Clothilde DIEMUNSCH

The trip could not have gone any better. Clothilde did an amazing job with the planning, and everything went perfectly to plan. Loved driver Luiz and guides Eric and Mike. Hotels were all good, although the Hotel Metropole in Interlaken could probably use an update in public spaces (although rooms were nice). Will definitely use you again.

We just finished a wonderful 10-day trip in Switzerland……spending time in the Interlaken area, taking the Golden Pass to Montreux, then moving on to Luzern and Zurich. The weather had been erratic but cooperative most of the time, so no complaints!
In general, all three in the group really would like to commend and thank Clo and her team for planning and executing pretty well with the rundown of the entire itinerary.
However, with some of the planned activities and hotel/transfer services, there certainly are surprises......Some pleasant, but a few less so!

Hotels
• The Ameron Hotel in Luzern is great..... Comfortable, clean and efficient. Staff is very professional, knowledgeable and helpful.
• The NiMo in Luzern comes as a pleasant surprise. Although you informed us that the hotel has no air-coned rooms, it turned out that our rooms do have aircons, and there are also fans. Rooms are clean and spacious. The breakfast/reception area is also quite charming and well run. A very good find, thanks Clo!
• Hotel Lotschberg in Interlaken is ok in general in terms of room size/setup and reception staff support. But the housekeeping we encountered was terrible. Bathroom sinks and counters, and water glasses were not well cleaned, and so were toilet bowls. Body wash was not refilled, despite that we had requested it consecutively for two days. It certainly was not a very pleasant stay as I would have thought standard hygiene and amenities provision should be pretty basic with any 3-star hotel.

Activities
• The panoramic train ride is magnificent......And thank you so much for securing the Prestige seats. They are great!!
• On the day of the Bern tour, because I never was given a detailed rundown of the day's itinerary, we were surprised to learn that the whole group had been enrolled in a 2-hour cookie making class while visiting the Kambly place. Obviously the two men wouldn't want to join. I did go along for about half an hour and then quit. Honestly, should I have known ahead that this was included as part of the visit, I would have requested that the class be removed because it certainly wouldn't fit the profile of our group, and both the costs and time that had been put in for the class were wasted. There was NO tasting session at the Kambly place, and there was NO tasting session at the Emmental dairy. We did pass through stunning landscapes on the way, but we weren’t given any explanation by the guide about them (assuming that is the UNESCO Biosphere Entlebuch which was mentioned in the itinerary you provided!). We passed through a lot of farmhouses, but I don’t think we stopped at any of them to take a look or for pictures. All in all, the day passed along quite flat partly because the guide Henry didn’t provide much explanations (except when in Bern), and we were just driven from one place to another while missing the “meaning” of the sceneries in between.
• The Farm Walk and Cheese Tasting tour in Luzern was totally not what we had expected. Again, because I wasn't informed of the "details", we were all expecting some easy walk in a farm near Luzern, and then cheese tasting in the farm itself. It turned out that the guide Dave (who substituted Eve) brought us onto some kind of high grounds/farm/forest areas at Sonnenberg for walks and then picnicking with wines and cheeses brought in his backpack. Honestly, we were all skeptical about this approach of the tour when we heard Dave’s explanation at the start of the tour, because I did mention to you at the planning stage that “prolonged” walking in the mountains/forest is definitely not Philip’s preferred activity. However, despite that Philip was struggling a bit with the walking part, we all ended up enjoying it VERY much. The fields are so green, the calves are cute, and grazing cows with cowbells are quite a delight!! A very refreshing experience for us city people!! But still, I think I would appreciate if you can give me some kind of a headsup at the planning stage about the "off the beaten path" nature of this tour so that we can be more mentally and physically prepared.

Car Transfers
• All the car transfers from our arrival in Zurich airport up till our check in into the hotel in Luzern were handled by Marquis who was professional and attentive.
• Actually, when he did our various transfers in Montreux, he literally acted more like a guide to us - alking around town with us to different points of interests with great explanations. He was knowledgeable and professional, certainly very attentive to our preferences and needs (particularly because of Philip’s walking “limitations”). The walking tour that day was a pleasant surprise, and we had great commendations for Marquis.
• Marquis could not handle our transfer from Luzern to Zurich in person, so he had texted me ahead of time that he had assigned the transfer to Musa who was ok, but I was surprised that he did not help us with our luggage when we arrived at the NiMo Hotel in Zurich. He parked his car across the road from the hotel (I guess because of traffic rules), left the luggage of the street. So the three of us had to move five pieces of luggage across the road and into the hotel ourselvesl. My question: is this the usual practice?
• It was a total letdown with our transfer from the NiMo Hotel to Zurich Airport on the last day. I didn't get any news from Marquis about who the driver would be. Then at around 8:30am that morning I got a WhatsApp message from a guy called Mustafa saying that he was assigned the job and would arrive 10:30am as planned. Then at around 10:10am, a taxi guy arrived at the hotel reception claiming to pick up guests for airport, his look definitely not the same as Mustafa in the WhatsApp message. I was confused, and communicating with the taxi guy was near impossible because his English was minimal. Finally, this taxi guy made a few calls and with the translation help of the NiMo reception, I was made to understand that he was there in place of Mustafa. So we took his car to the airport and told him that we needed to find the terminal for Air Canda. We were left with our luggage at an airport entrance where there was NO Air Canada signage. I was anxious and so I tried to show him our flight itinerary to make sure he understood that we were looking for AC departure. He literally snatched the paper itinerary from my hand to look, papercut one of my fingers, kept waving us towards the airport entrance......Then just went up his car and drove away!!! That was downright rude and irresponsible! We literally felt just being dumped in front of the airport. Of course, we could definitely find our way in the airport to the right terminal and the right counter. But honestly, I would expect a more polite and helpful attitude/behavior from an average taxi driver......let alone the fact that we had actually paid for a private car transfer service. So, that was a pretty low note to end such a special trip!!

Anyway, I know this is a pretty long and detailed review, but please do understand that the comments I made are not meant as complaints. I just think that the KimKim team would like to know how your service providers are doing in playing out their different roles.
Overall, we all had a wonderful trip, and the fun we had is not going to get dampened because of the unpleasantness in just a few instances. But we certainly would remember those pleasant surprises that we picked up along the way.

Hotel Reviews

BOUTIQUE HOTEL NI-MO

Zurich

Rooms are airconed and spacious.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Walkable to Old Town area.

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Ameron Luzern Hotel Flora

Luzern

Concierge staff is very knowledgeable and helpful.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Walkable distance to main station.

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Hotel Lötschberg

Interlaken

Location is great. Staff support ok. Housekeeping below standard.

Authenticity & Character

Old building but relatively well kept.

Location

Convenient distance to various places.

Staff

Staffing at reception should be extended beyond 7pm.

Cleanliness & Comfort

Basic cleanliness and amenities provision need to be improved.

Activity Reviews

Zurich Old Town, Cruise and Lindt Home of Chocolate

Switzerland

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Lucerne Walking tour and Cheese Tasting

Lucerne

We didn't expect a farm walk, even less so, a walk on the high grounds/farm/forest at Sonnenberg. We also didn't expect doing cheese tasting on a bench with cheese and wine brought along in the backpack by the guide Dave. But it turned out we enjoyed the tour VERY much. The green fields, the grazing cows, the cheese and wine, and also Dave's stories were all a great delight!

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Bern - Swiss Capital & Countryside!

Switzerland

The actual experience fell short of what was detailed in the itinerary. - There was a scenic drive of Swiss countryside, but we were not told or explained by the driver guide that we were actually going through this so-called UNESCO Biosphere Entlebuch - There was a visit to the Kambly place, but we were surprised to find out that the group of 3 was enrolled in a 2-hour cooking class. We were NEVER told ahead of time.......that certainly wouldn't fit the profile of the group. And there was NO sampling session at Kambly. - There was NO sampling session at Emmentaler either. - We passes through a lot of farmhouses but there was no stop at any of them. We did stop for pictures at the top of some kind of farmland (with a Switzerland Grand Tour signage).

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

The driver guide Henry was polite, but he acted more like a driver than a guide (except in the guided walk in Bern).

Transport

Beatus Caves, Panoramic Bridge, Nature Park Blue Lake and Lake Thun Cruise!

Switzerland

Places we visited are special and memorable........particularly the Beatus Caves and the boat ride on Lake Thun. Interesting though that the guide Mike usually just left us at the entrance or at a certain drop point, and we were just given maps to walk around on our own. Is that the standard practice of being a driver/guide?

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Maybe the guide should be more "involved" in pointing out and explaining points of interests instead of leasing us just with maps to explore on our own.

Transport

Clothilde provided a very good itinerary based on our input for a foodie culture tour of Spain and France. Great balance of activities including biking, cooking, tours and activities balanced with free time etc.

Good selection of hotels based on budget feedback

Amazing tour guides and scheduled rides

At times I didn't feel like she had intimate knowledge of the experience scheduled. The river cruise on the Seine was a herd and the ticket process failed - it was listed as a small tour - 500 people is not small

Hotel Reviews

Hôtel Villa Romantic & SPA

PARIS

Room was very good - hallways a bit narrow and dark Spa - steam room and sauna and small gym nice bonus location good Problem with room keys - wouldn't give us two keys on check-in- had to manage key inventory - keys didn't;t work several times - Front desk staff ok

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Hôtel Burdigala by Inwood Hotels

33000

Room great - plenty of space near bar and lobby for private gathering Concierge - fantastic Location great

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Barcelo Sants Hotel

Barcelona

Pretty centrally located over central train station - which created some strange and congestion around the hotel Very nice breakfast Room was efficient but not luxury Hotel staff very helpful

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Reviews

Medieval Paris - St Chapelle, Notre Dame & Conciergerie

Paris

The tour guide was amazing - we weren't sure what to expect on this tour since Notre Dame was not open yet He customized it a bit and gave us great perspective of the beginnings of Paris and the Latin Quarter A very nice tour of the Church and Concierge

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Seine Cruise with Commentary

Paris

Expected a small tour experience - per our itinerary on Kim Kim 500 people scrambling for best seats not a pleasurable experience We spent over an hour trying to get tickets and directions to correct pier - this is a Kim Kim error - We shouldn't have had to experience such a bad experience to get our tickets - the ticket office gave us tickets out of piety since our confirmation was for an expired previous year dinner cruise - so much confusion and anxiety Once we were situated - we enjoyed the river cruise at night -

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Eiffel Tower Summit Ticket

Paris

As expected - this was a heavy tourist experience - guide just dropped us off at expedited entrance and left without much guidance - not much expected

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Louvre Late Opening Private tour

Paris

Tour guide was amazing - very knowledgeable customized tour to our interests in greek and renaissance eras Early closing rushed us at the end - caught tour guide off guard a bit - but still got most of interesting items reviewed

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

French cooking class with market visit

Paris

This was a truly amazing experience in the home of the chef Marthe - we made duck, salad and chocolate desert that were just amazing - she took us to the market and pointed out vendors where we bought items of high quality and low cost She is a reference openly for future questions and receipes Amazing experience

Quality of Experience

Not enough stars to give Marthe a high five rating

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Bike & Brunch: The Best of Versailles !

France

Tour guide amazing - she guided us through travel logistics, e-biking in a heavy tourist area - kept us on schedule

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Full day E-Bike guided Tour, Saint-Emilion Vineyards (with lunch)

France

Same tour guide with local experience and expert knowledge of wine Simply an amazing experience e-biking in the Saint-Emilon area Great lunch and wine Simply a great experience !!!

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Afternoon Tour in the Medoc Wine tour

Bordeaux

We had the same tour guide for our wine tours and Archanon Sand dune visit - he is a local and the best tour guide ever experienced

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Half Day tour to Dune du Pilat & Arcachon

France

Our tour guide was amazing - the visit to the largest sand dune was amazing - our tour guide gave great local insights - stories and recommendations where we could experience the best oysters ever back in Bordeaux

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Wine Tasting & Aperitive Cruise in Bordeaux

Bordeaux

cruise was fine on a rainy night - very few customers - staff conversed mainly with French visitors - not English speaking Appetizers and wine - mediocre Reception in the rain was confusing - waiting for another staff member to show up before we could board the cruise

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Local Market Visit & Cooking Class

Barcelona

Food market visit and Paella cooking with veggies and desert was amazing

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Gràcia Food Tour

Barcelona

Our tour guide tried his hardest to get us into his favorite tapas bars - we couldn't get into the very good ones - we ended up doing way too much walking Being a Monday - seems some of the tapas bars were closed and the good ones too crowded to get into

Quality of Experience

getting into the best tapas bars - the ones we got into were very unimpressive

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Tour guide tried very hard !! but we got worn our trying - can't reserve a tapas bas

Transport

way too much walking trying to find a good tapas bar

Sagrada Familia Private Tour

Barcelona

Our tour guide was amazing - very knowledgeable - pointed out items not well known to casual observer

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Sailing Trip with Winery Visit & Tasting

Barcelona

very nice sailing to the winery - long enough to experience sailing on a perfect day

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

We loved our specialist, Clothilde. She was extremely responsive before and during our trip. The excursions she arranged through Best of Switzerland Tours were excellent. Knowing all the logistics are handled makes traveling more enjoyable. Highly recommend!

Hotel Reviews

Central Plaza Hotel

Zürich

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Hotel Krebs Interlaken

Interlaken

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

We were told the air conditioning in our room wasn't operable because it was October. We kept the windows open to help lower the temperature, but since the hotel is located in the heart of the city, at times it was noisy.

Hotel Monopol Lucerne

Luzern

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Review

Zurich sunset tour and Cheese Fondue

Zürich

Highly recommend. Monika with Best of Switzerland Tours was amazing!

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

This is our second trip booked through KimKim and it was almost as outstanding as our first. What was lacking this time was the attentiveness and detailed help we got from our first trip specialist. There were significant time gaps in communication and responses from our specialist, Clothilde. There was no suggestions or recommendations, for example, sites, activities or restaurants following our scheduled tours/activities.
Our transfers/drivers were all excellent and we really enjoyed our hiking guide, Marta
Our accommodations in Interlaken was very nice.
I will likely return to KimKim for our next trip as our first trip (Italy) with you was perfect and Irene , our specialist truly spoiled us and set the bar!

Hotel Reviews

Hotel Glockenhof

Zürich

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Hotel Du Nord

Interlaken

Very nice staff. Very clean. Great Location and excellent breakfast

Authenticity & Character

Location

Views, relatively quiet and close to train station as well as shops

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Reviews

Beatus Caves, Panoramic Bridge, Nature Park Blue Lake and Lake Thun Cruise!

Switzerland

This was cancelled the day before our arrival by tour company. We would have had to pay double to proceed with similar tour

Time at leisure in Interlaken!

Switzerland

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

We had a very memorable trip to Switzerland this past summer as a family with two young children (5 and 8). Clothilde was excellent to work with and was able to curate a great itinerary for us based on our interests, abilities (2 little kids) and our budget. We spent 8 days traveling from Zurich to Geneva with Lucerne/Interlaken/Montreux as the towns we stayed at. Our itinerary was a great mix of activities that were very family friendly and options to modify if needed. The highlights of the trip were going up to Mt. Pilatus and hiking around, walking around the old town of Lucerne, just about everything we did in Interlaken but our favorites were the chocolate workshop and the e-bike tour around the villages. We had a car so we could explore a lot of the little nearby villages, Lauterbrunnen and Grindelwald were absolutely dreamy! Montreux was beautiful except for the hotel we stayed at that was a little old and smelly. Overall working with KimKim specifically Clothilde eliminated a lot of stress for us from a planning standpoint and we just had to show up to have a good time. Highly recommend using KimKim and choosing Switzerland as a family friendly destination!

Activity Reviews

Guided E-bike tour around Interlaken ! - Family friendly

Switzerland

Another must-do activity when visiting Interlaken! Our guide was super knowledgeable, took us through the picturesque villages in and around Interlaken and the alpine lakes. This is definitely the best way of exploring the town and experiencing the local culture than driving through. We had two little kids who could sit in the cargo attached to one of our bikes so we could all experience this as a family.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Chocolate workshop in Interlaken!

Switzerland

Absolutely recommend this for families with little children! It was educational, interactive and they walk away from the workshop with bars of chocolate they created. Our entire family loved this and our kids wouldn't stop talking about it for days after. Don't forget to grab some chocolate covered strawberries and a cup of hot chocolate from the cafe on your way out.

Quality of Experience