Kimkim Trip Reviews

Great location. Excellent staff at reception, especially Jose and Adrian. Breakfast staff were wonderful. Dinner in the restaurant was excellent. Comfortable room.

Unique location and ambience. With it being a ways from the town, there was no opportunity to exchange money or eat elsewhere unless you hired a taxi, Wish the breakfasts were available a half hour earlier as pickups for excursions made it very rushed.

Good location and friendly reception and breakfast staff, Wish they had a safe in the room. Also they don’t make up rooms until after the third night. They charge to change towels. Before that.

Good location. Helpful reception staff. Allowed early partial breakfast or boxed breakfast if leaving early. Floors of the room were dirty. Both times we were there, slippers and dressing gowns were provided. Toilet paper was not filled after the first night both times we were there. You have to put the sign out to make up room or your room won’t be attended to. Can only use YouTube to get old English news.

Great ambience and staff. Wilson was fabulous. All staff were friendly. “This is your home” mantra allows you to have wine and beer and yogurt , juice, fruit and filtered water all day long.

Location was a ways out of the town core. Very windy so not easy to walk into town. Rooms not in the main building were good for people able to bring in good to cook but a bit dated. Bed was in the loft upstairs. TV did not work. Breakfast staff was friendly. Food basic. For dinner, space is limited. Nice view from the deck. Most places provide box breakfasts for free if you leave before breakfast but this place charges. They also charge for box lunches which is fine but the price seems high though I don’t know what is provided.

This was one of the highlights of our trip. Graciela and Pierre gave us an interesting tour of Boeda with a stop for drinks at a characteristic bar. Then hosted us at their home and showed us how to make empanadas and we had a fabulous dinner and great conversation. Plus they gave us gifts to take home.

The Falls were excellent to see and walk the walkways. Highly recommend the tour. The guide not great. Wish more information was provided and there was a lot of wasted time that could have been utilized elsewhere. Perhaps some of this time was due to Devils Throat not being accessible. Plus juggling the group when some did the boat ride and others didn't - rather than wasting time eating and waiting around, we could have just gone back to the hotel.

The Brazil side was far more spectacular than the Argentina side of the falls. Excellent guide and experience. The trip was well organized and accommodated people doing the helicopter ride. We were going to the airport after the tour so the tour company juggled all the various itineraries of the travellers and managed the border crossings well too.

Recoleta is a must see. Enjoyed walking the streets getting to Recoleta. Plus had some bonus visit to a museum that the guide was surprised that we lucked out when we were there and initiated conversation with the curator who opened it up for us. We walked the area back to the hotel so went through the rose gardens and parks on our own which was interesting.

Excellent guide who provided good info and history of the area. Loved seeing the Grand Splendid Bookstore. We walked back to the hotel after being dropped off there.

Did not find the Estancia visit worthwhile but the visit to the Perito Moreno Glacier was good. The small boat ride out to the glacier seemed like a time filler by going a long about way plus it was not great as the water was very rough. The description we had did not advise we would be in a very small boat that bounced along the waves and had water flowing in. Luckily there was four us plus our guide and the two people handling the boat. It could have handled two more people but that would not have been great. Once we got to the glacier it was okay. Good to take photos from the small boat there. I would have found it more enjoyable just driving to the glacier with a stop where we saw other boats going to the glacier and going to the glacier by boat there (we just landed there). It would have been smoother and shorter so not wasting time. The actual visit to the Perito Mereno Glacier walkways was excellent.

Unfortunately the weather was raining for the whole day but we could see how spectacular it would be to see it on a better day. Luckly, I was able to get pictures from someone I met when we did the Grey's Glacier day as she was doing this tour the day after that. But highly recommend this tour. Guide and driver were good. The driver was an amazing photographer so great to see his pictures of the area.

Great city snd enjoyed the colourful streets. But not impressed with the guide. Tour started at 9:39 and ended at 3:45 with about an hour and a half lunch spot. Tour guide , Filipe, had his lunch and a couple of glasses of wine on us. Not impressed that he didn’t offer to pay for his own. We gave a smaller tip to him but still felt we needed to give hime something. Not a lot more of added info compared to most tours. We could have walked around exploring on our own. The driver both ways was outstanding. He was the best driver of the whole trip. He made an effort to give us info often using the translation app. And he gave us little Chilean flags as a memento of our trip to Chile.

Enjoyed the tour. Interesting to see the geysers. Guide was good. Food was good.

Gabriel’s dinner was a highlight of our trip. Unique experience. Fabulous food and drink. The soup and lamb dishes were so tasty. Great conversation with the others there.

We just wondered around the hotel area as we had no plans after arriving later in the afternoon. Didn't feel comfortable with walking at night too much as didn't have a feel for the area. Driver from the airport got lost so took extra time to get to the hotel.

Instructions were not clear to others on timing and how to get to the boat as the driver did not speak English. Luckily, we knew where to go as we had been down to the beach on the previous day tour. Plus I had read it was a 40 minute walk. Unfortunately two of the people on the bus were slow and the boat was held up 15 minutes until they got to the boat. Glad the boat waited for them but they should have been advised of the time frame to get to the boat and proper instructions. Good experience to see the glacier. Not a wow but okay trip. Walking back we offered to help the slow people. It was very windy and difficult to walk back from the boat along the beach even if in good shape. Too bad the boat didn't have options to get people to and from the boat if they needed assistance or perhaps it was the fault of the instructions in not explaining the physical condition people needed to be in though I expect these two people figured they didn't need it. He was always late getting on the bus and not respectful of others time in a number of circumstances of the day.

We enjoyed walking around and going up San Cristobal Hill both via funicular and sky ride (teleferico). Tried to walk down but couldn't find the path despite locals trying to help. Unfortunately security staff could not help and had blocked off a pathway.

Guide was okay (he had a cold so was sniffing and runny nose most of the time so we were trying not to catch it from him). Santiago was not our favourite city but we saw the major things.

Outstanding guide. Interesting tour. Good to swim in the lagoon. Nice cocktails and appetizers at the end. Glad this tour was our first one in the area. Nice set up for the rest of our time in the area.

Good guide. Lagunas were beautiful. If you were short on time in San Pedro de Atacama, this would be the tour to skip.

I would have preferred to have breakfast at the hotel and start the tour later (others felt the same way). Because all the tours started so early, we missed having breakfast at the hotel though it was included. Felt the breakfast on the tour was a time filler and a lot of time standing around while the breakfast was being set up. Enjoyed the things we saw on this tour. Guide was good.

The location of the hotel is amazing but it really needs renewal and more friendly staff at the frontdesk.

Carmen(?) the manager or receptionist ( don’t remember exactly her role) was exceptional.

Amazing trip. Highly recommended.

Great hike, beautiful views.

This hotel was dreamy. The room was beautiful, overlooking the mountains. We had the most amazing meals - be it breakfast or the four-course dinners by the fireplace. The staff was so friendly and available for whatever we needed. I would highly recommend and would definitely book again.

Beautiful accommodations and a great location. However, the best part was the service. Badr was available for anything we needed, including preparing the most amazing breakfasts - eggs, pastries, juice, and the best mint tea we had on our trip.

Our casita was lovely - the best of the trip. Gleaming wood floors, ceiling, and window frames. Great views. Our own jacuzzi. The staff were very helpful and friendly. Yoga was good and the facilities lovely. Nice but short trail for walking. Hard to get a long (as in 4 miles) walk in on the property though. The food was good but a bit overpriced. Loved sitting outside on the deck at the restaurant.

We were there only from 11pm to 10am. It was a beautiful hotel and the breakfast was wonderful.

Beautiful painting job of every wall, gate, and decoration - so colorful. The landscaping is gorgeous - really enjoyed walking through all the paths. Enjoyed the walk to the waterfalls. We had a big villa which was nice. There was a little mildew odor in the bathroom. The mattress was very hard - like a futon - and was uncomfortable. The pillows were also very stiff and too firm. This is a charming place - they just need to work on a few details in the rooms. Planes take off nearby but they are not constant and they didn't really bother us.

We had the best room - fantastic views. There was a huge, round bath tub in the room which we didn't use (would feel guilty using that much water!). It is a windy place and cool but that was fine. We enjoyed walking everywhere around the nature walks and to the beer garden. The nature path is very short - would have liked a longer path to walk. The road to the hotel is very steep so we never did walk into town. The restaurant is very nice and the staff were just great. One night we had live music which was fun.

Our room was too small - we wish we had booked the larger room. The only place to sit in a chair was out on the deck which was sometimes too hot. This is a beach experience and it was hot and humid. The pool near the reception area was particularly lovely. We enjoyed walking along the public beach which is longer. We are not ocean swimmers. We enjoyed the tour of the park but there were many people and we really didn't see that many animals. We liked our tour guide Raphael who was very knowledgeable. This hotel has a steep path from rooms/reception to the beach but they offer golf carts for those who don't want to walk. There is a short nature path. We didn't do as much hiking as we had planned because of the heat.

The guide, Eduardo, was excellent. He pointed out many animals and birds. He was very fit and animated. We enjoyed being with him.

This was a good challenging hike but could have been longer. They used to call it the burrito hike because they took you to make burritos but now they took us to chop vegetables and make empanadas. It was okay but we would have rather hiked more. We enjoyed the people we were with and the guide was great.

We loved this activity. There were 13 zip lines (some were very short). It was pretty and good to be in the fresh air. Felt very safe. The only negative is how many people there were - some long lines on occasion.

Fun activity, learned a lot. There were a lot of people - pretty touristy.

Very touristy. Tons of people everywhere. Waiting in lines. Actually walking on the hanging bridges was fun. The La Fortuna waterfall is a staircase that you walk down and then back up. Not a hike at all.

Very tame walk. We were in a group of 10. Not a lot of exercise. The guide was very good - Raphael. He knew a lot and was good at explaining. We didn't see that many animals due to the time of day and the crowds. Tons of tourists.

We spent 7 nights ant Trinity Townhouse. The location was perfect - we could walk to everything we wanted to see. The breakfast that was included was exceptional. The hotel staff were incredibly friendly and helpful. I would recommend this hotel!

The hotel was charming and well located, the hotel staff were very friendly and helpful. I would recommend this hotel!

We spent 2 nights at Clayton Hotel. The location was perfect - we spent half a day walking around and visiting sights and enjoying the restaurants.. The hotel staff were always available with friendly help and advice. I would recommend this hotel!

The location of The Ross was perfect - the national park was across the street and we spent half a day walking around. The hotel staff were friendly and help and helpful. I would recommend this hotel!

We spent a few hours at Howth. I am so glad out KimKim guide put this on the agenda. We loved getting out of Dublin and exploring the outskirts, eating superb fish and chips. Definitely a highlight of our trip.

We really enjoyed having a local walk us through the park. We saw parts of the park that were lovely and we would have missed had we done this on our own.

This day trip was one of the highlights of our trip. Our guide was knowledgeable and was happy to discuss life, culture and politics in Ireland. Kinsale and Cobh were lovely, and Blarney Castle was interesting, but the real highlight was the conversation with our guide. Thank you!

We enjoyed spending a few hours seeing the Atlantic side of Ireland. We stopped at a couple of places along the way that were also interesting.

Great 2 night/3 day cruise to halong bay. The rooms are spacious with amazing views. The activities are well planned and very fun. The food is as you would expect for cruise food - good but not great.

Great service, clean rooms, comfortable bed, excellent location! On weekends, there is karaoke on the streets of the old quarter that can be loud - it finished by about 1030pm on Friday and Saturday night.

Great location in old town- quiet, clean, excellent laundry service, delicious breakfast.

We loved our tour through Hoi An! We had a relaxing bike ride through the rice fields, encountered a water buffalo, visited an organic farm, and rafted down the river to our lunch spot where we were taught how to make bon sao! We loved every part of this tour. We had an awesome guide and it was a great length.

The snorkeling was nice but slightly cloudy. The tour takes you snorkeling at 3 different spots which was nice. However, you end up on an island for about 3 hours just hanging out (where everything cost money - even sitting in a chair). We would have preferred to just be back at our resort instead of being stuck there.

The tour took us to try pho, bon sao, train street, and dessert. It was fun to walk around and have a guide teach us how to cross the streets in Hanoi! We hit everything we hoped we would try.

Good tour - casual and adaptable to our wants.

We loved the cruise - strongly recommend staying 2 nights instead of 1. The full day to explore halong bay/ cat ba island was our favorite part.

One of a kind experience if looking for a romantic dinner

We had a great time on the vespas trying different foods throughout saigon!

This was our favorite hotel during our stay in Costa Rica. The bird watching at the hotel was better than any of the nature reserves. Love the bungalow style rooms with the veranda. The views of the Pacific Ocean were incredible. The hotel also did a great job with accommodating my Celiac food allergy. The free laundry service was a major perk. We could walk to restaurants close by. We used the yoga room and weights a few times to work out. The restaurant at the hotel served a great breakfast and the dinner was one of the best meals we had the whole trip.

The rooms are really large. The breakfast was very good. The hot springs blew our minds. The only down side of this hotel is it's a $40 round trip taxi ride to get into town if you want to eat somewhere besides the hotel.

The driver was great and had snacks and drinks for us. La Paz was a nice way to break of the long drive. We spent a couple of hours exploring the waterfalls and wildlife and proceeded to our hotel.

The bird were great. The guide didn't speak English very well and was difficult to understand. Didn't love the experience but didn't regret it either.

Our guide was good but we finished the tour 30 minutes before the included lunch place even opened and we didn't want to wait around. The waterfall and swimming were definitely worth it.

This was our favorite tour of the trip. We saw 9 sloths and got amazing photos of them. Our guide was so helpful as we would have never been able to spot them without his expertise. The food afterwards was so yummy!

The weather was awful and the whole tour was cut short. We came back drenched and cold. Can't really see what would have been very interesting about the tour even if the weather had cooperated.

Our guide was great and found things we could have never seen. The forest was beautiful. He was very knowledgeable and his English was amazing.

This was so fun to see the forest come alive at night. We loved our guide and saw lots of interesting wildlife.

The guide was really hard to understand. The bridges were a bit of a let down. Nothing like advertised. The staff were all a bit rude and we felt rushed during the zip line. The forest and zip line was still fun but the rude staff put a damper on the whole experience. We also had to wait a full hour between activities and then almost another full hour after zip lining for our ride back to the hotel.

By far, our favorite of the three hotels we stayed at while in Portugal. We arrived prior to our check-in time, but the front desk staff got us into two of the three rooms within 30 minutes. And they suggested a place for lunch within walking distance. The concierge was equally helpful with dinner reservations a couple days later. The breakfast buffet was outstanding: no need to seek out breakfast anywhere else. All service encounters were professional and courteous.

Recently remodeled but still full of historical charm. Good breakfast and great staff.

We were only in this hotel for about 12 hours due to an early-morning international flight, so we didn't experience much. The rooms are spacious and the staff was friendly and courteous.

This cute bookshop has exploded in popularity thanks to Harry Potter, but we would like it regardless.

Driver was fun with lots of stories. He drove us to some nice viewpoints and sights.

Nelson was the perfect driver for this experience: since he grew up in Sintra, his knowledge of the area was astounding. The line moving through the palace moves at a comfortable pace, allowing time for reading the signage along the way. The palace is so well-maintained and is a captivating snapshot of 19th century regal life. We loved the gardens and especially the Valley of Lakes area. We also made a quick visit to the Moorish Castle, walking a portion of the wall. Amazing to see Neolithic artifacts and tombs from a thousand years ago.

This was probably the overall favorite activity of our trip. The food was great (lots of fish and seafood, as expected) and very attentive service. Even if you don't speak Portuguese, the music is gorgeous. We had front row seats and enjoyed watching the guitarists. There were three singers, each performing about 20 minutes, with breaks in between. One of those breaks allowed for the dessert course to be served. Yum.

Unfortunately we had a rainy morning for this tour, but rain jackets helped a lot. Sara was a trooper, and tried to get us out of the rain whenever possible, but she could tell we were tired of being soggy. We appreciated her knowledge of the city and specifics about various churches, government buildings, the train station and monuments. Her recommendation for lunch (francesinhas!) was spot-on.

Elsa was so fun! Kept us moving at a comfortable pace, making a loop from our hotel down the Avenida Liberdade to the riverside, up through the Chiado neighborhood, and back to the Avenida for a tasty lunch. So much history and culture to see, and she gave us pointers for visiting other places on our own, such as the best funicular routes, the easiest way to the Castelo de Sao Jorge, and using the Metro escalators to climb hills.

A luxury hotel right in the middle of the Old Quarter Hanoi. The food, service and amenities (pool, bar) were first rate. The rooms were quiet and dark with mini-fridge, two bathrooms, and comfortable bed.

We were looking forward to our trip to Ha Long bay but were disappointed in the number of ships in our area and the boat staff trying to squeeze us for more money. The cocktails were weak and overpriced and the wine likewise. I asked for a cafe latte for breakfast and was told that would be an additional cost. Tried going to the upper deck for the sunset and cocktails but their was blaring thumbing techno music that totally ruined the experience. I complained to the bartender/DJ but nothing was done. Left after 15 minutes. Our second floor room with balcony was nice and quiet respite from the rest of the boat. We went kayaking and swimming off the back of the boat. We would have done better with a smaller boat and more sedate, refined feel to it. We were fed like hogs but I didn't go to Ha Long bay to just eat all the time. Seeking a beautiful, quiet and reflecting natural experience not a techno music festival.

One of our favorite hotels on the trip. Staff very welcoming and helpful. Our room was nice and quiet with a room overlooking the beautiful pool which we swam in every day. The bed was comfortable and the room had a minibar with sink and coffee maker. The breakfast buffet was great and the staff even brought out a small birthday cake for me accompanied by a Happy Birthday chorus one morning! the hotel had bikes to use and we rode to the beach one morning. Good location to the historic area also with just a few blocks to walk. We had one hour of free massage available per day but we only used it once.

Also one of our favorite hotels of the trip. Beautiful wood furniture in the room with a balcony from which we could see the Saigon river. The rooftop pool and bar were very cool and we went swimming every afternoon. Good location for shopping and helpful staff.

This was our least favorite hotel of our trip. We were expecting a quiet rural setting i.e. "Retreat", but what we got was a frustrating and aggravating room (306) located at the perimeter of the resort next door to a loud noisy bar/restaurant playing thumping techno music all Saturday night and even Sunday morning! Also our balcony view included a new resort down the hill with bright Christmas lights shining in our room all night. Our room was furthest from the restaurant and bar and the wet, poorly lit sidewalk and bridges presented a challenge for this 70-year old couple. The rain made the up and down sidewalks quite slippery and we worried about falling. Our room was also close to the main road and we could hear trucks and traffic all day and night. The restaurant asked that you give them one hour notice for grilled fish or chicken which seemed unreasonable. We went to a next door restaurant the second night and had a delicious meal at half the price. Dac San Pu Luong. We could hear the frogs croaking and the insects singing minus the techno music. When we went on a hike with Peter we passed a very nice hotel (Homestay Anh Bong) off the main road with a nice pool and restaurant that looked far better.

Long drive to Pu Luong Reserve (>4 hours) but interesting stops along the way. Peter was very helpful showing us around the Pom Coong village. Big lunch there. Enjoyed watching the native weavers at work and bought a couple of weavings. Walked around the rice fields and saw the village folks going about their business.

Mildly challenging hike on mostly developed roads seeing mountains, rural areas and villages. Some good overlooks. Saw a snake that was both venomous and poisonous. Visited with an elderly woman weaving and bought a couple of weavings. Ate big lunch at a villager's home. Peter was quite helpful and patient with us old folks.

more scenic drive back to Hanoi than on the way to Pu Luong. Stopped at an elementary school and were swarmed by 5th graders eager to try out their English. Stopped and saw some water mills. Stopped for coffee and pho for lunch.

We were really looking forward to our visit to Ha Long Bay but were disappointed in the number of large boats in our area, the overpriced, weak cocktails and drinks, and the loud techno music blaring on the rooftop bar when were hoping to have a peaceful sunset experience. The food was plentiful and tasty and the service first rate. Our room was quite nice with a balcony after we paid for an upgrade. We went kayaking but the crew staff made us take off our water shoes so we couldn't get out on barnacled shore to swim. We were able to swim from the boat in the bay and we made the crew staff nervous swimming too far from the boat. We did use the boat pool to relax in after our bay swim. I think we may have misled Minh when we mentioned swimming as a priority in our trip to Ha Long Bay. She probably thought we meant an onboard swimming pool when we meant open water swimming. A smaller cruise boat without a pool would have provided a more intimate experience and perhaps get us away from all the crowds of large boats. I was irritated when I asked for a cafe latte for breakfast and was told it would cost extra. The row boat trip to the caves were interesting.

Enjoyed the rowboat visit to the caves in the morning.

We skipped the vegetable village and only did the Hoian walking tour. It was okay but our guide was not very inspiring and we had tired of looking at pagodas and old shrines. Probably more about us than her. She took us to a few of her favorite shops..a tailor, lantern maker, and clothing. No real deals to be made. We had a coffee together and she took a photo of us on the bridge. We had another big lunch which was excellent. Spent the rest of the afternoon shopping and went home for a late afternoon swim at the hotel.

Loved this activity! Our drivers and guides Vic and Kim (?) spoke English quite well and seemed to enjoy showing us all the different foods and places. Fun diving into all the motorcycle traffic on the back of a Vespa and flowing along.

We first met Peter our guide and he was amazing. We visited a small village outside Hanoi and met Dr. Du a retired orthopedic surgeon at his home. We talked for quite a while using Peter as our interpreter. My wife and I are both physicians and found him interesting. He had been a physician in the North Vietnamese Army during the American War and had been shot in the head by an American soldier. It left him unable to perform as an orthopedic surgeon but he continued to work as a physician and teacher in Vietnam after the war. He had no animosity toward Americans and was happy we had come to visit Vietnam. We took a walking tour of his village (it was lightly raining and not good for bicycle riding. We enjoyed visiting the marketplace and temple but were less interesting in seeing some of the homes of famous leaders and soldiers. We helped prepare pork spring rolls with his wife and daughter and ate Bun cha for lunch. That was a fun and hands on experience. We also did a few shots of rice wine. :) In the afternoon we toured the Literature Temple and Tran Quoc pagoda with Peter. That was interesting and beautiful. We saw the John McCain memorial at a nearby lake. Peter stopped at a shop where disabled folks made and sold weavings and other products. We bought a few souvenirs and drank egg coffee for the first time. Saw a water puppet show at the end of the day that was entertaining. it was a great day that exhausted us with all the walking (we were still jet lagged ) but we could have skipped all the historical sights in the outlying village.

Our guide Mr. Nam spoke very good English and provided good historical information as we toured the tunnels, Liberation Palace, and the War Remnants Museum. Seeing the elaborate tunnels and traps the Viet Cong had built during the American War showed how resilient and innovative the Vietnamese fighters were and brought home the stark harshness and cruelty of war. Touring the War Remnants Museum showing horrifying photos of massacred and mutilated VC soldiers , women and children, all reportedly at the hands of American soldiers and bombs, made me feel shameful as an American. Definitely a one sided view of the war but there was enough cruelty to go around for both sides. Visiting the Liberation Palace refreshed my memory of the end of the South Vietnam regime.

The lodge is amazing, the staff are attentive and they go out of their way to make sure you have a good time. I can't believe Leonardo, our guide. He worked tireless hours and showed us around and helped the servers and was all around amazing. Ramona (their adopted pet woolly monkey) is the star of the resort. She's extremely sweet and cuddly and so much fun. The guests were also quite wonderful. Many were locals and we had a great time with them. The activities they had were fun and the place was completely relaxed and laid back. Totally recommend for a lovely time.