Èric D

We thoroughly enjoyed our trip visiting East/South Island. Eric provided us with more than enough activities that he thought we would enjoy, and though it was not possible to see them all, Eric's choices for us were well though out. The four of us talked about our favourites, which included Studlagil Canyon's basalt columns, Thorsmork (we hiked 15 km for 5 hours), Mulagljufur Canyon (which we hiked to the top), and the Puffins at Borgarfjordur Eystri. Not organized by Eric but noteworthy for any golfers was Brautarholt Golf course...every hole was stunning and the staff was so friendly! The Katla Ice cave tour was organized by Eric and it was very interesting - our guide Jon was entertaining and informative. We enjoyed Vok Baths and Sky Lagoon when our bodies needed some TLC. We dined very well with some restaurant suggestions by Eric (Apotec, and Pakkhus in Hofn).
We appreciated Eric's attention to find lesser visited areas, for example we drove right by the very crowded Seljalandsfoss because we had Gilsafoss all to ourselves a couple days previous!
All in all, we were in awe every day at the beauty Iceland has to offer, and we will definitely use Kimkim again when we adventure again in the future! Thanks to Eric and Kimkim, well done!

Activity Review

Katla Ice Cave Superjeep tour

Iceland

The drive in was fun and not too long, the gear was suitable, and the tour was interesting, engaging and beautiful! Our guide Jon was entertaining and helpful, and his instructions were clear for safety , gear, etc.

Quality of Experience

The tour gave us access to the natural beauty of the Ice cave, and the surrounding hills.

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Jon (spelling?) was entertaining, funny, and very informative about the ice cave. Also good with safety instructions

Transport

There was some trouble with the tire compression which was noisy the entire drive back, but not uncomfortable

We used kimkim for a week long family trip to Iceland because I was overwhelmed with trying to figure out what to do in such an amazing country. The trip was great and probably far better than if I had planned it myself. We are an active family and I'm not a fan of long drives, so Eric made an itinerary that allowed us to get out of the car and get moving and limited the time on the road. We did waterfall hikes, guided glacier hike, puffin viewing tour, and whale watching. All the tours were fabulous. Having a complete driving plan with the best places to stop on each drive was one of the most helpful part of using kimkim.

We had to make some adjustments due to jet lag and the kids sleeping until 11am every day, but that was easily done since the sun didn't set until midnight. We asked for 2 bedroom apartment style accommodations, which were all lovely. Using kimkim was definitely worth it and took all the stress out of trip planning.

Activity Reviews

The Secret Lagoon

Iceland

Much smaller than the more popular Blue Lagoon, but large enough we had plenty of room for our family. Had towels and suits to rent.

Quality of Experience

Solheimajokull Glacier Hike

Iceland

Relatively easy hike onto a glacier with beautiful views of the valley. They had us put on a climbing harness, but there was no actual technical climbing. My 10 year old had no trouble with this hike and it was his favorite part of the trip.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Puffin watching tour at the Ingolfshofdi cape

Iceland

So many puffins! My husband took 2300 pictures of puffins on this tour because his camera can shot 12 images a second. There is a very short but steep sand dune hike at the beginning that some of the others had trouble with, so know your abilities. But you get to run down the dune at the end of the tour.

Whale Watching Tour

Reykjavík

We saw many dolphins and got close to a couple humpback whales. I've been on a few whale watching trips and this was closest I've been to whales. It felt like they were checking us out at times.

WOW!! Éric provided an excellent, well thought out itinerary. My whole family was thoroughly impressed. The detail was excellent right down to great dining recommendations. Excellent excellent excellent job. Thank you.

Just returned from the most wonderful trip to Iceland. Eric, our specialist, really understood the sort of vacation we wanted to have and put together an excellent itinerary for us to follow as we drove the Ring Road. It was so nice to have a handful of experiences all booked and paid for with self guided tours in-between. Everyday was an adventure, and just when we thought we had seen or experienced everything, the next day proved us wrong!
Thank you Eric and Kimkim for a very memorable experience.

Eric planned an unforgettable trip for our family! It was the exact pace we needed plus hitting all the must see spots and more! His trip details and notes and quick links for daily driving plans and food options made planning our days exploring and driving the countryside seamless. He and his team helped during the trip to reschedule a whale watching tour due to weather and were so responsive. We had a trip of a lifetime. Thank you Eric !

We were very happy with Eric throughout the planning process. He was very responsive and sensitive to our technical challenges.
The itinerary met our required wishes. The 'Golden Circle' stay was a great way to begin our introduction to Iceland and the proximity to the airport of our first lodging helped us deal with the jetlag. The geothermal activity was a real attraction. Unfortunately I missed the planned activity at that location.
Our stay in Kirkjubaejarklaustur gave us exposure to the desolation and rawness of the country. The Diamond Beach day trip was a pleasant surprise. We loved the icebergs.
After the relative sparseness of humanity of the first two stays, Reykjavik was anything but. Unfortunately, Penny caught a virus of some sort two days before we were to fly to Iceland, and she couldn't partake of the Sky Lagoon pass. I, however, very much enjoyed the venue. It was splendid and I wish Penny had felt better and been able to accompany me. It was quite breathtaking.

Where to begin? KimKim helped us plan an 11-day ring road trip and we hardly scratched the surface of this beautiful place.

Lodgings: Eric and his team did a great job finding us off the beaten path places to stay within our budget. We especially loved Frost & Fire in Hveragerdi - cute room, great view, nice restaurant and their own hot springs tubs on the side of the hill. We also loved Gistihsid Lake Hotel in Eglisstadir - really nice rooms, views, great restaurant too. They had an indoor spa/hot tub too. Also of note were the Stracata apartments near Kirkjubæjarklaustur - it was an adventure arriving in the dark to discover the next morning that we were in a lava field filled with pools of water. It was raining that night so hard to tell where we were. Would be fantastic for Northern Lights! Also, the Mork Cottage in Hvammstangi was so cute, only 1.7 km from town but felt like it was in the middle of nowhere. We wished we could have stayed there a few days - the Northern Lights over the fjord were amazing. We would have liked to explore this part of Iceland more. The other lodgings fit our budget but were more standard hotels, met our needs, and had comfortable beds.

Excursions: We did 3 guided excursions. Horse back riding at Eldhestar stables outside of Hveragerdi, Glacier hike with Arctic Adventures on Sólheimajökull, and a crystal blue ice cave super keep/hike with Blue Iceland. Riding 2 hours in the rain was an experience in itself. We are glad we went - the horses are wonderful and the scenery beautiful even in the rain. The glacier hike was great too. We learned a lot about glaciers and climate change from our guide, Tin. Finally, the Ice Cave tour was beautiful. We went late in the day and had the cave to ourselves. It wan’t a sunny day but the blue in the cave was gorgeous. We would recommend spacing excursions out (we had one each of our first 3 days) - this felt rushed to us, but they did fit within the schedule.

Maps, Sites, Options - the maps were fantastic and linked right to google. The hardest part was letting go of all the things we could see but didn’t have time. The final trip plan contained 50-60 pages of site descriptions, recommended sites, and optional activities. Some of the most memorable - the South Coast Lighthouse trail on our first day, Hveralaug wild hot springs afterward. Skaftafoll Nature Reserve and Svartifoss waterfall (2.5 m hike). All of the East Fjords drive & Stokkanes beach (we missed the South black sand beach because the wind was crazy when we arrived). We also loved Húsavík and Akureyri.

Hot Springs - we asked Eric & team for a hot spring almost everyday. We had hot tubs at many of our lodgings. We visited Fontana Nature baths near Gullfoss, Geosea in Husavik, Lake Mývatn Nature Lagoon, and Forest Lagoon. All were wonderful - Forest lagoon was probably our favorite.

Food - Amazing! We tried it all. 3-4 different tasting menus including ending with Michelin Guide restaurant Matur of Drykkar in the Saga Museum. Also, hot dogs, burgers, tomato, mushroom and Icelandic soup. Most days we made sandwiches for lunch because they gave us flexibility to eat in the middle of nowhere.

Our car was great. Enough 4x4 to get us over gravel roads, puddles, pits, and snow.

Fortunately, we did not need to flex schedule because of weather. We just did everything in whatever weather we got. We saw the Northern Lights twice! The biggest gift of Iceland to us.

Thank you Eric & team!

Activity Reviews

Horse Riding

Iceland

I’m only giving it a 4 because it poured rain. Horses were great, scenery was wonderful and they waited for us when we took a wrong turn and ended up 15 minutes late

Quality of Experience

Nice facilities, great location, beautiful horses.

Guides, Drivers and Staff

GeoSea Geothermal Baths

Iceland

Again, super windy. Great view.

Quality of Experience

So windy no one stayed long.

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Fontana Geothermal Baths

Iceland

Lovely. We were there late 7:30 pm, so didn’t get to really see the lake, but the pools and facilities were top notch.

Quality of Experience

Solheimajokull Glacier Hike

Iceland

Perfect for what we wanted (easier hike). Great guide.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Crystal Blue Ice Cave

Iceland

So beautiful!

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Crazy driving the super jeep where we did!

Transport

Crowded

Myvatn Nature Baths

Lake Mývatn

Super windy. These pools are heated through rocks and gravel under foot - warmer/cooler depending on where you stood. They are also expanding so view wan’t quite as good as it could be.

Quality of Experience

Great facilities. Construction so not as pretty/wild. Got a free drink for Women’s Day!

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Forest Lagoon

Iceland

Gorgeous, new, and very quiet at 2 pm.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Our trip to Iceland was absolutely amazing! We would have never been able to design a roadtrip like the one Eric did for us on our own. His expertise was invaluable when it came to seeing as many sights as we could within our 9 day window. His itinerary gave us the confidence to venture out on our own with a rented car, eliminating the need to go on any large group tour buses. The tours that he did book for us, like the glacier hike, ice cave tour, and walking tour of Reykjavik were small and the guides were engaging, accommodating, and knowledgable.

It was a seamless experience. We started at the blue lagoon right after picking up our rental car and then headed straight to the Snaefellsness Peninsula where we were able to see a spectacular glacier volcano, Snaefellsjokull, explore lava caves and endless lava fields, and walk on cliffs and black sand beaches. From there we spent a couple days in the Golden Circle seeing all the major sights like Thingvellar National Park, Geysir, Kerid Crater, and Gullfoss. We had a few days exploring the waterfalls, beaches, gorges, lava fields, and glaciers to be seen on the south coast before ending our trip in Reykjavik. All of the sights and driving instructions were in a logical order that kept us moving forwards, never wasting time backtracking.

We appreciate the time and care it took to design an itinerary specially made for us. We had told Eric that our main priorities were seeing the northern lights, soaking in hot springs, seeing nature, and learning some history. He booked us rooms at hotels with excellent views in case we might catch a glimpse of the northern lights; he fit 3 different lagoons into our itinerary (Sky Lagoon was the best); and we had a good balance of experiencing nature as well as making time for museums and history. We also tried some of the restaurants he recommended all of which were delicious! Thank you Eric for designing a trip we will never forget!

Eric did an amazing job planning and timing everything. All our tours were small groups, so to get the most of every experience, we work with tourists in our everyday lives also, so we know how important that is. . We liked the Troll expedition company that was chosen for our tours on the glacier. Beda was amazing hiking on the glacier, Bearney at the ice caves. Bearney was especially patient since the weather was so extreme and uncooperative with blowing gravel and pouring down rain. We also appreciated that our companies vehicles did not break down, while we watched many that did.
Horse back riding with Julia was a fantastic experience and learning about the Icelandic horses and getting to experience their Tolt (walk trot). And finally meeting Paul for our local walking culinary tour, you can see he truely lived Icelandic culture. As a fisherman his whole life, his tour gave us a true view of what it was like to grow up in Iceland.
Our first hotel at Fire and frost was amazing and such a perfect way to ease into our vacation. It helped us adjust to the time change while appreciating the beauty around us. I really liked staying in each location two nights so there wasn’t too much chaos packing and unpacking.
I will use KimKim to plan my vacations anytime I can. Even with all the info online, there would have been no way to plan things so smoothly, no way to know which tour companies to use, and no way to know how much time we would want to spend in each site.

Activity Reviews

Solheimajokull Glacier Hike

Iceland

Better with Beda!!! What a great time! Once in a lifetime experience! Nice small group attention while we watched some guides with 35+ on the glacier. Lucky with the weather.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Better with Beda!!

Crystal Blue Ice Cave

Iceland

Bearney was great with our small group, the weather was so miserable that day, but we all made it. We watched so many vehicles break down returning to base. It was comforting to know we chose the right company.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Horse riding tour

Iceland

Julia was knowledgeable and our small group made it a quality experience. Truely enjoyed learning and experiencing the Icelandic horse Troit. Having the horse riding suits available to us made the cold windy weather experience enjoyable.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Julia was knowledgeable and made sure everyone felt comfortable as we proceeded.

Reykjavik Food Walk

Reykjavík

Paul was a fisherman his whole life, he showed us a tour from a true local and not just someone working in Iceland for a few months. I appreciated the small group interaction so we could really get a feel for Reykjavík.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Eric our trip specialist was great to work with. We described what we wanted, and he tailored the itinerary to us and made changes happen very quickly and easily. The hotel rooms were fantastic and exactly what I would have picked, he nailed it! We will definitely be using Kimkim again in the future.

Activity Reviews

Langjokull Glacier Snowmobiling

Iceland

Huge group, lots of waiting, pretty lame trip overall. We went in a single line at no more than 10km/hr out to a spot and then back.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Katla Ice Cave Superjeep tour

Iceland

Small group, wonderful and laid back guide. Our favorite guided activity of the trip!

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Sky Lagoon

Iceland

Relaxing and located conveniently close. It was clean and a neat experience. Very easy to access.

Quality of Experience

Blue Lagoon

Iceland

Iconic and really neat to see the lagoon. The facilities aren't great here though, very few chairs to relax or sit on, so you basically need to be in the lagoon or sitting on a hard bench or plastic chair inside when it's cold out.

Quality of Experience