Hector Molina

We had Two weeks in 2 very different parts of Portugal was just enough time to experience the food, culture, scenery and not t feel rushed. Hector (Espiritu tours) /kim Kim worked closely with us to ensure we had nice accommodations, booked our rental car, and provided great tips on what to see. Our fav spot was the ambiance village in Lagos- and algarve area for scenery. Get à car 4/5 days to do detours along coast and we drove to Sevilla Spain for 1 night. Food delicious everywhere. Do the 2 hr e-tuk tuk tour with a local (white tuk tuks !! not the ones blasting music) Lots of history !! Breakfasts were great ! Try white port, go see Porto it’s beautiful. And do a-sunset sail boat in Porto ! Thank you Hector !

Hotel Reviews

MeraPrime Gold Design Hotel

Lisbon

Great central hotel very nice staff. Only thing missing was that they don’t have wine or snacks onsite . Rooms are small so don’t pack large suitcases.

Authenticity & Character

Loves the tiny balcony comfy beds

Location

Walking easy to main square on the river and to restaurants but very hilly to some

Staff

Friendly helpful spoke Eng and French

Cleanliness & Comfort

Bed and pillows very comfy

Costa D'Oiro Ambiance Village

8600-544

10 out of 10 ! for layout/place to park car. Very central for exploring. Huge included breakfast spread. Quick to get to Bengali caves boat tour do it!! Highlight of our trip . About 30 min cab to the Quinta lunch at vineyard (do it!!) 2 complaints 1. pillow was too squishy,and 2. they had -scented toilet paper??? No where else in Portugal that we stayed did. I’m very allergic to some fragrance so I actually went and bought my own :(

Authenticity & Character

Was like your own little villa. We were on ground floor. Had our own little table /chair overlooking little pool beautiful bougainvillea

Location

Easy walk to see sunset over dunes you don’t have to go the full way . Quiet nice pool

Staff

Friendly

Cleanliness & Comfort

Better pillows (they were way too flat)

AP Eva Senses

Faro, Algarve

Huge room with view of Marina . Literally no parking /stoppinnarea all fulleven though it was late Sept . Had to park really far away and drag suitcase

Authenticity & Character

Stunning view over the water-beautiful sunset

Location

Hotel should have an agreement w a parking garage next to it

Staff

Front desk with advice on parking

Cleanliness & Comfort

Bed and pillows perfect

Casa Romana Hotel Boutique

Sevilla

Hotel is great but Street was fully dug up in front so very difficult to drag suitcases from parking along a single file cobblestone sidewalk . Plus construction noise. They told us work going on since May and won’t be done until maybe Nov . The rooftop plunge pool was Fantastic . Hotel is close walking distance to authentic flamenco show.

Authenticity & Character

Interesting inner sitting area

Location

Close to restaurants and flamenco show

Staff

Helped us find parking lot (detour because of construction)

Cleanliness & Comfort

Good bed and pillows Hotel clean

Dorma Almada Porto

Porto

Great location , comfy rooms, short walk to some attractions.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Lobby/rooms all nice comfy bed

Activity Reviews

Explore Lisbon by Electric Tuk-Tuk

Portugal

You need to do this! Get a driver who is local and learn so much in a short time . Jon was great! Grew up in Lisbon!! There is no way you can see as much walking the up and downhills is insane

Quality of Experience

Transport

Toured old city - spectacular view over to Great views narrow streets lots of fun

Exploring Sintra & Cascais: Palaces, Cliffs & Coastline

Lisbon

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Algarve Wines & Traditional Lunch at a Quinta

Portugal

Spectacular lunch in this very old authentic spot . Met some nice people from Uk and USA

Quality of Experience

Authentic and beautiful

Food

Delicious simple spread

Transport

Take an uber or bolt

Explore Porto’s Hidden Gems with a Local Guide

Porto

Loved the 2 hour e- tuk tuk tour. Great way to get a feel for this beautiful city!

Quality of Experience

Porto is pretty lots of history/architecture

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Friendly and proud of their city/portugal

Transport

Into the Sea Caves of Lagos: Ponta da Piedade by Boat

Portugal

You have to see it to believe how stunning it is! We took the boat (not kayaks) and jumped into the Atlantic from the boat :) so fun

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Uber to boat launch area to save time

Portugal - Important Trip Information: Please Review Before Departure

Portugal

Hector did a great job putting together all kinds of tips and even some helpful Portuguese phrases :) and restaurant recommendations

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Private Transfer {{start_location}} to {{end_location}} via Nazaré & Óbidos

Portugal

Amazing experienced driver helped us maximize our time where we wanted to in Nazare. Great way to see more of Portugal on way out!

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Fantastic driver very kind, lots of interesting discussions along the way

Transport

I will speak of the planning side - Hector was great in helping us plan a family trip. We told him the area's we wanted to visit in Portugal and he was able to elaborate and make our trip memorable. He was prompt in responding to questions in we had, making adjustments when needed, setting up tours and drivers. Unfortunately, due to a medical emergency half our party had to drop out, and he worked with me to get refunds and still make the other half a wonderful trip. Thank you Hector. Sheri Torres

Overall, the trip was great and Hector planned it well. The guides were good, the country was beautiful and we were happy with the itinerary. Below is some feedback to help with future trips:
1. The driver to pick us up at the airport was not on time and not where he was expected to be. After a half-hour of waiting, I called Hector and he responded within 5 minutes, which was good. Hector reached the driver and redirected us to meet him at the Starbucks and the driver arrived there within a few minutes. In total, it delayed us about 45 minutes. More importantly, it made us nervous that we may have problems with other drivers or tour guides being late, but fortunately that didn't happen.
2. The food tour was good, but the guide talked way too much about every detail. However, it was fun with the other couples.
3. The other tour guides, particularly Carlotta and Simon, were very good and we enjoyed those tours very much. Alex was good, just a bit intense (he scolded me for taking pictures while he was talking} Otherwise, he did a good job.
4. There was some confusion as to when we were going to be picked up for the Sintra Tour, since it was scheduled for 8:00am and then changed in the app the day before to 9:30. I would suggest that when that happens, you send an email to confirm the time change, in addition to changing it in the app, because I almost didn't look at it again.
4. It messed up our schedule a little, when our Catamaran trip was moved from 10:00 to 3:30, which prevented us from doing the 7 Hanging Valley hike. We did the other hike instead, and it was good.
5. The emergency number provided didn't answer a few times when I called it.
I did appreciate that your staff's email responses were very good and generally quick, and that Hector didn't mind me calling him in the evening when I needed help. We also appreciated that there was flexibility from the driver regarding the time to pick us up to go from the Algarve to Lisbon. We really did enjoy the planning process and the trip and will recommend Kim Kim to friends. We would use your services again. Thank you for everything.

Hotel Reviews

Dorma Almada Porto

Porto

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

PortoBay Marquês

Lisbon

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Costa D'Oiro Ambiance Village

8600-544

The hotel was fine, but it was a longer than preferred walk from our room to the restaurant and reception.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Reviews

Explore Porto’s Hidden Gems with a Local Guide

Porto

Exploring Sintra & Cascais: Palaces, Cliffs & Coastline

Lisbon

Catamaran Boat to Benagil Cave & Carvoeiro Beach

Portugal

Portugal - Important Trip Information: Please Review Before Departure

Portugal

Foodie Experience in Porto

Porto

Get to Know Lisbon with a Local

Lisbon

kimkim and Hector did a fantastic job organizing our trip to Barcelona and Madrid. My wife has some medical issues that made her extremely anxious about such a long (11 day) trip. So a big thanks to kimkim and their local partners for being so good about crafting schedules for trips, tours and meals that did not overwhelm our schedule. Your flexibility in trip planning, easily usable website, detailed instructions and, most importantly, your regular communications while were were on the trip were greatly appreciated. It all made my wife and able to relax and really enjoy such a beautiful country.

So many things to comment on
1. Ticketing for trains and site visits. These were all done clearly and correctly. It was great to have them all easily available on the kimkim app. And, when we decided to take an earlier train back from Toledo to Barcelona (temperatures neared 40 degrees C in the afternoon!), it was no problem because kimkim bought the tickets directly from the train system, not through a third party and Natalia worked it out with the station agent.

2. The hotels in Barcelona and Madrid were well chosen, given the price range and interests we identified on your app. Great locations and very welcoming staff. We spent the longest time at Hotel Meninas in Madrid, and would particularly recommend that anyone.

3. The Tapas & Tradition tours was so much fun. And delicious. We were part of a group seven, plus our guide Andres. Andres had chosen and prepared the 3+ restaurants well. So we enjoyed the tapas, drinks and learning about the traditions around this wonderful way of eating with friends. It helped a lot that everyone in the group was wonderful and fun to hang out with. What a great start to our first night in Madrid. Thank you Andres!

2. Walking tours of Madrid old town and Toledo. On separate days, two engaging and extremely knowledgeable guides really gave us a sense of the history, beauty and life in these two very different cities. Because it was a private tour (just me and my wife), Geza (Madrid) and Natalia (Toledo) made sure to build in plenty of stops along the tour so my wife could rest her legs and still enjoy the trip. I think both of them know the location of every bench along the tour route! That would not have been possible if we were in a larger tour group that we would have had to keep up with.

Thank you Geza and Natalia!

And it was funny to run into Geza leading a larger group two days later near our hotel! And a special thanks to Natalia for thinking to thoroughly explain El Greco's painting The Burial of the Count of Orgaz, initially using a picture on her phone, while my wife could remain seated at the back of the room and then later go up to look at it closely. Very thoughtful guide work.

Hotel Reviews

H10 Art Gallery

Barcelona

Beautiful artwork in a modern setting. Love the patio area out the back of the lobby and the included breakfast. The staff were very welcoming and helpful. Great location in central Barcelona.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Nice neighborhood to walk around in. Easy cab ride to El Sagrada Familia, Gothic Quarter, the beach and all the other sites. I like the pool and exercise room as well.

Staff

Super friendly and helpful with anything we asked for like taxi arrangements, dinner recommendations, etc.

Cleanliness & Comfort

Very modern feel, but also welcoming and comfortable.

Hotel Meninas

Madrid

Authenticity & Character

The hotel and street seemed very much a part of and older area of Madrid, which we liked very much. We felt very much in the middle of the city, but on a quiet street.

Location

Easy walk to the Royal Palace, Plaza Major and the Opera. Interesting neighborhood to walk around. As it was on a small, narrow street, but super easy to get to the places we wanted to visit.

Staff

Oh, the staff here were so nice, helpful and welcoming. And no-one laughed at my poor attempts at Spanish (just kidding, they would never do that). We felt very much at home here.

Cleanliness & Comfort

Very well designed and maintained. The lobby was comfortable to hang out in. And the breakfast on floor -1 was delicious.

Activity Reviews

Tapas & Tradition: A Madrileño Evening

Madrid

I shared to details of this on the first page of this review. Andres, the restaurants and the whole group were great.

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

As I said in the first page of the review, Andres was a perfect person to learn from and share tapas with.

Transport

We took a taxi to the meeting point

Walking Madrid’s Old Town

Madrid

I didn't know these individual pages were coming, so I put my details on the first page. Geza was fantastic.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

An Excursion to Toledo by Train, Guided Walk

Madrid

Natalia was the best! I gave details earlier, but we really did learn a lot and enjoyed her company around this amazing city.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Spain Important Trip Information: Please Review Before Departure

Spain

As we noted earlier, the H10 Art Gallery was a great choice. We loved the amenities, patio, art, lobby, but especially the helpful staff.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

We arranged for a private care to the airport and that worked out seamlessly.

This trip was difficult to plan from the beginning. It was for 2 people with different arrival and departure dates. Also, 2 nights of accommodation were already booked. Hector never seemed to get exactly when who was going to be there. I said my son was going to be there on the 6th and he booked a room for him on the night of the 5th. Many of the days had shopping as the main activity. I had said we were interested in nature and culture. The hike that was booked for us turned out to be a 4x4 ride which was disappointing. I was in Madrid and the Prado was not scheduled as a tour until I asked for it to be added on. I believed Hector when he said that the last minute nature of the booking made the expensive but when we looked at daily room rates when we were there, they were not high. I think we were overcharged by about 50% and want a refund of at least $5000.

Activity Reviews

Walking Madrid’s Old Town

Madrid

Great tour

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

4x4 Jeep & Hike the Cares Route, Picos de Europa

Picos de Europa

This was a 4x4 without a hike.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Overall, we were pleased with our accommodations and the experiences that Hector planned. The Iberostar resort was perfect for our family, and my cousin and I loved our windmills tour with our wonderful guide Birgit. Most of the family also enjoyed the catamaran trip and swimming. The Gran Hotel Havana in Barcelona also suited us well, and we loved our tour guide for Girona (Manuel and his driver Wandr) so much that we lobbied to have them for our second tour (of Montserrat) which was amazing. We also loved the sunset boat trip with the guitarist.

One of the two reasons we did not give 5 stars is because our original flight from Mallorca to Barcelona was scheduled without our agreement to leave at 8:30 in the morning which would have been extremely difficult with three small children. When we requested to move the reservation, we received a lot of pushback and almost tried to make arrangements ourselves (since we received no credit for the original reservation). When we did finally get rescheduled at considerable expense, we learned at the airport that my son would be on standby and his 1-year-old son who is a lap child, had a confirmed seat. It took a great deal of effort to get my son on the flight with no help from Espiritu who blamed the airlines and did nothing to help despite having been responsible for the reservation. I don't believe that the fact that we were with three small children was adequately considered.

The second reason is that we did not receive much help in figuring out where to go to watch the eclipse. Most of the suggestions we received were not helpful because the government was closing many of the streets in Mallorca for security reasons, and they were therefore inaccessible. My daughter did a lot of research online to learn this and did find for us the best place possible given where we were staying, but we would have had a difficult time and probably missed it entirely if we had relied on the information we were given.

Hotel Reviews

Iberostar selection Playa de Muro Village

Playa de Muro, Mallorca, Illes Balears

The rooms were clean and comfortable mostly (one had a problem, but the staff moved those of us in that room to a better one). The pools and private beach were perfect and greatly enjoyed, and the breakfast buffet (and other food options) were all amazing. The staff were all helpful and friendly.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Gran Hotel Havana

Barcelona

The rooms were very comfortable and attractive and quiet. Most of the staff were helpful and polite. It was good to have room service and the rooftop restaurant available when we did not want to go out, and the included breakfast buffet had lots of good choices.

Activity Reviews

Mediterranean Sunset Sailing Experience & Live Spanish Guitar Music

Barcelona

We loved the guitar, and the route was very calm so no one became seasick.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

One of us has balance problems and the captain and staff were very helpful in getting on and off the boat.

Transport

It was a beautiful catamaran sailboat. The only thing that would have been better would have been if it actually sailed instead of motoring the whole way, but that did not impair the experience.

From Medieval Girona to the Villages of Costa Brava

Barcelona

Our guide Manuel made this a very enjoyable and memorable experience. And some of our group said that the beach where he took us after Girona was the best one they had ever been to.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Manuel was knowledgeable, warm talkative, fun and great with the chidren.

Transport

The vans were very comfortable.

Discover Montserrat & Catalan Wine of Penedès Region

Barcelona

Again, our guide Manuel made it extra special. It is also a beautiful and spiritual place. Some of us are not religious but were deeply moved nonetheless.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Windmills & Villages: A Journey Through Mallorca’s Interior

Spain

Birgit was so knowledgeable and warm. My cousin and I really enjoyed learning about the history, traditions and current day people of Mallorca from her. She was great!

Quality of Experience

our guide Birgit

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Birgit was outstanding and made the whole experience one I will not forget.

Transport

We were grateful that since only two of us went, Birgit picked us up at our hotel.

Mallorca by Sea: A Boutique Sailing, Tapas & Snorkeling Experience

Spain

The swimming in the Mediterranean was wonderful. The only problem was that two of our group got seasick.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Barcelona for Kids: Gaudí’s Sagrada Familia & Park Güell

Barcelona

The Sagrada Familia on the inside just blew me away; I did not expect to be so moved and impressed.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

She could have been more enthusiastic and warm.

In numerous ways, the logistics and planning for this trip were poor. From considering travel times for our family with young children, to fiascos with booking almost causing us to miss our flight, it did not feel like a smooth trip.

The day trips planned for us were excellent though. The hotels were great too.

The only reason I'm giving this two stars is because our pickup and transfers were without issue and the hotel properties were fine. The trip was amazing, but no thanks to Kim Kim or the local provider. It was amazing because we spent every evening researching and figuring out what we were going to do the next day. The provider knew we had a rental car but made no provisions to check with every one of our hotels to make sure that they had parking. When we asked them to do that, they checked the hotel for the following evening, and we never heard about that again. We had one day in Zaragoza, which was actually the day most of the locations we wanted to visit were closed, so it would have been nice to have a heads up on that. We landed in Bilbao during a national holiday. Also would have been nice to know about that. We also arrived in San Sebastian during the City Festival. Didn't know about that either.
On one of our wine tasting trips, we were supposed to get transfers to and from. Two days before, the wine trip the company informed us that we were too far away and they couldn't pick us up.
We eventually reached out to Kimkim itself to report some of the issues. We didn't get back anything that was helpful at all and never heard from them again.
Kim Kim has booked a number of trips for us that have all been essentially flawless. This was not one of those trips.

Activity Review

A Basque Country Excursion: Jaizkibel Hike, Txakoli Winery & Hondarribia

San Sebastián

Jaime was amazing sharing with us the local culture and the amazing Basque region.

Quality of Experience

Jaime

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Jaime

Transport

Jaime

I thought hector did a great job setting up stuff. But when I got there I was really disappointed. I expected him to have thought through all the transitions. But when we got there we found that he didn’t consider whether we should book the night before in order to have a place to sleep when we arrived. Clearly we had a misunderstanding about the role of a travel agent. Very disappointing.

That said, the locations he chose were great. The hotel where we stayed for the eclipse had a perfect view of the eclipse from the parking lot. The hotel in Valencia was lovely. The hotel in Madrid was really great and very comfortable. We liked all the tour guides except the racist one (reported already), particularly the one in Burgos. She was amazing.

Hotel Review

Slow Suites Bellas Artes

Madrid

The hotel Slow Suites Bellas Artes in Madrid was great. However, there was an issue with the check-in times being later than our arrival, and we had no place to store our luggage or wait comfortably. It would have been helpful if the agent had proactively offered to book the previous night to accommodate our early arrival. Overall, once we got in, the hotel was very comfortable.

Activity Reviews

Discover Valencia by Tuk Tuk

Valencia

The Tuk Tuk tour in Valencia was very nice. It was a fun way to see the city and get around. We appreciated the effort to include some touristy things, and it was a good experience overall.

Walking Madrid’s Old Town

Madrid

The walking tour in Madrid's Old Town was good, but the guide was a bit odd. He was very informative but included some inappropriate and uncomfortable commentary about immigrants and beggars, which was not advertised and felt out of place. It detracted from the experience, though the tour itself had good information.

An Afternoon in Madrid

Madrid

The walking tour in Lagos was fantastic. The guide was amazing, very welcoming and accommodating. She waited for us when we arrived late and tailored the tour to include entertainment and points of interest for my kids, who are teenagers and usually hard to impress. They really enjoyed it and are still talking about it. She even walked us to our car afterward, which was a very nice touch.