Authentic Ecuador

We had an amazing trip with the help of Paola and her recommendations. The guides went above and beyond. Highly recommend her.

great service and thoughtful tour guides

Going to the Galápagos Islands was the trip of a lifetime! We would have been lost without our travel agent, Paul Cisneros from Kim Kim. Paul arranged excellent accommodations for us. He arranged for drivers to pick us up and take us to where we needed to go every step of the way. Paul arranged all of our tours and tour guides. We felt safe and reassured by his planning and expertise. Paul even helped to troubleshoot when we experienced translation problems and website glitches with the TCT cards. Everything ran so smoothly because of the planning and arrangements that Paul made.

As for the trip itself, we were in awe of the wildlife experiences that we had. Both land and sea adventures were unique, informative and amazing. Land animals that we saw in the Galápagos Islands included sea lions (not seals as we learned!), Galapagos and Saddleback tortoises (many sightings!), blue footed boobies, frigate birds, many other birds, Sally Lightfoot crabs, lava lizards, land iguanas (lots of them!). Marine animals included sea turtles (my personal favourite!), a sea horse, different kinds of rays (eagle rays, sting rays, maybe a marble ray), sharks, puffer fish, and so, so many colourful fish (like in Finding Nemo). On the mainland, our cultural tour of Quito felt like we were stepping back in time to an older world from days gone by. The Middle of the Earth tour was fun and interesting. We love our pictures from standing on the line of the equator.

We loved each and every hotel that we stayed at. The Ikala Quito Hotel had well appointed rooms and the staff were lovely. Hotel Fiesta in Puerto Ayora was spectacular! The pool area with bar was so nice to relax at and the gardens were gorgeous! We were travelling as an adult family and our room had a main room with a king size bed and a side room with two single beds. It was quite spacious. The Albemarle in Puerto Villamil was right on the beach and had a roof top terrace looking east, south and west. You could catch both the sunrise and the sunset. It even had a communal clothesline on the roof where you could dry your swimsuits (a small thing but something I really appreciated!). Lastly, we stayed at the Wyndham Airport Hotel in Quito on our last night. It is in the shape of a condor, which makes it an interesting piece of architecture. It is quite a posh hotel and the restaurant there is excellent. The shuttle service is under 5 minutes to the airport.

In summary, this was the trip of a lifetime for us and was everything we had hoped for. We are so grateful for the experience!

P.S. The following people were excellent as tour guides/coordinators (in no particular order): Robert, Ricardo, Michael, Alexis, Diego, Salome, Julio. There were others along the way who played a more minor role in our trip but each one was competent, friendly and helpful. In fact, my husband and I commented that Ecuadorians cultivate a culture of excellence not always seen in other parts of the world.

Hotel Reviews

Ikala Quito Hotel

Quito

This was an excellent hotel to stay at. The rooms were unique and spacious. Breakfast was delicious and staff were excellent!

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Hotel Fiesta

Puerto Ayora

We loved this hotel! We felt like we were staying in a tropical paradise. We booked a family room and had a spacious room with a king bed with a smaller room off to the side with two single beds. Outdoors, there are beautiful gardens, a lovely pool and hot tub area and even a bar attended by a staff member. The availability of cervases were much appreciated! They even had ping pong tables. Breakfast was delicious. Staff were friendly. Overall, we loved it!

Authenticity & Character

Location

The hotel is close to the main street.

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Albemarle

Puerto Villamil

We loved this hotel. It's right on the beach in Puerta Villamil. There is a courtyard inside with a small pool and lovely garden. The walkways to the room overlook the courtyard. Besides being on the beach, what we loved most was the roof top terrace. We spent lovely evenings up there watching the gorgeous sunsets. There are tables and chairs there to relax and have a beer. One small thing that I really liked was that there was a communal clothes line on the rooftop terrace so you could hang your wet swimsuits there to dry. A small thing but I really appreciated it.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Very attentive to our needs.

Cleanliness & Comfort

Wyndham Quito Airport

Quito

This hotel is quite interesting architecturally because it is in the shape of a condor. It is only minutes from the airport by shuttle and you have a beautiful view of the mountains. The restaurant is excellent and there is a nice gym/hottub/sauna area.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Reviews

Quito City Tour

Galapagos Islands

Our guide Robert was very knowledgeable. He gave us an excellent tour of the city, and in particular, the historical parts of the town and churches. We also stopped in at an Ecuadorian candy maker with "surprising" candies and a chocolate maker where we had a chocolate tasting experience. Quite delicious! Continuing on to the Middle of the World was exciting and fun. We thoroughly enjoyed our experiences there. Robert speaks excellent English and by the time we were done, we considered him to be a friend.

Quality of Experience

Very unique!

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Robert was an excellent guide and we felt safe with our driver Guillermo.

Transport

Visit the "Middle of the World"

Galapagos Islands

This was so much fun and very interesting. We learned a lot about the unique features of being on the equator.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Transfer to Quito Airport, Arrival to Galapagos & Highlands of Santa Cruz

Galapagos Islands

Everything ran very smoothly. We really enjoyed seeing the tortoises at the "ranch." We even saw one put the moves on his girlfriend but she was playing coy. Quite hilarious at tortoise speed, lol. The lava tunnel was cool, as was the sinkhole.

Quality of Experience

It's just awesome to see animals that live nowhere else on earth!

Food

We enjoyed our meal at the "ranch."

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Salome was knowledgeable and helpful.

Transport

Visit to the Charles Darwin Research Station

Puerto Ayora

This was really interesting. Glad we visited. Quite amazing how they continue to ensure the existence of the tortoises through their breeding program. Salome was an excellent guide.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Excursion to an uninhabited island

Galapagos Islands

The land tour of the island was very interesting. We saw land iguanas, frigate birds (and many other birds), sea lions, sally lightfoot crabs, lava lizards. The terrain was very rocky and the vegetation was desert like. For 3 of the 5 of us, snorkelling was a new experience. Ricardo, our guide was very knowledgeable and helpful. We saw so many beautiful fish! Sea turtles swam by us and we even saw reef sharks (which we were glad to hear are not interested in humans because they have plenty of fish to keep them happy). In were in awe of our experience.

Quality of Experience

The flora and fauna were amazing!

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Ricardo was engaging and very knowledgeable.

Thank you Paul, Milton and your entire staff for treating us to a very special and memorable time that will last the rest of our lives. Your effort had been truly the best ❣️

Hotel Reviews

Ikala Quito Hotel

Quito

Loves our time here

Authenticity & Character

Super location

Location

Great accommodations

Staff

Very helpful

Cleanliness & Comfort

Very clean

Hotel Fiesta

Puerto Ayora

So nice, beautiful and comfortable

Authenticity & Character

Felt like a resort in paradise

Location

another awesome place to stay

Staff

So very helpful

Cleanliness & Comfort

Super comfortable

Hacienda El Porvenir

Machachi

Perfect experience of true Ecuador

Authenticity & Character

They gave us their best support

Location

The best experience, top quality

Staff

Kind and helpful

Cleanliness & Comfort

We would love to go back for another stay

Hotel Cally Galapagos

Puerto Villamil

Great place to stay and close to things to enjoy

Authenticity & Character

Spacious and open

Location

Perfect view and access to the ocean beach

Staff

Very helpful

Cleanliness & Comfort

Pristine

Wyndham Quito Airport

Quito

We must go back to stay here, it has everything we enjoy especially the stream room with eucalyptus

Authenticity & Character

Top rated accommodations

Location

Very convenient access to the city and airport

Staff

So kind and helpful

Cleanliness & Comfort

Specious and comfortable

Activity Review

Quito City Tour - Middle of the World

Quito

Must do

Quality of Experience

Fun and interesting

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Best guide ever

Transport

Easy access

We had an amazing trip!! Milton made Quito even more special. Mindo was one of my favorite stops for the chocolate experience and seeing the toucans and feeding the humming birds. And going to Santa Cruz and Isabela was spectacular seeing all the wild life especially the blue footed boobies. The guides arrived on time and told us a lot of info. David got us to and from Baltra and was super. Julio took the time to show us around Isabela. Eva did a nice job showing us the tortoises in their natural habitat. As mentioned it was an amazing trip. And Paul was always there for us!!

Janine was an excellent guide. We wanted to do a lot of Bike Riding within the coat epoxy national Park and she coordinated that extremely well. At a certain point we needed a pick up truck and she was able to arrange that on a moments notice. The places we visited were unique and individual and we were very satisfied with the help provided by Kimkim. Having a driver was especially important and we felt very safe and comfortable as we travel throughout the country.

We would like to take the time in a week to write a fabulous review for the team we encountered, but in the meantime, 10 stars for Paul Cisneros, our Travel Advisor! He didn't leave any stone unturned. The beauty and fun of our experience was setup and managed every step of the way by Paul. Give us a week and we'll send you more information. Thank you!!

What an absolute pleasure and peace of mind to work with Paul and the many members of our Galapagos crew to create one of the most memorable and visually stunning vacations our family has ever been on. From the beginning, Paul was so easy to work with, polite, immediately responsive, and was able to cater to some last-minute changes during the trip, which was so deeply appreciated. Our naturalist guides were friendly, fun and knowledgeable. We loved the excursions as well as the cute hotels that we stayed in. I could not recommend this group more highly!

Mathias and the whole boat crew were exceptional! Snorkeling was amazing and the hikes were unique, very educational.