Fjord Cruise were all highlights.

Hotel Reviews

Clarion Hotel The Hub

Oslo

Comfortable room, great central location, nice bar, fantastic breakfast buffet. Very lively hotel!

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Cleanliness & Comfort

Thon Hotel Tromsø

Tromsø

Hotel was comfortable, clean, centrally located, nice breakfast buffet, good gym.

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The Hanseatic Hotel

Bergen

Great character, comfortable room, centrally located, nice/helpful staff

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Activity Reviews

Explore Oslo's Hidden Gems with a Local Expert

Oslo

Our guide Stig was amazing. He shared local and personal stories, history, insights. We toured on one of the coldest days in Oslo in 30 years. Stig brought hand and foot warmers for us and kept us moving so we could get warm!

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Northern Lights Adventure in Tromsø

Tromsø

Due to weather, we had to chase the lights rather than go to the outfitter's home base. Trina (our guide) was great - very enthusiastic and clearly has a lot of experience chasing the auroras. We had to drive to within 20 minutes of the Finland border, which meant a 2+ hour drive in each direction. We didn't get back to hotel until after 2 am, which was about an hour later than expected (and rough since we had an early morning flight to Bergen!)

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Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Mostraumen Fjord Cruise from Bergen

Bergen

Awesome tour and we even had good weather so we got to see the fjords!

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

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Explore Bergen with a Local

Bergen

Our guide John was very knowledgeable about the area and walked us everywhere in under 3 hours! Lots of hills! Great way to get oriented in the city.

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Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Guided Snowshoeing on Kvaløya Island

Norway

We had to go to an alternate location due to bad weather, but the guide was knowledgeable, friendly and put safety first always. It was a good activity to be outside and active.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

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Aurora Dinner Cruise

Tromsø

Nothing to see in the dark. Food was unremarkable. People (travelers) were not particularly friendly or encouraged to mingle/get to know each other.

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

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Sail the fjords of Tromsø

Tromsø

This tour on a sunny day would be amazing. We had a gray/cloud/rainy day so we had to be inside most of the time. Kenneth, the captain, was great. We got a real sense of his love of being on the water. The small group enabled us to get to know other people which was nice. Hot tub was definitely a highlight. Others jumped into the cold arctic water (we did not, but might have if the weather was nicer!)

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Anna has done a fabulous job organizing this trip for us.
She offered us great hotels and restaurants choices, scheduled our trip with manageable distance between travel points .
Anna also asked good questions to find out what kind of travelers we are, we felt we were planning this trip together with her all along.
Her response time is prompt, and always informative.
When we came to Norway, there were road closures due to floods water from heavy rains , and Anna immediately reached out to us with a warning and two alternate routes to reach our destination.
Furthermore, there were colleagues to cover when she was not available herself and we felt that 24 /7we would be able to reach KimKim if we had any difficulties.
We could not recommend Anna, and our experience with KimKim more enthusiastically.
PS: not to be missed: Bergenfor its and history and architecture, Flam, Undredal, the Glacier museum, Fjaerland, and Ålesund, and the long, slow but stunning detour we took from Bergen to Aurland via Myrdal.

Anna proposed a travel route through Stockholm, Oslo, Lillehammer, Bergen and Stavanger. This trip was fulfilling in every sense. She booked us with an amazing array of hotel atmospheres from 17th century to swedish modern. All hotels were boutique and in ideal locations. Anna blended our modes of travel from electric car, scenic train, fjord ferry, panoramic bus, fjord cruise and a fantastic hike to pulpit rock. Anna also arranged personal city walks in three cities. These walks gave us a great opportunity to talk to local people and get good feel for life in each of the cities . Our trip went off flawlessly with all the need tickets and info provided by Anna. We can’t say enough about this trip that Anna put together she exceeded our expectations and was there for us to answer questions through our trip. We’re looking forward to working with Anna again as soon as possible and recommend her to all.

Hotel Reviews

Nordic Light Hotel

Stockholm

This is a great metropolitan hotel.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Can’t be more convenient to all transportation

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

The Hanseatic Hotel

Bergen

We loved staying in a the 17 th century building with all the architecture that goes along with this hotel.

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Scandic Victoria Lillehammer

Lillehammer

This hotel has an extensive Breakfast. The most selection of the five hotels we started in during this trip

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Staff

Free ice cream was the best

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Reviews

Explore Oslo's Hidden Gems with a Local Expert

Oslo

Stig was fantastic. He fit our walk into our interest and covered a lot of the city. He went out of the way to go beyond his time with us . We appreciated his history knowledge

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Explore Bergen with a Local

Bergen

Wilde was fantastic. It was great to gain her knowledge of Bergen and discuss current issues of life in Norway, from political in sight to the current music scene . This was well worth while even though it poured through out our walk Wilde kept our interest and spirits up the whole time.

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Guides, Drivers and Staff

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Fjord Cruise & Pulpit Rock Hike

Stavanger

This is a MUST DO for all interested. The cruise was a great intro to the following hike to the rock. And at the end it was great to get a bus ride to our hotel . Not to mention the longest tunnel experience was one for the bucket list .

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Anna did a great job planning a 17 day trip for our first time in Norway. She was responsive and easy to communicate with, and was on top of (most) everything. Overall we give her 4.5*’s and are very happy, but will list a few of the things we wish had been different just to help others with their trip planning. We loved the Flor and Fjaere gardens and dinner, and the fjord-side floating sauna, and the unique accommodations at Aurland and Fjaerland. Anna kindly called and changed our rental car pickup time for us when we determined we’d need to leave earlier due to ferry schedules, and helped us change hotel nights a couple of times when our plans changed and upgrade hotel rooms once requested. 90% of the stops, hotels and activities were spot on. We could have used a bit more guidance on the rental car situation in Stavanger with our early start needed on a Monday morning due to ferry times (should have rented from downtown instead of the airport at the least or asked if they could deliver the car, which our hotel concierge checked on once we arrived, due to needing to leave early and rental agency being closed on Sunday). Also, our train from Dombas to Trondheim had been replaced by a bus – not at the last minute it appears – and this journey then took 3 hours longer than expected, which it would have been good to know about in advance so we could adjust our dinner reservation. Scheduling a kayak excursion on the morning of a departure isn’t recommended… we were already checked out and would have been wet and salty with no way to take a shower before getting on the road. Given that we wanted to hike, it would have been nice to have Anna mention some of the more famous and/or better hikes (like Trolltunga and Aurlandsdalen) so that we could stay at a place more convenient and/or schedule those hikes (we had a 5am wakeup call for Trolltunga, AND the reserved parking was gone by the time we checked this, plus The Rosendal hotel is tired and the meal there was the worst of our trip, and our day in Aurland had a much milder hike/bike tour scheduled that was too easy for us, though meeting our guide Anders was great). We would have changed the stay in Alesund to Geiranger so that we could do a proper hike and get away from the hordes of cruise ship crowds both in Alesund and Geiranger. The train ride from Andalsnes to Dombas is one the prettiest we’ve ever been on; we would come back to explore this area and hike there. Norway gets a 5+ and KimKim/Anna a 4.5 – very happy with our trip. Thank you!

Hotel Reviews

Eilert Smith Hotel

Stavanger

Really really fantastic staff, so solicitous and helpful with recommendations and arrangements.

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Cleanliness & Comfort

The Thief

Oslo

Great location, great room service for the night we stayed in, surprised there was no luggage assistance for this level of hotel.

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Rosendal Fjordhotel

Rosendal

This is a tired hotel and the restaurant meal was really mediocre (actually the steak was inedible, but the sauteed veggies were yummy). They did make us a nice packed lunch and had it ready for our very early hiking start.

Authenticity & Character

needs an upgrade

Location

depends what you're looking for... it's a pretty spot at the end of a fjord, but there's not much other than a hike here, and it was not convenient for the Trolltunga hike.

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

it was clean but very basic

Bergen Børs Hotel

Bergen

we had a nice room here and it's a very good central location, but there's no parking, even to unload your bags, and as i was sick, my husband left the car for 10 minutes to take the bags up before going to the parking garage, and got a ticket. Hotel staff should make more of an effort to facilitate this process for guests.

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29|2 Aurland

Aurland

Love this family-owned and run sustainable property. Just know you're getting a place with character which isn't always convenient or the most comfortable... low ceilings, small, leaning stairway, small room and bathroom. But.. everything else about the property makes it worth staying at.

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Fjærland Fjordstove Hotel

Fjærland

This is historic and charming hotel with a lovely 'story' behind keeping this small town alive, but you have to know that the comfort suffers a bit. The highlights here are the staff (especially Inna and the chef), the food and, of course, the spectacular location with a gorgeous sun room to relax looking out onto the fjord. Fjaerland Guiding, just two docks down on the fjord, has a spectacular floating sauna experience that we loved, and a darling local young woman who hiked with us one (rainy) day. The breakfast was fantastic. The rooms are small and cramped with leaky shower/tub, and the beds/mattresses need to be upgraded. Glad we came, but wouldn't need to come back.

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Hotel Brosundet

Ålesund

Authenticity & Character

loved the fireplace - cozy!

Location

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Hotel Britannia

Trondheim

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Activity Reviews

Flor & Fjære Garden Cruise

Stavanger

One of our favorite activities in Norway!!!! so gorgeous and extensive and exotic and well done, and the meal was really good; tour and service were outstanding. Best fish soup we had (and that's a high mark) on our entire trip. Highly recommend.

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

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Fjord Cruise & Pulpit Rock Hike

Stavanger

Sooooo crowded... but so worth it.. given that it was our first spectacular iconic Norwegian 'top of the mountain' view. Knowing what we know now, we'd find an alternate, harder to get to/harder to hike, hike, so there wouldn't be so many people. but glad we did it at the time.

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Guides, Drivers and Staff

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Floating Sauna

Norway

One of our favorite things - sauna/jump in freezing fjord... repeat several times. Love!

Quality of Experience

Full Day Geiranger Fjord Cruise

Ålesund

The only thing that could have made this better would have been to stay in Geiranger instead of Alesund so we could aovid the cruise crowds and go do a longer hike in this stunning area. Geiranger is a must-see in Norway

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

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Authentic Norwegian Cuisine and Guided Waterfall Hike

Norway

it was rainy the day we were scheduled for this, so we didn't do the bike ride and didn't do much hiking at all. BUT, our guide Anders was really really great and we learned a lot and would hike with him again in better circumstances.

Guided Hike to Neshaugen with a Glacier View

Fjærland

Our guide, (Sigrid?) was adorable and did a good job. We got some rain off/on and only a few minutes of seeing the view with the clouds moving in/out at the top, but it was still gorgeous. The down however was extremely treacherous, very steep and slippery, and wouldn't be recommended for most on a wet day.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Norway is a spectacular country and the itinerary Anna came up with enabled us to experience the some of the highlights of its Southern region. The hotels were mostly of a high quality and the planned activities and were fun and varied. During our time there, Norway experience its heaviest rain in 25 years, effectively shutting down the Southern road and transport network. Kim Kim checked in on us regularly during this time, suggesting options to us and sourcing a local hotel when we were unable to continue with our journey due to road closures. They promptly refunded the payment for the hotel that had to be cancelled.

We had an amazing time in Norway! Thanks to Anna from Kimkim team, the planning was meticulous and the team was helpful in making some changes to our itinerary when we wanted to during the trip. We were able to cover Pulpit Rock, Bergen, Flam and the bike ride from Myrdal to Flam (best part of the trip!) and of course the stunning beauty of the fjords and Norway in general. We couldn’t take our eyes off the fantastic scenery during the train ride from Bergen to Oslo. The Kimkim team also had backups during the weekend when our main planner was on vacation and that interaction was very pleasant and easy.
Norway is a great destination to travel not only because of its natural beauty but also because of the people! Will be planning Lofoten Islands soon :) The only thing that did not go according to plan was the walking tour of Oslo when there was historic rain one day that disrupted train schedules and the guide couldn’t make it on time. We were promised the refund for that. All in all, great experience and a definite bucket list for those who love nature!

Activity Reviews

Flåm Railway and Cycling Adventure

Norway

This was the best part of the trip! If there was heaven on earth, this would be it!

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Pulpit Rock Classic Summer Hike

Norway

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

There was a local guide provided but was unnecessary in my opinion.

Transport

Fjord Safari Taste

Norway

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Anna was wonderful. All the bookings were great. We loved all the hotels and activities we did. Thanks so much for a wonderful vacation!

Activity Review

Private Husky Camp

Odda

Quality of Experience

Food

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Anna was fabulous for us! She planned an amazing trip for our larger family to Norway, and we made some great memories! Thanks for all your help!

The knowledge, helpfulness, responsiveness and flexibility the team showed was extraordinary. We had to reschedule and redesign our trip a year late. At the last minute we made changes due to a sick member of our group. They took it all in stride. Highly recommend.