Giulia Bonati

Hello Giulia,

This was an outstanding vacation. Thank you for asking the right questions originally, and then adjusting the itinerary. We thoroughly enjoyed the excursions that were scheduled as well as the free time suggestions. The accommodations were top notch. We will recommend you to our friends! Until next time.

Eric D

All of our guides were wonderful! We enjoyed all of their knowledge and passion that they had for their jobs.

Meeting the guides in hotel lobby was the easiest and least confusing . Really enjoyed the private or small group tours the best.

All of our drivers were on time and very polite. We arrived on time to all of our destination's.

Hotel Reviews

Hotel dei Borgognoni

Rome

This hotel had a great location- Just steps away from the Spanish steps and Trevi fountain. The rooms are in need of updating but they were clean. Over all probably our least favorite hotel of the trip.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Hotel Continental

Sorrento

The breakfast was wonderful! The room was beautiful and the staff was very attentive. Food choices were over the top!!

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Hotel Orto de' Medici

Florence

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Argentina Residenza Style Hotel Rome

Rome

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Reviews

Bye Bye, Italy!

Italy

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Vatican & Sistine Chapel Group Tour

Rome

Alessandro was the best! Our group was on 6 people, I strongly recommend seeing this venue with a small group. There is so much to see and all of it is almost too much to take in. Alessandro was very good at explaining the things that we were seeing.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Guided Visit to the Colosseum & Roman Forum

Rome

We were not able to locate our guide for this tour so we missed it. We arrived 30 minuets early and asked directions from several different people and still were not able to find the meeting place.

Pasta & Tiramisù Cooking Class

Rome

FUN! Our Chef was a ball of fire- Enjoyed making the pasta and terimisu

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

One Day on the Amalfi Coast with driver (Amalfi, Positano, Ravello)

Italy

We had a great time with our guide- Germano (not sure of spelling) Really enjoyed seeing the Amalfi Coast

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Explore Pompeii Walking Tour

Italy

This was our second time in Pompeii, the tour guide was very knowledgeable and we enjoyed seeing things that we didn’t on our first trip.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Chianti - Small group guided Tour with Tuscan Wine Tasting

Italy

Luciana was a great guide- She was very informative and we has a great day!

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Florence Food Tour

Florence

This was not exactly what we thought it was going to be like. The people in the group were all fun but we were disappointed in some of the food choices.

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Uffizi Galleries private guided Tour

Florence

Once again Sara was amazing!

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Florence Walking Tour and Accademia Visit

Florence

Sarah was our guide and she had a great passion for her job. We really enjoyed spending the day with her. She was a fountain of information!!

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Rome by night in Golf Cart

Rome

We had a perfect night to see the sights of Roam by night. We enjoyed our guide and the sites that he took us to.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

I had an incredible trip to Italy! I think Giulia did an amazing job helping my family and I with the planning process, catering to our needs and helping answer the questions we had when we asked them. However, I feel given the amount of things we had planned in a short period of time, the information was not communicated as thoroughly as I would have hoped when it came to certain activities we had opted for. Overall, the trip was an memorable one and I am really that KimKim worked with us to make it amazing!

Giulia was phenomenal! I had so many places and things I wanted to see and Giulia ensured we got to hit every single one. The entire VERY packed schedule was seamlessly organized and we had the trip of a lifetime!

Hotel Reviews

Terrace Pantheon Relais

Rome

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Hotel Orto de' Medici

Florence

Amazing service!

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Maison Venezia | UNA Esperienze

Venice

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

DBH – Boutique Hotel Lake Como

Como

Loved our room! Very spacious and great location

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Palazzo Marziale Boutique Hotel Sorrento

Sorrento

Beautiful property and friendly staff.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Reviews

Vatican & Sistine Chapel Tour

Rome

Rome by night in Golf Cart

Rome

Explore Pompeii Walking Tour

Italy

If you are a history person this is a must.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Loved our guide! Very knowledgeable and shared so many fun facts!

Transport

Capri in a Day by boat

Italy

If you have time go to the upper island. We did not but I did before and wished we would have. The water was choppy and the boat ride over was quite rough!

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Sorrento Farm and Food Experience including Olive Oil, Limoncello, Wine tasting

Sorrento

My personal favorite! Loved this place and am planning to order from them to shop to the US. I was very impressed with the whole experience and the care they put into their farm and products.

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

One Day on the Amalfi Coast with driver (Amalfi, Positano, Ravello)

Italy

Loved this and wish we had more time to spend in the other towns. We skipped Amalfi as it was SO crowded but our driver knew the best places to go! He even recommended a lunch spot and made reservations for us, Germano was our favorite guide/driver!

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Pizza cooking class

Italy

Fun for all ages! My kids teen and preteen had a great time. The staff was amazing!

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Florence Food Tour

Florence

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Evening at the Duomo: VIP After-Hours Tour with Dome Climb & Private Terrace Access

Florence

Great experience and worth the steps but be ready for a work out and know it can be hot and steep stairs.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Small Group Dolomites & Cortina Day Tour from Venice

Venice

Beautiful area and I had not thought of this but it was added by Giulia and we are so thankful to have done it. A much quieter and peaceful part of the busy trip.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Venice Walking Tour with guide

Italy

Loved our guide. Very knowledgeable and it was great to have the private tour to answer all our questions.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Gondola ride

Venice

I have done this one other time, but would recommend one of the other locations. We were in a main boating area with choppy waters and not the best views/canals

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Private Boat Tour on Lake Como - from Como

Italy

One of the highlights for sure

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

It was an amazing trip! So well coordinated, times were lined up so well, fit so much in and saw so many amazing places. All of the tour guides were great, friendly, knowledgeable and just good to talk to.

Activity Review

One Day on the Amalfi Coast with driver (Amalfi, Positano, Ravello)

Italy

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Every guide we had was very informative and super friendly and felt like we became friends

Transport

Every transport was on time

From start to finish, our 12 day honeymoon (organized by Giulia) was absolute perfection. We went to Rome, Pompeii, Sorrento, Florence, and Venice. From the get-go, I felt I could trust Giulia to curate the best experience for us in our budget. A few standout things for us: First of all, the accomodations were incredible. Great locations and very high-quality. Second, we were very appreciative of the level of communication and service both ahead of the trip and during the trip. You know exactly where you need to be and when and all transfers were exactly as expected. No matter where we ended up, we could be rest assured that someone with a sign with our name on it would be waiting for us. Even during the trip, when one of our tours had to be adjusted (not Kimkim's fault), the team was super quick to come up with an alternative. Third, all the tours and experiences were just awesome. Special highlights were our private tour of the Uffizi Gallery, our private walking tour of Venice, and our day trip being driven around Amalfi.

A small anecdote to just highlight the level of service: a few weeks before our trip, Giulia had to contact us that because of last minute Jubilee changes, we needed to move our Vatican tour time to ensure we could see everything. While in Rome, we overheard another couple at dinner find out in real time that they wouldn't be able to go to the Vatican because they were scheduled to go at our original time. We told them that our travel agent had been so on top of it and sorted out this issue weeks ago!

We would definitely use kimkim again for a future trip!

This was our third trip to Italy using our Travel Agent Giulia with Liberty Travel through KimKim. She has hit it out of the park each time! All three of our trips that Giulia has planned for us have been excellent. She has great insights and recommendations for places to stay, places to eat, things to do and things to see! We wouldn't want to travel throughout Italy without her guidance. She truly loves what she does and has made our vacations to Italia the best possible! We have now travelled to Venice, Lake Como, Florence, Tuscany, Rome, Naples, Sorrento and the Amalfi Coast. Each excursion, place to stay and activity has been so well planned and thought out! Thank you Giulia! We look forward to our next Italian adventure with Giulia guiding us along the way!!

Our trip was amazing our transfer drivers were always on time and professional. The hotels were all very nice and more importantly there locations were convenient to walk to almost everything. The only small problems were we had a couple of tours that got changed one was to be guided but was not we got to go but on our own this was the fault of the tour operators not our travel planner. This was our second time with Kim -Kim and I would definitely use them again both trips have been fantastic. Ken Kasbohm

Hotel Reviews

DBH – Boutique Hotel Lake Como

Como

Nice hotel in a good location not far from the lake and downtown

Authenticity & Character

The way it’s been renovated

Location

Easy to walk to restaurants and tours

Staff

Helpful

Cleanliness & Comfort

Room was clean and staff made everything up nicely every day

Hotel Bucintoro

Venice

This was one of our favorite hotels of our trip so much character and so nicely maintained. The location was great right on the main canal Venice is not easy to find your way around but the location made it easy to find our way back from our daily adventures.

Authenticity & Character

So old but so nicely preserved the wood work and flooring were beautiful

Location

Easy to find

Staff

No they were all great from the people in the breakfast area to the staff at the desk. Was the only hotel we have ever stayed you turn key in at desk every time you come and go which was interesting

Cleanliness & Comfort

Everything was nice

Horto Convento Florence

Firenze

Authenticity & Character

Very old but beautiful restoration

Location

Easy to walk plus quiet

Staff

So helpful always had time to talk to us and ad suggestions about things to see our place to eat

Cleanliness & Comfort

Spotless rooms nicely decorated

Argentina Residenza Style Hotel Rome

Rome

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

So helpful

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Reviews

Bye Bye, Italy!

Italy

Whole trip was outstanding very busy but that’s the way we wanted it

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

All our private pickups were on time in nice clean comfy vehicles

From Como: St. Moritz (Switzerland) and Tirano Trip with Bernina Express

Italy

The scenery was amazing. All around definitely one of the highlights of our trip

Quality of Experience

The rugged beauty

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Guide was informative and helpful and easy to understand

Transport

Buses were clean and comfortable. Our driver Antonio was incredibly talented as one who drove professionally for over 40 years I appreciate a fellow professional driver and he truly was one his skills going up the mountain roads was incredible plus his caution in traffic I felt very comfortable and safe

Murano, Burano & Torcello by boat with Glassblowing

Venice

Nice to visit the other islands. Glass blowing was interesting

Quality of Experience

Loved the old villages

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Private Transfer by watertaxi

Italy

Driver showed up right on time boat was clean driver was friendly

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Just so different

Cicchetti and Wine tour

Venice

Fun evening guide came right to our hotel to meet us and take us to visit to local places

Quality of Experience

Get to see a different part of Venice

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Guide was knowledgeable about the area and different foods having grown up in the area

Gondola ride

Venice

Waste of money

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Not friendly

Transport

Actuall ride was ok

Venice Walking Tour with guide

Italy

Was fun guide was informative showed us places as tourists we would never find

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Person could try be friendly

Tuscany: Day Tour To Siena, San Gimignano & Chianti Wine Region With Wine Tasting

Florence

We were booked on a small group tour that got canceled so they put us on this in its place which went to same places but with 100 people instead of 8

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Florence Food Tour

Florence

Was fun we had a fun guide as well as two other women who joined us that were fun

Quality of Experience

Food

Differently local favorites

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Guide was knowledgeable as well as fun

Pasta & Tiramisù Cooking Class

Rome

Quality of Experience

Food

All things we made

Guides, Drivers and Staff

So much fun

Vatican & Sistine Chapel Group Tour

Rome

So much to see amazing the beauty

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Guide spoke very good English was very knowledgeable

Guided Visit to the Colosseum & Roman Forum

Rome

This was one of our disappointments this tour was to be guided but person didn’t show up to work so we had go on our own we just felt we missed out

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Starting on April 30th Giulia of Liberty Travel of Liberty Travel in Padua was wonderful adjusting our travel wishes repeatedly as she helped us customize our Italian vacation. It was all set during the first week of August. Then after August 9, when we had paid the balance of our trip, the first problem started.

Problem #1- Internet Glitch: KimKim trip chat notifications stopped. The trip chat messages from Giulia appeared to us to simply stop. We assumed that meant there were no issues to discuss. In fact KimKim just suddenly and unexpectedly stopped sending us her many trip chat comments. Up to then we had always answered her within a day. We don’t knowwhy she didn’t think there might have been a notification problem.

Problem #2- A scheduled tour 'DaVinci' was canceled by the tour operator.. Unbeknownst to us Giulia asked via the non-functional notification system for a replacement tour. Getting no response she signed us up for a tour we had previously told her we did not want. I became suspicious at the apparent silence from Giulia and logged into kimkim chat and discovered the lack of notifications (from then on I logged in daily to the kimkim trip chat because I did not trust the performance).
When we reminded her that we did not want the Chianti tour she promised a refund which was done.

Problem #3- Our driver for our Siena/San Gimignano tour failed to arrive. The tour operator told us over the phone that she had no replacement drivers available to us. It was agreed with the Liberty Travel agent that we would receive a refund for the failed all-day tour. We made alternate plans. An hour later around 10AM a woman called and identified herself as the manager of Liberty Travel saying she had a driver who would be available in maybe an hour or hour and a half... to begin the ‘all-day” tour. We didn't believe her over the tour operator we just talked with and we wondered how she could still call it an all-day tour when it would not depart for Siena until 11-11:30 AM (instead of 8:30 AM). We had to hang up on her because she would not stop repeating the unaccepted offer and in the end tried to say we were choosing not to take the tour and implied at first we would not qualify for a refund.

While we received refunds for the two cancelled tours and enjoyed the tours that weren’t canceled we will not use KimKim or recommend it to other travelers. Between the KimKim communication issues before the trip and the tendency of the Liberty Travel agents to be defensive we would rather use a service that supplies small-group tours with a dedicated, onboard travel guide, e.g., Road Scholar, where problems are more quickly seen, anticipated and resolved.