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1399 messages

Maro Mkhitaryan

Traveling is a lifechanging experience for me. Meeting with people from different countries, learning about their culture, lifestyle, traditions, visiting new places enriches one's life. I'm in love with my country, its natural beauty and culture, but mostly with its hospitable people. I want to help people create authentic experiences and visit places off the beaten track.

What places and activities do you specialize in?

"We are specialized in tailor-made trips arranging cultural, adventure, pilgrimage, combined (Armenia - Georgia, Azerbaijan-Georgia-Armenia) tours as well as special interest tours. We offer unique immersing experiences and unforgettable memories. "

How did you get involved in travel?

"From my childhood I'm passionate about different cultures and traveling. During my studies, I was given the chance to live abroad from where I returned to Armenia with full of impressions and clearer idea of my profession. I started to work in tourism industry exploring the regions of Armenia with my team and continuously searching for new itineraries and ideas. "

Please share a unique travel experience you will never forget.

"It's hard to pick only one experience. But, probably reaching the top of a mountain is the most incredible feeling. No matter how long you have climbed, how tired you are, when you arrive at the peak you receive immense energy: a sheer feeling of accomplishment and happiness."

Maro is part of the following groups: Georgia Travel Agents, Armenia Travel Agents
Top itineraries and travel advice

Recent trip reviews for Maro

Outstanding!
Georgia | Aug 30 - Sep 3, 2022

Catherine
Catherine H.
Highland Springs, VA | Reviewed on Sep 10, 2022
This tour of Georgia exceeded my expectations. Lela went above and beyond the usual duties of a tour guide as she cheerfully and tirelessly introduced me to the history and culture of her country going from site-to-site. Her English was great! I have never seen anything like Uplistsikhe; it was fascinating to behold. I had some unexpected yet important life-lessons taught to me as I visited the Green Monastery and Vardzia. Our driver Nika seemed to be very familiar with the roads. His... Read more

This tour of Georgia exceeded my expectations. Lela went above and beyond the usual duties of a tour guide as she cheerfully and tirelessly introduced me to the history and culture of her country going from site-to-site. Her English was great! I have never seen anything like Uplistsikhe; it was fascinating to behold. I had some unexpected yet important life-lessons taught to me as I visited the Green Monastery and Vardzia. Our driver Nika seemed to be very familiar with the roads. His driving was efficient yet careful, and he exhibited great patience! The food was fabulous. As a solo lady traveler, I felt safe at all times. I will always remember my time here and highly recommend this tour!

Local specialist: Maro Mkhitaryan
Maro
Maro Mkhitaryan
Local specialist in Tbilisi, Georgia | Replied on Sep 15, 2022

Thanks for your feedback! We were happy to organize a tour for you, and we are looking forward to your next tour in Georgia or Armenia.

Maro, our local travel specialist was great.....
Armenia | Oct 12 - Oct 18, 2019

M
Mariam N.
Grand Blanc, MI | Reviewed on Oct 26, 2019
Maro, our local travel specialist was great....very helpful in planning our trip. She responded quickly to any questions or concerns and her recommendations were on point. My only regret is that we didn't get the chance to meet her and say "Thank you!"
Karen, our driver, was wonderful. He was very knowledgable, warm, and so polite. We truly enjoyed our time spent with him and wouldn't mind having him again for our next trip!
Aside from visiting the beautiful Monasteries, Churches, Genocide...
Read more

Maro, our local travel specialist was great....very helpful in planning our trip. She responded quickly to any questions or concerns and her recommendations were on point. My only regret is that we didn't get the chance to meet her and say "Thank you!"
Karen, our driver, was wonderful. He was very knowledgable, warm, and so polite. We truly enjoyed our time spent with him and wouldn't mind having him again for our next trip!
Aside from visiting the beautiful Monasteries, Churches, Genocide Memorial, and Alphabet Monument, it was so very nice meeting families and watching as well as learning how lavash and different cheeses are made.
Needless to say, we had quite an amazing trip....enjoying every minute!

Local specialist: Maro Mkhitaryan
Maro
Maro Mkhitaryan
Local specialist in Tbilisi, Georgia | Replied on Oct 29, 2019

Dear Mariam,
Thanks very much for your kind words. I am delighted to hear you enjoyed your holiday with us and really appreciate the positive feedback. We hope to welcome you back in our region in the future!
Maro

summer 2019
Armenia | Jul 19 - Jul 30, 2019

S
sandy b.
Austin, TX | Reviewed on Aug 18, 2019
Overall - great trip. I was a very passive planner for this trip - my first using a company like KimKim - and I accept some responsibility for the itinerary disappointments - the greatest of which was that we saw way too many cathedrals and monasteries. At one point I told Maro that we were Jewish and would like to visit some Jewish areas or synagogues, which we did on one of our free days after the trip, but there was nothing included in the itinerary. Our driver Achiko was great: he... Read more

Overall - great trip. I was a very passive planner for this trip - my first using a company like KimKim - and I accept some responsibility for the itinerary disappointments - the greatest of which was that we saw way too many cathedrals and monasteries. At one point I told Maro that we were Jewish and would like to visit some Jewish areas or synagogues, which we did on one of our free days after the trip, but there was nothing included in the itinerary.

Our driver Achiko was great: he was helpful and friendly and did "extras" that we appreciated, such as bringing us some of his father's wine and cha cha and his mother's sauce and providing a copy of the Georgian music we heard while in the van. He was always on-time and good-natured. The van was comfortable and clean. His driving was smooth. His English language skills need to be improved.

Due to problems with airlines, we flew out July 19 instead of July 18 which meant that we missed one day in Tbilisi. I took out travel insurance so would like feedback on whether we get a refund for one night at the hotel. I notified Maro of the delay and Achiko was there July 20th at the airport for us.

Our first day with Achiko we went to the history museum and National Gallery - which we LOVED - and some other places like Matsminda park.

Jvari was okay as was Mtsketa... that was early in the trip and we were tired from having a catch a 5:35 am flight the day before.

The Prince Alexander Chavchavadze's museum house was a big disappointment. We were told we would get 5 glasses of wine, and we only received 1. The man serving wine at the museum was unfriendly. The museum was unimpressive, and we received no information about the museum. I told Maro I wanted to visit the wine-growing region. We did - but didn't get to drink any wine or learn about the wine-making process. The visit was a huge disappointment because we drove and drove to arrive in the region... for what? On my own I wandered around and found a fancy hotel that had a wine bar... and I could have sampled wines but it was time to go... big big disappointment.

Uplistsikhe - great! Ushguli - great! Except... we drive around for 1.5 hours trying to find the place we were going to stay. I think Achiko thought Mazeri was the name of a hotel.... who knew it was a village about 30-40 minutes from Mestia? Began to lose our patience... Maro said he had communicated this to me... that we would not be staying in Mestia... I think he should have sent an updated itinerary. He may have sent the "final" itinerary... but I don't think he did.

But Mazeri the next morning was lovely... and the site for several walks 10-12 km that could have been fun to do. But... not on itinerary. Instead we got to "wander" around Ushguli... not quite like hiking/walking I had hoped to do.

Gori was interesting - especially the Stalin museum.

Martivili - no big deal. Lots of rain the day before meant that we didn't get to go on the boat ride (which apparently was not very long anyway). Why did we even go here? WE drove and drove and then walked a tiny big along the paved trail. Don't think this was much of a destination.

Borjormi was interesting... but we never went to the National Park of Borjomi...?? Walked around a park within Borjormi... a city park.... ??

Green Monastery was lovely.

Vardzia and Rabath Fortress were a lot of fun.

Accomodations;

Old Mestia hotel in Tbilisi was great.
The hotel we stayed in 2 different nights in Kutaisi - nice location; lousy mattress.
Bed and breakfast in Marzia was great - lovely hostess.
Rabath Fortress was wonderful in every way.

Food - wonderful!!! Portions were very generous, and we felt guilty for not being able to eat it all. Only not good meal was in Borjomi... we were only ones in restaurant... and we had to order the meal ourselves (which is NOT a problem at all... it is just that the food was provided at all the other restaurants we went to for lunch). To clarify - we did not PAY for the meal - Achiko did... but the whole thing seemed "off". Why was noone else at this restaurant? Why was the food not ready for us... (I know I sound spoiled: I'm not. I just want to give you the feedback that this day was different from the others, in case you didn't know).

Billing: After taking the trip, I realize I would have liked to have received more information on food provided in advance, and also an itemized bill for expenses: hotels; lunches; drivers' fee; etc. We did not know anything about the food we would be receiving (enough for a family of giants) and I don't know how much I paid for what.

Reimbursement: do we receive refunds for anything that we couldn't go - such as our missed night in Tbilisi on July 19 or the lack of a canyon ride in Martvili.

Overall, I appreciate that KimKim did all the research and arrangements so that my husband and i could visit many places in Georgia in a country that we knew very little about. I have never been this passive in planning, and it was a learning experience to travel this way. It was my choice to be passive. I think to improve your services: either an initial phone conversation or more questioning of the travelers would be helpful to flesh out for the trip planner what travel elements are important to the travelers to make sure that they experience those elements in the trip. I really wanted to do a bit of hiking and visit a wine region to learn more about wines in Georgia. Neither really happened. I did see lots of monasteries and cathedrals... but that was never really a priority for me.

Also, I originally wanted to go to Armenia and then changed my mind to go to Georgia. Small detail but Maro is located in Yerevan...????Why was he assigned to plan my trip?

Local specialist: Maro Mkhitaryan
Maro
Maro Mkhitaryan
Local specialist in Tbilisi, Georgia | Replied on Aug 19, 2019
Dear Sandy,
Thank you so much for your detailed feedback, it is really appreciated.
I'm glad that you enjoyed your stay in Georgia.
The local hospitably assumes abundant food and I am glad that you enjoyed Georgian dishes. We do our reservations in advance to save time, the reserve for all the restaurants were done beforehand, the driver just chose the menu and for the payment, it depends on the place weather they accept cash or bank transfer. I am sorry that you didn't visit Martvili due... Read more

Dear Sandy,
Thank you so much for your detailed feedback, it is really appreciated.
I'm glad that you enjoyed your stay in Georgia.

The local hospitably assumes abundant food and I am glad that you enjoyed Georgian dishes. We do our reservations in advance to save time, the reserve for all the restaurants were done beforehand, the driver just chose the menu and for the payment, it depends on the place weather they accept cash or bank transfer.

I am sorry that you didn't visit Martvili due to weather conditions. I have already submitted the application for your refund and you will receive 24$ which is the ticket price for 2 people. What concerns your missed night in Tbilisi, the hotels do not accept last minute cancellations and we paid for the overnight.

I am responsible for planning tours for both in Armenia and in Georgia. We have 2 agencies and I work from both agencies.

Thank you once again for providing us such detailed information, this will help us continuously improve our service. Wish you more new discoveries and memorable experiences! All the best, Maro

Azeri mountains
Azerbaijan | May 8 - May 13, 2019

Jeremy
Jeremy M.
United Kingdom | Reviewed on May 17, 2019

Everything worked out perfectly. Maro, our local specialist was very helpful in putting a plan together, responding promptly to messages, and making changes where we wanted them. Our English speaking driver, Tahir and our walking guide Babek were friendly and very helpful. We were very well looked after. We had a great time!

Local specialist: Maro Mkhitaryan
Maro
Maro Mkhitaryan
Local specialist in Tbilisi, Georgia | Replied on May 17, 2019

Dear Jeremy,
Thanks very much for your kind words. I am delighted to hear you enjoyed your holiday with us and really appreciate the positive feedback. We hope to welcome you back in our region in the future!
Maro