Kimkim Trip Reviews

Highly recommend. The place itself is beautiful and serene- a real retreat. They have their own beach with the restaurant above so it felt like the tropical vacation I was looking for. Thank you Chris and Choco!

This is a five star hotel in the sense that its facilities and amenities are extensive. However rooms and lobby were a little tired and in need of refreshment. Wouldn’t classify as five star by western standards.

Hotel was beautiful and in a great location and our room was very nice and perfect for traveling with two children. However, the lobby and common areas could use a refresh and were not consistent with what “five star” would be in the US

This place was fabulous! We were able to walk everywhere & explore many parts of Rekjavik from the Skuggi. From the Sun Voyager, to Harpa, the Rainbow Road, Kiki, Bravo, 3 Frakkar, Fish Mrkt, Mandi, the Iceland Phallological Museum, the Bar at the End of the Rainbow, the lovely Sky Lagoon, and everything in between we loved Rekljavik & the Skuggi was the perfect location. Here again we loved the radiant geothermal heat.

We enjoed Maga. She gave us our first fermented shark experience & enjoyed it with us. The bar was perfect & even had playing cards for us to enjoy during our stay. The 2nd night we enjoyed playing cards, drinking & stepping out on the bar balcony intermittently to take photos & pose with the Aurora Borealis! It was beautiful as it danced across the sky! The morning breakfast was diverse & tasty. I think we all enjoyed the Skyr here the most of the 3-hotels. The dinner buffet was delicious each evening & the ease of use of much appreciated. We are so glad we used the laundry service, which was flawless.

We enjoyed the drinks & dinner each night! The hot tub & sauna were awesome on our second night. As it was very cold & during the week, we have these two our small group. We got to see the Northern Lights one the first night & the awesome glassed wall & roof tunnel with easy access doors, made this all the more spectacular. We loved the radiator geothermal heaters & it was nice to have a refrigerator. Vlad was very helpful, responsive & accommodating of our requests. The breakfast was huge & diverse with something for everyone. Even filter coffee! We enjoyed our stay here!

We were able to view the Northern Lights at both Hotel Strattca on night one & at Laki Hotel on night four. So we never had to hunt much for this experience. One slight regret is that we did not expect to see the Northern Lights while in Rekjavik, However, on our first night their, night 5 of the trip, the lights were bright & visible throughout Rekjavik. We sadly did not even look for them that night. That night may have been a great night for a evening hunt north of the city to see the bright lights one last time.

This adventure was amazing & left us speechless at times. Between the hike to the top of a mountain, unique views of glaciers, seeing an artic fox in the wilderness, crossing a flowing river twice, walking in the Valley of Thor & getting pictures with beautiful views, this experience was 100% awesome! This private SuperJeep tour is the way to explore these sites & enjoy your remote adventures in Iceland. Gummi was stellar & we have only positive praise to celebrate our time with him. Aside from the Jeep on this tour, we had it for the first 5 days of our trip. This proved to be one of the best decisions made for this trip. Gummi & Goliath as we named the vehicle made this experience one of a kind & great in every way!

With our private guide Gummi this experience was unique & unparalleled. We enjoyed the sites, stories & exploring the national park.

This walk & waterfall were fabulous! We loved the site for pictures & our private guide even got some cool group shots with the waterfall in the background. It was too slippery for me to get too close to the waterfall or behind it, but this would have been cool.

This activity was neat, but the tour group was too large in my view. The experience was straightforward & rather quick. The hard hat & crampons were much appreciated. This was a unique experience.

As noted in the other transport activity, Arnar was awesome! We loved his black Mercedes van. The trips were excellent. He was prompt, courteous & kind.

This place was magnificent! From start to finish you never feel like you are near buildings or in something man-made. The entry from the dressing room is awesome. The 7-step ritual is a must do experience. The lagoon is lovely & we enjoyed much time just chilling, relaxing, rejuvenating & enjoying some drinks. This was a great way to spend our last afternoon in Iceland.

Ragnar was rejuvenating, energetic, hilarious & clear! This experience was facilitated 100% of the time by Ragnar. His direction, simplicity, personal touch with unique insights and delightful presence were much appreciated. He made this a unique experience that we all loved the most of all aspects of this trip! We felt like every part was awesome, but this one was once in a lifetime for sure. The ice caves are change regularly with the seasons of Iceland. It was amazing to walk on & in a glacier! That largest glacier in Europe.

This place was so cool, unique & insightful about Iceland. We adored Stefan, our private guide, & greatly appreciated him staying late & giving us our own private tour. I will forever remember his kindness, humor, & classic Iceland wool sweater.

Arnar was excellent in his beautiful black Mercedes van. His kindness & expertise were much appreciated. He took us to & from the Sky Lagoon & to the hotel for our departure. All were seamless & fabulous!

We were awe struck by this & enjoyed it very much. It was very cold, very windy & rather early an experience as we arrived in Iceland early & this was on our way to more adventure.

It was quite cold & windy this day. However, the brief time we spent walking around & enjoying this massive waterfall was spectacular!

Lily Bjork was amazing! Her positive energy & vibrant presence were perfect for a terrific exploration of the food in Rekjavik. I had my first horse, enjoyed fermented shark with Brennivin and adored the perfect Icelandic Hotdog with chocolate milk. Our private tour guide Gummi treated us to this exact hotdog place upon arrival in Rekjavik. The atmosphere & experience facilitated by Lily resulted in 12 of us, most of the tour group, enjoying drinks at the Jungle afterwards. We went briefly to see Lily perform on 3/17 at the Irishman Pub.

I loved every minute of the resort -- perfect for a very quiet few days away. The facilities were nice -- not too fancy but felt like you were at one with the nature around you. It is a decent sized facility with a lot of opportunity to walk and do water sports right off of the beautiful beach. My family did a bioluminescent plankton tour and said it was incredible as were the spa facilities. The 2 hour ride was very pleasant there -in the hotel's boat - the return was through rougher waters so be mindful if you have issues with boats. Every night, they moved the location of the dinner outside and it was lovely.

Nice accommodation with a great rooftop pool and friendly staff.

I thought it was great -- think it could have been a little longer to give us more information. Our guide Carolina was very knowledgable and friendly.

It was a good introduction to the area and the surrounding fishing culture.

The guide was absolutely fantastic and told us many many things about the city and its history. The town was nice enough and had some lovely parts but the main attraction was the museum of the Carnival - the biggest event in the city every year and one of the biggest Carnival celebrations in the world. Aside from that and the architecture of the area, I am not sure it warranted a separate day trip from Cartagena -- would have been a good tour on the way to the national parks from Cartagena.

This hotel was a bit disappointing because all other hotels during our trip to Italy were wonderful. It felt like an airbnb as opposed to a hotel--self check-in outside regular business hours. We were traveling with our two teenage sons. We found out we didn't need a second room, because there was a sofa bed in the family suite that they could have used, which was not clear from their website or when we were presented with the proposal. More to our frustration, we were woken up a few times during the night because of the hallway noise. Our room (106A) was adjacent to 106B, from which we could hear everything, and the occupants in 106B were unpleasantly loud late at night. Since there was no one at the front desk in the evening, we could not ask for timely intervention. Perhaps, they should have given 106B as our second room to avoid this. At least one time, the noise source seemed to be the staff; in the morning, there were bags of laundry right outside our door.

Truly a splurge! The views from our rooms were breathtaking. Unique and original decor. Lovely breakfast spread.

We had a family room with beds for 4. Worked out great. Tucked in a street near Ponte Vecchio with small artisan shops. Delightful!

With so many visitors and so many things to see, it was a very full three-hour tour. We gained much knowledge about Vatican and the artwork that adorns their buildings.

Wow, the inside of Colosseum was facinating beyond our imagination. There was so much to learn about Roman Forum, too. We feel so lucky to have done this tour with Sabrina. Her explanation painted vividly how the lives in Colosseum and the Forum might have been.

The highlight of the driving tour was the stop for us to hike the Path of Gods trail. It was fantastico!! Because we fit the hike in, things got quite late in the day, and by the time we got to Ravello, everything was closed. The weather was gorgeous during our hike and by the time we were leaving Positano, it started to rain and the visibility fell. We're so grateful that Giuseppe drove us safely throughout our tour, because the road is curvy to say the least. He was also extremely knowledgeable about farming in the region, which we appreciated.

The Pompeii tour was fascinating--thank you, Natalia! There is travel distance between Pompeii, Mount Vesuvius, and the lunch site, so we were glad we had the entire day arranged and coordinated. The view of Bay of Naples from Mount Vesuvius is very worth it!!

Antonella, our guide, was fantastic. She laid out the basics of the city's history first, which made the other explanations logically hold together. Her love of her city made it all the more special.

BEAUTIFUL hotel. Modern and up to date. Amazing decor and ambiance. Outdoor hot tub for guests to use. Good restaurant. Such super friendly staff across the board. Offered norther lights wake up calls as well.

Newer building and older building combined. Incredible location with views of mountains and the ocean. Front desk lady was helpful and pleasant. We were in the new part with a mixed view of mountains and ocean as well as a balcony do that was lovely. But it seems they shouldn’t be renting out those rooms as they aren’t done yet. We had no TV, no hairdryer, 1 towel and bath mat for two people and no wash cloths. The barbaric “art” of decapitated cow/pig’s heads was questionable. The breakfast buffet was by far the worst we had all week.

Friendly staff, decent rooms (ours slept 5 people, clean, and they had 3 hot tubs for guests to use outside which was a nice bonus. The restaurant didn’t have many good options for our family so we had to venture offsite for food.

Beautiful, modern hotel. Very helpful and friendly staff. Good location, good views from our room.

We loved this hotel! It was clean, fresh, updated and had good personality. Pinny (?), the owner (?) was so fun to talk with. Great man. It was a great location on our road trip. He offered restaurant suggestions as the restaurant onsite was seasonal, not opening until May.

Nice enough hotel. We got to see the northern lights here. Dinner buffet was not good, and cost us about $60 CAD per person because there was no other option for food. The dinner was a huge disappointment. They had the rooftop area closed because there were too many Filipinos staying at the hotel. Yes, that was the exact comment to us. We were told we could go up on the roof by one staff member and then another staff member was so rude and ignorant when we asked for directions to the roof top viewing area. The same staff member was a complete witch the next day as well when we crossed paths with her. When I mentioned her behaviour to some awesome staff members it was confirmed she was the owner so ya…wouldn’t recommend this hotel.

Overall nothing to look twice at. More verging on hostel territory than hotel but the staff were great. Restaurant on site looks like a complete dive, but it was probably one of our best dinners. We tried the horse steak and it was pretty good! The included breakfast was just okay.

Room was basic but slept 5 people and had a private bathroom. The breakfast buffet was decent. The staff were super friendly. The location is awesome.

This was another awesome tour! So breathtaking and awe inspiring once inside. Our guide was awesome! I think his name was Andre.

Beautiful but strenuous. This is quite the hike up a mountain so be prepared for a work out for sure. Stunningly beautiful. Our guide Caroline was incredible and hilarious. The ice caves were humbling and beautiful. Our driver was hilarious as well.

Beautiful, less busy natural spa. They had natural hot tub, hot pool, cooler pool and natural saunas.

This was a fun jaunt off the beaten path. Our driver was fun and efficient. This was a cool stop for photo ops.

Amazing, amazing, AMAZING! Highly recommend. Our tour guide and all the staff we dealt with were incredible. It’s unfortunate we didn’t get our main guides name because he was hilarious and kind. I truly loved this excursion; genuinely every single thing about it. I would do it again.

Very beautiful place. Had high hopes for this and I wasn’t disappointed but it wasn’t as jaw dropping as I thought it’d be. We went early in the morning so it was less busy. Started to get busy around 10:30 am. The one staff we mainly interacted with seemed to have zero personality. The change rooms, showers, etc. were clean. The springs themselves were beautiful and lived taking that all in.

We stayed at the, Petra Guest House, in Petra! It was excellent! We loved its great location next to the Visitor Entrance and Museum! Very comfortable room! Breakfast started being served early so we could begin our visit to the sites early and before all the buses arrived. We also loved spending time at there, Cave Bar which is connected to the hotel. Here, they served excellent food and cocktails!

Very much appreciated at 4:30 am!

Would really rate 8.5 not 8. Good location and some attractive areas Food was very good. Unfortunately too cold to swim in the pools. Room good size but a bit of maintenance needed.

Central area of camp was good. Food and service was good with hospitable people. Room was too basic and unfortunate smell. They kindly got us a sheet as we are not accustomed to sleeping with just a blanket. We found it difficult managing our things on the floor. But other rooms had an extra bed to sit on or for cases which was easier.

Would really give hotel 9 out of 10. Convenient location, smart clean room and good food. Both dinner and breakfast.

Is ok. But I think I like more that one in Kakslauttanen

I like the hotel space and the surrounded view

Isolated hacienda on a hobby farm -- it is not within walking distance of anything, so expect to stay and eat here. Their food is good though, so for a rest day it's a lovely place to be. - They own a few friendly dogs that we played with outside. - Charming rooms; beds had heated blankets because it was a bit chilly -- no problems with temp for us. Rustic-feeling, but clean and comfortable. - Breakfast was simple and tasty (toast, eggs, cold oatmeal-type dish, GREAT coffee) - Dinner options were limited -- not really a menu, more of a "this is what's for dinner tonight, or you can have a sandwich" -- and tasty. They did accommodate vegetarians!

Catered toward tourists: it's located in a touristy / wealthy part of Quito, the staff speak English, overall it was a very comfortable stay. Within walking distance of Quito's historical center, good restaurants, and a supermarket. - Breakfast (included) was incredible, seriously the best hotel breakfast I've ever had. - They have a laundry service, but it's priced per item and very expensive -- we ended up washing clothes in the sink. - Rooms and grounds are clean and well-kept. - The lighting is incredibly harsh and white. This seems to be the norm in Ecuador, but wow was it brutal turning on the lights in the morning. - Dinner (not included) is just okay; I'd go elsewhere for dinner. - Staff is very helpful! We left bags at the desk for a day while hiking (one night of camping, before returning to the hotel) and it was no problem.

An ideal final day in the Galapagos. The whole day we spent on a sailboat with a dozen other tourists and crew and took a 3 hour ride to an uninhabited island. There we did a short "hike" (it was climbing 365 stairs) to an incredible viewpoint — our guide kept telling us it’s been named one of the most beautiful places in the world. By whom, we have no idea, but it was beautiful. After the hike, we went snorkeling again. We saw sharks and a Galapagos penguin, the only species of tropical penguin. The penguins are tiny — no more than a foot tall at full grown. The boat ride back was close to perfect — warm air, sea breeze, a few sightings of jumping rays — a great end to a Galapagos vacation.

Our guide for the day took us to the Charles Darwin Research Station, where we learned more about the ecology of the Galapagos and the efforts to combat ecological destruction. It’s pretty cool how committed the islands are to preservation and environmental sustainability. At the research station we also got to visit the tortoise breeding center where we saw baby tortoises (younger than 5 years, when they’re returned to the wild), as well as a few old ones who were recovered from their early life as pets and can’t be released into the wild. After the research station, we went to the Highlands of Santa Cruz Island to visit a lava tunnel and tortoises in their natural habitat. It was, in a word, amazing. Because of the relatively short time humans have been present on the island, and the lack of predators, the wildlife here is shockingly unafraid of humans. They’re certainly aware of us, and the tortoises moved away if we approached from the front (threatening), but in general are fine with us being close and wandering around with them.

The volcano hike was long (~9 miles) but still far easier than hiking in altitude! We walked up to the caldera (nearly 10 km across) then down the south side and saw the remnants of lava flows from the 2005 and 2018 eruptions. The landscape felt a bit otherworldly, due to the lack of vegetation and lava rocks / fissures. We also saw on our hike three Galapagos hawks — a rare sighting according to our naturalist guide.

We took a boat from Isabela to Tintoreras Islet with a small group. Walking along the islet we saw lots of marine iguanas (they’re in their nesting season, so it’s only the females) as well as white-tipped sharks, crabs, and pelicans and lots of other birds. After the island walk we went snorkeling again and saw a pair of blue-footed boobies doing a mating dance.

We started the day with a walk into the national park to Tortuga Bay, where we kayaked among sea turtles (!), little hammerhead sharks (!), marine iguanas (!), and so many birds. It was SO COOL. The water is shades of azure and teal — it truly felt like we were in a movie.

This was our first hike above 5000m. The way up was challenging but great: we had nice weather, were feeling pretty good after our past two acclimatizing hikes, and there was lots to look at. We reached the refuge at 4700 m feeling tired but good, ate some food, then put on our helmets and harnesses to hike the last 425 m. It got tough quickly, scrambling up rocks using hands and feet, and the altitude was starting to really hit us. Right when we neared the summit, a storm began approaching, so we took a couple quick pictures, then headed down. We didn’t quite beat the storm, as the entire way down was in dense fog and it hailed on us for a few minutes, but avoided the deluge that started once we were in the car on the way back. It is a tough hike because of the altitude, but non-technical and a great first hike over 5000m!

An absolutely beautiful hike up the dormant volcano Pasochoa. We had perfect weather for hiking — and for getting sunburned. Getting there by car may have been more treacherous than the hike itself — we drove down a narrow cobbled road with holes / ruts / ??? that could swallow a few humans. If we were driving, we never would’ve imagined a car could make it through. The summit itself was incredible, passing through a short, verdant rainforest-like section, then leaping over a small chasm. 10/10 would recommend.

We hiked Guagua Pichincha, an active volcano! It was very cloudy at the top, so we couldn’t see the crater, but we could definitely smell the sulfur. And could definitely feel the altitude — it does make hiking (walking, moving, breathing) harder. At least for us: one of the many stray dogs in Ecuador was with us for the entire hike, more often leading than following. Instead of hiking back the way we came, we “land skied” by sliding on our feet down a sheer slope of sandy rocks. Our shoes were filled with rocks, but it was super fun!

On our first day, we went on a walking tour of the historical center of Quito and visited the equator. The historical center had beautiful old architecture, gold gilded churches, and a market where we ate local tropical fruit. We then visited the equator at the Intinan Museum and the fake equator at Mitad del Mundo. (As a bonus, we learned the process for making shriveled heads.) Incredible start to the trip!

We took a boat around the Santa Cruz bay, stopping to observe blue-footed boobies, learn about some of the unique animals of the Galapagos, and snorkel. The water is beautifully clear, the salt water buoyant, and there is SO MUCH wildlife, snorkeling is incredible. We were within meters of iridescent rainbow colored fish, sea turtles, starfish, sea lions, stingrays… so much to see.