Iceland Offbeat

We booked a 14 day ring road trip. Planned it a year in advance. Everything went smoothly for the most part, but the hiccups made it more of an adventure.I loved the West Fjords the most the scenery was beautiful and it was the only time sun was shining so that helped. When we had any issues or questions during the trip they emailed us in a timely manner. I would not hesitate to use this service again.

It was our first time using kimkim and we have already recommended it to others. Preeti's itinerary provided a great balance - logistics were taken care of and we had reservations for a few excellent activities, but she also left us with suggestions for add-ons and free time to explore on our own. That made it better than an all-inclusive tour while being a lot less stressful than planning it all ourselves. I'm glad we chose to spend the first days in the remote and beautiful eastern fjord... read more

It was our first time using kimkim and we have already recommended it to others. Preeti's itinerary provided a great balance - logistics were taken care of and we had reservations for a few excellent activities, but she also left us with suggestions for add-ons and free time to explore on our own. That made it better than an all-inclusive tour while being a lot less stressful than planning it all ourselves. I'm glad we chose to spend the first days in the remote and beautiful eastern fjord country before we drove to the more heavily touristed southwest. I think we were both impressed most by the ever-changing and dramatic landscape shaped by volcanoes and glaciers.

We had a terrific trip. Visiting Landmannalaugar was probably my favorite - the landscape is incredible and hard to even describe. We hiked through an obsidian lava field to a bunch of fumaroles, and then up to the closest peak for an amazing view. The whole family really enjoyed our trip to Heimaey as well (although as the family member with motion sickness isssues, I had a few complaints!). We climbed up Eldfell and found an active hot air vent, which was very exciting, saw the puffins... read more

We had a terrific trip. Visiting Landmannalaugar was probably my favorite - the landscape is incredible and hard to even describe. We hiked through an obsidian lava field to a bunch of fumaroles, and then up to the closest peak for an amazing view. The whole family really enjoyed our trip to Heimaey as well (although as the family member with motion sickness isssues, I had a few complaints!). We climbed up Eldfell and found an active hot air vent, which was very exciting, saw the puffins and other seabirds, and even had an unexpected whale sighting. Early in the trip, we did some of the more standard visits - Seljalandsfoss, Skokafoss, the glacier at Skaftafell, the glacial lagoon, and other nice stops on the ring road. The first couple were crowded but still lovely to see, and that's saying something given that we come from a town famous for its waterfalls. We also really enjoyed our visit to Snaefellsnes Peninsula - there were extreme winds on our first day there (a steady 50-60 mph with higher gusts), which was wild. We couldn't even make it to the top of Saxholar Crater because I was literally blown off my feet! The next day the winds were milder and we hiked from one village to another through a lava field, along sea cliffs. We also took an F road up to the edge of the glacier. In Reykjavik, we enjoyed seeing Hallgrimskirkja, we had a LOVELY visit to one of the local geothermal pools, and we walked around in the rain. Oh, and we stopped at Thingvellir to see the continental rift, and we couldn't miss seeing the geysir!

We stayed in guesthouses - shared bathroom facilities, and breakfast provided. All but one of them had kitchens, which worked out great because we only ate 2 restaurant meals during our whole trip to save money.

Halldor did a great job coming up with hike suggestions that worked for the whole family (3 generations, ages 4-64). We took a substantial hike every day of our trip, sometimes two, and found his suggestions really solid. It was chilly (48F and raining) pretty much the entire time but we were well prepared and the weather wasn't an issue.

If I had to do it again, I would spend less time in Reykjavik and more time in Snaefellsnes. Reykjavik was just so very expensive - we couldn't afford to visit all the museums (just the animal park, for the 4yo), and although the shops are lovely and I wish I could have bought a sweater, there was no way I could pay $200 for a sweater or even $30 for a single meal. We spent at least half of our last day watching Norwegian cooking shows on the guesthouse's television and eating Icelandic cheese sandwiches. It wasn't unpleasant, but we could have been poking around Snaefellsnes instead. The thermal pool visit, however, was SO WORTH IT.

Overall, the trip was amazing. We really enjoyed the sights, food and experience. The different hostels each had a charm of their own, and only one or so was even remotely a negative., and that was because of the access to the house and kitchen.
My only concern was the hike in Hornstrandir was extremely strenuous. I had appropriate gear, and was in decent enough shape to find it enjoyable, however the description kind of made it sound like an easy stroll. Other people might not be as... read more

Overall, the trip was amazing. We really enjoyed the sights, food and experience. The different hostels each had a charm of their own, and only one or so was even remotely a negative., and that was because of the access to the house and kitchen.
My only concern was the hike in Hornstrandir was extremely strenuous. I had appropriate gear, and was in decent enough shape to find it enjoyable, however the description kind of made it sound like an easy stroll. Other people might not be as prepared with gear, and/or ability. Although if I had understood, maybe I would have had more fear. So it’s hard to say if more description would have been good or bad! We got through it and felt that we really accomplished something at the end. . I absolutely loved our guide and the experience. It was incredible, but I was somewhat unprepared for the reality of wading shoeless in icy creeks and rivers and hiking straight uphill for several kilometers.

Also the road to Látrabjarg, HOLY CRAP, that road was so super scary, for little payoff at the end, it was really foggy and we couldn’t see much. A little warning about that road and maybe I could have been a little more prepared, and not so scared that we would slide off into the ocean.

Otherwise, everything was fabulous. We enjoyed the horseback riding, the hostel in Broddannes was our favorite, hands down. What a stunning place.
We also really enjoyed the town that was the Herring Capital, and the museum there.
The whale watching was a little different than we do here in the states, but it was pleasant nonetheless, and I hope that Iceland abandons it’s Whaling program for whale watching instead, as I’m sure it’s more lucrative and more humane. But I’m an environmentalist, and have been against whaling my whole life. I hate to think of these creatures being killed. Seeing them on the menus in Reykjavík , I had to grit my teeth with that one.
Again, I had a wonderful, memorable time!! I will never forget it!!

All of our guides were very good. The part of the trip we enjoyed the most was the hike in Hornstrandir. The hike was very challenging for us. The elevation gain and distance were just what we expected. We didn't expect the rocks to move around so much as we walked on them. The food at the farm house was great.

The Isafjordur Cultural walk was very informative and enjoyable.

The kayaking was similar to what we experienced in other places. The clothing provided was much better than we... read more

All of our guides were very good. The part of the trip we enjoyed the most was the hike in Hornstrandir. The hike was very challenging for us. The elevation gain and distance were just what we expected. We didn't expect the rocks to move around so much as we walked on them. The food at the farm house was great.

The Isafjordur Cultural walk was very informative and enjoyable.

The kayaking was similar to what we experienced in other places. The clothing provided was much better than we had at other places. I was confident that we wouldn't end up in the water, but it was good to know that if we did we were well protected from extreme cold.

Our guide on the 2 day van ride was knowledgeable and really looked out for us. The weather impeded our enjoyment of the Latrabjarg Cliffs, but our guide to took us back again on the second day and the weather was better. I(but not Peggy) got tired of being in the van so long each day and not being out and walking more. The weather again was a part of the problem. We of course don't fault anyone for that. We were well aware that the weather we saw was about average and could have been much worse.
Overall, Iceland was a new and very different experience. We would have had difficulty planning and navigating such an experience without of expertise of Kim Kim.

Preeti & Haldor did a great job with our itinerary! The kayak and hike on the glacier was a big highlight. We had a great guide named Marek. The blue lagoon is a must do and would only add the in water massages (must do in advance as sold out when we arrived). One of the most memorable trips of my life....and I proposed (Preeti gave me some great ideas of where to do it!) while on the Westman Islands and she said YES!. Highly recommend The Kimkim Team!

My experience with kimkim looks a lot like the daily temperature chart on my weather app: high at the very outset when a friendly woman in Tennessee took down the personal particulars of our well-traveled four person group (whose ages ranged from 84 to 78), descending to a series of lows when the first agent assigned to our group persistently erred in the details of our trip (how many days and nights, how many days for car rental, etc., and ultimately sent us a final bill before ever... read more

My experience with kimkim looks a lot like the daily temperature chart on my weather app: high at the very outset when a friendly woman in Tennessee took down the personal particulars of our well-traveled four person group (whose ages ranged from 84 to 78), descending to a series of lows when the first agent assigned to our group persistently erred in the details of our trip (how many days and nights, how many days for car rental, etc., and ultimately sent us a final bill before ever providing us with an itinerary). The temperature graph went up dramatically when competent Preeti arrived on the scene, and stayed up during our first 4 nights in Iceland, all on the incredibly beautiful Snæfellsnes peninsula. It’s hard to pick a single high point, but the setting and lunch at Budir, and the setting (amidst hundreds of breeding Arctic Terns in the fields and Kittiwakes in the cliffs) and the elegantly restrained rooms in the cottages at Arnarstapi, our lobster lunch at Hraun, and the wide, wide waterfalls at Hraunfossar and Barnafoss- these things come to mind immediately.
We were incredibly happy travelers, in fact, until having picked our way through a maze of small and smaller roads, we arrived in the rain at the doorstep of the Hotel Kriunes, replete in all its faded southwestern/Mexican splendor. Construction in progress, extremely unwelcoming owners, gloomy corridors, no handicapped access to the badly lit lower level, etc., etc. I’ve been through all this before at some length with Preeti, so refer you to that correspondence for details. Whatever Preeti and the owners may say or think (and i’m not sure whether Preeti has ever seen the place), the Kriunes was nowhere near the level of quality that any of our group would ever find acceptable, nor could the offer of a $50 discount and free sandwiches, or even free rooms, have ever made any difference. Preeti says it was three-star, and maybe it once was, but i have to say that the ambience of the place was positively disagreeable; it did not measure up in any way to the charming little places we stayed in all the other nights. So, not wanting to ruin our entire visit during an endless argument pitting my opinion against Preeti’s and the owners, we made alternate arrangements on the spur of the moment, cancelled our rooms, paid for our sandwiches, tipped the helpful women at the reception desk. And found our way to a very nice hotel in Reykjavik’s city center.
So what did we think of kimkim’s services? We loved almost every minute of our short stay in Iceland, and we have Preeti to thank for much of what we enjoyed, but the gigantic mistake with the Kriunes - and her failure to understand why we felt the way we did and most particularly her inability to fix things for us (she appeared to be taking the side of the hotel, not we who were her direct clients), leaves me with decidedly mixed feelings about what added benefit we got from kimkim’s management of our travel arrangements in Iceland. I hope to hear back from you.

Iceland is an amazing land of natural beauty. There are impressive waterfalls throughout the country. The weather in early June was for the most part sunny and pleasant with 2 days having rain. On 1 day there were issues of fog and some sights were missed.
The highlight of the trip for both of us was the Jokulsarlon Glacier Lagoon and Diamond Beach, where the glacier meets the ocean and massive icebergs are everywhere in the lagoon. The ice pieces that litter the black sand beach look like expensive works of art made of clear glass.
The people of Iceland are friendly and welcoming.

We had a wonderful trip to Iceland. All of the logistics and reservations were great, and seamless throughout the trip. Really appreciated some of the locals favorites recommendations. All of the excursions were great. The daily itinerary was great and well planned. We had one snafu in that an activity was cancelled due to weather, but they were quick to recommend an alternate plan. Would have liked bigger rooms in a few of the places.

Trip was fantastic - I never could have planned this without Halldor / Wild Westfjords. I have no idea what premium I paid to have this trip planned but it doesn't matter - I could never have put something like this together on my own.

I would definitely refer Halldor - and KimKim - to anyone looking to visit Iceland.

Thanks for a memorable vacation,as your itinerary was perfect; the car correct, the sights wonderful and the accommodations superb. We appreciate your work and suggestions as we relive the week with friends and relatives. Your help--even with the weather! is appreciated. thanks again.
Terry

We were very happy with the itinerary for our 14 day "package" self-drive trip to Iceland. Included in our package price was: car hire, accommodation at 2/3 star level (including breakfasts), car ferry to the western fjords, entry to Blue Lagoon and Myvatn Nature Baths, and a boat ride at the Glacier Lagoon. Also included was the peace of mind that we could call on Halldor or Preeti in case anything went wrong. We took up the dining suggestion at Tjoruhusid and were not disappointed! It... read more

We were very happy with the itinerary for our 14 day "package" self-drive trip to Iceland. Included in our package price was: car hire, accommodation at 2/3 star level (including breakfasts), car ferry to the western fjords, entry to Blue Lagoon and Myvatn Nature Baths, and a boat ride at the Glacier Lagoon. Also included was the peace of mind that we could call on Halldor or Preeti in case anything went wrong. We took up the dining suggestion at Tjoruhusid and were not disappointed! It was great to have everything pre-booked and to simply hand over a voucher to get the required service.

The only reason I gave 4 stars instead of 5 for the overall booking experience was because some weeks after we had agreed on the itinerary and paid our deposit for the package as quoted, we were told they had made a mistake with the accommodation prices and wanted to charge us more! We refused, based on the fact that the inclusions in the package were very clear right from the start (note: we only ever got one price per person, not an itemised price list for each inclusion in the package so had no idea what each component was worth anyway), had been checked and confirmed by both parties (as evidenced by the email chain) AND we had already paid a third of the total package amount as a deposit, which to us meant we had a contract that was not open to change. The matter was let drop, but I feel it should never have been brought up in the first place - we are not the Iceland experts and so how were we to know the package was "too cheap"?

We were then a bit concerned that the changes made to our accommodation might mean we got something sub-standard, but happily this was not the case and our holiday went very smoothly.

If you want a hassle-free self-drive holiday in Iceland, then planning and booking through kimkim is certainly the way to go!

My husband and I enjoyed a two week, self driving tour through West and North Iceland. We had an excellent, detailed itinerary with lots of options each day from our specialist Preeti. She focused on what we most wanted to see and do, and we weren't disappointed! Particularly of note were the dining suggestions - it's sometimes challenging to decide on the right place, so we enjoyed all her suggestions without worry. We also enjoyed having vouchers for our accommodations and excursions, it... read more

My husband and I enjoyed a two week, self driving tour through West and North Iceland. We had an excellent, detailed itinerary with lots of options each day from our specialist Preeti. She focused on what we most wanted to see and do, and we weren't disappointed! Particularly of note were the dining suggestions - it's sometimes challenging to decide on the right place, so we enjoyed all her suggestions without worry. We also enjoyed having vouchers for our accommodations and excursions, it made for hassle-free check-in's each night. Our favourite lodging was Siglunes Guesthouse in charming town of Siglugfjordur, and our favourite excursion was a beautiful, exciting hike up to Glymer Waterfall - a workout for us middle-aged folks!

We had a fantastic time exploring Iceland and are very happy with our decision to book a trip through kimkim. We were able to see many extraordinary features of Iceland without being too busy or 'overbooked' feeling. The hotels and rental car accommodations were also fantastic.

Hi Preeti,

The trip was terrific. We appreciated your help a great deal and everything was fine. My feedback is only about the things that I thought could have been improved. Please know that overall we were very happy.
First of all, the email situation during the planning phase, the long threads and the occasional difficulty wading through. I always appreciated your immediate response but wished the format could have been a bit different.
Second: I know we were on The Ring Road that... read more

Hi Preeti,

The trip was terrific. We appreciated your help a great deal and everything was fine. My feedback is only about the things that I thought could have been improved. Please know that overall we were very happy.
First of all, the email situation during the planning phase, the long threads and the occasional difficulty wading through. I always appreciated your immediate response but wished the format could have been a bit different.
Second: I know we were on The Ring Road that that's pretty easy but we could have made use of a few directions! We use waze and so we were ok but without that we would have had some trouble. There was no notation for distances between sites or turns, even when we went to Reykavik. A few directions would have been helpful.
Third: The Hotel Ranga was the only place we weren't 100 percent pleased with. Our shower didn't work, the bed was uncomfortable and my dinner was pretty awful The manager agreed that my dinner was a disaster though and he took it off the bill.
We would use your organization again and we thank you for your excellent help throughout! When I misplaced the voucher for the Blue Lagoon Rico came through very quickly and all went well! I would suggest that you add the tomato farm to the list of things to do
Nancy

Hálldor and Preeti did a phenomenal job in picking the hotels, locations and excursion companies. Everything worked out perfectly, the hotels were perfect and the excursions were private with personable, knowledgeable and great guides.

When I go back to Iceland, I intend on using Hálldor and Preeti again. They’re fantastic and I’m very happy with the experience.

This was a dream trip! I was so busy with work and Preeti had everything planned according to where we wanted to go and sights we wanted to see. The self driving tour was great and the hotels were all amazing!!

I will definitely use Kim Kim again - it’s perfect for a busy person who doesn’t have time to plan all the logistics of a trip

Thank you

We loved our trip! So happy with Kimkim for tailoring our trip to our type of travel. Especially loved our guide Yuli (Mývatn area snowshoe/waterfall excursion). All our bookings were without a hitch and we would recommend kimkim to anyone looking for a self drive tour of Iceland.

Halldor was a treat to work with. He was very professional and took into consideration all the aspects we discussed with him. We booked a 2 week extensive trip all around Iceland.

I cannot look back onto our trip and think of a single thing we missed out on aside for some roads being inaccessible due to weather. With Halldor's help we experienced the best Iceland had to offer for the money.

We will definitely use Halldor's assistance again.

Other than the weather interrupting our plans, which is not in anyone's control ... All of the activities were great and we really enjoyed them all from Ice Cave to Lava Tunnels to Icelandic Horse back riding and all of the scenic locations. We will return to see some of these sites in the summer at some point for additional breathe taking views. Thanks for all the support from Preeti, even while on vacation, it was a nice touch of excellent service.

Our winter trip to Iceland was amazing. Preeti helped us find great accomodations for our large family and tours we wouldn't have known about without her -- such as the only ice cave tour that allowed us to bring our 8-year-old. She was right to tell us that certain things we wanted to do would require too much driving and was able to suggest alternatives that fit our schedule better. We especially loved the dogsledding. There was one problem with the car rental when we arrived and we had to scramble to make new arrangements, but after the trip KimKim quickly helped us get a refund.

Overall our 12 days in Iceland were excellent. We did eveything we'd included in our trip specification, although mother nature didn't deliver whales on our Laki cruise or a spectacular northern lights display. However, we did have a magnificent White Christmas experience in Siglufjörður at the Herring House, which was the highlight of the trip for me. Other highlights were:

the dog sledding with Ispiration Iceland as we all got to drive our own sleds instead of just being passengers

our... read more

Overall our 12 days in Iceland were excellent. We did eveything we'd included in our trip specification, although mother nature didn't deliver whales on our Laki cruise or a spectacular northern lights display. However, we did have a magnificent White Christmas experience in Siglufjörður at the Herring House, which was the highlight of the trip for me. Other highlights were:

the dog sledding with Ispiration Iceland as we all got to drive our own sleds instead of just being passengers

our private super jeep tour into Thorsmörk with Iceland Activities which got us places we could have reached by ourselves in our rental car

New Years Eve in Reykjavik with it's joyous anarchic fireworks display laid on by the public.

Apart from some confusion about the quoted price, the service provided by KimKim and their Icelandic partner Wild Westfjords was first class. They proposed an itinerary based on our wish list and made the bookings for us, which I had neither the time nor the local knowledge to do myself. Our trip may have been cheaper if I had arranged it myself, but it wouldn't have been as awesome. The extra money spent organising this trip through KimKim was a good investment in terms of time saved during the planning and booking phase, the travel experience while we were away, and the asdistance provided by Preeti and Halldor of Wild Wesfjords before and during our trip. They even answered questions posed by members of my group which we could have answered ourselves with a quick google search.

Little things did go wrong along the way, like the rental car which didn't come with the ordered GPS, the broken heating in the snow truck which took us on our Into the Glacier trip, which resulted in us spending a couple of hours sitting in a deep freeze passenger cabin in temperatures below -10C, but none of that was the fault of KimKim and Wild Westfjords.

Thank-you KimKim, Preeti and Halldor for our best holiday ever!

Preeti was awesome and took the time to really listen to our often contradictory instructions. The only shortcoming was when we had to drive, it wasnt clear that some of the roads were closed in winter, and we had to improvise and lost an activity deposit. Thats the only reason the entire trip wasnt 5 stars.

We enjoyed our Golden Circle Tour, we had excellent climate conditions so we got to be very efficient with our time. We got our ice cave tour cancelled and instead did a small cave while hiking the glacier... I was expecting something more amazing but can't complain. The hotels were really great, food was okay.

Our snorkel guide Richard was the best! He also was an expert in Game of Thrones

Thank you Halldor for a perfect Iceland trip itinerary. The accommodations, car rental and the lay out of places to visit were easy to follow. We feel that we have seen the South Coast and Reykjavík to its fullest. Thank you for being so flexible and patience during the planning stage.

Had an incredible incredible time on our self-driving trip around Iceland and everything was planned so perfectly with just the right amount of time. The trip was perfectly tailored to our needs and the couldn't have been more seamless.

Emanuela was so nice/knowledgeable and happy to answer any and all questions I had.

"Nearly" perfect. Excellent response time with questions and generally a wonderful experience. A few tiny quibbles include a steep, gravel road not being adequately acknowledged in the itinerary, and a couple of aspects that seemed cut and pasted from other itineraries (to other parts of the country) rather than specific to my itinerary. But really, my complaints, a couple of months later, pale in comparison to how great the trips was for my son and me.

Preeti was so responsive to every question and concern. It was a pleasure working with her!

There were several mishaps in the execution of the trip which weren't Preeti's fault and she was willing and able to help us make the best out of these situations

The overall trip was awesome and exactly what we wanted. We couldn't be happier with what we did and saw and the experience we had with kimkim.com. We would recommend the website to anyone.

Halldor was great to work with. He brought our vision to life and gave us exactly what we wanted. He kept our itinerary packed and got us to the most amazing, rarely seen places in Iceland. Thank you!

There was miscommunication on the ferry ride we were scheduled to take which resulted in us... read more

The overall trip was awesome and exactly what we wanted. We couldn't be happier with what we did and saw and the experience we had with kimkim.com. We would recommend the website to anyone.

Halldor was great to work with. He brought our vision to life and gave us exactly what we wanted. He kept our itinerary packed and got us to the most amazing, rarely seen places in Iceland. Thank you!

There was miscommunication on the ferry ride we were scheduled to take which resulted in us having to drive an additional 4 1/2 hours to get to our destination. However, because we drove, we got to see the Northern Lights which we may have missed had we been on the ferry, so in the end, we did not mind the drive.

We loved Iceland but I think hotels should be researched more. We had a reservation at the GEO hotel it was unexceptionable. It looked like an institution. We left, even though we already paid $180 for it that's how horrible it was. We went to Northern Lights and had to pay $500 for the night which was a killer. The hotel in Fudor would have been much better. The other hotels were from 180$ to 200$ per night no dinners included which was another 120$. Except Aldo in Reykjavik which made the... read more

We loved Iceland but I think hotels should be researched more. We had a reservation at the GEO hotel it was unexceptionable. It looked like an institution. We left, even though we already paid $180 for it that's how horrible it was. We went to Northern Lights and had to pay $500 for the night which was a killer. The hotel in Fudor would have been much better. The other hotels were from 180$ to 200$ per night no dinners included which was another 120$. Except Aldo in Reykjavik which made the reservation on my own not included included in your price.
I would hope to get a refund from KimKim for the $180 for GEO hotel.
Thank you. CArolee Kass and Amanda Cline

More choices of lodging. One of the hotels put us in lower level under main dining room, which was open at 6:30am to 10:00 pm. Chairs moving and people walking around was very disturbing. After a long day we looked forward to comfort and to be able to get some rest. They had no more rooms.you should check these things out.
Blue lagoon there r different entry fees. You had an economy plan for us. For 10$ each more which I paid extra for while we were there, , we didn't have to wait on line for 30 extra minutes and received a bathrobe which was not included in the plan you gave us. You need a bathrobe! It was cold.

Preeti - was excellent in her suggestions - having the detailed itenerary everyday with where to go, what to see, suggestions on where to eat and a hotel a the end of the day was invaluable...and imo the best way to see Iceland. The booking process was very smooth - I only wish there was more disclosure on actual cost of the trip abd some of the hotels - i.e so you could perhaps upgrade if desired, etc...

Preeti did an amazing job. We had one issue that was not her fault, but was the fault... read more

Preeti - was excellent in her suggestions - having the detailed itenerary everyday with where to go, what to see, suggestions on where to eat and a hotel a the end of the day was invaluable...and imo the best way to see Iceland. The booking process was very smooth - I only wish there was more disclosure on actual cost of the trip abd some of the hotels - i.e so you could perhaps upgrade if desired, etc...

Preeti did an amazing job. We had one issue that was not her fault, but was the fault of the guesthouse...she had great meal suggestions and also her recommendations of what to see and the tours was excellent. Again, the itinerary was worth its weight in gold...and having a place to stay at the end of a long day was a premium. Also, the restaurant suggestions were fantastic....here are a couple of my favorites...Bjargarsteinn was amazing...don't miss this one. great meal and for Iceland, reasonable...which is saying something...Sjavarborg was very good but the cowshed was fantastic, go when the cows are brought in...fresh warm milk...Humarhofnin had amazing Lobster - a must. Reykjavik has a LOT of good restaurants and Kaldi Bar for great unfiltered beers...

We also did a detour on our drive around the Island and stopped at restaurant Fridheimar - for tomato soup bread and other tomato greenhouse specialties. I would include this on the itinerary...

The Glacier Hike was awesome - we ended up with a personal guide, just my wife and I and since we were in great shape we did the 3 hour tour in about 2 and 1/2 hours...I would recommend this....

The Baths at Myvtan were awesome...as well - go at night to see northern sunset and stay for northern lights...long yes, but relaxing...have a beer while you bathe...

PS - also recommend the Into the Volcano tour...pricey, but frankly worth it...has to be seen.

It sometimes felt like the driver was a bit impatient with us. We wanted to linger a bit each morning (not morning people) and the driver seemed annoyed with us. We are of a different culture so taking our time is normal, but there may have been a cultural misunderstanding.

The arrangements Preeti made were wonderful! She was very responsive to us and made every little tweak we requested. My finance's birthday was amazing!

The service from Rico and Halldor was fantastic. They were very easy to work with and communicate with.

Our trip was excellent, actually, however there are some things related to our itinerary that would have helped us manage our time better during the day. For example, including how much time we might need for certain hikes and warning us which roads might be gravel/dirt and might take us extra time to navigate would have been helpful suggestions. We had a dicey drive heading out to... read more

The service from Rico and Halldor was fantastic. They were very easy to work with and communicate with.

Our trip was excellent, actually, however there are some things related to our itinerary that would have helped us manage our time better during the day. For example, including how much time we might need for certain hikes and warning us which roads might be gravel/dirt and might take us extra time to navigate would have been helpful suggestions. We had a dicey drive heading out to Elephant Rock and ultimately had to turn around and skip that stop because Route 54 was full of potholes and impassable with our smaller 4x4 vehicle. We also had to skip a hike to Skaftafell because it would have been 3-4 hours round trip and we didn't get to Vatnajökull National Park until later in the afternoon. Also, the GPS we received from the car rental company wasn't useful. We should have ended up getting the wifi hotspot instead. We did end up using Google Maps for the whole trip, though, by downloading our itinerary for the day in the morning before we left the hotel.

First, the positive comments. Iceland was a beautiful country to visit and our accommodations were very comfortable.
However, we were quite disappointed in the effort put out by your sub-contractor, Wild Westfjords for a number of reasons. We had expected the same level of service as provided to our friend, Susan Turner.
The itinerary that Susan was given showed a choice of accommodation at each location and specified the cost at each. We were given one choice with the note that if that... read more

First, the positive comments. Iceland was a beautiful country to visit and our accommodations were very comfortable.
However, we were quite disappointed in the effort put out by your sub-contractor, Wild Westfjords for a number of reasons. We had expected the same level of service as provided to our friend, Susan Turner.
The itinerary that Susan was given showed a choice of accommodation at each location and specified the cost at each. We were given one choice with the note that if that wasn't OK, we could be offered some thing else.

Upon arrival at the Hotel Fron on Day 1, we were asked to pay for the room and that there had been no request for a gluten-free breakfast. It took a couple of phone calls to clarify both issues.

The itinerary put together for us seemed to rely a lot on "cut and paste" with little attention to detail. Some examples are:
We learned from the Hotel Fron that the bus stop designated for pick-up for the Golden Circle Tour no longer existed.

Our voucher for the Dimmurborgir Guest house did not state that breakfast was included so we bought supplies only to find out that breakfast was included.

Our Day 6 itinerary stated 466 km on well paved roads. It was somewhat disconcerting to find ourselves on a long stetch of extremely potholed road. Consulting the map we had bought confirmed we hadn't gone astray and that the road section was identified as gravel.

As a volunteer at a conservation area, I was looking forward to visiting the Arctic Fox Center. I was upset when arriving there at 4:15 to learn they had switched to a 4PM closing as of Sept 1st.

Day 8 suggested viewing the teeming bird life near the Svortuloft Lighthouse. The info sign at the lighthouse indicated that all the birds depart before the end of August. Our bird count - zero.

On Day 9, the instructions to visit the Landbrotalaug hot spring near Eldborg were useless to someone who did not have a GPS. A simple instruction such as"Within 200 metres of the turnoff to the Gerouberg Basaly columns, turn on a road marked Stora Hraun and travel 1.5 km on a terrible road to the hot spring" would have been more appropriate.

We were somewhat dismayed to learn that we had a 8AM reservation at the Blue Lagoon although we realized that this was the only morning time available on that day. However the staff at the Hotel Geo kindly informed us that this only meant we could not enter BEFORE 8 AM and that a 9:30 arrival would be perfectly OK.

Our conclusion was that not a great deal of thought had been put into preparation of our itinerary by Wild Westfjords.

Our major concern, however was the lack of financial accountability and the refusal by Wild Westfjords to give us an accounting of the costs of our accommodation, car rental, etc. I do not buy their contention that these are confidential between WW and their suppliers and that we bought a "package". We were advised at the Hotel Fron that the booking there had been made through Booking.com. All the bookings could have been made through Booking.com and those rates are known to the public. Further Booking.com has a 24 hour cancellation policy in most cases so there was no reason why we could not have paid for accommodation upon arrival rather than paying for the whole trip in advance.

The bottom line for Kimkim is whether we would recommend your services to friends planning to visit Iceland. At this point our response would have to be NO if you were to subcontract the service to Wild Westfjord and no financial accountability was provided.

The trip was close to perfect. Great choices on destinations and activities. One day was overplanned: it would have been too much to get off the ferry at 17:30 in Brjanslaekur, then drive to the cliffs of Latrabjarg, then drive back to Patreksfjordur. So we skipped Latrabjarg.
It was fun to stumble on the Wild Westfjords office in Isafjordur and meet Halldor, Preeti, and the kids. The next day we got to spend a good bit of time with the family. We drove up above town to a ski area to... read more

The trip was close to perfect. Great choices on destinations and activities. One day was overplanned: it would have been too much to get off the ferry at 17:30 in Brjanslaekur, then drive to the cliffs of Latrabjarg, then drive back to Patreksfjordur. So we skipped Latrabjarg.
It was fun to stumble on the Wild Westfjords office in Isafjordur and meet Halldor, Preeti, and the kids. The next day we got to spend a good bit of time with the family. We drove up above town to a ski area to take a lovely hike. When we got back to the car, it had a flat tire (our second of the trip). When we were having trouble getting the tire off, I called the office. Halldor and family actually drove up to help us, made an appointment at a garage to get a new tire, and arranged for a reimbursement from Enterprise. We felt very well cared for.

Friendly and responsive staff. good itinerary. We enjoyed the trip very much.

Navigation directions had inaccuracies or were out of order that led to skipping some destinations or having a "phantom" starting point on one of the detours.

Not clear if going on a potholed road all the way to Látrabjarg makes sense, since the puffins leave in mid August.

Very helpful for a very last-minute vacation! We loved some of our lodging accomodations and really enjoyed the sites you suggested.

Preeti was very responsive at every moment that we needed her, and she created a terrific itinerary for us as we knew little about our destination and what we wanted to see.

The driving plan didn't include GPS coordinates or addresses for each location which made navigating hard at times. Some of the hiking trails that were mentioned and sites to see the written directions weren't sufficient enough to easily locate trails/site.

Halldor was very responsive during planning however the driving plan lacked the addressed/GPS coordinates needed to easily navigate the island from place to place.

This was my first experience using kimkim and I'm now a huge fan. I had a last-minute trip to plan and little time to do so and kimkim connected me with a wonderful travel agent. I felt completely confident sending funds to someone in another country I had never met because of the structure of kimkim and other's reviews. I would never have found this travel agent without kimkim but I'm so very glad I did. And I appreciated the ability to look at potential itineraries before making a choice... read more

This was my first experience using kimkim and I'm now a huge fan. I had a last-minute trip to plan and little time to do so and kimkim connected me with a wonderful travel agent. I felt completely confident sending funds to someone in another country I had never met because of the structure of kimkim and other's reviews. I would never have found this travel agent without kimkim but I'm so very glad I did. And I appreciated the ability to look at potential itineraries before making a choice --those examples made it easier to explain what I wanted to do and what we didn't mind missing.

Preeti was amazing. She really close attention to my requests and created a trip that was so much more than I could have on my own. Her knowledge of the area made such a difference--she gave me tips about "not-to-be-missed" sites off the beaten track that made our experience so much richer. I was (very) late in asking her to put the trip together and yet she took it in stride, working quickly and efficiently and staying in touch. She kept the fact I was traveling with a child in mind and created days that were great for both of us. This was a trip we will always remember, and I'm so grateful to Preeti for putting it together. We'll be back!

This was such a great experience!! All we had to do was follow the itinerary. It was so detailed and so easy to follow. Thank you so much kimkim!!

Halldor did a great job at answering all our questions. He was prompt and always gave us options. The advice was well received and everything worked out great. He delivered on every request we had. Great job!

Halldor did a great job and gave us an itinerary that was very well balanced. We visited some of the most popular spots, but there were also special places that had very few people and just as beautiful.

However, one detail that would've been nice to have is the suggested resturants closing times so I could have planned dinner better, as I was usually arriving just in time.

Preeti was AMAZING, available everyday until my last day of trip. It made things really flexible as I altered my trip when learning new sites to see as I met fellow travelers.

Minor amounts of additional info would have help. Example is one of the guest houses did not serve breakfast. We did not bring food. Minor

Well, it was between really good and perfect. We had a great time. The itinerary allowed us to see everything without feeling too overwhelmed. We only missed one thing on the super rainy and windy day. We are already planning our return trip! Turns out that where we spent our first night (and also our last) is a great place for seeing the northern lights, we are thinking of coming back for that, hopefully this winter. Thank you for your help in everything, you made our trip trouble free and memorable.

Kimkim and Halldor provided a great service for us.

I have planned fairly long international travel before and found it exhausting. It was great to just say what we wanted to do and have it taken care of. Everything worked out great in terms of having the vouchers we needed to do all the excursions we wanted.

Iceland is an incredibly beautiful country. Laugevegur deserves its position as one of the top hikes in the world! It is also totally doable in 2 days (but painful). This was by far the highlight of our trip.

Would definitely use this service again.

The team was able to work in my added side trips to the schedule in a very efficient way.

Halldor and the team were great, answering all my "silly" questions about how things work in Iceland.
The communication initiated by the team did stop abruptly once my balance was paid though. It would have been better to at least drop me a line a week or so before my departure to verify everything was arranged.

Probably open by saying that nothing is ever perfect so that's my standard. Overall was very good! Was a little concerned about getting the confirmation that things were booked, etc. until ~60 hours before leaving. That said, the arrangements were 99% there (first night accommodation apparently sent email with instructions - Golden Circle Apartments (a code to access key box for identified apartment) - that I didn't have). Apart from that, the bookings were on the money. The google maps and... read more

Probably open by saying that nothing is ever perfect so that's my standard. Overall was very good! Was a little concerned about getting the confirmation that things were booked, etc. until ~60 hours before leaving. That said, the arrangements were 99% there (first night accommodation apparently sent email with instructions - Golden Circle Apartments (a code to access key box for identified apartment) - that I didn't have). Apart from that, the bookings were on the money. The google maps and itineraries were extremely helpful - the pacing seemed right on the money - and the things we discussed were all good additions. A couple of places the roads were unexpectedly bad (from Dettifoss to Horseshoe Canyon on north coast - which threw off our timings - but all other dirt roads were fine. The details for restaurant reservations were good. No, overall is was a good "A" - and I tend to think that nothing is "perfect".

Again, good - trip was good; see earlier page for comments about being a little late with getting confirmations. I would have been happy even if i got just more of an update and a bit of dialogue to provide reassurance. I would suggest a little more proactive communication. BUT, the trip was very good; the pacing was right; the content was right; the accomodations all worked; and the day to day itineraries were very good to follow. Evidenced by "when we tried to add things - that's when we started to push timings, etc. I think some general remarks could help at the beginning - e.g. "you might be tempted to try and drive around some of the early fjords for a view but given them a pass - we've got some great ones to see later" - the itinerary was very good and covered all of the bases. It is easy to try and add - and we tried - and usually we saw something better later that was on the itinerary already..

The written itinerary and maps didn't match exactly which caused us some confusion a couple of times - nothing too major but when you can't understand the place names, it added some challenges.

Same as above - but by and large everything went really smoothly. For those days where we needed to arrive somewhere at a specific time (ie to catch a ferry), it would have helped if the itinerary had said we would need to leave our hotel by a certain time to view the suggested stop along the way -... read more

The written itinerary and maps didn't match exactly which caused us some confusion a couple of times - nothing too major but when you can't understand the place names, it added some challenges.

Same as above - but by and large everything went really smoothly. For those days where we needed to arrive somewhere at a specific time (ie to catch a ferry), it would have helped if the itinerary had said we would need to leave our hotel by a certain time to view the suggested stop along the way - it was only when we plugged the map in that morning that we realized we wouldn't have time to go to one of the stops we would have liked to make. All the reservations and vouchers worked well so we really appreciated that.

Thank you so much to the KimKim team for putting together such an amazing vacation for us. Everything was customized to exactly what we wanted. An extra special thanks for working with us through our 2-day flight cancellation/travel delay issues!

Halldor was great!

Small hiccup that was weather related. Could have been more responsive during the planning period. Itinerary was outstanding and the way that it was adjusted when the weather threw a monkey wrench was great. Otherwise, we loved it.

Timing of responses could have been better. When I started directly emailing him and calling while in Iceland, communication was much better