A dream trip! Beyond our expectations.
Greece
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May 8 - May 28, 2025
My sister and I enjoyed a 21 day dream trip put together by Chris at KimKim and managed by their local tour group, Mamakita Travel 12-a brilliant way to manage clients. Mamakita touched base with us on a daily basis through WhatsApp on where to meet our guides, when the driver would be arriving, our ferry tickets, etc...We felt like had family members looking after us. Chris, at KimKim did an excellent job choosing our hotels and our tours. I wanted four or five star hotels and on all but one occasion he delivered and the one hitch was remedied with the hour. Over the course of three weeks, we visited Athens, Crete, Santorini, Naxos and Nafplio, a town I had never heard of but Chris suggested it would be a good place to end our trip and he was right! It is a lovely town. We had a beautiful two story room with a view of harbor at the Hotel Ippoliti. Our hotel in Chania at the beginning of the trip was an eight century monastery, The San Salvatore. It has an incredible view of the harbor, the light house, sailboats coming and going and the shops and the restaurant lights twinkling on the water at night...Gorgeous, not to mention the wall of blooming Conferate Jasmine wafting across our patio and into our apartment! We were not disappointed that sand storm blew when we moved to Santorini sabotaging our actives. Our accommodations, the Lithies Traditional Homes was hard to believe there was such a place and we didn't want to leave! We loved the opportunity to bask in the view, drink wine, eat the olives and cheese we had been collecting. We painted, journaled, soaked in the hot tub and took advantage of the hospitality offered by Maria. Onto the island of Naxos, slight hitch in the hotels, but Chris had us moved within the hour to a boutique hotel up the street that we found very comfortable, Villa Flora and lovely. Over the course of our three week trip we took three cooking classes, several village tours, visited cheese making facilities, wineries and olive oil tours, of course all the ruins with excellent guides (a must), catamaran tours, swam in the Aegean Sea, walked 85 miles in three weeks and who know how many steps! Ate fabulous food, shopped and brought home many gifts and a life time of stories. Chris and Mamakita Travel 12 working in tandem did an excellent job ensuring we had a wonderful trip-and we did.
Hotel Reviews
We arrived at this hotel after 30 hours of travel. Great location, super friendly and helpful staff, good breakfast. The room was subpar and a real disappointment for the first night a trip after a very long and tiring journey. It had me nervous about how the rest of the trip was going to be because I asked for four or five star hotels and the room on this one fell short. Quite. The view was a hubble of concrete construction across the street, the furniture looked like it was used. A rug that looked dirty but was probably just old and inexpensive. I din't want to walk on it barefoot. Just a real disappointment for the first night of a trip when you have so many months of planning and hours of travel. The location was good and the staff was very attentive but it is not luxurious, it's a three star. It will do. It not what I want.
Oh my God! Stay here! An old monastery built on the harbor with views of the light house, sailboats coming and going, people walking and fishing, Sunrise and full moon! Could not be more romantic, you feel like you are dreaming! A lovely breakfast delivered to your patio at whatever hour you request. Quiet and serene. Beautifully furnished and very spacious. Heads up, if you want to use the kitchen you must pay a different rate. We eat a big meal at lunch and like to have a happy hour in our room or on our patio in the evening for our dinner but were not allowed to use kitchen due to some legislation and the rate we paid for room. This was a little disappointing because the patio was enormous and the view was spectacular. It was would have been really special to enjoy the delicious Greek wine, cheese and olives and recount our day enjoying the view and fragrant wall of Confederate Jasmine that was blooming on the patio. But, the town is right outside the door and there were many restaurant options. We thoroughly enjoyed The San Salvatore, it is quite an experience.
We stayed her one night after a day touring Knosses and the museum. It has a really good location and the room is big and very well laid out. This hotel was perfect for the short one night stay we had in Heraklion.
Can I give it six stars? It hit ALL the buttons! View, location, staff, amenities. We didn't want to leave. Ever! It was the best thing about Santorini!
This hotel was awful. It was like a woman's prison. I couldn't get out of there fast enough. Where should I start? The music blaring into the room from the outdoor bar, the full sun beating down on the tiny patio, no cover, no shade, no respite possible from the sun and heat, full exposure. If the person in the room next door came out of their room at the same time one person would have to step back in their room because the doors are so close. The bathroom, the door opened in and hit the sink so you had to step into the bathroom and straddle the toilet to shut the door to get to the shower. No chair, no desk, no bedspreads just sheets. The room was about 15X15. It was pure awful. I was shocked that a hotel of this caliber even came up on the radar it was so far off the mark from San Salvatore and Lithies. Naxos is amazing and the experience there deserves much more. Chris seems to really like this hotel and said his clients do, too. Possibly they have other rooms that measure up.
Sweet, sophisticated, quiet, accommodating and elegant. Ideal location. Extremely helpful and kind staff. Lovely and ample breakfast served every morning buffet style. Beautiful two story room with two balconies, a view of the harbor. Walk everywhere. Loved it!
Our flight was at 6:30am so we needed to end our trip at an airport hotel but the Sofitel did not disappoint. We got great massages at 6:30pm and relaxed in our room. for the evening. There was a mix up on room service and by the time we figured out dinner wasn't coming it is was too late to eat. The hotel compensated by making generous breakfast boxes for us for the airport in the morning-full of fruit, egg sandwiches and croissants. We fed a soccer team!
Activity Reviews
The guide, Dimitri was very knowledgable, a great driver and fun to be with for the day.
This was an ok experience. We couldn't find the cultural art center so we ended up walking around and have a mediocre lunch. Very pretty town.
Wow, Nico, our guide was amazing! He had so much personality and was so knowledgeable. He made this day.
It was a really sweet day. We enjoyed the company and seeing another side to Naxos.
Our guide, Maria was very knowledgeable and energetic. She knows a lot about the wine and methods of growing grapes in Santorini. We enjoyed her discussion and learned a lot. The winery was beautiful. The food/farm part of the tour was kind of disappointing except that we got to visit with Maria and the other couple outside in a picnic setting which was very pleasant. We appreciated learning the farming techniques of Santorini. I think we all would have preferred a different menu which we all could have participated in making- some cheese, some good bread, olive oil and olives with some wine instead of making seven tomato recipes when tomatoes aren't even in season. Just my thought. The dishes were not flavorful and I would not make any of them again. I can't even remember what we ate except the tomato fritters and they were pretty tasteless. I would not recommend this tour.
Cancelled due to sandstorm
Super fun! Beautiful boat! Gorgeous water. Not too many people on board, 17. Great crew.
We had a charming guide but I was so upset over the hotel situation I couldn't enjoy our tour that evening. However, over the course of our five days in Naxos we did go back to several of the place she introduces us to.
LOVED our day!!!
Wow! Amazing. Loved having Martina as our guide. She made the experience very special We were both blown away with the experience at Epidauarus. Our private Olive Oil tour was really special. Having the tour to ourselves was really cool and they lunch they served us was totally unexpected. We were so surprised when they gave us each a bottle of olive oil!
Long drive...I could have skipped Hydra but I think my sister really liked it. I would have preferred to stay in Nafplio and get on a boat or walk the three miles along the water to the sand beach. There wasn't anything to do in Hydra except shop for trinkets and the shopping in Nafplio is really good...
Really fun morning. Lots of food, good guide. Enjoyed the different districts, the markets and the food we ate. Our group was small, just five so it was really easy to stick together and we had good conversation.
Very nice late afternoon tour. Chris suggested going in the late afternoon and that was good advice.