Kimkim Trip Reviews

We arrived and saw our room and decided to stay at a different hotel in town. The room was pretty dingy and had a somewhat moldy smell, along with some fragrance presumably meant to cover up the moldy smell. Location was amazing, right on the water, but not nearly as nice as the Fretheim hotel in town, or even the Flaamsbrygga, both of which were more expensive but not by a that much.

Amazing spa! Very good restaurant with a great breakfast spread and a good option for dinner (although maybe not quite as good as a couple other places in town). Rooms were nice but a bit dated. The headline is the spa - the first couple days of our trip it rained all day long, so we couldn't really do any of our planned outdoor activities, and we were happy as clams hanging out in the spa! Staff wasn't always the most helpful but overall the service was fine. Would stay here again

Not a unique hotel in any respect, but exactly what we needed before our flight to relax, repack, and collect ourselves before we left Indonesia. Staff is excellent and the hotel was clean and comfortable.

Best part of the trip hands-down. Amazing activities, amazing food, amazing crew, and an overall unbelievable time. If you get seasick bring Dramamine but otherwise this will be the most relaxing and adventurous part of your trip at the same time.

After waiting a week to write this review to reflect on my experience, my opinion of the Kaamala Resort is unchanged. If I could give this place 0 stars I would. Day 1/Night 1: We arrived at around 6:30 PM after a long day of driving. We were then escorted to our three hotel rooms, which smelled so bad that a pile full of dead animals would have helped mask the foul stench. We kindly asked the hotel to investigate the smell, as we had to make a 7:30 dinner reservation. The receptionist assured us that it would be fixed and that we would have rooms to stay in. Nearly four hours later, we got back from dinner and the receptionist escorted us back to our three rooms. Not only was the smell not gone, but it had gotten even worse. At this point, we asked to be moved to alternative rooms for the evening so that we could get sleep, as it was clear that the smell in the other room was not going to go away. The next three hours could not have been more stressful and frustrating. At various points, the hotel told us that they had no rooms, that they had one room, that they had no cots, that they had two cots, and everything in between. Ultimately, we settled down for the night at 2 AM. After we carried our luggage back and forth between the rooms several times (the staff did not help), we dragged two cots and piles of linens across the hotel premises. At the end of the night, we squeezed four people and three beds into one room, and two of us were forced to sleep in the spa on massage tables. We understand that hotels sometimes make mistakes and have slip ups. What made this hotel despicable, however, was not the smell or the difficulty getting situated; it was the staff’s subsequent response. Day 2/Night 2 The next morning, we went to speak with the manager about what had happened and we kindly requested that our three rooms be refunded for the previous night (because all three were uninhabitable). After informing us that the rooms that we were supposed to stay in smelled because the sewage system leaked into them, the manager told us that they have a strict no refund policy. Even after explaining the situation to him and the staff’s assistance—or lack thereof—he still would not budge. The manager said point blank that, even though we did not get any of the rooms that we paid for and even though there was sewage in those rooms, a refund was not an option. We continued to share our experiences and frustrations, and the manager assured us that he would figure out an alternative way to compensate us to our satisfaction. What followed could only be described as a game of “deal or no deal.” Frustrated because of the situation, the lack of sleep, and the fact that we had missed several morning activities due to the problems, we told the hotel that if they were not going to refund us for the rooms, we wanted a dinner comped by the hotel and spa appointments for the four of us who wanted them. All of these things together would still not even reach the price of the three rooms that we did not get, not to mention the time we lost and the stress that the hotel cost us. Over the next hour, the receptionist continually called my room and offered new “deals” that the manager was proposing. After each, she tried to convince us that it was enough to make us happy. First, she offered a free breakfast. This offer meant nothing to us since we had already paid in advance for included breakfast at the resort. Over several other phone calls, the receptionist, acting as a middle man between us and the manager, offered us spa appointments and 15% off one dinner, then spa appointments and one main course each, and then spa appointments, one main course and one non-alcoholic beverage each. After being bothered so many times with counteroffers and justifications of why we should not be frustrated, I told the hotel to please leave us alone. We constantly reiterated that all we wanted was a meal where we could relax and forget about all the inconveniences that the Kaamala Resort had caused us. All we wanted was to forget what happened and enjoy our limited time in Ubud. Despite this, the receptionist continued to call with new deals. It got to the point where I had to tell them to please stop calling and offering us new things because the constant pestering was ruining our vacation. At the outset, all we wanted was a place to sleep that was habitable. While on the second night they finally provided that to us, the discomfort that the hotel continued to impose on us for the remainder of our stay continued to be quite absurd. First, we felt like we were being watched, as every staff member asked us for our room numbers everywhere we went. By way of example, one of us went to use the bathroom at breakfast and the hostess stopped him to ask him his room number. Second, the hotel continued to tell us how we were allowed to enjoy our stay. When I told the hotel that we were leaving at 8 am and that we did not have time for breakfast one morning, they told me that they want us to get to breakfast at 7 so that they could compensate us with a free breakfast (which, by the way, we had already paid for). Further, when we sat down to dinner on our second evening, the waitress began by giving us a limited pre-set menu and insisting that we could not order off the complete menu. Then, after we asked several times for the full menu, she told us that we were each only allowed to order one main course. When we told them we planned to order whatever we wanted and not worry about anything, they continued to give us pushback. Additionally, the hotel continued to slip up and respond poorly for the remainder of our stay. For example, at this same dinner, after agreeing that we could order what we wanted to, the restaurant then forgot to serve us four of the dishes we ordered. The waitress insisted that we had not ordered those things and then told us that the kitchen was closed. Despite us reminding them that we were missing plates and despite two of us not eating enough, the dishes were never brought out and the restaurant closed. Although some of us were still hungry, we went to bed to try and rest up for the day ahead. Day 3/Night 3: The next day, we left first thing in the morning to avoid any more complications with the hotel. After spending the entire day away from the hotel, we began to prepare for our departure the following morning. On the eve of our last night in Ubud, we looked forward to leaving the Kaamala resort and to doing so, hopefully, on a high note. We got back to the hotel after a terrific dinner elsewhere and told the hotel that we were being picked up by our driver at 5:30 AM to go to the airport. We met the gentleman who would be responsible for bringing our bags to the front of the resort the following morning via golf cart and confirmed no less than four times that he would be at our rooms at 5:15 AM ready to take us to the front. We went to bed with assurances that the hotel would help keep our check out smooth. Day 4: The next morning, we had a storybook ending to our stay at the Kaamala resort. For the first time in our nearly two week trip, it was pouring rain. Sure enough, nobody was at our room to pick up our luggage. We dragged our bags through the rain for the 10 minute trek to the front of the resort only to be greeted by the gentleman who promised us that he would be at our rooms in the morning. When we asked him where he was, he said that we should have called him this morning to tell him to pick us up. I have been to over 20 countries and to hundreds of different hotels, resorts, hostels, inns, motels, etc. in my life. Never have I stayed at a place where the customer was this wrong. To say I do not recommend this hotel is an understatement. The way they treated us provides a new meaning to the word inhospitable. Further, the fact that we were not refunded for even one room on one night for our experience is nothing short of robbery. Please ensure that NOBODY comes here again.

The hotel was not as nice or upscale as the other accommodations. The rooms were basic and small and the resort was nothing special. However, the staff was incredibly nice and the rooms were satisfactory. Additionally, the hotel runs the tours to the plantation and that tour was spectacular. I would not stay here unless I am going on those hotel tours, but I am glad we had this experience.

Like paradise on earth. This resort was maybe the nicest place I have stayed in my entire life. We had three three-story villas for six people that overlooked all of northeast Bali. We could watch both sunrise and sunset from our roof and we could text a WhatsApp chat with all the staff from the hotel in it if we needed anything at all. This place was unbelievable and I could stay for weeks at a time.

This hotel is gorgeous. Our only regret is not staying here longer. The staff was beautiful and the view was beautiful. It was a short trip to the peak of the volcano which makes the location ideal, although difficult to get to.

Hotel was perfect. Staff was lovely, location was lovely, rooms were perfect, and the breakfast buffet was excellent.

The hotel itself was exactly what we needed after 36 hours of traveling. The rooms were solid (nothing special), but the facilities (spa, steam room, sauna, etc.) were perfect for us to reset our batteries. The one major red flag with the hotel was their ability to help us with transportation. The airport pickup was not smooth, the hotel struggled to find us adequate transportation to our dinner for the one night we were there, and they struggled to get us to the airport in the proper shuttle for our flight out the following morning. Next time, I would try as hard as possible to avoid spending a night in Jakarta at all because the air quality is so poor. However, if I had to spend a night in Jakarta, it is worth it to stay near the airport at the FM7 and I would recommend figuring out some form of alternative transportation (not through the hotel) if you want to go to dinner or do some sort of activity.

Same as above.

Same as above! Unbelievable three days.

Best part of the trip. My only regret is that we did not have another day on the boat.

One of the best things we did the whole trip! Great cooking class and great group of travelers that we cooked with. The chef sends you home with a recipe book as well!

The biking was too difficult for me and I could not do it. More like mountain biking. The paths are very steep and narrow so come prepared. You also have to bike on the main road for a portion and that part is easier than the part through the rice fields. The rice fields themselves were beautiful.

Very cool experience!

Such a great experience. The raw sugar cane tasted unbelievable. The coffee part came at the end not the start so don’t come in expecting to get many different cups of coffee. Also bring cash to buy the coffee, chocolate, etc. to take home.

Unbelievable day, but plan on being up at 2:30 AM and hiking a lot before getting back to the hotel at 9 AM. Worth every second of it though.

Easily one of the best activities we did. Our village guide Robi was fantastic.

It is a very small boutique hotel (14) rooms. Free laundry service is also great. The view of the hotel is magnificent.

From our bungalows, there is a great view of Arenal. The ground is amazing, we didn't use any of the pool facility as we were busy with the activities. The menu of the onsite restaurants is on the pricy side.

This is a very unique hotel, right next to a Thermal River. We had a center bungalow and an east bungalow. The bungalow is nested in the jungle. It has a rustic feel outside, however, once you get in, everything is ultra model. There are windows along 3 sides of the room. The outdoor rain shower is super cool. Center bungalow gives a more unique experience with the out-door shower.

It was a nice day walk. The guide told us due to the rain, the sloth went up high and curled into a ball. We were lucky enough to catch a 2 toe-sloth in a slight lower position. Was able to see a red frog, lizzard and few other birds.

The guide is knowledgeable about the animal. We were able to see a lot of water birds and crocodiles. The fresh coconut water is very refreshing.

This is our favorite activity of the trip. It has the right balance of thrill and easiness. It was our kids first time rafting, the level 1-2 rapids are good learning ground. The river is warm and beautiful, there were good swimming spots a long the way. As the end, there were 3 level 3 and 1 Level 4 which adds the thrill.

Maybe it is during the low season, it is like a private tour. There were no other people around the first 2 waterfalls, it was a bonus.

The springs resort is beautiful, the spa setting is beautify. I am glad that Gaustavo picked the activity here for us to enjoy the view and food without needing to pay the exorbitant hotel room.

The activity is super cool and something to brag about. Love the man-made Dam effect, got a really cool video out it.

It was a very pretty and charming place but located a little far from restaurants.

This was quite an interesting experience and in addition to being introduced to some of the better pastry and chocolate shops, the guide also took us to some of the churches in the area. Sampling the pastries and chocs was also grerat!

Good audio guide

Great views of the Chenonceau castle and it felt good to do something active

Very informative guides and enjoyed the scenic drives!

Guide was very good and made it interesting for the kids.

Amazing views of Paris from the Summit. Also, felt great to reach the top of one of the most famous structures in the world. Guide was also interesting and fun.

The boat was very crowded but we saw the basic highlights of Paris. It was sometimes difficult to follow the audio guide

Rentals were very easy in Santiago before heading up to the mountain. The ride up and down can be a little stomach-churning with all the hairpin turns and the sometimes impatient drivers! The mountain was nice but only some trails were open. We spent a day skiing, which was enough - there wasn't enough open to spend any more time than that on the mountain (for reference: we are fairly experienced skiers - black/double black in the Rockies), but we definitely got a kick out of being able to ski in August!

Don't worry: getting up EARLY in the morning to head out to the geysers is worth it! They're almost other-worldly and they're absolutely beautiful rising in the cold air and as the sun rises in the morning. The tour company was great and prepared a delicious breakfast for us on the way back!

Four stars only because the second winery - Santa Ema - wasn't quite as fun/informative as the first, Santa Rita. I think Santa Rita does a LOT more tours, so they seem to have the whole experience better planned. Santa Ema's guide was friendly but not as informative about the wines, the terroir, etc. Having said that, it's a beautiful winery (as is Santa Rita) and drinking wine on a nice, sunny day is never a bad thing....

JP was a great guide for multiple excursions with him. We had a great time on the stargazing and buggy ride in particular. The buggy ride let us explore parts of the desert landscape that just weren't accessible by car.

Great location in the amazing town of vik. Beautiful view of the mountains and short walk to the black sand beach.

Was a little disappointed that we had to fill and empty the hot tub ourselves but otherwise was great. Nice location near the Viking Restaurant and a cute little town as well as places to hike. Comfy beds and plenty of room. Watched a great sunset from our porch.

Our guide Maria (from Greece) was amazing. Super helpful and fun. It rained when we went but it didn’t take away fro the magic at all. To walk in the glacier and see the enormity of it was breathtaking!!

Stunning like all of the waterfalls we saw. Lots of cool rocks to climb around on to see from a different view.

Our guide was friendly, knowledgeable and helpful.

Nice room, nice location, nice breakfast.

Santorini is gorgeous in large part due to the challenging terrain. Many of the roads are windy and single lane though allow for two way traffic. Had a short but challenging walk from where we were dropped off by our driver to the hotel. Took us a while to locate the hotel office. Once there, while i was signing the group in, the inn keeper made a nasty comment about my unseen but heard (grown) "children"who were trying to get all of our luggage down the steep ramp onto the hotel property. There were some laughs but nothing disruptive. Bathroom was nothing special (it was impossible to shower without flooding the bathroom, the tile in the entire bathroom/shower was slippery when wet). Though reported by the innkeeper that the breakfasts were "award winning," we found them to be nothing special. In fact, of all the places we stayed, it was the worst. Breakfast is delivered to your room in 15 minute increments. The innkeeper also complained that our 9:30 AM tour was messing up the breakfast schedule since they don't start delivering breakfast until 8:30 AM, can only delivery to one room every 15 minutes and the earliest times were already booked. As a concession, he agreed to serve us cold options at 8 AM.

Really nice room. Shower, toilet and sink were each located in a different part of the room so more than one person could be doing their thing without preventing a roommate to access the other things.

Nice hotel. Located across the street from a venue that had late evening shows and concerts. Glass doors and windows kept much of the sound out but was still audible in the rooms. Apparently one show did not end until midnight. Luckily we were so tired that it did not keep us awake.

Lovely rooms with tall ceilings. Inn keeper and staff could not be nicer.

There was no time to experience Heraklion.

We saw much of the island. Oia is so overcrowded that an hour there seemed like forever. And yet we went back for dinner. Akrotiri is spectacular. But I am in danger of making this an archeology tour. Wine tasting was nice. And better wines than Crete. A little uncomfortable with the lack of choice in restaurant.

Fabulous guide.

Gorgeous

Pleasant and fun day. Three wine tastings and an olive oil factory.

Great knowledgeable friendly. Could have taken us to the excavations just a block or two away. But we made it back there on our own.

Fabulous. And fabulous museum. Time for the Brits to return the Elgin marbles

Museum is outstanding. And the guide who met us at Pella was extraordinarily knowledgeable. The actual site is not well developed for tourists. A few mosaics in a field.

Our guide was knowledgeable and informative. A little too much about Jewish wealth. (That stereotype breeds resentment and ultimately causes anti Semitic violence.) And so sad that the synagogue is a monument to people who are gone rather than a functioning congregation. The museum is excellent.

Excellent way to end a tiring but amazing vacation.

Truly excellent and comfortable rooms!

You can even get massages onboard!

Great location, nice amenities, very gracious people! Even gave us a going away gift.

This is fascinating. If you’re claustrophobic you might not want to actually go in the tunnels. But the overall experience is quite interesting nonetheless.

So cute and very Artsy! It was a great stop on our last night. Staff was very helpful and friendly. So many places to explore in the hotel and the art work was so great.

Beautiful view of the ocean (just note you can’t walk to it). Restaurant was fantastic and service was very helpful and attentive. We got a shuttle to the beach and rented beach beds for the day and it worked out well. Dinner at this restaurant was our favorite on our entire trip. Very quiet and peaceful.

Beautiful hotel and very close to everything but quiet and serene. Breakfast was awesome in the beautiful outside garden.

Very crowded so just be prepared. Our driver was great and recommended a great restaurant for lunch which was outstanding over the ocean and away from the crowds of Sintra. Hiking in the Pena Palace was our favorite and I would recommend if the lines are too long explore all the outside area and gardens and you could skip the inside if you don’t want to give up too much time on your day. Outside is beautiful.

Excellent guide and walk. He adjusted our walk based on what we had seen the day before which we loved. The wine tasting was a great way to end the walk and we covered a lot of ground.

Beautiful bike ride. And great views over the water and monuments.

Very good. Friendly staff and overlooking the water. Excellent seafood

The Fado as amazing once they started but they took a long break after 3 songs so why it goes for a long time into the night. Food is not worth it. We were told that was the case so all fine . I would suggest find a place to drink and listen to Fado so your not disappointed before the music starts.

Excellent guide and amazing way to see the caves. It was fun, easy going and beautiful. Blue fleet did a great job.

Food was great, view beautiful and staff friendly.

Highly recommend. It’s so beautiful and cool to see the caves.

We loved our stay here. The accommodations, the wonderful traditional cuisine, and the friendly staff all made for an unforgettable experience. It was our favorite of all our accommodations.

Despite the heat (August) this was a great day and our guide Yukori delightful.

We lived this class. The staff was great, the recipes easy to follow and delicious. Hopefully we can recreate them at home!

By far one of our favorite excursions. The history of Hiroshima and the beauty of Miyajima island and Itsukushima Shrine were both beautiful and emotional. And our guide Hiroko was delightful and attentive.

We loved this class! Cooking and then eating delightful food that we hope to recreate at home.

Apartment has all the amenities we need, love how the kitchen is fully equipped. It will be nice if the extra bed could be set up ahead before our arrival. Toilet is also slightly on the smaller side