Kimkim Trip Reviews

Marc was excellent to work with. He followed my specific requests. I had a last minute change because Ubud was very touristy. Instead, I wanted to spend more time at the beach and it worked well. Nusa Dua is definitely the clean beach area and nice hotels. I am vegan so it was easy to get the best fried rice and stir fry including the best tofu/tempe. Jerry, the local driver was amazing. Jerry was very knowledgeable, humble, flexible, friendly, and very kind. If I were to do it all over again, I would have stayed in Nusa Dua. The mountain bike ride was awesome, excellent local guide and safe ride with a tasty lunch. The cooking class was the best with the locals and delicious (he also shared the recipe with me). The ridge walk hike was a workout as it was at least 31 degrees Celsius; highly recommend it in Ubud. Also, hostels are really nice so this is cheaper and a nicer way to meet people. It was tough to meet people as I was the only person on the tour and not many solo travelers. It would be great for the hotels to have a social hour at the pool to meet people from all over. Highly recommend Marc and Jerry. Overall, a great and fun trip.

Hotel Reviews

Green field Ubud

Ubud

Central hotel in the town center. No social hour at the pool. Friendly and very kind staff. Great food at their restaurant. Close to bars, shops, and restaurants.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Jimbaran Bay Beach Resort & Spa - CHSE Certified

Kedonganan

The staff was so sweet and accommodating. Delicious food at the restaurant and fifth floor (lounge). The beach had a lot of garbage and stray dogs but the sunrise/sunset were beautiful. This hotel also needs to have a social hour so people can meet from all over!!! Prices were cheap.

Authenticity & Character

Location

not centrally located.

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Reviews

Cultural Immersion and traditions at Rumah Desa

Indonesia

Learning about the culture, history, and religion was fascinating. The local guide was awesome and the cooking class made my day.

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Mountain bike from Batur to Ubud

Indonesia

The infinity guide was lots of fun. A bummer it was only 2 people and still it was awesome. Made good stops for nice photos! Lunch was delicious too.

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

I worked with Kelly for about a month as we collaboratively designed our trip to Thailand. I found her very respectful, flexible, responsive, and helpful. Kelly was always happy to make changes as we honed our trip. She also caught a few oversights/mistakes in our planning. Prior to departure, I felt as though Kelly prepared us well for our trip.

Once we started our trip all aspects were of high quality and very satisfactory. For example, all our hotel accommodations were up to our standards, 4-star +. Each activity was run well. We especially liked all the private events that we planned. Every guide and event occurred as planned and on time -- so smooth, no real hiccups on a complex trip -- very impressive.

Tammy was the first guide we interacted with. She met us in Bangkok right on time and was a wealth of knowledge. She brought us all around Bangkok, viewing many palaces and temples. She also brought us around food tasting. Every step of the way she was extremely responsive and helpful. She helped us get to the airport and send us on our way to Kaoh Sok.

Once we landed in Surat Thani our next guide, Mr. Por was waiting for us. We boarded the van and headed to Kaoh Sok National Park. We boarded our private longtail with James at the helm. We all headed for hotel over the water. Por was a great guide for the 2 day one night trip on the lake. He was very motivated to help us have the best experience. In particular he worked hard to expose us to monkeys of the forest, a family of elephants along the lake's edge and numerous birds, spiders, lizards, etc. His enthusiasm was infectious. He and James were just so much appreciated.

We departed and headed to Phuket where we checked into our Sunwing Bangtao hotel which was stunning. Our excursions to Phi Phi for snorkeling was amazing. The 1/2 day at the elephant sanctuary was just so enjoyable and fun.

Then, sadly we were met at our hotel by ?Niki? and she ensured that we were all set to travel back to Bangkok.

I cannot say enough about how well this trip was run. All aspects were delivered at or above expectations. All drivers and guides showed up on time and were excellent.

I would not hesitate to go with KimKim again; knocked it out of the park!!!

Hotel Reviews

Sunwing Bangtao Beach

Phuket

It is a "family hotel" and there is a slant towards young ones and teens, but that was not really a negative for us. Hotel rooms, very very nice. Location exceptional. Pools amazing. Breakfast was really great, but lunch and dinner, not that great.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

The grounds were kept perfect

Maitria Hotel Sukhumvit 18

Bankok

Solid hotel for city. We didn't spend much time in Bangkok

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Panvaree Resort

Khao Sok

Stunning place, you will not be disappointed -- just book this!!

Authenticity & Character

Location

nestled among cliffs with incredible views

Staff

Very sweet, helpful, etc.

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Reviews

Private Night Food tour with TukTuk with car and guide pick-up at hotel

Bangkok

Lots of fun. Tammy provided lots of history. Toured palaces and temples. Great overall night.

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

3-Day Khao Sok Cheow Lan Lake tour (private-day1)

Khao Sok

Mr. Por was an excellent guide. This place is stunning A must do if you are into nature and beauty.

Quality of Experience

Guide was good at getting us close to nature, i.e. elephants, several types of monkeys, birds, etc.

Food

Food was provided, no decisions. Plenty of food and nice variety.

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Mr. Por was the best.

Transport

nice quality van. Good longtail

Half day tour with Elephant Jungle Sanctuary(join-in)

Phuket

This was done so well and a blast. Definitely book this one!!!!

Quality of Experience

Nice program with meaningful activities

Guides, Drivers and Staff

genuine people

Transport

nice van and not too crowded.

Tour in Khao Sok National Park（Day 2）

Khao Sok

Second day as good as the first.

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Full Day Phi Phi Island & Khai Island by Speed Boat Tour(Join-in)

Phuket

Had a great time, but just too crowded and chaotic.

Quality of Experience

less crowded in all respects

Food

buffet lunch was quite good

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Kwa was great.

Transport

boat over crowded

Our guide Tendu was exceptional, also the two porters were very nice and helpful

My traveling companion, Suzanne Michael, and I cannot say enough good things about our experience working with Hien at Realistic Asia. First, Hien and her staff were always immediately responsive and helpful as we planned the 20 day trip from Seattle, WA to Vietnam and Laos. Suzanne worked on most of the planning with Hien; she had gotten several suggestions from friends who had travelled in Vietnam and Laos. Hien and her team carefully created an itinerary that included Suzanne's suggested sites and areas to visit, arranged all the hotel accommodations, guides, and drivers, and made complex, important logistical suggestions involving domestic/international airlines and long- distance drivers.

Hien provided very useful suggestions for visiting the areas, carefully considering seasonal weather issues, the physical requirements (eg: walking up trails in Sapa), and the logistics of visiting a myriad of places. The trip required knowledgeable trip planners who were familiar with the type of transportation required between sites, length of travel days, and realistically, given our ages (70's) how to visit as many of the sites as possible within our 20 day trip schedule.

The accommodations Hien and her team arranged in Hanoi, Hue, and Luang Prabang were wonderful. The staff in each hotel were warm, welcoming and very helpful. Hotels were very well-maintained and perfectly located for the site visits we planned. The guides were excellent - extremely knowledgeable of the historical and geographical sites we visited, very proud of their culture and history. They shared so much with us; we loved their enthusiasm and learned from them.

When my travel companion became ill with severe gastroenteritis, dehydration, and nausea, Hien immediately found us alternate accommodations (to supplement our reserved stays at original hotels in Luang Prabang and Hanoi), and assisted with the flight from Laos to Vietnam (arranged guide and driver to assist us in Hanoi upon arrival). Hien was always in touch with us as we endured our difficult illness situation - she made sure that we were accommodated as comfortably as possible. She also ensured that we had a guide and driver to the Hanoi airport on our home journey. The guide was very efficient. Because Suzanne was very weak, the guide made sure that we got through the airport check-in as efficiently as possible and arranged for a wheelchair to get her to the boarding gate (my companion used a wheelchair in Hanoi, Taipei and Seattle airports).

Since returning to the USA, Hien has maintained contact and worked closely with us to provide the myriad documentation required by our travel insurance companies to get reimbursement. Finally, Suzanne Michael and I are deeply grateful to Hien and her team for their knowledge and skill in creating our itinerary, and for their support and follow-up during this very difficult period of illness. We will highly recommend her, Realistic Asia and Kim Kim to others interested in traveling to SE Asia. Best regards, Barb Crook

Silvía was amazing. All to often an itenerary is presented agreed upon and the you never hear from the planner again. With Silvía it was the complete opposite. She listened to all of our needs. She addressed our concerns and created a travel plan that exceeded our expectations. From delicious cuisine in Narfeyrarstofa to hiking through the glaciers in Katla, Silvía’s attention to detail created a unforgettable experience my wife and I will speak about for years to come. We look forward to planning another vacation with her with more hiking and more adventure. Thank you again for helping us cross off another item on our bucket list.

Hotel Reviews

Fosshotel Baron

Reykjavík

Puffin Hotel Vík

Vík

Cute hotel

Authenticity & Character

Location

Centrally located

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Hótel Hafnarfjall

Hvalfjarðarsveit

Cozy with beautiful scenery

Authenticity & Character

Location

Beautiful location

Staff

Very accommodating

Cleanliness & Comfort

Stracta Hotel

Hella

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Hotel Laki

Kirkjubæjarklaustur

Remote location which made it perfect for viewing the northern lights

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Konvin Hotel by Reykjavik Keflavik Airport

Keflavík

Activity Reviews

Reykjanes Peninsula to Keflavik

Iceland

The Secret Lagoon

Iceland

Icelandic Culinary Adventure - Lava Restaurant

Iceland

Beautiful venue

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Katla Ice Cave

Iceland

Absolutely amazing experience guides were extremely knowledgeable

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Would do it again tomorrow

Transport

Lunar Landscapes & Healing Waters – Blue Lagoon Immersion

Iceland

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

I would like to extend my heartfelt thanks and appreciation to Giulia and her KimKim Team for arranging such an amazing trip to Italy. From the moment we stepped off the plane in Venice till the time we (regretfully) departed from Naples, we were met as promised by Giulia's tour guides & drivers. They were on time, knowlegeable, and displayed the utmost professionalism. They really made this trip special! It was all I expected and more. With familial roots in this beautiful coutry, I hope to return one day, and my first call will be to Giulia. Keep up the good work!!

Hotel Reviews

HOTEL AL PONTE MOCENIGO

Beautiful room, and I loved the bath!

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Hotel Berchielli

Florence

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Hotel L'Orologio Roma

Roma

Authenticity & Character

Location

Centrally located and easy access to all

Staff

Super friendly staff!

Cleanliness & Comfort

Super comfortable room, great bathroom!

Hotel Continental

Sorrento

Authenticity & Character

Location

Beautiful views from rooftop

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Reviews

Meet & greet by our English-speaking assistant

Venice Airport (VCE)

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Tuscany: San Gimignano & Volterra Day Trip with Food & Wine

Italy

Luciana was very vivacious, extremely knowlegable guide, great driver! This tour was one of my favorite of the trip

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Gondola ride

Venice

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Cicchetti and Wine tour

Venice

Very warm and friendly guide

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Vatican & Sistine Chapel Group Tour

Rome

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Venice Walking Tour with guide

Italy

Very friendly and informative guide.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

One Day on the Amalfi Coast with driver (Amalfi, Positano, Ravello)

Italy

Absolutely my favorite part of the trip. Our driver was kind, patient, and an excellent driver!

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Private Transfer by watertaxi

Italy

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Mieke was fantastic! She was amazingly responsive and worked with me over a long period of time (trip was delayed due to Covid) to design the trip to Bhutan I'd always hoped for.

Hi kimkim and Italian specialists,

I would like to thank kimkim and the Italian staff.
Especially my contact Deborah, for making this four-week trip to Italy an unforgettable experience for my wife and I.
It was worth the three-year delay due to COVID19.

There were two important elements of this trip for us.
The first was to visit and enjoy the wonderful Italian art, culture and history.
Secondly, to celebrate our 45th wedding anniversary through our trip to Italy.

Both of these came true and our long-held dream came true.
Above all, Deborah's communication skills and understanding of our needs were outstanding.
I would like to thank her first of all. Of course, it was good that Fabio first asked us what we wanted and then made a travel plan accordingly.
In the cities where we stayed, we were able to spend one or two days visiting the main sites and museums efficiently with a small group of people and a specialised guide arranged by local specialist.
We also had a free day to go around with our guidebook. The combination of guided and free days was also good.

The certified guides Local specialist arranged for us were excellent in their explanations and expertise.
In particular, the Japanese-speaking guide was very good and we learnt a lot.
Especially Luigia in Rome, Hiromi in Florence, Vania in Venice and Haruko in Verona and Haruko in Verona was very enthusiastic and professional.

The drivers and pick-up service were also excellent, punctual and friendly.
Beatrice, our concierge in Rome, was quick to respond and fix when we called her when we were delayed at Lake Como. Beatrice in Venice was very helpful with local information, including local restaurants.
We had been warned by friends to be careful at Italian train stations because of pickpockets, but these ladies made us feel safe and secure on the train. We had nothing to worry about. Everyday was excited and fun.

We received champagne at the hotels in Rome, Milan and Venice and drink vouchers at the hotel in Florence to celebrate our wedding. Thanks to local specialist for organising this.

All hotels had their own characteristics and good points. The hotels in Rome Milan and Venezia were well located and we were able to walk to most of the main sights.　The hotel in Asisi gave us outstanding quality, and fresh food in the restaurant. The Perugia hotel has history. The hotel in Florence was very comfortable with spacious and nice room. The staff at this hotel were the friendliest. We were also very happy with the hotels in Milan, Venezia and Ravenna with their excellent rooms.

We are very happy we chose kimkim ,local specialist as our travel agent.
Now we're hoping to visit Southern Italy and Sicily one day, and when we do, we'll use Kim Kim again.　
Thank to kimkim and all the Italian staff for our great trip to Italy.
Grazie
Takaaki and Ryoko

Our local specialist, Jessica was incredible. She gave great suggestions, booked all the right spots, and took into account our feedback too. Our trip to Indonesia was one for the books and would highly recommend booking through KimKim and Jessica for trips to Indonesia!

We loved our vacation in Morocco! Went on the Morocco Grand Tour: Cities, Desert and Mountains and had a fabulous adventure every day! Our trip was arranged perfectly with all the activities and places we wanted to include from the start. The people, food, rooms and adventures were all amazing. Our driver, Faissal, who we had with us for the full 15 days was the best driver in Morocco! He helped with everything along the way, hand picked our other city and hiking guides for various daily activities we had along the way. He was available 24/7 for anything we needed and was immediately responsive to any questions or needs we had. He also was able to recommend where to get various arts and crafts items for the best price and that were of the highest quality. Not only was he the best driver in Morocco, but he has become a friend for life now.

Hotel Reviews

Oum Palace Hotel & SPA

Casablanca

We were only there for a night on arrival. It was clean, had a great breakfast buffet and the staff were nice and helpful.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

it was just an older hotel

Hotel Dar Mounir

Chefchaouen

great location, room, breakfast buffet and staff. Very quaint and comfortable.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Riad Ghita

Fes

Great rooms, food, location and staff. Beautiful Riad

Authenticity & Character

Location

close to Medina

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Tiziri Luxury Camp

Merzouga

Absolutely incredible and highly recommended! So nice and quiet and dark where you can see all the stars on a clear night. Many interesting, original and fun activities available to do upon your choosing. Great live music by the staff every night. Food was amazing! Some of the best on our trip.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Riad Chbanate

Essaouira

This was an amazing Riad. The rooms are large and clean and comfortable. The breakfasts are incredible. The staff are amazing!

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Reviews

Architectural Elegance: A Journey through the Hassan II Mosque

Morocco

Guide was knowledgable, entertaining and able to speak numerous languages. The Mosque is incredible in size and scope. The architecture is incredible.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Casablanca to Chefchaouen via Rabat

Morocco

Faissal, our driver, was amazing! Pointed out all relevant historical places and stopped at all significant places including many areas for great photos.

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Guided Hike to Akchour Waterfall

Chefchaouen

Abdul Couscous was our guide for the hike and did a great job. He knew the trail well and checked on us frequently to make sure we were ok and safe and helped us through some of the more challenging sections when needed. Beautiful hike with great views. Went to a restaurant at the bottom after hike and had the best chicken tangine of the whole trip! Stopped on the drive back for fresh baked bread from clay fire ovens that was delicious!

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Chefchaoeun to Fez via Volubilis, Moulay Idriss & Meknes

Morocco

It was raining that day and a lot of the important sites in Meknes were under renovation so difficult to see it all, but Volubiis very interesting and worthwhile. Our driver, Faissal, took us to an incredible Moroccan restaurant for lunch.

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Quick Tour of Casablanca with your Driver-guide

Morocco

We arrived late afternoon on first day when this was initially planned so just went to hotel, had dinner, then did this part the next morning on the way to our next location. We are not big city fans in general and Casablanca seems crowded and hectic with not much to see other than the Hassan II Mosque and Mohammed V Mausoleum

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

our driver, Faissal, was incredible the whole trip!

Transport

Guided Tour of Fez Medina

Fes

Great experience. Our guide, Mohammed, for the Medina tour was great. Very knowledgeable, took us to some amazing places and didn't get us lost in the 9500 streets in the Medina. He seemed to know everybody. Interesting and fun day!

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Dine with a local family

Morocco

Good experience, although not quite what we expected. It's more like being served dinner by a Moroccan family in their home than having dinner with a family in their home. The food was great and authentic and plentiful but the sharing stories part was somewhat lacking.

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Transfer from Fes to Merzouga via Erfoud & Camel Ride

Morocco

Long day with long drive, but totally worth it. Driver, Faissal, pointed out all the relevant and interesting things along the way, including stopping in a Swiss style village for a break and coffee, a stop in the Middle Altas Mountains near Ifrane, where there is a ski resort (didn't expect to see one of those in Morocco) where we saw and were able to feed monkeys and ride some horses for pictures briefly. When we finally arrived in Merzouga, we took a 2-3 hour camel ride to watch the sunset then finally arrive at the amazing Tiziri Luxury Camp

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Enjoy a Hike and Camel Trek around the Erg Chebbi

Merzouga

Hassan took us on a fun and scenic camel ride to an oasis near a large dune where he prepared a delicious lunch over the fire. Great experience!

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Desert adventures around Merzouga

Merzouga

Yousef (?sp) took us on a drive in the desert to visit and have some tea with some nomadic Berbers, then to an abandoned mining town, then to a great lunch with listening to Gnawa music after. Great day despite to sandstorm that started the night before. Yousef was very knowledgeable and helpful. Unfortunately, due to the cultural norms, we were not able to visit much with the Berber nomads because the father wasn't there at the time of our visit, but still interesting and worthwhile.

Quality of Experience

Food

Berber pizza was delicious

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

ATV Ride in the Dunes of Merzouga

Merzouga

Great experience. The staff on our ATV ride made sure to be safe and accommodating with our limited experience on ATVs prior.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

From Merzouga Desert to Aït Benhaddou

Morocco

Another long driving day but with great stops at a Berber market, in Toudra to look at Berber carpets, some stops for panoramic views to take pictures and finally at Atlas Studios where many movies have been filmed including parts of Alladin, Gladiator 2 and Game of Thrones.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Faissal, our driver, is always on time, if not early and goes out of his way to make sure everything is going well. He also knows where the best places to stop for decent meals and clean bathrooms are.

Transport

see above

Ait Benhaddou to Marrakech via Tizi N'Tichka pass

Morocco

Ait Benhaddou was cool and interesting. Then drove through the High Atlas Mountains with beautiful views and a stop for lunch with panoramic view.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Faissal

Half-Day Guided Tour of Marrakech

Marrakesh

Amazing day with tour of Bahia Palace, the Medina and souks with a great guide, Hanan. Next Faissal, our driver took us to the Majorelle Gardens which was an unexpected and beautiful place in the big city of Marrakech.

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Marrakesh Evening Food Tour

Marrakesh

Met up with Hanan again, who was our guide earlier in the day. Food tour was interesting and delicious. My wife has some food intolerances and Hanan was able to easily accommodate for that. Had some amazing tangia and roasted lamb among various other tasty treats.

Quality of Experience

Food

Berber pizza, amazing tangia and roasted lamb. It was all delicious

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

A Day of Natural Splendors: High Atlas Mountains Adventure & Lunch with a Berber Family

Marrakesh

Took a nice hike in the mountains to a waterfall then to a Berber family house for a delicious lunch. Again, not exactly what we expected. Our mountain hiking guide, Mohammed, was awesome. The hike was great! Beautiful and quiet. Lunch with a Berber family should really be called lunch at a Berber family's house where they serve you then you have lunch with the guide.

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Faissal

Guided Tour of Essaouira

Essaouira

Interesting and informative tour through Medina with Mohammed, who was a good guide. He took us to some amazing places we likely would not have discovered on our own such as the Jewish Synagogue, an amazing art gallery and the wood working factory as well as the silver smith store. Very knowledgeable. Good tour.

Quality of Experience

Food

didn't actually eat any food on tour but went to amazing restaurant for lunch afterwords with great views called Salut Maroc

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Marrakech to Essaouira

Morocco

Short drive to Essaouira with stop at beautiful and interesting Argan Oil factory.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Faissal

Horseback Riding on the Beach of Essaouira

Essaouira

Great experience riding/ galloping horses on the beach. The horse guides did a great job making sure everyone was safe and the horses were well trained

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Faissal

My friend and I had a wonderful experience in Norway. Our travel specialist, Mathia Pacenti, was easy to communicate with and very responsive. He ensured that we were well-informed by sending us detailed itineraries in advance. The choice of hotel locations was excellent as they were conveniently situated and easily accessible.

What impressed me the most was how he regularly checked in on us when we reached each new place. It made us feel well taken care of and ensured a smooth transition between destinations.

The two local walking tours provided a fantastic opportunity for us to delve deeper into the culture and history of the two places we visited. A big thanks to our guides, Stig Frislid Torset and John Grahl-Madsen, for making the tours enjoyable.

We are glad to have booked through kimkim and will definitely book with them again in the future!

Activity Reviews

Explore Oslo's Hidden Gems with a Local Expert

Oslo

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

A big thanks to our guide, Stig Frislid Torset for showing us around!

Bergen Walking Tour With a Local Guide

Bergen

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

A big thanks to our guide, John Grahl-Madsen for showing us around!

Most of the feedback was given to Egypt Promotion Tour manager during departure and end of trip. Below are the highlights.

1. Day 1 tour described by KimKim was completely different than what was executed by Egypt Promotion. It was definitely NOT a food tour. It was a walking city tour ending with lunch buffet. Disappointed.
2. Day 1-4 on all 4 days I did not have lunch until 4-5pm. Even after calling this out on Day 2 and Day 3 still no attention taken.
3. The itinerary provided never mentioned my visit to shops and art shops which I think must be provided during planning. While whether to buy or not is my choice. These visits itself took priority over for all the guides that we had to skip lunch and cover all these shops and demos. While I understand the importance for supporting local artists and art and making purchases, definitely not at the cost of skipping my lunch and also the guides make these shopping stops a priority evident across all cities. If it was so important for all to make me buy stuff then why was it not mentioned and timed accordingly in my daily itineraries.

With no compromise on my high price I was charged by KimKim, it was not even suited to my comfort with all the above points.

Another very important thing KimKim needs to do is to provide tipping guidance to foreigners. While I am aware tipping is a choice, but how much is more and how much is less is totally unknown to us visiting Egypt for first time. This guidance must be provided as it depends local cost of living that will help me decide what the tip is. Due to this confusion I may have ended up paying more to few and less to few others

Activity Reviews

Attend Sound and Light Show at Karnak Temple

Egypt

This being a local activity in my itinerary, it did not happen on the same day as planned. It was closed due to a private function and it happened the next day. It would have saved some time going and being turned back at the venue if the local on ground updates were known to Egypt Promotion. If the venue was blocked for private gathering and not open to public on the day as planned.

Quality of Experience

Knowing ground realities and updates about venue being blocked for private gathering

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Welcome to Egypt - Cairo Walking Food Tour

Cairo

This was a not a food tour so please rename thr tour and also your description you give in KimKim itinerary. This is a walking tour that ends with lunch. There is no trying of 4-5 different local delicacy with stops at different food stops as described

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Day tour to visit Pyramids& Sphinx, Old Egyptian Museum, Salah El Deen Citadel & Mohamed Ali Mosque

Cairo

This was one of th best tours of my entire itinerary. Well paced and covering the main spotlights of Pyramids. Hope we had a little more time. (Read skipping the shopping and art demo places - Day could have been better) But I liked what the guide did and cover all main spots.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

We loved every part of our trip to Sydney and Cairns! It was a breeze traveling around Australia with the private transfers and accommodations set up. We visited the Great Barrier Reef, the rainforest, the opera house, multiple beaches, museums, shopped, ate and drank our way down under on our free days. We never had to take an Uber or order a taxi as everything was within walking distance, our excursions picked us up directly or we had a private car to and from airports. The app Jon had has download after booking was amazing. Every trip was laid out with contact information and booking details. Recommendations for everything and assistance ready if needed. Jon was easy to reach and even called personally twice to confirm our wishes. 10/10 will work with KimKim again.

The entire trip was very well planned by Jean Carlos, it went off without a hitch. The drivers were all wonderful in particular, Otto on our mtn bike ride. We were lucky to be just the 3 of us. The zip lining was amazing, my first time, Sky Adventure were very safety conscious and encouraging. The bridge walk was okay, nothing exciting, it would have been good to walk down/up to the falls. Loved white watering, another excellent company - our guide Micheal was so much fun, but also very safe. Hotel Auténtico was great, and we enjoyed the pool at Arenal Country Inn. Jackie at the front desk of the Country Inn was delightful, always smiling.

Hotel Reviews

Arenal Country Inn

La Fortuna

Nice location away from the busyness of La Fortuna. Jackie at the front desk is a lovey greeter and hard worker.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Jackie

Cleanliness & Comfort

Auténtico Hotel

San José

Good location but not many restaurants around and the vote one is expensive. Fully recommend a Mexican one nearby El Mananitos, hard working man and great food.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Reviews

Backroad Mountain Biking Around Lake Arenal

Arenal/La Fortuna

Otto was a great guide and provided a lot of local knowledge as well as a Spanish lesson. Hood bikes and pace, he found us a well hidden sloth

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Sky Tram, Ziplines & Sky Walk Adventure

Arenal/La Fortuna

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Very safely conscious

Transport

Free Day in San Jose

San José

Busy and noisy, preferred the area around La Fortuna

Visit Paradise Hot Springs

Arenal/La Fortuna

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Whitewater Rafting on the Pacuare River

Costa Rica

Would love to have done a 2 day, 1 night lodge stay (instead of the day in San Jose.)

Quality of Experience

Our guide Michael

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Otto at Destifino was our MTN biking adventure and he was great.
The only issue was the pillows at Hotel Authentico were too big and hard. Some smaller and softer pillows would have been great but they were apparently not availabe.
Sky zip lining and the rafting were very well organized.
Jackie at Arenal Country Inn was very nice and always helpful.

My trip to Scotland was absolutely incredible. I just showed up, and everything was planned, including my train transportation.

We had such an incredible trip! Marc answered every question we had and was so helpful throughout the planning process. I had a lot of things to work through while planning and Marc was very patient and checked in throughout to see if we needed any help. He also helped us book our last flight getting into Indonesia, which took some stress off of us.
We cannot say enough great things about our driver, Dinar. He was so kind and taught us a lot about Ubud and Seminyak as he brought us places, and also made additional recommendations, such as visiting a wood-carving business, that we hadn't originally planned. He provided cold water for us each morning for our drives, which was greatly appreciated. He was super easy to contact and made our trip to Indonesia so smooth. We would not have survived the driving without him!
The accommodations were so beautiful as well. The staff were so friendly at each of the places we stayed and they went above and beyond and decorated our rooms with signs and flowers for our honeymoon.
We are so thankful to have booked through Kimkim and will be booking again with them in the future!

All good! Mads is professional, responsive and knowledgeable. Suman, our MTB guide was great as well: good English, very motivated and flexible.

It was tricky for me to decide where to go and what to do when we decided to go to Lisbon and Madeira. I contacted three different travel speacialists and from the start Marina and Kimkim were easily the most proactive and helpful to me and straight away made me feek like they wanted to help and not just throw a "standard" itinerary at me. The personalisation and the platform used made a real difference and was so useful throughout the trip. Also, when I decided to cancel a couple of things it was no bother and everything was supported out promptly, whether by Marina or by someone else when Marina was not working. It made no difference that the company is based in the US and that Marina was based in Spain and that I am based in Madrid! It just all worked really smoothly. Thak you so much.

Hotel Reviews

The Cliff Bay

Funchal

Amazing hotel. Great view. Fabulous food. Faultless really.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Portugal Boutique City Hotel

Lisbon

It was a decent hotel. The breakfast tables were tiny and the noise from all the night time clear up outside was not helpful if you left your windows open. Otherwise, really good location and nice staff.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Reviews

Get to Know Lisbon with a Local

Lisbon

Definitely do this. Really good.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Hike Madeira: Pico Arieiro to Pico Ruivo

Portugal

Great walk and amazing viws. Didnt need a guide but all the same it was helpful that we took a differenct route to most others who would hav ehad to have done a trip that went back the same way. Our guide had left a car at an alternative location the night before.

Fado Dinner Experience

Lisbon

Really average food and felt very touristy. Not the best evening to be honest.

Lisbon Roots, Food & Cultural Walk

Portugal

Lovely guide and very informative.

Sintra Heritage Hike: Hidden Secrets

Portugal

It was quite good. Dont bother though if you don tlike queues. The palace was horrendously busy and this is low season.

Introducing Funchal - Food & Cultural Tour

Portugal

We did not do this trip in the end.

Just returned from a trip of a life time. We have always used tour agencies to book our trips and this time I took a gamble and organized it online with Ali from KimKim. Right from the beginning our trip was put together with all the highlights we were interested in. Ali then gave suggestions and options on what to add to our trip. Our driver Ayoub (amazing) met us at the airport and was with us for 8 days. He is now a member of our family hahaha. He was so dependable and friendly and we always felt very safe with him around. One day I forgot my credit card at the hotel and we were on a tour with a city guide, Ayoub came and got me and took me back to the hotel to pick up my card and returned me to the tour. The city tours were well organizied with great tour guides. There is a lot of driving if you want to do the circuit in 8 days so it was important to be in a comfortable vehicle and have a good driver as the local drivers are a little wild. We were definitely sad to say good bye to Ayoub at the airport. Thanks Ali and Ayoub for making our trip amazing could not have done it without you.

Hotel Reviews

Dar Jasmine

Chefchaouen

Beautiful hotel - stunning views. There are a lot of stairs (150 - 200 lost count) to get to the main reception and then again to your room. It is worth it. The food was really good. No alcohol is served.

Authenticity & Character

Bright and clean

Location

Great views

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Kasbah du Toubkal

lmlil

We were to stay here (4 star) but the hotel did not inform our travel leader that it was not going to be reopened due to earthquake damage until the day before our arrival. The hotel then put us in their “feeder” hotel Dar Imlil which is a 2 star. Dar Imlil is a very dark and tired hotel. There are funky little areas to hang out outside but the inside main area and the rooms need work. The staff were very nice and helpful. No alcohol available but we brought our own wine with us from Marrakesh and it was fine to drink it there.

Authenticity & Character

Very dark and uninviting

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

The pillow covering on all the couches seem very old. It is a very masculine looking and feeling hotel.

La Maison Arabe Hotel

Marrakech

Very nice hotel a piece of paradise in a busy city.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Mövenpick Hotel Casablanca

Casablanca

It is your average hotel. Some floors are very tired and need to be upgraded. Restaurant is on the 16th floor around the pool, it allows smoking at all the tables which was bothersome.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Karawan Riad

Fès

Wow is all I can say. A place of magic and everywhere you looked there was beauty. Great breakfast! Dinner needs to be booked early on in the day or you will not be able to go. Not many places to go for a nice dinner close by. Check out the roof top terrace it has an amazing view.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Loved that it was an adventure to get to the front door walking thru the tiny streets to get there.

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Reviews

Imlil Valley Walk - Toubkal NP

Imlil

It was a great hike with fabulous views. However, our guide took us to his house for tea and cookies even though we had said we did not want to do a “family meal”. We were there for 40 minutes and it was very uncomfortable. I am sure he was being very hospitable but it was not we were expecting.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Quick Tour of Casablanca with your Driver-guide

Morocco

This was not really a tour, It was our driver driving around the city. Not much to see or point out. We ended up at a nice restaurant he suggested over looking the ocean. It was a great way to end our trip

Quality of Experience

Transport

Marrakesh Evening Food Tour

Marrakesh

This was ok. It was a Sunday night so the market was very crowed. At one point we thought it was too dangerous to go to the final food stop and turned back.

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Hammam & Spa Experience Marrakech

Morocco

Our Hammam experience was moved to our hotel due to time constraints. I am so glad it was it took the stress away. This is a must do

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Chefchaoeun to Fez via Volubilis, Moulay Idriss & Meknes

Morocco

It is a nice break when in the car for a long time. We had just finished 2 weeks in Eqypt so it was nice to walk around without all the crowds we had experienced in Egypt

Quality of Experience

Half-Day Guided Tour of Marrakech

Marrakesh

It was a great tour. The city square is alive with activity. We were there on a Sunday which is the busiest day of the week. Night time was a little overwhelming.

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

She was very educated and a pleasure to be with

Transport

Guided Tour of Fez Medina

Fes

Great tour. Lots to see and experience. The leather factory was a little overwhelming with merchants trying to sell you stuff and it was very crowded.

Quality of Experience

Food

Lunch was ok nothing special

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Momo was a fun and very educated guide. Very happy we had him