Kimkim Trip Reviews

Dear Berat, Sumer Sumerli, Ozan, Betul, and the wonderful team of drivers!

I wanted to take a moment to express my deepest gratitude for the absolutely incredible trip my companions and I experienced under your guidance. Each of you played an integral role in making our journey through Turkey an unforgettable adventure filled with awe-inspiring sights, rich history, and cherished memories.

Sumer Sumerli, your expertise and passion for Cappadocia truly shone through as you led us through the enchanting valleys and museums. Your knowledge and enthusiasm illuminated every corner, allowing us to immerse ourselves fully in the beauty of the region.

Ozan, your dedication and warmth touched our hearts during our exploration of Sirince, Ephesus, Pamukkale, and Hierapolis. Your meticulous planning and eagerness to share your wisdom enriched our experience beyond measure. Your efforts to arrange for a priest to bless our spring water reflected your exceptional care and attention to detail, for which we are profoundly grateful.

Betul, your impeccable organization and flexibility ensured that our time in Istanbul was both efficient and enjoyable. Your ability to keep us on track while accommodating our desire to savor every moment of the city's beauty and history was truly remarkable.

To all the drivers whose names I didn't capture, please accept my heartfelt thanks for your professionalism, accommodation, and, above all, your commitment to our safety throughout our journey. Your efforts did not go unnoticed, and we are deeply appreciative of the role you played in making our trip seamless and secure.

And finally, Berat, your patience, expertise, and unwavering dedication were instrumental in crafting the perfect itinerary for us. Your attention to detail and willingness to go above and beyond to ensure that every aspect of our trip exceeded our expectations did not go unnoticed. We are endlessly grateful for your guidance and support throughout the planning process and during our travels.

In conclusion, I cannot thank each of you enough for your contributions to what was undoubtedly the most extraordinary trip of our lives. Your passion, professionalism, and kindness have left an indelible mark on our hearts, and we will forever cherish the memories we made under your care.

Thank you all so much!

Alicia Gonsalvez

Overall a great experience. Was surprised by lack of wildlife due to abundance of humans at the national parks compared to my travels to CR 25 years ago.

Using a trip-planner company was a new experience for me. In my extensive travels, I've done all the planning; therefore, relinquishing control was tough. Now, forever more, I want Tina and kimkim to do it all! Tina was my travel angel, with unbelievable patience and determination to get it all just right. And she did! She is so friendly, understanding, compassionate, professional, and dedicated! She matched us with Jo, for our private guide in Zagreb, who was an absolute joy, so smart, enthusiastic, sweet, and friendly, and wow, does she know history! The same can be said about Stasha, our amazing and brilliant guide in Split, with whom we spent many delightful hours.

Every lovely accommodation was a perfect match for our personalities.

This trip, such an important one for my daughter and me to experience together, did not have a single glitch. Everything planned and handled by Tina and kimkim, and I do mean everything, was perfect. This, in large part, to Tina being a world-class listener and hearing--really hearing--what I want. And oh, did she deliver.

Finally, what she provided within my budget was astonishing. What can I say but an immense, heartfelt thank-you to Tina and kimkim.

With gratitude,

Dee

Trip went so smoothly thanks to Kimkim’s local agency, Somewhere in Greece. Guides and tours were and drvers were in time and friendly and very knowledgeable, making the experience so pleasant and without stress. Highly recommend.

Activity Reviews

E-bike experience with tastings

Naxos

Absolutely loved ghe experience. Manos was a fun, kind, informed, and very engaging guide and partner for the day’s activities. Bikes worked so well, great way to see the island. Really an insider’s glimpse of life on Naxos. Loved it. Highly recommend Aurelia Bikes and Manos’s tour.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Naxos Old Town food tour

Naxos

Gina, our guide, was engaging, fun, and friendly. Made the tour a really memorable one. Food was terrific everywhere. Bonus was hearing about the history and culture of the island and the tour of the labyrinthine castle.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Day trip to Delphi & Arachova

Athens

Our driver Thanassis made the experience more wonderful by sharing information and making the drive very pleasant. All was perfect and he made all appointments on time, etc. Highly recommend. Our guide for Delphi was great, too. Made it very interesting and personal.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

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Sunset trip to the Temple of Poseidon in Cape Sounion

Athens

Beautiful experience made better by our driver Thanassis, who helped us avoid crowds and shared interesting information about the area and history.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Raquel and the entire KimKim team made our trip to Portugal perfectly unique to us and so seamless as we traveled across the entire country! Everything and more that we needed for our trip was provided and was extremely easy to use and follow. We have never used a travel planning service before, but we will for sure be recommending and using KimKim again to plan future trips!

Activity Reviews

Tour & Tasting at Taylor’s Port Cellar

Porto

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Day Excursion to Douro Valley: Wine Tasting & River Cruise

Porto

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Explore Lisbon by Electric Tuk-Tuk

Portugal

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Peneda-Gerês National Park Experience: Easy Hike & Cultural Experience

Porto

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Super friendly guide!

Transport

Lisbon Local Food Walk: Petiscos & Wine Walk

Lisbon

This was an amazing tour! We ate at small, local restaurants we never would have found on our own. Everything we tired was absolutely amazing and was some of our favorite food on out trip!

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

We had a fantastic ten days in Turkey. All of the hotels and transfers that Berat organized for us were great, and she gave us excellent advice regarding where to go to maximize the time we had. Our guides (Betul in Istanbul, Ozan in Ephesus, and Hatice in Ushisar) were wonderful. The highlight of the trip was certainly Cappadocia, and Berat's suggestion to stay in Uchisar, not Goreme, was spot-on.

Our trip to Peru with kimkim was amazing!! I would highly recommend them. Right from the beginning Liz was very informative and always responded promptly to any questions. We were very well looked after during our time in Peru. Lisbet made sure that our itinerary was very well organized with no issues. Our guides right from the beginning were wonderful. Manuel took very good care of us in Cusco and the surrounding area with extra special attention. Machu Picchu of course was spectacular. We we had a wonderful day in Puno on Lake Titicaca with Angel. Our food tour in Lima was so much fun. We loved the area. Lourdes was great!
Our experience in the Amazon at Mayuna Lodge was amazing. Fransico was a fantastic guide. All our guides were so knowledgeable and informative. It was definitely a trip of a lifetime!!

I started planning this trip with Samir well over a year before we actually went, I had so many questions for Samir and he was always so kind and patient with me! We had the best trip, a trip I had dreamed of for years and it was just perfect! Our driver Mo was amazing and really made our trip extra special in a way we could never have imaged. We will forever be grateful to Samir and to Mo! Thank you both for the trip of a lifetime :)

Hotel Reviews

Holiday Inn Dead Sea Resort

Sweimah

Nice hotel but drinks and food are very expensive! Small TV in the room for a 5 star hotel.

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Cleanliness & Comfort

Double Tree - By Hilton

Aqaba

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Sharah Luxury Camp

Wadi Rum

Would not stay here again. Camp tents were dirty on the outside, the viewing window which is the whole point was also filthy and you could not really see out. The food was also not the best. Disappointing stay here.

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Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Coral Tower Hotel - Amman

Amman

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Reviews

Wadi Rum (2-3 Hrs Jeep ride)

Jordan

This was okay, however our driver barely spoke any English so when we went to the stops we werent really told much about where we were.

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Guides, Drivers and Staff

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Balloon Ride ( Subject to Weather conditions)

Jordan

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Guides, Drivers and Staff

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Petra By Candle Light

Jordan

Quality of Experience

Amman-Jarash-Ajloun-Amman city tour

Jordan

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Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Rum Valley CAMELS SUNSET RIDE FOR 01HRS

Wadi Rum

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Full Day Petra (With Site local Guide or private guide)

Jordan

Quality of Experience

Amman-Madaba-Mount Nebo-Karak-Petra

Jordan

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

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Meet & Assist - Queen Alia Airport

Jordan

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Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

We cannot recommend Long and KimKim (and their partner, Realistic Asia) enough. We recently went through them for a 16 day trip to Vietnam, including a number of stops, tours, flights and transfers through Ho Chi Minh City, Hue, Hoi An, Hanoi, Sapa and Ha Long Bay.

Everything worked so smoothly, from the initial planning, where Long worked with us to develop an itinerary that matched with what we wanted to do, to the practical support on the ground in Vietnam. The one slight hiccough we had (a bus picking us up 45 mins late) was resolved almost immediately by Evelyn in the KimKim team, despite it being 6am, and had no knock-on impact on our journey.

Our guide in Ho Chi Minh City, Phuc, was so organised and knowledgeable about the city, and we really appreciated his flexibility in showing us places that weren’t necessarily in the original itinerary. In Hue and Hoi An, Loi brought the richness of the deep history of the cities to life. Chao in Sapa gave us a real insight into local cultures, and Khuê in Hanoi was so lovely with us and our parents, who joined for part of the holiday.

The team is responsive, helpful, polite and knowledgeable. We would have no hesitation at all using KimKim or Realistic Asia again in the future.

Activity Review

Day Trip to the Mekong Delta (Ben Tre)

Ho Chi Minh City

One of the highlights of the trip!

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Overall a great overview of Japan’s highlights giving insights for future more focused trips.Mie has been by far our most helpful and caring guide especially at time we had a health care issue with my wife.Overall the drivers delivered well ( accuracy and flexibility).Some logistics opportunities of improvement ( ex: pick-up planned far too early last morning we had to change, meeting point for food tour in Tokyo unclear causing 1/2 h delay).Some days could have been less packed allowing to better benefit from nice hotels and enjoy some experiences: Hakone’s busy day was leading to very early diner ( 5 pm) so postponing the onsen experience to a timing not relevant with the kids.Hope this will help.Vincent

Wow! This was such an amazing holiday. Amanda, Raj and their team at Himalayan Trails were just so great to work with. Our guide in Nepal, Pratikshya, and the drivers who supported her, all did such a fabulous job of showing us their country. The team were great with not only helping us plan the itinerary, but also making a whole lot of last-minute changes when things didn't go to plan. We were able to quickly and easily discuss things with Pratikshya and make the necessary changes. They also set us up with Wind Horse Tours in Bhutan to spend some time there, and both companies made everything just so easy for us.

The Kimkim platform made it so easy to research and discuss what we wanted to do and communicating with Amanda and the team was so straightforward.

Highlights of the trip - definitely seeing a tiger in Bardia National Park, hiking Tiger's Nest, and spending some time in local communities in Panauti and Kirtipur to see what everyday life is like for Nepali people.

We were unsure we ‘needed’ someone to plan our trip. We spent one week in Mallorca with our own planning.
Then the sheer pleasure started with KimKim
The hotels were excellent. The drivers were perfect and our planned trip won’t be the last.
We would recommend to anyone travelling !!

Activity Review

Day trip to Granada

Spain

What an interesting place to visit. As a Canadian, we have no true concept of the layers and centuries of history. Our guide was superb.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

We loved our driver. He made wonderful suggestions and was very knowledgeable about the area.

- the whole trip was fantastic, can’t think of anything that wasn’t perfect
- great itinerary, guides were all excellent, accommodations were lovely especially Muyuna Lodge, food was excellent, people were very friendly
- highlight for me was the Amazon but everything was wonderful
- especially enjoyed Manuel, Lourdes and Francisco
- would highly recommend it to our friends
- trip of a lifetime

The trip was fantastic. Justine did a wonderful job with the itinerary including all the necessary details. We enjoyed the cities of Dublin, Cork, and Galway and the towns of Kinsale, Dingle, Doolin and Killarney. Too many highlights to mention them all but a few of them are The Guinness Storehouse, the Middleton Distillery tour and premium tasting, Kinsale, the Perryville House and Don and Barry‘s walking tour, Inasheer Island and Ollies Tours with Phil, the Pax Guest House in Dingle, the music at Sin E bar in Cork, the Irish dancing in the Dingle Bar, the Galway Food Tour, the Cliffs of Kerry and our final night at Ballyfin.
Also, the people in Ireland were so nice and accommodating.

My 3-weeks trip in Sri Lanka was very well designed by Dhanushka. It was highly comprehensive, full nature excursions and cultural activities that gave me a strong understanding of Sri Lanka’s rich history and appreciation for its diverse natural resources. Some of my favorite activities included the elephant safaris, Sigyria, village tours in Dambulla, tea plantation visits in Nuwara Eliya and hikes and waterfalls in Ella. My driver and guide Malinda was also extremely helpful with coming up with optional activities that met my interests and needs. Having a private driver and guide gave me a lot of flexibility and personalized attention and care as a single traveler. Every day of my trip was filled with wonderful surprises of new things to learn and enjoy about Sri Lanka. I loved my trip so much that I hope to come back again and explore parts I haven’t seen with Koon Holidays / Kim Kim.

Activity Review

Explore Nuwara Eliya

Sri Lanka

This region is less mentioned by other tourists from itineraries I have seen online so I am really glad Dhanushka included in my itinerary. The natural beauty of this place is breathtaking with rolling hills of lush tea plantations, majestic mountains and lakes, and peaceful village life. I loved my tea plantation visits, learning the tea picking and making process, sampling a variety of tea and having high tea at Grand Hotel. Gregory Park area is absolutely gorgeous and the Horton Plains hike was amazing!

Quality of Experience

Well designed itinerary with special consideration of my interests and needs.

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Wonderful driver and guide that provided knowledgeable information about places visited and offered optional activities based on my interests.

Transport

Always on time, professionalism and flexibility.

KimKim made the planning process easy for our medium sized group of young ladies to travel to Greece! Everywhere we went, there were taxis, boats, planes or rental cars ready for us with our name. Even when my sister met us in Athens (not a part of the main group), KimKim helped us coordinate with the tourism company to ensure my sister could join us that day. The girls agreed one of our favorite things was the WhatsApp group chat with your travel specialist while in country. Any issues that came up (minor), there was immediate responses, which helped us feel very safe. We accidentally flew in on the day of the Olympic Torch passing (we had no idea!) and our travel specialist reached out to recommend it (and it was great!). Trying to plan an island hopping trip of a foreign country couldn’t have been easier.

I would like to give 5 star + review for the KimKim agency for our recent nine day trip in Turkey. Prior to booking this trip I have engaged several travel agencies; the experience with Kim Kim was markedly different. I am particularly grateful to Berat, our local specialist. Before I booked this trip, Berat worked diligently and tirelessly with me to figure out our itinerary, lodging, excursions, flights, transfers etc. This is A LOT of work which differentiated Barat from other travel agents I was communicating with. The trip was absolutely fabulous. Everything went as planned, there were no any issues. We liked all the hotels; our guides were personally pleasant and very knowledgeable, all car transfers were on time, the were no issues whatsoever with any of the airline flights booked by Kim Kim. During the itinerary planning process, I had some ideas but Berat also had suggestions and I'm very happy that I took her suggestions because they were absolutely fabulous. She really knows what she is doing and can go out of her way to make things happen.
I can highly recommend Kim Kim and Berat in particular, it is a great value for money.

Hotel Reviews

Gullu Konaklari Sirince

Izmir

The hotel and the grounds looked very nice. Unfortunately, we had very limited time staying there. I wish we would spend more time and look around

Authenticity & Character

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Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

The Bank Hotel

Istanbul

The hotel is very conveniently located, very close to restaurants and other attractions, the staff was very helpful and accommodating

Authenticity & Character

This is an old 19 century building, well updated and has a Victorian Era charm

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Millstone Cave Suites

This is a highly recommended hotel. The location is absolutely perfect with amazing views on the valley and the hot air balloons. The hotel had one of the best breakfast I ever had

Authenticity & Character

Our room had a great character, was very comfortable and clean

Location

Very convenient location, amazing views from the hotel

Staff

The staff was attentive and accommodated all our requests

Cleanliness & Comfort

The place is spotless clean and extremely well maintained

Sirkeci Mansion Hotel

Istanbul

Very good experience, nice room and outstanding service

Authenticity & Character

Location

Couldn't be better

Staff

The staff was very helpful

Cleanliness & Comfort

The room was super clean, well updated every day, the breakfast is very good

Activity Reviews

Ceramic Tradition in Avanos + Light Hiking in the Love Valley

Cappadocia

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Visiting Göreme Open Air Museum (UNESCO World Heritage)

Cappadocia

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Kaymaklı Underground City + Light Hiking at Ihlara Valley + Selime Monastery

Cappadocia

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

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Explore the Ancient City of Ephesus

Turkey

This place is a must. It is an amazing experience and our guide was very knowledgeable about the history of the region and was showing us things that we would otherwise miss

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Ozan is absolutely amazing guide

Public Boat Tour on the Bosphorus

İstanbul

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Eminönü Heritage Tour: Explore the Historical Bazaars and Ottoman Architectural Sites of Istanbul

İstanbul

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

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Sightseeing Around Uçhisar and Discovering the Cappadocian Valleys

Cappadocia

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

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Discover Byzantine + Ottoman Istanbul

İstanbul

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

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Visit to Ephesus Archaeological Museum + House of Virgin Mary

Turkey

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Transport

Amanda helped us plan an incredible vacation to Kathmandu and Bhutan. We had knowledgeable guides on every date of our stay, and were taken care of from airport pick-up to drop off. The itineraries were easily customizable based on our interests (even including a trip to a middle school I attended), and there was both plenty of sightseeing as well as down time. Would highly recommend booking with KimKim!

Trip was great
I was apprehensive about using KimKim but because I’ve never been to Europe I thought it would be beneficial to get some assistance with the booking of hotels and itinerary. The tour guides were awesome. We had a cooking class in Paris that was a great experience. We went shopping in the market then back to her
place for cooking. Felt like family by the time we were done Our tour guide Katie for changing of the guards on London was so friendly and knowledgeable.

Hotel Reviews

Leonardo Royal London St Paul's

London

Lots of option at breakfast buffet

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Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Charme Spagna Boutique Hotel

Rome

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Appartement du Louvre - Le Marais

Paris

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Reviews

French Cooking Class & Market Visit

Paris

This was such an amazing experience. Our chef was awesome. We went to the market to shop for all our ingredients. She was very knowledgeable. She educated us on special crops and history of French food. We went back to her place to cook. She gave us step by step instruction and had our Delicous meal together. By the time we were done we felt like family and didn’t want to leave.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Westminster City Tour with Changing of the Guard | Semi-Private

London

Our tour guide was amazing. I believe her name was Katy. So knowledgeable, friendly and personable. Had we gone on our own we would’ve missed some critical moments and missed out on some of the history.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Rome Food Tour (Small Group Tour/3 hours)

Rome

Tour guide was friendly and knowledgeable

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

The trip was super memorable from the beginning to end.

Isa was amazing from the very beginning. She understood our need to have private tours to learn about meso-american civilization and culture.

Luz Ma fantastic as well and was constantly in touch via WhatsApp. She helped us with daily questions and resolving daily issues.

Our tour guides Louis and Guadalupe for Teotiuhacan and Cholula were great. Appreciate their professionalism and knowledge.

Then comes Manuel, our tour guide for the majority of our stay in the Yucatan and Mayan sites. He became my Mayan brother. He further customized our trip as per our need on the go. We would love to do more trips with him.

Finally, our tour guides at Punta Lagoona, Enrique and at Muyil, Memo made some indelible impression for this trip.

Hotel Reviews

Villa Pescadores Tulum

Tulum

This was the best and the most comfortable of all the hotels we stayed during our trip. Great room, comfortable, big, open design, separated from the bathrooms. Eco friendly yet they cleaned everyday. It was within the boundary of a national park and Tulum archaelogical site. This made it more private, a bit secluded, and safe. I loved it. Extremely friendly folks and great service including room service.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Le Muuch

Valladolid, Yucatán

It was a good hotel but the room was a bit small and a little inconvenient with the luggage.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Casa de la Luz

Mexico City

Great location, historic property, fantastic service. The only issue I had was with rooms with no windows as I was feeling claustrophobic and altitude sickness. They understood and changed my room twice to accommodate my need that was super service. Shoutout to Lazaro!

Authenticity & Character

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Staff

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Kuka y Naranjo

Mérida

Loved the hotel's interior decoration and authentic style. Our room with a big terrace was a win (if I remember the name of the room it was Santa Lucia). Great service, they used to deliver tea or coffee at our request in the room.

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Activity Reviews

Look for spider monkeys in Punta Laguna

Nuevo Durango

Not the most interesting activity for us. Although the experience was fun.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Ek Balam Archaeological Site & swim in a cenote

Mexico

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

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Float in the Muyil Sian Ka'an Biosphere Reserve

Tulum

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

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Visit the archaeological site of Tulum

Mexico

It's a great site but most of the access was closed to visitors. We could see it bit could not enjoy it to fullest.

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Guides, Drivers and Staff

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The archaeological site of Cobá

Mexico

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

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Merida to Valladolid Visiting Chichen Itza Archaeological site and Yodkzonot

Mexico

Quality of Experience

Lo

Guides, Drivers and Staff

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Discover the Magical town of Cholula

Mexico

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

The car was too small for 4 people.

Explore the archaeological site of Teotihuacan

Mexico City

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

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Uxmal and Kabah: The Jewels of Puuc

Mexico

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Transport