Kimkim Trip Reviews

Views are incredible! Dining room is a bit noisy - go to the upper deck to enjoy the quiet and exceptional views of the harbor!

Good location, spacious rooms, nice service

Beautiful location in main plaza outside old city walls. Great staff and restaurant/bar on site.

Beautiful location on Adriatic - located a bit further outside the hustle of Dubrovnik Old town, but transportation easy in/out.

Our guide Mario was fantastic-great conversationalist.

Very knowledgeable guide who understood history and provided great information for local restaurants and things to see outside tour

Our guide Kim was fantastic, she was a local living in the old city. Very knowledgeable and gave us many tips for restaurants and things to do outside of walking tour

Very well appointed riad but needs brighter lighting in the rooms.

Abdulla was very well informed and made our tour very interesting.

We loved this hotel, great staff, location and food.

Perfect location for our Mount Bromo hike.

This was an amazing location. We had a private villa with our own pool and fountains with koi swimming around in the pond. Birds visited the garden throughout the day, this was a peaceful bonus to our stay. The rooms were spacious, beautiful, and elegant. We were blown away when they told us that the entire garden was our space. We would all love to come back to this exceptional location.

Such a beautiful location, we arrived when the clouds broke open and gave us a good dousing with mountain rain! The rooms were lively as was the pool! The staff greeted us with umbrellas and fresh juice! Beautiful area. The food was lovely, staff wonderful, just amazing.

The New Otani was a lovely hotel with all the amenities. The breakfast was good but it would have been nice if the food changed periodically during the stay.

Great place and loved the accomodations and breakfast was excellent.

We drove out to see Mount Fuji and take a boat cruise but because of the overcast weather, we couldn't see fuji and wasn't worthwhile going on lake so a bit of an underwhelming day particularily since we had a long drive each way.

Was fun but probably would have benn better at beginning of tour as had already tried many of foods we tasted.

One of our highlights. Amazing hike.

This was amazing. Great pictures and wonderful day

Nara was great and trip was fun.

Acacia lodge was fantastic. It only had 6 rooms and we enjoyed our private deck with great view of Lake Taupo. The cooked breakfast and nightly appetizers were a nice bonus. Our room and the entire lodge was comfortable and beautiful. Loved the host. They gave us everything we needed but they also respected our privacy

We could literally walk to the airport. It was steps away. So convenient

The Art Deco Masonic Hotel had a great location right in town, which was really convenient. While I was happy with the stay, it didn't stand out as anything extra special, but overall it was a pleasant experience.

This was an unexpected surprise. The scenery was stunning. Only way to see this area is on a tour.

The Waitomo Glow Worm Caves were a bit underwhelming for me. I might be biased because I've experienced a similar cave in Italy that was much better. While the cave itself was unique, I probably wouldn't highly recommend it to others.

The final accommodation near the Imperial Palace was a much better fit for us. The location was ideal for a short walk to the gardens, which we enjoyed on our last day. While the area lacked shops, it provided a peaceful and pleasant environment, better suited to our preferences.

The Sumo Morning Practice Viewing was fascinating! It was intriguing to learn about sumo in an authentic setting. Watching the sumo wrestlers train was intense but very insightful. Even those of us not interested in sumo found it to be a unique experience that we couldn't see at home.

Avoid the full tour and enjoy the suspension bridge and Pagu instead.

As we rounded the corner in the motorized canoe, we saw buildings up on stilts, thatched roofs and a screened amenity room. The dock was there to received boats. It was perfect! Just what we hoped for in a remote jungle experience.

The sunset motorized canoe rises were a highlight. Learning about the changes in this river over the year was fascinating. We also really enjoyed swimming - right by the dock - with the pink dolphin. It was refreshing after the heat of the day.

Very authentic- A unique experience among the tea plantations

Wonderful to be on the University campus-

Beautiful well preserved national park. I would have stayed one night in the park to be able to get an early morning start on the trails

The museum and English speaking docent was incredible- highlight of the day. Wish we had been less jet-lagged

Very touristy but glad to have seen

While seeing the fish market was a good experience, we would not recommend eating there. The setting is picnic tables inside the market. There was construction going on and the overall cleanliness was extremely poor. We did not enjoy this meal, as we were concerned about the hygiene and cleanliness of the surroundings. Throughout our trip, this is the only time we had this concern.

Our stay at Hotel Los Lagos Spa & Resort was delightful, though the only downside was the trolley service which was not always available and often took some time to get from place to place. Otherwise, the hotel was a lovely place to relax.

The Sky Tram, Ziplines & Sky Walk Adventure was simply amazing, especially for older kids. My preteens absolutely loved it, even though it was a bit scary. The thrill and excitement made it a memorable once-in-a-lifetime experience.

The Waterfall & Volcano Hiking Adventure with Lunch was breathtaking. It felt like a once-in-a-lifetime experience with stunning views and a sense of adventure.

The Manuel Antonio National Park guided hike was a must-do activity. The guides were incredible and provided a top-notch experience. Our whole family felt that this activity was essential to our trip.

Exceptional Hotel with a very good-sized room and location

The bike and boat Tulip tour was a lot of fun. The boat was very clean, the crew very accommodating, the food good, and the room while small (as expected) was nice and worked out very well.

Really nice hotel in a good location with a very helpful staff and a well appointed room

Our stop on the bike route at Zaanse Schans, was a very busy tourist location but was very interesing and worth the visit

The card was helpful and easy to use

To see the actual place where Ann Frank hid was very moving.

Going into the bike and boat trip we were a little leery, but the boat wound up exceeding our expectations. The room was small as expected but worked out very well. The crew was really nice.

Amazingly beautiful gardens.

Fun time very informative guide

The bikes were very functional, and the guides made for a safe and enjoyable experience The activities along the routes were excellent.

This was a lot of fun. It was a little difficult finding the location but once we arrived it was all good from there. The instructor was fun, and the instructions clear, thus the end result was a delicious batch of waffles made with our own hands.

We really enjoyed Ghent. A nice city with many interesting shops and sights

We had a pleasant but cold stay at Mu Cang Chai Ecolodge. The accommodations were charming and the hosts were very friendly and attentive to our needs, but the thin walls on our room were a big challenge for the cold front that brought temperatures down to the mid single digits. We would recommend a stay here, but be prepared if the weather turns cold!

Le Champ was one of the unexpected highlights of our trip. The location is magical, and it was such a delight to soak in the hot springs after a long day of travel. Extra points for having a beautiful cave to explore right on the resort grounds! We wish we had more time to enjoy this wonderful facility.

We loved this beautiful little resort on the outskirts of Sapa! The grounds and rooms are immaculate, the views are lovely and the food was terrific. We especially appreciated being outside the craziness that is Sapa town. Highly recommended!

We had a nice but brief stay at the Hue Ecolodge. The grounds were immaculate, the staff quite friendly, and the food was very good. We had a busy itinerary and poor weather, so didn't take advantage of the on-site amenities like the pool and spa, nor did we have a chance to explore the neighborhood. But as a place to spend a night it met our needs just fine.

We had a delightful homestay during our one night in Bac Ha. The grounds are pretty, the views are nice and the rooms were quite comfortable. We especially appreciate how they went out of their way to meet our food needs, driving us to a "tourist-friendly" restaurant for lunch and cooking us a delicious (and HUGE) dinner. We lingered around the dinner table late into the night getting to know our hosts using Google translate.

We had a delightful stay at the Chay Lap Farmstay. We loved the fact that the property is out in the country, away from the rapidly gentrifying Phong Nha town. We took advantage of the free bicycle rental to ride around the area, and the free kayak rental to escape the heat of the day out on the river. We also rented their e-bikes for a day at a very reasonable rate to explore the area. (A visit to Paradise Cave and a ride on the 'ferry' into town are both must-dos!) The Farmstay was an excellent place from which to see the amazing Phong Nha Ke Bang area.

We had a very nice 3-night stay at the Cozy An. We appreciated that it was in a quieter part of town while being close enough for us to walk to the more touristy areas. The rooms were nice, with a small balcony, and the food in the restaurant was plentiful and delicious. We took advantage of the free use of their bicycles to ride around town and ride out to the beach. We appreciated the one on one time we received from the concierge, and all her recommendations for what to see and where to shop. While in the end we didn't agree with all her assessments, they gave us a great place to start. We would definitely recommend staying here.

We spent our first full day in Vietnam on this tour of the Ba Vi. It was a nice introduction to Vietnam. The highlights of this tour were getting to speak with a former north Vietnam soldier about his experience during the American war and his perspectives on his country and relations with the US today, and the AMAZING lunch we had. However, the cooking class was a little disappointing - we were taught to make wraps for amazing spring rolls and got to make a salad, but the food was mostly prepped in advance and we didn't do any actual cooking. Also disappointing was the bike ride in the countryside, which was much shorter than we would have liked. Relative to some of the awesome days to come this tour was fine, just not one of the highlights.

The drive from Tu Le to Mu Cang Chai over the Khau Pha Pass was quite beautiful. Unfortunately, the March weather was hazy and overcast, so the views were not quite as lovely as they likely are at other times of the year. Once in Mu Cang Chai we had a tasty lunch and then headed into the hills for a walk through rice fields and a local village. We had a delightful encounter with a group of older Hmong women, from whom we bought textiles and crafts. After the long drive we were glad to stretch our legs and have a first person encounter with the countryside.

The drive from Mu Cang Chai to Sapa was long and winding. There were many sights along the way, though low clouds and hazy conditions detracted from some of the scenic beauty. We had a bit of trouble finding a place to stop for lunch, but in the end found a small restaurant that met our needs. We drove through the heart of the tourist area in Sapa town, getting enough of a sense for the place to be glad we were staying outside of town. We ended the day by walking from the edge of Sapa town to our homestay in the village of Sin Chai, which took about 90 minutes. It was a nice walk, but much less trekking than we had been led to believe. This was really more of a travel day than an activity day.

Our street food tour of Hoi An was an unexpected delight! After traveling for 3 weeks in vans and on bicycle it was such a delight to zip through the streets like a local on the back of a scooter. Our guide was soft spoken but informative, and he brought us to a nice mix of well-known and back alley food carts and restaurants. We got to try many kinds of foods. While not all were to our liking, we appreciated the opportunity to try them out. This was a great way to spend an evening in Hoi An.

Today's activity was the first for our highlight reel. The trek down from Sapa town through Cat Cat village and up into the hill villages was excellent. The route took us through cultivated fields, along jungle paths above a river, and into small villages where we could interact with the locals. The weather was cooperative - the haze even cleared a bit, allowing us to see the tall mountains across the valley - and it was great to have a day without car travel. We especially enjoyed our encounters with the local artists and artisans who produce the beautiful indigo-dyed batiks, embroidered clothing, incense, and other crafts.

Our time in Bac Ha was a bit mixed. After the morning drive from Sapa - in part along the Chinese border - we arrived in Bac Ha for lunch and then a trek into the hills near our homestay. It was interesting to see another mountainous landscape, though this trek lacked the interactions with local we had on previous treks. On Sunday we visited the famed Bac Ha market, which truly was an experience. It was a delight to see a bustling market whose focus was more on meeting the needs of locals than tourists. So many colors, sounds, smells and tastes - a true sensory delight! After market we had lunch at a roadside buffet restaurant that clearly was not geared towards tourists. The food was a little less beautiful than we'd seen elsewhere, but just as delicious. Then it was time for the long drive back to Hanoi.

Our caving experience with Oxalis was another trip highlight. We loved the physical activity, especially walking through the village to take in the sights, hiking through the mud in the rain, exploring caves with a headlamp, and swimming through the second cave. We had a great guide and an excellent cohort of fellow travelers to keep us company. The lunch provided on the trail, under a tent in the rain, was amazing considering the conditions it was served under. The only constructive criticism is that we would have liked more information in advance regarding what to bring with us and what clothing to wear. We were given the option of using our own footwear or the boots they provided and didn't understand the options well enough to make an informed decision. (Using their boots - assuming you can find ones that fit - is the clear correct choice.) Also, considering the weather, it would have been nice to have warmer clothing to put on when we stopped for lunch - a wool hat in our dry bag would have made a big difference.

We had a lovely dinner at the home of Mrs. Nguyen Thi Suong. It was very interesting to learn about the history of Hue and the Nguyen dynasty from an expert of that history. We were expecting a group dinner, and were pleasantly surprised that the table was set for only our host and the three of us. The food prepared by the host's 80+ year old mother was AWESOME, both in flavor and presentation. It was a meal we won't soon forget.

Of all the activities on our trip this one was our least favorite. In general we don't like packaged, pre-defined tours due to their impersonal nature and lack of autonomy, and this tour met our worst stereotypes. There were only 8 of us on the tour, but the jam-packed itinerary left no room for flexibility or meeting the particular needs of group members. Our guide was a lovely man, but he had marginal English skills. He had lots of information he wished to share with us, and it often felt like he was trying to force-feed it to us. It took a lot of energy to understand what he was trying to communicate - and after the first hour or so we stopped listening. We loved the imperial city, but didn't have the opportunity to explore it on our own terms. We liked seeing the pagoda and the tombs, but again would have appreciated more time to just see it at our pace. The lunch was a highlight for us, as the home restaurant had beautiful grounds and delicious food, but it was offset by the stop at the market (unnecessary) and the incense and hat making workshop (read: tourist store). In the end we mostly just felt tired and frustrated.

This whole experience was spectacular and highly recommended. Our camp was beautiful and comfy and the meals were fantastic.