Kimkim Trip Reviews

Our trip to Ecuador and the Galapagos Islands was amazing and all thinks to Karla! She was able to tailor a custom experience for our family of 5. We have a 5 year-old and up and people with varying levels of interests and abilities and Karla was able to craft the perfect blend of adventure, animals and culture. She was also extremely responsive along the way. Anything we needed to know or figure out and she was able to get it answered immediately. I highly recommend working with her and wouldn't hesitate to do so again.

We had a great time with a quick one-week stopover in Japan. Really enjoyed Kyoto gardens and temple/shrines. Picture and weather perfect day in Hakone - doing the loop - with the iconic snow-capped Fuji. Toyko is much to big for just 2 days - but loved the Palace Garden and the Asakusa area was buzzing.

Hotel Reviews

Asakusa View Hotel Annex Rokku

Tokyo

Very modern city hotel. Very clean quite and comfortable. Helpful staff. Breakfast buffet at their main building was excellent.

Authenticity & Character

It's a very modern hotel - clean, quiet and comfortable.

Location

Fun to be right in the Asakusa area and easy access to subway

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Tokinoyu Setsugetsuka

Hakone-machi

Clearly a good resort experience with baths and very close proximity to the transit needed to make the loop

Authenticity & Character

If you like to dress up - they provide all the robes and such. Very nice hot baths and spacious rooms. However zero flexibility with set menu and over the food is average taste

Location

2 minute walk from train station / cable car

Staff

Had issues communicating and had issues with seating on reserved 2nd day dinner. We were first in lline for our shift and they sat us (initially in a dark corner table with no view of anything- while the many garden view tables were all open and available. After a few challenges trying to communicate our issue they finally re-sat us at a good view table. But it was not friendly and barely accommodating. No flexibility and as non Japanese speakers found communication bumpy.

Cleanliness & Comfort

Large clean room - plenty of towels and good garden view

Hotel Vischio Kyoto by GRANVIA

Kyoto

Nice quiet room. Really amazing breakfast buffet. Location next to train station made navigation and transfers really accesible

Authenticity & Character

Great shower - clean and comfortable - Japanese food available at breakfast buffet

Location

2 minute walk to train station

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Very clean. Firm beds

Activity Review

Half Day Sagano Bamboo Grove & Arashiyama Walking Tour (Join-in)

Kyoto

Yuki our guide made this our top highlight of all our time spent in Kyoto. Especially enjoyed the pacing and allowing us some peaceful time to soak in the very private Zen garden. She also moved us thru the more busy tourist areas, finding great spots for pictures and explanations. Tofu lunch was amazing, best authentic food on our entire trip in a beautiful house (glad we ate there over the temple lunch which was not available that day). Plus she sent us over 50 photos she took of our day together. Yuki also was extra special post tour - riding the train with us to get us right to the market and taking extra time later to send suggestions for a shop in Toyko where we might find masks (we collect masks from our travels). Yuki made the whole day exceptional

Quality of Experience

Great locations, Guide and Learnings - highly recommend (especially for the less touristy stops)

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Yuki is exceptional

Transport

it was a walking tour -

We could not fault the planning and attention to detail behind our four week trip to Portugal and Morocco. While we we were initially concerned about using a travel agent outside our home country, Australia, the trip planned by Marina from Kim kim was perfect. She communicated extremely well both during the extended planning phase and then while we were on the road and she was quick to deal with any issues that arose. A heartfelt thank you Marina. We really appreciate your efforts.

Thank you Ada, and all those involved in organizing an unforgettable cherry blossom trip to Japan.

Hotel Reviews

Richmond Hotel Premier Tokyo Schole

Tokyo

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Onyado Nono Matsumoto Natural Hot Spring

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Morino Hotel

Kiso

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Taoya Kisoji

Tsumago

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

The Royal Park Hotel Kyoto Umekoji

Kyoto

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Hiroshima Tokyu REI Hotel

Hiroshima

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Karuizawa Hotel Longing House

Karuizawa

This was our least favorite town we visited, and our least favorite hotel. It is far from the hiking trail and the activity in the city. It had the least authentic Japanese vibe of everywhere we visited. The huge old dirty teddy bears sitting out in the rain were not a welcome greeting. The outstanding customer service we received throughout Japan was lacking in this town and this hotel. The room was fine. The breakfast was good. I would not recommend visiting this town or this hotel.

Authenticity & Character

Throw away old disgusting giant teddy bears that contaminate both indoor and outdoor spaces.

Location

There could be a free shuttle from the train station.

Staff

No one at desk, have to ring a bell and wait.

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Review

Half-day Tokyo Highlights: Meiji Jingu & Senso-ji Temple

Tokyo

Naomi

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

This was a must going alone to Japan for the first time. Greg made everything super easy and even changed my trip when I had a major delay.

Monika was wonderful! She put together a great itinerary for us and she was very helpful in making a last minute change when weather prevented us from flying to Milford Sound. Hotels were excellent, the the dinner she had planned for us in Auckland was one we will not forget. I would highly recommend anyone planning a trip to NZ to partner with her.

Had a wonderful 2 weeks in and around Tuscany. Martina listened to our wants and needs and planned a fabulous trip - perfect accommodation, great tours, seamless travel and a great mix of cities and small villages. Lorenzo stepped in and provided awesome support throughout the actual trip - always accessible for whatever we needed. I cannot recommend them enough!

Hotel Review

Palazzo Petrus

Orvieto

Amazing service and such a beautiful room - cannot fault!

Authenticity & Character

Location

Central to everything

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Reviews

Rialto Market and "Cicchetti" food tour

Venice

Georgia was great - took us to some hidden gems and historical places to sample traditional Venetian food and culture. Highly recommend - such good fun!

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Discover Orvieto Underground

Orvieto

Very knowledgeable guide and really interesting to learn all the history. Was well worth the visit!!

Hector and his colleagues put together a very high quality experience for the four of us. There are several components to a great visit anywhere and to the Pais Vasco in particular.

The Guides: We like to get to know a place through the experiences of the people who live there. We had two exceptional individuals who taught us so much about the places and people of this region. Both were intensely proud of their Basque heritage and region. Irena in Bilbao led us on an amazing Pintxos tour through the Casco Viejo (old city). Outstanding quality and lots of variety. The next day she also took us on a tour focused on the history of the City. Super knowledgeable. Our next guide was Jaime Izquierdo. We spent three days with him which included the trip from Bilbao to San Sebastián, a tour of San Sebastián and a tour of the region north of San Sebastián. One advantage of a private tour is the ability to make changes to the proposed itinerary. When we mentioned our interest in visiting Gernika (not on the original itinerary but an important place in Basque history) he was excited to make that change. And he also suggested visiting Biarritz nearby in France which was not part of the original plan.Again, super knowledgeable and just a real pleasure to spend three days with.

The Transfers: Every airport/hotel transfer was on time with great communication in advance from the driver

Lodging: The hotels in both San Sebastián and Bilbao were well located and high quality and the rooms were fine, with one exception that was quickly remedied by the local staff.

Support from the in-country agency: Espiritu Travel uses a great app—Trip Plan—that had our itinerary and suggestions for activities and restaurants. It also has a chat feature which we used several times to ask questions. It is staffed continually and their staff responded promptly.

Cost: We have traveled in Spain many times. The cost of this trip was expensive relative to our prior experiences. But it was worth every Euro.

Hector and his team have our gratitude for creating a great experience for us.

Excellent support from the guides : very professional, patient, we always felt safe, and we have learnt so much about swimming in water currents ! A specific mention of the effort made to deal with my specifict diet restrictions.
The combination of hiking, riding, rafting and kayaking is just one of a kind for this crossing of the country without any car transfer. Every day was amazing.

This was our second year using Kimkim to plan and schedule our vacation and if it's possible, we're even more pleased than last year. I can't say enough about how great a job they do from planning and customizing the perfect trip, to making sure every little detail is addressed. Giulia did a wonderful job planning our vacation and we were super impressed and appreciative with her checking in throughout our trip to make sure we had everything we need. The Vamoos app is fantastic and makes it SUPER easy to navigate. The guides were absolutely awesome! I have recommend to all my friends and people I've shared about our trips that you MUST go with Kimkim to plan your next trip! Thank you for making our trip to Italy such an amazing experience....now I need to Kimkim to start working on our next trip to Europe!

Hotel Reviews

Hotel Casa Adele

Taormina

Gorgeous hotel, super friendly staff, great location

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Very kind and super helpful

Cleanliness & Comfort

Hotel Residence Amalfi

Amalfi

Great hotel, but if a quiet room is a must, make sure you don't stay in the corner.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Great view, but very noisy

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Reviews

Godfather and Mafia tour with Pasta lunch (from Taormina) - Small Group

Italy

The Godfather tour was amazing, I highly recommend it for any fan of the movie series

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Giuseppe did an amazing job! He was super knowledgeable

Transport

Mount Etna expedition and Etna wine experience

Italy

Tony was absolutely amazing! His knowledge of Mount Etna and the history made this an incredible experience! The lunch served as well was fantastic!

Quality of Experience

PERFECT day!

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

We loved Tony, what an amazing job he did!

Transport

Day trip to Capri Island from The Amalfi Coast - small group

Italy

What a great experience! We couldn't have asked for a better day! Both boat captains were amazing

Quality of Experience

The knowledge of the island from our captain/guide was incredible

Guides, Drivers and Staff

The guide was was awesome

Transport

We had an ideal self-guided walking trip in southwest Ireland thanks to Kimkim connecting us with Ireland Walk, Hike, Bike. Dean Garrison from that company tailored 5 days of walking that perfectly suited our interests and abilities. We had superb communication with Dean as he tweaked the itinerary in response to our input. The transfers between hotels were flawless—all the drivers were really wonderful people. The hotels were wonderful, and the food at the Brook Lane in Kenmare was a special treat. When we had to modify the last day of hiking, Dean’s colleague Katie gave us instant support, suggesting not just one alternative option but three. We are already dreaming of coming back for another week of walking in Ireland. Truly, an amazing experience!

Overall a great trip to Indonesia, wonderful locals with a serenity quality to their culture, refreshing. We did not make it to Cunca Wulong waterfall & cultural dance due to fatigue from previous 3 days on Liveaboard to Komodo Island. Saw Komodo dragons resting & saw a blue manta ray while snorkeling -epic snorkeling for us which was unexpected. Driver was punctual, polite & kind. Our Sudamala Resort stay was relaxing & felt high-end for
accommodations. Great breakfast banquet each morning. Wonderful staff! Ciella, our contact was helpful & responsive to many questions.

Our trip to Japan was a positively life altering experience and the team at kimkim really executed a beautiful itinerary and took care of all of the arrangements for us.
Our specialist Jessica was very responsive and was available to answer any questions or concerns. Her itinerary for us flowed and that was the overall feeling for our time in Japan.
Our guides Chinami ( Hakone) , Fumiko ( Tokyo), Yoko (Kyoto) and Takehiko ( Kobe) did an outstanding job explaining the highlights of our sightseeing and handling the transportation details in a timely and expert manner. They were warm and informative and we had a lot of fun learning about Japan from them.
The kimkim app was invaluable in keeping us on track and not overwhelmed as we covered a lot of places in 10 days. It was nice to have a record of everything we did on a daily basis because the app did all the work! In short we loved our experience with kimkim and would use them again to plan a memorable trip.

We had a wonderful experience working with Kim Kim to help plan part of our Indonesian adventure in Bali, Lubuan Bajo and Komodo. Caroline and Welton were excellent planners and concierges. They were both professional, friendly and so responsive to our requests and questions. They really helped make traveling in a part of the world that we had never visited before so easy and stress free. Our driver Ketut was the best! Thank you Kim Kim for an amazing vacation. We will definitely call you again! 🥰

Kamilla, we want to thank you for this fabulous trip. While this trip was on my husband’s bucket list, I knew it would be wonderful but had no idea how magically Austria would be. Your diligent and thoughtful planning provided an unforgetable journey. It was very well balanced between city and rural. It was simply brilliant for us to spend the last day and a half relaxing at a mountainous/ lake resort spa. The views from the train ride and hotel will not be forgotten. I wanted to let you know how much Jay and I appreciated your effort to create this fabulous trip and the wonderful memories you have helped create to celebrate our 40th wedding anniversary. This is our fourth trip planned through Kimkim and it will not be the last!

Hotel Review

Hotel Schloss Seefels

Techelsberg am Worther See

We were treated like royalty. The staff and service were outstanding.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Great views

Staff

So kind and accommodating!

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Reviews

Lakeside relaxation day

Austria

Half day - Private Salzburg City Tour w. focus on Mozart

Salzburg

Our guide Michaela was amazing. We loved her great knowledge of Mozart.

Quality of Experience

Full Day trip to the Wachau valley incl. bike tour, ends in Gmunden

Austria

Masterpieces & Mysteries: A Tour Through Vienna's Kunsthistorisches Museum

Vienna

Viennese Culinary Experience at its best: Schnitzel & Strudel Workshop

Vienna

Exploring Schönbrunn Palace

Vienna

E-Bike through Vienna - Highlight Tour - private

Vienna

The coordination of everything was so efficient. I really appreciated the booking of my in country flights.
RIO
The city highlights tour was very good. Sugarloaf Mountain was absolutely beautiful!
Buzios boat and beach trip. - This was the one big disappointment. The description leads you believe you will go onto several beaches when in reality you just boat to a view of the different beaches and swim. Also, the 3 hour bus ride after the full hour of picking people up all around town, was just too much. Lastly the lunch was the poorest meal I had on the trip. I would not recommend this trip. If one wants to see Buzios, I would recommend staying there for a few days to enjoy the beautiful beaches. It is just too much time on a bus.
The cooking class with Chef Simone Almeida was the highlight of my time in Rio. She is such a firecracker! I thoroughly enjoyed her stories and loved all the cooking tips I gained from her. I cannot recommend this highly enough! Obrigada, Simone!
My Rio guide Christiano Gentil was organized and very helpful.
The Martinique Copacabana was nice. The staff was very kind.
SALVADOR
Both tours on this trip - the town history, and the trip outside the city, were great! I loved the market in Santa Amaro! I would recommend having some Brazilian money so that you can buy some fruit to try. As a foodie, the market blew my mind! The lunch at the farm was very good and it was beautiful to be in such a peaceful place. The only I can say is that the description of this day says that we would meet locals from the Quilomblas community, which did not happen. I thoroughly enjoyed all that we did, but was a bit disappointed not to meet anyone from the Quilombolas community and hear of their stories.
My local guide, I’m sorry that I have forgotten his name and can’t find him in my contacts, was wonderful! He had so much knowledge of the area. I really enjoyed him. He also recommended a meal at Casa Teresa, which was by far the best meal I had in Brazil. Highly recommend the Moquecas!
The Mercure Hotel Rio Velmeho was very nice.
IGUAÇU
Met every expectation! I have been wanting to see the falls for at least 30 years. Was not disappointed.
The Hotel Via Cataratas was ok. Food was only buffet style. Bar food was pretty much just fried. Pool was beautiful. The Internet was awful. Didn’t work in the restaurant.
My local guide, Francisco, was beyond the pale!! We bonded over Italian ancestry, he was kind, gracious, and very knowledgeable. I was so spoiled by his tours. He even added a last day tour of the dam for me. And at the very end, walked me from the check in desk at the airport to the boarding area.
I learned some things on this trip and really enjoyed the kimkim specialist’s help. I have booked another trip with kimkim in August.
Thank you!

Hotel Reviews

Viale Cataratas

Foz do Iguaçu

Hotel was nice enough. It is far out of town so that one cannot walk to any other restaurants and the hotel only served buffet style food. The bar food was mostly fried. Staff was very friendly. Rooms were noisy. Internet was spotty at best. Couldn’t get reception in the restaurant.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

I appreciated that they were training young people.

Cleanliness & Comfort

Mercure Salvador Rio Vermelho Hotel

Salvador

Staff were kind and helpful. Pool was wonderful!

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Windsor Martinique Copacabana

Copacabana, Rio de Janeiro

Staff was exceptional. Location was great. A bit noisy

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Reviews

Cooking and Tasting Rio 🌴🍴✨

Rio de Janeiro

The evening with Chef Simone was the highlight of my trip! She is so energetic and delightful!! Highly recommend this experience. I would do it again!

Quality of Experience

Food

Everything about the experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Foz do Iguaçu: FD Argentinean Falls Excursion

Foz do Iguaçu

Met all expectations. Guide was amazing

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Parque Das Aves 🐦

Foz do Iguaçu

Lovely experience

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

I

A visit to Foz de Iguacu Falls - Brazilian Side

Foz do Iguaçu

Met all of my expectations! Iguaçu has been on my bucket list for over 30 years! I enjoyed this visit!!

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Guide Francisco was stellar!!!

Transport

Guide Francisco was absolutely stellar!!

FD Flavors of the Recôncavo with lunch🥣

Salvador

I enjoyed my journey! The market in Santa Amaro was fabulous!! The lunch at the ranch was very good and so peaceful. I was disappointed that we did not meet anyone of the Quilombolas community. I loved the market and the Cachoeira town, but I would change the tour description, or include a Quilombolas visit

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Salvador de Bahía: HD Historical Tour

Salvador

Loved this! The guide was so knowledgeable. I learned so much++++

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Full day Buzios Tour & Lunch

Rio de Janeiro

Pick up in town and bus ride to and fro is simply too long. Would not recommend this tour at all. Either go to Buzios for several days, or do something else in Rio.

Quality of Experience

Better info in the description of the adventure

Food

Buffet was sub par

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Was told that English was spoken by the driver, but his English was about as prolific as my Portuguese. While it is my bad to not know Portuguese, it should not be advertised as English available when it is not

Transport

Rio de Janeiro: FD Corcovado and Sugar Loaf Excursion

Rio de Janeiro

Great tour. Beautiful views. Guide was very knowledgeable. I was the only English speaker but have a fair knowledge of Spanish and he always made sure that I understood what he was saying. Appreciated him

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Roxy dinner show ✨

Rio de Janeiro

I thoroughly enjoyed the show! The dancing was spectacular! People told me that the food was ‘meh’ but I had the fish and it was great! Service was good

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

We had a great trip. The pace was perfect as were the activities. We very much enjoyed both the guides we had (Irene in Bilbao and Jaime in San Sebastian). They were knowledgeable and flexible (we asked Jaimie to move around our schedule on the day we drove to San Sebastian and he easily pivoted to meet our needs). I think it was particularly useful to have the same guide for each city so as to minimize repetition.

My only constructive criticism is that our hotels in Bilbao and San Sebastian were booked in the name of one of the members of one of the couples (David Knowles). We got into Bilbao before they did so when we tried to check into our room, it was a bit confusing as they did not have our names. It worked out fine, but it would be much easier if the rooms could be booked individually.

Hotel Reviews

Zenit Convento San Martin

San Sebastián

Authenticity & Character

the lobby was lovely but the rooms were small and felt very institutional

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Worst pillows ever (but I appreciate that's a very particular thing)

Hotel Ercilla de Bilbao

Bilbao, Bizkaia

Great location, clean and spacious

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Reviews

A Day in Basque Country: Hondarribia, Pasai Donibane & Txakoli Wine

San Sebastián

We ended up changing the itinerary at the last minute and it was seamless. It was a great day.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

A Guided Walk though San Sebastian

San Sebastián

This was a good trip, but we got side-tracked by some things (our fault) so I don't know that we saw everything. Nonetheless, Jaime pivoted so gracefully

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

From Market to Table: A Basque Cooking Experience

San Sebastián

Guide was great and very knowledgeable. Particularly appreciated the trip to the market. The amount of hands-on work was just right.

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Hiking Excursion  St.James way, famous «Camino de Santiago»

San Sebastián

This did not happen. It was not on our itinerary like this -- there were just a few hikes we could pick (all of which said "High difficulty" and no options for transport to the remote starting places. We were all pretty tired and appreciated a break, but it was a disappointment

Discover Bilbao with a Local

Bilbao

Bilbao Pintxos Experience: Tapas of the Basque Country

Bilbao

Terrific food and wine - great suggestions and great knowledge. Very good that it was only 4 people. This would not have been much fun if we were any more people

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Fabulous trip! Our tour manager/driver Ahmed was very professional and personable. Local guides in all locations spoke very good English and were very knowledgeable. Accommodations varied but were all comfortable and safe. Highlights included camel ride to desert camp, tour of Volubilis, and lunch with locals in the Valley of the Roses.

Hotel Review

Hôtel & Ryads Barrière Le Naoura

Marrakech

Great place to end our trip! Suite gave us room to spread out and organize our stuff, amenities included in room coffee and tea, minibar and large closet with iron. Huge bathroom suite provided bathrobes and slippers, plus there was a half bath. Beds were very comfortable and we enjoyed spending time on the double balcony overlooking the pool. Included breakfast buffet had wide variety of sweet and savory items, lunch and dinner menus were also extensive and all items were delicious. There is also a bar which also provides service to the pool.

Authenticity & Character

Decor is chrome, black, white, red and tan. Not especially Moroccon but very nice.

Location

Right next to Craft complex which had a great variety of items that were also found in the souk. Ten minute walk to medina entrance and short drive or longer walk to Majorelle Garden.

Staff

Restaurant staff were great, also concierge staff.

Cleanliness & Comfort

Beds were great, daily housekeeping, nice towels.

Activity Reviews

Dades Valley to Marrakech via Ait Ben Haddou

Morocco

Very interesting place, local guide Hatima (sp?) was born there and took me to her former home! She knew a lot of the ancient and more recent history, and took me to great photo opportunity sites, even took some photos of me.

Guided Tour of Fes

Fes

Guide was good but felt I didn't get a sense of the Medina other than the 2 shops (clothing & leather/tannery - which was interesting) where we went. Granted it was raining and maybe there weren't open air stalls there but would have liked to have seen more. The clothing shop, Maison du Kaftan, was wildly overpriced - a shirt I was originally quoted for at MAD 1600 and for which I paid 800 MAD I later saw in Marrakech for 200 MAD. I understand I didn't have to buy it but want to put out a buyer beware warning as this was early in our trip, we were tired, not familiar with currency conversion nor what things cost. Good think I like the shirt!

Our experience with KimKim and specifically the local specialist team, Serendipity Adventures, was great. Elena and the rest of the Serendipity Adventures team, Nancy, and Adrian, and others, helped plan, organize, and manage my trip. They also worked diligently during our trip to make sure everything ran smoothly for my family.

Based on my responses to the KimKim survey, Elena planned a great vacation including all the activities we wanted to see/do while in Costa Rica. What I really appreciated was that Elena used her expertise/experience to not let me plan too busy of a trip :) I wanted to go to 3 locations but Elena very nicely suggested that, based on the length of our trip, we only do 2 locations so that we were not rushed and could really experience each location more fully. That was the right call!

The hotels Elena/team picked were amazing. The guided tours they set up had the best guides! The guide we had for our private tour of Manuel Antonio National Park was AMAZING. 23 years of experience.

What I want to note is that I feel the true test of a team's customer service and support is when things don't go quite right. I am happy to say that the Serendipity Adventures local team was very available to help when there were occasional small problems or I had a question. An example was the pick up time for our tour of Manuel Antonio park changed from 7:10 am to 11am. However, the driver still arrived at 7am. So, I messaged Adrian via WhatsApp at 7:20 in the morning when I got the call from the front desk of the hotel letting me know the driver was there and Adrian immediately responded to my message and sorted it all.

My husband and I visited Costa Rica 14 years ago and loved it. I had told Elena that we wanted to show the beautifulness of Costa Rica to our almost 13 year old daughter. Elena understood and delivered a trip we will always remember. Thank you!

Hotel Reviews

Baldi Hot Springs Resort, Hotel & Spa

Fortuna

Such a cool hotel. Very neat to get to stay right there with the hot springs. Couple of notes: - There are 4 water slides - 2 of them are really pretty aggressive. - You are going to laugh but, bring ear plugs for sleeping! There was either frogs or crickets that cricked all night! I mean, so much fun but also pretty loud at night. ha ha.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

One of the servers we had in the main restaurant was just not very good with regard to customer service. Forgot to bring us things we ordered, didn't check in. That was a bit frustrating..but other than that, the staff was great and very friendly and helpful.

Cleanliness & Comfort

Hotel La Mariposa

Manuel Antonio

In general, the hotel is beautiful and really showcased the beauty that is Costa Rica. One time when we were in the beautiful pool, a whole troop of Spider Monkeys moved through the trees right next to the pool! Probably 40 or so. We saw up close all the mommy's with their babies jumping from branch to branch! it was so cool. A few little things - one of the front desk team members really wasn't very friendly. I was surprised. And, the other thing that sticks out was on our last day, we had not checked out yet, a maintenance man just sorta came into our room - no knock or anything. It was really odd. But, other than that, really wonderful hotel with amazing views.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Most of the staff were great. One of the front desk helpers was not very welcoming/engaging. Also, on our last day, a maintenance man just opened our door to our room before we had checked out. It was odd.

Cleanliness & Comfort

Hampton by Hilton San José Airport

Alajuela

We stayed here for 1 night at the beginning of the trip. It was a nice hotel. I will have to say though there was a bit of a problem the morning of our check out. Our driver asked the front desk if we had checked in the night before and was told we hadn't! So, that caused a bit of confusion...but it got sorted.

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Reviews

Sky Tram, Sky Trek & Sky Walk

Arenal/La Fortuna

It was all very nice. The zip line part was very legit. The tour was nice - the bridges were cool and our tour guide was very knowledgeable and nice. The guest area was nice also - you can get lunch and see the amazing view.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Arenal Volcano Hike & La Fortuna Waterfall

Arenal/La Fortuna

Well, the weather did not cooperate for us on this. It was very cloud/overcast and VERY rainy. But, we made the best of it. It was a bit interesting, the tour guide picked us up in a van from our hotel. Turns out the battery on the van decided to stop working that morning and he didn't have time to fix it. So, the two times we had to start the van to go to the next stop, we had to push it so it rolled and then could jump it bc it was a manual. lol. So, that added some unexpected excitement to our day.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Catamaran Tour with Meal

Costa Rica

A lot of fun. We met/talked to a ton of the other guests which was a lot of fun. The dinner was soo good. Swimming was very nice and the sunset was amazing.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Private Manuel Antonio National Park Guided Hike

Costa Rica

So amazing! Our guide was fantastic. 23 years of experience. He saw SO many animals...and he knew how to use our iPhone cameras expertly so we got amazing pictures that he took with our phone :)

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

We had a magical and effortless trip to Portugal thanks to the fine work of Joao and his team. Every need and transfer requirement was anticipated and provided for making every day so relaxed. All of the accommodations were exceptional - especially the Albatroz Hotel in Cascais and the Savoy in Madeira - in terms of proximity and quality. Our guide and driver in Lisbon and Cascais - Ruy - went the extra mile at every turn making our planned excursions even more special. He was such an exceptional person to meet. And Ricardo's wonderful gastronomic tour of Lisbon exceeded our expectations as he brilliantly brought to life Lisbon's history through its food. Our time at Lisbon Winery was particularly fun and informative! Madeira was a wonderful way to end our trip. We were so glad that Joao booked two days with Madeira Safari - with our guide Gabriel - so that we got to see so much of the beautiful island and drive off road into amazing areas otherwise not accessible. The views and flowers and walks and waterfalls and lunches both days were simply astounding. I highly recommend working with Joao for a trip that caters to your interests and needs. It was fantastic!

Activity Review

Flavors of Lisbon in a Premium & Gastronomic Private Walking Tour

Lisbon

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport