Kimkim Trip Reviews

KimKim saved us many hours in planning last minute trip to Scotland during the height of the season.

Hotel Reviews

One Devonshire Gardens - Hotel du Vin

Glasgow

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

No17 The Promenade Hotel

Oban

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Cruachan Hotel

Fort William

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Breakfast was not good. Only instant coffee, no fresh fruit, I think there was not even yogurt.

River Ness Hotel, a member of Radisson Individuals

Inverness

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Northern Sands Hotel

Thurso

Authenticity & Character

The outside curb appeal does not match the pleasant interior of the common areas or the room.

Location

Staff

Newton Lodge

Sutherland

Authenticity & Character

The hotel architecture does not match the surrounding charm of Inverness.

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Ac Marriott Inverness

Inverness

Authenticity & Character

The architecture of the building does not match and fit in with the charm of Inverness.

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Reviews

Hop On Hop Off Bus Tour

Glasgow

Cruise of Mull, Iona and Staffa Islands

Scotland

It was cancelled by the operator due to weather but the ferries continued to run and we wish that we had been better informed of the option to take a ferry to one of the islands on our own. This was a big disappointment.

Evening cruise on Loch Linnhe

Fort William

Private guided tour with driver/guide in Skye from Fort William

Scotland

Private day with a driver/guide from Inverness

Scotland

Ian is a top notch, very informative guide and excellent driver who tailored our experience to our personal needs and interests. Anyone who gets him as a guide, is very lucky.

Boat Ride Around the Canal & Loch Ness including a Visit to Urquhart Castle

Scotland

Linda set up a wonderful trip for my family. We made changes- sorry- but she rolled with the changes and made it so easy. Thank you. The guides were great, accommodations were wonderful. LeeeAnn

Eirini was so knowledgeable and responsive with ideas to create the most perfect trip for our family of 5. The experience in pairing our travel needs with Eirini’s extensive network to create a custom vacation was a great match. She understood our goals, actively level, and budget, and inserted her knowledge of climate, crowds, and seamless logistics. It was a best in class, interactive experience for us, and would highly recommend Eirini and KimKim. Thank you for sharing the best of your country and people with us!

Our first city, Kathmandu, afforded us an instant and memorable view into their culture and city life! Our hotel was very nice! Staff was friendly and attentive. Our room was clean and well appointed. Their fitness room was nice! (I’m always happy when there’s a fitness room)

While in contrast to Kathmandu, the Chitwan Jungle Resort was beautiful, the room was spacious and we had gorgeous views from our balcony and on the resort grounds. The staff was very friendly and accommodating! Likewise we had an altogether different but equally beautiful atmosphere when we stayed overnight at Matan Chhen in Panauti.

Our guide in Kathmandu was great and we had fantastic tours. Our host in Panauti, Grishma, was very helpful and charming!

If we did the trip again, I would not go to Panauti on our last day before departing Nepal. After the morning flight back from Chitwan to Kathmandu, we didn’t feel like driving another 1.5 hours only to go to a small town, with little to do or see and then just hang out in the residence the rest of the day. (We walked around the town for a little bit as Grishma was kind enough to walk with us but there was not much to do or see) And then having to drive back to Kathmandu exceptionally earlier than needed the following morning only to sit at the airport for 3 hour and 45 min ahead of our flight (and then add on another 1.5 hours for a delay). Had I known all the travel time and the lack of really anything to do in Panauti, I would have opted to stay in Kathmandu or somewhere a lot closer. That’s my only constructive feedback for the tour company. With limited time in the country anyway, the less ‘travel time’ to get to places, the better. Or at least a better call out on the planning side about total trip times.

Overall, it was a very positive experience and I would recommend Himalayan Trails to anyone! We were well taken care of!

Overall, our first trip to India was a memorable one! We love to experience new cultures on our trips and India has a unique one! Because my daughter and I are on a two-month, 12-country trip, we were only able to spend five nights in India. However, we experienced some of the best places India has to offer by visiting Delhi, Agra and Jaipur.

Our local guides in each city were professional and knowledgeable. We learned quite a bit from them! Our driver the entire time, Mr. Puran, was awesome! He took care of us traveling from city to city and on all of our tours. Kudos to him for be able to navigate what we would consider ‘crazy’ traffic!

The hotels hand-picked for us in Agra and Jaipur (The Grand Imperial and the Dera Rawatsar respectively) were excellent! Highly recommend! Alternatively, in Delhi, I would likely want to stay somewhere else on a return visit. While it was clean and the staff was accommodating, the rooms were a bit tired, and some common things not provided in the rooms such as tissues and bath mats. And while the breakfast each morning was good, it was a little ‘unorganized’ if you needed/ordered something. Again, not a show-stopper, just providing some additional feedback that might be considered for clients coming from the US.

If I had to book the trip over again, I would likely not be so aggressive in trying to visit three cities that are each about 5-6 hours driving distance apart in 5 days. It was a lot of driving in such a short amount of time. It would have been helpful to know in planning the trip if this were called out so I could make a more informed decision. I may or may not have opted for something different, or even extended our stay, but at least I would have a little better idea about drive times.

Thanks to Active India for taking such good care of us while in the country and for selecting tours and sites that interested us. I would certainly recommend them to anyone traveling there!

Hotel Reviews

Hotel Udman Ferns N Petals

New Delhi, Delhi

Clean rooms, accommodating staff. Rooms were not tired looking. Common hotel room items like tissue and bath mats were not provided. A little unorganized for breakfast in ordering or asking for items. But nice selection of breakfast items.

Authenticity & Character

Location

In a location were you really couldn’t walk out anywhere.

Staff

Professional and accommodating

Cleanliness & Comfort

The Grand Imperial

Agra

Embodies Indian culture, very nice open spaces and very roomy accommodations. Staff professional and accommodating!

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Dera Rawatsar

Beautiful rooms reflective of Indian culture! Very spacious and clean! All amenities needed! Very accommodating staff!

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Reviews

Taj Mahal Sunrise Visit

Agra

A MUST SEE!

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Bathe, Paint and Feed - (Un-forgettable - experience with elephants!)

Jaipur

Once in a lifetime opportunity to interact with these gentle giants!

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

We had the best time!! Thanks for everything and everything so perfectly planned. Kids are exhausted but that's to be expected. We really enjoyed Rovinj and wish we had more time for the beaches. Zagreb was so charming and easy to explore. The cannon at noon scared us even though we were waiting for it. In Plitvice we had the best tour guide. She even showed us the news report of her and her friends knitting winnie warmers hahaha. Thanks for all your work on this trip!!

Dalia did a great job putting together an itinerary that everyone in my family (especially my teenager) enjoyed. The boutique hotels were perfect, with great service and locations. Dalia and team were always accessible, especially when we had some travel issues. We would definitely use KimKim again.

Activity Reviews

Costa Brava: Kayaking & Snorkelling experience

Barcelona

Really fun experience. My one complaint is that the group was a bit large.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Marbella Boat trip

Spain

Tom our boat captain was great. He provided a really fun experience for the whole family. One of the highlights of our trip. Amazing!

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Modernist Barcelona: Gaudi's Highlights

Barcelona

Your guide was really knowledgeable and provided tons of insight into the architecture and sites. Private tour was super nice.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Excellent communication, Eric followed our outline and provided great suggestions for optional activities. All reservations came through perfectly without a hitch.

Great Trip with no complaints. Really appreciated the hotel selection as well as the smaller more intimate tours. Especially enjoyed the Blue Mountains tour with the hike. The Go West tours out of Melbourne were also well led and fun. Would recommend the foodie tour of Melbourne too.

Everything was very well organized and took the hassles logistics out of your lap.

Would do again

Hotel Review

Crystalbrook Bailey

Cairns

Activity Reviews

Blue Mountains Wildlife Full-Day Sights and Hiking from Sydney

Sydney

Foodie Discovery Walking Tour

Melbourne

Great Ocean Road Scenic Tour

Melbourne

Kata Tjuta Sunrise and Valley of the Winds Half-Day Trip

Uluru

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Francesca did a great job of being available via phone or text during our vacation if we had any questions or wanted to make itinerary changes on the fly.

I think main problem was selection of hotels. Their locations were right in the busy place with no access by car. On Saturday Drivr left us to block away from Moon sun hotel Loan. We had to log our luggage. We had the similar problem when we came back in Lisbon to Behotelisboa hotel.where hotel was more than half kilometer away from parking spot. Cars were not permitted in front of the hotel.
For Tuk ride, we could not find the driver. We called number on the seat and was told this is a porto branch number and they could not find our reservation. We arrived at the location at 4.05. We even talk to other Tuk driver. They tried to help and call the local number as was mentioned on the voucher with no success. It was really disappointing.

A great experience for our family of 5 visiting Italy for the first time. The week was planned expertly with how we like to travel. The hotels and guides were memorable. August is very hot so be prepared. Very authentic experience( the food was so good!) and I highly recommend kimkim to anyone traveling. Looking forward to using Martina again for Northern Italy in the future!

Hotel Reviews

Hotel Residence

Amalfi

Great location in Amalfi next to the busiest shopping and eating street but the early mornings were loud on our side with the shops being restocked so you hear pallets being loaded and unloaded. Very nice morning breakfast.

Authenticity & Character

Location

As mentioned, the road by our window was very loud in the early morning. but the location for the throughfare and action was on point.

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Palazzo Caruso

Rome

Very authentic and unique hotel located within walking distance of everything.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Reviews

Guided Walking Tour of Rome

Rome

Demetri--the tallest guide in Rome-- was an excellent host for our morning. Very knowledgeable guide and informative which made the morning so enjoyable.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Market Tour & Cooking Class

Rome

Chris was such a great guide and chef! What a memorable experience we had making pasta. It was the first meal we tried to recreate when we returned back home.

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

After Closure Tour of the Vatican Museum & Sistine Chapel

Rome

Enjoyable evening spent in the Museum. Our guide was very knowledgeable but sometimes hard to hear as there are lots of twists and turns during the tour and the earpiece couldn't pick up his microphone. The entire grounds were much larger than we expected. More of a history of the paintings and sculpture than talk about religion.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Wine Tasting and Lunch in Amalfi Coast

Italy

We loved our time spent on Patricia's vineyard! An amazing lunch followed our knowledgeable guide's discussions of how they make their unique wine and a tour of the grounds. Many great picture stops along the way.

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Chris was an excellent host for the day!

Transport

Welcome to the Amalfi Coast!

Italy

Wonderful location to visit. Picturesque views from the water and a cute little town. Close to other well known cities to make day trips to.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Driver wasnt in the anticipated waiting area at the Naples airport. We had all 5 family members spread out and searching for him.

Transport

Half day boat tour in Amalfi Coast

Italy

Great views from the water and a great place to jump off and swim or snorkle! Water was warm and easy to spend time in. Not a large boat so the water was a little choppy to navigate through.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Everything about our experience with kimkim was exceptional. I would definitely use them again and would recommend to anyone looking for an awesome trip and vacation. We received a detailed itinerary and a trip tailored to how we like to travel. Hotels and guided tours were excellent and memorable. Correspondence during our week in Greece was also excellent and very responsive. Well done!

Hotel Reviews

The Pinnacle Athens

Athens

Great location of hotel and a nice Greek breakfast option in the morning. Unfortunately the elevator wasn't working so we had to carry our luggage up 8 floors but the staff was apologetic and very kind to us during our stay.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Agali Houses

Firostefani 00

Amazing views and the rooms were unique and different from each other. Very kind staff for breakfast and centrally located to be able to walk to many restaurants and a 25 minute ride to each tip of the island.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Reviews

Free Day in Athens

Athens

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

The Acropolis & Athens Old City Private Guided Tour

Athens

Demetrious was an awesome guide---very knowledgeable and enjoyed his passion of his city.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Free Day in Santorini

Santorini

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Santorini Island Discovery Private Tour

Santorini

Enjoyable visit through the southern part of the island. Knowledgeable guide about wine and long history of the area.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Santorini Caldera Small-group Sunset Cruise with BBQ on board and Open Bar

Santorini

Enjoyable way to see the island from the water. Able to jump off and snorkle a little but the water was pretty cold.

Quality of Experience

Food

Authentic Greek!

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

The trip was amazing! We had a great time visiting Firenze, Chianti, Siena, and Roma. Pick-ups and drop-offs were all on time and went smoothly, the guides and drivers were all outstanding, and the places that we stayed were beautiful, the service was excellent, and the food superb! We had no problems at all. In fact, we were able to see and do more than planned because the guides were so helpful with suggestions to make the trip even better!
Thank you for organizing everything, KimKim! We will continue to use your services in the future!

Cris Kenudson

Hotel Reviews

Hotel L'Orologio

We had stayed at this boutique hotel before (14 years ago) and liked it so much much that we requested to stay there on this trip. While the hotel was still visually interesting (the interior decor), the hotel had undergone renovations and our hotel room (the same room as 14 years ago) looked very different. It was no longer split-level and had a lot less space. Otherwise, the stay was okay. The hotel staff were friendly and helpful.

Authenticity & Character

Visually interesting interior decor!

Location

Beautiful view of the Duomo from our room window!

Staff

Very friendly and helpful.

Cleanliness & Comfort

Hotel room bathroom was a bit cramped

Salvadonica - Borgo del Chianti

San Casciano in Val di pesa

Amazing place. Stunning panoramic views from the restaurant! Delicious food and wonderful atmosphere.

Authenticity & Character

The room was large with high vaulted ceilings to give it a gothic vibe!

Location

Situated on a hilltop in Tuscany with amazing panoramic views!

Staff

Friendly, courteous and helpful!

Cleanliness & Comfort

Really nice! Lots of space!

Argentina Residenza Style Hotel Rome

Rome

Great hotel in a great location in Rome. Easy to walk from the hotel to our tour starting points.

Authenticity & Character

Comfortable room with a sauna and jacuzzi!

Location

Outstanding! Walking distance to everything!

Staff

Very friendly, professional and helpful!

Cleanliness & Comfort

Very happy with everything!

Activity Reviews

Pisa Day Tour with Leaning Tower by bus

Florence

It was great to visit Pisa and the guided tour was great and informative, but the time of year to visit wasn’t the best. It was SUPER HOT and HUMID! 🥵

Quality of Experience

Just too too hot!

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Very good and knowledgeable!

Transport

Comfortable bus.

Florence Food Tour with Traditional Steak & Local Wine Tasting

Florence

Excellent! The guide really knew her stuff about the local cuisine. We visited some great places, tasted some great food, and had some great wine. We learned quoted a bit about the local Florentine food culture!

Quality of Experience

It was a great tour! It ended with some delicious Gelato!

Food

Fantastic!

Guides, Drivers and Staff

She was great! Very knowledgeable about the local food!

Transport

Lots of walking as it was a walking tour

Chianti - Small group guided Tour with Tuscan Wine Tasting

Italy

It was great, but too much was packed into the time allotted. We visited 5 places in all (we were told that it would be 3), and we drank a LOT of wine! It was fun, but we were tired toward the end of it.

Quality of Experience

Beautiful places, great wine and food, just tired from lack of sleep and the heat!

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Very good!

Transport

Excellent! Comfortable vehicles!

Tuscany: San Gimignano & Siena Day Trip

Italy

Absolutely amazing! We fell in love with Siena! The driver and guide were excellent, the place gorgeous, it was the day before Palio, an important cultural event held twice a year in the city, so there was an excited atmosphere everywhere as people prepared for the next day!

Quality of Experience

An amazing tour!

Food

Delicious!

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Friendly and very knowledgeable

Transport

Very comfortable rides!

Guided Visit to the Colosseum & Roman Forum

Rome

It was an excellent tour! The guide was extremely knowledgeable about the colosseum and surrounding areas. She really knows her Roman history!

Quality of Experience

An excellent tour! We learned so much about Roman history!

Guides, Drivers and Staff

She knew it all - and had lot of opinions about it!

Transport

A walking tour. Got a great physical workout!

Vatican & Sistine Chapel Tour

Rome

The Vatican is an amazing place! Impressive fortress walls, museums, gardens, the Sistine Chapel, and the Basilica of St. Peter. So much to see and take in!

Quality of Experience

Fantastic tour!

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Very courteous and knowledgeable guide!

Transport

Amazing to walk through the museums and St. Peter’s Basilica!

Foodie Walking Tour of Roman Neighborhoods

Rome

We had a great time on this small group walking food tour of Rome! We especially loved visiting the Jewish Ghetto quarter of Rome and experiencing the food there! The Gelato we had at the end of the tour was also amazing!

Quality of Experience

A really fun tour with an excellent guide!

Food

Everything was delicious!

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Really great! She took us to some amazing places!

Transport

It was great! Very scenic, but hot and humid!

Bye Bye, Italy!

Italy

This was the last day, we had breakfast, checked out, were driven to the airport for our flight home. Everything went smoothly! Great trip, but just very hot and humid in Italy in August!

The accommodations were great and the trip itinerary and arrangements were seamless making our trip very enjoyable and relaxing. Zeta was very attentive and responded to our requests in a timely and efficient manner.

We have taken seven trips with KimKim, and Leo was one of the best, if not the best, hosts we have had. His communication and follow-through were the best yet. We had hotel complications, not because of Leo, but I called him directly, and he fixed everything immediately and was so easy to get a hold of while traveling. He knew the trip guidelines well, we like to go out of the box, and he would let us know when ideas weren't that great and offered other ideas that I didn't think I would like but LOVED! I usually don't want to get a rental car or drive over 5 hours on a trip, but Leo said that's the way to go, and he was right. It was great having our car and doing all the national parks/ recreation spots we could fit in from San Fran to Las Vegas. Thank you for being the most wonderful travel planned we have had so far with all of our Kimkim trips.

Each and every place we visited was amazing and memorable. Clemens, our travel agent was virtually with us every step
Of the trip. We visited 4 countries and without the travel agents help, I don’t think we could have managed it all by ourselves. Everything from train tickets to hotels to excursions were handled by Clemens and he did a fantastic job. He had booked good hotels for us. We had everything we needed in a click. He was available on whatsapp all the time if we needed some change or some assistance. Thank you Clemens and kimkim. This was my second endeavor with kimkim travels and I will certainly go back to them again be it Morocco or cough America trips in future. I would give 10/10 for our trip.

Sara was incredibly responsive. She answered every question I had in a timely manner, and when there were logistical problems she worked to quickly solve them. She tailored our trip to our unique interest. We enjoy being in nature and the energy of a vibrant city. We would definitely work with Sara again.

Our trip to Ireland was memorable. We enjoyed the places that we picked and ones that were recommended. The most interesting and genuine guide was Arthur in Galway! Truly pleasant to walk around the town he grew up in and still resides. Agnes our driver( twice ) was exceptional! She even added a sight to Rock of Cashel which we were grateful to fit in before returning to Dublin.
The one area of concern was communication issues. The phone number we were given didn’t work. What App was also confusing to connect for us. We would have liked to have our transportation easier be confirmed .
Overall, the trip was a good one giving our family a week of wonderful memories!
The Angelastro Family

Sandy was super diligent and thorough in planning our trip. She was very communicative and fully understood our requirements. All the events in the itinerary were top notch and appropriate for what we wanted. Both leading up to finalizing the program, and during the trip, she was on top of the itinerary and we never felt the need to reach out to her first - she would always proactively do so! KimKim and Sandy were the best - we'd highly recommend!

Hotel Reviews

Cerulean Tower Tokyu Hotel

Tokyo

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

THE HOTEL HIGASHIYAMA by Kyoto Tokyu Hotel

Kyoto

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

The Westin Osaka

Osaka

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Reviews

Sumo Morning Practice

Tokyo

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Osaka Foodie Walking Tour at dark

Osaka

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Yoshi was great!

Transport

Full Day Mt. Fuji with Lake Kawaguchiko Cruise and Arakurayama Sengen Park Tour

Tokyo

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Geisha (Maiko) Tea Ceremony & Show in Kyoto Gion Kiyomizu

Kyoto

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Kyoto's Cultural Treasures: Fushimi Inari-Taisha, Nijo Castle and Kinkaku-ji

Japan

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Yuki was the best!

Transport

Full Day Tour of Arashiyama Bamboo Grove & Sagano Scenic Railway

Kyoto

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Yuki was the best!

Transport

Full Day Osaka City Tour

Osaka

Quality of Experience

Highlight of our trip!

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Yuki was the best!

Transport

Full Day Tokyo City Tour

Tokyo

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Yumi was the best!

Transport