Kimkim Trip Reviews

Our trip across Spain (Barcelona, Granada, Sevilla, Cordoba, and Madrid) was absolutely stellar! kimkim was fantastic, responsive, and thoughtful in planning our itinerary, communicating with us, and accommodating all of our changes, including our specific needs given my wife's autoimmune condition, which necessitated some adjustments that aren't always easy to find in Europe. Adam was a great specialist - knowledgeable, thorough, patient, and with a great attitude. Once we transitioned to the ops team as we closed in on our trip and then traveled to Spain, Coraima and Chinh were excellent keeping us informed, along with assists from Nick. And when a horrific train accident in Spain impacted our transportation plans, Summer reached out to inform us, monitor the situation, and eventually ensure we had dependable alternate transportation from Cordoba to Madrid. The recommended excursions and tours were all fantastic and we had super-knowledgeable, flexible, courteous, and warm guides that made it all even more wonderful - Ann Marie and Craig in Barcelona, Eduardo in Granada, Cristina in Seville, Olivia in Cordoba, and Carlos and Eva in Madrid. We highly recommend kimkim and look forward to working with them again in future travels!

An unforgettable journey. Every destination had its highlight, but Machu Picchu, Torres del Paine and the glaciers of Puerto Natales were truly breathtaking. The guides made a huge difference: Cindy in Lima and Ica, Gustavo at Machu Picchu, Daniel in Patagonia and Stefanie in Rio were knowledgeable, warm and always attentive to the group. Highlights also included the wine dinner at Bocanáriz in Santiago and our farewell dinner in Rio. A long trip with early starts and plenty of flights, but beautifully organized and worth every moment.

A memorable, perfectly planned trip to Japan!
We were so impressed with everyone we interacted with during our trip. Every part of it was well organized and personalized to our interests. A special shout-out to Oshinobi Travel and the wonderful guides we had throughout our stay. Each one was delightful, engaging, and knowledgeable. They made our visit to Japan really exceptional. Thank you!

Activity Reviews

*Private Guided Tour in Tokyo: Highlights and Hidden Gems

Tokyo

This tour gave us a great introduction to Tokyo.

Quality of Experience

Aya was wonderful!

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Very courteous and knowledgeable

Transport

Very efficient

★Tsukiji and Toyosu Fish Market Walking Tour

Tokyo

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

*Private Guided Tour in Hakone: Nature and Art Escape

Hakone

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

*Group Hike into the Hidden Route of Fushimi Inari Taisha with a Local Lunch

Kyoto

We really felt we got an "insider" tour. It was very special.

Quality of Experience

Food

Great restaurant off the beaten path

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

We didn't actually have transport; we took the subway.

*Relax in a hot spring

Japan

This was a very special hotel; I wish we could have stayed longer!

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

★Private tea ceremony experience with a tea master

Kyoto

Very unique and interesting

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

★Bar Hopping Izakaya Tour in the Lively Nightlife of Shinjuku

Japan

A fun way to see other aspects of Tokyo. Our guide was great!

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

*Private Guided Tour in Hiroshima: A Journey Through History

Hiroshima

This was a very memorable stop. We're grateful for Peco for treating it with such sensitivity.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

First time to France and first time using KimKim. Liz listened & understood our goals, and made the overall experience wonderful. We already have our next trip (Argentina) scheduled thru KimKim.

France's WWII Legacy
From the time we landed in Paris till we left 10 days later, everything we needed was planned. All of our guides were very knowledgeable and friendly. From Augustine (Monet's Garden), Florent (Paris walking tour), Marie Noelle (Bayeux city tour), Stephen (2 day Normandy tour) all were excellent. Our drivers were always on time (or early) and having our tickets ready to view on our phones was so easy. Even the city maps provided by the website were updated.
Most of all, the communication between KimKim and us was timely, keeping us informed on current situations. We have used KimKim for several trips (5 or more) and have never been disappointed. Thank you for the great service!

Very Good experience overall. Our local specialist changed mid-way through which wasn't ideal but Dimitrios was very responsive and attentive. We had some weather challenges that were a difficult to navigate but we managed through them with some very good alternative plans recommended by Dimitrios. Drivers, guides, hotels were all great.

Hotel Reviews

Kriti Hotel Chania

Chania, Crete

Great hotel, great location. Really good breakfast. We traveled in a friend group and this was good hotel choice because double rooms had separate beds.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Amalia Hotel Athens

Athens

Nice, big hotel. Great roofdeck and restaurant. Great breakfast. On a busy street but right on edge of Old Athens and the Acropolis so location is terrific.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

They were fine -- not super friendly.

Cleanliness & Comfort

beds were comfy. Room was big, bathroom too

Activity Reviews

Knossos Minoan Palace and Heraklion Archaeological Museum Private Guided Tour from Chania

Greece

The Real Cretan Cooking Small-Group Experience

Chania

Athens City & Acropolis Small-group Guided Tour

Athens

Was not "small group" -- it was 20. Was fine but be careful on how you promote it.

Our trip to Japan was amazing and we owe it all to Jonathan at kimkim and our local specialist Ellen and operator Mako at Oshinobi Travel. Kimkim's vast array of sample itineraries gave my wife and I a great start for figuring out what we wanted to visit and do in Japan. kimkim then handed it off to Ellen to work with us to create our final itinerary after several emails and phone calls. What I really appreciated was Ellen's patience toin listening to us to find the kind of travel experiences that would fit our personalities and to be flexible with our own needs to go off the Oshinobi itinerary for a few days to visit old friends on our own. The guides Oshinobi Travel hired for us in Tokyo, Kamakura, Hakone, Kyoto, and Hiroshima -- Ayako, Yuichi, Naomi, Peco, and Ryoma -- were amazing! They were very knowledgeable, pleasant to spend the day with, and included visits to their favorite, less and not touristy, hidden gem sites and restaurants. And most importantly, the guides were very attentive to our preferences and interests, exchanging that information with the other guides, and very flexible with the itinerary to adjust it to meet our interests and weather conditions. For example, Ayako took us to a baseball glove repair shop in Tokyo that was featured in a documentary I saw on the flight to Japan, Yuichi took us to a karaoke place after the his bar hopping tour, Peco had the cab driver take us to the roof of a Costco to peek inside a pro Japanese baseball stadium to see the field, Naomi had a cafe send a happy anniversary dessert to our table, and Ryoma introduced us to the 84-year old carpenter who builds the torii gates at a shrine and to his 81-year old brother who runs a shop. We could have planned and taken the trip completely on our own, but kimkim and Oshinobi Travel gave us the the experiences that we would have never known for been able to do on our own.

What a wonderful trip! Adrian (our trip planner) was fantastic and tailored everything to be exactly the way we hoped it to be!
We particularly enjoyed our walk with the Irish Wolfhounds - a true highlight that stood this travel company above the rest.
Thank you for helping us have the best time in Ireland!

Hotel Reviews

The Trinity City Hotel

Dublin 2

Comfortable room and breakfast was fantastic!

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

The River Lee Hotel

Cork

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Randles Hotel Killarney

Co. Kerry

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

The Hyde Hotel

Galway

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Stauntons on the Green

Dublin

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Reviews

Dublin Private Walking Tour

Dublin

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Galway Food Tour

Galway

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Ferry to Inis Mór (Ferry Only - Return Trip)

Ireland

Transport

Jameson Experience Tour Premium Whiskey Tasting

Ireland

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Guinness Storehouse Connoisseur Experience

Dublin

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Visit to Kyteler’s Inn: Medieval Pub with a Witchy Past!

Kilkenny

Quality of Experience

Halloween in Galway (Macnas + City Atmosphere)

Galway

Quality of Experience

Cliffs of Moher Visitor Center tickets

Ireland

Quality of Experience

Walk with Wolfhounds

Ireland

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Wonderfully planned custom trip to Karnataka by Jay and his team.
We had wonderful experiences at the Safari resorts at Serai Bandipur and Evolve Back Kabini, both beautiful and comfortable stay in rural Karnataka, with great wildlife viewing and superior service.
In Mysore, Suresh was an excellent guide and such a friendly, knowledgeable and conversational person.
Car transfer between sites was smooth and timely and final airport transfer went without a hitch.

Christine did an excellent job coordinating and organizing our trip. We had a handful of issues related to weather that she helped to mitigate by providing updated itineraries, additional suggestions, and getting us in touch with guides with minimal notice. She's a highly skilled professional

Hotel Reviews

Imperial Palace Boutique Hotel Itaewon

Great place, very modern amenities and centrally located. The only issue is the bathroom was strangely designed and was essentially a wall-to-wall glass cube!

Authenticity & Character

Centrally located; easy to access

Location

About 7-10min walk to the subway

Staff

The staff was very kind and spoke good English, especially the breakfast crew!

Cleanliness & Comfort

The size of the room was perfect for two travelers

Benikea Hotel Seosan

Seosan

Great place, very modern amenities and centrally located. The only issue is the bathroom was strangely designed and had a large window in it!

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

The staff went out of their way to ensure my wife and I had extra pillows, which was great for our rest!

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Reviews

Full Day Mt. Hallasan, Tea Plantation and Spirited Garden Tour

Jeju Island

We only did a portion of this tour because the weather was so bad. Our guide did a great job repositioning what we did during the day, but I don't feel comfortable providing a full scale rating of the experience simply because we didn't see much of the island.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Full Day Excursion to Korean DMZ + Suspension Bridge Tour

Seoul

Our guide did an excellent job coordinating with other tour groups to get us into the DMZ, and we enjoyed exploring this borderland between North and South Korea with his guidance. The suspension bridge tour was less compelling to us, but that's okay.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Go on a Hiking Tour of Bukhansan and Ancient Seunggasa Temple

Seoul

This was an incredible hike and tour of the temple and was probably the highlight of the trip for me. It is a large scale temple complex with a Buddha at the very top and a lovely little temple cat.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Sightseeing in Seoul: Gyeongbokgung Palace, Bukchon Hanok Village & N Seoul Tower

Seoul

Largely this ended up being a photography tour for me and my group and the girls dressed up in hanboks for when we were on the palace grounds. It was gorgeous and a lot of fun.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Guides were all very valuable, and we got great advice from drivers too. Janneke went beyond by lunching with us, lovely personal touch. Lodgings were all wonderful. Only issue was that we stated up front that we each needed our own bed, and one of the hotels was unable to provide that. So many mind-blowing experiences and learnings! This trip fulfilled my childhood wishes.

Hotel Reviews

BRIGADOON BOUTIQUE GUESTHOUSE

Swakopmund

So cozy and charming. Manager David gave such sweet hospitality.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Close to the sea and good restaurants

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Hohenstein Lodge

Damaraland

Mountain bike ride is a must

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Reviews

Cape Peninsula & Penguins

Zambia

Storm is so knowledgeable in multiple fields. He packed our day with scenery, wildlife, food, and a thrilling hike. Perfect for our group

Quality of Experience

Food

Whole Earth Cafe

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Hot Air Balloon Safari

South Africa

Amazing scenery and wildlife. We had to wait a bit for the crew to swap out our balloon, but that gave us more time for stargazing

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

A Day trip to Hermanus

Cape Town

So great to spend a day with the magnetic Rochelle. Whales, penguins, dhassies, a winery set in a sculpture garden, and more

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Drive from Swakopmund to Damaraland

South Africa

Frank is our hero for coping masterfully with a potentially scary contingency. Also very entertaining, knowledgeable, candid, and sweet.

Explore the Okavango Delta by Mokoro

South Africa

Such a pleasure to travel silently amongst the water lilies, birds, crocs, and hippos. Zulu showed us a tiny frog that we never would have seen from a motorboat

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Sunset cruise Zambezi Vista

Victoria Falls

We saw elephants mating in the Zambezi River! Upscale decor and delicious food

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Dusty Road Township Lunch/Dinner Experience

Victoria Falls

Great opportunity to support a cause and learn about the local cuisine at the same time. Inspiring! Kudos for upcycling

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Trip went off without a hitch. Having the information in the app made it a lot easier to navigate.

Will certainly use KimKim again for travel overseas.

Working with kimkim and our Julia travel specialist was great! She was extremely knowledgeable, kind, and helpful. We had planned exploring southern Spain/Portugal, and Madeira into 11 days. The first travel agent group we reached out to tried to inform us we had planned to do too much and should focus on only one location which was a bit disheartening. They would not even entertain an itinerary for us. When we reached out to Julia, explained we were young, loved adventure, were okay with living out of a suitcase, willing to drive a rental car, and wanting to see as much as possible she was so encouraging! She gave great recommendations on where to spend our time in terms of what to see at each location and took care of booking our flights and rental cars. Summer the operations specialist was also great! Both Julia and Summer were quick to respond to any questions we had through the Kim Kim app, we felt very well taken care of through the planning process and during the trip as well. We also used KimKim for a previous trip to Iceland which went great. We plan to do more traveling over the next few years and will definitely be looking at using KimKim again in the future!

Both Caroline and Gabriela is very helpful, they are well coordinated and doing good job. Your tour guide Jobathan also excellent and very help full in every situation, young and energetic, care to all of us. It's an amazing trip,

Lucie was amazing, we had the best time!

My family & I had an amazing time in Thailand and Indonesia. Our guides- Nana, Pookie, Lisa, & Mul were all great & made us feel like we were right at home. They taught us about their cultures and traditions. Although my family and I aren’t the most adventurous when it comes to trying out exotic foods, they took us to the yummiest restaurants to try out not-so-spicy Southeast Asian meals. I appreciate all of them for taking their time to show us around! We hope to be back to the Asian continent soon!

-Alejandra & Family

It was an absolute pleasure having Burcu coordinate our trip from Istanbul to Ephesus. She was incredibly responsive to all our questions and consistently went above and beyond to find the best options for us. When one of the hotels did not meet our expectations, Burcu immediately arranged a great alternative. As an extra special gesture, she even treated us to dinner with our excellent guide and his wife. Her thoughtfulness, attention to detail and dedication made our trip truly memorable. Thank you, Burcu, for everything.

Polat was the perfect guide for our journey from Istanbul to Ephesus, He was knowledgeable, attentive to our needs and very personable. We thoroughly enjoyed spending time with him and appreciated the insight, warmth and enthusiasm he brought to our experience. We would recommend him without hesitation to anyone visiting the region. It was also a pleasure meeting his wife and sharing a lovely dinner together. Thank you, Polat, for making our trip so enjoyable and memorable.

Travel with Mustapha (our driver) was great - he ensured our safety and was always on time. The time in Chefchaouen (the blue city) was particularly lovely and time at the hammam in Marrakech was fun. Skoura could be missed if there was another location - the oasis area was very dry and it was in a remote location.

So glad we found KimKim and Gummi. Gummi put together a great trip and added a restaurant we requested at the last minute. He kept in touch with us when we were on our trip to make sure we didn’t miss the Northern Lights. Our trip to the ice cave was for just the two of us- we wound up in the cave with no other people for a good period of time. Our guide said that is nearly impossible. Our guide was local and could get much closer to the entrance of the cave. Making it a half hour hike each way rather than an hour each way.
Each waterfall was more spectacular than the next.
Each hotel was beautiful and cozy.
The only less than stellar experience was the Lava Show- that may have been because we were thrown into a time slot with a school group.

Activity Review

Icelandic Food Walk

Reykjavík

We had Hilda as our guide, she was a wonderful guide to have. The portions were huge!

Quality of Experience

Huge portions

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Hilda was a great guide, personality plus!

She's on her game!!!! I'm planning for a return trip 2027 to China. Heidi was spot on.