Athens: We had a lovely group tour of the Acr...
Greece
|
Jun 4 - Jun 15, 2026
Athens: We had a lovely group tour of the Acropolis in the evening of our first night to beat our jet lag. Our tour guide Christina was knowledgeable, patient and great at weaving us through crowds to find spots to talk with us all. The next morning was one of our favorite tours- the walking mythology tour with Katarina- she was engaging, knowledgeable and fun. We had fun having Greek coffee and ‘reading the coffee grounds’ with her as well. We had a guide (more like a driver) in the evening to the Cape of Sounion and sunset at the Temple of Poisedon. We stopped at an amazing tavern from delicious food and the experience was great; the driver, George, was very nice, also smart, though he was not much of a guide. One negative was that he stopped on the way home to have a vape/smoke break.
Our last full day was a day trip to ancient Corinth. Our guide and driver was amazing again. We were interested in seeing Napflio and she was very flexible, able to check with her manager and make this edit for our itinerary.
Our hotel was wonderful for our family of 5. The only negative is that they could not provide our breakfast one morning as they can only service one room during a time slot and if it is taken, you are out of luck. Even with providing our time preference the night before, it was not feasible for them, and given our pre scheduled tours we did not have flexibility. They did give us some packed food to take with us.
Crete: We used our free time to wander the streets in Chania; stayed at Domes Zeen. Beautiful Hotel, only negative is distance to town and for a family of 5 it is difficult to find transportation. We either had to take 2 taxis or wait a long time for a van; food was incredible, service was wonderful and lodgings stunning! Our sailing day to Balos and Gramvousa was a huge family hit! This family company upgraded our vessel for the day and the mother (Ari) and son (Nico) were so wonderful about timing so to avoid the crowds in each location. We stopped for a swim in a small cove, and home made lunch (in the top favorite of meals eaten during the trip). At Balos we arrived as 2 bigger party boats were leaving and experienced stunning views, swam in the lagoon; Gramvousa was also gorgeous- the hike up was fine for us, but may be difficult in hot weather and depending of fitness levels.
My husband and I visited Monastriaki Winery on our own- loved the winery, but we were part of a cruise ship crowd and it defn affected the charm of the experience. We also booked a walking food tour of Chania on our own, this was also fantastic. Our last day was a visit to Elafonissi beach and a mountain village with another engaging driver/guide. He was wonderful with stories, knowledge, keeping us engaged during the driving hours and we all had another of our most favorite meals at Mila in the Eco Retreat. Our guide was Nicholas.
Naxos: Our guided village tour with Elizabeth was again amazing- we had fun and learned a lot with the walks through the streets, seeing all the fruiting trees and flowers. Mezze at the olive oil mill after tasting was delicious. The Kitron distillery was perfect as it was not too long, but interesting for the adults. Our lunch was delicious again! On our own we had dinner in the mountains at Rotunda-highly recommend for the views and food, esp if celebrating.
We also on our own explored the Chora and temple of Apollo; had dinner at Avalon one night.
Our sailing day did not materialize as planned due to winds and weather. We did enjoy what we were able to see immensely. The company graciously gave us some refund back as we did not get to Santorini. Our skipper was fun and gave us great tips as we swam around visited Koufonisi (picture perfect small island!!!).
We had an amazing vacation and booking through kimkim really did help take so much stress of coordination/transfers out of the picture so we could enjoy.
Some feedback- we had to adjust our last day to fly back to Athens the night before due to a short layover, which now with the EES would have been impossible to catch our flight home. given the change we could not recoup money for the Naxos hotel and we had to book another hotel in Athens. I would expect that the trip coordinators would be aware of these issues and when planning we would have discussed getting to Athens the night before. Unfortunately this was not the experience. Part of the reason to use a company with resources like this is awareness of these sorts of things in the itinerary—I was the one to bring it up weeks before travel when I heard from travel blogs that the EES was instituted in April and causing delays, and then request the changes. The EES was a planned event for many months and I wish we knew at the time of booking or even as it was initiated so we did not have to lose money.
We did have a slightly different, more positive experience with our trip to Spain in this very regard of planning transfers/travel, when issues arose.
All in all- we have really enjoyed booking with KimKim and will continue to in the future! The support, customer service, best guides and tours we have ever had, are great! We are thankful to have had an epic family vacation and thankful to the team helping coordinate this trip!
Purbi
Activity Reviews
