Asia Aventura Travel

My trip to Chiang Mai and Laos went exactly as planned by Doris! Someone was waiting for me as I arrived in Chiang Mai, Luang Prabang, Paske, and Vientiane. All of my guides were courteous, spoke clear English, were knowledgeable, and friendly. My drivers all drove very safely in clean, well maintained vehicles. My favorites were 1) visiting the Elephant Sanctuary outside of Chiang Mai; 2) the Plain of Jars; 3) the scenic yet bumpy drive to/from the PoJ; 4) swimming & zipline at Xangvieng; 5) the many beautiful waterfalls near Paske.

Trang our local specialist was super responsive and catered our trip for group of 6 including a 9 and 11 year old children. I think the planning advice was good. She was helpful too when I had questions about Hanoi hotels and logistics. She advised printing out VN visa which was helpful. We did see an eco village at the sapa mountainside during our trip which I think we would have preferred to stay at because it really captures sapa well. We spent 2 night and 3 days in sapa coming from Hanoi. It was cool that we could hire a tour guide and a private limo van the entire time. The “limo” van unfortunately wasn’t very comfortable and felt like a pickup truck. We had been in other limo vans in Vietnam and unluckily we got a real beat up one. The ride to sapa was rough. Happy we made it safely though. The tour guide was nice but didn’t demonstrate much knowledge of sapa. He had only guided for 6 months.

Overall I would use kimkim travel again but maybe stay at an ecolodge and figure out how to get a better limo van and more knowledgeable tour guide but sometimes it’s hit or miss.

Hotel Review

Pistachio Hotel Sapa

Bfast was amazing. Prob the best we had in Vietnam. Beds comfortable and very spacious rooms.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Review

Hanoi - Transfer to Sapa (Private Limousine)

Vietnam

Car was very uncomfortable. Felt like a pickup truck. We had other limo vans that were very comfortable in VN, just not this one. Driver was rough. Lots of sudden stops

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Donna and I had a wonderful trip to Vietnam with special thanks to Alex (for support on building a great itinerary, and also supporting us when we had eVisa support issues), and Bo for his solid driving skills getting us to and from our destinations, and Mr Binh for his outstanding guide assistance and local knowledge of Northern Vietnam!

Hotel Reviews

Meliá Hanoi

Hanoi

Excellent location and Accommodations

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Hôtel de la Coupole - MGallery

Beautiful hotel and great staff

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Jiva Hoa Lu Retreat

Perhaps the best resort of the trip. would have been great to spend and extra day!

Authenticity & Character

Location

Crazy beautiful

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Paradise Elegance Cruise

Very nice boat and accomodations

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

GRAND HOTEL du LAC Hanoi

Nice hotel, a bit small but clean and lovely location

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Reviews

Hanoi - Sapa – Tram Ton Pass – Love Waterfall - Sapa

Sapa

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Sapa - Hike to Explore Local Villages: Y Linh Ho, Lao Chai & Ta Van

Sapa

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Sapa - Mường Hoa Mountain Train - Fansipan Peak - Conquer the Roof of Indochina - Free afternoon

Vietnam

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Ninh Binh - Halong Bay Cruise - Overnight on boat

Ha Long Bay

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Halong Bay - Hanoi

Vietnam

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Sapa, Visit Cat Cat village - Transfer Back to Hanoi

Vietnam

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Hanoi - Ninh Binh - Hoa Lu, Ancient Capital - Mua Cave - Tam Coc Boat Trip

Ninh Binh

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Hanoi By Night Food Tour - Vespa Tour

Hanoi

We did not take this tour during our visit. We chose to relax before heading back to states

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

There is so much to say about how amazing this trip was. We have never used a travel agency, but planning a 2-week trip to Vietnam felt a bit daunting, so after reading many reviews, we decided to go with KimKim. Our travel specialist, Alex, was beyond helpful, and together we planned a wonderful trip. I MUST mention our driver in Hanoi, Bo, who was the BEST out of the many drivers we had on our journey. Our Hanoi guide, Quyet, literally held my hand as we made our way up and down hundreds of steps to visit some of the sites. The staff at the Q Boutique Hotel in Hanoi made us feel like Royalty (shout out to Bob). Our next guide, Vy, made us feel like part of her family as she shared the Tet holiday and her beautiful city of Hoi An. We had such a peaceful time cycling through the rice fields to Tra Que village, which we followed up with a great cooking class and lunch. In Ho Chi Minh City, our guide Loan was incredible—he had so much insight into the history of the Vietnam War. We even worked up the nerve to crawl through the Cu Chi Tunnels; definitely a ‘once-in-a-lifetime’ experience! ;) All that said, we are currently planning our next trip with KimKim to South Africa; can't wait to see what's in store!

We just completed a wonderful trip to Vietnam, including Ho Chi Minh City, Hoi An, and Hanoi.
The highlight for us was a “village tour” during our stay in Hoi An. Our local tour guide, Trinh, introduced us to our village with a very personal itinerary, including visits to several homes in the community for food and chats.

The hotels that were selected for us were all outstanding. Our favorites were Nikko Saigon in Ho Chi Minh City and Allegro in Hoi An.

A very special thanks to our host, Trang. She made the planning so easy and (other than some minor communication gaps due to the time change) she was remarkably responsive and flexible. Trang literally saved our vacation. When checking in to our Korean Airlines flight in Boston, the airline’s crew noted an error in my visa for Vietnam - basically there was, in error, and extra “s” listed in my name on the Visa. After a long and stressful hour, in which it was clear that I would ultimately not be able to board the flight from Seoul to Ho Chi Minh City with this Visa, Trang saved the day! By the time our flight landed in Seoul, she had arranged for a “rush” replacement visa and I was able to complete travel as planned. I cannot thank Trang enough!

This was our second KimKim experience, as we traveled to Japan with the entire family this past summer. Both experiences were excellent and I will certainly use KimKim again.

Hotel Review

Allegro Hoian

A great boutique hotel with charm and a super-attentive staff. Great location and an even greater breakfast buffet! “Nancy” from the staff was warm and welcoming and made it a point to chat daily and even remembered our names throughout our stay.

Authenticity & Character

Charming feel

Location

Short walk to Old Town

Staff

Nancy was amazing

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Review

Hoi An - biking Go Noi Village - Hoi An

Hoi An

Our favorite activity of the trip. Trinh, our local tour guide, gave an amazing introduction to her home village. We learned to prepare several dishes and enjoyed a great lunch at a family’s home. Riding around the village on bicycles was a blast!

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Best driver ever!

Excellent trip! Trang was so helpful every step of the way. We had a great adventure in Vietnam and got to see so much thanks to Trang’s amazing itinerary.