Emanuela Grieco

The entire trip plan was designed beautifully. The driving time was constructed allowing me time to travel the entire Ring Road and the West Fjords yet it allowed me enough time to not just stop and see the sights but to participate in activities and to hike a great deal which was an important desire of mine. During the trip two scheduling conflicts occurred one totally my mistake and the other was an activity booking error. The Kim Kim team responded quickly and both issues were resolved with a quick and positive outcome. Highlights of the trip included the Bike and Bath tour at Lake Myvatn, my bike guide Ragner provided an a fun and informative tour. The Zodiac Boat tour at the Jokulsarlon Glacier was a surprise highlight. Two unexpected pleasant stops were my stay at the very small village Drangsnes at the Malarhorn Guest House ( such friendly hostess) and maybe my favorite stay was the village of Seydisfjordur. I would have stayed an extra night had time allowed. The village was stunning and hiking was excellent. Spending my last night at the Sky Lagoon was a perfect wrap up for the trip. Overall the entire trip was a highlight for me, the waterfalls are each so unique and amazing and the geographical differences throughout the country are hard to describe, you just have to see it.

Hotel Review

Hótel Egilsen

Stykkishólmur

The hotel was quaint and historic

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Marta

Cleanliness & Comfort

The bed was sooo comfortable. I was in a single room and it was a bit tight I was told to expect this so no surprise.

Activity Review

Around and about Isafjordur

Ísafjörður

Kayaking the Fjord was beautiful. The wind thankfully calmed for the day but I would not want to kayak on a windy day. The company that provided the kayak tour also does Gravel and mountain bike tours, I did not have time to add this on but I saw groups out on the tours and it looked like fun.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Will was a fun kayak tour nice and he was very knowledgeable.

Transport

My extended family just returned from a 7-day trip to Iceland that was organized by Emanuela Grieco at Arctic Travel Designer (through KimKim). We had a FANTASTIC time. I can't speak highly enough about Emanuela and her incredible work putting together our itinerary. She is awesome!

We were a group of 10 people ranging from ages 13 to 80, so it wasn't easy finding the right mix of things to do and the right pace to do them at. But Emanuela handled it all while answering our endless questions with incredible patience and great insight. Among other things, we had a fantastic food tour in Reykjavik, a wonderful trip through the Golden Circle sights along the south coast, and an incredible trip to Sky Lagoon. We especially loved snowmobiling on a glacier and going on a Zodiac boat tour at Glacier Lagoon.

If you are thinking about traveling to Iceland, get in touch with Emanuela. She is a total gem and will not steer you wrong. (She hooked us up with Siggy at Iceland Everywhere Tours to take our family around via luxury bus for the week. I'd highly recommend him as well. You can find him at www.icelandeverywhere.is.)

Thank you, Emanuela!

Alan S.
Washington, D.C.

The 1 day trip to Golden circle was a great experience. It was worth viking experience and guide was Greter. It was only 3 of us and intimate and informational.
The 2 day South coast was very long driving in the van. I don’t think there is any other way to have done it tho.
Overall the suggestions of what to see and do were spot on. Thank you Emanuela for planning a wonderful adult mama/daughter bonding

Emanuela was absolutely fantastic. She listed to our wants and was able to create a great trip. Even while in Iceland she checked in to make sure everything was going well.

Activity Reviews

Inside the Volcano (Meet On Location)

Iceland

Fantastic experience, very unique opportunity to go 450 feet below the surface. And they finished the trip off with a great bowl of lamb stew. The guides were very entertaining and knowledgeable.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Whale Watching RIB Boat

Iceland

We got really lucky and saw three humpback whale. They were up close only 30 feet away at most

Hvamsvik Lagoon

Iceland

This was simply amazing, 100% recommended it to anyone looking for something just perfect

We worked with Emanuela Grieco to design an 8-day trip all over southern Iceland. She did a great job. We went back and forth for several weeks planning all the details. We took out what we did not want and chose what we did want. Her team made all the reservations (4 hotels; multiple events most days) and bought all the tickets. We literally had only to show up to all the places we planned. It saved us so much time from finding all the places to go and things to do. She tailored it just for us. Then gave us a detailed itinerary (38 pages) with plans and dining options for each day. She even gave us Google map links to easily get from point A to point B. Very happy we used Kimkim and Emanuela to handle all the details.

Hotel Reviews

Aurora Hotel at Reykjavik-Keflavik Airport Terminal KEF

Keflavík

Conveniently close to the airport terminal. About a 5-minute walk. Very good breakfast buffet. Room was very nice.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Hótel Kría

Vík

Great location. Likely the nicest hotel we stayed at. Bathroom door is a bit wonky. Clear glass sliding door, with blacked out section only in the middle.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

The Greenhouse Hotel

Hveragerdi

Another great location.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

We did self checkin. No real interaction with staff.

Cleanliness & Comfort

Reykjavík Marina - Berjaya Iceland Hotels

Reykjavík

A bit older, with beds in the not-so-comfortable range. But the location was perfect.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Basically close to everything in the downtown area.

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Reviews

ATV to Black Sand Beach and Plane Wreck

Iceland

Another must do. The black sand beach is amazing.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Zodiac boat tour among the icebergs

Iceland

Great fun. Lot's of titanic moments, when the boat hits the tiny icebergs and one hears the scraping. But we did not sink and nobody fell out. The face of the glacier is huge. And the seal we came upon hardly gave us a second thought before going back to sleep on his own private floating island.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Ice cave tour under Katla glacier

Vík

Fascinating to see natural caves formed by water melting in the glacier.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Snorkeling at Silfra fissure

Iceland

This was really the highlight of the trip. The water is 35 degrees Fahrenheit/1.7 celsius. Crystal clear. Because it is coming straight from glaciers higher up, after filtering through miles of underground lava layers, it is also very clean and pure. We all took long soothing drinks straight from the spot where we put in.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Víðgelmir Lava Cave Experience

Iceland

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Food Walking Tour

Reykjavík

A nice sampling of some of the local places and foods.

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Inside the Volcano (Meet On Location)

Iceland

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Reykjavík Puffin Watching

Reykjavík

The puffins are cute, but the visit is very passive. We sat in the boat and watched them float, dive for food, or fly. Would not do this again.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Emanuela and her team need to be commended for making our vacation in Iceland to be remembered for as long as I live. It was incredible to the experience the nature's beauty in Iceland. Trip planning, route tips, hotel accommodation, food spot recommendations and precautions to be taken, provided by Emanuela and her team were on the spot, helpful and made our trip more enjoyable, relaxing and stress free. Keep up the good work !!

Emanuela did an outstanding job planning our Iceland trip. From the very beginning, she worked with patience, professionalism, and attention to detail, helping us organize every aspect of our journey.
The itinerary she put together was thorough and well organized, making our entire journey smooth and hassle-free. Everything went exactly as planned, and we never ran into any issues along the way. Her recommendations for hotels and activities were excellent, and the car arrangement was comfortable and convenient.
What impressed us most was her responsiveness and dedication to customer service. When we experienced issues with our wireless network, Emanuela immediately reached out to her local contacts and ensured the problem was resolved promptly.
Thanks to Emanuela’s hard work and attention to detail, we were able to relax and fully enjoy our vacation. We truly appreciate all her support and would highly recommend her to anyone planning a trip.

My son and i had an amazing trip organized by Emanuela to Iceland around christmas break/new years eve.
She made it so easy for us. i had an idea of what i wanted to do, but gave Emanuela a general description of the activities we liked and she was able to match them perfectly. We based ourselves out of Reykavik, with daily tours to all the main attractions. And then she added a hot springs trip for NYC Eve day that was wonderful. When i changed the departure date to be a day later, she switched things around for me and suggested a 2 day tour out east to go hiking on a Glacier. this was the highlight of the trip. i didn't have to worry about a thing, and followed the itinerary. I would not have thought to hit the blue lagoon right off a red eye; but she highly recommended it and being one of the first people in the Blue Lagoon at 8am in the darkness and then watching the sun rise around 10am was an amazing way to start the vacation. Also Icelend for NYE was a wonderful time to go. Very little snow to hinder driving and the weather was cold but nothing out of the ordinary for someone that lives in the NYC area/USA. i wore my fancy ski pants a lot, sweater, jacket, boots and hat and was very comfortable.

Emanuela was extremely helpful - we had multiple tours cancelled because of bad weather but she managed to reschedule everything without disrupting our trip and we ended up seeing everything that we wanted to. Thank you so much Emanuela for helping us plan an unforgettable trip and making sure we had the best time!