Rachel Vita

Beautiful trip to see some of the northeastern parts of Brazil. Among the highlights were spending the afternoon in the Lençóis Maranhenses National Park and swimming in the lagoons; one of the most jaw-dropping natural wonders we've seen. Also spectacular was watching the sunset congregation of thousands of red guarás in the Delta Do Parnaíba.

Our guide in Salvador, Bruno, was particularly informative about the realities of Brazilian life and history and Pedro, our guide in Parnaíba, was playful and entertaining, helping us with our poor Portuguese pronunciation and creating a playlist for us of Brazilian music.

There were a few minor hiccups along the way but Rachel was able to make adjustments and provided a couple extras to ensure we had a trip smooth.

Hotel Reviews

Casa de Santo Antônio Hotel de Charme

Parnaíba - PI,

The Casa de Santo Antônio Hotel de Charme in Parnaíba was a beautiful hotel. It's a converted hospital and school which added to its charm. We only stayed for a night so didn't get to fully experience it, but from what we saw, it was lovely.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Porto Preguiças Resort

Barreirinhas - MA,

The resort was quite nice. We didn't have any issues during our stay. The environment was pleasant and the service was up to the mark

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Hotel Luzeiros São Luís

São Luís

This was a quick overnight so it was more of a short stay than an experience. It's a corporate-type building and we didn't spend much time there. Though the service was great, I can't give much feedback on the overall environment or amenities.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Hotel Villa Bahia

Salvador

The Hotel Villa Bahia in Salvador was a beautiful place. It's located right in the old part of town among the colonial buildings, which gave it a unique charm. The rooms and the building were gorgeous and the staff was very helpful. However, it was a bit of a ghost town due to the time of year we visited, which detracted from the overall experience.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Miramar Hotel by Windsor

Rio de Janeiro

Very nice hotel with especially good breakfast buffet in Copacabana and right on the beach. This is more of a large corporate hotel and doesn't really have a lot of character but the staff was friendly and the room very comfortable. The beach view didn't hurt either. It's about a 20 minute walk to neighboring Ipanema where most of the nicer shops and restaurants are and, if I were to do this trip again, would prefer to stay in that area (though there are fewer hotels there).

Authenticity & Character

Location

Right on the famous Copacabana beach.

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Vila Kalango

Jericoacoara

Easily the best place we stayed in Brazil. Lovely rooms with great use of space. Breakfast buffet was excellent and relaxing. If you stay in main hotel area closer to the entrance I'd recommend a 2nd-floor room as the nice wooden floors tend to create a lot of noise.

Authenticity & Character

Location

The hotel is right on the beach with a nice areas for watching the the sunset.

Staff

Very attentive and friendly

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Reviews

Full-Day private tour in "Canto de Atins"

Barreirinhas

This tour was slightly repetitive, especially after the national park tour. It was a bit less interesting. It would have been nice to have some time to explore on our own.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Sightseeing in the City of Salvador

Salvador

We did some sightseeing in Salvador which was quite enjoyable. The city is beautiful and has a lot to offer.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

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Full-Day Private Tour through the Old Rio

Rio de Janeiro

We had a full-day tour in Old Rio which was overall interesting. However, there were moments when the tour guide was following us a bit too closely, especially in the shopping areas. It would have been more comfortable to have some space to explore on our own.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

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San Luis - Barreirinhas

Brazil

Bumpy long ride to get to the Lençóis Maranhenses National Park but, wow, so worth it. Stunning initial views of endless white dunes with blue lagoons nestled in between. You can easily find your own private swimming areas and wander into the sand.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

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Tour in the Delta of the Americas

Parnaíba

Beautiful trip through the delta on a speedboat to see a variety of birds and crabs. Culminates at sunset with a spectacular congregation of red guarás on a small island. Driving back through delta in near total darkness was oddly calming (if a bit scary). Boat driver was excellent.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

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Half-Day Tour of Two Brothers Peak & Vidigal Favela

Rio de Janeiro

Unique visit into a favela and hike to top of prominent peak overlooking Rio. To start we rode on the backs of motorcycles to get to the top of the favela, where the hike started, and then walked through it on the way down. This is not an easy hike. It's not particularly dangerous but there are some somewhat steep areas and it can take a good hour to get to the top. Bring plenty of water, especially on a hot day, and decent shoes (no flip-flops).

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Dear Rachel and Team ,
Thank you so much for making our trip to Brazil ( Rio de janeiro, Iguazu and Amazon )such a memorable. We really appreciate all your dedication and hard work you put into make it so easy for us. Our guides were incredible and made the experience much more enjoyable. You did a fantastic job and you definitely know how to take of your clients. You can be sure that we will be recommending your service to family and friends alike.
Sandya and Prasad

Hotel Reviews

Amazon Eco Park Jungle Lodge

Manaus

Hotel Saint Paul

Manaus - AM

Hotel Bogari

Foz do Iguaçu - PR

Windsor Martinique Hotel

Copacabana, Rio de Janeiro

Activity Reviews

Nocturnal tour with animal spotting

The Amazon

We did not participate . We are unable to rate

Forest of the Monkeys

The Amazon

Jungle Walk

The Amazon

Visit to the native's house

The Amazon

Meeting of the Waters

The Amazon

Transport

Iguaçu Falls - Brazilian Side

Foz do Iguaçu

Iguaçu Falls - Argentinean side

Foz do Iguaçu

Christ the Redeemer & Sugar Loaf Mountain

Rio de Janeiro

This was the 1st time that we booked our trip with kimkim. I was bit skeptical initially since I never heard of them before.
I worked with Rachel (Sao Paulo) to plan our entire trip that included visit to Rio, Iguazu falls and Amazon.

It was such a pleasant experience to plan the trip with Rachel. She is fluent in English, and she was always pleasant regardless of the numbers of the changes that were requested. Everything was planned without any hiccups. All the hotel accommodation and lodging were to our satisfaction. All the tour guides were excellent.

She even accommodated our last-minute request to include the visit to Iguazu falls, handled luggage issues when going to Amazon and was very accommodating with request to visit Christ second time since the 1st time was completed washed out due to heavy rain. She went above and beyond. I'm greatly appreciative. She wanted us to leave with a such a wonderful memory. We did, Rachel. THANK YOU!!!!

I highly recommend kimkim for your next trip.

Hotel Reviews

Amazon Tupana Lodge

Manaus

Authenticity & Character

Such a unique place

Location

excellent Location

Staff

excellent staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

excellent, staff, cleaniness and food

Hotel Saint Paul

Manaus - AM

Authenticity & Character

Location

Cleanliness & Comfort

Hotel Bogari

Foz do Iguaçu - PR

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Arena Leme

Rio de Janeiro

Authenticity & Character

Location

across the beach; all the amenities

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Reviews

Canoeing in the Amazon and overnight in the jungle

The Amazon

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Cayman Spotting

The Amazon

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Iguaçu Falls - Brazilian Side

Foz do Iguaçu

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Christ the Redeemer & Sugar Loaf Mountain

Rio de Janeiro

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Iguaçu Falls - Argentinean side

Foz do Iguaçu

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Amazon Tupana lodge was incredible - Carlos was incredible, and the scenery, excursions, and just hanging out at the lodge was relaxing. Saw monkeys, a tapir, and of course Blue the macaw that hangs around on site. Sunrise and sunset were beautiful!
Foz do Iguaçu was better than we could ever have imagined. Rainbows, waterfalls, and the boat ride into the falls from the Argentina side was so much fun! Pictures will never do it justice!
Rio was fun as well, Alex our guide was amazing and did an excellent job. He also set us up for the day after, and recommended perfect places on the beach! Great trip all around, the travel was acceptable (we wanted to do lots of things so crammed in late nights) with no delays and easy to get around.
Rachel was wonderful, responsive, and always on top of our tickets and itinerary. Great planning and definitely will share this trip with others!

We had the most wonderful time in Brazil and Rachel from KimKim did an incredible job designing, organizing and arranging our personalized honeymoon. This is the first time we used a travel agency and we got everything we asked for from the trip and within budget!
In Rio, our local guide Luis was wonderful and friendly. He was super thoughtful and even bought us a Brazilian drink we wanted to try. The trip to the Amazon was our highlight, spending some days in the lodge built into the jungle was breathtaking. Our guide Jojo spoke amazing English and took us on boat rides. In Foz do Igaszu, we saw the waterfalls from the Argentinan and Brazilian side. Lordes, our guide, was very friendly. We then spent a few days with our friends, which Rachel built into our itinerary. After that we flew to São Luís, from where we were picked up to visit the Lencois Maranhenses for a couple of days. The pousada where we stayed was the best and the guide, Josiel, was great. From there, we went back to Rio and had Luis, the same guide, picking us up.
We had an unforgettable holiday - Rachel was always available when we had questions and checked us into our internal flights. From the moment we decided to have the trip arranged and reached out to Rachel to the time we landed back in the UK, this trip has been brilliantly organized and we cannot recommended Rachel and her tours enough!

We chose to book our trip with KimKim following a recommendation from a friend. Overall the trip was amazing and we had a great time following the "Route of Emotions" in northern Brazil. I would highly recommend the tour to anyone wanting to see a different side to Brazil, compared with the usual Rio/Iguazu routes.

Booking the trip Rachel provided quick feedback and was able to cater to our various requests. Communication at this point was very strong and everything we needed to do was clear. You have access to a whatsapp number for any questions once you land at your destination.

We travelled from Barreirinhas to Parnaiba, and then onto Jericoacoara, with two different guides for each part of the trip. Our guide from Barreirinhas around the dunes and local areas was Josiel who was lovely and helpful with any questions we had. I would say he acted more as "translator" than guide (reactive vs proactive) but if you are an English speaker on this type of tour, a service such as this is essential to get by in the region.

We were picked up by Jonas, who was our amazing driver all the way through to Jeri. In Parnaiba, Francisco joined us as we took a tour to see the Guara in the river delta. Francisco was amazing, explaining in great detail to us about the region, its wildlife, food and culture. One of the best guides we have ever had for a tour!

We then moved onto Jeri (with some great recommendations from Francisco) and concluded our trip. We loved the whole experience!

One feedback point for improvement - it would have been great to have a daily update message over the WhatsApp channel to avoid confusion. As English speakers some things were unclear e.g. We were surprised when our guide got into the car on the side of the road in Parnaiba, as the driver didn't speak English he hadn't let us know about it, which was a shock to meet a new person unannounced. Small things like this could have been covered by a WhatsApp in the morning.

It was so easy and lovely working with Rachel especially when we had a missed connection late at night and having to rearrange travel plans. Our favorite day in Rio was because of Vincent the tour guide operator where we walked around together in Santa Teresa & Faevla. The hotels Rachel picked for us in Rio & Amazon were also amazing (and Santa Teresa Gallery hotel had such good food at their restaurant). I would definitely come back and use Rachel again and recommend to friends.

This was part of the same trip reviewed above. It was excellent - again Rachel's help was invaluable, she was always available to answer our questions. Our guide at the Amazon Tupana Lodge Dio was outstanding. A highly recommended trip

We had a great trip thanks to the help we received from Rachel. She was always professional, very helpful, easy to contact and, following our requests, she put together a memorable trip for us. We highly recommend the service we received from KimKim and Rachel and are looking forward to using the knowledge local agents can provide through KimKim for our next trip.

Trip was overbooked and very exhausting. Communication was lacking. Most of our trip was spent in airports. No accountability taken

I love Brazil! The sights, the beauty, the vibrancy of the people and the culture! I wish I never left!! I was able to visit the best sights and hidden gems of Rio de Janeiro and move along to Salvador and immerse myself in the Afro culture, which was a personal favorite. I relaxed indulged in sand dune activities and saw the most beautiful scenery in Canoa Quebrada and then I visited Iguaçu Falls (experiencing the Argentinian and Brazilian side by boat and helicopter) which is a must for lovers of nature!! Rachel always checked on me and made sure the guides were taking care of me every step of the way. I had wonderful and helpful guides. Guilherme was an extra special gentleman who went above and beyond whilst in Rio. Matcos, Leandro, Gabriel and my guide in Salvador Guia Joao Luis went above and beyond to make my time memorable! Thank you a thousand times over😊❤️

Every single guide we had was special. They made us feel at home, at ease. Beginning with Luis that greeted us at the airport in Rio, the professional knowledgeable, fun Ortiz at Iguacu, Crocidile Dundee realty star Dave at the Amazon.. professionals that made us feel comfortable and safe from their first hello! Rachel ass knows the best team and was in touch every single day to ensure we were having a blast!

Hotel Reviews

Amazon Tupana Lodge

Manaus

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Hotel Intercity Manaus

Manaus

Hotel looked tiered, old…

Location

No where to go

Cleanliness & Comfort

Sheets appeared dirty. Rooms need to be uodatef

Arena Ipanema

Rio de Janeiro

Convenient location.. average food

Authenticity & Character

It felt kkke another normal hotel

Location

When your backyard is the Ipanema beach with amazing sunsets.. there is no way you can go wrong

Staff

Friendly, courteous

Cleanliness & Comfort

Room was not cleaned on 2/6 days

Activity Reviews

Carnaval Experience - Half day Tour

Rio de Janeiro

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

City Tour in Manaus

Manaus

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Canoeing in the Amazon and overnight in the jungle

The Amazon

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Iguaçu Falls - Argentinean side

Foz do Iguaçu

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Half-day tour Tijuca Forest

Rio de Janeiro

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Christ the Redeemer & Sugar Loaf Mountain

Rio de Janeiro

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Half Day- Rio by Bike

Rio de Janeiro

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

I’ve travelled all my life and this was the first one that was curated for me. I loved it! I didn’t have a lot of time but it’s a huge country, so I wanted to see as much as possible without having to figure it out for myself and Rachel got it perfectly. On her suggestion I visited the Lencois Maranhenses on the North Atlantic coast which I never would have discovered on my own and yet I’m so glad she guided me there. I had personal boat trips, nature trips in groups and personally, all my accommodations were set and there were zero flaws in my transfers or my accommodations. My trip through the Favela in Rio with a climb up Two Brothers was excellent. My Eco-lodge on the Amazon was great, and all my adventures on the coast were also excellent. Rachel was always available for questions and I always felt I could reach out at any hour. Brazil is an amazing country and definitely worth a visit

From start to finish Rachel was incredible. She responded very quickly to all our messages before we booked and then while we were away, she was quick to help with any issues, including delayed flights etc ensuring guides met us at the new times. She ensured all the hotels and guides were appraised in advance of our comprehensive dietary requirements.

While we were away for the last week the weather forecast was dreadful, with thunder and lightning. We spoke to Rachel, she and her colleague Paulo, didn’t hesitate to rearrange things for us. They got refunds where they could and re-booked the last part of our trip within 24 hours of the initial conversation about it. They could not have been more helpful, understanding and accommodating. Nothing was too much trouble for them. We were incredibly grateful as it made the last few days of our trip so relaxing and enjoyable.

Rio:
Hotel was nice, staff helpful and the breakfast was good. Plenty of options, including gluten / dairy free products and staff were able to assist with ingredients for other products.
Luis our guide was lovely. Knowledgeable and friendly. He made our tours educational and enjoyable. He mixed humour with information and we always felt very safe with him. His English was excellent and he was very helpful at the airport ensuring we got checked in and staff were able to assist us. Our extra tour with him was a bonus and we enjoyed that given the weather was not conducive to sitting on the beach!
Bike tour: This was the only aspect we were not happy with. The bikes were dreadful. They were very old, unsafe and didn't work properly. The gears kept slipping and the brakes didn't work well. The guide kept cycling off in the distance, not noticing that we had had to stop due to the bikes. He did switch bike with me at one point but it didn't help much as they were all as bad as each other. This spoilt the ride and we had to end it half way through to return the bikes as they were so difficult to ride. We felt as if he had chosen those bikes as the owner was a friend of his rather than they were good quality bikes that would be safe to ride.
We were appreciative of Rachel dealing with the issue swiftly and ensuring we were able to have the extra half day with Luis instead.

Pantanal:
We were disappointed by the condition of the room and dining room at the Pousada Rio Clara. The door handle fell off on the first day and was never fixed. The room itself is probably best described as shabby and in need of attention. There was nowhere to put clothes away, no wardrobe or drawers so we had to live out of suitcases on the floor which is not ideal. The dining room is best described as mess-hall style. The food was reasonable. We had made special requests which weren’t always followed and what was provided was basic and repetitive. It feels as if there is not enough funding, The staff all do multiple jobs on the property and so there are not enough available to ensure things are at a good standard. They are friendly and as helpful as they are able given the difficulties they seem to face.
The guide DJ was great, incredibly helpful, knowledgeable and friendly. We really enjoyed the boat trips most of all. The road safaris are a bit hit or miss as far as seeing animals which can’t be helped.

Foz do Iguazu
We were met by the very lovely Lurdes and the driver. She was so friendly and helpful, always trying hard to help us have the best experience, we were sad to say goodbye to her! She made the whole stay in Foz really special.
The Wish hotel was incredible, a huge property with a mix of property styles for the rooms. A lovely pool area and small pools adjacent to the properties. The restaurant was great, excellent choice of food at the buffet for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Options for gluten free and very helpful staff.
Salvador
The guide was very friendly and helpful, giving advice as to where was and wasn’t safe to go while we were there. He also advised my husband to take off his fine gold chain. This did all make us feel quite vulnerable there as we were obviously tourists. The city was interesting in parts but the deprivation was sad to see.

Prai do Forte
Such a wonderful place to end our trip. Beautiful weather, a lovely hotel with incredibly helpful staff and a very nice local area, in walking distance, and a beautiful beach with white sand, palm trees and water as warm as a bath!

All in all we found that going through KimKim and the local agent worked really well. This was the first time we had used an agent, we usually book everything independently and don't have guides or drivers. We felt this was a really excellent way of travelling around Brazil and would have struggled without Rachel's advice, knowledge and help. We will recommend both KimKim and Rachel to anyone wanting to book!