Io Gillhuber

This was our first time using kimkim.com to plan our vacation (Peru). We were paired with Andean Travel and Lo assisted us in our planning. She was great to work with and very flexible to our wants. Then once we were in Peru, Lisbeth took over and was in constant communication with us to ensure everything went smoothly, and it did! It was great to have private drivers to/from the airport, for taking us to needed spots, etc.

Our guides were wonderful! Oscar was very knowledgeable about the Sacred Valley and we learned so much about the history and people. Javier guided us through Machu Picchu and it meant so much more to understand this special place. The Amazon and the Corto Maltes Lodge did not disappoint and we saw so much wildlife! We ended back in Lima for a day before catching our flight home and the Lima Food Tour with Amy was a great way to wrap up our time in Peru.

We will definately use this service again. Made it so simple and took away the stress of planning!

Hotel Reviews

Hotel Estelar Miraflores

Lima

Nice hotel in middle of Miraflores made walking and getting to places very easy!

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Corto Maltes Amazon Lodge

Puerto Maldonado

Highly recommended! The programs and guides were great and the experience is something we will never forget.

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La Casona de Yucay

Cusco

Loved the grounds and views from this place!

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Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

San Augustin Plaza

Cusco

Right in the middle of the city.

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Activity Reviews

Explore Ollantaytambo town, Shared Pachamanca & Transfer to {{end_location}}

Peru

We explored Ollantaytambo on our own and it was nice to have some free time. The Shared Pachamanca was a complete surprise and we enjoyed the experience very much.

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Flight to Cusco & Private tour to Awanakancha, Pisac Sites, Market & Inkary Museum

Peru

Our guide Oscar was wonderful and we learned so much about the history and people. Highly recommend Oscar for tours!

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Private tour to Moray, Maras & Chinchero

Sacred Valley

We had Oscar as our tour guide again this day and it was great!

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Corto Maltes Lodge 2/3 (Sandoval Lake Program)

Puerto Maldonado

We spent day 2 with our guide Franklin on Lake Sandoval. We saw otters, caiman, monkeys, and tons of different birds. It was a special day.

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Explore Machu Picchu (Private guided tour in Machu Picchu)

Peru

Once in a lifetime trip! Our guide, Javier, was from here and provided so much history of this special place and people.

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Flight to Puerto Maldonado & Corto Maltes 1/3 (Sandoval Program)

Peru

First day in the Amazon and it was amazing! Our guide Franklin gave us a simple overview of the jungle and then we headed out at night looking for wildlife and boy did we get to see it!

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Flight to {{end_location}} & Corto Maltes 3/3 (Sandoval Program)

Peru

Spent the early morning at the salt lick watching different birds. So colorful! I would highly recommend staying here and experience their programs. It was nice to have downtime and the food was great!

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Food

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Private Interactive City & Gourmet Lima Food Tour (AM)

Lima

WOW! Food, food and more food! Our guide Amy was very delightful and we experienced such great food that Peru has to offer. The places we visited to eat were an added plus to our trip.

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We are pretty last minute with our planning and we weren't even sure there was time to pull a decent vacation in Peru together but Io, our kimkim specialist, was fantastic! She put together a great itinerary for our family of five, including plenty of history and cultural experiences, local sightseeing, as well as adventure. We had enough free time which was important as some of the family needed time adapting to the altitude in Cusco. We didn't have a list of must-sees and we simply trusted her recommendations and we are glad we did. Our day in Pisac and Ollantaytambo was unexpected and fascinating and one of the best! Adriel, our guide, was incredibly knowledgable and passionate about it all and we all swore we lucked out with the best guide! Of course Machu Picchu was a wonder to see and we were grateful for the guide, Rosa, who met us as soon as we disembarked the train and rushed us to the bus to head up to it. We would have never been able to figure that out and get there on time without her swift and urgent guidance! Another highlight was the Via Ferrate Climbing and Ziplining in the Sacred Valley. Our family has ziplined in some pretty amazing countries but the climbing up portion of this experience was new and exhilarating! We agreed this was the best day and our two guides, Brian and (forget his name) as well as Karla who took our photos, were outstanding! Additionally, all the hotels were even better than expected, with online photos not doing them justice. They were all in great locations, easy to explore on our own and walk to markets, coffee shops, restaurants, etc but also clean and comfortable. Have to give a huge shout out to Sonesta Posadas del Inca Yucay, our hotel in the Sacred Valley. This place was so stunning. There aren't words for how enamored we were with this place. Photos don't begin to show the beauty of this place. My husband wanted to cancel the rest of the trip and stay here! But honestly, it was sort of an oasis in what seemed to be the middle of nowhere but it had everything we needed and was just very unique. We also took a cooking class the last day and honestly, while we all like to cook, no one was sure what to expect. I can't locate the name of the place but it was a 3-hour full immersion cooking class in the heart of Cusco and Chef Fernando taught us so much about local cuisine and ingredients, provided samples of several things as well as walking us through making a couple of delicious and beautiful dishes. He was an entertaining and fun and there was so much food! The people in Peru were lovely, the food was all pretty great, the hotels were better than expected and there was the perfect mix of planned and free time for our family. Lisbeth, at Andean Travel, who was our local contact, was responsive and helpful when the altitude affected our plans one morning and all the guides and drivers we had in every city were great. kimkim delivered for us once again!

Hotel Reviews

Sonesta Posadas del Inca Yucay

Urubamba

I cannot describe how much we loved this place! The photos don't do it justice. Amazing design, big beautiful rooms, gorgeous greenery, restaurants and coffee shop on premise, we took so many pictures here. This is no standard hotel experience, it was something different. I can see why they have weddings here. Gorgeous!

Authenticity & Character

Private balcony off each of our rooms, huge wooden doors with iron finishings, rustic but yet really nice. Hard to describe but best hotel!

Location

We were only there less than 48 hours and it felt like we were in the middle of nowhere driving into it but it had everything we needed so didn't matter where it was.

Staff

It was cool when we were there at night and rooms have portable heaters. I called because ours wasn't working and it was replaced within 2 minutes. I'm not even sure how they got to our room so quickly.

Cleanliness & Comfort

Dazzler Miraflores by Wyndham

Lima

Clean, spacious, comfortable. Nothing over the top but very good.

Authenticity & Character

Again, nothing mind-blowing but very nice.

Location

We were only there one night but it was easy to walk to restaurants, etc

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Cleanliness & Comfort

San Augustin Plaza

Cusco

Location was great! The plaza was up the road a few blocks and it was very walkable to all things we wanted to do and see there. The rooms were clean and comfortable. They had the tea in the lobby and O2 for those struggling with the altitude. I will say it was pretty cold in the lobby, hallways and rooms. Rooms did have portable heaters though so we were warm enough when sleeping. Staff was very nice but as we don't speak great Spanish, communication was sometimes a little tricky for us. There was a great breakfast spread but we preferred the coffee from the little cafe next door. Overall, it was a great place. We stayed there three nights, two night then left for two days and then came back there for our last night.

Authenticity & Character

I love anything that is clean and comfortable and safe but feels like we are somewhere different and this ticked all those boxes.

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Cleanliness & Comfort

Five star clean, four star comfort. It was just chilly inside. We were there in August. Bring warm pajamas and a jacket or sweater for the halls/lobby.

Activity Reviews

Shared tour to Pisac & Ollantaytambo tour

Peru

Amazing! Knew nothing of these places before going and loved every bit of this day. Our guide, Adriel, was the best! We learned so much and had so much fun!

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Shared Ziplining & Via Ferrata in The Sacred Valley

Sacred Valley

We have ziplined in other amazing places and countries but haven't done the climbing like we did here. It was exhilarating and the views were over the top! Guides Brian et all were great. Our day happened to be stunning and perfect weather too. Highly recommend!

Quality of Experience

Food

It was a snack bag which we chose to take with us at the end. We didn't want to stop to eat.

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Private Full Immersion Cooking class

Cusco

Chef Fernanado taught us about local ingredients, cuisine, etc. We got a lot of history, information, samples and then fully made two dishes with the Chef. Food was delicious and Chef Fernando was very knowledgable and entertaining. My family loved this!

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Explore Machu Picchu (Private Guided tour in Machu Picchu) SV Htl

Peru

What's not to love? It's Machi Picchu! We will the third one, seeing and going into many of the structures. It's incredible.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Our guide Rosa rushed us from the train to the bus to go to the top and we would never have figured that out on our own so quickly. Be prepared to run from the train to bus. Not sure it's always like that but we did a full uphill sprint! Our guide through Machu Picchu was great was well. Very calm, relaxing voice, fitting for the environment.

Transport

Private Half-Day Walking Tour: Sacsayhuaman, Cusco City & San Pedro Market

Cusco

We had two (altitude) sick kids so I missed this but my husband and older son said it was amazing! They recounted all they saw and learned and later that afternoon, when the kids felt a bit better, we all went back to the museum together and it was great.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

We enjoyed our itinerary a lot and each of the tours was very well thought out with *excellent* drivers (a BIG deal) and good tour guides for the most part. The Peru portion was noticeably better with much better coordination by the local agency Andes Tours.

The Argentina portion of our trip had a couple of mishaps with booking Montevideo (instead of Colonia) which was fixed last minute ($200 extra cost), and the San Telmo grill tour was just a lunch in Palermo (but the agency made it up to us with an excellent dinner in Cuzco!).

Every single driver on our entire trip was excellent. Every time the driver was early to pick us up, had a very comfortable van, and drove well. This is huge when you are in a foreign country and the roads/traffic are insane.

We had a very unfortunate case of food poisoning and our local guide Lisbeth did an amazing job of helping us when we needed her most. Thank you Lisbeth! Thank you Io!

Hotel Reviews

Esplendor by Wyndham Buenos Aires

Buenos Aires

Excellent location and nice staff. But Very loud night club next to our room.

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Costa del Sol Wyndham Cusco

Cusco

Great location, staff and rooms.

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Hilton Garden Inn Lima Miraflores

Great hotel! Fantastic way to finish a long and exhausting trip.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Close to boardwalk, beach and the Cat Park!

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Spotless, great showers!

Activity Reviews

Small Group Grill Tour in San Telmo

Buenos Aires

The local tour operator did not take us on a grill tour. This was very disappointing! He took us to a fancy lunch in a different neighborhood. So we just made the best of it.

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Private tour to Chinchero, Moray, Maras & Ollantaytambo & Train to Aguas Calientes

Peru

This was truly an unbelievable day full of surprises and amazing Incan ruins. Probably our favorite activity of the entire vacation, which is really saying something.

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Buenos Aires city tour & Tango Show

Buenos Aires

Did not have a city tour. The tango spot was quite good.

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Explore Machu Picchu: Pachamanca Farm Experience & Transfer to Cusco SV

Peru

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Private Urban Bike tour in Lima

Lima

This was a really cool way to see Lima. It was much better than riding around in a van. Italo is a great guide!

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Shared Lima Fountains Tour

Lima

This tour is worth doing, but with very low expectations. The park is an odd cross between some water fountains and a children’s amusement park. The main event is an impressive fountain, visual show, but not worth driving across the city for.

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