Kimkim Trip Reviews

Thanks to Axel and Oleksandra for helping to create a very memorable experience for my friend and I. We planned an amazing trip through Patagonia, beginning in Santiago, and ending in Buenos Aires. Calafate and El Chaten were definitely highlights. Axel checked in with us throughout our journey. I will absolutely use KimKim again, and I’ve been recommending it to everyone.

I will never plan another vacation alone!! I heard about KimKim through a friend and was blown away by how easy it was to make our birthday trip to Costa Rica a reality. Olman provided excellent recommendations, was super responsive, and booked us the perfect combination of adventure and relaxation. When one of our hotels needed to be changed, not only did Olman call and email me, but he upgraded our room at the new hotel and also gave us free passes to an eco-spa. All for the “inconvenience” of moving to a different hotel - which ended up being exactly what we were looking for. From having our rental car dropped off at our hotel, to zip lining and white water rafting, to delicious meals at every turn, to gorgeous sunsets, to howler monkeys chattering the night way - we could not have asked for a more perfect celebratory vacation.
Thank you to Olman and the entire KimKim team for making our trip so memorable - you will definitely be hearing from us again.

We had a fantastic time on out rip to Bali. The plan that was put together by Marc at KimKim, allowed us to do everything on our wish list (Haige a volcano at sunrise, white water rafting, great bike ride with a local guide, snorkeling and many cultural activities). Our driver that was with use throughout the trip was exceptional and all the activities were well coordinated.
Thank You for n amazing experience.

We did not have a dedicated guide but our driver Mr Haitham was very helpful and filled us in on some of the details and took care of checking into our hotels. We had a local guide in Jerash who was great and one in Petra who was okay. I did feel that would have benefited from having a guide at St George’s Church and couple other places. We were disappointed in our hotel at Petra, it was very grungy with ceiling tiles stained and falling off and questionable cleanliness in our room. The other 3 hotels were great but I picked 2 of them.

Hotel Review

Sun City Camp

Wadi Rum

Just loved the location and the experience of staying in a geodome under a star studded sky.

Authenticity & Character

Location

The big expanse of the desert in front of us added to the mystery of the location.

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Very well equipped, bathroom was very modern and clean.

Activity Reviews

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

Petra

This was the focal point of our trip, reason why we added on a few days in Jordan after our Egypt trip. It was spectacular! The canyon walk was magnificent and coming round the last bend and seeing the Treasury for the first time will be etched in my memory.

Quality of Experience

Amman Evening tour ( Heart of Amman) (Old Areas)

Amman

Don’t think we actually did this. We drove back from Dead Sea to the restaurant for dinner and from the restaurant to the airport.

Amman-Jarash-Ajloun-Amman city tour

Jordan

Jerash was excellent, one of the most complete Roman cities we’ve seen. It was possible to visualize this city when it was actually functional.

1 / 2
"I had the pleasure of working with Johanna and Kristy to plan our group’s recent trip and I cannot recommend their services highly enough! From start to finish, my experience with Johanna and Kristy was exceptional. Their dedication and hard work truly demonstrated when we had to change our destination location in an unexpected turn of events. It is no small feat to rebook flights, hotels, tours, restaurants, and activities to a group of 68 people!!!

It started with a simple planned trip for a week to Peru. From the very beginning, Johanna was professional, knowledgeable, and incredibly helpful. She took the time to really understand what we were looking for in a vacation, and was able to suggest customized itinerary and activities that perfectly matched all our group’s preferences.
But due to unforeseen situations in Peru, we decided to change our trip to Chile for the same dates. Johanna and Kristy quickly pivoted to understand our requirements and spent countless hours to co-ordinate with airlines travel agency and crafted detailed itineraries and recommendations for the trip.

What impressed the entire group was their outstanding customer service when they accompanied us in person throughout the trip, to ensure there were no hiccups every step of the way. They truly cared about making sure that each and every one of us had an amazing trip, and were always available to help with any issues or questions that came up along the way. We felt like we had a personal concierge service throughout our entire vacation!

Overall, I cannot recommend KimKim, especially Kristy and Johanna highly enough. They are a true professional in their field, and their commitment to customer service is second to none. If you're looking for a travel agent who will go above and beyond to make sure that you have an unforgettable trip, Johanna and Kristy are the one for you!"

Amazing trip, well planned and nicely executed with all the different tours in the day.
We did snowshoeing, Northern Lights BBQ, Husky ride, reindeer ride and stayed in a glass igloo on the lake with a private sauna - all this in 4 days!
The only con was lack of details on certain activities e.g. at the ice igloo - until we asked we didn't know we had to bring our own dinner.
I would highly recommend a trip with Kimkim to Finland!

Sarah was amazing to work with. She was very responsive to us and willing to work to tweak our itinerary to include activities we were most interested in. She picked up fabulous places to stay. Our entire trip went completely smoothly with all the transfers she set up, the dining experience in Edinburgh (we actually thought we may have wanted to cancel because we were tired but are so glad we didn't). Our guide on our trek in the Highlands was fabulous (despite our bad weather that day!) and all the recommendations for things to do and places to eat were really helpful and appreciated. We had a fun, busy vacation making sure to see all that we possibly could. Sarah had us dialed in perfectly! Thank you!! Will definitely use Kim Kim and hopefully Sarah again in the future!

This was a trip that was so out of our comfort zone…. But the minute we started talking to Ana, we could relax! The trip that we came up with had everything we wanted and so much more we would not have known abt.
Once our trip started, we were contacted every step of the way. We did not have to worry abt anything…. We got picked up easily at the airport and our hotels were so great. Each of our guide were so knowledgeable, kind and so much fun. We had Fernando in Buenos Aires, Pedro in El Calafate, Loraine for the iguazu falls. The trip was so magical thanks to everyone who worked to make it wonderful. Cannot begin to say how grateful we are.

Our trip to New Zealand was an amazing experience… the Country is so beautiful, from North to South. The people are warm and welcoming; it was was so interesting to learn about and see firsthand the cultural pride. The excursions, zip lines, etc. were so much fun, but even driving to these locations was one of my favorite experiences because we got to see the country. Liz was so great to work with… took care of our every need and was incredibly responsive. While in NZ, any unexpected changes to our itinerary (such as weather) was handled very timely by the Kimkim team. I can’t thank them enough for the attention to detail and handling all our needs and wishes. I highly recommend them and would absolutely use Kimkim in the future. Thank you, Liz, for helping us have an experience of a lifetime!

Hotel Reviews

The Hotel Britomart

Auckland

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Pullman Rotorua

Rotorua

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Novotel Queenstown Lakeside

Queenstown

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Reviews

Auckland to Rotorua visiting Hobbiton with lunch

Auckland

I have never seen anywhere so beautiful…. fun to learn about the movies…

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Mitai Cultural Experience & Dinner

Rotorua

I really enjoyed learning the culture and the food was amazing!

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Te Ra Guided Experience (90 minutes)

Rotorua

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Twilight Glow Worm Kayak Experience - 3 hour guided

Rotorua

SO much fun and beautiful!

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

We usually take two international trips a year and I normally plan them by myself. However, for a trip to Colombia I saw an internet add for Kimkim which said they would take your suggested ideas for a trip and do a proposed itinerary for no charge. I sent them my thoughts, got a proposal that I thought was pretty good, added some more suggestions which they followed up with and then ultimately filled in gaps with some tours that Kimkim suggested. It was the easiest planning for an international trip I've ever done.

Kimkim provided all transfers and guides and all worked flawlessly. Kimkim arranged several internal flights and obtained flight confirmations for us. Kimkim suggested hotels which were in good areas of each city and provided options for two sets of birding locations. I did not like one of the suggestions, which was close to Medellin, and suggested an area I'd read about as one of the top birding areas in Colombia. Kimkim worked hard and ultimately secured as a spot in that birding area that was way outside any cities.

Finally, we had several hiccups along the way. One was a lost cell phone and the other was luggage which did not arrive home with us. We contacted Michael and he provided assistance to us in both situations.

Hi, as mentioned here's a detailed rundown of our recent Vietnam adventure. Overall, this was a 5 star trip, and your rating reflects that. Dat was first class in terms of his overall approach, responsiveness and knowledge. He knows the country well and we benefitted from his experience. And his English is very good. The logistics on the trip were excellent throughout. We never worried as to whether a guide/driver would show up on time; they were always a few minutes early and went out of their way to welcome us. The hotels were generally all good choices for different reasons. But I did not like the Silk Palace in Hue, partly because the hotel has no charm, I was sick (stomach) and the room was too small for the 3 of us. On the guide front, Bobby was the standout. He is very kind/friendly, and attentive while giving us breathing room. The only guide we were not keen on was Quoc in Hoi Ann; he came across as either being not trained as a guide at all or poorly trained. His English was poor, and he simply repeated things when we asked questions as opposed to addressing them/finding out. We also didn't feel that he was necessarily keeping us safe when it came to food. Quoc has good potential, but he needs to be professionally trained. But overall, we would highly recommend KimKim and look fondly on our recent Vietnam adventure.

Activity Reviews

Saigon after dark night food tour

Ho Chi Minh City

Amazing guides and experience. This is a must do!!

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Hoa Lu And Tam Coc Exploration

Vietnam

Quality of Experience

Food

Second eco lodge sucked. So this is less about the food and more about the food at the hotel.

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Halong - Lan Ha Bay - Frog Lagoon Area (Capella)

Ha Long Bay

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

I traveled to Morocco with 3 other women and we had a wonderful trip. We had many questions before we left, and the representatives at Kim Kim promptly answered all of them. Then helped us plan a tailored itinerary based on our interests. We had an excellent driver, Samir we drove us all around Morocco and we always felt very safe in his van. Samir was very helpful finding us places to exchange money and even helped us make reservations as various restaurants for us. He was very informative about each area we visited. He was always on time to pick us up each morning and always bought us each a fresh bottle of water for our next journey. Morocco is a beautiful country! Kim Kim made our journey extra special providing recommendations and local guides at various stops. Highlights were wandering through a maze of brightly colored markets in each city, visiting Chefchaouen, the Blue City and camping on the Sahara Desert, arriving on camels. I would highly recommend calling Kim Kim to help plan your next trip! Thank you for helping create this unforgettable trip for us!

Julia was absolutely terrific - very helpful, very responsive, and very interested in our overall experience. She was a pleasure to work with and really helped us focus the itinerary for our trip on the areas we were most interested in. We spent a wonderful night in a glass igloo, during which we saw the Northern Lights, had a wonderful time exploring the Lofoten islands, and spent just the right amount of time in Bergen. Our trip had a couple of hiccups (Tromso hotel inadvertently double-charged us), but Julia responded immediately and corrected the issues. All in all, we had a wonderful trip to Norway and I look forward to returning in warmer weather for hiking.

The trip was amazing! Thank you to Erin and Nara for organising such a great trip, we had such a good time. Everything was really well organised, the itinerary was clear and helpful, and we always knew exactly what we needed to do each day without needing to worry. All the activities really suited us and the structure of the trip was well put together, we really noticed the consideration and experience that had gone into planning the trip.

One tip for others is to be prepared for things to change due to the weather, which in Patagonia is unpredictable and can be wild (particularly the wind), sometimes an activity may need to be cancelled/modified because the weather is too extreme. We had a boat trip cancelled due to wind, when that happened though, Erin and Nara were super helpful and responsive in organising an alternative.

The two-day ice trek at Cagliero was definitely the highlight of our whole trip, we loved it! It was very challenging, definitely not for everyone, but we were up for the challenge and the reward was worth the effort!

One final thing, all the guides we had (Mika, Dennis, Berenice, Andreas and Eritmar) were great! They were experienced, knowledgeable and friendly (and all spoke English really well).

Great communication from Dat while planning our trip - he made useful suggestions and booked everything. Hotels, the cruise, the tours, and the guides were great! Would definitely recommend to anyone interested in visiting Hanoi and north Vietnam.

Hotel Reviews

Soleil Hanoi Boutique Hotel

Hanoi

Excellent service and breakfast (made to order pho and eggs!). Small but serviceable gym. Rooms are well-provisioned, with good bathroom placement, plug locations, and amenities. Single elevator can be a hindrance when very busy, but not usually an issue. Small infinity pool on rooftop with staffed bar, seating area, and bathroom.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Close to old town sights/restaurants

Staff

Excellent service

Cleanliness & Comfort

Very clean and comfortable

La Pandora Cruises

Hai Phong

Excellent facilities, food, and activities. Enthusiastic tour guide and staff. Clarity of schedule could be a bit better, but that could be the individual guide. Shuttle from Hanoi comfortable and safe. Cabins on the boat are well-designed and comfortable.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Review

Hanoi Evening Walking Street Food Tour

Hanoi

Quang took us to amazing places! Highly highly recommend this tour to anyone, especially with Quang.

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

A huge thank you to Sergio and the KimKim team. Although not all hotels met our standards we could tell there was a lot of care and planning that went into choosing the tours/guides and transfers as everything was pretty seamless. For a first big trip with the kids it was important to have local insight and someone on standby to help us even while we were traveling in the event we needed to change something on the fly. This type of service was invaluable. Thank you !

Hotel Reviews

Tamarindo Diria Beach Resort

Tamarindo

Great property! They take a lot of care in the up keep of the grounds and assisting you with the local surroundings. Breakfast was so so but overall great experience.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

The Springs Resort & Spa at Arenal

La Fortuna

Fantastic property. Would have loved to stay here longer as they are a semi all inclusive resort and pur guide had us booked on a tour outside the resort for an entire day. Definitely need 3-4 days here!

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Monteverde Lodge & Gardens

Monteverde

Although beautiful grounds it is not so family friendly with noise able to be heard throughout hallways and rooms along with no bar fridge or tv. Restaurant is too fancy for us so struggled with eating while here. Otherwise rooms are clean and modern, grounds are beautiful.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Hampton by Hilton San José Airport

Alajuela

Great hotel close to the airport. Staff are great!

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Si Como No Resort & Wildlife Refuge

Manuel Antonio

Hotel is really dated, not so great as the room we had looked out over a dead tree and roof with bird poo. The room doors have frosted glass letting light in all night long. No tv again making it hard for the kids at night and the pool is more for small kids so they didn’t use it either. The online pictures make the resort look amazing but it was quite disappointing to arrive here after staying at the previous locations including Arenal Springs. The restaurants are not great and we got sick from the food here. The only saving grace was the experiences we took in while staying here, otherwise we would stay somewhere else given the option.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Reviews

Hanging Bridges, La Fortuna Waterfall, and Arenal Volcano

Arenal/La Fortuna

Would have loved to have the Volcano hike as a separate day as we did not get to do it due to it being at the end and hottest part of the day and we had alreadybeen going for 6 hours. The hanging bridges are super busy but a great experience with the guide and driver. Pointed out and explained a lot of things we would have never seen on our own. Had a great snack prepared for us. The waterfall was also beautiful but very crowded. View of the volcano was great but we did not get to do the hike which was disappointing as it is what we wanted to do the most.

Quality of Experience

Food

The lunch restaurant was not somewhere we would ever eat.

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Enjoy the Thermal Hotsprings at your hotel

Arenal/La Fortuna

Great variety and number of hot springs, beautiful views and scenery

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

TreeTram, Hanging Bridges & Zipline Adventure

Monteverde

Great adventure, the guides were extremely personable and helpful. We did the ziplining and given an option to either repel or freefall off the final platform. The bridges have beautiful views.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Coffee Experience and Nighttime Nature Walk

Monteverde

Great informational tour! We learned how coffee was produced and how chocolate is grown, and sampled 2 different recipes. The guide was great in including everyone in the group. We ended this tour on a nightwalk with scorpions, kinkajou, sloths, spiders and a lot of exploration. Great experience and my kids loved the educational parts!

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Manuel Antonio National Park Guided Hike

Manuel Antonio

Highlight of our trip! The guide was truly the best at what he does! We saw more animals, insects etc than all the previous tours in the trip. The beaches in the park are truly spectacular and if done again I would make sure we were prepared for a longer stay at the beach at the end of the tour.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Snorkeling at the Catalina Islands

Costa Rica

Fantastic guides. Made us feel comfortable even though we are not great swimmers. We saw tropical schools of fish, manta rays, sharks, puffer fish and more!

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Very well planned trip. Exactly what I was looking for. Activities I requested with local insight in to where to go, where to stay and what to do.

Our trip was absolutely amazing and I cant imagine having coordinated everything on my own at all. Kim Kim, especially Michael were so helpful, communicative and kind throughout the entire process, I really appreciated it. Our tour guides were all great but a special shout out to Gustavo, Kevin + Miguel- they were above and beyond wonderful! The transportation everywhere was such a new experience for both of us, I felt way fancier than I actually am 🤣 and the lodging was great too, especially Hotel Terrazas! I would 100% recommend kim kim/Chaska Tours to anyone who wants to have a great experience that is made simple for you!! Many thanks again to all those involved for such a unique experience and so many wonderful memories, Colombia is beautiful and I definitely see a return trip in pur future!

Hotel Reviews

Los Patios Hostel

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Terrazas de Salento

Terrazas de Salento, Colombia

Such a beautiful place I loved it! Great views, nice room, friendly staff and great breakfast too!!

Authenticity & Character

Especially love the atrium!

Location

The gardens and views of mountains were amazing

Staff

Very kind and attentive

Cleanliness & Comfort

Our stay here was perfect in every way!

Tayrona Tented Lodge

Beautiful location with a very kind staff/owner! Basic rooms and necessities in a gorgeous location.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Very close to Tayrona Park

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Selina Cartagena

Cartagena

Cool building in a good location.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Reviews

Medellín Transformation Tour

Medellín

Our guide, Miguel, was amazing! He was kind, insightful and thorough as he showed us the city and explained how so many things have changed in the last 20 years or so and the reasons behind it. We got to see so much in a short window of time too it was very impressive!

Quality of Experience

I sincerely mean it went I say that the tour was truly fantastic as was our guide! I loved that we saw a d learned about the city, tried various modes of public transportation, tried a local treat of frozen fruits, saw a bunch of amazing break dancers, had a rap group make a song up for us on the spot- all of it! It was terrific!!

Guides, Drivers and Staff

They both made us feel extremely welcome on our first day to both Medellin and Colombia! Could not have been better.

Transport

Our driver was great too! Kind and professional. Taking the gondolas and escalators was also a cool experience.

Tour Peñol & Guatapé

Medellín

I loved this tour as well, other than waking up so early 🤣 The drive out was apparently different than normal due to accidents/traffic on the main highway but it was such a beautiful drive I am glad it worked out that way. Our guide, Sergio, was kind, funny and exuberant! Hiking the peñol de Guatape and exploring the vibrant town as well as taking a boat ride on the lake were all great experiences and the provided lunch was delicious!

Quality of Experience

I was so tired in the morning and a little cranky initially but Sergio's enthusiasm rubbed off on me and get me pepped up for the day!

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Everyone was terrific and very kind!

Transport

Our driver was fantastic

Santa Rosa Hot Springs

Colombia

I seriously felt like I was in a painting or fairy tale book here- it was absolutely breathtaking! Our guide, Gustavo was so cool, friendly and informative and eas kind enough to make sure we got the longest amount time at the hot springs that we could even though it made a longer day for him and our driver Kevin. So nice of them both and so appreciated as I never wanted to leave so was happy to have as much time there as possible!

Quality of Experience

One of the most amazing experiences of my life hands down! There is NOTHING I didn't like about it, it was AMAZING!!

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Both our guide, Gustavo and driver, Kevin were among some of the nicest people that we were able to meet and talk to on our whole trip! They were incredible- cannot stress that enough truly! If I lived near by I would hang out with these two often no question!

Transport

Kevin carted us all over creation (we had him as a driver 2 days in a row hahaha) and was terrific!

Visit Cocora Valley, Coffee Farm & Salento

Salento

Our whole trip to Colombia was great but this day was absolutely my very favorite! Never in my life have I been to a more beautiful place... Ever! It was pure magic and absolutely incredible! It was also super cool to talk with Gustavo about how he grew up nearby and had been coming there since he was a kid. He even showed us one of his favorite spots away from the rest of the people there in the jungle and it was so special and amazing!

Quality of Experience

This question is almost a joke 😂 what is there NOT to like would be my question! It was EPIC and my favorite day on our whole trip!!!

Food

The restaurant we went to for lunch was terrific! I ordered a traditional salchicha plate and it was super yummy!!

Guides, Drivers and Staff

I cannot stress enough how wonderful Gustavo was- so glad we had him 2 days in a row, we were very lucky! He's an awesome guy that I could see hanging out with all the time if I lived there! Very informative and professional but also very down to earth and laid back! Kevin, our driver carted us around all over the place for 2 days and was also very kind.

Transport

Kevin was great 🙂

Hike Tayrona National Park

Tayrona National Park

I think the best thing about this tour was that it allowed private transportation in to the park ahead of a bunch of busses full of people! The park itself was beautiful and our guide was very nice (though apologies I am blanking on his name!)

Quality of Experience

It was a beautiful park and our guide was nice. I think going again I would probably just stay within the park to have more time exploring on our own and to potentially see more night time critters.

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Very nice driver and our guide did give us some info through our walk but we went on the standard walk through the park at this entrance that everyone entering did so I didn't completely feel that the tour added a whole lot to that experience and think we would have enjoyed it as much if we just walked the park by ourselves. That said, getting in before the buses was a big help!

Transport

Great driver and again glad to be driven in to the park

Having Ngima and his guides helped us tremendously in our expedition to Nepal. Ngima was very transparent and friendly and he made sure to connect us with wonderful guides and drivers as we flew and drove between Kathmandu and Pokhara for our trekking itinerary. He was flexible and provided multiple variations of plans which allowed us to create the trip that best suited our schedule and needs. I would highly recommend Ngima and the kimkim team for your next adventure!

Excellent trip planning and execution by KimKim. Adam and Jessica communicated effectively and organized all elements of the trip with superb professionalism and responsiveness. Once in Costa Rica, the tour guides were all very well informed and knowledgeable across all locations with transfers, volcano hikes, ocean kayaks and nature tours. Brittany was also of superb help in accommodating last minute modifications. Kudos to the KimKim team we had a great experience and would engage them all over again.