Liz Chreist

My Wife and I spent 7 days in France with the help of Liz, our Travel Specialist, and the Operations Team. We were very happy with KimKim and our trip. Liz had several great ideas on how to organize and improve our agenda. The contractors hired by KimKim to transport us and guide us were top-notch. In the south, we spent a day with a guide visiting Eze and Monaco as well as the Rothschild Ville. Theo, our Guide, was excellent in his knowledge, affability, and well-connected to get us in places and reservations for lunch, etc.. His knowledge of the area was excellent, and he was very patient with our questions.

Later, we traveled without hick-up to Paris on the TGV trains. Once again pick-up service was flawless, and we started the Paris portion of our trip with a dinner cruise on the Seine River. We had KimKim hire guides for a tour of Notre-Dame and Sainte-Chapelle. We were again extremely pleased with the guide and his knowledge. These guides are worth every penny as they make the experience so much richer. No way we could have had half the experience without their local knowledge and historical context.

My only minor correction or suggestion was the seating assignments on the river cruise. The seats were a little tight and would have preffered a better spot on the boat.

Thanks again to Liz and the Ops Team for taking such good care of us.

The App we used, as well as the personalized Tips Video of our Trip, and all the care and attention during our trip were spot on. Not over or underdone.

Best Regards,
David Faber

My husband and I travelled with another over 70’s couple to the south of France (Côte d’Azur)
using Nice as our main home base. We wanted to focus on art and great food and suggested
several ideas to Kimkim who ran with our requests. They did an outstanding job coordinating
our drivers for each adventure as well as our hotels and walking and boat tours in all of the
towns we visited. Kimkim’s timing for each activity was perfectly orchestrated without a hitch.
Their team responded immediately all during the trip if we had questions or concerns.
Our 3 central hubs were Nice, Aix-en-Provence and Marseille. Of the 3 hotels we stayed in
during the 10 day trip, the Aquabella Hotel and Spa in Aix-en-Provence was by far our favorite.
Each hotel was centrally located per our request.
On several days we were driven to various nearby hill towns such as Eze (Fragonard factory),
Monaco (stunning Ephrussi de Rothchild Mansion and gardens), St. Tropez and Cassis (not to be
missed!). We requested an extra side trip to Saint-Paul-de-Vence to visit the Maeght Gallery
which was one of the highlights of our trip. We even had one day when our driver, Donato
realized there was a triathalon in St. Tropez and that it would have been impossible to get to
the town. Kimkim changed our itinerary so that we wouldn't miss St. Tropez.
One highlight was our day with Rosa the chef at Les Petits Farcis cooking school, who first led us
on a tour of the local market and then guided us through cooking all aspects of a meal. Frankly,
the meal we cooked with her was one of our best of the entire trip and that is saying a lot since
the food all during the trip was quite good.
All of our guides from A la Francais were equally charming and informative: Mohamed who paid
careful attention to the late arrival of our planes in Nice, Brigitte who toured us brilliantly
through the history of old Nice, and Donato, with whom we spent the most time touring many
hill towns. Donato spoke in depth about all that we were experiencing as he drove us to special
small villages including in the Luberon. All of his recommendations were perfect for us. He
even surprised us with some special views of Mont Saint Victoire as he drove us from Aix-en-
Provence to Marseille.
Other highlights in Nice were the Chagall Museum and the Matisse Museum which featured all
the preparatory drawings for the Stations of the Cross which we then saw at the Matisse Chapel
when we visited Vence. Our sunset electric cruise was relaxing and beautiful as we learned
about the new electric boat kits. Kimkim arranged this for us as well as the boat tour of the
Calanques National Park (think fijords). We'd never heard of this magnificent place and were
thrilled to have experienced it by boat.
In short, Kimkim did an outstanding job arranging our trip. They were also available and
responsive during the trip, including some last minute scheduling changes. We really enjoyed
the experiences they recommended. They were a pleasure to work with, and their "platform"
was easy to use and quite helpful.

All five stars… except the following which we submit to help both KimKim and your future customers:
Transfer from airport to hotel was perfect. Hotel wonderful, quirky and close to the train station. Tell your customers to learn the train early to avoid pricy taxis.
While waiting for the hotel to be ready, we walked to the Big Bus and did a two hour lap around Paris. Excellent. But the hotel was not ready for us so we sat way too long. If I hadn’t been a bit pushy we might still be waiting! Finally we got a room at past three PM. They promised us noon!
Louvre and Notre Dame in one day was too much. Guide Ed was absolutely fantastic. Use him as often as you can.
Trip to Versailles was ok. We have seen palaces before and this one was similar. However the guide had too many people and she was often talking French to other people so our ear pieces were confusing. Back to Paris for a brief moment before dinner at Eiffel’s place. Fantastic. But you could suggest customers not flash the pink ticket to get off the elevator at the first stop and go to two for free for a couple of minutes. Then back to one for first rate dinner and view.
Transfers from hotel to train and from train to new hotel went well.
Hotel in Arramoush (sp) beautiful and we thank you for adding the breakfast. Both excursion trips were good and the free day on Sunday was a welcome break but a great day. Transfer to ferry went well and the driver helped us to the check in area. He received our last 5 Euro note!
We arrived in England broke! But found our hotel and an ATM.
I forgot to comment on Champagne; great tour. Great guide.
D-Day tour was great. But arrival time for lunch was so late, all restaurants were closed/soldout.
Mount St Michael has over 300 stairs and we are both still sore! Guide, Lou, was very good and interesting (and a cutie).
Thanks, Liz. We appreciate everything you did.
When in Southampton, or anywhere probably, don’t use MOXY by Marriott. Room smaller than a cruise cabin. No shelves, storage, phone, safe. Also no A/C!

Hotel Reviews

Hotel OFF Paris Seine 4*

Paris

Fantastic views. Waving to the dinner boats as they went by was fun. Slightly disappointed that they didn’t have our room ready. At 9:30 they promised noon and even advised that the previous guests had already checked out. We napped by the pool and finally were invited to our room at 3:15 PM. Extremely long day as we flew overnight and were in France at 6 AM. Excellent breakfast three days but missed one day because our Champagne tour started early.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Les Villas d'Arromanches

Arromanches-les-Bains

We thought the commute to the meeting place in Bayaux was inconvenient but we are so lucky to have stayed in Arromanches. The hotel was fantastic. The breakfast excellent (except the day we checked out very early). Having a Sunday without plans worked out well. The 360 movie at the far end of town was excellent and tied together all of the D-Day sites we visited. Big lunches and light dinner was the plan most days.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Reviews

Free Day in Paris

Paris

Big Bus on our own. Pretty good way to see everything in order to plan the rest of the stay.

Private Louvre Museum Visit

Paris

Pricy taxi but once we found Ed, all was excellent. His guidance through the ancient Egyptian displays was top notch. He made sure we saw the “big three”. Venus de Milo, Mona Lisa, and a horse with an angel on it.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Ed is attentive to our needs and pace.

Transport

Learn the train!

Private Notre-Dame & Sainte-Chapelle Visit

Paris

Long line at Saints-Chapelle so we skipped it. Long line at Notre Dame but worth it. Again Ed’s knowledge was great. Ed also found us a lovely restaurant for lunch in between and came back to pick us up prior to Notre Dame.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Versailles Essentials – Half-Day Tour

Paris

No rest room at the meeting point. Then long bus ride with many groups. Our guide was talking non stop to others as well as us. The free time in the gardens was good.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Eiffel Tower Madame Brasserie Dinner

Paris

Dinner of a lifetime. Note that the ground floor meeting place looks closed until check in time when the blinds rise. Be in that line. Then go up and don’t get off at the first stop. Have a quick look at the second stop and come back down for the dinner reservation. Window view is well worth it.

Quality of Experience

Food

Champagne Region Day Trip with Tastings

Paris

Long taxi to the meeting play. But the restaurant was open for breakfast. Scope out the others in the group because we split into two groups for the rest of the day. Small winery was absolutely fantastic. Informative and very good quality Champagne. Visit to Reims Notre Dame was good. Big winery was a bit overwhelming. Quick stop at Dom P’s grave was interesting and a scenic stop later on was nice. Very good lunch somewhere. Donna may have pictures to help identify.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Wish bus had a toilet.

Omaha & Utah Beach War History Day Trip

Bayeux

This is why we came! Guide was extremely good. Great stories. Enough time at each stop. We cried at the cemetery. And prayed at the chapel. Guide took special interest in helping us find anything to do with the USS Nevada. We located a plaque at Utah Beach saying the ship was 5.6 miles off shore. Great history. The last stop at a church that was used by the medics was a great story/coincidence. One problem was our lunch break was very late and none of the restaurants could seat us. Terrible “club sandwich” was thick stale bread and thin slices of dry ham/cheese.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Mont-Saint-Michel Day Trip

Bayeux

Long drive but interesting. (We all slept on the return trip!) Lou was a great guide. She told us good stories and lied to us about just how many more steps! Note; this is hard on 71 year old people with aches and pains already.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Lou was a cutie!

Transport

Fantastic trip plan put together by Liz and her team, we enjoyed all of the tours! We made some incredible memories, met some nice people and had some delicious food.

Prior to our trip, we appreciated going over the itinerary with Liz, who had a lot of tips for maximizing our stay. She had ideas for nearly every activity.
The hotel location was excellent!
In country, the local guides were great. We met a new local every day, and each was so kind and tailored the activity to us.

Hotel Review

Citadines Saint-Germain-des-Prés

Paris

Excellent location, walkable to many museums and historic sites. It’s surrounded by great places to eat. Each room has a small kitchen, so there’s no on-site restaurant. There are complementary beverages and vending machines in the lobby, and there’s a small gym with a few machines and free weights.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Walkable to many popular tourist sites

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Reviews

Versailles Bike Tour

Paris

Our guide was so caring, knowledgeable, and fun! We met him in Versailles and started the day with tasting and shopping in the market for our picnic lunch. After a quick stop at the bike rental shop, we set out for the gardens at a leisurely pace (most of the bikes lacked gears), stopping frequently to check in and explain about the area. After leading the group through the forest and around a pond, he took us through the Grand Trianon, and then let us explore the Petit Trianon and Marie’s Hamlet on our own.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Self-Guided Champs-Elysées Discovery Walk

Paris

Lots to see, ranging from gardens to shopping

Quality of Experience

Private Seine River Cruise

Paris

So relaxing! A great way to wind down the day

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Arc de Triomphe - Self-guided Tour (tickets only)

Paris

Amazing view from an iconic place

Private French Revolution Walking Tour For All Ages

Paris

Our guide gave us an excellent overview of the city, not just the Revolution.

Louvre Quest for Teens

Paris

Excellent way to see the highlights, as the Louvre is vast

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Private Notre-Dame & Sainte-Chapelle Visit

Paris

Our guide took a perfectly-paced slow tour through Saint Chapelle, pointing out details in the stained glass, the architecture, and changes through its history

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Liz and Greg and Diliana, were great to work with. I worked with Liz the most and she answered ALL of my questions, and addressed ALL my concerns. I told her exactly what I wanted, and she was able to come up with a plan and also changed it when needed. The guides we had were great as well, in addition to the lodging and wineries! Just as a heads up, chateau de pizay where we stayed was beautiful but it is, its on entity. Meaning you will need to take a cab into town if you want to eat at different restaurants. But the winery and vineyards there are lovely! And Paris was great too and a change of pace in our trip. Ending with a trip to Champagne, was great as well. This trip is best for wine lovers, unless you want to experience the calmness, of the countryside of France.

Hotel Reviews

Château de Pizay

Belleville-en-Beaujolais

The chateau was great! But if you want a variety of restaurants you will need to take a cab into town, which cost about 20euros. The chateau almost looks like like a storybook with the vineyards and garden. You can also wine taste at the winery, at the chateau which was nice! It’s calm and peaceful! And had it been a little warmer I would have taken advantage of the pool!

Authenticity & Character

To me it’s the epitome of a château.

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Hôtel A La Villa des Artistes

Paris

This is an authentic European hotel, the rooms are not big, but the location of the hotel is nice, and there was breakfast every morning. The hotel is away from the tourist area, but not far, therefore the restaurants around were good and not “touristy.” Locals were all around, which is nice! Also it is not a big hotel, very cozy!

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Reviews

Private Beaujolais Wine Route Experience

Lyon

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Free Day in Paris

Paris

Quality of Experience

Free time for Shopping: Best Shopping Areas in Paris 🛍️

Paris

Quality of Experience

Champagne Region Day Trip with Tastings

Paris

Just go and take it all in, it was great! And visiting the more family owned house versus the larger champagne houses, was nice as well.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

From the beginning of planning until the last day of the trip we were treated very well and given the experience we were looking for .
There were a couple of hiccups while in the trip that were dealt with very quickly. All of the hotels and tours were great .
The most surprising to me was the incredible small town of Les Baux des Provence . The hotel was amazing and the actual town like something out of a fairy tale .
Thanks to Greg , Dianne and Diliana for all the help and a trip we will never forget

The trip was great and we had an amazing time. Everything was organized very well. The private and small group tours were excellent. I like to send special Thanks to Caroline one of our private tour guides. She was very helpful even the day after our tour. She gave us excellent recommendations.
I also like to Thank Liz for all her help in planning a great trip that was specific to us. She was very thoughtful and understanding and planned a great trip.
It was a pleasure to work with Liz. The other person I like to Thank is Greg. We appreciated his quick responses to our requests. He was great to work with and very helpful. Another quick shout out to Summer who immediately got back to us regarding a change of Hotel request.
Overall, this was a wonderful trip,very organized and enjoyable. This was our second trip planned through Kimmim team. I highly recommend them and look forward to planning our next trip with them!
Thank you everyone!!

Hotel Reviews

Hotel Le Concorde

Aix-en-Provence

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

The hotel needs to be cleaned. They need more lighting and staff who know how to help .

Riviera Marriott La Porte de Monaco

Cap d'Ail

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Hôtel La Villa Nice Victor Hugo

Nice

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Everything was very clean and organized.

Activity Reviews

Self-Guided Free Day

Aix-en-Provence

Quality of Experience

Cassis Village, Calanques Boat Ride & Provence Wines Day Trip

Aix-en-Provence

The trip was scheduled on a day when there was major storm warning by local authorities to close all schools. This tour should have been canceled, but they refused to cancel and reschedule our tour. We did not get to do anything that was listed on the tour and just sat in a restaurant and watch the heavy storm and was brought back.

Quality of Experience

Cancel the tour if there is a storm warning

Guides, Drivers and Staff

The guide wax excellent.

Transport

Very comfortable car

Luberon Markets & Villages Day Trip

Aix-en-Provence

The small villeges are very charming.

Quality of Experience

Experiencing the market day and walking around the villages

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Very knowledgable guide, but not very flexible.

Transport

Very nice and comfortable car.

We loved our trip to Paris and Normandy. Travel was almost seamless… Paris is such a beautiful city. I would highly recommend staying on the Isle de St. Louis. Bayeux was lovely… if you go don't miss Selma Alabama…. And Mont Saint. Michele was incredible… everyone should walk in the sand….

Hotel Reviews

Le Clos de la Chapelle B&B

Bayeux

To be honest, this stay was a highlight of our trip. Selma and Gregory were wonderful hosts. The food at Selma Alabama was delicious , best yogurt bowl ever!!! The room was adorable… although we did not realize ahead of time that we would be walking 4 flights of stairs…it was no problem. The location was perfect! Everything was clean… and I cannot thank Gregory enough for carrying our luggage to our room…. We bought cheese, wine and bread to eat in the garden and Selma was kind enough to bring plate, cutlery and glasses to us… this B&B is a very special place.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Cleanliness & Comfort

Hôtel des Deux-Iles - Notre-Dame

Paris

Perfect location…. Beautiful lobby… the room was small, but clean and large bathroom. The breakfast was delicious and the Michael ( I believe) was just wonderful.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Mostly helpful and pleasant.

Cleanliness & Comfort

Le Relais Saint-Michel

Le Mont Saint-Michel

Perfect location for staying at Mont Saint Michel… Clean, with helpful staff…. The hotel is older…delicious breakfast buffet. The coffee was fair…. The best part of the hotel was the view and easy access .

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

of course, no air conditioning…. But there were fans and as it was September we cooled the room by opening windows for awhile

Activity Reviews

Impressionists in Normandy: Private day trip to Monet's gardens in Giverny & Rouen From Paris

Paris

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Self-Guided Exploration around Notre Dame Cathedrale and Île de la Cité (Tickets are not included)

Paris

Quality of Experience

Lovely guile

Louvre Murders & Mysteries Experience

Paris

Expect the Lourvre to be crowded, I should have prepared myself first… I am not sure why this was a Murders and Mysteries Experience… the guide was knowledgeable, but I dont feel we did anything speical

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Private Notre-Dame & Sainte-Chapelle Visit

Paris

Lovely guide.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Versailles Essentials – Half-Day Tour

Paris

I felt we should see Versailles, and it certainly does not disappoint. The crowds are ridiculous. There are people taking information photo shoots everywhere, which was simply rude.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Montmartre

Paris

I felt having a certified guide was important . The insight she provided was important to understanding the history

Quality of Experience

Our guide ….

Omaha & Utah Beach War History Day Trip

Bayeux

We took this trip because my husband is historian. We have family in the 101st airborne and this was an important destination for us. The tour guide talked as much about what stars from the movie and come and revisited has he did the battle of D-Day. There was no discussion of the enormity of the event…little discussion of what the beaches looked like as our soldiers approached. We did see important sights.

Quality of Experience

Better history of the events… less talk of the movie…. Maybe just referring to movies so people know what they are seeing,

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

the van, easy access from our hotel

Private Honfleur, Beuvron & Calvados Tasting Day Trip

France

Quality of Experience

Tourguide

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Private WWII Jeep Experience

Bayeux

We had already been to where she had planned and wanted to go to the Juno and Gold beaches… and our tourguide was so veery flexible and created a new plan! I would recommend this tour to anyone. You got a feeling of the country…

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Private Guided Mont Saint-Michel Day Trip (Self Drive and Mont Guest)

Mont-Saint-Michel

We had a fabulous tour.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Liz with kimkim, helped us design a trip that perfectly matched our interests—and the result was an absolutely amazing experience in France. We especially loved the mix of private and small group tours, along with the diverse range of activities and locations we explored. The trip truly exceeded our expectations. Throughout the planning process, the attention to detail and communication from both Liz and Greg were exceptional.

Hotel Reviews

Citadines Saint-Germain-des-Prés

Paris

Great location with helpful staff. Beds were very comfortable.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Close to cafes, metro, and within walking distance to key sites.

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Aparthotel Adagio

Aix-en-Provence

Great location. Very friendly and helpful staff. Very comfortable beds.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Aparthotel Adagio Nice Promenade des Anglais

Nice

Activity Reviews

Eiffel Tower Summit Tickets

Paris

Explore Nice by E-Bike

Nice

Fantastic way to see Nice!

Self-Guided Beach Day

Nice

Nice is a beautiful place!

Private Louvre Museum Visit

Paris

Our tour guide, Sebastian was very knowledgeable, professional and personable.

Private Notre-Dame & Sainte-Chapelle Visit

Paris

Our tour guide, Sebastian was very knowledgeable, professional and personable.

Versailles Bike Tour

Paris

This was one of our favorite tours and activities! I highly recommend seeing Versailles on a bike. Lena, our guide was so friendly and knowledgeable. She made our time together fun!

Self-Guided Free Day

Aix-en-Provence

What a lovely place!

Luberon E-Bike Adventure: Hilltop Villages

Aix-en-Provence

The e-bike tour with Rafael was exceptional! He was extremely knowledgeable and fun. I highly recommend seeing the countryside with this e-bike adventure. This was one of our favorite activities we did in France.

Monaco, Monte Carlo & Eze Morning Excursion

Nice

Great overview of Monaco, Monte Carlo, and Eze. Eze was our favorite!

Private Wine Tour in the Hilltops of Nice

Nice

We loved learning about the unique local family owned wineries. Caroline, our guide was so sweet, very professional and made sure all our needs were met.