Wind Horse Tours

We had a really good trip. Everything you planned worked out great, the hotels were fabulous, our driver (Suk) was fantastic and our tour guide was outstanding (Sonam Jamtsho)! We were able to alter the day as we desired, which flexibility is what we like and makes a trip much more authentic. The highlights of the trip were a visit to a Monastery of young Monks and the interaction, a prayer ceremony at a small nunnery of young nuns and the indirect communication with the nuns (they were very entertaining as some were very young) and Tiger's Nest was very interesting (I think we did it in a good time). I would add, if anyone wants to do any shopping, Paro is the only place.

Thank you for organizing such a good trip.
Kim and Gil

Hotel Reviews

Uma Punakha

Punakha

This hotel is outstanding and cozy! The staff was outstanding, views of the river and mountains are beautiful, the food was good and location is great. Loved it.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Six Senses Thimphu

Thimphu

This hotel is fabulous with outstanding service, staff, grounds and views. The rooms are spacious and well laid out. I highly recommend this hotel. I think it is the best in Thimphu.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Six Senses Paro

Paro

This hotel was magnificent in every way. First, it is beautiful, they were so accommodating and made everything convenient for the Tiger's Nest hike. They also arranged a Monk to come and bless our departure for a safe journey home. This is a must stay in Paro, we could have stayed for multiple days to take advantage of the spa and other amenities. The rooms are spacious as in Thimphu, but has a bit different feel, the views are incredible. Amazing place, a feeling of peace and serenity. It was a great place to end our trip.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Reviews

Paro - Hike to Tigernest Monastery aka Taktshang Goemba

Paro

This was a great experience and so glad we did it. You have to do it to really understand the magnificence of this place.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Punakha - Prayer ceremony at local nunnery

Bhutan

Highly recommend this experience! I loved this!

Quality of Experience

Motithang Takin Preserve (Thimphu)

Thimphu

This was very interesting. Always nice to see animals you have never heard of or seen. They have quite a large population.

Quality of Experience

Druk Air: online check in

Bhutan

Was not able to check-in online. I am not sure if it was my phone or some other reason.

Altitude sickness - general information

Bhutan

We did not get altitude sickness, but saw some people that did. We did take medication to prevent just in case.

Paro - Rinpung Dzong & Ta Dzong

Paro

This was a very interesting Dzong, lots of different things to see. This is a must see! The architecture of the building is very interesting and why they built in this configuration.

PThe entire trip was well planned by Mieke, taking in my input and adding suggestions and advice along the way. The result was a well balanced adventure between hotel stays with day hikes , temples to visit, an amazing festival to attend, and then the trek itself. So I would break down the trip in 2 parts, hotels and the trek.
The hotels were amazing, in beauty, in hospitality, and comfort. We started with Pemako Thimphu, where we all dressed in traditional attire and danced to everyone’s mutual embarrassment. Thimphu visit included city tour and several hikes to local temples and an amazing festival. On to Punakha where the accommodation was one of the most unique I have ever experienced, starting with my butler , Kemcho! Truly wonderful experience and the nicest tent I have ever stayed in. We liked it so much that we skipped the Lake hike the next day and just stayed on the property, walked along the river, did archery , had a massage.. wonderful day,
Then back to Paro but not before a great hike above the pass to the Lungchutse temple and magnificent views of Himalayas . Uma Paro that night and , again, beautiful hotel and people ,
The trek began the next day, the trail was rustic but manageable and the pace appropriate. The crew horsemen,cook helpers, did all they could to keep us comfortable , and very well fed! The weather became an issue as we went over the Bhonte La pass, camped in snow that night , modified our route and hiked out the next day.
Back to Uma Paro for couple nights and finished with hike to the Tigers Nest, unforgettable!
The entire trip was everything I had hoped for, made an indelible impact on myself, my son, and son in law, and our friend Chris. A couple things need to be mentioned though. Our guide Namgay, bless his heart we loved him, but he was unintelligible! I would have gotten so much more out of the trip had he been more clear, very heavy accent. My hearing is impaired but even the others in our group found him extremely difficult to understand, like less than maybe 20 %.
Money exchange: ATMs were available and functioning fortunately since the Hotels would not exchange 100’s with older issue dates(as all mine had) may want to let people know this, dates on bills have to be newer than 2007
.

My overall experience of the trip, starting with planning it, was wonderful. Rajat, with infinite patience, organised my sentimental journey to India down to the smallest details according to my admittedly demanding expectations ('demanding' in the sense of the number of things that had to be squeezed into the seven-days long time frame, and the distances involved). From the exit to the city at Indira Gandhi Airport on 23.10 to the passing of the boarding gate in the opposite direction on 31.10 guides and drivers were always there together with their spacious, comfortable Toyotas. I saw and tasted everything I had looked for, and more, even though – as I had been warned beforehand – Delhi has changed past recognition: only historical monuments, including Lutyens' New Delhi, are what they were sixty and fifty-five years ago (but not their surroundings: e.g. what they've done to our then favourite spot, the Hauz Khas, is a crime).

My warmest thanks go in the first place to those who escorted me the longest: Narendra, wonderful both as a driver and as a companion, especially during our five-hours long voyage from Agra to Lucknow, and Hemant, an exemplary guide, knowledgeable, helpful and tactfully enduring idiosyncrasies of his know-it-all charge; but so were Piyush in Lucknow and Bhati in Udaipur/Chittorgarh. I was less satisfied with Hemant’s substitute during my second day in Delhi, who apparently did not know all the particulars of my excursion. The trouble with the guide who took over from Hemant during the second day in Agra was of different nature: he was doing his very best, but, though normally I have no problem whatsoever with the Indian pronunciation of English, I understood very little of what he was saying and vice versa, which led to some misunderstandings.

The hotels in Delhi (the first three days) and Lucknow were exactly as I had specified – decent rooms with decent baths, no luxuries – with those in Agra and Udaipur above the specification, especially the former. The only one below was the Taurus Sarovar Portico Hotel in Delhi: poor service, thanks to which I never had my Goodbye India dinner, and musky smell in my room which made sleep all but impossible.

Apart from these slight hiccups the trip was a great experience, a tribute to the professionalism of the KimKim team. I was especially touched by the way you handled my skipping the planned lunch at Karim’s in Old Delhi. I skipped it as a well-known tourist trap to avoid another disappointment after the disastrous culinary experiences in other celebrated places, including my once favourite original Moti Mahal, the day before, and considered the matter closed: it was my conscious decision, even though while making it I was not aware that the meal was to be paid by KimKim, not me (the guide in my opinion was not aware of it either). Lo and behold: on our way to Agra I learn that you decided to stand me another in a place of my choice. The best of it all was that the lunch we had at a place near Fatehpur Sikri, recommended by Hemant, was one of the best meals I had during the whole trip. Thank you!

Sticking to the culinary matters – after all, it was this aspect that first drew my attention to KimKim – apart from the heavenly biryani in Lucknow, I had the tastiest meals off the beaten paths. Apart from that place near Fatehpur Sikri, I think especially of the New Minar restaurant in the Greater Kailash area in Delhi close to my hotel and the vegetarian restaurant in Chittorgarh recommended by Bhati (a great surprise to the staunch carnivore I am).

Rajat worked very closely with me in planning this trip to India. I was thankful for his dedication and patience. I appreciate the organisation and friendliness that was offered to my family.

Hotel Reviews

Haveli Hauz Khas

Delhi

I was thankful that they took us in at such an early hour. The accommodations were clean and the staff friendly.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Coral Tree Homestay

Agra

Fantastic! The owners are very friendly and can speak English and German. The hotel is cosy with a lovely outdoor area to sit and visit in the evening. Everything was very comfortable.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Nirwana Hometel

Jaipur

It was difficult to communicate with the staff as their English was quite poor. Every single day they forgot to bring fresh towels for the third person in the room. My room was facing the street, so it was quite loud with music playing until fairly late. The breakfast room was disorganised, a table had not been reserved for a group of five.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

The Gokulam Park

Kanayannur

A comfortable place to stay with a friendly staff.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

The Tall Trees Resorts

Munnar

A beautiful area with a nice view. The pool and game areas were welcome. The staff was friendly and their ginger coffee was delicious.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

I had a little trouble with the hot water.

Abad Green Forest

Kumily

A lovely hotel with friendly, helpful staff. Unfortunately, due to religious reasons we could not get a beer with our dinner. The spa ladies were really nice, but spoke very little English. I found it odd that although there was a sign stating that people must wear proper swimming attire that a family was in the pool wearing street clothes and none of the staff approached them. It was fun to watch the monkeys.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Lakes And Lagoons Houseboat Cruise

Alappuzha

A wonderful and peaceful trip. It was really fun to sit and watch the backwaters that I would have otherwise not seen. We were able to get off of the boat and explore. The food was delicious, especially the fresh fish. Everything was extremely comfortable.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Reviews

Visit to Agra Fort and 'Baby Taj'

Agra

Although very nice, after seeing the real Taj, it was not very exciting. I had trouble with rating it.

Evening Kathakali Dance Performance

Kochi

I am very pleased to have seen this and recommend it to all. The actors include the crowd, making a great interactive activity.

Evening Kalaripayattu Martial Arts Performance

Thekkady

Extremely impressive. Everyone enjoyed it.

Visit Qutub Minar & Hauz Khas Village

Delhi

Visit to Taj Mahal at Sunrise

Agra

This was really interesting and enjoyable because of the knowledge of my tour guide. I would not have appreciated it without his presence.

Hike to Amber Fort & Palace and Local Sightseeing

Jaipur

The fort was nice, but I expected more. A lot of imagination is needed to envision what it looked like at the time.

Jhalana Leopard Safari Park

Jaipur

It was really fun! We actually saw some leopards and enjoyed the jeep ride.

Visit Hathi Gaon

Jaipur

I loved the elephants! I would have liked to have ridden them to the fort. It was such a good feeling to hug an elephant.

Half Day Jaipur Shopping Experience with Local Guide (Custom)

Jaipur

We enjoyed shopping. The block printing was of huge interest.

Kochi Sightseeing

Kochi

We loved the town. We found it much cleaner than in the north which made it more comfortable for us. Our guide did not seem interested in his job. He explained quite a bit about the plants, but at one point told us to go shopping because he wanted to eat lunch. We disagreed and he took us to a restaurant.

Market Visit, Cooking Class, and Dinner with Local Family

Jaipur

One of the highlights of our trip.

Tribal Art Performance

Thekkady

I really liked this, but not everyone in my family enjoyed it.

Visit to Mehtab Bagh at Sunset

Agra

It was interesting to see and watch a religious ceremony taking place next to river. The weather wasn't great, so there was not beauty in the sunset.

Jeep Safari to GAVI

Thekkady

We had a wonderful safari. Our guide was excellent in the jungle and we were able to trek through rivers and see waterfalls and birds. The boat trip was nice. The jeep itself drove rather quickly and we were all a bit carsick. The jeep driver did slow down to point out some animals: elephant family, cobra, monkeys, birds, buffalo

Visit Spice Plantation

Thekkady

We really enjoyed this and learned a lot. A memorable experience. I wish there had been more spices to see.

Visit Akshardham Temple

Delhi

I really enjoyed this temple. We watched the water show at sunset. I would not have rated this as highly without the show.

Serenity on the Backwaters: A Traditional Kerala Houseboat Cruise

Alappuzha

I recommend it to all groups.

Guided Nature Walk

Thekkady

This was not fun. I love to walk in nature, but I was not prepared for the leeches! They were disgusting! The guide did not care that we were having trouble with them. We all ended up with them on our stomachs, backs and necks. Horrible. Any interesting animals that we saw were not appreciated as they should have been.

Enroute Kochi to Munnar, visit Thattekkad Bird Sanctuary

Munnar

A fun experience that broke up our long trip.

Letchmi Hills Ridge Trek

Munnar

We really enjoyed this. It was a lovely view and we saw animals along the way. We also ate local food that was really tasty. The walking was easy and air was fresh. A lovely day.

My husband and I recently took our first overseas trip since our 1977 honeymoon. We were fortunate to be guided toward working with Kimkim by a well traveled family friend.

Every person we encountered who was connected to Kimkim did an excellent job for us. We are extremely grateful. Rajat helped plan and organize the trip. He was very effective helping us. He gave us good "heads up" around paperwork and expectations. He made sure we were always up to date on everything we needed to know.

Saurahb, our first guide, gave us a wonderful day exploring Old Delhi shops and sights. He was very helpful to us, making local commercial sites, and especially religious sites, accessible and comprehensible to us. Our experiences with him were very moving.

Mr. Hemant, our second guide, was a deeply informed, thoughtful teacher who helped us understand the history and cultures we were engaging. It was also very hot and physically challenging for us, but he found a way for us to pace ourselves and have a joyful, meaningful experience.

All through this, Norindar drove many miles, keeping us safe, in astonishingly complex traffic. He was kind and charming as well.

We are so grateful to the wonderful people at Kimkim whose hard work and expertise gave us such a good experience of Wonderful Wonderful India. We will cherish our memories.

Activity Review

Full Day Jaipur City Tour

Jaipur

Before going to India, I had never thought about Jaipur. It was amazing. First of all, it isn't one place, it is a city-identity that has reinvented itself over and over depending on what needed to happen. As an American, a person who is used to thinking 2 to 3 hundred years old is old, the layers of antiquity are hard to fathom. The trips we made through the different iterations of Jaipur were mind expanding. I took pictures of a part of the city where people had been living for more than 1000 years. There were convenience stores selling things I buy regularly. The experience was such a lesson in enduring daily life. It was very moving.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Rajat helped me plan a solo 5 day trek in Ladakh. He was great a communicating and organizing. The people he hired were professional, timely, friendly and knowledgable. They communicated well. It was an amazing experience!

Rajat at the office and Hemant as our tour guide have been incredible, as well as the rest of the team. Their dedication ensured that we had a smooth and comfortable trip from start to finish. It was also reassuring to see how quickly they went over and beyond by offering help and medical coordination when one of us fell sick for a day. We cannot recommend them enough, and are very thankful for having taken such good care of us.

Hotel Review

Samode Haveli

Jaipur

Very interesting place to stay!

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Review

Enroute Delhi to Agra, visit Wildlife SOS Elephant Conservation and Care Center

Agra

Amazing stop between Delhi and Agra, and absolutely great for kids to learn about elephants and how they are trained and treated in circuses and streets for entertainment or even “construction”. It was a highlight for our teenagers and made deep impressions

Rajat tailored my tour of Meghalaya and Assam so I was able to appreciate the natural beauty of the area, the people and culture.
My guide Kanak was very attentive and our driver Amulya was an expert navigating some rough roads.
I had such a pleasant and positive experience.
Thank you!
Carmen

Hotel Reviews

Hotel Polo Towers

Shillong

Great room, food & hotel staff. Make time to get to Police Bazaar in the late afternoon for a true local shopping experience! It’s close to hotel and totally safe (I’m a woman traveling alone).

Authenticity & Character

Location

Close to Police Bazaar, right in the center of town

Staff

Everyone was so antt and kind including the masseuse!

Cleanliness & Comfort

Slept very well

The Greenwood Guwahati : A Luxury Boutique Hotel

Guwahati

Very nice room, hotel, staff and breakfast

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Review

Day Excursion to Cherrapunjee via Mawphlang Sacred Grove

Shillong

I really enjoyed hearing the Sacred Grove local guide explain their beliefs about the grove and their efforts at sharing their culture with visitors.

Quality of Experience

Learning local cultures

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Professional helpful friendly driver & guide

Transport

Clean car & bottled water always available

We went straight to KimKim to arrange this trip, having had a great experience with them before.

Rajat was our contact in India, which was fantastic because he is so knowledgeable about the India travel scene and was keen to make the tour work well for us. Through excellent online messaging via KimKim we let Rajat know what sort of things we wanted to do / see, and he made all the arrangements including booking train tickets, hotels, flights and most importantly our guides and drivers. I cannot speak highly enough of the guides and drivers we had and I have to especially name Hemant (guide) and Nerinder (driver) who were particularly brilliant. Hemant met us in Delhi to accompany us on our train journey to Agra and spent the next 10 days or so with us, leaving us at Udaipur for our flight to Mumbai / Goa. Hemant was incredibly knowledgeable and shared not only cultural and historic stories which bought India to life for us, but whenever he spotted something of interest - for example a pilgrimage, or a street of drum shops - he explained what it was all about. Hemant did not shy away from explaining the good and not so good, and remained neutral throughout. There wasn't a single question he didn't know the answer to! Other tourists we met had not had that level of interest or detail shared with them, so it was quite fun to tell them what we had learned from Hemant. We continue to tell stories to our friends now! Our driver Nerinder was with us almost the whole trip, meeting us at Delhi airport with Rajat at 3am! Nerinder never ever failed to be there for us - we never had to wait for him - and he made us feel so safe the whole time, despite some of the crazy driving in the cities or cows randomly crossing the motorway! His car was always immaculate and he kept stocks of sweets and plenty of bottled water for us. He was an absolute gentleman and a bit of a hero for all the driving and distance he did with no map or sat nav!

Every part of the trip was seemlessly arranged by Rajat. All the hotels were fabulous and just seemed to get more and more fabulous as we went! Important to add that even while we were in India we decided to change some plans. In particular (with the help of Hemant) we decided not to take a train from Jaipur to Udaipur due to timetable changes making arrival / hotel check-in very late in the evening which we wanted to avoid, and this was fed back to Rajat so he could keep on top of where we were etc.

People have their own preconceived ideas about India, but we went with an open mind and were certainly not disappointed. Thanks to Rajat, our guides and drivers, we experienced what felt like an awful lot of India - culture, history, religion, life - the good bits and the not so good bits - scenery, wildlife, poeple and I almost forgot to mention the food!

Our guides knew exactly the best places to stop for food en route and thanks to them we experienced some of the best food we've ever tasted! They also helped us to buy marble inlay creations from a traditional craft shop in Agra, rugs from a traditional carpet-making factory in Jaipur (which were delivered to us at home just 10 days later!) and ceramics from a famous potter in Jaipur! We had to restrain ourselves from buying a lot more handmade crafts etc which wasn't always easy with the hard-sell in some places, but our decisions were respected and we felt we contributed our bit as tourists.

Our notable highlights of the trip (sometimes not for obvious reasons):

walking tour of Old Delhi
first sight of the Taj Mahal from Agra Fort 1.5km away
observing and travelling alongside pilgrims for 50kms or so from Agra to Fatehpur Sikri
jeeping in and around Ranthambore tiger reserve (even though we didn't see a tiger, but we saw a rare sloth bear)
Nahargarh hotel Ranthambore
food on the road, particularly at Molecule on the outskirts of Jaipur - careful with those Indian chillies!
The Jantar Mantar (observatory) Jaipur
dancing and puppet show in Udaipur
the kindness of people

In short, we cannot recommend a touring trip to India highly enough and would definitely like to explore Mumbai and Kerala some time in the future - Rajat, we'll definitely be coming back to you for help with that! Thank you for everything you did to make our trip so enjoyable and memorable. Best wishes to you and all our guides and drivers.

My trip to northern India was fabulous! Rajat was an excellent facilitator of the planning process, preparing me well for the entire trip. He was also excellent at helping me make adjustments in the trip when needed. And the guides and drivers in all of the cities I visited were excellent, each with their own local knowledge and passion for their work. The hotels were all reasonably priced and well suited for visiting westerners, including delicious food. Overall, the trip far exceeded my expectations. I can’t say enough good things about the wonderful people who guided and supported my visit. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Hotel Reviews

NUO By juSTa

New Delhi

Very nice hotel in interesting location

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Hotel The Great Ganga

Rishikesh

Nicely appointed hotel in great location overlooking the city and the river

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Pristine Hotel

Varanasi

Very nice rooms, great food, and helpful staff

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Hotel Kanha Shyam Prayagraj

Alllahabad

Excellent hotel with great food and beautiful rooms with very nice views

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Hotel Anand International

Gaya

Hotel and rooms were nicely appointed and food was excellent. The only problem was the room was always full of mosquitoes. Not good.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Reviews

Full Day Rishikesh Spiritual Walking Tour with Ganga Aarti

Rishikesh

An excellent day. The guide was especially flexible and also worked very hard to ensure I had the best possible opportunities given his status as an official guide with Incredible India.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Sunrise Boat Ride on the River Ganges

Varanasi

This boat ride was an excellent way to start the day, particularly since it started near the place where the sunrise chanting was happening. Amazing. And the boat ride made it much easier to see the full range of ghats along the Ganges.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Spiritual Exploration of Temples and Ghats in Varanasi

Varanasi

This day included a lot of walking through very narrow and crowded walkways between densely packed buildings. A fantastic experience. And the temple visit was handled very smoothly. All great.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Visiting Ghats and attend Ganga Aarti

Varanasi

This was a great way to end the day, especially with a boat ride to return to the first ghat. The ceremony was crowded so seating was limited so it was good the guide got me there plenty early.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Triveni Sangam Visit and Spiritual Sites in Prayagraj (formerly Allahabad)

Allahabad

The boat ride to the confluence of the rivers was an excellent way to start the day. I chose not to do the holy dip myself given the state of the water, but it was meaningful to be part of such a large group of pilgrims. The temples after the boat ride were even more interesting. Ending with a visit to the shivalaya park was very interesting and gave a broader sense for India as a whole.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Meditation and Reflection at Maharishi Samarak

Allahabad

This was a highlight of the trip for me. The samarak was away from the city and so was quiet and less crowded. It was an excellent place to meditate.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport