Kimkim Trip Reviews

The team and Chhiring went above and beyond to help us out during difficult times. We really soothe prompt help and support they provided us. We’ll definitely come back.

We did a two-week couples trip to Morocco in late October 2023. Our driver was Auyub who very quickly became more than just a driver to us! He took his time to explain the culture of the different regions, their language, their religion, and we shared lots of laughs the entire two weeks! He didn't even mind our constant need to stop for snacks and sometimes rather bizarre questions! Or pulling over on the side of the road to take quick pictures. Informative, informational, but most of all just a wonderful person. I cannot express how much we enjoyed a two week road trip with our new and lifelong friend!

As for the individual half day tour guides that were provided by the company, they were all literally amazing. It could just be that the Moroccan people themselves are super warm and generous people, but having said that we were not disappointed in literally any guide we had. Very knowledgeable, local, and more than happy to share everything they knew about their city. Including stopping for coffee or tea, breaks and chitchatting with us with no subjects off-limits!

A couple tips. First, the Riads. They are wonderful and amazing when you have a nice one. Our one in Fes was not up to our expectations. In fact, it was disappointing. The other Riads were beautiful, but remember these are former houses, so do not expect all the modern amenities that you would get in a typical American hotel. Still, so glad we stayed in these rather than hotels.

Second, the Sahara desert. We stayed in the luxury camps with luxury tents. However long you plan to stay there, add an extra day! We stayed there two nights and a third night would have been just fine with us! The people in the camps live together during the tourist season and are clearly very close and it's almost like being invited to a brotherhood. The Nomad people were incredibly warm and inviting and we were surprised how kind they were in sharing their home with us. Even providing food which we know for them is a great expense. But they have a great deal of honor in showing you where they live.

Just as a reminder, you are traveling to a beautiful foreign country, where the people have lots of pride even if, and maybe even especially if, they lack financial means. Be kind to them. Be generous in your tips. Be humble. Remember that they do their very best to speak English, so be complementary to their abilities. At the hotel, we saw a very nasty fellow American citizen, very upset that the clerk could not understand his English. There's just no need to act like that when in someone else's home in my opinion.

Overall, zero regrets and going to Morocco and zero regrets for going for two weeks! If you take the plunge, be sure to ask for Auyub, and prepare for one of the warmest and fun two weeks of your life!

Our trip to the Galapagos was fantastic. The KimKim team, Tamer and Nick, did an excellent job in planning the itinerary and checking in with us throughout the journey. If an issue arose, they were quick to address it and resolve it. The excursions on the various islands were excellent and worthwhile.

Hotel Review

Napo Wildlife Center

Quito

The Napo Wildlife Center is located in a remote location in the rainforest. The cabanas are nicely appointed and clean. The staff and food were excellent. The goal of the team is to make sure you enjoy yourselves and the jungle experience. They deliver in all aspects. The guides were knowledgeable and were able to point out amazing birds, animals, insects, etc. that we would never have seen. I highly recommend Napo.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Reviews

Discovering the Sacred Valley!

Cusco

The tour guide was extremely knowledgeable and the scenery is absolutely beautiful.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Exploring The Salt Mines of Maras & The Ruins of Moray

Cusco

The guide was excellent and the sites were very interesting. Great scenery throughout the day.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Day Trip to Rainbow Mountain - Vinicunca

Galapagos Islands

We really enjoyed the trip to Rainbow Mountain. The scenery is very good however the hike is very difficult due to the elevation. I think it is critical to advise your customers that this is a very difficult hike due to the elevation. My wife was not able to make it up to the top and we saw many others having great difficulty.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Morning Adventure to Teleferico Cablecar

Quito

We really enjoyed the cablecar ride and the great views of the city and various volcanoes from the top.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Colonial City Tour, Cooking Class & the Middle of the World Monument

Quito

Colonial City tour was good and the guide was knowledgeable. Cooking class was disappointing as the chef did a majority of the cooking instead of letting us participate. Food was good good, however. Our visit to the Middle of the World Monument was good and informative.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Discover Otavalo and Cuicocha Lake: A Day Trip from Quito

Quito

We did not really care for our trip to Otavalo Market....... It was a long drive to see a very average touristy market. Due to the long drive, we were not overly impressed with Cuicocha Lake.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: Deborah Hartnett
Date: Tue, Oct 31, 2023 at 11:08 AM
Subject:
To: Deborah Hartnett

Hi Samir
I want to thank you for all the expert help, guidance and advice you gave me in planning our trip to Jordan. What an amazing country with so much history! The arrangements, timing and tours were perfectly coordinated from the time we were met at the airport with our visas until the time we left with so many incredible experiences in between like floating in the Dead Sea, exploring Petra by candlelight and sleeping in a yurt or bubble tent under the stars in Wadi Rum. We had a wonderful driver for the entire time - Abed Al Salam Alhaleq- and I think the very, very best guide in Jordan - Mutaz Moghrabi. You were wonderful to work with. You were always responsive and always giving insight into your country. Because of all your help, we had a wonderful trip. I Thank you so much. I would recommend you and KimKim to anyone who wants to travel to Jordan.
Debbie

Sharon, I'm sorry it has taken so long to get back to you since we returned from our trip on October 5. We had a wonderful trip to Morocco (and Spain); I tell my friends that it was "challenging but fun." Morocco was very unique; the highlights were the camel ride and dune camp; learning from Hicham about the Boumaine Dades area and its interesting people, history, topography and clay-colored structures that blended with the local landscape; and beautiful Chefchouen. As a wildlife biologist, I also loved the stop Hicham made on the way to Fes to see the Atlas monkeys in their native habitat. All the riads were nice and my favorite food was at Chez Ichou where we had a delicious dinner, and the stop for lunch (while driving to Rif Mountains) where I loved the fresh trout from a nearby lake. We ended up walking about 5 miles/day on this trip and in retrospect it was a bit tiresome for someone in my age group when combined with the long drives and many tours (although highly educational). Hicham was a great driver and very hospitable and patient with our many questions but I believe the many hours of driving were at times stressful and we should have at least added an extra day between Merzouga and Fes. My main recommendations are that the instructions for tipping tour guides should be clearer because we were confused with our first guide Mohammed (where we first tipped too little and then too much) so that was disconcerting, and a better understanding of distances between desired sites so that the pace of the trip could be better scheduled. Ruth Pratt

We feel that the trip gave us a good overview of what makes Morocco tick - and unique!
We were satisfied with our guides but did feel that more historic sites should have been covered in Marrakech. We only visited Bahia Palace and the Medersa. Disappointing.
We would have liked a little more "protection" from our guide when persistence from artisan shop sales people in the souk walk in Fes became too much. As a knowledgeable guide however, Mohammed was great!

Our driver Yassine was fabulous and really made us feel safe in his van and he kindly drove us past the Meknes sites that were closed because of construction but were on our itinerary for us to see. Expectations were not met as regards that part of our itinerary.

Barbar, our host at Riad Farouzi should get a special mention as he really epitomised the friendly Moroccan people and tried his absolute best to see to our needs. For the rest, our accommodation, though very different from what we are used to ( natural light! ) was interesting and more than satisfactory.

As much driving as there was, we felt it gave us a much more thorough Morocco experience than traversing the distances differently. Seeing the physical land and topography from a car definitely made the country more real to us.

Doing this trip with driver and guides was the only way to do it ! We're seasoned travellers but each country has its own challenges, starting with the language barrier of non English-speaking countries, and we could not have managed Morocco without your team.

Thank you! We will spread the word!

Activity Reviews

Guided Tour of Marrakech

Marrakesh

We really feel we should have covered more in this city.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

They were really courteous, friendly and helpful people!

Transport

Guided Tour of Fes

Fes

Just too many persisitent sales people trying to get into our pockets. We are NOT Brits with pounds or Americans with dollars. Very sadly.

{{start_location}} to {{end_location}} via Volubilis and Meknes

Morocco

Got here late in the afternoon so only a little browsing in the medina to get a superficial feel for the blue pearl.

Petru was a great source of knowledge helping us navigate South Africa. Everything was conveniently arranged to free us from any worries. The tourist companies she used were the very best in the business and we felt comfortable. We enjoy our trip to the fullest from Johannesburg to the rustic camps for ours game drives -And from Franschhoek and Cape Town touring the major attractions. We went from experiencing rustic camps to 5 stars hotels. It was an epic experience for mother/son trip. Thanks Petru 🙏🏼😊

Our Nepal tour exceeded all our expectations. From the very start, Amanda (our Kimkim rep) impressed us with her meticulous planning and responsiveness. She was very knowledgeable and addressed all of our queries and concerns, helping us curate the exact experience we were after.
The Himalayan Trails team in Kathmandu was equally impressive, responsive, and accommodating - adapting seamlessly to our evolving needs. Their commitment to ensure we had the best journey was evident every step of the way, making us feel genuinely welcomed.
The highlight of our adventure was the Pikey Peak trek. Even though we needed to slightly adjust our plans, Tendu (our trekking guide) made sure we got the most out of our trek and displayed exceptional thoughtfulness throughout - which made it a truly once-in-a-lifetime experience.
Moreover, our guides in Kathmandu and across Nepal were not only highly knowledgeable but also passionate about sharing their insights - enriching our understanding of Nepal's culture, history, and landscapes. Therefore, we would definitely recommend Kimkim and Himalayan Trails , which will no doubt ensure you too will have an unforgettable journey.

Our trip to Italy proved to be almost trouble free. Kikkim set us up with drivers and guides throughout our trip and not having to worry about how to get somewhere was wonderful. We had a little glitch when we first arrived when we flew into one airport and Kimkim driver was waiting for us at another airport. A quick call to Maria's team was made and another driver at our airport was quickly found. Problem solvers were readily available and they always took care of things quickly. Our biggest mess up was of our own doing. We were unaware that more then one train company operated at the train stations and on the same tracks. We ran to a train that was loading on our specific site , got on it, and miles down the track we were told we were on another company train. That cost us $50 for another ticket and a fine of$50 for being on the train without a ticket. If we would have paid attention to the train number that wouldn't have happened. Our train was a few minutes late and I think the train we boarded was late leaving the boarding spot.

The reservations worked out great. When I passed the lines going into the coliseum that were probably 2 blocks long we were very grateful we had that reservation. We also saw how important it was to have drivers pick us up at our hotels when we tried to hail a cab on our own in Rome and no one would stop. All our guides were outstanding . When one of our tours had to be cancelled due to weather conditions Kimkim came up with a great alternative and a wonderful driver to drive us down the Amalfi Coast.

My favorite place to see was not on the regular tourist list of must sees. We reserved a hotel in Verenzo (a small city near Verona) In the old section of Verenzo there is a theater called the Olympica. It is the oldest indoor theater in Italy and it was built in the mid 1500's. It has an amazing permanent back scene. If you like theater you will want to see this. No crowds in this city. Our guide to the Rome Coliseum was so well informed as was the guide in Pompeii

The reason I give the overall planning experience only an average rating is because I would have liked an idea what each part of our trip was going to cost rather then throwing out a dollar amount we were willing to pay and not knowing if we were spending our money wisely.

Hotel Review

Atelier Inès Arts & Suites

Napoli

Quirky but lovely. We got a tour of the sculpture workshop, and enjoyed a comfortable room. The hotel was in the heart of the city!

Authenticity & Character

Villa with artistic sculptures and a lovely garde/patio area.

Location

Staff

Very friendly and helpful!

Cleanliness & Comfort

Spotless. Bathroom was amazing.

Activity Reviews

The Best of Colosseum & Ancient Rome With Exclusive Arena Access

Rome

Our tour guide was a hiustory teacher who made the ruins come to life.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Cooking class at farm

Italy

The chef was delightful and patient with us. We were surprised to have made such a delicious meal!

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Lake Maggiore Tour from Milan with its Borromeo's Islands

Milan

Tour guide was very knowledgeable and delightful. Isola Bella was amazing and beeautiful. Our guide was an expert in naming the plants!

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

My mother, Gigi, and I had a spectacular time on our South African adventure. We were very happy with KimKim as the entire process and planning was made simpler for us. It gave us a peace of mind that everything from accommodations and attractions were taken care of by the planning and execution of the staff at KimKim.

Petru was our superstar planner. We were very happy with her service as she was extremely patient and thorough with us. We were very confused and disoriented with the planning process before hiring KimKim (Petru) as our planner.

The staff at Tangala Safari Camp at Thornybush and Timbavati Game Reserve were delightful. Our accommodations and attractions planned for Franschhoek and Capetown were top notch. We enjoyed every step of the experience. The animals! Wow! Watching anything on the National Geographic channel will never be the same as it'll always come second to our up-close experience with every animal we had encountered.

Our favorite part of our trip was experiencing the amazing and beautiful South African people. Everyone was so genuine, kind, charming and welcoming. A giant thank you goes out to everyone from every step of the way who made our trip that much more enjoyable and memorable. We even learned a few words in Afrikaans.

Thank you, Petru! You made it an exciting trip and we'll always remember how good you were to us.

Until next time!

Joe Gilani

Planning and Booking are ok. Our expectations and what we got are very close. After the trip we understood that something could be changed, but not much, that is very personal, hard to predict, especially for first-time visitors.
Communication with Sandy was excellent. The Tokyo guide - Yumi, and Kyoto guide - Noriko, are very knowledgeable and provided lots of detailed information. Additional thanks to Noriko for helping with booking tickets back to Tokyo.
The last trip to Kobe and Himeji left mixed fillings. The visit to the Sake musicum was interesting, and Kobe meat restaurant at lunch, reserved by Yasuko, was excellent. The afternoon trip to see White castle was difficult for us due to lots of steps climbing and 2 hours took to get back to Kyoto. Thanks for having a private van.

Hotel Reviews

Grand Nikko Tokyo Daiba

Minato-ku, Tokyo

Very good hotel, convenient located near train station.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Hakone Sengokuhara Prince Hotel

Ashigarashimo District, Kanagawa

The rooms are very small and have steps inside.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Too far from city center. Taxi doesn't want to service

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Cross Hotel Kyoto

Kyoto

Newly renovated hotel with excellent location in the hart of the city. 4 stars only due to size of the room.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Reviews

Full Day Kobe Hakutsuru Sake Brewery Museum and Himeji Castle Tour

Osaka

The Sake museum is very informative, but may be not for every one, we think, mostly for men. The Himeji Castle is gorgeous outside. For going inside we have to climb over very steep stairs. That wasn't easy for us. Since we spend too much time for travel, it wasn't enough time to see the beautiful garden next to castle.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Full Day Nara City Tour From Kyoto with Fushimi Inari Taisha

Kyoto

Very unusual experience with the deers in the Nara park surrounding the shrine. We feed them from hands and they bow in response. The shrine is absolutely amazing, especially gates.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Full Day Tokyo City Tour

Tokyo

Very informative. Thanks to the guide for navigating via underground transportation

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Full Day Tokyo city tour (Asakusa )

Tokyo

Very good, amazing view from the radio tower.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Drive to Hakone from Tokyo

Japan

Must use the local bus due to lack of taxi service.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

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

Tokyo

Very nice trip and boat tour with a view on mount Fuji. Excellent ride on cable way up to the hill to view mount Fuji again

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Half Day Sagano Bamboo Grove & Arashiyama Tour

Kyoto

Very nice temple surrounding by garden, pond and bamboo grove. Travel guide - Noriko is excellent. Lake water tour very nice with amazing views.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Half Day Samurai Ninja Museum and Kimono Tea Ceremony at Kyoto Maikoya

Kyoto

Samurai fighting equipment in the museum is very old but in excellent condition. We got additional historical facts. The Kimono Tea ceremony was so unusual for us. Besides the tea itself, we learned Japanese tea tradition and etiquette.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

KimKim Australia Tours October 2023

First of all, Kerrie and Gary were great to work with to make our dream vacation to Australia a reality. My first contact was with Kerrie. Gary took over when Kerrie was not available. Their quick response to our needs and questions was great. Kerrie designed our vacation to encompass all the aspects of Australia we were looking for in a 9-day whirlwind vacation, most of which ended up being totally different from what we had in mind. Kerrie took what we wanted to experience and used a more user-friendly trip itinerary than we had envisioned. We had two hiccups with our transportation but they both worked out ok. The tours were all great, over all the transportation was what we needed, the hotels were great, everyone we encountered was helpful and friendly.
We used Uber to get from the cruise port to our hotel – Rendezvous Hotel Sydney, The Rocks. This was a quaint hotel about 2 blocks from the cruise port. The only bad thing about our first night there was getting to the room. They had us on the first floor – which sounds great except we had to pull our suitcases up 10 steps to the first floor, go down 2 steps in the hallway, up two more steps and immediately down 2 steps to get to the room. Same thing going back to reception at check out the next morning. This would not have been bad except we had 2 big suitcases and 2 carry-ons to get to the room. The room was more of an apartment – with a steep flight of stairs to the bedroom/bath. Since we were just staying the one night, we left our suitcases downstairs in the ‘living room’. – This was something Kerrie/Gary would not have known when booking the hotel and it was a nice change from the ship stateroom and regular hotel rooms.
In the afternoon of our arrival, we had a half day Panoramic Sydney Sights tour with our tour guide, Tom, with AEA Luxury Tours. This was a good overview of the city and Tom was great with the history of the city and what we saw.
Transport to Sydney airport was uneventful and though delayed, the flight from Sydney to Cairns was also uneventful. Our transport to Port Douglas from Cairns airport was uneventful.
Our stay at Meridian Port Douglas was delightful. Mini apartments surrounded the pool with walkouts to the pool. The staff at the Meridian was great, giving us information on the city, and the locations of different shops, restaurants and post office. Amanda was the main person at the Meridian that we talked with during our stay. She even showed us to our room and explained how the a/c worked and where the washer/dryer was. We did not have cell phone service while in Australia. Amanda arranged transportation for one of our excursions as well as helped us with our first mix-up with our scheduled transportation from Port Douglas to Cairns. Amanda contacted Hughes Chauffeured Cars, our scheduled transfer company, to inquire where our driver was. When, after an hour, our driver still had not come, Amanda contacted a transfer company the Meridian advertises to inquire about transportation for us to Cairns. Everyone at the Meridian was gracious and very helpful. The Meridian was very well situated for walking everywhere in Port Douglas and transportation. We were about 2 blocks from town and the beach. Our first tour in Port Douglas was to the Great Barrier Reef. We were picked up in front of the Meridian and driven to the dock. Everything we wanted to do – semi-submersible, mainly – was included in the tour price. The only things we had to pay for were drinks while on the tour and souvenirs. This was one of the highlights of our trip.
Our second tour ‘Ngana Julaymba Dungay’ – We all Going Daintree’ ended up being a full day tour instead of half day (which turned out to be great). We were picked up and dropped off in front of the Meridian. Once again a highlight of our trip. Our tour guide, Juan, a local Aboriginal of the Kuku Yalanji people, was great. He took us to a coastal region near Mossman where members of our group found a sand crab, mud crab, scallops and mud snails in the Mangroves on the beach. Juan cooked what we had found on the beach to go with the wraps and fresh fruit for lunch. He also explained the vegetation in the Mossman Gorge, showing us a tree that had been bent into a directional arrow. We learned a lot about the Kuku Yalanji people from Juan.
Our private tour of the Tropical Animal Rehabilitation Center in Port Douglas was another highlight of our trip as we were able to hold a Koala (for a picture) and feed kangaroos and wallabies. We even had 2 parrots join us for lunch. The information on wildlife and how they rehabilitate them was invaluable.
The Pacific Hotel Cairns was in a good spot for walking around the port area and getting transportation to the Outback for our tour. The hotel staff was good about getting us a taxi to the bus terminal for our tour as well as holding one of our bags until we returned.
We took a coach from the transit station in Cairns to Undara Experience Resort near Mount Surprise. This was a great experience for us as it was a ‘semi-local’ coach from Cairns to Mount Surprise so we were able to see different towns along the way.
The coach driver, Dave, asked if we had transport from the bus stop to the resort as it was a 15 KM road to the resort. Dave was kind enough to contact the resort to verify if we had transportation and arrange it for us. He was also the coach driver on our return to Cairns the next day and inquired about our stay there.
We went on the Wildlife at Sunset tour seeing lots of kangaroos on the property and bats at one of the lava tubes. The next morning, we went on the Archway Explorer tour which took us further into two different lava tubes in the Undara Volcanic National Park. Our accommodation was half of a train sleeper car, and the dining/bar area was made up of antique train cars.
Back to Sydney from Cairns with time to explore the Harbor. Dinner on the pier and another 2 nights at the Rendezvous Hotel Sydney the Rocks.
Our last tour was a day excursion to the Blue Mountains National Park with our guide Paul, with AEA Luxury Tours. Our first stop was at Calmsley Hill, a working farm home to farm animals, Kangaroos, Emus, and Koalas. We were able to pet the Koalas. We had several stops at lookout points of the Blue Mountains, including a beautiful waterfall at Govetts Leap and the last stop at Eaglehawk Lookout for a view of the 3 Sisters. Our final stop of the tour was at the Blue Mountains Botanic Gardens.
I can’t thank Kerrie and Gary enough for making our dream vacation to Australia a reality.

Habiba made the whole planning and booking process extremely easy. She gave us a lot of great options and suggestions and took into consideration the things we did and did not want to do while in Egypt. Overall, the whole planning and booking experience was great. While we did still greatly enjoy the trip and our visit to Egypt, there were a few things that we weren't so happy with.

Our trip began in Cairo. After we landed at the airport, we were able to find our guide easily and he and our driver took us to our hotel. The guide (sorry I can't remember his name!) was very friendly and knowledgeable and told us a lot about Egypt and its history during the one-hour drive to the hotel. We were very impressed with our driver, as well. Cairo traffic is no joke, but he navigated it like a pro.

Our hotel was NOT what we were expecting, though. Great service, but the place simply was not done. Our itinerary said we were staying at the Great Pyramids Inn in Giza which, if you look it up on Tripadvisor, is a beautiful (completely built) hotel with a restaurant/bar on site. The hotel photos that were provided in our itinerary were extremely misleading. A completely different hotel. We were brought to the Royal Great Pyramids Inn (or something like that, Royal Pyramids Inn, I can't remember), which is still under construction. The first 4 floors are still being built and there was construction going on the whole time and there was a lot of dirt and dust from the construction. It looked nothing like the photos. Our room was very pretty and well decorated with a great view of the pyramids, but again, it wasn't finished. There were no towel racks or bars or hooks, nowhere to hang anything. Lots of hangers but no place to hang. We had to set our towels on a small table to dry them. 10 bottles each of shampoo and body wash, but no other toiletries (conditioner, lotion, etc.). The power went out for a little over an hour on our second day. That happens; not a big deal. It made us very hesitant to take the elevator in the building, but the staff insisted that we take the elevator anyway (I think because of all the construction mess on the stairs). The staff was incredibly kind and friendly, so that made it not quite as big of a deal that the hotel was totally different from what we were expecting. We were under the impression that there was a bar and restaurant on site. They did feed us the first night and breakfast was provided, but I would hardly call it a bar/restaurant. They were also surprised to hear that I am a vegetarian, even though I made that clear in our questionnaire before we started planning the trip.

A different guide took us to Cairo Tower the second night for dinner. We were expecting a nice romantic dinner, just the two of us, but our guide actually sat with us the whole time at dinner, and didn't eat anything. He was perfectly nice and pleasant, but it was a bit awkward. It also seemed like there were lots of issues with us getting into the tower and getting dinner because the guide kept having to get up to talk with the restaurant staff, and it took about 20 minutes for him to get our tickets into the tower. We weren't given a menu and were told that our options were chicken or beef. We were told that there were no vegetarian options, even though we noticed on our way out that the menu had plenty of vegetarian options. This was frustrating since I had included the fact that I'm a vegetarian in our questionnaire before we started planning the trip, so I would have hoped that some arrangements would have been made in advance. We also weren't offered any drinks or anything and had to ask for water after we'd been sitting there for a while. We saw after the fact that there were lots of drinks/wine/cocktails, etc. on the menu.

There were a few instances where our guides took us to places that weren't on our itinerary and which we would have expressly declined if we'd known in advance. Eg., we went to a papyrus store to "learn how papyrus is made" but it was really just a high-pressure sales pitch to get us to buy something. We were also taken to a jewelry store and a perfume store. Towards the end of the trip one of the guides pulled up to the front of an alabaster store. We said "we're good here, we don't need to go in" knowing that we'd just be pressured to buy something. I have no problems with these businesses or their sales tactics and I understand they're all just trying to make a living, but I would have appreciated a heads-up that we would be visiting these places. Because we would have said "no thank you." Our trip was jam-packed with sightseeing and we had very little downtime to begin with, so we would have preferred to skip those extra little outings that we didn't ask for.

It also seemed there wasn't clear communication with the timing of our itinerary at times. For example, we took a 3-night Nile Cruise and our itinerary said we would have lunch onboard on the last day before we departed on a 4-hour drive to the next destination. But we actually had to check out of the cruise at 8am that morning so we had to ask our guide to take us somewhere so we could buy lunch before we left.

None of that ruined the trip by any means. We still had a great time and got to see and do all the things we wanted to see and do. All of our guides and drivers were friendly and kind and helpful and, with the exception of the Cairo hotel, our accommodations exceeded our expectations.

From the start in planning our trip, Sharon from Morocco Immersion Tours & Adventures, helped plan our itinerary to include important places we wanted to experience and to make the most of our time while in Morocco. The guides we had were amazing! We did a bread making class in Fez, where we made five different breads. Then while in Marrakech we did a tagine cooking class. Both well worth it! Our riad accommodations throughout were comfortable and impressive. There was one glitch that was immediately dealt with by Sharon and Sallam, our guide.
At the outset, we were met at the Casablanca airport by Sallam, with whom we made an immediate connection. Jamal, our driver, quickly became part of our Moroccan van family as well. Over the two weeks and some long days driving, Sallam and Jamal shared their love and passion for Morocco. Sallam shared his Berber heritage which gave us an even deeper understanding of Moroccan life and culture. The hours sped by as we all laughed together sharing stories and joking. Because of Sallam and Jamal, our trip in Morocco has become one of the top three favourite places we’ve ever experienced.

As an overall comment I have to say that working with KimKim and its agents, Carmen and her colleagues, was outstanding. Not only were they able to suggest and arrange a fabulous trip in foreign lands for us, but they were extremely flexible and helpful during our planning process, which required many changes due to family circumstances, time constraints and specific criteria that we specified.

In addition, with the App that they supplied, along with a detailed daily trip plan they provided a very useful chat program that allowed us to request assistance and to change plans on the fly when encountering the inevitable issues that arise during any trip. We were able to get quick and successful resolution to several matters thanks to their friendly and effective attention.

We were so impressed that we recommended KimKim to several fellow tourists that we met along our way. We have no hesitation in recommending KimKim and will be sure to use them again if we make another tour. Thank you for everything, KimKim team!

Sincerely,
Paul and Lesley Sagar,
San Diego, California

Berat organised our trip at quite short notice and did an excellent job. Cappadocia was amazing and our visits to Ephesus and Pergamon were very interesting. Our guide Volkan was very well informed and driver Aly was good. And cats!

Hotel Reviews

Kale Konak Hotel

Very interesting rooms. The breakfast is amazing. And cats!

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Nisanyan Houses

Selçuk

Charming character-filled hotel. Absolutely brilliant breakfast.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Reviews

Hot Air Balloon Tour at Sunrise

Cappadocia

It’s balloons. It’s Cappadocia!

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Visiting Göreme Open Air Museum (UNESCO World Heritage)

Cappadocia

Goreme is an intriguing place. The natural formations are extraordinary.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Sunset Wine + Romance in Cappadocian Valleys

Cappadocia

Very pleasant time. A nice way to watch the sunset.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Adam, who set up the trip plan, and Jessica, who made the bookings, were excellent. Although there is a bit of a menu that gets put forward, we were able to say yes or no to the parts we did or didn't want, and book some non-menu visits to things ourselves. Many of the agencies that were contracted with were also very attentive.

We were half expecting a couple of things would not go as planned but it all did. Our last ride to the airport was 15 minutes late as traffic was heavy, but everyone else was early for their booked times. Quite impressive given several hotels and transfers and activities were booked by them!

This is the first time we travelled with Kim Kim. We have travelled quite a bit in the past. Decades ago, we booked things when we got to our destination. Pre-COVID, we tended to book our hotels ahead of time, though were noting that big tourist sites increasingly needed skip the line or group tour tickets to avoid hours of lining up. We wondered if lines would be long in October in Spain for big sites like the Prado, or Mesquita - yes they were and great to have Kim Kim have arranged it already.

We were also new to private guided tours. In the past we would read a brochure or listen to an audio guide. Way better having a well informed expert and just you - the tours were flexible, you could ask all sorts of questions, and you were not trying to see things through a big group or trying to find what the audio guide is pointing out.

The cost was more than if we tried to book this ourselves, I think. However, we would have had to do a lot of work and would not likely have picked as excellent hotels and guides as Adam, Jessica and Kim Kim did.

Hotel Reviews

Las Casas de la Judería

Seville

Really cool maze of a hotel. Our room was either accessed through a 5 minute walk through tunnels, leading to various lovely courtyards, then crossing an alleyway into yet another old building. The other way was walking outside along a few alleys- we eventually got it down without getting lost. Unique place as all the old mansions have been connected. Our room was very spacious- largest of the trip. Not newly renovated but in good shape and clean which added to the historical character feeling. There was an elegant piano bar on the 2nd floor of the main entry building decorated with lots of very old, elegant furniture- the kind you see in museums that they tell you not to sit on - except you could it on them - old painting on the walls. If we weren't dressed like 21st century tourists, you could feel like you were having a drink in an 18th or 19th century salon of some sort. Breakfast was generous- lots of choice, coffee was a fancy Nespresso machine - prefer real coffee myself but not bad. Our roomed looked out on an alley- one rainy night someone's motorbike alarm kept loudly sounding though the hotel staff were able to remedy that for remaining nights.

Authenticity & Character

The most historical, atmospheric place we stayed in.

Location

In the historical area - Seville is bigger than some cities so still lots of walking to do

Staff

No complaints- very nice.

Cleanliness & Comfort

Clean but older everywhere

Villa Real Hotel

Madrid

Very comfortable, elegant hotel not far from the main train station (15 minute walk), the Prado (10 minutes), Reina Sofia (15 minutes), and on the edge of the old historical centre. Great location, comfortable rooms. A bit noisy at night between yelling drunk young folks and city service trucks, but you are in the middle of a big city so sort of expected. The breakfast was very generous, and their coffee was better than the machines at other hotels- seemed fresh made. The restaurant in the hotel was good though expensive compared to the many other places you could eat. Our room was very spacious. Good choice!

Authenticity & Character

modern hotel in an older building

Location

See description above

Staff

Decent English, friendly, attentive

Cleanliness & Comfort

Very clean but much of Spain seemed very clean

H10 Palacio Colomera

Córdoba

Newer hotel in older palatial type building off a main square. Close to all the main sites. Room was comfortable - not spacious but we were not cramped feeling. We were lucky to get a room overlooking the courtyard (which was the glass -roofed in breakfast area) so super quiet at night, which was better than expected for sleeping in crowded city core. I suspect most of the room were not a quiet.

Authenticity & Character

newer place in older building

Location

central

Staff

pleasant and attentive

Cleanliness & Comfort

Hotel Puerta de las Granadas

Granada

We had a very quiet room - which is a treat staying in a city centre. Unfortunately, it was on the 4th floor and the elevator only went to 3 and the stairs were winding - hard on bad knees if you have them. The hotel was clean and modern inside an older building. Nice roof patio for drinks. The room was small - hard to hang up much so most of our luggage remained packed for the 4 nights we spent there. Breakfast was generous and good variety offered - coffee machine was adequate.

Authenticity & Character

modern

Location

at bottom of hill up to the Alhambra, 10 minutes walk to cathedral.

Staff

all pleasant and helpful

Cleanliness & Comfort

very clean just a little small

Sercotel Madrid Aeropuerto

Madrid

Room was clean and spacious. We arrived about 8 pm as flying out the next morning. Not much food on offer - so we had drink and some nuts from the bar as evening meal. Breakfast was mediocre- the worst on our trip as all the others were good. Maybe given breakfast ran from 5am to noon given an airport hotel was part of it - stuff looked like it had been sitting out for hours when we ate about 8 am. Staff were nice. This is about the only part of the trip we might plan differently on hindsight- maybe arriving back in Madrid a day earlier and staying downtown again.

Authenticity & Character

Location

airport area- it is what it is

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Reviews

Private City Walk & Royal Palace Experience

Madrid

Our guide, Enrique, whom we had for the earlier Reina Sofia tour as well, had studied art history and was very knowledgeable. The walk to the palace through the old city was informative, and we picked up a tip for lunch after the tour which worked out well. He was able to point out all kinds of details and link them through the palace and in historical context- stuff we would not have picked up on as well ourselves with an audio guide. Having a private guide was new to us this holiday- and better than a group - more flexible, easier to ask questions, and to see things without the group in the way.

Private Ronda & White Villages Day Trip

Seville

This was a long day (0800-1800) that seemed like a short day! Carlos, our guide, met us close to out hotel. Lots of discussion on the drive of things we say and Spain in general. Drive was very scenic and Carlos pointed out cork plantations, wild goats, etc. en route. Zahara and Grazelema were beautiful towns with stunning views. We tried local specialties at each place. Ronda was crowded. We had short guided trip then a couple of hours for lunch and/or exploring more ourselves (we ate lunch looking at the famous bridge). Then long-ish drive back to Sevilla. We were new to private guides this holiday, but the flexibility, ability to ask lots of questions, and wider context given were better than trying to do this ourselves, or in a group. We had many good days on the trip and this was probably the best day!

Self-Guided Walk around the Historic Center

Madrid

We spent a few days in Madrid and pretty much had seen most of the stuff on the walking trip instructions ourselves. It did point out a few highlights we might have missed (e.g. chocolate and churros place that might have been good but very crowded so we skipped it).

Quality of Experience

Private Reina Sofía Museum Visit with a Historian

Madrid

Our guide, Enrique, was excellent- studied art history and pointed out all kinds of details and perspectives on modern art that we would have missed. We know a little about art but not a lot and came away having learned quite a bit. Very enjoyable. The tours ends at the gallery so you can keep on see things if you are not saturated. Private tour was great for asking questions and more flexible than a group if you had special interests.

Toledo Day Trip and Winery Experience

Madrid

Our minibus had about 20 people on it- so a small group. It took about an hour or so to get to Toledo from Madrid and our guide gave us a decent overview tour of the town before leaving us to explore ourselves for a while. On our own, we wandered around the Jewish quarter some more, bought some fresh marzipan (which is a thing there) and then spent most of the rest of our free time in the wonderful cathedral (small admission fee but not a bit line up). We then drove about an hour to a winery - had an informative tour and got to try some of the wines as they were going through the maturation process all the way to trying some delicious finished products quite a few tapas laid out. It was a good day.

Short Prado Museum Visit and Retiro Park

Madrid

Our private guide, Stefania, was very knowledgeable and enthusiastic and we had an excellent overview of the Prado and Spanish painters in particular. Private tour was great for asking questions of an expert and not trying to see things through a group. It was somewhat flexible if you had particular interests. We had not tried private guides before this trip and it we learned more than we would have ourselves with an audio guide. The Retiro park walk was beautiful and informative.

Self-Guided Walking Tour

Córdoba

Guide was helpful though we generally just explored ourselves with the a map app on our phone. Depending on what other activities you have booked, there is some overlap with the walking notes. If you had no pre- booked activities then there would be none

Private Mezquita, Alcázar & Jewish Quarter Discovery Walk

Córdoba

Our guide, Maria (?), was enthusiastic and knowledgeable. She pointed out all kinds of details we would have missed or struggled to find. First holiday where we tried private tours and the personal touch, flexibility, and ability to ask lots of questions was great. We learned a lot more than we would have on our own or in a group.

Self-Guided Walking Tour of Seville

Seville

The notes were helpful, but there was some overlap with other booked activities, so we just used them as a guide and generally wandered around ourselves with a map app on our phone. I think we would have seen the Setas anyway without the notes. The Setas admission was steep comparatively but excellent views and a cool structure. The Roman ruins underneath in a separate but cheap admission were very good.

Private Visit to Seville’s Cathedral & Alcázar

Seville

Candela, our personal guide, was keen and knowledgeable. She pointed out all kinds of details we might have missed and provided a lot more context to it all than a larger group might have. The flexibility and being able to ask pretty much limitless questions was excellent. We were new to private tours this trip and came away learning more than we would have by ourselves or in a group.

Self-Guided Tapas Crawl

Seville

We read the notes, and I bookmarked some places on my map app, but we did not go to any of them. Checked one out but was swamped. Some were quite a distance from our hotel, and after walking around all day, and it being dark (October), we mostly just wandered around locally.

Self-Guided Granada Walk

Granada

We mostly just explored on our own, using a map app on my phone. The notes were helpful for pointing out things to see, but overlap with other booked activities on other days. If you had nothing else booked, it would be fine. Seeing the Alhambra, even in October, requires planning ahead. There were no same day tickets on the morning we did our pre booked tour. The cathedral, royal chapel, etc. are easier to get tickets for though we bought them on line the day before- they are not for a specific time just morning or afternoon windows.

Private Tapas Tasting in Albaicín District

Granada

Our private guide, Theresa, met us at the main square at 8pm and we proceeded to wander. One set of knees were pretty sore from the day's activities, and the Albaicin is hilly, so she flexibly amended the tour to avoid a lot of hills. We went to 3 different places and with 4 drinks and generous tapas (and we ordered one extra dish at the first place that I think we probably did not need to portion wise). At the end, she pointed us towards other options, though, honestly I was stuffed and had had enough to drink. I can't see doing this in a group as many of these places are small and crowded. The big advantage having the guide for us was overcoming our reticence to go into authentic or cool looking places that looked too crowded. We would not have gone into some of the places she took us and they were excellent.

Evening Tour of the Albaicín in Granada

Granada

Eduardo met us at the hotel. I went alone as at the end of the holiday, one of us had knees that were too sore to want to do the hilly Albaicin area plus it had rained and the cobblestoned streets were a bit slippery. The tour got moved a bit earlier given the clocks went back while we were there (appreciated as the views are better in daylight). This ended up being booked towards the end of a few days we spent in Granada, so we had seen some of the stuff routinely on the tour. The great thing with private guides is they are flexible so Eduardo walking me up and down to various other lookouts I had not seen, and through the medieval streets, and one large beautiful garden in a university owned building. Lots of conversation which put it all into various contexts, and, again, was geared towards my personal interests.

It was spectacular! Due to an issue, our specialist was switched from Eleni to Mariliza. Both ladies were awesome. We did not have to worry about our transfers. We even received help with transfers to excursions we arranged ourselves without KimKim. When we asked for a last minute change for our last excursion, Mariliza was wonderful. Her suggested changed allowed us to do a wine tour in Crete and it was one of our best days! I have seen some people complain about lack of pricing transparency. Their website states that they do not do pricing breakdowns. Could we have gone to Greece for 12 days and paid much less? Absolutely! However to me, who normally plans our group trips, not having to do the heavy lifting was entirely worth it! I feel that we experienced a stress free trip of a lifetime me it was due to Eleni, Mariliza and their team. Totally satisfied!

I’m so happy and glad for the whole trip here and I would like to thanks and a great appreciate to my planner Miss Megan and my tour guide and driver my buddy Mohamed, especially Mohamed and local tour guides are so friendly and helpful and experienced. We really enjoy and having a great time together at Morocco, and we definitely gonna miss all the beautiful places and peoples around as like Rabat , current capital city of Morocco, the blue city Chefchaouen, the beautiful seaside of Tangier , the great and amazing Medina of Fes and Meknes and the busy city of Casablanca and all those wonderful places and peoples will always in my heart

Hotel Reviews

Hilton Garden Inn Tanger City Centre

Tangier

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Riad Mosaic Chefchaouen

Chefchouen

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Palais Sheherazade & Spa

Fes Medina

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Riad Kalaa 2

Rabat

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Reviews

Hassan II Mosque

Morocco

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Transfer from Chefchaouen to Fes via Meknes

Morocco

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Tour Fes with a Private Guide

Fes

Quality of Experience

K

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

We had a fantastic time in Kerala - it was my two daughters first trip to India and they loved it. Our guide Ganesh was super helpful and really looked after us the whole way round. We particularly enjoyed the afternoon at the elephant sanctuary as well as the evening ceremony at the temple in Madurai. Ganesh had heaps of information one everything that we saw and also managed to squeeze a couple of extra visits to local attractions on the way. He really was superb, and I would definitely recommend Ganesh to any future travellers.