Kimkim Trip Reviews

Our second trip with kimkim was terrific. We had great local guides and our coordinator, Kateryna, booked us into wonderful hotels. We saw an overview of Scotland, with a night in London to start and a night in Dublin right before we returned home.
Our activities included tours of Edinburgh Old Town (Robert, our guide, was great), Edinburgh Castle (a second great guide), castles and countryside under the umbrella of an “Outlander” tour (lovely and fun, great guide: Stephen of Edinburgh Black Car Tours), a seal watching boat tour (bad weather, unfortunately), a whisky distillery tour (fun), a tour of Rosslyn Castle (beautiful—both with Edinburgh Black Cars again), and the highlight, Isle of Skye on a 75-degree, sunny day (spectacular, and a great guide: Sandy Dear Tours).
We enjoyed several fine dinners. Notably, The Witchery in Edinburgh was reserved for us by our coordinator.
We feel we got a good first introduction to Scotland. Kimkim set us up with tour guides we never would have found on our own.
After booking two trips with them (Spain and Scotland), I feel that is their strength: finding guides that really know their areas and are personable and enthusiastic. We enjoyed our trip and, should we go back, have parts of the country we would like to visit in depth.
We will use kimkim for our next trip.

Hotel Reviews

Clayton Hotel

Glasgow

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

AC Hotel by Marriott Inverness

Inverness

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

The Corran

Onich

A self-check-in property. We did not receive the code before we arrived and had to contact our kimkim coordinator so waited a bit in the rain. The property is outside Fort William about a 20-minute taxi ride. Clean, a bit dated decor, not as convenient as we hoped given we did not have a car. Restaurant was closed, which we were not informed about prior to arriving, so we had to venture back and forth to the town to eat and to meet our boat tour. Overall, fine, but expensive and inconvenient.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Cleanliness & Comfort

Destiny Scotland - Distillers House

Edinburgh

Good location. The apartment had one bedroom with queen bed and a shower, plus an anteroom with queen bed off the living room, plus a full bath and full kitchen. Great for three of us, quite large, relatively quiet even though it’s on a busy corner. Easy to walk to a couple breakfast convenience stores and a couple pubs.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Amano Covent Garden

London

Clean, comfortable room for three travelers. Foldout bed was set up for us before we arrived, which was nice.

Authenticity & Character

Modern hotel was elegant and updated

Location

Easy to walk to sites

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Reviews

Seal Spotting Loch Linnhe Cruise

Scotland

The boat trip was interesting, with new information for us on salmon farming, Ben Nevis, and seal island. Unfortunately it was quite rainy and cold which limited how many seals happened to be out at the time. The tour commentator and crew were great.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Isle of Skye Tour including the Eilean Donan Castle, Portree and other attractions

Inverness

This tour was the highlight of our entire trip! Our guide, Sandy of Sandy Dear Tours, was great. We were out for about 10 hours, and we ran into very few people the entire day. I don’t know how he managed to put us in the right spots all day without running into tour busses. We were blessed with great weather, too. Very informative and truly breathtaking scenery made this our #1 event of our trip.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Sandy Dear was a great guide, comfortable large SUV, and responsive to our requests.

Transport

Rosslyn Chapel & Glenkinchie Distillery Private Tour

Edinburgh

The most beautiful castle we saw in Scotland. The brief lecture was interesting, too. Glenkinchie Distillery is a beautiful facility. The group we were with had a lot of fun and our guide was absolutely great. Highly recommended.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Our driver from Edinburgh Black Car Tours, Melvin, was such a gentleman, so kind.

Transport

Outlander Castle Tour

Edinburgh

Our guide, Stephen, made this tour great. Engaging, funny, responsive, we couldn’t have asked for a better experience. He spent a lot of time with us, showing us castles, ruins, towns (Culross was my favorite), graveyards, and the best pub for fish and chips for lunch. Highly recommend Edinburgh Black Car Tours.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Stephen was a fantastic guide.

Transport

Comfortable luxury car.

Private Edinburgh Castle Tour

Edinburgh

Great guide for our smallish (15) group from several countries. On a windy, rainy, day, he added insights, humor, and moved things along but in a comfortable way for our group of diverse ages (from toddler to seniors). We loved his stories and highly recommend him.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Edinburgh Old Town Tour

Edinburgh

Our guide, Robert, was terrific. Engaging, personable, he started by asking us what we were interested in: architecture, history, ??? He shared great stories, and shared insights into kilts, showed us a couple of Harry Potter sites, and recommended pubs. Great tour and guided introduction to Edinburgh. Do this first!

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Overall, happy with service.

Would have liked faster responsiveness to last minute inquiries or issue identifications.

Appreciate that response times depend on staff availability and local public holiday schedules. Suggest retaining backup coverage for these types of “real time” issues.

Best,

From the beginning of planning with Mayrem to the find drop off at the airport with Omar - the trip met all expectations. Yes, there were a couple of hiccups but that is to be expected with any foreign travel.
Fes: Omar quickly introduced himself and was extremely pleasant and accommodating. He provided many resources to us for our stay in Fes. Said was OUTSTANDING as a guide. He not only told us about the history of the country but also oriented us to life in Morocco and how Morocco was accepting of all people. His tour through the Medina and Mellah was complete! The accommodation here was tops!
Sefrou: Unfortunately the guide was just ok - he didn't take us to the places listed on our itinerary and that was what we really wanted to see. He did take us into a cave house which was cool but not what we wanted. His commentary was just average.
Casablanca: The drive to Casablanca with the stop in Volubis (sp?) was fabulous. The guide provided a lot of detail but was difficult at times to understand if he was not looking directly at us. In Casablanca the drive tour provided us an overview of the city. We asked Omar if we could add the Jewish museum and he agreed. He even went with us and provided some details about how the Jews and Berber traditions overlap. It was informative for all.
Marakkesh: Our guide, Mohammed was almost as good as Said. He provided enormous details about the history, culture and government like Said. The tour the first day through the gardens and YSL and Berber museums were wonderful. The tour through the Medina was carefully planned by Mohammed!

The tour wouldn't not have been as wonderful with Omar - I cannot say enough about how he made us at ease in each of the cities knowing he was right there. My SIL had left her ring in Fes and he coordinated having it delivered back to her in Marrakesh. He made recommendations for dinners and was agreeable to anything we asked. His driving was superb!

This was a vacation of a lifetime and I know I will use and recommend kim kim as a travel agent to anyone who asks for a recommendation. Morocco Immersion is a top notch agency and would recommend them as well.

Let me know if you have any follow-up questions or would like me to further comment.
Sincerely and warmly,
Melanie Wolf-Greenber and David Greenberg

I contacted Kimkim to help organize a long awaited family trip to Peru with my husband and 2 adult sons. We chose a 2 week vacation including Lima, Cusco, the Sacred Valley, Machu Picchu and the Amazon rainforest. We worked with Liz who helped us condense the 2 week trip into 10 days. We did everything we hoped to, including the one day hike on the Inca trail leading to Machu Picchu. Liz was great. She helped with every request and responded quickly each time.
The trip was so easy! We were met at the airport in Lima and taken to our hotel, picked up the next morning, taken to the airport for our flight to Cusco, and were picked up at the airport there and taken to our next adventure, and it continued that way through the whole trip. It was so nice not having to think about our transportation or accommodation. Many of our meals and tours were included. The local guides were great - David in the Sacred Valley, Angel on the Inca trail and Machu Picchu and Dennis in the rainforest. All were knowledgeable and well spoken and personable. They really made our trip special. I would not hesitate to recommend Kimkim to anyone.

We did three cities in Italy in just over a week with at least one structured guided tour in each stop. All of our tours were informative and interesting to us. I think our Venice tour surprised me the most. I enjoyed Venice but after walking around and sampling foods with our guide, I really appreciated how much of a low-key place Venice really is and our guide Gianni was accommodating and so easy to interact with.

As our specialist, Melanie, did a fantastic job keeping in touch as needed and also helping to make adjustments on the fly as plans can and will change. During our planning I hadn't thought too hard on what I call the spaces in between - getting to and from public transportation to our hotel and where to meet our guides. Melanie had all of that taken care of it made a world of difference in how relaxed I could be to enjoy the sites, sounds, and experiences without worrying about logistics and our next steps. We were able to BE in Italy and not just whirl winding from one thing to the next. I would absolutely do something like this again and if we make it to Italy again, hopefully Melanie can sort us out then too.

Hotel Review

Hotel Olimpia

Venice

The staff were lovely. We felt so welcomed. We had a mini-suite which was awesome for keeping luggage out of our way and a space we could move without feeling too cramped in smaller rooms (which is understandable in such an old city with limited expansion options). I LOVED the exterior shutters as a great insulator against noise and light as we came to terms with jet lag. The hotel's location was great for us. It's on a quiet canal, just off some busier streets and areas so we didn't feel like we were in the thick of things, but everything was accessible.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

The cleanliness was great. The shower is a little small if you're bigger or taller, but not unreasonable.

Activity Reviews

Amarone Wine Tour

Verona

Our driver/guide was so welcoming and kind. He did a great job of herding all 8 of us to two different wineries and letting us get to know each other. He was upfront with what he knew and what he didn't and was happy to try and get the information if possible. I felt appreciated.

Quality of Experience

I just felt appreciated and not just a tourist.

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Conversation, not just lectures.

Transport

It was actually nice to drive outside the city for a bit and the van was comfortable and clean.

Walking tour to discover the best of Venice with "Cicchetti " experience

Venice

Our guide asked us what we had seen already, which I appreciated. He was able to make some adjustments on the fly and get us out the busier, touristy areas to see more of the quiet side streets and canals, but still lots of historical information and a chance to sample some local fare. It felt more of a behind the scenes tour and a more intimate sharing of Venice.

Quality of Experience

Our tour was a conversation, not just a lecture.

Just returned from the Most Amazing Trip across Italy!

Sonia, John and I want to Thank You for putting such an Amazing trip together for us! Your communication and responsiveness are Outstanding! We are totally exhausted but are both smiling from the inside out! Barbara, our boots on the ground concierge, was fabulous! Each hotel was perfectly located and each had something special to offer! The drivers were punctual and courteous. And the tours, and their guides were Amazing! Our guide in Radda in Chianti, Francesco, was awesome! He rolled with the punches and made our day! It was great that he was also our traveling companions driver for their wine tour the following day. Also, it was great having the same driver for almost all events in Sorrento! Luigi helped make our entire visit to the area very special! We want you to know that the day we spent at the lemon farm/pizza making place was so worth it! The family run business, the people and the cheese! Bellissimo!
And, although I really had no desire to visit Rome, John did, and so it was…. For this I am grateful! What a spectacular place! Our city guide, Marina, was lovely! She has a true passion for her city! And our colosseum guide, Dennis, was equally as passionate for the history he shared with us! He actually made the gruesomeness of the history kind of fun! If thats possible 🙃… We highly recommend them both!

Glad to be home, but so happy to have shared a little bit of your beautiful country! Thank you for all of your time and effort! And especially your patience! We wish you well and will definitely recommend your services without hesitation!

Best and Warm Regards,
Barbara and John Salisbury
Salem, NY, USA

Raquel did an amazing job booking our trip! We were impressed with the quality and efficiency of the hotels and outings booked. All went smoothly and we were delighted with all of our guides. It was a perfect trip!

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

Transport

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.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

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.

Authenticity & Character

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.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Balloon Ride ( Subject to Weather conditions)

Jordan

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Petra By Candle Light

Jordan

Quality of Experience

Amman-Jarash-Ajloun-Amman city tour

Jordan

Quality of Experience

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

Transport

Meet & Assist - Queen Alia Airport

Jordan

Quality of Experience

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