Janelle Norman

Our trip was wonderful! We traveled to Porto (City Food and Wine Tour and a day trip to Duro Valley), Sandigo de Compostella (day trip to Galicia) and Lisbon (a day trip to Sintra, Cascais and along the coast) over an 11-day period.
The hotels were all in a great location. The hotels were exactly what we were interested in, small boutique in the city center. Our favorites were Jardim Da Batalha - Porto (wonderful, helpful staff, fabulous breakfast, great location and neighborhood and very quiet room), also The Art Inn - Lisbon (very unique, helpful staff, great location, and wonderful roof top restaurant!
We All our guides and drivers were expectational, on time and professional!
Janelle truly listened, communicated and did an outstanding job helping us coordinate the trip.
Thank you for all your help and guidance. We would highly recommend KimKim

Hotel Reviews

Jardim da Batalha Boutique Hotel by Shiadu

Porto

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Hotel Compostela

Santiago de Compostela

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

The Art Inn Lisbon

Lisboa

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Reviews

A Day to Discover La Costa da Morte: Exploring Fisterra & Beyond

Portugal

We had a great day! The guide/driver did a great job!

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Culinary Highlights of Porto: Food Delights & Bolhão Market

Porto

Great experience and guide

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Douro Valley Highlights: Wine, Olive Oil & River Cruise

Porto

The guide was great - we had a great experience

Quality of Experience

Food

We liked the second vineyard very much! Our lunch on top of the mountain in a small family restaurant was unique and the food and wine was wonderful! We had a great day!

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Exploring Sintra & Cascais: Palaces, Cliffs & Coastline

Lisbon

The guide/driver did a great job! We really enjoyed the day! We really appreciated the walk up to the Palaces via the paths through the gardens - it was a bit of a walk-up hill, therefore not for everyone, but our small group really appreciated it! The only negative was that the tour of the Pena Palace was very crowed, we would have skipped tour of the inside of the Pena Palance and spent more time in Sentra.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Portugal - Important Trip Information: Please Review Before Departure

Portugal

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

We had a fantastic time on our trip to Southern Spain and Morocco. Janelle did a fantastic job arranging a trip that was the perfect balance of arranged activities and enough free time to soak in the culture and sites around you. All our hotels were top notch and all could not have been better located to easily reach desired neighborhoods or sites. Our arranged activities were all exactly as advertised. Jose, our guide for the Tapas Tour was incredibly knowledgeable of the neighborhood and made us feel like locals for our fist night in Malaga. The Alegria Flamenco Show was awesome and a perfect second night in Malaga. We had the entire sailboat to ourselves (4 of us) in Marbella, where our guide Oliver made sure we had a great time that even included a quick dip in the Mediterranean. Our self- guided tour of nearby Rhonda was not to be missed. Aziz, our guide in Tangier, made sure we were oriented to the Medina and the Kasbah and helped us arrange an evening drive to view the sunset over the Atlantic on one of the most norther parts of Africa. Cadiz afforded a beautiful day spent on the beach and we wish we had more time in Seville as there was so much to see and do there. Our hotel, Las Casa de la Juderia, btw, was an incredibly unique hotel made up of 27 separate buildings connected by a tunnel complex made to look like Roman ruins. Truly a great way to end a perfect Southern Spain getaway!

Hotel Reviews

Molina Lario Hotel

Málaga

Perfect appointed and perfectly located. Our view was the Cathedral one of the main sites of Malaga.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Eurostars Oasis Marbella

Marbella

The view and the pool were both beautiful.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Palais Zahia

Old Medina, Tangier

Charming 4 star hotel in the middle of the Medina. Exactly what you would hope for in terms of a taste of old Tangier in both decor and ambience.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Parador de Cádiz

Cádiz

Beautiful views form all rooms.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Las Casas de la Judería

Seville

Incredibly unique hotel with 27 separate buildings and a tunnel complex connecting them made to look like Roman ruins. The hotel is an experience in itself. The staff here could not have been more helpful or accommodating, including ensuring a change of rooms did not impact our ability to see the city.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Reviews

An Evening of Flamenco

Seville

Perfect second night in Malaga. The show was fantastic and really fun and easy to get too. Highly recommended.

Quality of Experience

Tapeo Like a Local: A Tapas Walk Through Málaga

Málaga

Our guide, Jose, was great. He really new the neighborhood and helped us experience it as if we were locals.

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Sunset Cruise on the Mediterranean

Marbella

We had the entire sailboat to our small group of 4. Our guide Oliver was fantastic and made sure we had a great time, including a quick dip in the Mediterranean.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Tangier Immersion: History, Culture & Daily Life

Tangier

Our guide, Aziz, was fantastic. Really helped us understand the history and culture of both the Medina as well as the Kasbah in a short afternoon tour. Also helped us arrange for a evening drive to observe the sunset over the Atlantic at one of Africa's most northern points.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Janelle was very helpful in planning our trip. Nadia was very responsive to our questions during the trip with revisions forced due to weather.

Hotel Review

Hotel Albergaria do Calvário

Évora

The staff was exceptional and jumped at the chance to exceed our every whim. The rooms were very spacious and clean. The bar, parking, patio, and bicycles made the time spent there just perfect. Great location making it an easy walk to local shops and restaurants.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Reviews

Douro Valley Highlights: Wine, Olive Oil & River Cruise

Porto

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Discover Peneda-Gerês National Park by Mountain Bike

Porto

A do it yourself tour with a provided route and phone. Yet the app is in Portugese.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Hot Air Balloon Flight Over Évora

Portugal

Exceptional guides who enjoyed the ride as much as us and explained every step and detail. The certificate and toast after made it that much more special.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Culinary Highlights of Porto: Food Delights & Bolhão Market

Porto

A nice overview of the wine and food. Lacked context about locations, route, and selections.

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Janelle and the KimKim team provided an amazing experience for my parents. They were extremely satisfied with the accommodations, itinerary, drivers and guides.

Thank you, Janelle for your patience and help for organizing! They can’t wait for their next adventure.

Janelle was truly outstanding, helping us to put together a trip to Northern Spain with a lot of moving pieces. None of the 5 us had been to that part of the world before, and she made it easy to hit a lot of wonderful highlights. The guides selected were excellent, and each of the hotels and restaurants the team reserved for us was GREAT.

Overall trip was incredible!
Everything that kimkim helped me with was wonderful. The only this is the shuttle from airport. They give you 1hr to show up but we all know that unboarding a big plane and going thru all the checks is at least 1.5hrs. So our private shuttle left the airport. I’m not sure how much money that was wasted on us but I was kinda sad about that part.
Thanks for all the help!!

Our specialist was knowledgeable and recommended some great activities that we did not think of.
All of our guides were amazing. Everything went flawlessly. Great trip!

We had a fantastic trip to Spain visiting Madrid, Segovia, Seville, Cadiz and Vejer de la Frontera. Having local guides is a great way to learn history and they share recommendations for dining. We especially liked Maria in Madrid and both Maria and Lola in Seville. We enjoyed the Flamenco show and tapas tour as well as the tour of the cathedral and royal palace. The private transportation was comfortable and always timely. Jesus and Pedro Lozano were professional and enjoyable to travel with.

Janelle was easy to work with and helped us put together a trip that worked for us. She is very knowledgeable of the area and offered great suggestions. We loved the boutique hotels and dining recommendations provided.

Hotel Reviews

Room Mate Alba

Madrid

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Casa Romana Hotel Boutique

Sevilla

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Parador de Cádiz

Cádiz

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

La Casa del Califa

Vejer de la Frontera, Cádiz

Beautiful hotel. A bit noisy late night due to restaurant diners.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Radisson RED Madrid

Madrid

Hotel was clean Standard room. Just not our preference. Staff was very friendly and helpful.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Very busy part of the city. Just not our preference.

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Unusual decor

Activity Reviews

Segovia Highlights Day Excursion: a Fairy Tale Getaway

Madrid

Definitely worth the trip. Beautiful city and nice train ride from Madrid.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Train was easy to navigate and comfortable

Walking Madrid’s Old Town

Madrid

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Seville Flamenco Experience & Tapas

Seville

Great to see the show. The tapas tour introduced us to food we would not have known to try. Maria was a fantastic guide!

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Monumental Seville on Foot & Visit Real Alcázar

Seville

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Lola was a great guide. Offered a lot of information at a nice pace.

Janelle thank you. Thank your team too!
Our trip throughout Madrid, Porto and Northern Spain was better than we could have imagined.

Every hotel was amazing. The meals and restaurantrecommendations were spot on. Add in the unique private experiences (fun sidecar) and small tours, and all of that adds up to a very special trip.

Janelle and her Team went above and beyond in a multitude of ways. Here is just one example:
Day one I left/lost my glasses 🤓 n my inbound flight. They immediately reached out to the airline, our driver and the airport to initiate a search. They followed up a number of times-alas they were truly lost. BUT they also located an optometrist that could have glasses made, onsite, within an hour. Plus they made the appointment and sent me directions.

We would not have seen or done so many things. We were prepared for every day and knew what awaited us even if we ventured just outside of our hotel!we rented a car and flew to a destination and also had a few private drivers! When WE drove we received ideas where to stop along the way. It really was about the journey AND the destination!

Their app was so cool! No maps or books or notepads. Everything was right in our phones. And more.

I did not know what to see or where to stop and stay at all. Initially Janell asked lots of questions and learned about us first. Then we talked about general destinations and such. She created an itinerary we could see and understand. The hotel website and photos were there. We made a couple of adjustments and damn-she created a plan and trip
I had been struggling with for months

Every question we had was answered quickly and I have now learned a truth: using a travel Agent like Janelle made planning for the trip almost as easy and enjoyable as the trip itself.

The app Ride on GPS, provided directions for a bicyclist, which significantly varied from a hiker and was somewhat dangerous as it exposed one to bicyclist who do mot expect hikers.
I deleted ride on gos, and replaced with All Trails, which provided accurate information.
I can not stress the importance of using app that provided accurate information.