Audrey Benezech

Bob's comments:
Our local specialist, Audrey did a great job. This saved us a lot of time in planning our trip. She was patient and helped us with all the details from a local perspective. Our tour of Normandy with guide Francis was one of the most memorable days on this trip. His in-depth knowledge and personal accounts of events around D-day were very interesting and sobering.
Alicia's comments:
Audrey did a wonderful job of working with us to plan a memorable trip to France. She was incredibly patient with my suggestions and changes while creating our itinerary. All of the sights we saw were wonderful, memorable, and unforgettable. She chose some towns that I hadn't heard about before and I'm so glad. Her suggestions for activities and sightseeing were perfect. I enjoyed the lodgings she chose. Many were centrally located and we were able to walk to most of our activities and meals. Having breakfast included was perfect. And being picked up at the Orly Airport and taken to the train station was wonderful and so helpful. We've never done that before.
Some small suggestions:
It would have been good to have a little more information about parking availability for our lodging and about toll road cost. Also, for the last two lodgings in Bayeux and Giverny, we ended up staying at a different location and address than was listed on the itinerary, so it was a bit confusing. In hindsight, I would have chosen to drop off our rental car in or near our last stay in Giverny and take the train to Orly Airport. The car return signage at Orly Airport was minimal, small, hard to see, and it took a long time to find the drop off location.

Paris is beautiful. Impressed with the old building architecture. Amboise visit was great. Chateaus are very intersting

We had the most spectacular time! So many hidden gems and experiences. Our favorite was shopping in the market and cooking a local provençal meal.

Activity Reviews

Guided visit of Commanderie de Peyrassol and Lunch at "Chez Jeannette"

Flassans-sur-Issole

Market visit and Provençal Cooking Class in Aix-en-Provence

Aix-en-Provence

Working with Audrey made it easy to plan and customize our trip.
She listened to our proirities and her selections were perfect.
Hotels and their locations were perfect for our exploring each location.
All the transportation, limos and train rides, were perfect, on time and seemless.
The itinerary we easy to follow with times and tours /tickets made it worry free.
Our three guides - V, Delphine and Mathilda(2) were excellent, Knowledgable, and fun to travel with.

We have done many international vacations, and we would definetly use kimkim again and give them our strongest recommendation .

Rich and Bev.

Hotel Reviews

Le 9Hotel Opera

Paris

good location, friendly staff

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Le Phénix Hôtel

Lyon

Great location, good breakfast, big room

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Hotel Le Lion d'Or et restaurant la Table du Lion

Bayeux

great location, big breakfast

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Hôtel de l’Horloge

Avignon

Wow great location,!!!! great breakfast!! Big rooms

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Reviews

Seine river cruise

Paris

Great cruise, but speaker near us did not work and too over crowded.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

could not hear guide in speaker

Transport

Visit of Sainte-Chapelle

Paris

Beautiful chapelle.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Unveiling Masterpieces at the Louvre Museum

Paris

Amazing museum, the building is a work of art. The nintendo audit guide and cumbersome and difficult to use.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Full-day visit of D-day beaches - U.S. sector (small group tour)

Bayeux

Our guide V, was amazing/ knowledgable, etc.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

A day at the Mont Saint Michel with a small group

Bayeux

Incredable site, our guide V same again terrific.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Guided tour of the Traboules

Lyon

Delphine was an excellent guide . Very knowledgeable and personable. She really knew all the history of Lyon.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Visit of City of Popes and Pont d'Avignon

France

Amazing place , great history

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Roman History tour in Nîmes, Uzès, Pont du Gard & Orange

Avignon

Great full day with Mathilda! Each location was terrible Nimes was my favorate

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Visit Arles, Saint-Rémy de Provence and Les-Baux-de-Provence

Avignon

Great roman building / history Mathilda our guide was great

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

We had an amazing 11 day trip to France. Audrey was an enormous help in planning our itinerary. We spent 5 nights in the Normandy Region, which enabled us to visit Lisieux, the D-Day/World War II Memorials & Beaches, Mont Saint Michel, Eteratat and Honfleur. From there we took the train to Paris and spent 5 more nights. With Audrey’s assistance we enjoyed a cruise on the Sienne and wonderful tours of the Louvre, Monet’s Garden, Versailles, the Montmarte District and even a food tour of the San Germain/Latin District. We could not have asked for a more wonderful trip to France and would highly recommend Kim Kim Tours to anyone seeking a highly memorable vacation.

I've never traveled overseas, and KimKim gave me the help and confidence I needed to get past my concerns of traveling internationally (all the unknowns!) in order to make the trip actually happen. Audrey was very helpful and answered many, many questions. I recommend KimKim to first time international travelers especially. There were a couple of minor issues, but Audrey was very prompt with her support.

Hotel Reviews

Apartements du Louvre - Le Marais

Paris

Location was great and the room was nice. The apartment was clean. The balcony was cute and such a nice Parisian touch. The location was near a grocery store and subway station. Had some trouble with the dishwasher and the washing machine had a learning curve (the directions provided didn't match the unit). I would recommend this accommodation.

Authenticity & Character

Parisian balcony!

Location

Close to subway and grocery store. Charming area.

Staff

A little confusion about the prepayment with the travel agent, but everyone was kind.

Cleanliness & Comfort

It was clean and had enough fresh towels.

Vancouver Studio

London

Friendly staff, regular housekeeping, lots of space for the family. Appreciated having a kitchen in the unit as well.

Authenticity & Character

The private garden for our room was a nice touch.

Location

Close to a grocery store and subway.

Staff

Everyone was helpful and we enjoyed the candy dish!

Cleanliness & Comfort

Loved the daily offer of housekeeping in an apartment setting. It was nice to have fresh towels and beds made.

Activity Review

Seine river cruise

Paris

We couldn't find where this tour started. We tried on two different occasions. We spoke with a representative at the address we were given by our travel agent who told us to "walk 15 minutes that way and cross the bridge." We walked for a long time and never found it. It was very disappointing. Never got on a boat. We also couldn't find a schedule to try to time our arrival (not that we could find the boat anyway).

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

A specific address and time of rides.

Transport

We recently returned from an unforgettable trip through Southern France, and using Audrey from Kimkim was hands down one of the best travel decisions we’ve made.

Normally, I plan highly detailed itineraries myself, but I was having a hard time creating one that truly maximized our time in the region—so I turned to Audrey. From our very first conversation, she took the time to understand both mine and my wife's interests, and then built an itinerary that aligned perfectly with what we enjoy. Every aspect of the trip—hotels, restaurants, tours, vineyards, shopping—reflected that initial conversation and was perfectly curated.

What made the experience even more special was Audrey’s local insight. Having someone who actually lives in the area made all the difference and allowed us to discover places and experiences we wouldn't have found on our own. We had just one small issue during the trip, and Audrey resolved it quickly and smoothly, giving us real peace of mind.

This trip exceeded all our expectations, and we’re so grateful for Audrey’s help in making it so special. I can’t recommend her highly enough!

Overall, the trip was wonderful. We fully enjoyed our excursion to Arcachon from Bordeaux and the wine region as well. The days spend in the Loire Vally were amazing, we could not have asked for more. The time spent in Paris was also exactly what we were looking for. We did have some issues with being taken to the wrong train station by an arranged driver for a day trip to Normandy. Although, Audrey was able to help us regroup and got us there the next day for an abbreviated trip, It took additional arranging on our part also. The next time we would like a few more specific details about where to find drivers so we don't spend time looking and miss. The only other thing we would have liked is to have dinner reservations made for us , instead of spending time figuring that out. We did not make them in advance so we were relying on hotel conceirge and found some to be booked.

Fantastic planning assistance from Audrey. She helped put together a custom itinerary that was exactly what we wanted and none of what we didn't want. She patiently worked with us as we explored different options for different days even when we changed our minds, made recommendations when asked, carefully planned out logistics and timing, and then executed all of our bookings. Polite, professional and friendly. Only constructive feedback I'd say is for days where our itinerary is known to start before a hotel serves breakfast, to not include breakfast with the hotel booking on those days.