France By Locals

Review of KimKim trip for Henry Newman and Lisa Belvito France October 2026

Overall review – the trip was excellent. Most things went smoothly and were as planned, with a few exceptions that will be detailed following.
The process of working with Sebastian was good. It took a couple of calls for him to understand that we did not want to spend time in Paris. Once that was resolved he was very responsive to our interest, made good suggestions and replied in a timely manner.
We did have some trouble getting English tours for Mont St Michel and the oyster tour in Cancale. It seemed like we had to press a few times before getting alternatives. In the end it worked out fine.
Properties – all the hotels were lovely, well located for our needs and the staff was very helpful.
We did request at least a queen bed in each. In St. Malo and Bordeaux, we did not have queens – they seemed to be doubles. We would have preferred to discuss this in advance and explore the options (location, pricing etc) of upgrading to determine ourselves if we wanted to upgrade.
Note for people driving – we rented a car for the trip and needed parking. I believe Sebastian made sure that all the hotels had parking available. The location he gave us in St. Malo was especially well done since he kept us outside the old city where there is no parking but close enough to walk.
However – it is critical that guests contact each hotel well in advance to arrange for parking. The spaces are limited and if we had not reached out to each hotel early, we would not have gotten a parking space. You can assist future guests by advising them to make parking arrangement in advance.
Day by Day
We made a lovely stop at Giverny on the way to Bayeux – a nice alternative for those interested.
Villa Lara , a family-run hotel, was great. Paul and Julian were very fun and accommodating for our evening cocktails.
D-Day Sites Tour was very well done. Our guide Violine (??) did a great job giving is the history and creating a sense of what was happening during this period in history. She answered all our questions and accommodated our needs given a rather rainy day. The Airborne museum was also a highlight.
Sadly, the tapestry was on display in Britian, but we enjoyed a quiet day exploring Bayeux.
Mont Saint Michel - easy to get to and the directions look us right to the parking lot. Although it was a bit crowded the process was smooth and the walk to the Abbey was nice.
We ended up with an audio guide due to lack of an English tour. This was the best audio guide we have ever seen! It really provided excellent information and perspectives across the centuries. Perfect if there is not a tour in your language or for anyone who prefers self-guided option.
Saint Malo As mentioned – the hotel location was just the right place for access to parking and access to the intra muros district. We spent a nice day discovering the old town of St. Malo.
The suggestion to visit Cancale on our own since we could not get an English tour of the oyster farms was a great idea. We spent time at Pointe du Grouin and then visited Cancale. Lots of fun sitting by the water eating oysters and watching the oyster farming.
Due to rainy weather, chilly we didn’t drive as much of the coast as suggested.
Bordeaux – another lovely hotel centrally located for everything we wanted to enjoy. Excellent staff – very helpful especially since we were there when some of the riots occurred. They ensured that everyone was informed and safe, so we had no issues.
We had some mix up with our market tour which we have shared with Sebastian.
The itinerary said - Marché des Capucins Lénaïc, a local passionate wine-lover, is your guide to this emblematic Bordeaux neighborhood. You'll learn about its fascinating history while exploring the colorful market. You will stop at three different stalls to hear artisan producers explain their work and techniques and to sample local wines and season products, which could include cheese, oysters, stuffed cod, and more.
Your tour ends in a nearby wine cellar for brunch, enjoying wine and other local specialties. You will have the opportunity to taste six different wines matched with food purchased at the markets. This is a friendly and relaxed experience away from the hustle and bustle of the city above!
Unfortunately, this is not the experience we got. We stayed in the main area, visited 4 local shops for small tastes. There was no market and no brunch or food and wine pairing. It seems the local tour company switched out our planned tour for a different experience which was disappointing.
We did, however, visit Marché des Capucins on our own.
Sauternes Wine and Medoc Wine tours The next two days of touring Sauternes Wine and Medoc Wine were excellent. Ugo our guide was knowledgeable, engaging, informative and a great driver. We learned a lot about wine and life in the area.
Wine Tasting in St. Emilion Our guide for this tour (she did not tell us her name) was pleasant but not very engaging. We were in a rather noisy van with 4 other people, and it was impossible to hear what she was explaining in the back of the van. We did ask her to speak up a few times but to no avail. For small groups in a van, you might consider using a mike so everyone can hear.
The location and tasting were was enjoyable.
Le Monastère de Saint-Mont this was an amazing property with such a lovely family running it. Beatrice arranged a full day tour of the region with Armagnac and wine tastings and lunch with a local guide. KimKim might want to coordinate with these people for others who want Armagnac experiences as you didn’t seem to know anyone in the region.

Amandine did and excellent job creating a wonderful experience for my wife and I for our trip to the south of France. She built us an amazing itinerary covering all of our requests and added other points of interest with her knowledge of the areas that we
were travelling through. Accommodations, travel arrangements and tours were spot on.

We would recommend and use Kim Kim again for future travels.

Merci Amandine.....much appreciated.

Robin and Kirk Roberts
Canada

Hotel Reviews

Hotel 96

Marseille

Beautiful property with a very helpful and friendly staff. Great breakfast.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Very quiet and quaint. Not too much close buy though. Bit of a walk to restaurants.

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Nemea Appart Hotel Cannes Palais

Cannes

Nicely appointed apartments with a small balcony. Close to all amenities....great location.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Apartment was in dire need of a good cleaning, painting and bedroom carpet was stained with a bit of mold.

Chateau St Roux

Le Cannet-des-Maures

A real gem. Beautiful property with amazing views and great wines. Lovely dining room and great food. Staff were very friendly. A great wine tour provided by the staff.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Aparthotel AMMI Vieux Nice

Nice

Very cute hotel in a great location in the heart of Nice on the edge of Old Town. Room was a bit on the small side but was well appointed. Excellent staff.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Best Western Marseille Aeroport

Vitrolles

Nice Hotel close to the airport with free shuttle. Good restaurant on the premise and a nice outdoor pool. Well appointed room.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Reviews

Half-Day morning Cruise to Calanques National Park - small group

Marseille

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

2-hour walking tour

Marseille

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Cannes – Traditional Gastronomy Walking Tour (approx. 3 hours · shared experience)

Cannes

Excellent tour with a very welcoming guide.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Wine Tour in Bellet & Saint Paul de Vence from Nice

Nice

This has to be one of the best wine tours we have ever experienced. Our guide was very knowledgable and entertaining. We saw some beautiful country side and met several of the owners and families of the wineries.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Visit and Wine Tasting at Château Saint Roux

France

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Enjoy the Chateau Saint-Roux

France

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Our trip was wonderful. As the person who is normally in charge of booking EVERYTHING for a family vacation, I was nervous trusting those details to someone else- but everything was wonderful and Amandine was extremely helpful.

The vintage car tour through Paris was so much fun- we loved riding around all of the small streets and learning about the beautiful city. We were also the subject of many vacation photos!

Sebastien, our tour guide at the Louvre was FANTASTIC. He was so good with our daughter- engaging, funny, kind and knowledgable. Even though the museum was SO busy that day, Seb navigated us through like a true pro.

We had a wonderful time with Mai at our croissant baking class. My daughter loved learning how to make all of the delicious treats, and was so excited to try them hot out of the oven when we were done.

Having cars arranged for us to travel between locations was SO helpful- as this was the part I was most worried about accomplishing with my family!

Overall, Kimkim made my first vacation to Europe with my daughter so much easier and we will definitely be back next time we're planning a big trip!

Hotel Review

Aparthotel Adagio Paris Montmartre

Paris

We loved staying here! - The rooms were clean and spacious with a nice kitchenette, close to a small grocery for essentials. - the included breakfast was brought to our room every morning and was delicious! - About a 5 minute walk from two metro lines (2 and 12) that bringing you easily to central Paris - This area of Montmartre is a at the bottom of the funicular (3 minute walk!) so it's easy to get up into the hills, but also had many shops and restaurants very close by!

Authenticity & Character

Location

About a 5 minute walk from two metro lines (2 and 12) that bringing you easily to central Paris - This area of Montmartre is a at the bottom of the funicular (3 minute walk!) so it's easy to get up into the hills, but also had many shops and restaurants very close by!

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Reviews

Guided tour of Paris and secret Montmartre in a Citroën 2CV

Paris

This was so fun!! We loved zooming around Paris is this tiny vintage car seeing the sights. A nice way to get a lay of the land and explore the nooks and crannies of Montmartre.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Louvre Treasure Hunt (kids or teens tour)

Paris

This was a great experience! The Louvre was incredibly busy on the day of our visit, so having Seb, our tour guide was invaluable. He was so knowledgeable and kept my daughter engaged and made sure she was able to see and experience things even in the crowds. She loved spending the time with him and completing her scavenger hunt activity!

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Sebastien our guide was wonderful!!

Little Bakers of Paris: Kids’ Baguette & Croissant Workshop

Paris

This workshop was so fun, hands on, and a great way to spend an afternoon. We worked together with the instructor to make croissants and dough, learned about the techniques and had lots of laughs.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Mai was wonderful! We loved getting to work with her and spending time getting to know her a bit!

Private Transfer from Paris hotel to Paris Charles de Gaulle (CDG)

France

The car services that were booked for us throughout our trip were excellent, everyone was always on time, friendly, clean cars and reliable!

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Palace of Versailles Half day trip (Skip the line, audioguided & gardens) by minivan from Paris

Paris

I wish we had more time for this! Versailles was gorgeous and the half day tour was great for my daughter, but we could have spent a ton more time exploring the gardens. The audio guide was nice and they have a kids specific option available in certain languages that my daughter really liked listening to. We spent about an hour in the gardens and about 90 minutes in the palace.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

We had a great 5 days of wine tasting and hiking, first in Vaison la Romaine and the last two days in Chateau Neuf du Pape. Almandine did a great job of picking our two hotels, Le Beffroi in Vaison, and La Mere Germanine in Chatauneuf du Pape. Both were excellent hotels and situated within walking distance to wineries. In Vaison, we had an "in the Dark" wine tasting at the Chene Bleu Estate, as arranged by Almandine. This was a high point of our trip-- a very sensual experience which allowed us to appreciate all the sensory qualities of wine-- more than just taste! We then had two days on our own to explore the ancient village of Vaison and then Almandine arranged our transport to Chateauneuf du Pape. While there we visited a winery suggested by Alandine, the Nerthe Estate. On the second day, she suggested a hike along the Rhone River, which included a tasting at Chateau de la Gardine. This was also a great tasting. Following this Almandine arranged our transport to the airport. All in all a great trip and highly recommended.

Hotel Reviews

Le Beffroi

Vaison la Romaine

Good location in the ancient city of Vaison

Authenticity & Character

Location

Walking to wineries

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

La Mère Germaine

CHÂTEAUNEUF-DU-PAPE

Good location

Authenticity & Character

Location

Close to everthing

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Review

Visit of Chateauneuf du Pape - Nerthe Estate Tasting

France

Good wines and the winery tour was excellent

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

They were on time and took us where we needed to go.

Our trip booked and organized by Amandine was wonderful. We suggested a general itinerary and Amandine took it from there. We reviewed her suggestions for hotels -- both excellent mid-priced venues, and she suggested a few winery visits and other tour opportunities. Best of all she arranged transport from the train to the hotels, then from hotels to airport at the end of the trip. She was easy to work with and responsive to ideas for walking tours and open days.

We had an amazing experience with KimKim - all the way from all the hotel recommendations to the beautiful excursions and trips that were planned. We highly recommend booking your next trip with them, they were great and answered every question I had!

We had a wonderful weeklong trip to Annecy and Chamonix thanks to Amandine. After spending two weeks in Paris I wanted to go to a beautiful place away from the city and the crowds where my family (myself, husband, and two kids ages 12 and 10) could go hiking and do other outdoor activites, but I was overwhelmed thinking about planning this trip myself. After staying in airbnbs and doing all the research myself for many years I took a leap of faith and put my trust in Amandine and she did not disappoint. She was friendly, professional, responsive, and efficient with making revisions. She selected ideal destinations, arranged TGV tickets (including a surprise upgrade to first-class), found mid-range hotels with clean, comfortable rooms that had beds for each kid and nice breakfasts, arranged transparent kayak rentals, bike rentals, and gondola tickets, scheduled a hiking guide (Quentin was amazing) and two drivers, and recommended restaurants. I felt a genuine connection with her and the extra money was well-spent. I wouldn't hesitate to ask her for help planning another trip to France.

We have had an absolute amazing time in France and would use Kimkim again for travel planning. The entire process of planning our road trip with our daughter's wedding in the middle could not have been any smoother .Our local representative for Burgundy was Emma and she was always very responsive and provided clear information through out the planning and traveling experience. We loved the hotels she recommended as well as the private tours we took including a tour of D day in Normandy and a wine tasting bike tour in Burgundy. Super all the way!!! The Kimkim team back in the USA was also very responsive with extra questions before leaving.The platform is very easy to use and the app for using while traveling makes schedules and tickets/ vouchers very accessible.

Activity Review

Full-day Tour of D-Day Sites

Bayeux

Perfect day trip with a wonderful guide named Jeremy who was very knowledgable and flexible with good sense of humor. It was extremely hot but the van was still comfortable and the different stops were just long enough to tolerate the heat outside and feel we had enough time to explore.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Sebastian’s help in creating a perfect honeymoon itinerary was amazing! The travel book was clear and easy to use. We had a great time in France!

We had a great time in France. Amandine was great to work with. It felt like 2 trips: first Paris and Normandy, and then Provence and Nice in the South. Luckily we just missed the extreme heat wave.
The following guides really made the experience exceptional:
Juliette - guide for Mont Saint-Michel was fantastic
Stefan - guide for Normandy beaches was fantastic
Tomas - guide for Avignon and Les Baux was fantastic
Jesse - guide for Luberon villages was fantastic, and was substituted at last minute as someone was sick
Nora - guide for Monaco and Monte Carlo was fantastic.

Hotel Reviews

Citadines Bastille Marais Paris

Paris

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Le Bayeux

Bayeux

Should not offer 3 people in single room. Not enough room

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Don't put 3 people in a room

Saint Christophe

Aix-en-Provence

Authenticity & Character

Location

close to the Aix tour center

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Aparthotel Adagio Nice Promenade des Anglais

Nice

Authenticity & Character

Location

Right next to the beach.

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Reviews

Luberon Markets and Villages small-group guided tour

Aix-en-Provence

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Jesse was outstanding.

Transport

Chauffeured Tour of Paris in a Vintage Car

Paris

Stoyan did a great job with his 1970 Mercedes trip through the city.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Full-day guided tour from Bayeux to the Mont-Saint-Michel

France

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Full-day from Aix to Les Baux, Avignon, The Pont du Gard & Chateauneuf du Pape

Aix-en-Provence

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Tomas was outstanding

Transport

Private transfer - Excursion from Aix-en-Provence to Nice

France

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Alicia was prompt and took us to some great vantage points for photos.

Transport

From Grasse to Paris, Fragonard Perfume Workshop & Museum

Paris

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Nora was fantastic. The tour guide at Fragonard was great.

Transport

Paris: Illuminations Seine River Cruise

Paris

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

The Louvre Skip-the-line tour: greatest masterpieces small group guided tour (Max. 6 persons)

Paris

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Full-day Tour of D-Day Sites

Bayeux

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Tomas was excellent

Transport

From Aix - Full-day catamaran tour in the Calanques National Park

France

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Know the location of the dropoff

Full-day excursion to Monaco, Monte-Carlo & Eze

France

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Nora was fantastic. Learned a lot with her commentary during the drive.

Transport