Kimkim Trip Reviews

Our entire 5 day stay in Palm Cove and all the activities we did was superb. Kerrie and Gary did a fabulous job with the planning of our trip. Gary picked up where Kerrie left off and was awesome. He listened to all our needs and wants and made them happen. Our only glitch was we were signed up for an aboriginal art experience which ( we really didn’t want to do) and it got cancelled and replaced with an aboriginal spear crabbing experience- which was great. So happy this part of the trip turned out the way it did. All of the tour companies were great , very organized, on time and staff so kind and helpful. Overall extremely positive experience planning this portion of our trip! Thank you so much to all involved

Hotel Review

Peppers Beach Club & Spa Palm Cove

Palm Cove

Authenticity & Character

Location

Great location. Right across from beach and can walk to several restaurants for dinner

Staff

Manger knew us by name!

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Review

Day trip to the Great Barrier Reef

Australia

This day was amazing. I was apprehensive about snorkeling as I had a previous bad experience. The crew that went out with us were so patient and helpful. Basically if you wanted a crew member would escort you out to reef , take you around to different locations and then return you to boat. It totally put me at ease and made my snorkeling experience so enjoyable

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

We had the greatest trip. We had enough going on everyday but not too much that we felt overwhelmed or rushed. We had a good variety of activities. Myaen was the greatest. We planned everything together, gave me all the information I needed and checked in on us periodically through the trip. Couldn’t have asked for a better time in Japan and we are so excited to return!

I was flabbergasted that our whole trip went off without a single hitch. So many details to coordinate, so many different tours and guides, and all were great! Kim Kim did a super job (thank you, Ha!) with managing all these items. We were always picked up from the airport by a friendly smile and cold water, every morning when we met our guide for the day he/she was always early, and they always explained what would happen. They went above and beyond when we needed help (to find a lost phone, to visit the pharmacy)—really a great experience. A friend recommended I use Kim Kim, and now I will recommend it for others!

All of our guides were amazing and incredibly knowledgeable!! The tours were fascinating!
The drivers, especially Alfonso, were wonderful and went out of their way to be helpful.
Andrea did a great job putting everything we wanted to do together! Everything occurred seamlessly and made travel so easy.
Thank you to everyone who helped make our vacation so wonderful!

India is a very interesting country, with lots of history and cultural traditions and also with extreme difference in social and economic classes.
The local representative from Active India Tour met us at our hotel in Delhi to greet us and provide us with paperworks for our tour. We visited Delhi for the day and the next morning we took a flight to Jaiselmar to start our tour through several cities including Jodhpur, Udaipur, Pushkar, Jaipur, Agra and return to Delhi. Rahul was our driver for the remaining of the trip. Rahul was an amazing driver, very kind, patient and punctual. In every city we had a different tour guides. All were very competent, knowledgeable and very friendly. would recommend all of them. All the places we visited were very interesting, stunning and with history that exceeded our expectations.

According to the pictures of the Hotels sent at the time we booked our tour, they all looked clean, beautiful and we agreed on all of them. To our surprise, the hotels were not what they looked like in the pictures. The room we were assigned at the Udman hotel in Delhi, was on a floor where there were several room assigned to a wedding party so the noise was annoying. After we complained they switched our room to the suite in the hotel. I guess that room had not been used in a while, I found a spider under the sheets and the sheets were not clean. (they changed them after I called to complain again. The bathtub was stained and everything was in disrepair. The Gulaal Hotel in Jaiselmar was a total disaster, we even found a bed bug, so we run out of that hotel as soon as we could. We were surprised, disgusted and appalled that, Active India who arranged our trip in India, would book these rooms in these hotels without checking and ensuring that the facilities were clean and up to standard to any passenger.
At that point, we decided to upgrade the rest of the hotels in our booking so we would not have any more surprises. We were charged extra for the upgrades and a card payment fee, again, for having to make another payment for the upgrades.

Apparently we visited India during "wedding season", which we had no idea, so please make sure that the travel agent books hotels that are not fully occupied by a wedding party. The Radisson Blu Resort, which was one of the hotels we were upgraded to, was almost totally booked by the wedding party, 210 of the 245 room in the hotels. We had to bear with loud music during the day and at night till 3am. At the Marriot Hotel in Jaipur, we could not use the pool area due to a wedding party.

Even though we had issues with our hotels, we tried to make the best out of our trip. Rahul, our driver, and all our tour guides made our trip to India great.

We would highly recommend using Kim Kim for your next vacation! We just returned from Italy and had a 5 star experience! From private walking tours in Venice and Pompeii with passionate local guides to truffle hunting and olive oil tasting in Tuscany, a scavenger hunt through the Vatican and a private cooking class in Rome, every detail was customized for our family. Our Kim Kim travel advisor Eirini customized and planned the best vacation we’ve ever had!

Hotel Review

Hotel Bernini Palace

Florence

The highlight accommodation of our vacation! Stunning property, incredible service in an ideal location of Florence

Authenticity & Character

Stunning rooms and hotel

Location

Centrally location but quiet

Staff

Helped with all our needs

Cleanliness & Comfort

The lobby is stunning and a place to enjoy!

Activity Reviews

Market Tour & Cooking lesson

Rome

This was the highlight of our Italy adventure! Michaela was amazing! From shopping in the market to learning about local life and then cooking a delicious meal, this was the best family activity we have ever done! She is passionate about what she does!

Quality of Experience

Food

Outstanding! Delicious, fresh and an amazing opportunity to cook in Rome!

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Family Experience: Vatican Tour for Kids

Rome

This is a must for families with children! It was a fun and interactive way to explore the Vatican! Our kids, 11 and 14 loved it!

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Private Golf Cart Tour and inside the Colosseum Tour

Rome

A highlight of our visit in Rome! The best way to see the city and avoid the crowds! Our guide was fun and ensured our kids enjoyed each place we visited! We even stopped at his favorite bakery for a sweet treat!

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Truffle Hunting in Tuscany with Olive oil tasting and guided visit to San Gimignano

Italy

A must do activity while visiting Florence! Our guide was passionate and made this adventure memorable for our family!

Quality of Experience

Food

Outstanding meals at both locations for lunch and dinner! Fresh, local ingredients!

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Alessia was wonderful, responsive, personable, and did a terrific job planning the trip and staying in touch. Andrea, our driver in Sicily, was also terrific. I would say that Eva, our guide in Siracusa, would be a better guide for a family without children. She just didn’t seem to really know how to capture our 12-year-old’s interest or engage with her. In fact, she more or less addressed only me on our tour and didn’t interact with my husband very much either. She had some interesting information to share, but her delivery was very dry and just not particularly captivating.

Uma is the best! Great planning, appropriate places and time scheduling, detailed, and very responsive. I could not ask for a better advisor. I would recommend kimkim and Uma to assist and advise on travel to New Zealand!

What an amazing trip! Kelly was exceptional to work with. She planned our trip meticulously. She was always so patient with us and gave us great advice on what to do and see. She curated a perfect trip for us. Kelly booked our drivers, train tickets and the hotel in Kyoto. She also arranged English speaking tour guides in Tokyo and Osaka. We asked her to secure sumo wrestling tickets for us once they went on sale which she was able to do. Attending that tournament was one of the highlights of our trip. Kelly was always so flexible with the changes we made to the itinerary to make it exactly what we wanted. Our only wish was that the cherry blossoms were in bloom while we were there but it was a little too early. We highly recommend this service and will definitely be using KimKim again in our future travels!

Hotel Reviews

Conrad Tokyo

tokyo

This hotel is spectacular! The location is amazing, the service is superior, the rooms are beautiful and large. Everything was thought of to the finest detail. Even the smell of the lobby is amazing. The lobby has the most incredible views of the Japanese skyline. We sat at night at the lobby bar and could see straight to the Tokyo Skytower! The buffet was very good but the service was overwhelmed at times. We had to wait a while to get a table at times and the wait staff rarely checked on us. But otherwise they offered a good variety of food offerings. The executive lounge was a highlight. Not only were the views amazing but the service was always spot on. The food throughout the day was wonderful and there was a large variety of beverages. This hotel was far more than a hotel, it was an experience - one that I hope to have again!

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

THE HOTEL HIGASHIYAMA KYOTO TOKYU, A Pan Pacific Hotel

Kyoto

Great location, exceptional service. I would have liked a hotel with a gym, a lobby bar and better toiletries. There was no soap provided in the rooms except for the shower gel. The hotel concierge was very helpful and made reservations for us a few times. The buffet breakfast was wonderful each morning. I love that matcha latte machine!

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Reviews

Dotonbori Food Experience

Osaka

The Dotonbori area was really fun to see and experience. There were so many food options and everything was so crowded so I'm glad we had a guide. He wanted to make sure to give us what we wanted but he didn't really have an agenda in mind of where to go. We started with gyoza as an appetizer at a stand which was delicious. We then went to a restaurant where he ordered dinner for us. There were several plates that he ordered for us and told us what the local specialties were. We then left and went to get a match ice cream for dessert. While it checked the boxes, I was hoping to stop at more locations and try things as we toured the area as opposed to sitting in one restaurant.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Better idea of what to do and eat

2024 Sumo Grand Tournamen held in EDION Arena Osaka

Osaka

This was a highlight! It was such a fun way to experience the Japanese culture. I've never seen anything like it but even though we couldn't understand it, we were able to cheer along and have a great time. I've already recommended this to everyone that I know that wants to go to Japan in the future. It's a must!

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Guide was very accommodating and kind. Drivers were amazing. We may have not realized what we were planning as the second day was too much driving but overall everything was great. Nice to have hotel with a pool

Hotel Review

De Charme Hotel

Amphoe Muang, Si Phum, Chiang Mai

For the price it was wonderful. Breakfast wasn’t fabulous but good

Authenticity & Character

Lovely rooms.

Location

So close to the Sunday night market

Staff

Front desk folks were very helpful and kind

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Reviews

Half day Chiang Mai City Tour

Chiang Mai

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Day trip to Chiang Rai from Chiang Mai

Chiang Mai

Too long of a day. Loved all the sites and the guide was great but just too long

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Half day Chiang Mai Elephant Jungle Sanctuary - Join tour

Chiang Mai

Great visit. So informative. Good lunch

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Pros:
1. Constant communication
2. Convenient and stress free- having a driver take you to remote locations is a lot more reassuring than driving yourself.
3. The drivers provide an authentic perspective of the way of life for people in Oaxaca.

Cons:
1. Pricy since you’re paying for the service
2. The itinerary is subject to change- some of the activities mentioned in the itinerary were not offered. For example, we were not given the opportunity to paint our own alebrijes (which was what my son was looking forward to)
3. Some of the activities felt like sales pitches rather than interactive workshops.

Overall, I recommend for those who want a stress free adventure in Mexico.

I had an amazing trip in Patagonia. I did all the 5 hikes that I wanted to do. The guide that I had for the Mirador Base Las Torres was really nice and interesting; I think his name was Miguel (?). For the other 4 trails, I did it myself; Thanks Erin for sharing the alltrails route; without it I would have gotten lost a couple of times on the way back when there wasn't a lot of people around. Also thank you Erin for telling me what to do when there is gust of wind; it was really helpful on my hike to Laguna Los Tres when I encountered rain, hail and strong wind.

The kayaking trip was great as well. I was lucky to be the only person on the trip. The guide Juan was great. It's cool that he also took pictures and videos of me kayaking.

Perito Moreno Glacier was amazing. I am really glad I got to see it.

Thank you Nara for being immediately available when the person at Bonanza could not find my reservation. The horse riding with Bonanza is the only part of the trip I was meh about. I think the group was too big; there were maybe 15-20 of us. I was mainly at the back, so I could not hear the guide at the front at all.

Overall, I am really happy with detailed itinerary that kimkim has planned out for me. It makes the trip completely stress and hassle free.

Lautaro gave us an interesting tour of Valparaiso. He even knew the best places to get something to eat and gave us recommendations of where to go on our own. Sabastian led us a on a memorable hike in the Andes. He was most patient and considerate of me and my limited abilities. Hernan gave us an insightful tour of Santiago since he was personally involved in some of its recent dark history. Ivan did a wonderful job piloting the bus, even getting us to the airport on time,

Hotel Reviews

Hotel Director Vitacura

Santiago, Vitacura, Región Metropolitana

A modern hotel in an up-scale neighborhood within walking distance to a variety of shops. The breakfast that they provide is amazing in its diversity.

Authenticity & Character

This is a modern hotel with an excellent restaurant.

Location

Its proximity to a super market and an ice cream parlor

Staff

The staff was not overly friendly but they were quick to attend to any problems.

Cleanliness & Comfort

Spacious rooms

Hotel Boutique Acontraluz

Valparaíso

This is a beautiful hotel with very warm, welcoming staff and spectacular views of the port of Valparaiso. I am sorry that we only stayed there one night.

Authenticity & Character

The beautiful interior

Location

The view of the harbor

Staff

They were so friendly and helpful.

Cleanliness & Comfort

Just a delightful place to stay

Activity Reviews

Santiago City Tour - Private

Chile

Hernan was able to tell us from personal experience about the history of the capitol city.

Quality of Experience

A personal, intimate tour

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Hernan and Ivan were great

Transport

Comfortable van

San José Volcano & Andes Mountains

Santiago

Sabastian made this a wonderful experience with his knowledge and experience. He was very patient and accommodating.

Quality of Experience

Not everyone can say they went hiking in the Andes

Food

Sabastian made us a delicious lunch and had a lovely picnic for us at the end of the hike.

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Sabastian was amazing, knowledgeable, and understanding of our abilities,

Transport

Comfortable van

Transfer from San Antonio Dock to Valparaíso

Chile

Lautaro gave us the highlights along with suggestions for further exploration.

Quality of Experience

Lautaro's knowledge

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Lautaro's personality and Ivan expert driving

Transport

Comfortable van

My experience with KimKim and my personal advisor for my trip planning, Maltilde, was outstanding and pleasant. The personalized attention and details of the trip were well organized and thought out for my trip to Europe. Our family had a wonderful and exciting time on the different tours. We had a personal tour of the Latin Quarter and the Churches in Paris. The walking tour of Strasbourg, France with Vincent was informative and beautiful. Using the Best of Switzerland tour group was a great idea for our tours in Switzerland. Switzerland was our favorite because of the breathtaking beauty of the Alps, lakes, and countryside. Jungfraujoch and the City of Luzern is a must see in Switzerland. Matilde helped with planning travel by train which was appreciated and a great experience for us. Booking the castle tour for our stay in Munich and Bavaria was a great idea. We had a great time. I would highly recommend KimKim and Matilde for any trip to this region of Europe.

Activity Reviews

Day Tour to Salzburg from Munich

Munich

The tour was canceled due to transportation issues.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Neuschwanstein and Linderhof Premium Tour

Munich

The Palace and the Castle were beautiful and picturesque. Our tour guide, Daisy, was kind, relational, informative and very good at communicating history and where to be and what to do during the tour. The tour inside the castle was interesting and incredible. The architecture and detail were amazing.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Daisy, was an excellent God, who was very relational, good at answering questions, informative, and communicated well throughout the tour. The driver was safe. The bus was new with a restroom and snack bar with big wide seats, and plenty of legroom.

Transport

Strasbourg Private Guided Walking Tour

Strasbourg

Strasbourg is such a beautiful and relaxing place. Vincent, our tour guide was relational and informative. This is a European town with lots of charm, bicycles, and amazing architecture and history. This was definitely a highlight for us during our trip.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Private Notre-Dame & Sainte-Chapelle Visit with Priority Access

Paris

The churches were beautiful and wonderful to view. Our tour guide was relational and informative.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Lucerne - Most Charming Swiss Town

Zürich

Lucerne was our favorite place to visit during our trip through France, Switzerland, and southern Germany. The historic architecture of buildings and churches was beautiful. The landscape of the town with the backdrop of the Alps and the lake are absolutely stunning and beautiful. Everything is within walking distance. You have so much to do in this town with the transportation museum along with other activities yet it is a small town feel with amazing restaurants and history. My son asked if we would just leave him here instead of going back to the United States.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Jungfraujoch, Top of Europe (From Zurich)

Zürich

Wow! Absolutely gorgeous, beautiful and stunning views of creation. The bus ride to Jungfraujoch through the countryside was beautiful. The gondola ride to the train was breathtaking. it is hard to explain how beautiful it was to look upon the enormous glacier surrounded by the snow kept mountains of the Alps.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Latin Quarter Gourmet Food Walk

Paris

This personalized tour was wonderful, diving into the architecture and history of this part of Paris. We enjoyed walking through the market and trying samples of food.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Our tour guide was extremely knowledgeable and relational.

Louvre Museum in Paris: entrance tickets & audioguides

Paris

I did not realize how big the Louvre was in reality. You could spend several days and not see everything. I didn’t realize how enormous size of some of the painting. The ceilings were eloquently painted as well. It was a pleasant surprise, seeing such history, and art in one place. I was pleasantly surprised at all the statues, as well as ancient artifacts, that were in the museum. One tip, the large pyramid is the main entrance, but there’s another side entrance that is not utilized and allows quicker access into the museum.

Quality of Experience

Hien was our trip organizer and she is very patient and accommodating. During the planning stages of the trip she amended our itinerary many times until we were completely satisfied. She also checked in with us several times during our trip to make sure everything was going well.
The selected accommodations were better than expected, the drivers were polite, professional and reliable and our guides were friendly, informative and very passionate about Vietnam.
All in all a great experience! We will definitely use Realistic Asia for our future travel plans.
Brian

I can't explain how happy we were with our trip to Iceland! We got connected with Lisbet, after trying and failing to plan the trip on our own, and had an itinerary including excursions and accommodations within 1-2 days. She was very responsive to our messages and accommodating to move around our week's activities to best fit our expectations. She has a ton of knowledge about the country and knew what to recommend based on the length of our trip, our budget, and how we completed KimKim's brief survey.
We were so impressed with Lisbet that we had her connect use to another KimKim agent to help us plan our next trip. I recommend KimKim 10/10 -- thank you!

Fei was fantastic! She is a great planner and went over our itinerary in detail. Plus, she was readily available throughout the trip to help with additional arrangements and questions.

Our local guides (Aruyi, Yuki, Remi and Mizu) were knowledgeable and attentive to our interests and capabilities.

Seeing Japan from Tokyo to Hiroshima was a trip of a lifetime thanks to the help of kimkim!

We had a fantastic time in Turkey. Our guides, Sebnem and Burcu, were absolutely wonderful! They were very kind and caring AND they were incredibly knowledgable. They gave amazing tours of ancient ruins and modern parts of Turkey that were interesting for my teenage daughters. They were patient with all of our questions and they were extremely engaging. Additionally, they were able to cater to our changing plans - they added a haram experience and food tastings on a whim.

We contacted Kimkim last year and were put us in touch with Claudia. She tailor made our tour for us including booking the internal flights, hotels and all the tours. The local agent Julieta was prompt and helpful at all times. The trip was absolutely amazing with wonderful guides throughout. The only tour that could have been better is the wine tour in Mendoza. The various types of tour should have been discussed with us as my husband is a bit of a wine connoisseur. Every other aspect was perfect. We had the most amazing time and are still reliving the wonderful time we had. I would definitely recommend kimkim and Claudia . In fact my brother is planning a trip to Argentina next year and will be contacting Claudia.

This is our second time booking through KimKim. Both trips we were lucky to be assigned to agency who take pride and care about what they have to offer.

This trip to Spain was an impromptu trip and I left it very vague for Alfonso and his team to show us what spain has to offer. We were very happy with all activities, local guides, accommodations and transportations that were arranged for us.

All the guides were very good at explaining and sharing with us their country cultures and history. This is a country with so much to offer. We would love to return and explore the other part of Spain we didn’t get to see. We enjoyed everything that was arranged for us.

Activity Reviews

Private Day Tour to Granada with visit to the Alhambra & Generalife Gardens

Málaga

I really enjoyed Granada. Staying in Albaicín in our hotel with a view of the Ahlamra was definitely a great choice. Wish we have more time in Granada

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Jenny was a great guide.

Transport

Private Visit to Seville’s Cathedral & Alcázar

Seville

Our hotel has a great view of the cathedral. A must if you are visiting Seville.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

We walk

Tapas & Flamenco Experience in Seville

Seville

Nice tapas and a flamenco show is a must

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

We walk

Private Evening Tapas Stroll with Locals

Madrid

A nice introduction to Madrid.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

We walk

Day Trip to Toledo

Madrid

Definitely worth a day trip to Toledo. Visited the cathedral and several art museums. It is like walking through time. We had a great lunch too. Our guide Juan was great.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Quick and easy 30mins train ride