Venice Liberty Travel

From start to finish, our 12 day honeymoon (organized by Giulia) was absolute perfection. We went to Rome, Pompeii, Sorrento, Florence, and Venice. From the get-go, I felt I could trust Giulia to curate the best experience for us in our budget. A few standout things for us: First of all, the accomodations were incredible. Great locations and very high-quality. Second, we were very appreciative of the level of communication and service both ahead of the trip and during the trip. You know exactly where you need to be and when and all transfers were exactly as expected. No matter where we ended up, we could be rest assured that someone with a sign with our name on it would be waiting for us. Even during the trip, when one of our tours had to be adjusted (not Kimkim's fault), the team was super quick to come up with an alternative. Third, all the tours and experiences were just awesome. Special highlights were our private tour of the Uffizi Gallery, our private walking tour of Venice, and our day trip being driven around Amalfi.

A small anecdote to just highlight the level of service: a few weeks before our trip, Giulia had to contact us that because of last minute Jubilee changes, we needed to move our Vatican tour time to ensure we could see everything. While in Rome, we overheard another couple at dinner find out in real time that they wouldn't be able to go to the Vatican because they were scheduled to go at our original time. We told them that our travel agent had been so on top of it and sorted out this issue weeks ago!

We would definitely use kimkim again for a future trip!

This was our third trip to Italy using our Travel Agent Giulia with Liberty Travel through KimKim. She has hit it out of the park each time! All three of our trips that Giulia has planned for us have been excellent. She has great insights and recommendations for places to stay, places to eat, things to do and things to see! We wouldn't want to travel throughout Italy without her guidance. She truly loves what she does and has made our vacations to Italia the best possible! We have now travelled to Venice, Lake Como, Florence, Tuscany, Rome, Naples, Sorrento and the Amalfi Coast. Each excursion, place to stay and activity has been so well planned and thought out! Thank you Giulia! We look forward to our next Italian adventure with Giulia guiding us along the way!!

We had the most incredible trip. Marta communicated with us almost weekly until we left for the trip so were informed and felt prepared. We collaborated to create the itinerary, but she picked great hotels and tours that made our trip even more special. Some of the highlights were our private tour guide in Siena, our apartment in Florence, Mariel & the food tour in Rome, and our farm stay hotel outside of Sorrento. We felt that we were able to see and do so much, while having the perfect amount of days in each city. Throughout our trip, Marta and Jessica were proactive in sending our driver details for the next day and their contact details information. We will definitely be using this service on future trips. Thank you again for giving my family the trip of a lifetime!

Hotel Reviews

Palazzo Alfani al David

Florence

Right across from the accademia. A little loud during the day, but quiet at night. Valeria and Francesca met us upon check in and gave us some great local recommendations. Large space, yet very homey.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Relais Regina Giovanna

Sorrento (Na)

The property is so so gorgeous. All of the staff were very professional and eager to help. The only downside was that dinners weren’t great, but breakfast service was delicious and they have a free hourly shuttle to Sorrento where you could grab dinner instead.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Hotel Dell'Opera

Venice

The staff was incredibly friendly and the included breakfast each morning was delicious. Great location.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Very close to walk to dinner spots and tours destinations

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Reviews

Vatican & Sistine Chapel Group Tour

Rome

It’s a must do, but that place is really crowded. Would have liked longer to explore the museum, but they keep people moving - not a flaw of the tour.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Tuscany: San Gimignano & Siena Day Trip

Italy

Wish we had more time in Siena, what a hidden gem! Our tour guide was a local and had so much knowledge to share. Definitely a highlight of our trip.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Capri in a Day by boat

Italy

This was so much fun, but if you have a big group, would be better to get your own boat instead of sharing with others as it does get a bit cramped.

Hidden Venice Walking Tour

Venice

To be honest, this was fine for us. We didn’t really remember it after the fact, but enjoyed ourselves during it.

Small Group Tour of Colosseum Underground, Arena and Forum

Rome

You definitely need to be in shape to do this tour. It is a fast paced walk around the Roman forum, but there is so much to see in a short amount of time.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Rome: Foodie Walking Tour of Campo de Fiori Market and Roman Neighborhoods

Rome

Definitely a highlight of the trip. The guide was really informative and took us to some great stops. They had a cookbook and restaurant guide that they sent afterwards too.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Gondola ride

Venice

Must do in venice

Quality of Experience

Starting on April 30th Giulia of Liberty Travel of Liberty Travel in Padua was wonderful adjusting our travel wishes repeatedly as she helped us customize our Italian vacation. It was all set during the first week of August. Then after August 9, when we had paid the balance of our trip, the first problem started.

Problem #1- Internet Glitch: KimKim trip chat notifications stopped. The trip chat messages from Giulia appeared to us to simply stop. We assumed that meant there were no issues to discuss. In fact KimKim just suddenly and unexpectedly stopped sending us her many trip chat comments. Up to then we had always answered her within a day. We don’t knowwhy she didn’t think there might have been a notification problem.

Problem #2- A scheduled tour 'DaVinci' was canceled by the tour operator.. Unbeknownst to us Giulia asked via the non-functional notification system for a replacement tour. Getting no response she signed us up for a tour we had previously told her we did not want. I became suspicious at the apparent silence from Giulia and logged into kimkim chat and discovered the lack of notifications (from then on I logged in daily to the kimkim trip chat because I did not trust the performance).
When we reminded her that we did not want the Chianti tour she promised a refund which was done.

Problem #3- Our driver for our Siena/San Gimignano tour failed to arrive. The tour operator told us over the phone that she had no replacement drivers available to us. It was agreed with the Liberty Travel agent that we would receive a refund for the failed all-day tour. We made alternate plans. An hour later around 10AM a woman called and identified herself as the manager of Liberty Travel saying she had a driver who would be available in maybe an hour or hour and a half... to begin the ‘all-day” tour. We didn't believe her over the tour operator we just talked with and we wondered how she could still call it an all-day tour when it would not depart for Siena until 11-11:30 AM (instead of 8:30 AM). We had to hang up on her because she would not stop repeating the unaccepted offer and in the end tried to say we were choosing not to take the tour and implied at first we would not qualify for a refund.

While we received refunds for the two cancelled tours and enjoyed the tours that weren’t canceled we will not use KimKim or recommend it to other travelers. Between the KimKim communication issues before the trip and the tendency of the Liberty Travel agents to be defensive we would rather use a service that supplies small-group tours with a dedicated, onboard travel guide, e.g., Road Scholar, where problems are more quickly seen, anticipated and resolved.

We had a great time in Italy and would not have been able to navigate the transportation without the help of KimKim. Our trip consisted of Naples, Sorrento, the Amalfi Coast, Positano, and Capri. KimKim took care of booking taxis, accommodations, and ferries. This was a much lower-stress way to travel and we were able to see and do more thanks to their help! Late September was the perfect time to go to Southern Italy and we had beautiful weather! The hotels were even better than expected. Unfortunately, our travel specialist was not available during our trip and we ran into a couple hiccups with the ferry tickets, but we we able to sort it out. We will definitely be using Kimkim for future travel planning and appreciate their assistance with a wonderful vacation, thank you!

Evening bicycle tour of Rome was incredible. The trip was very well planned and organized. The drivers that were scheduled were always courteous and and on time. Giulia is extremely knowledgeable and responsive.

Our hotel accommodations were good for the most part. We loved the hotel in Rome and the villa in Tuscany was more than acceptable. The Cinque Terre hotel location was excellent, especially the view we had from our room. I would have enjoyed a 4 star facility but believe one was not avalable.

Overall, Giulia and Kimkim did an outstanding job. We will not only use them again but will recommend them to friends.

Activity Reviews

Rome: E-Bike Evening Tour with Italian Dinner

Rome

The view of Rome in the evening provides a different perspective of the historic sites. It was absolutely beautiful and our guide was not only knowledgeable, but extremely friendly and courteous.

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Vatican & Sistine Chapel Tour

Rome

Very crowded and the "front of the line pass" didn't appear to do much good. Sistine Chapple was so crowded you could hardly move.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Guided Visit to the Colosseum & Roman Forum

Rome

Heavy rain hindered our tour but that wasn't the fault of the guide.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Our much anticipated trip to Italy lived up to our expectations! Giulia, our travel expert, handled our requests and worked with us throughout the planning process to provide a finished product that was wonderful. This was our first trip abroad and we relied upon her to provide all recommendations for guides, tours, accommodations and transportation throughout Italy. We could not have done this on our own! Each driver was prompt, each tour guide was excellent! Our hotel in Rome was beautiful and top notch, walking distance to the sights in Ancient Rome and local dining spots. Beautifuly renovated, it provided a wonderful breakfast and rooftop bar with an amazing view of Ancient Rome. The location in Chianti was beautiful! While the hotel was not the most modern it provided what we were looking for in a traditional rustic Tuscan inn with a wonderful breakfast and comfortable accommodations surrounded by the beauty of Tuscany. It was nestled in wine country within driving distance to several Hill Towns for us to explore. We enjoyed returning each day to relax on our terrace to reflect on the day. While we loved the convenience of our hotel in Cinque Terre, it was our least comfotable due to the sparseness of the space and small bathroom/shower. This was most likely due to booking too late to secure the original hotel. However, the staff was friendly and the location and direct view overlooking the Ligurian Sea was amazing!

Hotel Reviews

Hotel La Spiaggia

Monterosso al Mare

Location, location, location! The room was very sparse, bed not as comfortable, bathroom and shower very tight but we enjoyed the balcony overlooking the sea. Amazing views! Breakfast was very good as well!

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Friendly and helpful

Cleanliness & Comfort

Very clean, bed not comfortable and sparsely furnished.

Hotel Borgo San Luigi

Monteriggioni

Beautiful setting and grounds. Amazing breakfast. Staff was very friendly and accommodating. The rooms were comfortable and clean however showing their age. The good far outweighed the bad in this case. We enjoyed returning from our daily exploration to relax on our terrace to take in the beautiful surroundings.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Bathroom was very traditional which Very clean but not as modern in bathroom fixtures. Still, it met our needs.

H10 Palazzo Galla

Rome

Excellent! We loved the convenience of the location within walking distance to the sights of Ancient Rome and the availability of so many choices for dining. Beautiful rooms, rooftop bar and wonderful breakfast!

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Reviews

Bye Bye, Italy!

Italy

Fabulous experience!

Vatican & Sistine Chapel Tour

Rome

Our guide was wonderful but the crowds were huge. Sistine Chapel was wall to wall people and could not really be enjoyed.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Guided Visit to the Colosseum & Roman Forum

Rome

The downsides were the weather, Rained most of the day and the crowds. Can't control either of these.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Rome: E-Bike Evening Tour with Italian Dinner

Rome

Excellent! The highlight of our time in Rome. Wish we had scheduled this for our first day.

Quality of Experience

Food

Very lovely spot and food was adequate

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Our guide was fabulous. Made sure that we received the time we needed at each stop and was attentive to our comfort and safety!

Transport

We walked to the location and our guide called a cab for us at the end since it was later in the evening.

Guilia from KimKim did an excellent job arranging our trip plan to suit our likes and all the travel details went without a hitch...would highly recommend using this service. Rome, Tuscany, Cinque Terre in 12 days was just right.

The trip was amazing! We had a great time visiting Firenze, Chianti, Siena, and Roma. Pick-ups and drop-offs were all on time and went smoothly, the guides and drivers were all outstanding, and the places that we stayed were beautiful, the service was excellent, and the food superb! We had no problems at all. In fact, we were able to see and do more than planned because the guides were so helpful with suggestions to make the trip even better!
Thank you for organizing everything, KimKim! We will continue to use your services in the future!

Cris Kenudson

Hotel Reviews

Argentina Residenza Style Hotel Rome

Rome

Great hotel in a great location in Rome. Easy to walk from the hotel to our tour starting points.

Authenticity & Character

Comfortable room with a sauna and jacuzzi!

Location

Outstanding! Walking distance to everything!

Staff

Very friendly, professional and helpful!

Cleanliness & Comfort

Very happy with everything!

Salvadonica - Borgo del Chianti

San Casciano in Val di pesa

Amazing place. Stunning panoramic views from the restaurant! Delicious food and wonderful atmosphere.

Authenticity & Character

The room was large with high vaulted ceilings to give it a gothic vibe!

Location

Situated on a hilltop in Tuscany with amazing panoramic views!

Staff

Friendly, courteous and helpful!

Cleanliness & Comfort

Really nice! Lots of space!

Hotel L'Orologio

We had stayed at this boutique hotel before (14 years ago) and liked it so much much that we requested to stay there on this trip. While the hotel was still visually interesting (the interior decor), the hotel had undergone renovations and our hotel room (the same room as 14 years ago) looked very different. It was no longer split-level and had a lot less space. Otherwise, the stay was okay. The hotel staff were friendly and helpful.

Authenticity & Character

Visually interesting interior decor!

Location

Beautiful view of the Duomo from our room window!

Staff

Very friendly and helpful.

Cleanliness & Comfort

Hotel room bathroom was a bit cramped

Activity Reviews

Bye Bye, Italy!

Italy

This was the last day, we had breakfast, checked out, were driven to the airport for our flight home. Everything went smoothly! Great trip, but just very hot and humid in Italy in August!

Foodie Walking Tour of Roman Neighborhoods

Rome

We had a great time on this small group walking food tour of Rome! We especially loved visiting the Jewish Ghetto quarter of Rome and experiencing the food there! The Gelato we had at the end of the tour was also amazing!

Quality of Experience

A really fun tour with an excellent guide!

Food

Everything was delicious!

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Really great! She took us to some amazing places!

Transport

It was great! Very scenic, but hot and humid!

Vatican & Sistine Chapel Tour

Rome

The Vatican is an amazing place! Impressive fortress walls, museums, gardens, the Sistine Chapel, and the Basilica of St. Peter. So much to see and take in!

Quality of Experience

Fantastic tour!

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Very courteous and knowledgeable guide!

Transport

Amazing to walk through the museums and St. Peter’s Basilica!

Guided Visit to the Colosseum & Roman Forum

Rome

It was an excellent tour! The guide was extremely knowledgeable about the colosseum and surrounding areas. She really knows her Roman history!

Quality of Experience

An excellent tour! We learned so much about Roman history!

Guides, Drivers and Staff

She knew it all - and had lot of opinions about it!

Transport

A walking tour. Got a great physical workout!

Tuscany: San Gimignano & Siena Day Trip

Italy

Absolutely amazing! We fell in love with Siena! The driver and guide were excellent, the place gorgeous, it was the day before Palio, an important cultural event held twice a year in the city, so there was an excited atmosphere everywhere as people prepared for the next day!

Quality of Experience

An amazing tour!

Food

Delicious!

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Friendly and very knowledgeable

Transport

Very comfortable rides!

Chianti - Small group guided Tour with Tuscan Wine Tasting

Italy

It was great, but too much was packed into the time allotted. We visited 5 places in all (we were told that it would be 3), and we drank a LOT of wine! It was fun, but we were tired toward the end of it.

Quality of Experience

Beautiful places, great wine and food, just tired from lack of sleep and the heat!

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Very good!

Transport

Excellent! Comfortable vehicles!

Florence Food Tour with Traditional Steak & Local Wine Tasting

Florence

Excellent! The guide really knew her stuff about the local cuisine. We visited some great places, tasted some great food, and had some great wine. We learned quoted a bit about the local Florentine food culture!

Quality of Experience

It was a great tour! It ended with some delicious Gelato!

Food

Fantastic!

Guides, Drivers and Staff

She was great! Very knowledgeable about the local food!

Transport

Lots of walking as it was a walking tour

Pisa Day Tour with Leaning Tower by bus

Florence

It was great to visit Pisa and the guided tour was great and informative, but the time of year to visit wasn’t the best. It was SUPER HOT and HUMID! 🥵

Quality of Experience

Just too too hot!

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Very good and knowledgeable!

Transport

Comfortable bus.