Olivia Luang

Great trip to Japan! (Kyoto, Nara, Tokyo). Olivia was a fantastic planner and her recommendations did not disappoint. She helped make our trip (with children) as painless as possible and even helped us postpone and rebook when an unexpected family emergency popped up. If you want to get the most out of your time, I can highly recommend KimKim.

Hotel Reviews

Gion Ryokan Karaku

kyoto

This was a fun way to spend an authentic Japanese night in Kyoto. As expected we slept on mats on the floor, the room had a traditional Japanese table & chairs (very low on the floor.) . The complimentary breakfast was traditional Japanese style also with rice and miso soup and fish. If you have mobility issues or you want a typical North American breakfast this is probably not the experience for you but if you're looking for adventure, our Canadian family with young kids loved it! The location was very conveniently located at the end of the shopping district. Subway was about a 10 minute walk, or you can take a cab for 15 mins to get to Kyoto station.

Authenticity & Character

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Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

RIHGA Royal Hotel Kyoto

Kyoto

The complimentary breakfast was amazing, showcasing many traditional Japanese breakfast elements, with plenty of European / North American options for the less adventurous. Their auto-coffee / hot chocolate / matcha machine was incredible. A wide selection of alcoholic beverages (complimentary) at both breakfast and the evening appetizer event each night. There were traditional activities each afternoon. The subway station was a 8 minute walk and takes you straight to Kyoto station and the rest of the network for Kyoto / Osaka / Nara. Room was comfortable and the hotel was quiet and private with a 10 minute walk to massive shopping district from narrow street bizarre type feel to high end luxury goods. This is a great location to stay in Kyoto.

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Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Reviews

Ninja Training in Kyoto: Ninja Experience - 2 HOURS / SWORD INCLUDED

Kyoto

This was a fun activity. We dressed up as ninjas and got to shoot blow darts and throw ninja stars at targets. We also got to fight each other with foam-covered swords. This was most fun for our kids (8 & 10) but we got some nice photos out of it. The first portion was an hour, then the second portion: we walked about 1km to the ninja museum and got a 30 minute tour through the 3 storey facility on the history of Samurai & Ninja culture. Great displays and a very well done tour / history lesson. This was more fun for the adults. I'm not sure what the "SWORD INCLUDED" refers to. We did get a plastic throwing-star as a "prize" for the person closest to the target, but no swords.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Geisha and Maiko Makeover Experience in Kyoto

Kyoto

Wow, what an amazing transformation! My daughters (8 & 10) loved it, and my wife who isn't much for dressing up or putting on make up, enjoyed the experience too. The professional photos that were included are really fantastic. Definitely the highlight of the trip for one of my daughters.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Kyoto: Authentic Sushi-Making Cooking Class

Kyoto

We did the bento-making class with kids and had a great time! We learned a lot (feel comfortable to try on our own at home) and the food was delicious. A great way to learn about this history of the food, and the ingredients and have a great (large) meal too.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Asakusa Sumo Club: Sumo Show Admission with Chankonabe in Tokyo

Tokyo

Wow. What an amazing experience! I didn't know what to expect but this was really well done, catering to visitors who want to learn more about sumo culture. Explanations of the history, rules and lifestyle of sumo wrestlers plus an authentic match between 2 former professional wrestlers and the opportunity to wrestle one yourself. The sumo-meal that is included was fantastic too.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Tokyo Highlights Day Tour with Tsukiji Outer Fish Market

Tokyo

What a great way to experience a nice cross-section of Tokyo in a single day. We walked about 20,000 steps but mainly used the subway to jet all over town. It was a brilliant introduction to what otherwise could be a very intimidating city.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Kumiko was fantastic!

Transport

It was a great introduction to the Tokyo subway system at various levels of congestion during the day.

On the whole this was a memorable trip but on this occasion although the logistics and planning of tours and day trips were taken care of, we felt it was a little too expensive, especially given other Kimkim trips which felt more value add. We ended up booking all our own accommodation and flights, so really we were just paying for the things to do in Japan, and it was an awful lot. We therefore expected a little bit more than what we got.

Kimkim arranged:
- A seamless day at Disney - great.
- A visit to Nara was fun, with a reasonable guide who showed some interest.
- A Mt Fuji day trip. Weather was foggy. Couldn't see anything. This happens and was a shame. But tour guide first of all didn't cancel knowing we'd see nothing (and had said as much) but then also didn't really know how to make the day enjoyable. He just took us from view point to view point in the fog. He didn't recommend anything else. Eventually I just cut the day short because we didn't the point of going to another tourist hot spot to look at nothing. Honestly this was a poor day as a private guide should have a plan B if there's bad weather and if you have a private car you should be able to get off the beaten track at points and pivot your day trip.
- Kyoto samurai experience (see below) and tea ceremony (great).
- Transport. All transport in Tokyo was great. Kyoto was average. Our first driver didn't speak English, didn't really know where we were going, dropped us off at the wrong place when we went for a samurai experience (which means we missed half the experience) and when he picked us up at 8pm made a nice gesture I guess, but had brought us all coffee. But it was 8pm and two of us were young children... It was a nice but strange thing to do.
- Our representative made good by providing transport to the train station the next day, but we did feel this transport should have been in place anyway.

We fully understand the bespoke nature of the service and have used and will use Kimkim again. But ultimately on this occasion as we'd ended up sorting most things ourselves, for the cost of the trip we probably would have expected better guides and better logistics in Kyoto. It was therefore a good trip but not a great one.

Our Kimkim representative was responsive and friendly.

Hotel Reviews

The Strings by InterContinental, Tokyo, an IHG Hotel

Tokyo

A very good business hotel, though the suite was rather tired and needs a serious upgrade. It's well located, food is nice and it's a good stop over when you have a business meeting or an early connection.

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Cleanliness & Comfort

The Ritz Carlton

Kyoto

Great hotel, very family friendly and exceptionally welcoming of children with activities for them from arrival onwards. Wonderful aesthetic that matches the vibe of a Kyoto, if a touch on the dark side at breakfast.

Authenticity & Character

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The Tokyo EDITION, Toranomon

Tokyo

Great hotel. Amazing staff. We arrived at 8am and they even gave us a spare room for the kids to rest in until check in time. It's a superb hotel.

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Activity Reviews

Kids Friendly Day Trip to Nara and Uji

Kyoto

Nice to see the deer but it does get crowded. It's not that picturesque and in fact nicer and more peaceful around the back.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Half Day Samurai Ninja Museum and Kimono Tea Ceremony at Kyoto Maikoya

Kyoto

Our driver meant we missed half the samurai experience, but from what we did do it was great. Super friendly teacher, great English and funny. Very kid friendly. Tremendous fun. Tea ceremony is a wonderful experience too. Concerns over appropriation, but actually you don't feel it, instead you enjoy and learn. It's a really nice thing to do for all the family or a couple or a sol traveller.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Full Day Mt.Fuji and Chureito Pagoda Tour From Tokyo

Tokyo

It was a foggy day. Couldn't see anything - happens, but tour guide didn't pivot or provide alternate experience, also didn't talk to us much. Every stop was very tourist heavy. It did not feel special, it felt like a waste of time.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Driver fine, expected more from private guide.

Transport

Everything very helpful and always very responsive. This was our second time using KimKim (first time Iceland, this time Japan) and we will definitely do so again. We were a little spoiled with amazing deeply customized support for Iceland, but our Japan support was still excellent - highly recommend!

I’m now back in the UK following an amazing month with my high school best buddy Phil, who I’ve known 54 years (!) which took in various parts of the USA and an amazing 11 days in Japan, curated brilliantly for us by Olivia-san at Kimkim.

I’ve travelled much of the world, but can safely say Japan is ranking in my top 3 experiences and it is in no small part to the assistance Olivia gave us in plotting the itinerary and then in being incredibly available, responsive and ever efficient in helping us make some minor adjustments as we went along.

Tokyo, Kyoto, Kanazawa and Osaka have given us some incredible experiences and memories plus a thousand photos.

The Japanese people we encountered on our travels were unfailingly polite, helpful and kind, and were happy to let us use our rudimentary Japanese to communicate with them!

In particular the guides Olivia arranged for us, Yumiko-san in Tokyo, Hector (Boza Helfers), a Peruvian national married to a Japanese lady and living 20 years in Japan and fluent in his native Spanish, English, Portuguese and of course Japanese, plus as he put it “street” French and Italian!, hosted us in Kyoto and Osaka, and Ai Kawachi, who toured Kanazawa with us with charm and incredible knowledge, and Tasei-san back in Tokyo again who took us on a brilliant food tour.

I’ve used agents previously in Africa, Australasia, and India, and they don’t match the service that Kimkim and Olivia-san offered us, so I would definitely return to them.

Arigato gozaimashita ありがと ございました Olivia-san

Mike

I am extremely pleased with the trip to Japan which we booked through kimkim. The kimkim agent who worked with us from Japan is Olivia and she did an outstanding job for us. We gave a fairly vague request to start the planning - "10 days in Japan visiting 4 cities, utilizing private guides in each city". Olivia came up with an initial itinerary including time in Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka and Kanazawa, with proposed hotels, walking tours, activities and train routes. The chat feature in kimkim works very well, especially given that we were 11 time zones away from our agent. Over the course of several weeks we made multiple change requests and each time, Olivia made adjustments to suit us until we were ready to finalize and book our trip.

When we arrived in Japan, everything ran like clockwork! The hotels were great, the trains ran on time and each of the tour guides and drivers assigned to us by Olivia were excellent. The kimkim chat feature kept us in touch with Olivia throughout the trip, which was helpful on almost a daily basis - for instance each time we wanted the Japanese version of a hotel address to show a taxi driver. Also mid trip we decided we wanted to visit a different neighborhood in Tokyo for our last two nights and Olivia took care of that too on the same day we requested it.

I will definitely book with kimkim again.

Olivia was very attentive with my planning needs. Both guides were knowledgeable and helpful .
Beautiful tour!

Activity Review

Full Day Tokyo City Tour

Tokyo

This was a lot to do in one day. We learned so much about the history and areas. The mobility issues for one of our members did not seemed to be considered in planning and made it difficult to keep up.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport