Kimkim Trip Reviews

James put together a customized itinerary that was tailored to our interests. He listened carefully to what we were looking for, presented an itinerary, and worked closely with us to tweak it until it was perfect! Our drivers and guides made our vacation stress free and very informative. Most memorable were our cooking class in Barcelona, our “Cultural Triathlon” and flamenco night in Sevilla, hiking the Caminito del Rey, and visiting the Alhambra in Granada. Each hotel was beautiful in its own way. I especially loved our hotels in Sevilla and Granada!
Once we arrived in Spain, James or a member of his team were always available and checked in with us regularly to make sure everything was going well. We really appreciated that!
I would absolutely recommend KimKim and specifically Tailor Made Andalucia if you are planning to travel to Spain!

Hotel Reviews

Hotel Casa 1800

Granada

Perfect location for walking around the city. Tucked away from the noise on a small pedestrian street with lots of charm! Very peaceful, beautiful courtyard where afternoon tea and sweets are served… a really nice touch and much appreciated! Nice breakfast buffet as well. No elevator, so ask for help if your room is at the top of the stairs and your bags are heavy!

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Front desk staff should offer to have someone carry bags for those whose rooms are on the top floors.

Cleanliness & Comfort

Hospes Las Casas del Rey de Baeza

Sevilla

Really pretty hotel with beautiful courtyard for breakfast and lovely pool and lounge area! Restaurant onsite with good food. Very relaxing to eat poolside!

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Gallery Hotel

Barcelona

Friendly, helpful front desk staff, large and modern rooms, excellent breakfast buffet! Perfect location for walking to just about everything or using the subway. Yummy gelato place across the street!

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Reviews

Day Trip from Ronda to Hike the 'Caminito del Rey' - Ending in Granada

Spain

Very beautiful, cool experience. Perfectly safe.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Cultural Triathlon in Sevilla!

Seville

Our guide, Pilar, was exceptional. She clearly loves her city and loves to share its history and its charms! The horse drawn carriage picked us up at our hotel and took us to the Plaza de Espana. After the ride was finished, we walked to the river where our boat was waiting! The boat took us to Triana, where we learned some of the history, walked through the market, and did some shopping. It was a great trip!

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

A Cooking Class of Spanish Cuisine

Barcelona

Great experience! Class of 12 included retirees, a family of 6, and 4 others including us. Our chef took us shopping for the ingredients at the big market and gave us a tour of the market which was an unexpected perk. We made many different dishes and then sat at a big table to enjoy the meal. It was a unique experience, one of the highlights of our trip.

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Guided Walk of the Gothic Quarter with Tapas Dinner

Barcelona

If you love history, this is the walk for you! Very informative tour guide! Tapas dinner was fun… we went to 2 places to experience some variety.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

We had the best time in Iceland! Every single attraction Terry set on our daily itinerary and paid adventures were so beautiful and fun.

We decided to book our trip through a travel agency, which we've never done before, because our Iceland adventure was part of a larger travel plan that we were already overwhelmed with booking. All through our time in Iceland, and since we got back, we've been congratulating each other on what a good idea that was!

We heard from Terry, our travel agent, within a few hours of filling out our interest form. And she was amazing. She was responsive to our questions and our priorities, she worked with us as we chose and changed activities (often) and she was communicative about roadblocks.

And, to top it all off, she put in a ton of extra work--all in secret--to help me plan a surprise proposal in front of an Icelandic waterfall for my now fiancee! She was so helpful and excited about being my "secret agent," and she planned everything so perfectly. It all went without a hitch, and my fiancee hadn't expected any of it!

Thank you, Terry, for a trip of a lifetime!

Activity Reviews

Whales and Puffins

Iceland

A trip highlight! What an amazing experience. The boat was comfortable. We were given coveralls to keep us warm, and the tour guide was passionate and articulate. We really learned something on this trip, and our tour guide made us as tourists feel very connected to the larger cause of animal conversation in this beautiful country. Also puffins rock.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

A+

Transport

Boats are fun.

Zipline Adventure Tour

Iceland

Wonderful guides and such a fun adventure! It was the perfect length, as well. Zoom zoom! Such a thrill!

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Fantastic! Loved the history we got sprinkled in, and the wonderful good humor. Total sweethearts!

Transport

Horse Riding on Black Sand Beach

Iceland

Very fun! We learned about the horses and got to do the Icelandic gait. It would have been fun to go on a bit of a longer/more varied route.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

It was horses. What's not to like?

Blue Lagoon

Iceland

A super relaxing first outing. What a great way to refresh and relax after a long trip!

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Eleni did a wonderful job providing great lodging, locations, and experiences during our trip to Greece. We had a family of four with two teenagers and got to experience a little bit of everything. We had a couple hiccups with car rentals, but that didn't take away from how well organized the whole vacation was. The team was incredibly responsive during our trip 24/7 and every guide we interacted with was the best! If I ever go to Greece again, I would be happy to work with Eleni and her team! Thank you for the memories.

Hotel Reviews

Klymeni Traditional Homes

Nafplio

Probably one of the coolest places I've ever stayed. The homes are so neat with all the stone, marble, and wood. Beautiful views from the balconies of the castle, town, ocean, churches, and lime trees. Very magical. Our whole family loved it. Quiet, safe, peaceful, romantic, cozy, and you have easy access to anything you want to do in the area.

Authenticity & Character

The design of the villas is magical.

Location

The views are amazing!

Staff

The staff could not have been nicer or more helpful

Cleanliness & Comfort

Very clean and comfortable. Totally felt comfortable walking around barefoot

Thanos Village

Gialova

Our family all loved this location. Quiet. Private. Stunning views in all directions. I enjoyed being surrounded by all the plants. Air conditioning worked well, close to beaches, shopping, and food. Loved the balcony and pool.

Authenticity & Character

The surrounding area.

Location

The ocean views and easy access to shopping.

Staff

I never saw the staff. We never needed anyone for anything.

Cleanliness & Comfort

NLH Monastiraki

Athens

It's very close to the Plaka district and within walking distance of most shopping and restaurants. The room was pretty basic, but quiet. Really the staff was the highlight of this location. Pretty amazing customer service.

Authenticity & Character

It's a fairly basic hotel room. Not bad in any way.

Location

It doesn't have the best curb appeal in the alleys of Athens city. But inside is secure and lovely.

Staff

Staff was amazing! They recommended good places to eat and were great at making us feel at home.

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Reviews

Local Sunset Dinner

Greece

Private Acropolis & Agora Mythology Tour

Athens

The ruins took a backseat to our guide Maria who was really fun, funny, and the best part of the experience. Our family arents really big on history so we mostly just wanted to see the pantheon for photos. As cool as it was, the only negative were the crowds. We liked that our guide has photos of what the structures use to look like. :)

Quality of Experience

Maria, our guide was the highlight for sure!

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Our driver to the Acropolis was awesome!

Horse Riding in Nafplio

Nafplio

The horseback riding would have been better if it hadn't just been around the town... I'm use to horseback riding being an opportunity to see countryside you normally wouldn't see by foot or car. Also these particular horses were difficult. They were either bitter or slow. However, our guide was terrific. The best part of the edventure was when we stopped riding horses and just hung out at his place for drinks and fruit.

Quality of Experience

Better horses and location

Guides, Drivers and Staff

The guide was friendly and generous

Transport

Hiking Palamidi Castle

Nafplio

So we had a private guide who took us up the back way through the forest to the castle which we thought was cool until we realized we could have just driven and parked at the castle. Also, by the time we got up there, the castle was closing in 30 min so we didn't get to see a lot of it before getting kicked out. And our guide didn't really tell us anything about the castle.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

The only negative was that our guide seemed really tired or out of shape and we're a pretty athletic family that wanted to get up the mountain quickly.

Transport

Private Epidaurus Guided Tour

Greece

Unless you're a big history buff... This location is just okay. We liked our guide and all, but for the amount of time it took to drive out there and then walk around in the heat... I don't know that it was worth it. Also, so much of it is covered with or surrounded by modern construction equipment.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Sea Kayak above sunken Epidaurus

Nafplio

A wonderful combination of beauty, activity, history, fun, relaxation, good food, and good company. Kayaking on the sea was therapeutic. The water was so calm and beautiful. Very laid back. Snorkeling over the sunken city was a magical experience. Loved every minute of it!

Quality of Experience

The tropical feel and snorkeling

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Guides had very different personalities and were all fun.

Transport

Easy drive in. Easy to park. Easy to find. Great location.

Kalamata private Food Tour

Greece

A cant-miss highlight for a trip to Kalamata! The tour combined great food, wine, coffee, company, city sights, and history with memorable local interactions. Maria was like an immediate best friend to our entire family. You could tell she was incredibly passionate about the food tour and making sure we all had a blast. I would recommend her food tour to everyone!!!

Quality of Experience

Maria was the best!

Food

All of the food was delicious. Had to pace ourselves because the is so much and you want to eat it all.

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Private Sailing to Proti Island

Greece

Captain Nikos ensured that this trip would be a favorite for the entire family! The blues of the ocean were to die for! The sea was so calm and clear. The company and snacks were awesome. We didn't even make it to Proti island... We were having way too much fun getting a customized private route through the bay. Would do again 100%

Quality of Experience

Favorite for the entire family!

Food

The coffee and peaches

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Captain Nikos was the best!

Transport

We've never been on a sailboat before. Super relaxing and fun.

Fabio was very nice to work with. I think he was a little busy as sometimes we didn't hear back. We also didn't quite get the level of detail and communication that we would have liked to understand what he had planned and feel comfortable and confident in our trip. For instance, we asked for a boating experience and didn't realize until we got to the boat place that what he booked was a 9-hour excursion that was more focused on visiting towns than boating.

We did very much appreciate some of the concierge's help while we were there. Our luggage was lost and she was very helpful in tracking it down and getting it to us. And the drivers were always on time. We didn't understand the purpose of the person who met us in Sorrento, as he didn't live there and didn't provide any helpful info. Neither he nor the concierge could help us with local restaurant info, etc.

We also didn't really understand who to ask for questions we had and felt like one person would say, no ask the other person, etc. which wasn't great.

We did really love the person who was with us in Radda, Felipo. We are glad we did too as even though we thought we were getting booked on totally different excursions, he ended up leading them all - a biking tour, a hiking tour, and even a cooking class.

All in all, we had a great trip, but feel there are some kinks that Kim Kim, etc. should work out.

Hotel Reviews

Grand Hotel Capodimonte

Sorrento

We ended up enjoying this hotel, but giving it 3 stars because the first room they put us in smelled strongly of mold and had black mold around two of the vents in the room. It was also right next to the pool so we could hear the people at the pool in our room, and it also did not have hot water. The hotel initially said sorry we are booked when we tried to get another room, but I was persistent and magically they gave us a different room that did not have these issues. We loved that room. The other thing that was a bummer about this hotel was the pool. We had not had a break from our kids in years and so were bummed that the pool was full of kids being kids - it just was not at all relaxing and so we didn't use it other than the initial time we went. Very good breakfast. Really pretty hotel overall.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Tough one - the initial room they put us in would get 0 stars, but the one we finally got did not have issues and was great.

Hotel Palazzo Leopoldo

Radda in Chianti

Very bare bones hotel. Cheap towels, toilet paper, sheets. You have to pay to get a robe or an extra towel. We could hear word for word conversations of the people outside. It also wasn't cleaned very well, and the AC could not keep up with the extreme outdoor heat. I found most of the staff to be overly formal and one, when we requested an upgraded room, to be on the rude side. It is super old, so if you are looking mainly for historic character and not a higher-end experience, this may work for you.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Hotel Balestri

Florence

Very nice people, updated rooms done quite nicely. Very bizarre collection of Goofy figures in the lobby area that clashed with the vibe of the hotel. Great location. Not a very sound proofed room.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Reviews

Organic cooking class in a typical farmhouse - semi private

Italy

Quality of Experience

It was lovely, but quite hot

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Private biking tour with lunch & wine tasting

Italy

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

We've just come back from an amazing trip with another family to Costa Rica. Planned and supported by Yuliana, KimKim and Amazilia throughout. Fantastic service from start to end. Thank you Yuliana and KimKim/Amazilia.

From the moment I contacted KimKim with a speculative query, KimKim’s responsiveness was immediately apparent.

A local agent was assigned to help me plan the trip within 24 hours and thereafter, all queries were responded to, at maximum within 24 hours, or within minutes if my queries were sent within office hours of Costa Rica time zone, which I've noticed can often run to 7 or 8pm local time. Our minds were made up to choose KimKim to help plan our holiday within the first few interactions and supported by the excellent reviews they've received for trips all over the world.

We were not disappointed. Yuliana was the local agent assigned to us, she has been professional, helpful, and responsive throughout; irrespective of the number of questions I had and boy, I had a few questions as we knew very little about Costa Rica. Whilst there were a few tweaks to her draft trip plan, it had met the brief straightaway. We played around with hotels, number of nights at each destination and activities to suit our families. We had some specific requirements and date constraints as two of our teenagers were volunteering at a Turtle conservation centre in Uvita, in week one, therefore we had to fit in with their timeline. Yuliana helped us arrange the private transfer to collect them up from the conversation centre before picking the rest of the party up to our onward destination. She changed things around, provided additional options or clear feedback on suggestions where things may not suit, we really valued the honesty and her local knowledge.

The trips and transfers were done with a mixture of providers but we felt reassured that KimKim/Amazilia were there in San Jose to support if there were issues. The trip ran like clockwork, transfers were prompt, activities were enriching and fun and the guides were knowledge and entertaining. There were only a couple of hiccups which were not the fault of KimKim but they were on the case promptly and helped us resolve.

Hotel Reviews

Cristal Ballena Boutique Hotel & Spa

Ballena

Cristal Ballena is one of our favourites on the trip. The hotel was fairly small therefore an intimate feel. It was tucked away off the main road and had amazing views, floral, fauna and wildlife. We got best close up view of a sloth of the whole holiday at Cristal Ballena. The staff were attentive, the food was good. We had dinner at the hotel on all 3 nights we were there. Rooms were of a good size, with air con. We had a balcony with a view into the the hotel grounds, swimming pool, the ocean in the distance for incredible sunsets.

Authenticity & Character

Relatively small and intimate, with great staff.

Location

Tucked away from the main road. Well maintained and beautiful gardens. It would be 5 star if the beach was a bit more accessible. Great views and sunsets.

Staff

Friendly and attentive. They would often come over to let us know if wildlife had been spotted.

Cleanliness & Comfort

Clean and comfortable.

Hampton by Hilton San José Airport

Alajuela

Good hotel, room size and facilities as you'd expect of a large chain.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Very convenient for the airport and the free shuttle was handy

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Arenal Springs Resort

La Fortuna

Lovely hotel set in a lot of grounds. I like the lodge arrangements that was separate to the pool and restaurants. Good choice of restaurants, we particularly liked the Italian, the Sushi bar and the snack menu which was offered during the day. There was plenty of choice for breakfast and the service time from 6:30 helped with several of our early morning excursions. We preferred the evening meals from the other restaurants on site. There was a mix up upon checking where my acceptance of an upgrade for one of the rooms turned out to be a change the hotel had made, reducing our 3 room requirement to a single room which was upgraded to the Master Suite. Whilst this did come with a double room, it would not have worked accommodating with 2 families, 7 people. The hotel did insisted that we had to settle for this arrangement as they were full, fortunately KimKim were already on the case and by the time we went back to reception after assessing the room. Arenal Springs did provide us with another double room which we made work. That was an unfortunate start to an otherwise wonderful stay at Arenal Springs. We all loved the daily towel displays and chocolates and the Master Suite was luxurious with two in-room jacuzzis powered by Hot Springs, an indoor and outdoor shower and a hammock with a view of Arenal Volcano.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Hotel & Spa Poco a Poco

Monteverde

Not the biggest hotel. More basic than the previous two we'd stayed in. We ended up being allocated a room without air con although it did have a fan. The hotel room was quite small but adequate. Storage was a bit of a challenge in that the hanging space was limited, within a short cupboard where my husband was not able to hang his shirt up without being crumpled. We had an issue with our plumbing which was quickly rectified. The grounds were very well maintained with beautiful planting. The hotel had a covered pool area with a good bar, a large jacuzzi and a large fire pit with seating which were popular in the evenings. There was a short walking trail around the grounds and plenty of outdoor seating, which I made use of to compensate for the smaller rooms. It's the only hotel out of 5 that had a menu option for breakfast, which was lovely.

Authenticity & Character

lovely grounds, with plenty of outdoor seating and a walking trail within the grounds. It was also very handy to have ramp access for the heavy cases on check out!

Location

Great location for access to Santa Elena, where we were able to sample the local bars and restaurants of which there are many.

Staff

responsive and friendly

Cleanliness & Comfort

Parador Nature Resort & Spa

Manuel Antonio

A large hotel, with beautiful ground and great facilities - multiple pools, 3 restaurants including a sushi bar, it's own crazy golf course and monkey trail. Rooms were not the biggest but adequate and well equipped. Small balcony, looking onto the courtyard. A wonderful local beach, Playa Biesanz which is walking distance but quite a steep walk. We felt the hotel was very security conscious, all entries and exits were questioned and confirmed for vehicles and pedestrian. Great ocean views. We loved the Pedro, the resident iguana!

Authenticity & Character

Location

Up a very steep hill, which put us off venturing out to try the local restaurants.

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Rooms were clean and comfortable, however, there was a faint damp smell to the linen.

Activity Reviews

Peñas Blancas River Floating Safari Adventure by Raft

Arenal/La Fortuna

What a finale activity for us. Once again, our guide was brilliant, knowledgeable, full of humour and chat thank you Martin. We had to do a little bit of work but not a lot given the flow of the river. Our activity was made some what more exciting by an unplanned rescue of a couple of stranded kayakers (both were rescued, unharmed and laughed about their experience).

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Horseback Riding to La Fortuna Waterfall

Arenal/La Fortuna

This was never going to be our favourite activity, as a group we're not experienced, therefore I don't review the horse riding part. The 3 star review is because of the mismatched in expectations around the La Fortuna Waterfall and optional opportunity to swim. We didn't expect this to be a hike (at least 30 mins) down steep steps (and back up for the return) to get to the waterfall. We were prepared for a short walk but not this level of difficulty. The walk also didn't bring us to the waterfall, whilst it was visible at the end of the walk. For those who had opted to swim, they can cross the water with a further short walk to get to the waterfall. For those who had opted not to swim, there was no way to get to the waterfall and there was nowhere to stand/sit and wait for the rest of the part. We collectively felt that this detail need to be reflected in the activity description.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

El Silencio Hike & Visit to Ecotermales Hot Springs

Arenal/La Fortuna

Thank you Franklin, we believe he's one of the best. We were entertained. The teenagers even enjoyed the singing and the dad jokes ;). Hot and humid but we really enjoyed it. Franklin kept a good pace, although he did say at the beginning that we could ask him to slow down if we'd need him to. The heavens opened when we got to the thermal springs and for the most of our time in the springs but we enjoyed the experience nonetheless.

Quality of Experience

Food

Good choice

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Night Excursion at the Wildlife Refuge in Monteverde

Monteverde

3 star, not because we didn't see as much as we'd like but because our guide whilst informative was less conversational. Again, he tried to avoid the crowds and the searches felt a little desperate towards the end. That said, we did enjoy it and managed to capture great photos of a glass winged butterfly, pit viper, hummingbird amongst others. Thank you for providing torches.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Pick up was slightly late. We came to the realisation that this can happen where there are multiple pick ups. The buses can get very full which can be a challenge for those over 6 foot.

Callidryas Sloth Watching Tour

Arenal/La Fortuna

We spotted 7 in all, two and three toed sloth. We also saw plenty poison dart frogs, a Jesus Christ Lizard, howler monkeys and a tiger heron. Thank you to our knowledgeable guide and the local spotter who'd spent hours before tracking down the animals.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Manuel Antonio National Park Guided Hike

Costa Rica

Thank you to our wonderful guide, Carla for spotting all the wildlife (we don't know how you manage to see some of the well camouflaged insects and animals), flora and fauna and particularly for help us take some tremendous photographs through your binoculars with our smart phones.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Guided Hanging Bridges Walk

Monteverde

Thank you to our guide Phillipe, we thoroughly enjoyed the tour. We learnt a lot about Costa Rica's eco system and climate. The transfer was a little confusing, as it was a bus full and no communication about where we had to go at the beginning so we joined the main queue, along with the other bus loads. However, all was clear when we got to reception. We were assigned Phillipe as our guide. It was really busy at the time so Phillipe suggested that we did the bridges backwards, ie. from 8 to 1 to avoid the crowds. That worked really well.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Damas Island Mangrove Kayaking

Costa Rica

Thanks Alain and the other guides for a wonderful experience. We saw lots of wildlife, had enough freedom to go at our own pace although there were some quite competitive kayaks :). We appreciated the food at the end of kayaking.

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Whales & Dolphins Boat Tour in Marino Ballena National Park

Costa Rica

A great adventure with a relatively small group. We were rewarded with sightings of plenty of dolphins and a turtle, even though the whales didn't make an appearance on that day. We liked the way the guide was in communication with all the other boats out with the same purpose so if one boat spotted wildlife, the others would rush to the same spot so others could also. It brought an additional element of excitement to the tour. We particularly loved the way the tour started and ended, where the passengers had to enter the boat from the beach rather than a jetty and surfing the waves to get back onto the beach! What fun. The fresh fruit was a nice touch.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Luisa est une jeune femme pleine d'entrain de joie de vie communicative qui a su être à notre écoute et nous a concocté un planning de voyage au Pérou vraiment parfait et surtout correspondant à nos envies déterminées à l'avance.un grand merci donc à Luisa pour ce voyage plein de découvertes. Nous recommandons vivement et même plus encore.

Activity Reviews

Machu Picchu Exploration

Aguas Calientes/ Machu Picchu

L'endroit est juste magnifique et magique

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Dommage guide pas du tout à la hauteur de nos attentes

Transport

Pachamanca: Traditional Andean Underground Cooking

Sacred Valley

Beaux souvenirs

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Il est temps de remercier très chaleureusement notre chauffeur, discret, très sympathique et excellent conducteur

Ollantaytambo Village and Inca Site Exploration. Pinkulluna Hike

Peru

Guido, toujours Guido était là pour nous donner toutes les informations nécessaires et répondre à nos questions

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Chinchero Village & its archaeological park

Peru

On y fait nos achats,on a passé un très très bon moment

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Lunch at the Shores of Piuray Lake

Peru

Un endroit bien secret et authentique

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Moray circular terraces and soft hike to Maras salt mines

Peru

Exceptionnel

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Cusco Walking City Tour

Cusco

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Welcome to Cusco City

Cusco

On a eu le bonheur de rencontrer Guido, notre guide local qui a été fantastique,communicatif, plein d'humour,un vrai coup de coeur pour Guido

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Drive back to Lima from Paracas

Paracas

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Overflight Nazca Lines & Sunset over the dunes

Peru

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Drive towards Paracas

Lima

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Must sees in Lima

Lima

On a découvert Lima dans d'excellentes conditions voir privilégiées

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Absolutely perfect trip top to bottom. White glove service all along. Alessandro was fantastic at both his plan for us and his willingness to work with us as the trip played out. Wonderful trip!

Wanting a stress free anniversary trip, we booked with Marina. It was smooth sailing until we got the documents 1-1/2 weeks before the trip and had to make changes. Marina had us in for a 10am food tour when we were flying in at 7am. The original plan was for a dinner food tour. She also had us in for a car rental on a day we couldn’t pick it up. We needed to have payments refunded for these 2 services, and the refund was 1/2 what you see as the retail rate. The lack of transparency with KimKim pricing meant that we didn’t know what we actually paid, or if the refund was a fair amount. Marina said it was.
After flying overnight with little sleep, we arrive at the airport at 7am and the private airport transfer to our hotel didn’t show up.. After an hour wait, we took a cab. Marina said they thought we were arriving close to noon, not sure why they would think that. Again, we were reimbursed for a private car at the same rate as a public cab That didn’t make sense to us as we could have just grabbed a cab to begin with. Why book a private transfer?
We had a lovely Jeep tour with Natascha to Set Cidades. Unfortunately it was foggy at the top of the crater, but we saw the blue and green lakes, and had a nice time with her. She was personable and informative.
We had a great day with Wilson, our guide for a 5 hour hike up to Lagos de Fogo. The picnic lunch was a bit meager, but we discovered these fabulous little cakes called quejadas, and then went to the shop in Villa Franco do Compo to eat more of them with some cappuccino. We also went to a swimming hole and drove along the coast on the way back to our hotel.
Our tour to Furnas with Paulo was very good, but he picked us up 25 minutes late. After our no-show driver experience at the airport, we were afraid that he wouldn’t come at all. It would have been great if he phoned our hotel to say that he was running late. However, Paulo was terrific, knowledgeable, and personable. We had a dinner of cozida in Furnas, and went to the the Ponca da Beira hot springs which were very relaxing.
Friday was our anniversary and Marina had booked us a table about 2 months ago, at our request, at the Associacao Agricola. When we arrived, they didn’t have our reservation! We were pretty upset as the restaurant was jammed. The maitre de took pity on us (it was our anniversary!) and we got a table after about a 1/2 hour wait. It would have been good if Marina confirmed the reservation a few days before the actual date.
All in all it was a lovely vacation but not stress free. We would have appreciated the itinerary a month before (as the original documents said) so that we weren’t going back and forth about arrangements and refunds days before we traveled, more fee transparency, and confirmation of our bookings so that we didn’t have to deal with no shows and back up plans.

Hotel Review

Octant Ponta Delgada

Ponta Delgada

The hotel staff was wonderful, very helpful and accommodating and there were plenty of them at any given time. The buffet breakfast was outstanding.

Authenticity & Character

Could have been a hotel anywhere in the world.

Location

On the harbor, a little bit of a walk into town.

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Reviews

Night Hot Springs in Furnas

São Miguel Island

Paolo was a wonderful guide, setting the tone for a van full of strangers to have a good time together. He knows the island so well and shared his own story and knowledge generously. Dinner was great, the hot tubs were lovely. The only suggestion: he picked us up late, and could have called ahead to tell us that. Also, there were about 8 of us. After a private tours, we weren’t expecting 8 in a van. The drops offs at other hotels made it a longer night. But, the other folks were great company.

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Hike Adventure to Lagoa do Fogo

São Miguel Island

Wilson was a quiet and competent guide. He took this at our pace, which is great because it was quite a climb! He offered some history and local context. The picnic lunch was meager and we carried it up ourselves. Somehow I was expecting more. Wilson was flexible in how we spent the rest of the day and we visited coastal towns. We were tired and happy at the end of the day.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Sete Ciudades Jeep Adventure

São Miguel Island

Natacha was wonderful. Too bad it was foggy, but that is not her fault!!

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

I can only highly recommend travelling to Ecuador with kimkim. My local agent, Alvaro, was absolutely incredible. There was no wish that he left unfulfilled and no question that he left unanswered- he was constantly available and I felt very much pampered and cared for. Moreover did the itinerary that he designed cover the best that this beautiful and diverse country has to offer: nature, wildlife, culture and history.
My local guides , who gave me exclusive tours and were shining bright with an impressive wisdom of their country's history, local customs, and nature's wonders enriched my travel experience tremendously. They made sure that I got the best shots of the sights and wildlife, since I love photography, but also ensured that I learned a lot and broadened my horizon.
Thank you to the kimkim team for making this trip unforgettable, and most importantly, thank you Alvaro, for exceeding all my expectations on customer service.

We can't speak more highly about Emanuela and the services she provided for us. We had originally planned our trip with her for May 2020, and when covid hit we needed to cancel . Emanuela checked in with us over the summer and the following year and was always respectful of our concerns about Covid and never pressured us to rebook sooner than we were comfortable. Our trip this past May/June 2022 was spectacular. Emanuela kept in touch with us by text to be sure our trip was going well. We loved our accommodations in small guest houses and she even booked us at a horse farm. She made many personal recommendations for restaurants that we loved. We enjoyed the tours that we pre-booked, the Lava Show in Vik was excellent, the Lava Tunnel tour was fun and educational, and the Ice Cave tour was challenging and exciting. We lucked out during our whale watching trip and we saw 3 whales coming to the surface, flipping their tails multiple times. We even saw a puffin skimming over the ocean while feeding.
Emanuela's knowledge and experience of Iceland was evident in the recommendations she gave us that highlighted the beauty of the country, the magnificent waterfalls and the volcanic lava flows. Unfortunately we caught Covid and two of the three of us had to stay an extra 3 days. Emanuela helped us extend our hotel stay and access medical care. We highly recommend using Emanuela to plan your trip to Iceland.

I decided to travel to Spain with my college friend and we had some unique requirements, which in turn led us to James.

After chatting with him and understanding his process, we knew we met the right person to guide us and get this trip pulled together, to cover the areas of Spain we wanted to visit.

With patience and knowledge, James created the trip of a lifetime for us.

I just returned, and wanted to share my feedback. If you want to travel to Spain, look no further. James and his team were phenomenal!

The itinerary was perfect, the details were executed with perfection and we were cared for from the minute we landed to the minute we departed. We will have lasting memories of an incredible week.

Thumbs up 👍🏻 All the way!!

I know some people who plan trips on their own and feel travel agents don't add value. I have to say that Marta and Karin proved their worth as travel agents every step of the way. it was easy to message them during the planning process. They figured out pretty quickly what kind of hotels I liked. They provided a very nice mixture of activities (in city food and cultural tours, hikes, day trips to surrounding areas, kayaking etc.). Every detail of the trip was planned perfectly. Having drivers already scheduled and ready to go saved us so much time and were hassle free. The app they used to store all of our travel plans was fabulous. During our trip, they were available by phone or by chat. Everything went off without a hitch. Our tour guide in Porto, Tommy, was entertaining, friendly and knowledgable. Our hiking guide Carlos, who to us to Peneda-Geres National Park was so knowledgable about nature. Bernardo our guide to our Sintra day hike was great! Ana-Luisa, our food and cultural tour guide in Madeira was fabulous too! Luis who led our kayaking snorkeling adventure was great too. Thanks for a fabulous trip. We can't wait to use you again when we travel to Spain!!!

Hotel Reviews

Reid's Palace, A Belmond Hotel, Madeira

Funchal, Madeira

What can I say other than it was like I died and went to heaven. This hotel is soooooooo gorgeous. They were also very accommodating at this hotel and very attentive to service. We had an early flight to Madeira so we arrived at our hotel around 9:30am. They sent us to have a fabulous breakfast by the pool while we were waiting for our room. They were able to get us in our room by 11am. They also let us have a late check out on our last day of 1:30pm. I know these sound like small things but when you only have two days in Madeira, you want to maximize. The entire facility was gorgeous. It is set on a cliffside over looking the ocean. The rooms weren't spacious but so gorgeously decorated. Lovely gifts were left in the room, like a travel journal, a beach bag and a water bottle. They had two pools, a salt water and a chlorine pool. They were both large and gorgeous. The vegetation on the property was gorgeous. They breakfasts, which were included were fab. They had plenty of outdoor shaded seating for breakfast and lunch. The William, which is a one Michelin star restaurant was top notch. There was a deck down by the ocean, which you need to take a long stair case to reach. That was absolutely a gorgeous place to just to lounge!~ and watch the ocean and listen to the surf. This is such a special place! I can't wait to return!

Authenticity & Character

This is a renovated mansion. They kept photos and details of a previous area. You definitely felt you were at a very special place.

Location

Set on a cliff overlooking the ocean with absolute gorgeous views!

Staff

Attention to every detail and sooooooo polite and lovely!

Cleanliness & Comfort

Perfection!

The Yeatman Hotel

Vila Nova de Gaia

This is a first rate hotel. We would go back again and take advantage of the World of Wine tour. We didn't have time this time around. The only issue with this hotel is it is about a 17 minute cab ride to most places. Ideally I like to stay in hotels where I can walk to restaurants and shopping. Other than that, it was fabulous. Also, net time we will definitely book their one Michelin star restaurant. Also I did not realize until we got there that this is a Relais & Chateaux property. Every detail of your stay is thought out and fabulous! I forgot to mention the breakfasts, which are included, were the bomb. Everything was delicious and plentiful. My favorite detail was the decorations they would put on top of the cup of cappuccino!

Authenticity & Character

Beautiful and spacious property. First class attention to all details of the stay.

Location

Beautiful views. Wish it were closer to town though

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Hotel AlmaLusa Baixa/Chiado

Lisbon

The location of this hotel is its finest attribute. This hotel is within walking distance to a ton of restaurants, outdoor cafes, shopping, the waterfront, the tram.......pretty much everything! The rooms were beautiful. My only issue is the rooms were on the small side but other than that, this is a lovely hotel. The staff and concierge were very helpful in finding restaurants or anything we needed.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Fabulous!!! It is so close to many attractions and we really did not have to get in a cab to go where we wanted to go. We walked everywhere from this hotel

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Lisbon Marriott Hotel

Lisbon

Perfect for our purpose. We had one last night in Lisbon and wanted to be super close to the airport to catch a 5 am flight in the morning. The only thing that just meh, was the restaurant. That is typical of Marriotts however. Anyway, this hotel was perfect if you need a place close to the airport and want a good night sleep.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Close to airport

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Reviews

Garajau Nature Reserve: Kayaking, Snorkeling & Cliff Diving

Portugal

The description of this made it sound like we were going somewhere remote. It actually started from a hotel water front. This was fine with us however because our hotel did not have this option. This was a fun activity and my first time kayaking. The guide was great and I felt safe. Going out was easy because we were with the current. Save you energy for the way back against the current. The water was a little too rough to snorkel at the half way point (which was a more remote location)so we snorkeled close to the hotel when we returned. It was still lovely and the guide was very smart to be safe.

Quality of Experience

Super fun, out in nature

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Luis was great and entertaining and he kept us safe

Transport

Driver who picked us up and dropped us off was great

Introducing Funchal - Food & Cultural Tour

Portugal

We had only a few days in Madeira and this tour really hit all the food and cultural highlights. It was a small group and a nice way to meet tourists from all over the world. It is essentially a walking tour throughout Funchal with several stops at restaurants and cafes along the way. The quality of the food was great. Ana Luisa, our guide was very welcoming, knowledgable and fun. She was multi lingual also able to switch from English to German to Spanish. Don't eat much before you go on this tour because you will be absolutely full by the end!

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Sintra Heritage Hike: Hidden Secrets

Portugal

Sintra is a must see if you are in Lisbon. The car ride was only 35-40 minutes. You could do the bus tour to get up to the palace and the fortress but hiking was much more enjoyable and we really had great weather. The line to get into the palace was insanely long/crowded so we opted not to go inside. People were packed in like sardines. It was still well worth the trip to see everything from the outside however. Bernardo was knowledgable and guided everywhere so we didn't get lost. Hiking the stairs up to the fortress was a little scary. Once you make it to the top, the stairs back down are way less scary. People without guides didn't know there was a back staircase to get back down. Our guide was very helpful.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Guided Tuk-Tuk Tour

Portugal

This was a fabulous way to get around Lisbon. If you haven't been on a Tuk Tuk tour, it is essentially being driven around on a golf cart type vehicle. This is the perfect way to get around Lisbon to see the highlights. I love walking but Lisbon is pretty spread out and very hilly. Ines was our tour guide and was so friendly and knowledgable. I know the tram (cable car) is famous and really cool but I have to say it was super crowded, which doesn't seem like a good idea during COVID times. The Tuk tuk tour was still ourdoors/open air but it was just the three of us and our driver. They essentially followed the same route as the tram tour. This trip was definitely worth doing and I would recommend it!

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Ines was great!

Transport

Loved the Tuk Tuk. It is perfect for the narrow and bumpy roads of Lisbon !

Private Transfer {{start_location}} to {{end_location}}, Guided Visit of Coimbra

Portugal

This was a nice way to get from Porto to Lisbon and squeeze in a day trip to Coimbra too. The only glitch we had was the driver didn't really know the game plan as to where we should be dropped off and he didn't speak much English, which would have been ok, we were just thrown off because most of the other drivers were able to communicate well. Anyway, that was the only hiccup. Fabiana was a great tour guide and she also went out of her way to make sure we got reconnected with our driver as the tour was done. Coimbra is a university city and home to the country's most prestigious university. It was a nice bonus that Fabiana was a graduate of that University and she also is returning in the fall for her Master's degree. Coimbra is another picturesque city in Portugal! What is not to love! Fabiana was multi lingual (Portuguese, Spanish, English and I'm sure other languages). She was very knowledgeable! Thanks for the great tour!

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Fabiana receives 5 stars, the driver receives 3 for not knowing where we were supposed to go and not reaching out to the company for information.

Transport

The drive was fine but as stated above, it is important that the driver be sure about where to drop tourists off in Coimbra. He just dropped us off at a random gate and it was really hard to figure out where to go from there.

Hiking & Cultural Excursion in Peneda-Gerês National Park

Porto

This was a lovely trip to add on to a City stay. Having a day trip to a national park day trip to be outside with nature was a nice contrast to restaurants, tours and shopping. Carlos was a great guide. He was very knowledgable about nature. Everything about the day went smoothly, including the picnic, which was a nice touch. Carlos found out we had never been to Spain, so he took a little extra time to drive over the border, so we could say we have been to Spain!

Quality of Experience

Hiking and being outdoors with nature. The hike was challenging enough but not overly so.

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Carlos is just a very nice likeable and knowlegable guide!

Transport

Private Guided Visit of Porto

Porto

Tommy Hogg reached out two days before the tour via What's app just to connect. He was easy to find at our meeting point because we were already connected on What's app. He was knowledgable and entertaining. He asked us a lot of questions to get us engaged with the subject matter and the tour. At the end of the tour, he helped us with directions for our next stop, a restaurant which was close by. I would highly recommend Tommy and the tour!!!

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Porto Foodie Experience

Porto

We loved Sergio our tour guide. He was friendly, knowledgable and entertaining. It was a nice format so that we were able to chat with the other people in the small group. The wines we had were really good. My only criticism is that the food was just ok. The cheese and the sardine courses were good. The desserts/food they paired with the port were just meh. Some of the other courses, I plain old can't remember because they weren't memorable. In summary, the tour guide was great, the wine and port, really good and the food could be improved.

Quality of Experience

Food

Please improve the food that is paired with the port at the end.

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Sergio was funny, entertaining and knowledgable.

I'll start by saying that I have never used a tour guide or a tour company prior to working with Robi through KimKim. But, once I started sharing the type of vacation we were looking for, it was immediately obvious that we were in excellent hands. Robi planned a customized itinerary that exceeded all expectations! We are a family of three (mom, dad and 14-year old teen) who wanted a multi-sport adventure that would be fun for all and avoid the touristy areas. Robi exceeded all expectations! It was SO much fun and he took care of EVERY detail and all the logistics--from airport transportation, to hotels, to activities and everything in between. We swam in beautiful sea caves, toured the coast by boat, e-biked the wine country, kayaked among the oyster farms, had the most delicious grilled calamari, went to a secret beach (shhh!) and raced around on jet skis in Zuljana! I asked Robi if there were places I could go for a run in Ston (where we stayed) and he was kind enough to map out a new run for each day were there. Robi is also extremely knowledgeable about all-things-Croatia, so we learned so much about Croatian history, politics and people. Suffice it to say, there is no way I could have planned this much fun on my own. I can't imagine going back to Croatia unless Robi came with us! :)

Activity Reviews

Explore Pelješac penisula - multiactivity

Ston

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Dubrovnik and Elaphiti islands - Lopud and Koločep private boat trip

Croatia

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Our trip to Turkey was excellent and had a great balance between history, culture, and relaxation. Trail Travel did a great job of making sure our transfers were seamless and ensuring we had the best experience at our hotels and sites. Berat was extremely helpful in going through multiple itinerary iterations after receiving feedback on the type of trip we wanted. What is great about this platform is that you really are able to personalize your trip rather than needing to fit into a rigid, fixed pre-existing itinerary. Berat was also prompt with her responses while we were in Turkey to troubleshoot any issues we experienced with our hotels and logistics.

We spent 2 weeks in Turkey, going from Istanbul to Cappadocia to Antalya to Izmir before returning to Istanbul. During this time we developed a great camaraderie with our guide, Onder, who was very receptive in tailoring our activities and content to our interests and styles. He was extremely professional, always making us feel like we were welcome, and introducing us to many locals in each of the spots we visited. I also want to thank all of the van drivers (Mustafa, Ramazan, Erdogan to name a few), who presented us with clean, spacious vans and supplied us with water. Each spot that we visited had a wonderful charm of its own. If we had more time, I would have loved to add one extra day in Kas and a couple more days in Istanbul to fully experience the city. For our packed trip, it was helpful to have some later starts to balance out our very early ones in the beginning of the trip.

Our trip was wonderful, and we would definitely book again if we had the chance. Some suggestions for improvement for an even better experience via Trail Travel/KimKim:
- When booking domestic flights, ask about estimated luggage quantities/explain airline policies on luggage beforehand
- Ask about preferred flight timings when possible
- Develop some form of guide matching based on travel style and interests
- As much as possible, provide pricing breakdowns (esp. for hotel rates to compare)

Hotel Reviews

AJWA Sultanahmet

Sultanahmet, Istanbul

Another hotel we loved. Wonderful staff, well designed rooms, and some of the comfiest beds we've slept in! The breakfast was also delicious, and we enjoyed getting to know the restaurant staff.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

GAIA Alacati

Çeşme/İzmir

Wonderful boutique hotel in a great location. Breakfast was great and the attention to detail for decor was noticeable. Feel free to do your own research on restaurants and other services in the area, as some of the recommendations given by the staff were helpful, but possibly overpriced. We were also recommended a salon that overcharged us and actually hurt my mother's fingers during a manicure.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

One thing to note - the showers were cold after sundown

La Kumsal Hotel

Kaş / Antalya

Sadly our stay at La Kumsal was the only hotel experience that was not overwhelmingly positive. We were excited about our 2 night stay at Kas to be close to the ocean and were told that the rooms that we had paid for were sea view rooms. When we reached the hotel, the staff member at the front desk was a little confused about our room types. Despite not knowing English, however, she was trying her best to communicate with us and let us know that the issues with our room would be resolved the next day. Unfortunately, our rooms smelled of smoke, the tables/desks were quite old with stains and markings. One of our rooms was looking right out in the main bar area with no privacy or view of the sea and the other was looking out at a small pathway with a sliver of a view from the balcony. The doors were a bit hard to open/close. The shower water was cold to lukewarm. However, the rooms as a whole, though very simple with some need for maintenance, were clean. We immediately notified Berat about our experience, just as feedback, and she promptly contacted the hotel's manager. The manager called us up afterwards. He seemed a little upset over our complaints but assured us that the problems would be resolved the next day and sent us a fruit basket. The next day we met the manager. He was a little cold and passive aggressive while explaining that the hotel was completely booked and that they could move us to a villa for extra money. Berat helped us navigate this conversation, and eventually we were able to move to their villa for our second day in Kas, without paying extra. The villa had a beautiful view with a private pool, beach area, and 3 bed/3 bath. This was definitely more than we were expecting for our room change at the hotel. While we had some unfortunate experiences with some of the staff and our expectations of the rooms, the outdoor areas such as the pool and dining areas are quite pretty. The villa was also great, and we enjoyed using the private pool. If you decide to stay at La Kumsal, be clear on what type of room you are getting - "seaside" or "sea front" or "sea view"!

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

We felt that the manager was a little cold and passive aggressive. He was placing most of the blame on us and our travel agency, without trying to understand our situation fully. While we appreciate him moving us to the villa, he seemed a bit disdainful and disingenuous of our concerns, employing false sympathy, rather than just being authentic with his thoughts. Most of the waiters at breakfast and dinner were not paying us much attention. We would like to thank the staff member at the front desk who greeted us and one of the waiters, as they were very kind and helpful.

Cleanliness & Comfort

There is more effort placed on maintaining the outdoor spaces than on the indoor ones. This is fine for a simple beach town stay, but it did feel there was a disconnect between online images and what you see in person. Even the villa, which had beautiful outdoor spaces, was a little old in the interior. The showers were cold and the bathrooms were a little rough around the edges.

Nisanyan Houses

Selçuk

A very cute hotel in the cute town of Sirince. We received a friendly welcome, loved exploring the town from this hotel, and spending the evening on our little private porch.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

This was another hotel where we had 1 king bed and 2 somewhat makeshift twin beds. The twin beds worked well for our one night stay, but may have been a little uncomfortable for a stay longer than that.

Ruin Adalia

Antalya

This hotel was included last minute to our itinerary due to an issue with our original hotel. It was a surprise treat, a gem in the middle of the Old City. The quaint property in the middle of bustling Kaleici is built over an archaeological museum open only to guests. We not only experienced comfortable rooms with a semi private terrace overseeing the beautiful grounds and mountains, but also were given a mini tour through the underground museum by Marcus, one of the archaeologists staffed at the hotel. We saw the layers of Antalya - Hellenistic, Byzantine, and Ottoman - wonderfully preserved.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Keep in mind that as it is in the middle of the most busy part of town, it can get noisy. This would probably apply to any hotel in Kaleici.

Staff

We did get stopped from entering the hotel a couple times due to their strict security, but didn't really see any of the other guests face this issue. However, they apologized immediately once the misunderstandings were cleared up.

Cleanliness & Comfort

Kayakapi Premium Caves

Urgup / Cappadocia

Staying in a cave hotel was one of the highlights of our trip. Kayakapi is a beautifully kept, guest-centric hotel, with large, clean, and luxurious cave suites. We enjoyed using the pool and spa facilities, as well as exploring the hotel as a whole. We are frequent travelers and our stay at Kayakapi was definitely one of our best hotel experiences.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Staff are very open to input as they are continuously trying to make the hotel better. When we provided some feedback on how the already excellent rooms might be improved further (small things like adding more privacy to bathroom doors, adding fans, ensuring showerheads do not make bathroom floors wet, including more storage space in the bathroom), they noted every suggestion down in detail.

Cleanliness & Comfort

Beds were very comfortable for a 4 person family (1 king and 2 twins).

Hagia Sofia Mansions Istanbul, Curio Collection by Hilton

Fatih Istanbul

We were greeted with warmth and friendliness at our first hotel in Turkey. I would like to specifically mention that Betul was particularly helpful. She escorted us to a restaurant for lunch just after we arrived and showed us around the property. Definitely venture out for food rather than sticking to the hotel's restaurants, as you can certainly find all sorts of food for a variety of prices in Istanbul. This hotel is tastefully decorated in an Ottoman style and is in a prime location near the most famous sites in Istanbul!

Authenticity & Character

Location

Do note that due to the strategic location, it can get noisy during the day and at night. This is a great base to see the important sites in Sultanahmet, but if you have more than a couple days in Istanbul, perhaps it may make sense to move to another neighborhood for the remainder of your time.

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

The bathroom was spacious and modern with consistent hot water. It was a pleasant surprise to find a hammam sink in our shower. One note - as a family of 4 sharing a small suite, we had one king bed and 2 makeshift twin beds. There was not a proper sofa bed - the staff just added sheets on top of the existing sofa and gave us a rollaway bed. For the purposes of our short stay, this worked out just fine, but these makeshift beds were probably not as comfortable as proper mattresses for a longer stay.

Otto Palace

Kumluca, Antalya Region

Otto Palace is a cute, no frills attached b&b that makes you feel like you are staying with family friends. This means that the hosts have good vibes and senses of humor, but service is very "chill" and relaxed, even when you require a little more assistance as guests. This serves as a decent base if you are planning a night in Adrasan as a launching point for a boat tour, but it might also be worthwhile to check out AirBnBs in the area.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

The hosts are friendly, kind, and relaxed with good sense of humor.

Cleanliness & Comfort

The beds were very comfortable and the rooms large. However, the rooms did smell like cigarette smoke and the AC was not working in either of our 2 rooms. We did mention the AC problem to our host and they were able to fix it. It seemed that the filters in both rooms were old and not properly maintained. When in Turkey it is expected that cats are going to be your new neighbors wherever you are. However, the cats on this property were much more aggressive than we were accustomed to. As we were eating our meal, they were consistently propping themselves on the table, scratching at us, and eventually jumped onto the table on the food we had ordered. For hygiene reasons, we didn't feel comfortable finishing our food that the cat had touched and had to leave an incomplete dinner. This caught us off guard especially since the cats seemed to be pets of the owners. However, when we asked if the owners could keep the cats away from the food (through broken Google Translate communication), there wasn't anything done.

Activity Reviews

Discover Byzantine + Ottoman Istanbul

İstanbul

In retrospect, I would have moved our itinerary around to give us 2 full days in Istanbul before heading off to Cappadocia. This would have been a great activity for the 2nd day of our trip. Unfortunately keeping this for the last day of our trip meant that we were a little too tired to fully appreciate the magnificent sites. With a little more energy, we definitely could have spent much more time at Topkapi Palace.

Turkish Bath and Spa at Hürrem Sultan Hammam

İstanbul

Loved it! The Ab-ı Hayat treatment was one of our favorite activities of our trip.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Explore the Ancient City of Ephesus

Turkey

The ancient sites of Aspendos, Perge, and Ephesus were marvelous, but in the middle of July it was extremely hot, which limited our ability to explore as much as we may have wanted.

Quality of Experience

Nothing - it was just hot!

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Sightseeing Around Uçhisar and Discovering the Cappadocian Valleys

Cappadocia

We thoroughly enjoyed our three days in Cappadocia, and all the activities - hot air balloons, hiking, pottery making, etc.

Public Boat Tour on the Bosphorus

İstanbul

Great way to get a different perspective of Istanbul

Eminönü Heritage Tour: Explore the Historical Bazaars and Ottoman Architectural Sites of Istanbul

İstanbul

Onder did a great job of introducing us to Istanbul!

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Our trip to Italy was a bucket list trip for us without the kids to celebrate an anniversary milestone. Sonia, our trip planner, was diligent in putting together an itinerary that suited what we were looking for and diligently tweaked the plan until it was perfect. She found a real balance of city/lake/mountain that we wanted.

We thoroughly enjoyed our private organic Prosecco tasting overlooking the hilly countryside, private pasta making class taught by the most personable chefs, and hiking in the Dolomites with tour guide.

We usually plan trips ourselves, but in addition to putting together the trip plan, an unexpected benefit arose when our flight from the US was delayed by a day and Sonia’s team scrambled to adjust all of our arrangements without us having to do the extra work.

We highly recommend KimKim and Sonia in particular!

Liz Karen did a great job organizing a wonderful trip to Peru. Liz was patient in answering all my questions during the process and there were no surprises when there. All guides/drivers were on time, hotels and trains were as communicated. Quick support was available, and can highlight that when I had to use it twice the response was efficient and took care of the matter. Will recommend! Thanks

Our trip was awesome. We had zero issues, it went very smoothly.

Sunday , July 31, 2022

To Tasos, Georgia, Irene, and the entire Travel12 Support Team,

I just wanted to let you know how pleased, happy, and ultra-satisfied that I am with my KimKim/Travel12 experience.

You all are the ultimate professionals-everything was handled and executed perfectly!

Rebecca was a GODSEND with all she did to assist me in putting together this custom-made luxury Greek Honeymoon! She was an absolute joy to work with! I’ll never forget the relationship we forged. I am so grateful that I was fortunate enough to work her with on this labor of love. We spent hours and months planning and preparing-and then COVID hit and we felt compelled to postpone their honeymoon exactly one year later(Their 1st Wedding Anniversary was Sunday, June 12, 2022). I so appreciate all that you did to keep the prices the same for the trip, even a year later. They boarded their first flight of 3 to get to Greece at 0600 Monday, June 13! They returned from an ultimate luxury Greek Honeymoon on Wednesday,June 29 at 2100.

I had booked them first class seats on all of their flights-and they continued to get the “Royal Treatment” since they were picked up at the Athens airport! Precisely what I wanted!

Jacob and Anna loved the upgrade you provided for them for the Welcome dinner and they got an upgrade for their rental car to a Mercedes. They thoroughly enjoyed the private tours with fantastic tour guides. The trip included Athens, Corinth, Epidaurus, Mycenae, Nafplio, Mykonos, Naxos, Santorini, Heraklion, Rethymno, Chania, and Elafonissi Beach, and the area around Chania. This was a the perfect custom-made, fabulous island hopping trip with what I think was a very good representation of your heavenly and gorgeous country!

All of the hotels(all 5 star hotels) gave Jacob and Anna the Honeymooner’s special touches(flower petals on their bed in the shape of a heart, complimentary wine, desserts, candy, bowls of fresh fruit, etc) upon arrival to their hotel room. The breakfasts in each hotel were amazing. They loved every detail of every day that we planned, but still had plenty of free time to do what they wanted and enjoy the restaurant cuisine and shopping at all of the places they went.

I believe their favorite was their time in Naxos-they had a beautiful hotel room with a private enclosed deck with their own jacuzzi-that opened up to a private courtyard. They loved the tranquil beauty of Naxos, and of course, the food! It was so nice that they were able to be at Agia Anna Beach(especially for Anna!)-what a nice touch!

Also they thoroughly enjoyed the small group(6 other people besides them)experiences of the Cooking Class and also the Olive Oil and Wine Tasting Tours in Crete. Just all the way around fantastic!

I can’t tell you how much happiness this trip has given me to have things go so smoothly and have all of the details taken care of by your team! They had a most memorable honeymoon and most certainly the trip of their lifetime! Jacob is my only child and I wanted to give him and his wife Anna the VERY BEST; and I want to thank you for providing that experience for them.

Tasos, I want to thank you for answering the phone on that Day 1 at a time that I’m sure was after hours for you and giving me the information and clarification that I needed-you were so patient and calming. Thank you to all of the support staff that responded to my questions and also reaching out to Jacob and Anna with details and guidance for everything they needed!

The other thing that I want to thank Tasos for is that even with Rebecca no longer being part of Travel12, and with the Covid pandemic and all of the resulting things that were affected-you were able to flawlessly and seamlessly make sure everything in the original trip remained the same-or even better!

You have an excellent system of communication! It is greatly appreciated.

Jacob and Anna kept in touch with me and sent pictures during the time they were there-they looked so happy in every photo. And Anna told me that this trip was a dream come true for her. They loved every minute of this 16 day trip.

I was really able to enjoy this trip vicariously-first by planning it and making sure all of the details were taken care of with your help-and then being able to see the joy and excitement that Jacob and Anna experienced-it was everything I hoped for and more!

By the way, the week that Jacob returned home, he told me how much he missed the Greek Food!

In Gratitude,

Cindy Henert

A huge thank you to all the people involved in our amazing trip to Morocco 🇲🇦!
First let’s start with Yassine who planned the whole trip! Thank you ! You listened to everything we said and made our adventure perfect for us!
Arrive in Casablanca and Amine our driver is there and waiting for us with a big smile on his face which is how he greeted us every day or night! We can not say enough about Amine! He was always available and sssooo very helpful and sweet and kind! His driving was exceptional! We always felt save even in the mountains and the narrow streets in the medinas! He became a part of the family!
We asked Yassine to book us into the Four Seasons in Casablanca and next time I would have let him pick the hotel. It was fine but not up to the Four Seasons standard.
Amine suggested La Sqala for an authentic Moroccan dinner and it was perfect! We had tagines and the food and entertainment were a perfect start to our Moroccan journey!
Amine picked us up the next morning and we were on our way out of Casablanca! Yassine you were right to see the Hassan Mosque but then get out Casablanca! Amine drove us to Rabat with a few highlight stops and then we were on our way to Meknes and we stopped there but our first highlight of the trip was at the Roman ruins in Volubilis!!! Our guide Rashid was incredible!!! He was so knowledgeable and patient with me and how very slow I am at walking! He spent hours with us and we basically closed the place!❤️❤️❤️
Onwards to Fes and our spectacular Riad Fes! Yassine this was a perfect choice! You arrive at a nondescript door in an alley and then you walk into this stunning palace! Loved this Riad so much we canceled our tour of Sefrou so we could just relax by the pool at our Riad! The next day Amine picked us up and introduced us to our guide Hassan! Hassan was amazing! Again he was knowledgeable and took us to the tannery which was an eye opening experience! It was like going back in time 1,000 years! Thank you Hassan!
Our three nights in Fes was the perfect length of time. We explored the Medina with Hassan and then on our own! I can’t say this enough, the people in Morocco are so warm and helpful and kind! Going through the Medina without a guide was not scary and when we got lost anyone we asked was helpful in helping us find our way home! There are miles and miles of alleyways in the Fes medina!
The next day was our long long drive to the Sahara desert 🐪! There’s no way around this but I will say it’s totally worth the drive! This was my favourite part of the entire trip! Because of my hips I was not able to go into the desert on camel but Rob did and he loved it!❤️❤️❤️ I went to our campsite in a 4x4 vehicle and our driver made it so much fun riding over the sand dunes!!! 🤪 The campsite was amazing and the staff were great!!! I climbed up the sand dune and watched the sun set in the Sahara desert!!! The most memorable part of the trip !!
Onto Ouarzazate the Moroccan Hollywood! Poor Amine this was tough and long driving for him but he was always smiling and focused on the road! He is the best!! We enjoyed touring the movie set!
Our Riad was quiet and in the middle of nowhere but the person there was sweet and kind and helpful. The next day we visited Ait Ben Haddou and I think this was the highlight of the trip for Rob! Our guide was a character and as there was a lot of climbing and I had only brought sandals - Amine lent me his running shoes!!! 🥰 God bless him!
We had tea with a Berber family and climbed to the top of the site! It was breathtaking and Rob just wanted to stay at the top all night! ❤️❤️❤️
Now onto Marrakech and the long and winding road!!! Amine is an exceptional driver and he did an amazing job driving through the high Atlas Mountains on those narrow and winding roads!!! 👏🥰
Marrakech is a city like no other in the world! Rob loved the pulse! I loved our Riad Jardines de la Medina! Again a nondescript front door in a very narrow alleyway (poor Amine trying to get this big van down this alleyway!)You walk through this door into an oasis!!! This was my favourite Riad!!! Our room was incredible with two private terraces on two floors!!! Thank you Yassine for booking this treasure!!! I didn’t want to leave!! Our tour of the Medina the next day with Siad was good. It was too long for me but that’s not Siad’s fault! We walked for four hours through the Medina! I took the afternoon and the next day off and sat by the beautiful pool! It felt like a resort at Jardines de la Medina! We did go to La Tanjia for dinner and loved it!!! There was great Moroccan food and entertainment (belly dancers) and we were on the third floor overlooking a busy square! We had Tanjia which is different from Tajines. It was delicious! The hotel recommended this restaurant and I would highly recommend you add it to your list of restaurants in Marrakech!
The next day I had my Moroccan cooking class and this was another highlight for me!!! I thoroughly enjoyed it and would highly recommend it!!!❤️❤️❤️❤️
That night Amine took us to the big market with snake charmers and dancing and singing and stall after stall of everything imaginable. Rob loved it but I was overwhelmed!!! I definitely wanted to see it but it was too much and too crowded for me!
The next day we were back on the road again and headed for Essaouira! Our Riad Chbanate was very rustic and the staff was so sweet and warm and welcoming! I however, was done with markets and alleyways and medinas so I personally would have preferred a large hotel with a pool on the beach! Sorry this is nothing against the Riad Chbanate! I just wanted to go back to Jardines de la Medina! Rob went out exploring and came back for me in the afternoon and we walked for miles on the beach! It is a spectacular beach and the highlight of Essaouira!!! If we had started our journey in Essaouira I would have enjoyed our Riad but at this point I was tired of the markets and alleyways and medinas - sorry 😞. We ate at Il Mare and enjoyed the views of the rugged side of the Atlantic and enjoyed a fresh fish dinner! The beach and boardwalk along the beach was spectacular!
On the road back to Casablanca Amine took us along the coast and it was breathtaking but then we went inland and caught the highway to Safi which is nothing to see unless you need to stop for a bathroom break otherwise I would continue on to El Jadida! Beautiful fortified city and great stop to walk along the ramparts! Our next stop was not necessary and would eliminate it from the itinerary.
Continuing on to Casablanca where we arrived during rush hour and Amine tried to find us a restaurant to eat dinner but it was so busy and traffic was a nightmare and he could not find a place to stop so we simply went to our hotel by the airport and we ate there.
We had to be at the airport for 6:00am so staying at the airport made sense.
Thank you to everyone involved in the making of this once in a lifetime adventure to Morocco 🇲🇦!!! Special thanks to Yassine for all the planning and changes !!!
And the biggest hug and thanks goes to our incredible driver and friend -Amine!!!❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️
You are a special person and we miss you already!!! Follow your heart and let it guide you!!! You have friends in Canada now!!!🇨🇦🥰❤️

Terry was great to work with and very patient as we tweaked our plans. Her advice was helpful and she made great suggestions we might not have discovered on our own. We had a relatively short time before jumping on a cruise in Reykjavík and Terry helped us make the most of it. We even squeaked two days on the Westman Islands, which was fantastic. We appreciated having all the arrangements made for us and there were no glitches or lost reservations.