Elena Del Vecchio

Elena and her team helped my partner and I plan a wonderful trip to Florence, Cinque Terre, and Venice! We truly enjoyed it and felt that our experience was enhanced by going through Kimkim, as we would not have been able to know the details as well as they knew them. We highly recommend anyone book through them!

Hotel Review

Hotel Al Duca di Venezia

Venice

Location is very good and definitely recommend this neighborhood (Cannaregio), but the bathroom had a not so clean odor and was not very well ventilated

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Reviews

Hidden Venice and cicchetti experience

Italy

Wine and food tour in Florence

Florence

Florence private guided walk

Florence

Cinque Terre Sunset cruise (Private)

Cinque Terre

The Jewels of Venice (St. Mark & Doge Palace)

Venice

Elena and Andrea made the trip to Italy so very easy. It was the first time I had travel to Europe so was a little nervous. But with both their help everything went fine. Andrea helped us out when the e-bike chain came off. They called the company and had them send out a different bike. Transfers to different site seeing places was made easier by having a driver already booked. Our vacation went smoothly and will definitely use Kimkim again

Hotel Review

Relais Osteria Dell'Orcia

Castiglione d'Orcia

Love this place, staff was exceptional. The only thing is out in the country so make sure you have a car or a driver to use.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Review

Market, Cook and Dine in Florence

Italy

Barbara was a fantastic teacher. Took us to the fresh market and then we went to her house to cook. She taught us how to roll the dough for gnocchi. My daughter and I both loved the market and the lesson

I feel the trip was amazingly planned out and left out a lot of the guess work that we would have had to go through which takes a lot of effort and makes the trip more difficult. We had amazing guides, drivers, excursions and accommodations. We had a wonderful trip and cannot wait to go back.

What I would suggest is:

Making sure the snorkeling trip is really a snorkeling trip It was a lovely boat ride but not what we were expecting. The two gentlemen who took us on this trip were great but there was no snorkeling.

Shower size. I'm small so I wasn't affected, but there are people much bigger than I that would find the smaller showers difficult to maneuver in.

Other than that, the trip was beyond our expectations.

Amazing trip. Tours were great, private. Felt like we got to do/see everything we wanted to.

Our 10 day trip to Italy was vey well planned out by Elena.
All corresponding E mails were answered quickly.
We visited Florence, Venice and Sicily.
Our transportation included, trains, and personal drivers. We arranged our own plane flights.
We were a party of 7, family and friends.
One of our flights was delayed. We texted Elena thru WhatsApp and an alternative driver was there to meet us.
The hotels she choose for us were top notch. All the hotels were centrally located.
Visiting another country is fun but can be stressful. Elena and her team removed the stress which in return let us
have all the fun.
Thank you!

My wife & I, who live in suburb of Washington DC, took a two weeks trip to the beautiful Italy this month.
It was a wonderful trip in all the places we visited and stayed, including Rome, Venice, Florence, and the Amazing Amalfi coast . Italy is a fascinating and beautiful country and we are happy that we had a chance to explore it.

Thanks to wonderful Elena with KimKim Group, who arranged every step of our great trip, we had a lovely time.
All of our personal Tour guides were great, well educated and explained the museums, the cities and the rich Italian - no-wait-in-line tickets of historical sites. Several trips in high speed trains that were included in our package were amazing.

The majority of the hotels we stayed in, except maybe one, were great, in the center of the cities, and accessible to all planed destinations, including a couple of wine tasting beautiful sites. A day trip with a boat to and around the Island of Capri was just wonderful.
It was all an amazing experience that we'll never forget. Hope we will do it again soon.
Thank you Elena! Mr. & Mrs. Marham

(PS, travelers should closely guard their pockets, money, pouches, passports, etc.- but enjoy your trip)

Elena made it easy for my parents to navigate around Italy and enjoy a once in a lifetime trip

Trip was amazing, and our local specialist, Elena, was fantastic. We even made some changes mid-trip, and it was not an issue at all. Elena handled it all. 5 stars!

Overall, the experience was excellent. Elena and Kim Kim did a great job planning out travels, every thing worked out smoothly in regards to transportation, all the drivers and tour guides were on time.

Venice
We arrived into Venice in the morning from an overnight flight, we were really tired from travels. We went to our hotel and the front desk notified us that rooms would not be ready till afternoon. Admit that the hotel in Venice was not the original hotel Elena had suggested, it was a hotel we found on our own. Overall the hotel and location was great, but wish the front desk would have just told us to go and tour the city and come back as we waited for several hours for the room. When we got our keys to the room, the house service was still cleaning the tub. This was probably the only hiccup, otherwise, our tour guide Natasha was great, we enjoyed the city, Gondola Ride, and the tour of St. Mark's Basilica and the Doge Palace, a great site to see!

Tuscany
We stayed in agritourism at San Leonino in Siena. The hotel and views were great!! This was a our headquarters as we went and toured the area of Tuscany, went to cheese farm and Wine tasting in Montepulciano. Tuscany is a beautiful place. On our free day, we loved our driver from the day before (Silvia) and hired her to take us on a day trip to Florence, which was great she showed us pretty much all the highlights of Florence!

Amalfi Coast
We stayed in Positano, due to weather, we had to reschedule our itinerary. Initially were scheduled for a day trip to Capri Island with a private boat tour around the island. However, the boat group had to cancel it and we were also scheduled for a sunset cruise which was also cancelled. It was surprisingly sunny and weather was overall okay, but due to wind currents for the first few days we were there did not go on the cruise. Elena and her team notified us while we were on the Train in advance and kept us updated throughout the trip. Since the private boat tour to Capri was cancelled, they made arrangements for transportation and a ferry to Capri Island from Sorrento, gave us a refund for the sunset cruise. This worked out well as we were also able to see Sorrento and enjoy the city, Capri Island was beautiful!

Rome
We were able to see the Colosseum, Roman Forum, Pantheon, Spanish Steps, Trevi Fountain, and a private tour of the city with our tour guide. Before our trip, we had expressed that we wanted to see and spend time at the Vatican. We were there on the 6th before Good Friday, as the impression we were told that everything was booked on Good Friday. We were under the impression we would see the Basilica as well, however, our tour only included the Vatican Museum and Sistine Chapel. This was initially disappointing as we thought the Basilica was included in the Vatican Tour. Rome is very hectic this time of the year, so everything did feel rushed. We expressed to our tour guide we did want to see the Basilica. She expressed to us that it was likely going to be closed the next day and our best chance to see it would be now, it was 530pm, she told us it would be open till 7pm, when we got into the line for the basilica, they did not let anyone in after 6pm. However, they said they would be open again tomorrow. Prior to booking our trip, we inquired about the possibility of attending mass on Good Friday. The Swiss Guard has the mass tickets so our best chance was to talk to them when were there. As expected, there was of course no mass tickets available. Luckily, the next day we had scheduled a Free Day for Good Friday for the chance to attend mass and maybe catch the pope. We came back the next day early morning to stand in line, entering the Basilica is free for everyone which we were not aware. We had a very pleasant experience in the Basilica as it was early morning and only few people were there, as my wife is Catholic, this was an amazing experience for her. We took our time around the Basilica, were able to do some prayers as well. Also, the top of the Basilica, the Cupola has tickets available to purchase. They did close the basilica at Noon in preparation for evening mass, we thought we could at least stand outside and watch from the monitors, as we were satisfied from the morning. We spent the day hanging out, and we saw people entering the basilica before mass time, we thought these were only people with mass tickets, but after asking around , I found out anyone can go inside the Basilica for mass!! The mass tickets were to just sit in the front, but we were able to get in, stand in the back and attend mass, and we saw the pope!

Overall, experience with Kim Kim and Elena was great. If there were any hiccups, Elena and Andre were reachable and kept us updated. The only feedback I would give is about Rome, there appeared to be a lot of misinformation that maybe unknown, our tour guide frankly gave us wrong information. But fortunately, it worked out perfectly the next day, as we had a very pleasant experience in the basilica, attending mass, and seeing the pope from a distance! I will use Kim Kim again in the future and I do recommend Elena and Andre.

Hotel Reviews

Palazzo Veneziano

Venice

Overall, the hotel is great and prime location. The front desk made us wait for several hours to get into our room, wish they would have told us that room would not be ready till 2pm, exact check in time, instead of telling us to keep waiting all day for the rooms to be cleaned, and the house service was still cleaning the jacuzzi on the patio when we got our keys and checked in.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Hotel Villa Gabrisa

Positano

Views from the romantic suite are amazing! Staff was very friendly as well.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Belvedere di San Leonino

Castellina in Chianti

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Hotel Degli Artisti

Rome

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Reviews

Hidden Venice and cicchetti experience

Italy

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Gondola ride

Venice

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

VENICE MASTERCLASS: DOGE PALACE'S AND ST. MARK'S BASILICA AND EXCLUSIVE TERRACES WITH SKIP THE LINE VISIT

Venice

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Cheese farm visit and tasting in Pienza area

Italy

Pienza time at your leisure

Italy

Went to Florence instead, Silvia was great.

Day trip to Capri Island from The Amalfi Coast - small group

Italy

Pompeii ruin visit with a private guide

Italy

Private Guided Walk

Rome

Colosseum and Roman Forum - Private guide

Rome

Colosseum & Roman Forum skip the line ticket

Rome

Vatican Museums and Sistine Chapel - private guide

Rome

Rushed

Vatican Museum and Sistine Chapel skip the line ticket

Rome

Rushed