NORD DMC

Driving from Ålesund to Bergen
Hotel Alexander was a standout among the hotels…very nice. Loved driving in Norway! Driving up to Jostedalsbreen National Park, seeing Briksdal & Kjendalsbreen glaciers, riding the Flåm train: very special & scenic ❤️. Our electric car (Volkswagen ID4) knew when the speed limit changed and adjusted cruise control up & down to match. Driving the longest car tunnel in the world between Flåm to Bergen…very fun, & with the 3 visual breaks 👍

Activity Review

Flåm Railway Round-Trip Experience

Norway

Beautiful

We had just finished a cycling trip and we were taking a few more days to see the western part of Norway. We spent time in Alesund, Loen, Flam and Bergen and rented the car on our own. We really enjoyed the time on our own to explore Loen and the Jostedalbreen National Park. I highly recommend the Loen Skylift, it is a bit pricey, but the views are outstanding. We also visited the glacier museum on the drive to Flam. Renting an electric vehicle was easy and we easily found charging stations, be prepared for long tunnels if you are driving to Bergen.
We were lucky to arrive at places in between tour buses and cruise ships. Most of the towns had very large cruise ships docked in the fjords nearby and that created a crowded downtowns while people were off the ship or bus tours. Norway has a short tourist season and lovely cool weather, so plan ahead. I was very happy with the service provided by Kimkim and the app made finding tickets and confirmations very easy.

Activity Reviews

Flåm Railway Round-Trip Experience

Norway

Viking Day in Gudvangen

Gudvangen

Past & Present City Walk

Bergen

Kim-Kim team,
I rarely write reviews unless my experiences are exceptionally good or absolutely disastrous.
We have travelled the world extensively and utilized several travel agencies including great trips with KimKim several times. Historically, the trips have gone as planned with the activities and logistics going nearly flawlessly after extensive planning and attention to detail. Unfortunately, after numerous virtual meetings with our KimKim Travel expert, followed by numerous e-interaction interactions with the scheduler prior to the trip, the logistics of this trip to Sweden were absolutely a disaster!!! The activities, guides and accommodations were very good, however, the overall transport to and from activities (starting with not being picked up at the airport) along with several mis-bookings (one activity didn't actually exist), poor activity coordination and many miscommunications led to the most stressful trip I have ever experienced. We hired Kim Kim to ensure that we could be care-free. Ultimately, we had to literally planned much of our own trip on the fly with tremendous stress. This was also quite embarrassing for us because we planned the trip for 3 additional couples. If the management were to look at the numerous written and whats-app records of both the emergency hot line (that was worthless), and e-communications (to the trip planner and scheduler), they would see that there were numerous interactions from our landing in Stockholm until our departure. Unfortunately, the hot line and e-communications did virtually nothing other than to be verbally apologetic....virtually no actions that were helpful or taken when we needed them the most. I spent 40 years working for a large corporation as an executive and our mantra was "the customer is always right!". When your business is 100% customer service oriented it was unfathomable that was there was a nearly complete system failure once we landed in Sweden. After returning from our trip and we had several additional discussions with various KimKim employees, they refunded a small portion of the total trip as a token recognition of our unfortunate experience this time with KimKim. Personally, I would have expected more along with letters of apologies from all that were involved (along with management) for this debacle. Hoping that KimKim will closely review our situation carefully to ensure this never happens again! Nothing else needs to be said.

We had a fantastic trip. I really appreciated how much Krista was willing to go through all of our requests and the multiple changes (people arriving and departing on different days, lots of requests for very specific details) with patience and grace. The trip was super smooth, we never had any issues with transport, hotels, etc (I think Norway is a pretty organized country!). We loved our time in Ulvik and Kinsarvik especially, and feel like most agencies would not have picked up on our desire to be in smaller, more out of the way places. Several Norwegians were surprised to see Americans in Ulvik! The hiking was fantastic in both places. We loved our hiking guide, Andreas, in Bergen, along with the dinner cruise and the Greig house and concert. Can't wait to come back.

Hotel Review

Karl Johan Hotel

Oslo

Central location, comfortable, amazing breakfast.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Reviews

Bergen’s Classic Trails – Private Hiking Experience

Bergen

Great hike, learned so much about Norway chatting with Andreas as we hiked.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Cider tasting in Ulvik

Ulvik

lovely place to visit, great view and the food accompanying the cider was delicious

Quality of Experience

This was my third trip with KimKim. And, as usual, everything went perfectly. Denmark is a wonderful country and they have organized and run their country much better than we in the US have. I am 82 and at this age I enjoy simply watching people and absorbing their lifestyles, just seeing how their society functions.

I will definitely will use KimKim again as a travel arranger.

I would definitely recommend using Kimkim to plan a vacation. Everyone who interacted with us was helpful and were able to plan activities that would not have been accessible to us otherwise, such as private horseback riding and fishing excursions. Matij and Beni were our points of contact for while we were in the country and were crucially in their assistance!

We had a fantastic time with all the local guides in and around Bergen. Each was incredibly knowledgeable and very kind. The tours were incredibly well organized, and everything flowed like clockwork.

Hotel Review

Hotel Park Bergen

Bergen

A beautiful hotel with lots of old-world charm. The rooms were always clean and we loved the afternoon tea and brownies.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Reviews

Fjord Cruise & Seafood Dining Experience

Bergen

Quality of Experience

Food

The service was very slow, which detracted from the overall experience.

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

The home of Edvard Grieg with Summer Concert

Bergen

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Private Nærøyfjord Cruise & Flåm Railway Day Trip

Bergen

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Private Food & Culture Walk

Bergen

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Our trip to Norway was absolutely spectacular. We created memories that will last a lifetime. The highlights of the trip were our stay in Balestrand and our entire time in Svolvaer. Balestrand was such a charming, peaceful town. The hotel was beautiful and the breakfast was very fun. Our favorite things there were the e-bike tour and a local hike to a beautiful lookout point over the fjord. Cider tasting was also an unexpected highlight. We were especially glad we were able to do the e-bikes after some confusion during the booking process.

Svolvaer was almost indescribable. The pictures all looked like a green screen or AI. We loved our floating sauna experience and our hike to Reinebringen. Hikes around Svolvaer were also stunningly gorgeous. The Sea Eagle safari was also an unexpected highlight. We did not expect to get so close to the eagles! Our stops in Bergen, Bleik/Andenes, and Oslo were also very fun.

Horseback riding was fun, but again the confusion about the event left a bit of a sour taste in our mouths. We feel we should have been told in advance that due to the ages of our children we could not do the half day tour. The two hour tour was fine, we just feel we could have been guided better by our "local specialist." When we heard about the issue, we then waited nearly 3 weeks, despite several inquiries, to hear any updates. Our vacation had started before anything was resolved. We still have not been reimbursed the difference in cost (from the half day tour to the two hour tour) nor have we heard any updates.

We had one other issue with a link to our bus tickets early on in our trip. The link provided thru the kimkim app had expired. Fortunately, we had printed out the QR code in advance and were able to use it. Overall, our only disappointment in the trip was the poor service from our local specialist. Communication was (and continues to be) poor and we did not get helpful insights or feel that we were a priority. We have booked trips through kimkim in the past and had much better experiences.

Overall, the trip was everything we dreamed it would be. We were able to do everything we had hoped and were even fortunate to have good weather. We'll never forget our Norwegian adventure!

Hotel Review

Kviknes Hotel

Balestrand

Charming hotel with spectacular views. The breakfast was also very nice.

Authenticity & Character

Historic charm

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

We particularly loved the balcony and the beautiful views

Activity Reviews

Luggage Transfer Service

Norway

This was a lifesaver on our "Norway in a Nutshell" tour. The porters were also very kind in making an exception in delivering our luggage to an Air BNB with no front desk. Our major complaint is that we nearly lost this porter service due to our "local expert" nearly canceling this service a week before our trip (despite booking almost a year in advance) due to the lack of a hotel reception. Surely, our "local expert" could have identified this problem much sooner and handled it much better.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Summer RIB-boat Tour in Balestrand

Balestrand

The fjords and scenery around Balestrand are beautiful. But compared to our other RIB boat excursions, this one was a bit bland. We only did it as a substitute for our e-biking excursion which we had initially booked through kimkim but were later told we had to book on our own.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Midnight Sun Kayaking Excursion

Norway

This was an unexpected highlight. The trip was beautiful with an almost surreal aspect to it. The landscape was so unique and the midnight sun so cool. It was physically challenging, a bit cold, but very fun and memorable.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Our guides actually apologized to us at the end. They were nervous that our large group, including children, would be difficult. But they were surprised to learn that we were all up to the challenge!

Private Lofoten Floating Sauna Experience

Svolvær

So much fun. Some in our large group were nervous about this activity. Some were nervous about the heat of the sauna, others were nervous about feeling pressure to jump into the water, but we all had a great time. One of our favorite experiences.

Quality of Experience

Øygarden Islets Kayaking Excursion

Bergen

Our guides were great and the experience was worth it. There were a bunch of oil rigs in the area there for cleaning or repairs or something that distracted from the beauty a little bit. Our guides for this excursion, especially Simon, were particularly good.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Cider Tasting with Food Pairing

Norway

Unexpectedly fun. The tour guide was so passionate about apples and his enthusiasm was contagious. The food pairings with the delicious juices was an exceptional experience for our entire party (ranging in age from under 10 to around 70 years old)

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Guided Bike Rental Balestrand

Balestrand

This was a highlight of the trip. We did it all on our own, however. We booked this tour nearly a year in advance only to be informed a week or so before our trip that kimkim could no longer book this for us. We just paid privately for the tour and were fortunate they had enough bikes on the spot for our large group. Hopefully the "local specialists" will be better informed and better able to help people in the future.

Quality of Experience

Horsebackriding on Icelandic Horses in Lofoten (half day tour)

Norway

The experience itself was nice. The guides were good. The scenery was beautiful. One person in our party had a saddle slide off the horse and she fell off her horse. The saddle was a bit of a problem during the tour. Our main complaint with this excursion was poor communication with our kimkiim local specialist. We had initially booked the half day tour and lunch. We booked the event nearly a year in advance. About a week before the trip we were notified that because we had two riders under age 14 that we could not do the tour we booked. We felt our "local specialist" should have known this from the beginning. We were able to rebook a different, much shorter tour, but we had very poor communication from kimkim and our vacation had already started by the time we got it resolved. We were also told we'd be reimbursed the difference in cost, but are still waiting for that issue to be resolved. This issue was the most negative experience of our trip.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Guided Whale Watching RIB-Tour Andenes (Summer)

Andenes

Our initial time was canceled due to high winds, but they were kind in rescheduling us. Our rescheduled time felt a little overbooked and the check in process was a little rushed and hectic. The tour was fun. We saw pilot whales but were disappointed not to see any large whales.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Trollfjord Sea Eagle Safari by RIB

Norway

Very fun tour and the scenery was unmatched. We had no idea we would see so many eagles and that we would be so close to them!

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Not much dialogue. They were direct and to-the-point without a lot of enthusiasm