Winnie Wu

This was our first trip to Japan, in preparation for a major visit all around the country next year. We selected KimKim after reviewing several companies for the "golden route" that we wanted to see first....Tokyo, Hakone, Kyoto and Osaka, with day trips to Nara, Fuji, Kobe, etc. Winnie was very responsive and that along with the reasonable cost for the 11 day trip caused us to go with KimKim. Overall the trip was great, we were 4 star hotels and most met our preferences quite well. Day trips were solid and enjoyable...guides who picked us at the hotel made the day trips easy....though I would suggest on the meeting locations for day trips where we had to go somewhere to meet our guide that they send photos of the locations we need to start from, ie Train station or things like the JR line info office. KimKim did provide great photos of the meeting locations which were very helpful, but where to go to get there were a bit of a challenge, We verified the day before we had to meet a tour how to get their from our hotel location and it worked for us...a few other people made mistakes that could have been avoided if beginning train location photos were provided like the ending locations were. But our taking some time the day before to see what trains etc we needed to go to solved the issue for us. A high spot for us was our guide YUKI...she did our tour in Koyto Bamboo Forest and was simply amazing....she even followed up the next day to be sure we knew how to go to our day trip with another guide! All the guides sent photos of our day with them, both for KimKim and us as clients which made the picture taking of us as a couple at each site easy. Overall a great experience with KimKim.

Hotel Reviews

Hakone Yumoto Onsen Tsuki no Yado Sara

Hakone

Great dinner in our room at the hotel! It was amazing and since we don't drink alcohol they gave us a great juice alternative. The location was good and room comfortable...

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Mitsui Garden Hotel Kyoto Station

Kyoto

Great Kyoto location very close to the main train and subway station...very nice staff. Helpful and efficient. Room was a good size and well stocked. And their English skills made communicating easy, whiteout our translation app!

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Osaka Excel Hotel Tokyu

Osaka

Room was poorly laid out and the smallest of all our cities we went to, including Tokyo and Kyoto, and Osaka is not that expensive. They had a very sharp light fixture right over my head on one side of the bed, almost seriously hurt myself, and I spoke to the manager....which by the way was about the only staff member who spoke English....since no hotel has good instructions for running the HVAC, they are all in Japanese, I had to use my translation app to try and get the right room temp...and when I asked the front desk to help...two people even with the translator took 10 minutes to understand that I needed them to fix the temp. The location is ok...very high-end part of town....and not really very many restaurants for dinner. The hotel restaurant was very expensive and only had about 5 main courses to choose from. So we had to walk a bit to find some decent places to eat.

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Reviews

Kyoto Arashiyama Bamboo forest & Hidden Garden Half-Day Walking Tour with Michelin Lunch

Kyoto

YUKI as a guide was amazing....explained everything....and the highlight for us was some "Quite time" in a small temple garden, beautiful and wonderful. The special temple lunch was fine....not as "private" as I expected, since they had several rooms for about 20 people each, but the food was fun and the overall meal and removal from the major crowds were nice. The tour and YUKI made what could have been a crowded tourist day very enjoyable.

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

YUKI did great tour and follow up

Transport

Tokyo City Tour: Imperial Palace East Gardens, Senso-ji Tour & Meiji Shrine

Tokyo

Enjoyed the day and the guide was knowledgeable...about what I expected from an overview of Tokyo highlights. He had prepaid subway cards for us which we gave back at the end of the day....so we never had to stop and wait for him to purchase tickets we all just went right trough the gates. And we enjoyed having a private tour!

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

1-Day Mt. Fuji & Hakone Tour [Return by Bus] With Lunch (From Tokyo Sta. Area, Tour Ends at Odawara Sta.)

Tokyo

Guide was great...group was good size with 10 people...weather was marginal, since we were having a typhoon, but that is NOT the guides fault and the weather opened up for about 2 minutes so we could see Mt. Fuji....then we saw it from the train the next day in Blue sky!

Quality of Experience

You can't control the weather

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Make Your Own Bonsai with a Professional Bonsai Artist in Tokyo

Tokyo

This was fun for us becasue we have a particular interest in Bonsai...and we got to meet Master Kunio Kobayashi himself! He signed a book for us and we got to see his famous prize winning tree and watch him do some pruning on a new tree he was working on....

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Did it on our own from the National Museum in a taxi...so it was easy to get to, but a bit expensive to use a taxi...

World Heritage Himeji Castle & Kobe Tour

Osaka

The castle is amazing!!! And we were their for the fist "fire" in its history! A child accidently hit the fire alarm when we were in the very top of the wood castle! So it cleared out fast and gave us a fright for a few minutes until they figured out what happened...then we got a few fun photos of the fire brigade! And it was very quiet for a while....since everyone else was evacuated...but the castle in amazing.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Full Day Kyoto City Tour with Nijo Castle, Kiyomizu-dera Temple and Fushimi Inari-Taisha

Kyoto

Really enjoyed the Torii Gates at the Shinto shrine and the hike up through thousands of gates....even though we only went up half way....and our guide was careful to be sure we were safe on a slightly rainy day....private tour met our expectations in a crowd.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Nara Half Day Trip Walking Tour

Japan

You have to like deer...they have 3000 that wander the city....but seeing the area was interesting...though the oldest pagoda in Japan is not to be seen since it is under renovation until 2032....but the area was interesting....for a first visit to Japan.

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

All the tours planned by Winnie were very good. Our guides were on time, knowledgeable and helpful. We especially enjoyed Taku and our Kyoto city tour.

Activity Reviews

Full Day Kyoto City Tour with Nijo Castle, Kiyomizu-dera Temple and Fushimi Inari-Taisha

Kyoto

Taku was an amazing guide and gave us a lot of history that helped put our tour into perspective.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

We rode the metro and all went smoothly.

Arashiyama Bamboo Forest E-Biking Tour

Kyoto

We had a nice ride through neighborhoods to Arashiyama and a little bit of country side. Once at the forest, you really have to walk your bikes because of the crowds. The bamboo forest was cool but not sure the bike riding part was anything special.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Transport to/from the bike shop was not included in the package. I think it should be.

Hiking Kurama-Kibune through Sacred Peaks and Ancient Paths

Kyoto

This was a great hike and the area was very cool. Beautiful forest and Tribune seemed like a neat little village. It was lightly raining so we didn't get to eat at one of the restaurants over the river but that looked like it would be a great experience.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

All transport was through public transportation including a bus which took a little longer due to all the stops. Transportation was fine.

Discover Daruma Magic and the Beauty of Minoh Falls

Osaka

This area was very beautiful and we loved the falls. The description of the tour made it seem like we would hike from the Temple to Minoh Falls but we took a taxi. The guide said if we hiked it would be along the road however, the tour write up made us think the hike would be in the woods. Despite wishing we had more hiking time, we loved the experience.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Osaka Local Foodie Tour in Dotonbori and Shinsekai

Japan

What a fun tour with delicious food. We had a great time making our own okonomiyaki. The only thing we didn't get that was mentioned in the tour description was the box of Takoyaki.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Our family trip was a wonderful experience, and booking was incredibly easy with the help of our specialist, Winnie! We especially loved the Kyoto Zen Meditation & Garden Tour, the Gyeongbokgung Palace tour, and our excursion to Sokcho and Seoraksan National Park.

Huge shoutout to our guide, Mr. Sebastian Eom, who accompanied us for the final four days of our trip. I really cannot recommend him enough for any travelers to Seoul looking for an English-language tour!

We had an amazing two week trip with our 18 year-old son to visit the highlights of Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka/Nara and the Kumano Kodo trail. Our local specialist Winnie did a great job coordinating the complexities of transportation so that everything went smoothly, and her choice of guides, hotels, and activities were excellent. She checked in with us regularly, and I found the kimkim app to be very helpful with regards to communication and itinerary review. I was especially impressed with our local tour guides- all were outstanding/highly recommended (Yumi in Tokyo, Yoshiko in Kyoto/Nara, and Wada from the Wakayama local guide association for our hike of the Kumano Kodo trail). Can't wait to get back to Japan!

Activity Review

Full Day Tokyo City Tour

Tokyo

We had an exceptional guide (Yumi). Since this was our first visit to Japan, we really appreciated her expert knowledge and review of Japan's important history and culture as we visited all of the main historical/cultural sites in Tokyo. She also gave us additional very helpful suggestions for places to see later on our own in Tokyo.

Quality of Experience

the quality of the guide was outstanding

Guides, Drivers and Staff

highly knowledgeable, went above and beyond to explain things and offer additional suggestions for things to see and do

Transport

driver and guide were always punctual and notified/confirmed everything in advance (via whats app, which was easy)

A wonderfully coordinated trip from KimKim, our advisor Winnie, and our various local guides and drivers from the in-country agency. The trip was fast-paced in order to see as much of our selected cities as possible - Tokyo, Hakone, Kyoto, Nara, and Osaka. We found the Pirate Ship Boat Ride on Lake Ashi in Hakone to be a bit gimmicky, but other than that everything was wonderful.

Winnie was very professional and responsive at all times. There is a time difference of 7 hours between us and it never felt like it.

We had a lot of issues with rescheduling and postponing the trip due the war in Iran.

We finally decided to take the trip and therefore the team of Odynovo and Winnie only had a week to plan our trip (since it was initially postponed).

They delivered a great full private tour that respected our requests and real time modifications.

All the guides and drivers were very responsive, kind and respectful.

I would highly recommend working with Odynovo Tours and specifically Winnie.

We really enjoyed our trip to Japan. The planning and service from Winnie was excellent.
Even there were some issues, Winnie resolved it very professional and quick and they even offered us a nice lunch as excuse for it.
The booked drivers were always in time and the cars in very good shape. Most of the hotels we liked. The guided tours were interesting and the guides friendly and knowable.
We saw really a lot. It was high saison, so too many people which made the trip a little stressful, but the rides in in Shinkansen were peaceful.
We saw Tokio, Hakone, Kyoto, Hiroshima and Osaka. We skipped the trip from Osaka to Nara, because it was to much and we enjoyed a free last day in Osaka with a little shopping.
Thank you very much, we would highly recommend the KimKim service.

This trip exceeded our expectations. It was culturally immersive, family-friendly, and thoughtfully designed. We came away with a deeper appreciation for Japan — not just its landmarks, but its rhythms, values, and everyday beauty.

We would absolutely recommend KimKim to anyone planning a trip to Japan, and we would happily work with you again.

Activity Reviews

Sushi Making Tokyo Roll and Authentic Japanese Sushi Class

Tokyo

Full Day Lake Kawaguchi Cruise and Shinobi no Sato Ninja Village Tour

Tokyo

Osaka Local Foodie Tour in Dotonbori and Shinsekai

Japan

Asakusa Sumo Club: Sumo Show Admission with Chankonabe in Tokyo

Tokyo

Kimono Tea Ceremony at Kyoto Maikoya

Kyoto

Enjoy Temples & Bamboo Grove in Kyoto with Your Family

Kyoto

Transfer from Kyoto to Osaka via Nara

Japan

One Day Miyajima Island and Hiroshima Tour

Japan

Tokyo Highlights Day Tour - East & West

Tokyo

We had already book trip for skiing in Japan but needed some details filled in for transfers, place to stay in Tokyo and a tour. Winnie was very helpful. The hotel in Tokyo was spot on and our food tour was great. All transfers were seamless and on time.

I choose KimKim because I simply don't have time to sort out all details on any given trip. They are flexible and willing to help with full trip planning or just helping with details.

Hotel Review

Shiba Park Hotel

Tokyo

Very comfortable, walking to many attractions, breakfast included gets day started right.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Reviews

Master Tokyo's Must-Sees: 5-hour Tsukiji, Akihabara & Asakusa Highlights Tour

Tokyo

This was a good tour for our day in Tokyo. Our guide was insightful and we enjoyed the tour.

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Tokyo Night Foodie Tour in Shinjuku

Tokyo

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Our guide was great. Nice young guy that managed our group and helped explain why we re tasting various foods.

Transport

Our tour was very well executed, the guides well versed and committed to making sure each moment of our trip was special. All pre-planned travel vouchers, event tickets, etc. were accepted without any problem. All in all, it was our first trup with KimKim and we will be certain to use it again.