Kimkim Trip Reviews

Connie was an incredible resource and understood our vision with our 2 young kids so well.
She brought it together with a care and attention to detail we appreciated.
Also, she shared her first hand experience being there.

When we ran into weather issues, she helped to sort out the issues.
We would use Kimkim again for any other itinerary.

Highly recommend!

Highly professional and responsive staff who did a great job recommending, arranging and coordinating hotels, ground transportation, excursions/guides and dining options. Everything was first class and when problems arose (and there were not many) they addressed them quickly and effectively. Would not have had nearly as good of an experience without the skill and support we received from kimkim.

Activity Review

A Scenic Ride Along the Grand Canal

Venice

The Marvels of the Grand Canal combined with a marvelous guide (Romy) made the this experience truly marvelous.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Our trip to Morocco was amazing. I would highly recommend using Kimkim travel .
Our guide and driver, Tarik, was very knowledgeable, professional and had a terrific personality. Tarik was always punctual and eager to please.
A highlight of the trip was camping and riding camels in the Sahara Desert.
We have beautiful memories of Morocco and the people!

The group we went with was Namibia Safari and tours. The vehicle they set us up with was fantastic. We self drove just over 3000km. We had one wasted night as we feel we didn’t need the stop in Caprivi East, we could have gone straight to Chobe.
Namibia safari and tours set us up with maps and gps and helped make everything very smooth. We lost the license plate off the back of the car and they had a replacement by the afternoon. They gave us lots of local advice about what to expect on the roads.

Hotel Reviews

Batonka Guest Lodge

Victoria Falls

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Chobe Safari Lodge

Kasane

Just seemed huge after all of the smaller quainter places in Namibia. Very commercial.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Camp Kwando

Kongola (Caprivi)

Authenticity & Character

The staff and the chef were fabulous

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Desert Homestead Lodge

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Shametu River Lodge

Divundu

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Onguma Bush Camp

Etosha National Park

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Etosha Safari Lodge

Okaukuejo

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Twyfelfontein Adventure Camp

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Swakopmund Luxury Suites

Swakopmund

No privacy at all in the bathroom space

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

The Elegant Guesthouse

Windhoek

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Review

Chobe Safari

Botswana

Botswana seems to have a lot more tourists than Namibia. There is a dignity switch from German tourists to American and British tourist ms when you cross the border. Botswana seems way more commercial. If you like business and to be taken care of, you’ll prefer it here.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Jane and her team planned a wonderful trip to England! We experience the beautiful countryside villages of the Cotswolds and London including the British Museum, Kew Gardens and Windsor Castle. The roadmap gave us personal time to enjoy the British culture and food while allowing us to explore beyond our scheduled activity.

Hotel Reviews

Hilton Garden Inn London Heathrow Airport

London

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

The Tower Hotel

London

Wonderful amenities and service!

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Noel Arms Hotel

Chipping Campden

A great place to rest and enjoy!

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

The Kings Arms

Stow-on-the-world

Very intimate and historical

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Henrietta House, a member of Radisson Individuals

Bath

Fun historical site!

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Reviews

Entry tickets to historic Kew Gardens

London

A world renowned garden! Unbelieveably beautiful.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Simply Windsor Castle - Afternoon Tour with transport

London

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Tickets to British Museum

London

Wow what a historical and important museum! It requires more time than we had planned!

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Hidcote Gardens Visit - Arts and Crafts inspired intricately designed spaces

United Kingdom

Just a beautiful place!

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Private transfer

United Kingdom

Cookie was great!! He was very flexible and helpful!

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Hop-on, Hop-off Bus

London

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Tour guide for walking lunch in Paris was Laura. She was amazing with her knowledge of the city and the food.

Hotel Review

Le 9Hotel Opera

Paris

Close to train station but very small rooms. It was clean and the breakfast we Ed had good.choices. Loved the croissants

Authenticity & Character

Location

Close to train and subway

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Reviews

Cabaret show at the Crazy Horse, with Champagne

Paris

Very talented dancers. Really enjoyed the show

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Unveiling Masterpieces at the Louvre Museum

Paris

So much history in the world’s largest museum where the Mona Lisa is held!

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Gourmet food tour in Saint-Germain-des-Prés

Paris

Laura was awesome!

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Seine river dinner cruise

Paris

The dinner cruise was first class. The foo, champagne and wine was excellent!!!

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

The trip was one of the best I have been on - and I have visited 50 countries. I usually do organized trips with small operators. It was great to experience a customized trip for our small group. Ed did a great job helping us organize our trip and Margil was a very good driver and guide. It was great to be picked up by both at the airport. A couple of suggestions:

1. A list of activities / plan for Tirana so no double tracking on sites already visited on our own.
2. Restaurant suggestions were a bit off - especially dinner on second night - a bit far from hotel and we were taken to a restaurant for a large lunch.
3. Guide should wait more for entire group to catch up before giving information on sites.

Will recommend KimKim and Drive Albania to my traveler community.

Hotel Reviews

Hotel Panorama Kruje

Krujë

Great location close to old bazar and castle. Great restaurant!

Authenticity & Character

Location

Look

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Hotel Riviera

Himare

Nice hotel! Rooms a bit dark.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Hotel Musée

Gjirokastra

Beautiful traditional Albanian house converted to hotel! Fabulous hosts!

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Art Hotel Rruga Kavaja

Great breakfast options! Centrally located.

Authenticity & Character

Great art on the walls!

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Reviews

Gjirokastra - Exploring Albania's "Stone City"

Gjirokastra

Excellent overview of the castle.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Tirana - Welcome to Albania's Chaotic Capital!

Tirana

A clearer itinerary for our time in the city would have been better so we could plan things we would do on our own.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Kimkim made my honeymoon in Costa Rica so easy to plan, and so easy to glide through wonderful experiences, the majority of which they planned. We did not worry about a single thing, outside of excursions we planned ourselves once in country. Even then, all of the operators and hotels booked by Olman were extremely helpful and made every experience awesome. Highly recommend the Costa Rica adventures and Olman.

Hotel Review

Tabacón Thermal Resort & Spa

Fortuna

Spectacular resort with amazing amenities, experiences and service.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Review

San José - Arenal - Visit to La Paz Waterfall & Gardens

Costa Rica

For nature lovers, the La Paz conservancy was a perfect introduction to the biodiversity of Costa Rica. The waterfalls are absolutely stunning as well. The conservancy has one of the best frog exhibits I've ever seen!

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

"Thank you, Tina." These are the words my daughter and I said throughout our amazing Croatia Trip. Tina was our KimKim agent.
From the beginning, Tina asked questions and made suggestions that were clearly in line with our interests, schedule, and budget. From lodgings, to excursions, to recommended wanderings, it was all perfect.
While on the trip, Tina responded immediately to last minute questions (how much to tip??) with clear and encouraging advice.
We loved every bit of the trip but our favorite experiences were the Truffle Hunting in Istria and the sailboat adventure in the Zadar Archipelago. We finished the trip with a couple of lazy days in Split and Zagreb where we were able to wander and learn about the local community.
To quote my daughter (26 years old), "trip of a lifetime!"

10 Days, Casablanca - Rabat - Fes - Merzouga - Ait Benhaddou - Imlil - Essaouira - Marrekech. Single traveler.

Booking through Kimkim was probably the best thing I did for this trip. While going at it alone is quite the adventure, Kimkim can give you the tailored itinerary that you're looking for. They pair you up with local guides who are there to please. What you gain through this is a wealth of experience the guides have, that you more than likely don't enabling you to see more, feel fulfilled in your adventure, and make your trip easy and enjoyable. It's you and the guide cruising around Morocco stopping where you want and making on-the-fly adjustments to the itinerary as you see fit. Even better is if you came up with a suggestion, they would give their recommendation on it based on what your overall goal was for the trip. So not only are you tailoring the trip to what you want in real-time, but you're also getting expert suggestions, maximizing the experience. The coolest feeling was skipping the massive amount of tour groups and getting into other places they could not get to or being on your own timeline instead of being in a rush or being delayed.

Next is the guide. When you book through Kimkim they connect you with a local guide agency which will then pair you with a guide that will take you everywhere on your itinerary. From start to finish, that guide is with you. My guide for this trip was Mouad; this dude was awesome. He is definitely a people person and can read someone well which is important in understanding what exactly you want from the trip. I'm normally an introverted person so connecting with people can sometimes be difficult, but not with Mouad. I cannot count how many enjoyable experiences we had exchanging stories on cultural similarities and differences, joking around while getting a private tour of a casbah, or just sharing a good meal with one another. Another important detail is he was able to read when my social battery was running on empty and was able to take a step back to let me recharge and be in solitude without me saying anything. He is an exceptional guide that is a true professional in his craft. I cannot recommend him enough. Another piece to this is the network of people and resources he has. Any town you go to, if you needed something, needed to go somewhere specific, or wanted to do something different Mouad was able to make it happen. This is something you absolutely will not get going alone, or with a large tour company. Lastly, as a testament to the true professional Mouad is, he invited me into his home with his family to enjoy a mid-afternoon snack and be in the company his family. While leaving the Sahara I mentioned I wanted to get a haircut. At that time we were getting into the town where him and his family were living. So he arranged for his barber to meet us at his shop at the last minute. Because of this, there was going to be a wait, so he took me into his home where his delightful mother brewed some delicious tea and attempted to feed me until I couldn't eat and I exchanged a few short stories with his parents. They were extremely welcoming and really sealed in that unique experience I was looking for. Because I did not want to delay the timeline too long with an impromptu haircut, I decided to forego the Saharan haircut, but the memories I made with Mouad and his family will be one for the books. I could go on about how awesome Mouad is but the bare minimum you need to know is if you're going to Morocco, you need to use this guy. You will not regret it.

Once again KimKim has come through with an amazing trip! Our local specialist in Vietnam, Doris, designed a perfect 15 day family adventure in Vietnam and Cambodia. Doris filled our journey with excursions and experiences that perfectly balanced nature, culture, history and local life. We were able to enjoy both the bustling cities and the remote countryside villages of this beautiful country and meet artisans and locals along the way. We always felt warmly welcomed by our various local guides, and we also had plenty of time to explore on our own, with Doris on call with we had any questions or needed advice. We loved every place and every experience on land and water from riding on the back of motorbikes through the truly local areas of Ho Chi Minh City to wandering the winding alleys of old Hanoi, to riding in army jeeps past water buffalo and water lotus in the countryside of Hoi An, to exploring the jaw dropping ancient temples of Siem Reap. It was truly the trip of a lifetime.

Very happy with Kimkim service. Our trip to the Philippines was made special. Leo planned everything according to our budget . Allowing time for us to chill and rest when needed so Everything was planned perfectly well. All our guides were very nice and friendly. The drivers tours and guides were always on time. Also our guide kept in touch to make sure all was going well. The hotels chosen all had good standard. All our day tours for the island hopping were amazing. I highly recommend kimkim for their professional services! Definitely five stars ⭐️

Marisa was incredible to work with! We really appreciated how thoughtfully and intentionally she planned our stays at three different hotels across the island. She recommended delicious restaurants and beautiful hotels. Also, she quickly rescheduled one of our excursions at the last minute due to my screw-up. Marisa and her team sent a bottle of champagne and dessert to our hotel room after dinner on our anniversary! I couldn't recommend her more. Thank you so much, Marisa!

Hotel Reviews

Terra Nostra Garden Hotel

Furnas

Authenticity & Character

Location

The hotel backs up to the Parque Terra Nostra and all hotel guests have free access to visit the park and hot springs. It was beautiful!

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Octant Ponta Delgada

Ponta Delgada

I LOVED this hotel! Beautiful modern interiors, Class A amenities, friendly staff, gorgeous views, large and comfortable rooms, delicious food and wine, etc. We enjoyed getting drinks at the rooftop bar by the pool and had a great experience at the luxury spa. 12/10 would recommend.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Caloura Hotel Resort

The front desk staff was not friendly or welcoming, and the hotel was very hot, humid, and outdated. However, the views were beautiful.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Reviews

Exploring the Majesty of the Seas on a Group Whale Watching Experience

São Miguel Island

So glad we booked a whale watching trip! We saw dolphins, orcas, and 3 giant Sei whales. So cool!

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

To Eat Suggestion: Tã Gente

the Azores

Good food and fun drinks with outdoor seating downtown.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

To Eat Suggestion: Santa Barbara Eco Resort

the Azores

The food was phenomenal

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

This was a most pleasing, entertaining and and well organized trip. The Tour operator KimKim did a fabulous job for us. The driver and both the guides had exceptional knowledge and insight about the Sites they were showing. Abu Jalil our driver was very accommodating and helped us complete the tour very comfortably.

KimKim has done an exception job in executing this tour for us. we would recommend them to all our friends in the US.

Thank you KImkim

A big shout out to Marianna! She was amazing specialist and worked hard to make this Trip my family. I went back-and-forth with her on the phone and email so many times and she was patient and kind with all my revisions when we got the final draft she made sure we understood everything sending us a video on how to use the itinerary truly amazing!
Each person in our family had a special moment that could’ve been done without her! My 16-year-old daughter’s highlight was going to vintage Bentley. She was able to be a passenger in a 1929 Bentley and race around the track in it!!! We had a great private Tour of the Garage with a restore Bentleys! This was a dream come true for her!
My husband had the time of his life driven around Paris in an antique car! Their driver was the owner of the company and took us to so many interesting out-of-the-way stops ! His knowledge was impeccable. I don’t know his name, but he was the owner of the company. I would use him again. If I went back to Paris he was just amazing with his knowledge wonderful sense of humor and skill of driving ! Four stars for this activity !
My 17-year-old son highlight was going to the Black Country Museum in Birmingham. It It is worth a day trip out of London! Is ranked one of the best living museums in the world and my family agrees! The people on character are spot on and share sooo much history ! This place Kept two teenagers, engaged all day while learning!!! The coal mine tower is a definite must do! My daughter loved that she got to see the set for Peaky Blinders!
Amsterdam is a city we plan on going back to as we all loved it! The tour of the windmills cheese factory , wooden shoes ( Yes, my son brought home a pair of wooden shoes and wore to school when we got home) and walking tours of cute towns was a good overview of Holland! We just wish it was a longer tour as at times we were rushed! But the camel tour at the end was a perfect ending! Great captain with a wonderful sense of humor! The only glitch was the tickets had one meeting place on them and the itinerary had another! But we did catch up with the tour!
One last shout out to Oscar our guide on the London donut tour! He was wonderful! Heated the tour to our needs and interests! We felt like we had a new friend when we left him! He told us to call him anytime we were in London, and he would help us with anything even after the tour! I really fun tour that is relaxing and you’ll be stuffed afterwards. Well worth it for its quirkiness.
Our Doctor Who tour was a little bit of a disappointment! The guide, giving it was a movie director and gave more information about directing movies than Doctor Who trivia, which is what we really wanted! Nice and knowledgeable, but not what we were looking for. I would recommend another tour company for this.!
Can’t wait to use your company again as this is the second time I have used them and everything is always spot on! Thank you again for making my daughter sweet 16 trip so memorable!

Hotel Reviews

The Grand Hotel Birgmingham

Birmingham

Great location

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Trebovir Hotel

Kensington, London

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Reviews

Tickets to Anne Franck's House

Amsterdam

Must do!

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Private driver transfer

Amsterdam

Quality of Experience

lol

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Visit of Cadbury World

Birmingham

Fun family activity!

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Private transfer to your destination

England

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Dutch countryside tour - windmills and more!

Amsterdam

Wish tour was longer and could have more times at stops

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Discover Paris in a vintage car

Paris

Best guide ever! The owner of the company is an Amazing guide! He takes you to so many out of the way places that are priceless!! Best guide ever

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

London Borough Market Doughnut Tour

London

Fun and yummy tour! Learned a lot of London history as well tour totally catered to our likes and dislikes and interests

Quality of Experience

Oscar the guide was fantastic

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Knowledgeable, helpful, friendly funny, just perfect and every way

Private transfer to your accommodation. Then check-in or bag-drop

London

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Tickets to British Museum

London

Must do in London

Quality of Experience

Doctor Who Tour London

London

Not the type of tour we wanted! Would of enjoyed more trivia not cinematography knowledge

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Hop-on, Hop-off Bus

London

Great way to see the city wish you had live guide

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Live guide

Transport

Private transfer in Paris

Paris

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

My husband and brother in law teamed up on planning this trip with KimKim support and their close coordination with Clothilde was essential. The hotels were well located and for the most part the service staff were charming and kind. Our guides and drivers: Fernando in Zurich, Mateo in InterLaken, and the 2 gentlemen from Zermatt to Geneva (from Alps transfer) were prompt, knowledgeable, and engaging, as was Aude who was beyond kind. The concierges at Lucerne- Patrick, Isabelle and their colleagues gave us excellent recommendations to spend our time in the lovely city and where to dine for an authentic experience.
Some suggestions on improved communication:
1. emails - when informing customers of changes, it would help to specify what items have been changed in the body of the email itself, rather than have the customer check the 11 page itinerary against the last version, for what could possibly have changed. for example, "Dear Customer, we are enclosing an updated itinerary with the following changes:
page 1 paragraph 2 line 4, Please note that pick up time has changed as the local tour company does not have availability at 10:00 am. Instead, your local city tour will start at 2:00 PM pm on the same day."
2. for airport pickups it might help to instruct travelers about specific locations to meet drivers - our pickup was on the lookout at one end of the airport and we were at another. It could help to be specific - "upon exit from the double doors take the exit to the left where your pick up will meet you next to the cafe illy sign (example)". It would save time and the cost of calls.
3. Inconsistencies between itinerary and vouchers based on last minute changes between the company, its distributors or local contacts need to be coordinated by you and not your customer as that is an expected part of service.
4. The hotel Bristol was wonderfully located and was clean and offered excellent value. The lady in registration expected us to have signed in online but that expectation was not communicated to us ahead of time. The pad offered to accomplish the online check in was nonfunctional and the staff's frustration with the technology reflected in their treatment of the guests. Our pick up was scheduled for 9 am, but we were told we were late at 8:30 - it turns out our driver had also just called them to inform them they would be at the pick up at exactly 9 am. We objected to a drop off at the train station as we needed to meet our driver at the pick up for private vehicles. This showed a clear lack of coordination unexpected of a professionally run travel outfit.
These minor irritations are all fixable with personal attention, interest and care. We are hopeful KimKim can address these issues .

The trip was very well planned out. We appreciate all the effort provided by the driver, the guides, Ravi and Aditya. Thank you!!!

Our tour guide of Marrakesh was excellent. She was very knowledgeable and interesting.

Our driver Ayoub was outstanding. He was friendly and professional, always on time and very pleasant. He shared his love of Morocco with us.

Our guide Reda was the best, very knowledgeable about local culture as well as being extremely fluent in English. He’s an excellent driver. I highly recommend Original Travels for anyone who wants to see the best of Morocco. We’ve even met Saïd and his family in the desert campsite. He was extremely friendly. My wife and I will be back to Morocco again, and for sure will use Original Travels.

Mariliza our tour curator was amazing. She was in contact with us the entire time with reminders, checking on weather in advance ro ensure transport schedule continues.