Kimkim Trip Reviews

We had a great trip along the coast of Croatia! Nikola was amazing at communicating and understanding our needs. The hotels we stayed at were fantastic and all recommendations for optional activates and restaurants were much appreciated. The timing of our days were also great. We truly enjoyed our time!

We are 3 couples from the USA visiting Spain for 12 days. From the beginning Alba was incredibly helpful in arranging this trip. First, we shared with Alba what we were interested in seeing and doing (And what our budget was!), and she gave us her ideas on what the most popular things to see and do are . This was followed by several ZOOM calls and written communication back and forth until we had an itinerary that Alba thought we would enjoy and also appealed to us. We shared with Alba some suggestions that we had received from friends who were from Spain, and she was willing to incorporate some of them but wasn't afraid to tell us what wouldn't work for us. Ultimately, Alba devised an amazing CUSTOMIZED Spain vacation.

We spent 4 nights in Madrid, 3 nights in Bilbao (Basque Country) and 5 nights in Barcelona. Alba arranged everything for us including airport transfers, hotels, dinner reservations and a tour virtually every day. The tours included visiting The Royal Palace, The Prado, Botin Restaurant, Guggenheim and Dali Museums, a Flamenco Show, A Wine Tasting, La Sagrada Familia, Barcelona's Gothic Quarter and day trips to Toledo, Avila, Segovia, San Sebastian, Costa Brava, Girona and Montserrat. And of course we ate lots of Tapas and Pinxtos with our Guides taking us to some awesome places in each city. The Guides (Beatriz, Rosita, Mati, Julen, Anna, Stepan and Julia were all excellent. They were friendly, informative and very well organized. They all shared the history and culture of Spain which we found very interesting. In the Prado and Dali Museums Rosita and Julia taught us about the artists and showed us specific pieces or art, giving us an understanding of the meaning of each one. That really gave us a better understanding of what we were looking at and made it way more interesting. And we saw some fantastic natural landscape, incredible cathedrals and interesting architecture. We also had enough free time to wonder on our own. Throughout the trip, Alba kept us up to date on What's App to confirm what we were doing each day and who our Guides were which was very reassuring.

It's hard to say what our favorites were. We really enjoyed everything (Except maybe The Guggenheim Museum and Nerua Restaurant which we all thought were a little weird but certainly an unforgettable experience). But that is a matter of taste. The H10 Villa de la Reina, Hotel Miro and H10 Art Gallery hotels were nice in good locations with good staffs. And we had some really enjoyable meals. If anyone is planning a trip to Spain, we would recommend starting with our itinerary, and let Alba customize it based on your interests. We highly recommend KimKim and Alba!!!!!

Thrilled with our journey to Bhutan 🇧🇹 which was expertly organized by Mieke. We had a very helpful dialogue before finalizing the booking regarding lodging and trade offs at various price points which I appreciated. The guide Sonam and driver Dawa were outstanding. And traveling to Bhutan in the low season (July) turned out great as the hotels and attractions were pretty empty. I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend Mieke to others.

Aline and Bastien planned an amazing trip - they spent time understanding our needs, budgets and things we (my wife and me) wanted to do in Paris. Every small detail from hotel type and location to customized tours were well thought of. We enjoyed the entire week in Paris, thanks to the attention to details and planning done by the Aline/Bastien. They were also very reachable, always quick to respond and proactive. Thank you for a very memorable trip!

Our trip to Paris and the South of France was packed with beautiful sites and fun adventures. My favorites were the trip to Giverny to see Monet's garden, the e-bike tour through the Provence region with our excellent guide, Roman, and the day-trip to the Loire Valley to visit 3 castles.

Hotel Reviews

Staycity Aparthotels

Marseille

Great outdoor spaces. Bright interior and beautiful views of the sea. Nice to have an elevator with private access to the apartment.

Authenticity & Character

Bright and clean. Nothing super fancy but comfortable furniture and beds.

Location

Park right across the road. Cafes and a small grocery store very close by.

Staff

Our host checked in on us almost daily and answered the few questions that I had. She definitely cared that we had a good stay.

Cleanliness & Comfort

Hotel Du Ministere

Paris

We were 4 people in a lofted room, with the king bed up a narrow set of stairs and the bathroom and sofa-bed on the lower level. The sofa bed was not very comfortable so we ended up putting the mattress on the floor. The air conditioning was not working properly, despite several phone calls to the front desk and a hotel clerk coming to try to adjust it. We slept with windows open and it was still warm in the room for most of the night. Finally, the carpet was wet outside the bathroom door when we first arrived, which the clerk said was due to the shower overflowing (from the previous occupants?).

Authenticity & Character

Loved the breakfast

Location

Close to restaurants

Staff

Staff was friendly and tried to remedy the problems we were experiencing

Cleanliness & Comfort

Air-conditioning fixed, 2 regular beds for 4 people rather than a sofa-bed, and fix the shower so floor outside bathroom would not be wet

Saint Martin 339 Apartment

Paris

Spacious and a great location. Comfortable beds. Wonderful covered terrace for dining al fresco. The only thing to note is the 5 flights of spiral stairs that are required to access the apartment. It was not a problem for us (we definitely got our exercise in each day) but is something to note for those with mobility issues.

Authenticity & Character

Covered terrace, wood floors and built-in storage areas

Location

Close to 2 metro stations, surrounded by cafes and right by a small grocery store

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Comfortable beds

Activity Reviews

Visit of the Eiffel Tower and Seine river cruise

Paris

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

N/A We got to this activity via the metro

Gourmet food tour in Saint-Germain-des-Prés

Paris

Fannie was a knowledgeable and friendly guide. We enjoyed all the stops, especially the chocolates, jams and cheeses. Getting to pick our own dessert was also a treat.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Friendly and knowledgeable

Unveiling Masterpieces at the Louvre Museum

Paris

Quality of Experience

Day excursion by train to Giverny and visit of Monet’s Garden

France

End of June is the ideal time to visit the gardens. So many flowers blooming!

Quality of Experience

Day Trip to Loire Valley Châteaux

Paris

It was a long day with a lot packed in, but very fun to see all 3 castles. Each one was special and unique in its own right. The architecture and the gardens, along with the history of the region and each castle was interesting and enjoyable.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Philip was full of information and gave us some good stories and insights on the history of each place we visited.

Transport

Van was comfortable and it was nice that the group was small. It was nice that we stopped at a nice gas station with a bakery on the way.

Visit of City of Popes and Pont d'Avignon

France

Quality of Experience

Self-guided Visit of Versailles Castle (Entrance tickets)

France

Huge place. The inside is impressive but the gardens need equal time to explore.

Quality of Experience

Guided E-bike tour of Luberon

France

Amazing scenery and fun adventure! Romain was an excellent guide that showed us all around the region - from lavender fields and other agricultural areas to villages and beautiful architectural structures. He tailored the day to our interests, which was a fantastic way to explore. From coffee and pastries in one village to exploring the countryside to eating lunch while overlooking the beautiful valley, we loved every minute of it! This was our group's favorite thing we did in our 2 weeks in France.

Quality of Experience

Having the day tailored to what we wanted to see was amazing. Loved the lavender fields as well as all the small villages

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Our guide, Romain really made the day fun and interesting

Transport

E-bikes are fun and easy to ride

Visit of Carrières de Lumière & free time in Les Baux de Provence

France

We enjoyed walking around the village, eating and shopping.

Quality of Experience

Transport

Overall, having a rental car is a burden for those not used to driving in France. We needed a larger car to accommodate our luggage and this was difficult to maneuver in the narrow streets and parking areas.

Full day kayaking in Marseille's Calanques

France

The kayaking experience was definitely only for the super-adventurous. It was more of a kayaking lesson, complete with how to load/unload the kayaks from the trailer, carry the kayaks down a flight of stairs to the water, how to skirt yourself into the kayak and also proper paddling techniques. Our guide tried very hard to instruct us and encourage us to be calm in the choppy water. We did get to spend an hour or so on a beach area eating lunch and that was fun and relaxing, but by the time we were headed our onto the water again, it was even windier and so our guide agreed we should head back. Overall, it was a bit more work than what we 4 women had anticipated.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Self-Guided Visit of The Catacombs of Paris (Entrance Tickets included)

Paris

Interesting to learn the history of the catacombs

Quality of Experience

Mediterranean cooking class

Marseille

Fun to see where the ingredients come from. The group was a fun mix of people and we all learned a bit about cooking this special dish that originated in Marseille

Quality of Experience

Food

Appetizers and bread were great. Some in our group were not big fans of fish, so that made the main dish unsatisfying. Fresh fruit salad was excellent.

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Half-day private cruise in Frioul archipelago

Marseille

Unfortunately it was a windy and cloudy day so the water was very rough getting out and especially coming back into the marina. We loved our guide, however, and we were confident in Marie’s abilities to safely get us around. She was great at telling us the history of the area and talking about the structures we were seeing. We got to snorkel while out in one of the calmer areas so that was a highlight.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Great guide/captain. She was thoughtful in giving us rain jackets to wear to protect us from the sea spray.

Transport

Can't do anything about the weather, but Marie did well in maneuvering the boat even in less than ideal conditions

From the first interaction, the experience was outstanding. I entered the basic ideas around the type of trip, I wanted to plan for me and my nine year old son. Alex took those basic ideas and shaped an unforgettable trip filled with adventure. I didn’t want to stay in “budget” hotels but certainly didn’t have the need to be at glamorous hotels either. Alex found the perfect balance! The hotels were beautiful, amazing staff, great restaurants onsite and amenities.

There were a couple of times that I even went back to Alex and mentioned some other ideas or tweaks we were interested in making to the itinerary. He helped us figure out those adaptations within budget. Alex was a fabulous partner at each stage before, during and after our trip.

Alex was unavailable to be our guide during the dates of our trip but he substituted his brother Viny, who was also fantastic. Although Alex was away from the office, he gave me a proactive heads up about Pacaya being unavailable. This was one of our primary goals for our trip so we were very concerned and were debating to postpone - just as we were getting ready to catch our flight out. Alex, his cousin and brother who all work for OTO, worked to get confirmation about whether we could go to Pacaya or not and how to make it happen safely. It gave us the confidence to continue with our trip and really appreciated their attention to it in short order.

Viny was such a friendly, warm and knowledgeable guide. Since this was supposed to be just a mom and son trip, my son was very concerned that a third person would be with us. The end of the trip my son said he missed a Viny and having a guide was a great idea! Viny made it very easy, taking charge to manage our timeline, transportation coordination with local guides, different sites and coordinating with hotel, concierge and restaurants. He really removed all of the administrative efforts for me so that I could focus on being with my son and enjoying our time together and experiencing Guatemala.

We went the zip lining, hiking Papaya and roasting marshmallows where Viny prepared a nice picnic, and kayaking at Atitlan, and went to Mayan Ruins. We were originally supposed to do more hiking, but my son was all hiked out, so Viny adapted our itinerary last minute so that we could go to textile and a cacao shop.

Then on our last night, Alex got a hold of me to alert me to a local event transpiring that roads were potentially going to be blockaded and we could get stuck potentially missing our flights the next day. I told Alex that I would prefer to leave Lake Atitlan that night and head to Guatemala City. He swiftly arranged transportation, and a safe and comfortable hotel stay in Guatemala City at no extra charge. We caught our flight the next day with no issues.

I’m so grateful for Alex’s attention to detail and genuine concern for us and our trip or we wouldn’t have known in real-time what was happening. I highly recommend Alex, Viny and OTO. This was my second time to Guatemala and we’re already planning the third trip. Definitely will be looking to use them again!

Hotel Reviews

Porta Hotel Antigua

Antigua Guatemala

Beautiful experience, great rooms, water filters amongst other amenities, staff offers high service level and the onsite restaurant is fantastic. I needed laundry done before leaving and the staff took it late in the day after the cut off and returned it to me that night. Highly recommended!

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Hotel Atitlán

Panajachel

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Review

Zipline Adventure at Lake Atitlán Nature Reserve (X-Tremos)

Guatemala

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Our travel specialist Deborah was absolutely AMAZING!!!
I would rate her a 20 on a scale of 1 to 10.
She was very responsive, listened to all our requests and made our trip absolutely memorable.
She was quick to make last minute changes we needed to make due to the weather.
Every detail was carefully planned and executed.
Could not have asked for a better travel specialist.
Thank you, Deborah!!!

Hotel Review

Grand Hotel Des Iles Borromees

Stresa

Absolutely beautiful hotel. Will go back!!!

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Reviews

Private tour of Milan Duomo and La Scala Theatre

Milan

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Private tour of lake Maggiore

Italy

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Private Boat Tour of Lake Como with guide

Italy

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Our first experience with KimKim was absolutely wonderful! From Joanna's exceptional customer service to our local guide Edy and the agency, we received outstanding care. The meticulously crafted itinerary and the well-organized infrastructure were crucial in providing us with an unforgettable experience in the country. Their attentiveness, swift responses to any adjustments, and high-quality itinerary were impressive. We will certainly use their services again in the future! A heartfelt thank you to Joanna, Edy, and everyone who assisted us!

Hotel Reviews

Casa Andina Standard Miraflores Benavides

Lima

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Tierra Viva Machu Picchu

Machu Picchu

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Abittare Hotels

Cusco

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Hotel Samanapaq

Ollantaytambo

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Casa Andina Standard Catedral

Cusco

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Reviews

Full Day Cusco & San Pedro Market Tour

Cusco

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Arrival to Lima: Free Day to Explore

Lima

Quality of Experience

Oi

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Lima Food Tour

Peru

Quality of Experience

I

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Sacred Valley Tour: Chinchero - Maras - Moray - Lunch at MV

Peru

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Hiking to Humantay Lake: A Scenic Adventure in the Andes from Cusco

Peru

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Fly from Lima to Cusco, Explore the City

Peru

Quality of Experience

Oi

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Afternoon Train to Aguas Calientes

Peru

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Discovering the Treasures of Machu Picchu

Aguas Calientes/ Machu Picchu

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Rainbow Mountain Trek

Peru

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Brilliant trip to Uganda and Tanzania! Melvin and Irene did a wonderful job organizing everything for us in both countries and personally greeted us which we appreciated. Melvin was our point of contact in the lead up and was always very responsive and helpful. We were very pleased with the final itinerary and how easy it was to get this trip planned. Fantastic guides and drivers in both countries. They were very informative, organized, got us where we needed to be safely, and were a lot of fun! Beautiful accommodation in every location. Will organize future trips with Truly Swahili and can't recommend them enough. Memories to last a life time!

Hanoi guide Mai was excellent and the apartment at the Somerset was perfect for our 3 generation family. Sapa guide Zozo was different in personality but equally excellent. We enjoyed trekking with her and the accommodations at the eco lodge. Nok escorted us to Ha Long Bay and back and made sure we got ticketed and checked in to our flight to Hue. At Ha Long Bay we all enjoyed the Doris Cruise featuring scenery and kayaking.

Hotel Reviews

Somerset Grand Hanoi

Excellent accommodations for our 3 generation family. Nice pool and restaurant.

Family Friendliness

Apartment accommodations.

Laxsik Ecolodge

Beautiful setting. Great accommodations.

Doris Cruise

Nice room. Great crew. Beautiful scenery.

Activity Reviews

Explore The Beauty of Hanoi - Full Day Sightseeing

Hanoi

Good overview of Vietnamese culture.

Walk To The Love Waterfall And Heaven Gate

Sapa

Lovely waterfall. Clouds hampered the views in the mountains.

Trek to Lech Dzao & Thanh Kim Villages

Sapa

Zozo was an excellent guide and being assisted by the women of the area was a unique experience.

Conquer The Roof of Indochina - Fansipan Summit with Cable car

Sapa

Fun but it was raining and cloudy. Would have been much better if the weather had cooperated.

Onboarding - Lan Ha Bay – Ba Trai Dao/ Tra Bau (Doris Cruise)

Ha Long Bay

Great crew. Beautiful scenery.

Lan Ha Bay – Dark & Bright Cave – Disembark Cruise (Doris Cruise)

Ha Long Bay

Nice views. Enjoyed this aspect of the local culture and scenery.

Adam did an excellent job planning our trip. We had full days packed with adventure with no idle time. All the recommendations were spot on. We had an issue with one hotel that had bed bugs and Michelle raised the concern and was able to get a refund. They learned from this experience. On first hotel we didn’t had room codes and didn’t know what to do and the emergency number they gave us worked perfectly, they answered right away and the issue got resolved. I never felt alone during the trip. I will highly recommend to anyone. I also liked that we had the itinerary and reservations but we drove from place to place on our own so we had the flexibility to stay as long as we wanted and stuff.

First of all Andrea was very knowledgeable and available at anytime I require assistance during the trip and while planning the trip… I could tell through the guided tours that he planned he is well experienced in this issue…
However, I would have liked it better if I was with same guide for all the tours at the same city. Becuase some guides were amazing while other did not seam to know what to do. I especially liked Martina our first guide in Rome .. on the other hand, the guide we had for the walking tour in Venice for three hours was not really sure what to talk about we were supposed to get the Jewish ghettos .. but we’re not able becuase we did it have enough time and it started to rain heavily .. the guide can see that we are a slow group but he did not try to take a shortcut or alter the route to get us there faster… we actually when through the same streets twice … and holestly I was not sure if the guide knew what to talk about .. he was knowledgeable but I had to ask question to get some answers. I feel that this tour was unnecessary at the end .. Also, the Murano Burano tour felt like a sales pitch .. our tour guide was great but really we did lot need him becuase all what he did is ride with us to the glass factory and then a representative from that company took over and was trying to get us to buy glass .. yes the experience was great but I felt it was unnecessary for a tour guide to be provided .. because we took a little bit longer at the glass factory .. our guide has to hand us over to another one since he has another tour planned . He was great at rearranging our water taxi ride and getting us another tour guide to take us to Burano.. however, in Burano we met with a person who worked at the lace shop and she was only there to take to the lace shop to buy from there .. did not explain anything about the island and it’s colorful houses and it history .. all what we did at the island is spend our time in the lace shop. I did not like the fact that this tour was just to take us to specific shop to buy we saw nothing of the islands.. I would definitely advice my friends not to take this tour in Venice …

When I decided to use a tour company to plan my trip is becuase I neede this to
Be tailored to our specific needs . we are bigger group of six and a person in our group can’t walk a long distance and I explained this to Andrea in the beginning..,I also explained to him that we would like to take our time in the morning and not be rushed .. however most of our tours required walking and were quite early in the morning .. even our train rides we always before 10:00… and I neglected to ask for that but I feel that Andrea should have confirmed with me about the shower option in the hotel rooms .. most of the hotel rooms had tubs and I have to request a walk shower room at check in ..
the hotel choices were great.. the location was amazing and they were all high class and clean ..
so to summarize… I feel that booking the hotels and arranging the transfers were arranged great with Kim Kim .. however, the prices are not disclosed so I feel that I over paid for some of the unnecessary tours ..

Hotel Reviews

Palazzo Navona Rome

Rome

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Hotel Santa Maria Novella

Florence

Authenticity & Character

Location

Right in the center and close to everything

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

It is very clean however a little bit old and needs some updating

Park Hotel Argento

Levanto

Authenticity & Character

Very clean but the decor is a little bit too simple for 4 stars hotel

Location

You have to take the shuttle to go anywhere

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Palazzo Veneziano Venice

Venice

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

The room was not throughly cleaned during our stay and sheets were never changed for three days. Lacks many aminities expected for 4 stars hotel

Activity Reviews

Rome Private Guided Walk

Rome

Martina was great

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Colosseum and Roman Forum - Private guide

Rome

Our guide was knowledgeable and very accommodating

Quality of Experience

Quite a lot of walking

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

It was hard to figure out the meeting point

Vatican Museum and Sistine Chapel skip the line ticket (with guide)

Rome

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Uffizi Gallery Guided Visit (private guide)

Florence

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Vatican Museums and Sistine Chapel - private guide

Rome

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Accademia Gallery - skip the line entrance

Florence

Quality of Experience

The tour took long at the David statue

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Florence private guided walk including Accademia Gallery

Italy

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Uffizi - skip the line entrance

Florence

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Cooking Class *****

Italy

We loved this experience and the road trip was great

Quality of Experience

Food

Yummy

Guides, Drivers and Staff

The chef was great and the staff at The winery were amazing

Transport

The driver Sauler was great let us take picture a long the road The car is very comfortable

Guided walk at Piazza dei Miracoli and Leaning Tower in Pisa (2 hours)

Italy

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Pisa leaning tower and Piazza dei Miracoli monuments entrance

Italy

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Hidden Venice and cicchetti experience

Italy

Did not see anything meaningful

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

The guide was knowledgeable but did not know how to guide the tour I had to ask the question and were did not get to the see the Jewish ghetto becuase we ran out of time

Transport

Walking around in cirlcle and had to pay 80 euro for a water taxi to take us back to the hotel

The Jewels of Venice (St. Mark & Doge Palace)

Venice

Enrique was The guide was great

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

The guide was great even though we were about 45 mi utes late .. he waited and altered the tour to let us see as much as we can in the time left

Transport

Exclusive Murano & Burano islands visit (private service)

Venice

It is just visit to a glass making factory and a lace shop no tour do the island did lot learn anything about the islands

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

The guide was great explained about the geography of the islands but really was not needed for the glass place .. he just waited outside .. the guide in Burano was not a tour guide but someone from the lace shop did not learn anything about the island

Transport

Water taxi was planned and altered time to accommodate us and dropped us at a different location because we aske to go to lido island

We arrived home yesterday from a 9 day private tour for me, my husband and 18yr old son with Morocco Immersion and I am feeling so full of gratitude for the opportunity to have visited this amazing country, and the good fortune to have found this outstanding tour company.

Sharon planned the perfect itinerary. The accommodations were especially fabulous. And her brother-in-law Hicham was the BEST guide and driver. He was exceptionally kind, safe, competent and client focused. We learned so much from him, knew we were in good hands and sincerely enjoyed his company. Meeting his family was one of the highlights of our trip.

I recommend Morocco Immersion Tours enthusiastically and without hesitation. Look no further for your journey into Morocco. The whole experience exceed our expectations and I know they had a lot to do with it. 10 STARS

Fabio - sending a final Note and big thank you for putting together a fabulous trip to the Amalfi Coast for my family!
Your attention to detail, constant communication, and updates along the way were such a comfort as we finalized the itinerary in two weeks!!
Thank you for making this trip memorable and we will be sure to recommend you to our family and friends!
Best - Leslie Ahmad

Hotel Review

Imperial Hotel Tramontano

Sorrento

Best location in Sorrento. Historic hotel, attentive staff, family friendly

Authenticity & Character

Previously a private mansion…

Location

Water views. Close to city center

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Rooms with balconies overlooking water. Rey comfortable beds, showers great.

Activity Reviews

Full-Day Private Tour of Pompeii and Mt. Vesuvius, with Lunch at a Winery at the Foot of the Volcano

Italy

Do not Miss this one! Perfect day…winery lunch awesome! Tours a must do!

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Cooking Experience with Donna Rita

Italy

Jacimo and family are the best!!! Informative and fun experience

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

We took our children ages 10 and 12 to Việt Nam for the first time in 2024. We knew we wanted to do some sightseeing in addition to visiting my husband’s family in Huế and had decided to go for three weeks. In all of my googling for ideas for how to sequence the trip, I kept coming back to the trips on the KimKim website. That’s when I realized what I needed was an old school travel agent to help me and I found the perfect person in Ashley. We were able to converse seamlessly back in forth through the KimKim platform. She took care of all of the logistics and made things so simple. As a busy working mom, it saved me so much time not to be endlessly searching on multiple websites but simply choosing amongst the amazing options Ashley presented. If I wasn’t sure something was exactly the right fit for our family, she took that feedback and adjusted things within hours. When my 75 year old parents decided to join us for a week of the trip and extend their travels on to Thailand and Japan, she handled that with ease. Ashley was also very engaged during our travels. While we never needed her help because everything ran perfectly, she checked in daily via WhatsApp to be sure it was all great and going according to plan.

And the trip itself - wow! Realistic Asia is the way to go if you want door to door service and top notch local guides. My husband and I have traveled extensively on our own but it was so easy with kids and grandparents to know someone was always meeting us and taking us all the way from point A to B. Mai in Ha Noi was an encyclopedia of knowledge and a great first guide to orient us to the country. We loved Train Street, the Old Quarter, and the Temple of Literature. Our absolute favorite of the trip was Sa Pa. It was so peaceful and cool! We loved staying a bit outside the town in an ecolodge with an infinity pool overlooking the fields. Our guide Do was incredible. She shared so much about local Hmong culture and took us on a walk with the Red Dao people - we were the only tourists in sight. Sa Pa town itself was lively at night and beautiful by the small lake. Our Doris Cruise in Ha Long Bay was a perfect end to our tourist week in Việt Nam.

Hotel Reviews

Somerset Grand Hanoi

Location

Easy walk to old quarter

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Some of the rooms were a little dated

Laxsik Ecolodge

Our stay here was the highlight of our trip. The infinity pool overlooking the rice and corn fields was perfection.

Authenticity & Character

Loved the Hmong architecture

Location

A 10 minute drive from Sa Pa but an easy taxi and the views and peacefulness are worth it

Staff

So friendly and helpful

Cleanliness & Comfort

Doris Cruise

Really lovely and the sunset happy hour was perfect. We would have liked more swimming time and a boat with more water activities (slide, SUP) would have been grand.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Goes to Lạnh Ha bay which was fewer boats

Staff

Kevin and Michael were the best!

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Reviews

Explore The Beauty of Hanoi - Full Day Sightseeing

Hanoi

We were sad the Museum of Ethnology was closed but the Women’s Museum was a good substitution. The lunch place was just ok.

Quality of Experience

Food

Would have preferred a more local spot, less tourists

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Walk To The Love Waterfall And Heaven Gate

Sapa

We love to hike and the waterfalls were great. We didn’t get to go to Heaven’s Gate as it was too foggy.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Conquer The Roof of Indochina - Fansipan Summit with Cable car

Sapa

Sadly the rain and clouds kept us from seeing the views but we still appreciated the feat of engineering as well as the village museum

Quality of Experience

Only due to weather

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Trek to Lech Dzao & Thanh Kim Villages

Sapa

The hands down most memorable part of our trip - a must do

Quality of Experience

Food

The food at the local home was just ok and there were tons of tourists there - would have preferred a quieter spot

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Do is the absolute best. She is from the valley and shared so much of her life story and also taught us about the farming.

Transport

Onboarding - Lan Ha Bay – Ba Trai Dao/ Tra Bau (Doris Cruise)

Ha Long Bay

Loved the kayaking and the sunset cruise

Quality of Experience

Food

It was just ok, typical of cruises

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Did not love having to stop at the tourist area on the way to and from

Kim Kim is excellent. Sarah was responsive and did a good job developing this trip with our family. We threw some changes at her late in the game and she was able to make those happen. Not easy with a group of 12.

The emergency number proved invaluable several times as we ran into unexpected issues. Both issues were resolved efficiently and we were able to move along with our trip. Thank you!

As a group, we did find the road book a bit cumbersome to use. The first six pages were great. What would have been very helpful was to put the actual links in those first six pages to the vouchers with words like…”click here for vouchers”.

It took one of us (Wendy) finding the menu with the link to transportation, event, and hotel vouchers to see this clearly. Sarah, I know you told us about that menu, but we were having so much to worry about, it didn’t sink in. Any info (like restaurant recommends etc. not in the actual itinerary should be clearly marked and placed at the end of the document for perusing at leisure. Does this make sense?

Great job guys. It was a trip of a lifetime and whoever thought of the Gorski Clan hats was brilliant! Thank you!

Activity Reviews

Visit Fraser Castle

Inverurie

Beautiful grounds…great stories! There is a family link here.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Huntly Falconry

Dufftown

We are a family of 12 with six kids…fabulous hands on experience. Would highly recommend!

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Dunnottar Castle Tickets

Scotland

Must see!

Quality of Experience

Transport

Edinburgh Castle Tickets

Edinburgh

Great history…but oh so crowded!

Quality of Experience

Lots of great stuff…Better off season without the crowds.

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

On foot!

Visit to Urquhart Castle

Scotland

This ancient castle’s location is amazing and it’s easy to see why it was strategically placed on the rock outcroppings. Lots of nooks and crannies to explore.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Secrets of Edinburgh’s Royal Mile - walking tour with castle tickets

Edinburgh

Wonderful guide…full of history and great stories the whole family loved.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Edinburgh Ghostly underground tour suitable for kids

Edinburgh

It was raining…and not everybody went…too tired. She was a great story teller and truly made the kids squeamish!

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Gorski Family Detour : Transfer and Visit at Harlaxton

Nottingham

Our son did a semester here at Harlaxton College in Grantham England. This place is like Hogwarts on steroids…so fun and beautiful. Our guide was a retired PHD in drama and he was thoroughly entertaining.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Private transfer in town

Scotland

Very early morning…on time!

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Nottingham Castle Visit

Nottingham

This is a good place for kids with an activity playground to expend energy.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Marina did an amazing job planning and booking all the hotels and tours. She constantly communicated with us to ensure that we were enjoying our trip. I will definitely recommend planning trips with kimkim.

Our guide, Nicole was great! She helped us to adjust our itinerary according to the weather. She helped us to understand the local train system.
Bastien was responsive when we were there, but we should not have trusted his judgement when it came to traveling with children. He often did not consider the ages and abilities of our children when planning our trip. A number of details were overlooked in planning transportation and lodging.
Our itinerary was lacking in detail and left quite a bit to be desired. We had no idea how to use the train system or even find the train station. Getting around was an obstacle and the amount of walking too much for our three year old. Perhaps on a trip with just adults and no small children, this would be fine, but was very difficult to have to navigate ourselves with our two small kids. I did mention my concerns multiple times during the planning process and it feels like my concerns were overlooked in favor of what was easiest for Bastien. We ended up relying quite a bit on our guide, Nicole. She saved our trip!

In short, Mathia helped us plan the perfect trip suited just for us. We wanted to do a self-driving trip thru portions of Arctic Norway. He recommended wonderful and special places to stay and sights to see. We had some issues with weather that cancelled some of our activities and he immediately contacted us and responded with possible alternatives. He was not intrusive at all on our vacation, but you always knew he was behind the scenes and making sure all was ok. The best part is that during the planning of this trip we made several changes from the original itinerary and Mathia was so patient and willing to do whatever it took to try and make this trip special to us. If you work with Mathia please know you are in very good hands. We would 100% work with Mathia and KimKim again in the future.

Our trip to Croatia was surely memorable. Because of the extreme heat, we got to experience a full-Balkan blackout, along with a forest fire being doused by our Canadian Water bombers. Fortunately, all was dealt with efficiently and effectively. The hotel selections were all very lovely and conveniently located., although the late night partiers were a bit of a problem in Split. Our walking guides were very knowledgeable but could have been a bit more enthusiastic. We particularly enjoyed our bike ride and guide in Hvar with a surprise bonus wine-tasting at the end. Sarah was very responsive and quick to answer questions when anything arose.