Odynovo Tours Co., Ltd

The guides selected for us were phenomenal! They shared their culture and experience with us and made the trip memorable! The drivers were amazing and communicated with us for rack pick up. The itinerary was customized and exceeded all of our expectations. There was only one glitch with the travel system (wrong airport listed) but we recovered and made it to the destination on time!

Hotel Reviews

HOTEL THE BOTANIK SEWOON MYEONGDONG

Seoul

Great location! Great breakfast! Great room! A favorite from a recent trip to Seoul! Highly recommend!

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Hotel Forza Osaka Kitahama

Osaka

Overall a fine hotel with fine rooms that met our needs, even breakfast was fine. It is located near shopping and restaurants.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Mitsui Garden Hotel Shiodome Italia-gai Tokyo

We loved staying here! My family of 3 stayed here twice during a trip to Tokyo for a total of 6 nights - by far our favorite hotel during our trip to Japan. The most comfortable beds and enough room to move around. Great breakfast. Great location - Within walking distance to the metro, convenience stores, and a coffee shop. Plenty of laundry machines and an onsen on the top floor.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Richmond Hotel premier KYOTO SHIJO

Very nice hotel with a stylish lobby! It is located in the middle of downtown and near shopping and restaurants. The hotel is also next to a grocery store. The room was comfortable and we had plenty of room to move around (the largest room of the 5 hotels we stayed at during a 2-week trip to Japan). The breakfast had many traditional Japanese dishes, with plenty of options for travelers. There are laundry machines and a smart tv in the room so you can see availability in the laundry room without leaving your room.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Reviews

Half Day Samurai Ninja Museum and Kimono Tea Ceremony at Kyoto Maikoya

Kyoto

3 separate activities: tea ceremony with kimonos was a family favorite! The experience of getting dressed in kimonos was a rush! Learning about the tea ceremony was a treat! Samarai Ninja experience started at one location in town - where we practiced throwing stars and blowing darts. Probably an activity more for smaller children. The museum is located across town - a 10 to 15 minute walk. We accidentally started at the museum and walked to the Ninja Experience, so we did not return to the museum afterwards.

Quality of Experience

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Street Go-Cart Tour

Tokyo

What a cool way to experience Tokyo!! The route we followed was fun and the guide took photos which really added to the experience.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Hozugawa River Cruise

Kyoto

A highlight for our family trip to Japan! Only a few parts of the river had fast flowing water (just a few splashes). The guides shared information about the area and made the trip even more memorable.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Half Day Seoul City Tour with Gyeongbokgung Palace and Bukchon Hanok Village

Seoul

A fantastic way to see Seoul! We started with an option to rent traditional clothes for part of the day (watching the changing of the guards and wandering through the museum). Our guide, Jake, was amazing!! He shared a lot of knowledge about the customs of Korea - which made the experience richer. He suggested a great location for Korean Bulgogi and then took us to a few shopping areas. Jake to our interests into account and customized the rest of our itinerary.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

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

Tokyo

We had 2 guides for the day - which was a lifesaver when moving through the crowds of people and traveling to multiple locations. They certainly took us to the most amazing spots in Tokyo!

Quality of Experience

Quality of Experience

Food

The guide had us sample a few items unique to the area and suggested a great spot for lunch. Lunch was close to 1:30pm.

Food

The guide had us sample a few items unique to the area and suggested a great spot for lunch. Lunch was close to 1:30pm.

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Transport

Full Day Kyoto City Tour (Kinkaku-ji Temple, Kyoto Imperial Palace, Nijo Castle and Fushimi-Inari Taisha)

Kyoto

A great way to experience Kyoto! Our guide, Zumi, was phenomenal! He took us throughout Kyoto, using the metro, the bus, and even a taxi to get us to each location. He took us further into the locations so we could see more than most tourists.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Half Day Bamboo Grove and Monkey Park Tour

Kyoto

The monkey park is a bit of a hike up the side of a mountain (stairs and step walk). Once you reach the top, the monkeys are close to you! Our guide knew the best time to arrive, so we beat the crowd, but it got rather crowded before too long. The bamboo grove is near the monkey park. What a sight to see! Perhaps one of my favorites because once you move beyond the tourists the grove is very serene and peaceful.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Full Day Nara City Tour, Overnight in Osaka

Kyoto

The deer park is impressive- there are 1000 deer roaming the area. While the deer are aggressive and easily overwhelming, if you move further into the park you can feed single deer without fear of being nipped at or bitten. The stone lanterns and shrines scattered among the park are impressive.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Osaka Local Foodie Tour in Dotonbori and Shinsekai

Japan

Arrive with an appetite! The guide took us to 3 locations using the metro and we tried a variety of Osaka food! Our favorite was the end of the evening when we tried Osaka style savory pancakes (pancake is slightly misleading since it made me think of US style pancakes- these are made with shredded cabbage)

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

We absolutely loved our trip to Japan! Shona helped us get the balance just right, between guided experiences and independent travel. Our guides were exceptional and allowed us to cater our days and gain much more than we could have on our own. The assistance in transportation with luggage was especially appreciated. Lastly, the app was easy to use and had everything we needed in one place.

We couldn't have been happier about our trip and will definitely use Kimkim again!

Activity Reviews

Full Day Tokyo City Tour

Tokyo

Moto was an exceptional tour guide. We inited him to visit us at home, because we sincerely enjoyed his company so much!

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Half Day Samurai Ninja Museum and Kimono Tea Ceremony at Kyoto Maikoya

Kyoto

If we were to do it again, we'd do the Tea Ceremony and skip the Samurai Ninja Museum. Purely a matter of personal preference, but we loved the tea ceremony and didn't find the Samurai museum very engaging.

Our trip to South Korea exceeded every expectation, and the people who guided us are the reason it's now one of our favorite countries we've visited in Asia.
From the very start, Christine handled all the logistics flawlessly. Everything ran smoothly and on time, and she anticipated needs before we even thought to ask. That kind of seamless planning is rare, and it let us relax and actually enjoy the trip instead of worrying about the details.
Our guides, Jinny and Heather, were simply outstanding — among the best we've ever had anywhere in the world. Both were warm, endlessly patient, and genuinely sweet to be around. They had a real gift for sharing Korea's culture, food, and history in a way that felt personal rather than rehearsed, and their enthusiasm was contagious. They made us feel less like tourists and more like welcomed guests.
We came home with not just incredible memories of the palaces, the food, and the neighborhoods, but with real affection for the people who showed us their country. Christine, Jinny, and Heather turned a great itinerary into an unforgettable experience. We can't recommend them highly enough.

Christine designed a trip to South Korea that was filled with memorable discoveries. We started with tours of Gyeongju and Busan, led by Anthony Sung. Anthony had just passed his national travel guide exam and was very knowledgeable and friendly. He took us to burial mounds, museums, and temples in Gyeongju and drove us to Busan, where we saw the fish market (possibly my wife's favorite event of the trip), Gamcheon Village, and markets and towers and the coast. On Jeju Island, we were escorted by Jimmie Koh, the son of a sea woman diver who took us to watch these remarkable people in action. Jimmie accommodated our challenges as 60-something tourists in leading us up 500 steps to the top of Sunrise Peak, and he catered to my background in geology by showing us the largest lava tube in the world and columnar basalts on the coast. Next, Jade Kim took us to Haeinsa Temple near Daegu. That was my favorite temple in South Korea, and Jade expertly described its importance in the history - and present practice - of Buddhism. All of our guides took us to amazing restaurants, and we felt that we sampled a lot of different cuisines by the end of the trip.

I was most impressed that Christine managed to weave our trip within the constraints of a separate itinerary that my student created. We were able to meet my student and his family at the beginning of the trip and to attend his spectacular wedding at the end, and the kimkim trip meshed perfectly with that. Most important, at every transfer, the kimkim drivers and guides were there to meet us, and Christine responded quickly to every email request.

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)

We had an amazing trip thanks to kimkim and Christine, our local specialist. While I am a more seasoned traveler, my husband and our son are not. Having all of the transfers to and from hotels to the airport/train station was huge. We had two private tours, one in Seoul and one in Busan, and both experiences were excellent.

Jun was our guide is Seoul and started off our trip on the right foot. He knew exactly how to navigate the sights to give us the best experience, and even got me a discount on my purchase at Gwangjang Market.

Luke was our guide in Busan and was so informative and engaging, especially with our 12-year-old son. If we go back to Busan, I would love to go to more sights with Luke.

I would definitely recommend kimkim for anyone planning an international trip and Christine specifically for any trips to South Korea.

The trip was very well organized, seamless transitions, all transfers were timely, we never felt rushed, short of time or being late. Jessica was sending us messages with heads up before every event and/or transfer. The hotels were excellent and in great locations, right in the middle of the activities and sightseeing places. The tour guides Sebastian, Danny and Kim, did a great job. We spent long days with them. Excellent English, very nice presentations, and the fund of knowledge, perfect pace and very informative! We felt we were very well taken care of.
On a separate note, I booked this trip only three weeks before the actual departure date, so everything was sort of last minute. I was very impressed at how quickly kimkim managed to create a very nice itinerary and do all the booking. So, thumbs up to your whole team!

I wanted to thank Christine (planning), Hera (Seoul), and Luke (Busan), you made my family’s first trip to Korea an AMAZING experience! You are all so knowledgeable and helpful from pick up from the airport from the first day, I felt we were in great hands. Our local guides, added great touches to our experience and provided solid additions and suggestions to enhance our experience. I will definitely highly recommend to my friends and family your services.