Kimkim Trip Reviews

The trip was wonderful and memorable. Organized, on time, well planned with amazing guides throughout. I am going to be a lifetime Kimkim client. Your planing and services surpassed my expectation.
Luis in Bogota, Sergio in Amazon region, Claudia in Medellin and Kaley in Cartagena were amazing , knowledge able about the area. They went above and beyond to make our experience even more special.

This was our first trip to Europe and we were traveling with our children, ages 11 & 9. Jane and her team could not have been more amazing. Before our trip we met and communicated about our interested and they designed an itinerary that matched our specific family needs. Even the details of where we stayed included our children's interest in Harry Potter. The team designed a trip that was well rounded to meet every individual wants and needs.

When the time came to travel we had very specific directions and timetables of what to do and when. Our tickets were all in an easy to access location as well. When we ran into a snag (completely caused by us), the team was there on a Sunday to help us solve the problem. Jane also checked in with us throughout our week there.

I think our favorite tour was the all day bus tour to Windsor, Bath and Stonehenge. Our guide Toby was fantastic and managed a large group very well.

Another favorite was the Harry Potter Tour in Edinburgh with Kieran. He was knowledgeable, fun and engaging for both kids and adults.

I would absolutely use Kim Kim and Jane again when we return to Europe in the future.

Activity Reviews

Harry Potter Guided Walking Tour

Edinburgh

Kieran was fantastic with our children and the adults. We all thoroughly enjoyed this tour.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Afternoon Tea at the Edinburgh Castle

Edinburgh

This was planned for our daughter but our whole family completely enjoyed the experience and the food.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Windsor, Stonehenge & Bath from London

London

This tour was fantastic and our guide, Toby was wonderful. He was knowledgeable about each stop and very helpful. He also did a good job keeping some disrespectful tourists in line so the rest of us could enjoy our time.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Toby was fantastic.

Transport

Hop-on, Hop-off Bus

London

This was a fantastic way to see so much of London in a short amount of time.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Saran was a gem that I found on the website. It was a trip for a family of 3, we had our 21 year old daughter with us. So it had to be the right balance of free time vs arranged tours.. Sarah created a great itinerary that even our daughter said, ok this is not bad 😭. But kidding aside, Sarah patiently changed the itinerary and listened to my needs. She was also available all the time on what’s up when I was asking her questions. Everything was arranged to perfection. We loved Croatia and will be back with our friends !!

It was a very remarkable trip. Everything was planned out perfectly. All the people who had been there for us were very nice and friendly.
Patrica was always available to answer any questions we had.

We had a great trip to South Korea planned by Jessica. She provided a lot of options for activities in each city and made helpful suggestions for things to do and places to go during our free time. She also checked in with us during the trip to see how our day went, and how each of the local guides did.
The local guides were, for the most part, very accommodating to our needs. Jessica provided us with some of their names and phone numbers in advance. But two of them were substituted at the last minute - "Jake" became "James" in Seoul and "Kevin" became "Jake" in Busan. The KimKim website says that their local guides all have years of experience, but Jake told us that he had just started guiding and we were his second tour ever. James' English wasn't that great, so he didn't understand some of the questions that I asked. Clover, our guide in Jeju, was terrific. She modified the tour to our interests and was very easy to chat with. I'm not sure we would have purchased a private day tour of the DMZ had we known that there was a mandatory bus within the DMZ area that all tour groups had to use. Jones, our guide, was very nice, but he probably should have warned us that the walk down (and back) from the Infiltration Tunnel was VERY long and steep. (We probably would have skipped it, had we known.)
Some of the communication between KimKim and the local guides could have been improved. In one case, the guide didn't realize that the admission to the observation deck of the tower was included, so we paid for our (and his) admission fees, since we wanted to go up to see the view. Later, when I was recapping the day's events to Jessica, I told her that we paid for the admission fees. She told me that the admissions were included in the price that I paid KimKim, so KimKim promptly refunded that amount to me.
Overall, I'd say that KimKim is a useful service for people who are traveling to another country for the first time and don't want to do all the research on their own to figure out where to visit and what to see (or even how to find a private tour).

I would absolutely recommend to friends kimkim to help plan their trips. Paula was an amazing resource and helped us tremendously in navigating all of the areas we wanted to see while in Australia. Her planning helped us be stress free and helped make this a great experience for us. All aspects of the itinerary worked as planned (car services; tours; hotel check ins; etc). Highly recommend using Kimkim when you are trying to plan a trip for 3 weeks in a place you have never been.

The trip was great. Everything was very easy to do and follow. One of the things that made it incredibly easy were the day trip plans set by Hanna - we never questioned where we were headed as all we had to do was click a link and we had all our directions preloaded in google maps.

The main reason for this trip was to see the Northern Lights ( bucket list), knowing it might not happen however the first four nights in Iceland I was gifted with sightings! The itinerary Rinolda put together for me was incredible, amazing, awesome! She really listened to my wants and made my adventure all that we talked about and more! Just one hiccup with one of my tours and it was me not giving the correct means of contacting me for directions but Rinolda took care of the miss communication and got me on the tour the next day, again outstanding! This was my first time on a self drive tour and the car was fast and easy and ready when I got to the rental company. My accommodations were outstanding, comfortable and the staff and owners were super nice, friendly and very helpful. Iceland is a beautiful country and its people are wonderful. So much diversity from volcanos to glaciers and all the waterfalls and geography, the history and the weather made for one of my top five vacations and I’ve been to many wonderful places! All and all Kimkim was a great find in my research for an Iceland adventure and will use them again and again for other places and countries. I went in November and will definitely use Kimkim again for a summer adventure in Iceland!

Hotel Reviews

Hestakrain Guesthouse

Selfoss

The owner was delightful, the guesthouse is on a horse farm and watching and listening to the horses was so soothing .

Authenticity & Character

Had a hot tub on the back porch to star gaze and watch the Northern Lights!

Location

On a horse farm!

Staff

Very accommodating.

Cleanliness & Comfort

Rooms were rustic just the way I like and all was very clean.

Hotel Langaholt

Stadarstadur

Great staff, amazing breakfast (included) and had dinner one night and was so very good! The rooms were very clean and comfortable. I would highly recommend and would stay there again.

Authenticity & Character

Easy to find and remote in the best way!

Location

Was my first night in Iceland and saw the Northern Lights!

Staff

The chef was really great and all were so nice and friendly.

Cleanliness & Comfort

Rooms and the bed was awesome!

Activity Reviews

Víðgelmir Lava Cave Experience

Iceland

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Dog Sledding

Iceland

Ok my favorite part is the dogs! So beautiful sweet friendly to me and I wanted to take them all home with me! The hides and staff were great too!

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Local specialist: Paula was excellent. She researched and provided us with all our requests for the perfect Australian vacation. I was especially impressed with all the transfers that were organized. Not one driver was late and they were very professional. The assistance she provided with reserving our flights while in Australia was also awesome. Paula even answered some of our questions during our trip which was super helpful.

Trip highlights:
The Great Ocean Road tour was fantastic. Our guide was Bronson and he was well versed on the local history, culture, wildlife, etc.

The LimoCentral driver that took us to Yarra Valley was great. He was very flexible as we asked him to make an extra stop at a winery.

Uluru A Night at Field of Light was fantastic!!!! So amazing to wander through the outback amongst the art display.
I wished I had more time to hike around Ayers Rock.

Cairns- The Reef Magic was really neat and one/two dives was excellent. The currents were really strong for the second dive and almost every person in our party got sick during the trip. Should recommend to use a scopolamine patch or meclizine for motion sickness prevention.

The Daintree River Cruise was so interesting. Learning about crocodiles in the wild was so unreal.

The Blue Mountain Tour was great and led my Matt. He was so well informed and all his knowledge really added to the experience. Sadly, it was foggy that day, but Matt made the time enjoyable.

The best experience we had was the Sydney Harbor Cruise. What an amazing way to close out two weeks (despite it raining all the days we were in Sydney).

Considerations for others using Kimkim:
Make sure you give specifics to the trip planner. They cannot read your mind and ask questions once tours get scheduled. One example of something that would have been nice would have been to have more private tours just with our group. We did not think to ask for that and planner would not have known.

Laundry- would have been nice to know that we would have laundry facilities at most of our accommodations. I would have packed less clothes. We had laundry facilities at 3 or 4 accommodations. I am not complaining because it was a pleasant surprise to see the laundry facilities.

Overall, the Kimkim experience was excellent and I look forward to using Kimkim on future trips.

Hotel Reviews

Amora Hotel Jamison Sydney

Sydney

This was a very nice hotel. The rooms were impeccable. They had showers and a separate bathe which was nice. The wifi was did not reach our room which was one complaint we had. We also had a bad experience at the Brooksy. The manager on site ran after us because he thought we walked our bill. This was not the case. He realized his error but it was very off putting. The bar tender at the Silo made up for him.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Clarion Suites Gateway

Melbourne

Was centrally located and we had a fantastic view from our room of the river. They have an amazing fire show every night that was cool to watch from our balcony. Our room had a washer/dryer. We had 3 people, and the laundry was not available in the rooms for 2 guests. We arrived very early and the front desk was helpful in keeping our bags and taking them to our rooms when we arrived once the room was ready.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Near good restaurants and a good view

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Desert Gardens Hotel

Yulara

They have free laundry facilities which was helpful. walking distance to a grocery store and easy to get around the are from the hotel.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

We had ants in our bed and the staff quickly changed us to another room.

Mantra Esplanade

Cairns

Location was perfect and walking distance to anything we needed. The staff was nice and let us know to become a member of the hotel chain and we would receive a complementary breakfast. The day we left our flight our ride was at noon and checkout was at 10AM. We were not able to have a late checkout because it was Labor Day,

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Reviews

Full Day Blue Mountains Deluxe Day

Sydney

Matt was great. Enjoyed driving around to all the sights. The lunch was good.

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Full Day Outer Reef + 2 Certified Dives (all equipment included)

Australia

The Reef Magic was super neat. Had many different activities at one area. The marine biologists also gave talks which was super interesting. Also enjoyed the didgeridoo performance and experience.

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

A Night at Field of Light

Uluru

A must do experience in Uluru

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Private VIP Healsville Sanctuary Tour

Melbourne

Steph was a fantastic guide.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Full-Day Great Ocean Road Trip

Melbourne

Bronson was a great tour guide. The lunch at Apollo Bay was great.

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Would have been nice if they could have picked us up at our hotel

We loved our trip to Switzerland and Valentine did a fantastic job planning the trip and supporting us.

Our favorite was a six hour e-bike trip from Interlaken to the Lauterbrunnen Valley known as the valley of 72 waterfalls. Effortless pedaling and non stop beautiful scenery.

Also Grindelwald was amazingly beautiful. The country is so clean and the engineering is incredible. Swiss buildings actually enhance not detract from the natural beauty of the country.

Activity Review

E-bike tour Lauterbrunnen & Valley of 72 Waterfalls

Switzerland

Do this for sure!!

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

It was very easy to follow the itinerary and choose sites and options that were of interest to us. Great directions. A wonderful adventure.

Hotel Reviews

Hotel Katla by Keahotels

Vík

Litli Geysir Hotel

Haukadalur

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Alva Hotel Brautarholt

Reykjavík

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

All self check-in, no staff but available by phone

Cleanliness & Comfort

Under renovation so lobby all torn up

Fosshótel Reykholt

Reykholt

Fosshotel Hellnar

Hellnar

Hotel Laugarbakki

Laugarbakki

Vogafjós Farm Resort

Myvatn

Árnanes Country Hotel

Höfn

Hotel Hallormsstadur

Egilsstadir

Activity Reviews

Katla Ice Cave

Iceland

Absolutely gorgeous scenery. The walk was slippery, but crampons helped.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Guide was very knowledgeable and experienced with this environment. Good summary and explanation of what we were seeing and driving through.

Transport

Vidgelmir cave guided tour

Iceland

Fascinating environment; excellent tour guide. Early in the spring so path was very icy in parts.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

The Geothermal Vok Baths

Iceland

Water is fresh and the highlight is being able to move from the hot bath into the cold lake and back with ease.

Rye Bread tour (Geothermal bakery)

Iceland

Very interesting to see the process, but a very short tour.

Pedro was awesome! He contacted us daily while we were in Portugal to make sure everything was OK and to give us our schedule for the next day. He was very accommodating when we decided to change things halfway through.
Our driver, Pepe, also was very accommodating. His recommendations for dinner and lunch were excellent!
I highly recommend Kim Kim and Pedro if you’re planning a trip to Portugal!!!🇵🇹 .

We were very pleased with the planning KimKim did for our trip through Norway. During the initial planning, Maria was extremely helpful and responsive. She put together an itinerary that covered many of the things that we sought to accomplish. Once the trip was established, Fenne became our more frequent client service contact. She was professional and helpful throughout.

Communications with Maria and Fenne were generally quickly answered, although there were one or two instances where we needed to follow-up to get a question answered. The documentation in the trip details was generally quite complete and helpful - although I think that an app would be a much better way for clients to organize and implement their travels and store all of the documents/tickets required.

A couple of suggestions for KimKim:
1) Build an app instead of relying on website itinerary - would be much more user friendly.
2) While all of the adventure companies we used during the trip were terrific, they often did not have our email addresses and therefore only could communicate with KimKim. This almost caused us to miss a briefing before the Trolltunga hike - as the company didn't inform/remind us about it and the details.
3) While KimKim didn't arrange a rental car for us, there were aspects of our trip that a local agent's perspective would have been beneficial (the itinerary told us to rent a car for the entire trip). As an example, we rented the car for the almost entire 12 days of our trip. However, we really didn't need the car for the first two days in Bergen (and it was a hassle) and, more importantly, we probably should have returned our car once we reached Stavanger where we stayed for three days and not only didn't need the car there because of all of the planned activities - but parking was expensive while the car sat there and the drive to Oslo from there was long and we would have done much better with the train.

Hope that these are helpful - we would definitely consider using KimKim again for a trip in the future.

Activity Reviews

Øygarden Kayaking Excursion with Island Lunch

Bergen

Really appreciated the kayak trip. The scenery was great and the trip leaders were terrific!

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Oslo private tour

Oslo

A great introduction to Oslo! Christine was terrific and extremely knowledgable about history, art, geography and politics. She was also quite flexible when we asked to make a quick visit to the Munch Museum part of the tour. Loved this.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Christine was awesome!

Fjord Cruise & Seafood Dining Experience

Bergen

Surprisingly wonderful. We thought that this would be very touristy (and it is) but the boat ride to the restaurant is lovely and the food was delicious. It's quite expensive though.

Quality of Experience

Transport

Preikestolen Hidden Trail Hike & Canoeing Adventure

Stavanger

Preikestolen is a gorgeous outlook -- awesome. But, I can't imagine hiking there on the main trail because of the crowds of people (witness the large number of tour buses parked in the lot). This 'Hidden Trail' is spectacular and we didn't see anyone until just before arriving at Preikestolen - nor on the way down. It is a challenging hike (much harder than the main trail) and significantly longer (~9 miles vs 5). But truly worth it and our guides (Allen with Terry as an apprentice) were terrific.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Trolltunga Winter

Odda

Loved this hike and the guides/company were terrific! It was challenging and long, but so rewarding!

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Excellent experience with Kim Kim. Our planner, Berat, was very helpful and responsive. All the transfers and bookings were planned without glitches. Our guides, Volkan and Hatice were most knowledgeable and accommodating. Unfortunately, the weather did not cooperate with us while in Kapadokya and could not fly the balloons but nevertheless the visit to Türkiye was most interesting and enjoyable! Kudos to everyone!! Jose ( Tito)

Hotel Reviews

Millstone Cave Suites

Authenticity & Character

Very unique hotel. Really captures the character if Kapadokya.

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

There was a little bit of mal odor coming from what I believe was the sanitary sewer vent. Also, for some reason, the last night there was a string smell of burning wood coming into the room. This was room 106.

Nisanyan Houses

Selçuk

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

The Bank Hotel

Istanbul

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Reviews

Cooking Workshop at Nisanyan Houses

Şirince

Lots of fun!!

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Visiting Göreme Open Air Museum (UNESCO World Heritage)

Cappadocia

Amazing place!!!!

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Discover Priene: A beautiful ancient Ionian town

Turkey

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Şirince: A Guided Stroll in a beautiful Aegean Village

Şirince

Lovely little village.

Wine Pairing Menu at Yedi Bilgeler Vineyard

Turkey

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Explore the Ancient City of Ephesus

Turkey

Amazing historical place!

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

İstanbul

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Private Boat Tour on the Bosphorus

İstanbul

Very nice boat! Excellent Service.

Discover Byzantine + Ottoman Istanbul

İstanbul

Do not schedule this activity on International Workers Day.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Food Tour in Istanbul

İstanbul

Thought we would go on a “tour” but Volkan took us to just one place to try different dishes.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

lo

Transport

We have never been into joining tours. There is absolutely nothing wrong with them & they are especially good for those pressed for time & who want to see as much as possible. We have always enjoyed discovering places on our own & in our own time so there was an element of apprehension when I booked our 1 week in Hanoi.
Well it was nothing short of wonderful. From the moment we arrived till the minute we were dropped off at the airport, we were in the best hands possible. Our guide Binh & our driver also called Binh made sure we wanted for nothing. They were always punctual & cheerful. The car was always freshly stocked with bottles of water & Bihn the driver was always making sure the air conditioning was the way we wanted it. Hotels were luxury grade, the meals planned were delicious (my only complaint being there was always too much good food😁)& Bihn our guide made sure we saw as much as we could & was chock full of information regarding the places we visited. The highlight for us was Ha Long bay on the Indochine which was highly recommended by the travel agency.
The local travel agency through Nguyen messaged us 3 times during the week to ask how we were doing & called us today as we were driving to the airport to say goodbye.
I have to give credit to Trang & Kimkim travels through whom I booked. I would use them again without hesitation. They asked me what I wanted, listened carefully & they delivered.
Loved Hanoi, the people, the places, the food, the warmth & the hospitality. 🙏❤️
https://www.kimkim.com

From the initial planning to the actual holiday I cannot fault the effort put into our trip. Alec was a pleasure to deal with and organized our trip extremely well offering recommendations and advise throughout. Everything went to plan without one hitch. Hotel chosen were excellent, transportation great and excursions fantastic.

This trip was fantastic! We had 4 days and wanted to maximize our time. Amandine was fantastic in planning realistic itineraries that allowed us to see as much as possible. The museums were gorgeous, food fantastic, and all of our tours were so fun. I could not have asked for a better trip. Would 100% recommend KimKim and Amandine to anyone traveling to France.

Our trip planning was extremely smooth and easy. We wanted to balance city exploration with experiences in country side, exploring local villages and exploring outdoors through activities such as walks, hikes, bikes rides, kayaking with lots of downtime as well. Our travel agent arranged a private tour with our own guide and driver. Every detail was arranged and handled. The trip went extremely smoothly. During our trip there was a historic heatwave that made parts of the program challenging but they handled these challenges smoothly and modified time or small details to ensure our comfort but without compromising the value. We appreciated the warm, hospitality, friendliness, and knowledge that our team shared with us.

Hotel Reviews

Victory Star Cruise

Hanoi

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Tam Coc Retreat

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Pu Luông Natura Bungalows

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Mai Chau Villas

Authenticity & Character

Has all the amenities of a resort with the charm and village location of a home stay. Location was perfect for biking/walking around villages, visiting farm stand, or relaxing. Meals are home cooked and delicious. The cabins are beautiful and spacious.

Location

Staff

Still has the feel of a family owned establishment. They were friendly, kind, and attentive

Cleanliness & Comfort

Sunline Hotel

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Reviews

Halong Bay - Hanoi

Vietnam

Pu Luong - Ninh Binh: Visit Hoa Lu & Tam Coc Boat Trip

Vietnam

Ninh Binh - Halong Bay Cruise - Overnight on boat

Ha Long Bay

Hanoi - Mai Chau

Mai Chau

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

We could not be happier with the service we received. From the start, Nicholas was attentive and communicative, providing valuable feedback as we built our itinerary. We had lots of ideas of what we wanted to do, and he helped us organize them in such a way that maximized both our experiences and our time, while offering suggestions that complimented our goals. Where we had pre-booked travel and experiences, Nicholas seamlessly integrated them into our itinerary. And for the bookings we made with him, where possible, upgrades were offered that significantly enhanced our trip. Our itinerary was clearly presented, with the names and phone numbers of our guides to facilitate our communication. Moreover, the support we received from Nicholas while in Peru was immediate and effective.

Our guides, Nancy, Cesar, and Antonio, were always timely, always engaging, and they were all empowered to help us refine our itinerary further, based upon their own knowledge and experience, and our requests. That level of care and commitment was a true showing of their interest in us, and of their personal pride, both in their roles as guides, and as representatives of their respective cities. Our drivers were personable and safe, as well.

In sum, KimKim was a phenomenal resource to help us put together a memorable Peru experience!

Hotel Reviews

Colca Lodge

Cercado, Yanque

This is a popular hotel in the Colca Canyon. We booked it particularly for the hot springs and the spa, both of which were nice, the hot springs more so than the spa. The restaurant is very good, serving a full breakfast and offering local dishes for dinner. The staff were welcoming and helpful.

Authenticity & Character

The location of the hotel is its chief selling point. While comfortable, the rooms are not particularly memorable.

Location

Situated right next to the river, the hotel is scenic. The hot springs are also situated close to the river, which makes a dramatic backdrop for your time there. You are far away from any other property or facility, though.

Staff

Everyone we interacted with was friendly and helpful.

Cleanliness & Comfort

Clean and cozy!

Palacio Manco Capac by Ananay

Cusco

A historic hotel situated twenty minutes (by foot) from the historic center of Cusco. Our room was very nice and comfortable, however, wifi was extremely poor in the room. It was stronger elsewhere in the hotel. We did not have enough time to make use of the restaurant for any meals, yet, the hotel did put together breakfast boxes for our early morning departure, and they were amply sufficient.

Authenticity & Character

The hotel is in a historic building, and care has been given to maintain that authenticity.

Location

Situated at the top of the hill, views from the hotel are amazing! The walk (downhill) to the historic center of Cusco is easy. The walk back (uphill) to the hotel is a bit tougher!

Staff

All the staff we interacted with were friendly and helpful.

Cleanliness & Comfort

Our room was clean and cozy. The only complaint was the wifi - which hardly worked in our room. The signal was better elsewhere in the hotel.

Activity Reviews

Classic Gastronomy Tour - Arequipa

Arequipa

We had spent several days with our guide, Antonio, already, so he was familiar with our travel style, and our preferences for food and drink. As such, he was able to curate a food tour that was particularly aligned with our tastes (quite literally). We had a great time eating our way around Arequipa, combined with a nice walking tour of the city, and Antonio's lecture points.

Quality of Experience

Our guide made great choices on which places to visit and when. All of our eats were tasty local favorites, representative of the city and region.

Food

We are really well; local dishes in neighborhood cafes and restaurants that were not part of the main tourist circuit.

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Antonio was great, setting up a walking and food tour that was on point.

Hike to Chimpa Fortress

Colca Canyon

Getting to the starting point for the hike is an adventure in and of itself. It is in the middle of nowhere, in what's already the middle of nowhere! The hike itself is relatively short, but it is steep. If going in the midday sun, bring a lot of water - and trekking poles, though not strictly necessary, are helpful. The fortress itself isn't much, but the viewpoints from it, are spectacular and worth the effort to get to, both in the drive there, and the hike.

Quality of Experience

A great hike to a great viewpoint. The fortress itself is a bit "meh" but that is a small component of a much larger experience.

Guides, Drivers and Staff

As usual, Antonio and Gonzalo did an amazing job of navigating the roads, and sharing the history and significance of the fortress, while also enduring the hike with us!

From {{start_location}} to {{end_location}} via Salinas and Aguada Blanca National Reserve

Peru

The National Reserve is vast, and unspeakably beautiful. I would say the same of the Sacred Valley as well, but the landscapes here are totally distinct, with different wildlife and vegetation. You can take photos and videos endlessly here, and still fail to capture the magnitude of the area. If you're driving from Arequipa to the Colca Canyon this is a super worthwhile route to take.

Quality of Experience

Truly a wondrous landscape to drive through and make photo stops in. You can't venture far off the road as it is a protected area, but being able to make frequent stops and just "take it all in" is very cool.

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Our guide, Antonio, clearly loves this place, and he was eager to point out various wildlife and vegetation unique to the park. Also, he knew the best photo stops, yet was more than willing to accommodate our own requests to make stops to take in the sights.

Transport

Our driver, Gonzalo, was awesome. The road through the park is a two-lane highway, chock full of cars and buses and trucks. He navigated both the road and the traffic supremely well, and didn't get frustrated when we made stops, or asked for them.

Moray Terraces

Peru

Like the salt ponds, this is a limited experience. The history of the place is fascinating, and the photography opportunities are good (albeit less so here than at the salt ponds). If you are already in the Sacred Valley, this is a worthwhile stop. But if you are only in Cusco, I wouldn't make the trek to visit these exclusively.

Quality of Experience

A historic Inca ruin with some interesting history, and a cool photo stop. But not much more.

Maras Salt Ponds

Peru

The salt ponds are a wondrous sight. The scale of the development is impressive, and the photography opportunities here are vast, with different colors and elevations to point your camera at. However, that's all this is - a view of some salt ponds.

Quality of Experience

The scale of this place is impressive, and you have an opportunity to point your camera at a stunning backdrop of colors and elevations and textures.

Pachamanca: Traditional Andean Underground Cooking

Peru

The cooking method, and explanation, are good experiences. And the lunch that follows is very good! This is a more commercial enterprise and less personal than I would have preferred. There was a missed opportunity for this to be more inclusive with a tour of the farm (not just the distillery and beanery that were targeted for sales) and to have more interactions with the staff.

Quality of Experience

More commercial than interpersonal. Some missed opportunities for this to be a more engaging and fulfilling experience.

Food

Lunch is really good!

Ollantaytambo Village and Inca Site Exploration. Pinkulluna Hike

Peru

Olly (for short) is a small town that offers up a lot of sights and experiences. Situated about halfway between Cusco and Machu Picchu, and a stop on the railway between the two, it is easily accessible. There are serval Inca sights to see, and I appreciated getting to ones that were on and off the main tourist circuit. The town itself is very scenic, with a lively marketplace and historic center.

Quality of Experience

Viacha Community Experience & Pisaq Archaeological Site

Peru

We wanted to get our hands dirty with the local community, and this experience got us to do just that. From working with textiles to digging up crops, to dancing and sharing a lunch, this was an immersive, personal experience that was really impactful. Pisac is a large archeological site, and it would take more than a day to explore it all. However, our specific hike was tailed to our wants, and we spent a few hours on a 4km trail that got us to incredible vistas and historic sites that were well explained by our guide.

Quality of Experience

This was an impactful experience. Our guide was an able translator for us, but there wasn't much that needed to be spoken, rather, the engagement was in action. We worked with textiles. We worked with farming equipment. We shared a lunch. We danced together. If that's your thing, this is a great experience. Pisac is more of a hike, which is what we wanted, and our guide did a great job of explaining the historic significance of the site.

Food

Our lunch was very good! Sourced locally it was a tasty showcase of the community.

Sacsayhuaman & Cusco Guided

Cusco

Our guide, Cesar, was also amazing! He was enthusiastic and eager to share his knowledge and affinity for Cusco with us. Cusco and its surroundings are historic, beautiful, and widespread. Cesar helped us maximize our time and our experiences by adjusting our itinerary ever so slightly, enabling us to see and do more than what we had planed. His recommendations for restaurants were on point.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Again, Cesar was awesome. We appreciated the time he dedicated to us, and his suggestions that had us see and do more than what we had planned. He was super willing to take photos of and for us, which was great.

Transport

Wilmer did a super job of driving us around. He was polite and friendly, and a competent and safe driver.

Must sees in Lima

Peru

Our guide, Nancy, was awesome! She was punctual, friendly and engaging. More to the point, she figured out very quickly what we wanted to see and experience, and how we wanted to go about doing it. As such, she made on-the-fly adjustments that had us walking through the neighborhoods instead of driving through them, while also showing us to more off-the-path sites and sights, that were better aligned with our interests.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Nancy did a great job of guiding us, and of hosting us. She was adaptive to our requests and to our general method of exploration, ditching our transport for more of a walking tour, with the points of interest and experiences more in line with our personal preferences, as opposed to a set menu of sights.

Transport

We didn't spend much time in the car, but our ride and our driver were both nice!

Welcome to Peru and Lima

Peru

We were able to find our guide easily, and he helped us with our transfer to our hotel. Along the way, he shared some thoughts about Lima, and its surrounding neighborhoods, all of which were useful. He pointed out various places of interest, and restaurant types that we could consider. He also gave us tips on how our process would go when we returned to Lima airport, to transfer from our domestic flight to our international flight, as we would be doing that on our own.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Our guide and driver were both great. They were on time, easy to find, and helpful.

Transport

Lima traffic can be pretty intense, Our driver handled it with ease!

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