Odynovo Tours Co., Ltd

Ada was very prompt in answering our emails. She also provided excellent pre-tour information that helped us a great deal with our planning. The information we requested always came quickly. She understood very well what we were interested in and planned our entire tour accordingly. We were very satisfied with her arrangements. The hotel in Tokyo was great. It offered a great breakfast buffet and it was near shopping and restaurants. In Kyoto, the hotel was also very nice and near shopping and restaurants, but unfortunately the breakfast buffet was mediocre and none of the staff spoke English, so it was very difficult to ask for things. We think the staff did not even speak much Japanese. It is a restaurant run by Vietnamese staff, so communication was very hard. The hotel in Osaka was a nice hotel as well with a great breakfast buffet, very friendly staff, but not close to restaurants or shopping. We had to take a taxi to do some shopping on our last day. Fortunately, taxis in Japan are not terribly expensive. The one suggestion we would like to make is that when purchasing tickets in the bullet train from Tokyo to Kyoto, the seats need to be on the right side of the isle (ideally seats D and E) so that the tourists can have a view of Mount Fuji. Also suggesting that a snack be brought on the train would be great.
Bea was our guide in Tokyo and she was totally amazing. She was kind, patient, knowledgeable, likable, and very helpful. Even after our tour/day with her was finished, she said we could contact her at any time if we had questions. She even helped us purchase our bus tickets to DisneySea. By the way, we were super lost when leaving DisneySea at the end of the day because turns out that there are two different exits to leave the park and they both look extremely similar, especially at night in the dark. It would be very helpful to tell the tourists going to DisneySea to pay very close attention to how they get into the park and to get out the same gate in order to catch the bus back to Tokyo.
When we went to Nara, we could not find the temple to see the Buddha. We contacted our guide in Kyoto, but when we did not get a response right away, we contacted Bea because we were very hot and wanted to get help as quickly as possible. We were lucky and Bea was able to do a video chat with us and even sent us a link so that we could locate the temple where we could see the Buddha. By the way, Jason did get back to us, but by then we had already spoken with Bea. Even after we returned home to the USA she contacted us to make sure we were okay. What a great tour guide! Plus, it was very nice to have someone who spoke such good English.
Our guide in Kyoto and Osaka, Jason, was also very good, funny and very knowledgeable as well. He tried to be patient, but my husband was having trouble with his back and was walking very slowly, so it was difficult for him to keep up with Jason even though Jason tried to allow for it. Jason also helped us buy our train tickets to Nara. This was very helpful because not many people speak English. One suggestion would be that, if the weather is not good and it is rainy in Osaka, it is not worth it to make the long walk to the Umeda Sky Building to get a view of the cityscape. Overall, we were very happy with Ada, the hotel accommodations, the places we visited and both tour guides. We loved Japan! It was a fun and exciting trip!

I had a really good time, and all of the guides I had were especially good.

We had such a great experience with KimKim! Everything was planned well and the guides/drivers/experiences chosen were perfectly curated to what we wanted to do on our trip. The trip was seamless and went so smooth thanks to the planning that they did and the accommodations they chose were in great locations for both Seoul and Busan. We will be recommending KimKim to all our friends planning to travel abroad!

Hotel Reviews

G2 Hotel Myeongdong

Seoul

We really enjoyed the location of this hotel! Though not quite as nice as the other one we stayed in on our visit (L7 in Busan) in terms of amenities and general quality of rooms, we still really enjoyed our stay.

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L7 HAEUNDAE by LOTTE

Busan

This hotel was the perfect location and the rooms were great. Breakfast was amazing!!

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Activity Reviews

Full Day Haedong Yonggungsa and Gwangalli Night Food Tour

Busan

Our second day with Luke was amazing! He showed us so much of what Busan had to offer and even adjusted our schedule to see some new things that weren't on the itinerary because we had already explored some on our own. He showed us some of the best food we had on our trip. We could not recommend a tour with Luke more!

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Gamcheon Village, BIFF Square and Jagalchi Market

Busan

Luke was the best tour guide ever! We had such an amazing couple days with him - when it was rainy he suggested a different indoor activity at an art museum and it was the perfect alternative to being outside in the rain. He was so friendly and knowledgeable. We couldn't have asked for a better guide!

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Korean Full-Course Meal Cooking Class at Local Home with Local Market Experience

Seoul

This was such a fun activity for our trip! The food was amazing and the class was educational and fun. We couldn't have asked for a better guide/instructor!!

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Food

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Explore Seoul Highlights

Seoul

We had such a great day with Jun! He had the whole day planned out perfectly and we got to see so much without feeling like it was too packed. We couldn't have asked for a better guide, he gave us a lot of fun details about everywhere we visited and answered any questions we had! We were so happy with this tour!!

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My first time to Korea was an absolute treat. After spit balling all my requests, Christine created the dream itinerary. All my tour guides were knowledgeable, warm, friendly, inviting, and personable (shout out to Lisa, Jade & Jimmie). I felt so spoiled in our private escorts! 5 stars all around. Thank you again!

Our initial interaction with Christine were excellent. Also, she was very responsive to any questions we had and so we trusted Kim Kim to have all the arrangements made per our requests. We would have given both a 5 star review but due to the following, we are giving 4 stars:
1. We had requested aisle seat plus second seat next to aisle way in advance but when we checked out we were given middle seats on the way to Seoul and return. This may seem trivial but due to medical reasons, an aisle seat was very important
2. We had specifically requested small group tour but in Seoul ended up being on a 26 person tour. Another disappointment was that the tour was a Viator tour that we could have booked on our own.
3. Our time in Jeju was a little disappointing as we thought we would have a tour guide who was more informative on the history and culture of Jeju. She is a lovely person who drove us everywhere but for what we paid for this tour and what our expectations were for having a driver/tour guide- it was a bit disappointing. We also felt that the content of the tour was not as we had expected. We are unsure if it could have been more interesting.

Having said this, we appreciate all the timely pickups by drivers and Christine’s responses to our questions and concerns. She tried to make up for the complaints by a credit and a lunch.

Hotel Reviews

GoldOne Hotel & Suites

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Lotte City Hotel Jeju

Jeju

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L7 HAEUNDAE by LOTTE

Busan

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Soi Hanok Stay

cheongju

We booked this hotel on our own and lived it. Excellent place

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HOTEL THE BOTANIK SEWOON MYEONGDONG

Seoul

Excellent location. Service was fine and room was adequate

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Activity Reviews

Full Day Seongsan Ilchulbong and Dongmun Traditional Market

Jeju Island

This day was a bit disappointing. Tour area were a bit touristy.

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Full Day Mt. Hallasan, Tea Plantation and Spirited Garden Tour

Jeju Island

The hike to the the peak was fun and informative. The spirited garden is a must see for all!

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Guides, Drivers and Staff

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Full Day Bulguksa Temple and National Museum Tour

Gyeongju

Jino was an excellent guide. He shared all Sorts of historical and cultural information that made our time more memorable!

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Small Group Full Day Busan Tour (Max 6 Pax)

Busan

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Hi

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Seoul City Sightseeing (Gyeongbokgung Palace, N Seoul Tower & Namsangol Hanok Village)

Seoul

Due to group size

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I thought all our guides were good but Tomoe in Tokyo was the best. We also really liked our last day with Fuji in Kyoto.

I booked this trip with my travel agent, Cruises-for-Africa in South Africa who uses kimkim in Japan.

Generally speaking, it was a good trip with very few things to complain about.

If I were forced to complain, then my big complaint would relate to the size of the hotel room in the first hotel we stayed in when we arrived at Tokyo. You couldn't swing a cat in it. It's a pity that they chose to compromise in that way on cost. I would happily have paid more to get a room of similar size to the rest of the hotels on our itinerary. The room in the Mount Fuji Hotel was enormous. The only problem was that there were no normal beds. There were just futons on the ground, but it was interesting, nevertheless.

As for the rest of the hotels, they were excellent, and all hotels, including the first one, had very good breakfast buffets.

Your correspondents, KimKim were quite responsive, albeit at times a little slow. All in all, they did their job well.

The vehicles that were used to transport us privately from place to place were of very good quality, with really nice features.

Our guides were generally good, save for the last one in Osaka whose English was way below par.

From a personal point of view, I found the itinerary to be too busy, and I ran out of steam, forcing me to shorten the day by eliminating things that I wasn't particularly excited about seeing. These related primarily to temples and shrines. When you've seen a few, they all become the same. If I had it over again, I would exclude many of the temple/shrine visits and do something else.

Selecting food to eat was quite intimidating as there is very little description as to what each Japanese dish comprises. Towards the end of our trip, we became a little more adventurous and I must say we had some very nice meals.

If asked whether I intend to return to Japan, my answer would tend to be no. I found that there was very little unique about Japanese cities beyond the shrines and temples. Tokyo itself wasn't particularly pretty. It seems that every square meter of space has been populated by skyscrapers of the size that I have seldom, if ever, seen. They might have been interesting if the architects had shown a little creativity, but sadly, there was nothing pretty about them, just monoliths all standing in a row with remarkably little space between each building. Could never tolerate living there.

The highlight for me was the Japanese people themselves. Disciplined, extremely respectful and very kind people. If the world was populated by such people, it would be a much better world than the one we live in.

Therefore, all in all, a good trip, but not for me to be repeated.

Thank you very much for your help and support throughout the process. You were, as normal, excellent.