Personalized trips to Costa Rica
for independent travelers

We really liked using Kim Kim for the expertise and the ease of planning the perfect trip. I built off one of the preplanned itineraries and customized it a fair amount for our desires, which included animals, surfing, beach time, and finding the right balance with a five-year-old in tow. The hotel choices were all very nice and I felt like the quality of the tours that Kim Kim and Amazalia selected were unique and beyond what I could’ve done on my own. (There are so many operators in Costa Rica! On one hand, this would seem to make it easy to do it all yourself. However, there is a difference in quality at least in the number of people on other tours where we had smaller groups). I wish I could’ve understood the pricing of Kim Kim a bit more. That was my only slight irritation. But, I did feel like the overall experience was well worth it, and I would like to book a trip through them elsewhere in the future. The itineraries, tour options, ease, and helping us do everything without a hitch was well worth it to me!

Hotel Reviews

Tamarindo Diria Beach Resort

Tamarindo

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Hotel Los Lagos Spa & Resort

La Fortuna

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Hotel Heliconia

Monteverde

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Olas Verdes Hotel

Nosara

Loved this hotel!!

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Activity Reviews

Tamarindo Kayak Estuary Tour

Tamarindo

It was neat to paddle up the estuary. It wasn’t very easy to see much wildlife, so I wouldn’t choose this activity if that’s your main goal. However, it was nice to get on the water and experience it at that level. Much better than going on a boat, in my opinion. There had been some miscommunication and they didn’t have a PFD the right size for our daughter.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Catamaran Sailing Excursion

Costa Rica

Well run and fun experience. We weren’t sure if this was a good fit for doing with our 5 yo, but she had a great time. The food, drinks, dancing, views, swimming, and staff were all wonderful.

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

El Silencio Volcano Hike & Visit to La Fortuna Waterfall

Arenal/La Fortuna

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Peñas Blancas River Floating Safari Adventure by Raft

Arenal/La Fortuna

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve Guided Hike

Monteverde

Quality of Experience

I

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Night Excursion at the Wildlife Refuge in Monteverde

Monteverde

We saw so many animals! Well run tour.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

We had only 5 days in Costa Rica and the trip planned by kimkim was excellent. We arrived in San Jose late and were picked up for a van ride to La Fortuna. The hotel was very nice and had an excellent restaurant, great masseuses, and several thermal pools. We visited the Arenal Volcano and walked up the 1968 Lava Tube trail. This trail was rocky, slippery and difficult, especially for older people or people not in good shape. This was not mentioned or discussed in planning or by the guides. That being said, the guides were helpful and knowledgeable. The noctural frog excursion with traditional dinner was our favorite part of the trip. The hosts were gracious, the food excellent, and the guides found lots of creatures to point out. We then went by van to Manuel Antonio National Park. The hotel was beautiful with stunning views. Our guide through the park was excellent. We were in a van for many hours getting to La Fortuna and then to Quepos then to San Jose. We often shared with others and 1-2 times were picked up first and drove around picking up others for 1.5. hours instead of moving on to our destination. The trip went on schedule and everything was on time until the last day of our trip. We were supposed to visit a spice farm outside Quepos but the tour never showed up. The number provided to contact the spice farm tour never connected. Our van to San Jose wasn't to pick us up for many hours and we had already checked out of the hotel. We did not want to sit in the heat for many hours so we asked kimkim to get us transport back to San Jose as soon as possible. We did this via their app (we did not have a phone number for direct contact). Kimkim could get transport but not for hours and the hotel told us they could arrange transport earlier which they did. We asked kimkim to reimburse the cost of the transport and refund the spice tour, which they did within 3-5 days after our trip. Our flight was very early in the am and our transport was late. There were celebrations in the city and traffic was horrible at 10 pm at night. Still, the transport van should have accounted for these delays. Overall, the trip was well planned, but we did not enjoy the long van rides or the gaffs with transport. An option would be to rent a car and drive yourself between sights.

Hotel Reviews

Hotel La Mariposa

Manuel Antonio

Incredible views and service. This hotel limits towels which I have never experienced before. If your towel was wet and you wanted a clean one, you had to turn in the wet one to get the clean towel. The views were stunning from the room which was spacious and clean.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Paradise Hot Springs Thermal Water Resort

La Fortuna

This was a very nice hotel and all the staff were helpful and courteous. The thermal pools were either warm or really hot (so hot none of us could get in).

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Hotel Presidente

San José

Lovely hotel with good restaurants. We never spent time off the property except in a van because we were only in San Jose at night or early morning and were told not to walk around at night.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Reviews

Manuel Antonio National Park Nature Hike

Manuel Antonio

Guide was very good and we saw lots of things in the park.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Arenal Volcano & La Fortuna Waterfall Hike with Lunch

Arenal/La Fortuna

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Nocturnal Frog Excursion & Traditional Costa Rican Dinner

Arenal/La Fortuna

Terrific experience all round.

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

It’s hard to know where to start about the wonderful time we had on our trip to Costa Rica. First it was a pleasure working with Olman to plan our itinerary. We listed the top attractions we wanted to see with lodging and transportation at a reasonable price and Olman really delivered.

The weather was mostly sunny and the landscape was lush and green from the previous wet season. On our well organized tours we saw a wide variety of wildlife and our guides were informative and helped us take amazing pictures we could not have gotten on our own. Our accommodations were clean and comfortable with pools and easy access to townsites and beaches. Transportation to all areas of the country was mostly on time and fairly pleasant. We also had ample down time where we could plan our own activities or just relax. Any issues we had with scheduling were not disruptive or affect our itinerary negatively.

Overall it was a fantastic experience and I would recommend this service to everyone.