Kimkim Trip Reviews

Highlights:
- Our driver
- Sigiriya guided tour
- Traditional meal in Dumballa
- Tea factory tour and tasting in route to Sri Padya
- Guided sunrise hike up Sri Padya
- Free time in Galle
- Hotel Welligama

Recommendations:
- Better communication regarding travel duration (too much time in car)
- More transparency regarding how trip fee is being used (hotels, guides, activities, food, etc.)
- Ensure drivers know best route between destinations (fewer kilometers does not always mean fastest route)

Liz did and amazing job providing us some amazing and memorable experiences! The heli cruise heli trip to Milford Sound was incredible, as was the PurePod stay, the Akarao nature cruise (where we saw both the world's smallest penguin and the world's smallest dolpin), and the glacier boat experience at Mount Cook!

Hotel Reviews

The Rees Hotel

Queenstown

Our fave hotel of our 14 day trip. Beautiful hotel, unbeatable views and excellent, friendly, helpful staff!

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

PurePod

Pohue

Extraordinary experience with amazing views and excellent food! Must be in good shape for the uphill hike to the accomodation.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Very secluded hilltop near Banks Peninsula with amazing views!

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Reviews

Full Day Funyak Safari Trip with Jetboat & Lunch (Shared Tour)

Queenstown (NZ)

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Half-Day Macetown 4WD Tour

New Zealand

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Onsen Hot Pools - 1 hour Indoor Soak.

Queenstown (NZ)

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Milford Heli Cruise Heli

Queenstown (NZ)

One of the best experiences of our lives. The heli views were incredible and the boat ride through Milford Sound was beautiful with lots of waterfalls and amazing views. Ben was an incredible heli pilot for first time heli passengers.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Mt Cook & The Glaciers

New Zealand

wow, just wow! Flying over the snow capped mountain was unbelievably beautiful! Ben was a great heli pilot. Very calming for our first ever heli trip!

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Glacier Boat Trip -

Aoraki / Mount Cook Village

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Two Hour Akaroa Harbour Nature Cruise

Akaroa

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Full Day Arthurs Pass with Train

Christchurch

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Te Ra Guided Experience (90 minutes)

Rotorua

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Full Day Whirinaki Forest Walk with Lunch

Rotorua

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Mitai Cultural Experience & Dinner

Rotorua

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Welcome to Rotorua

Rotorua

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Waitomo Glowworm Caves Guided Tour

New Zealand

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Sharon did a fine job helping us plan our trip. Our driver, Sallam, was great. The culture and cities we visited were everything we expected. However, we were not prepared for the types of roads we would be travelling on for long hours on this trip. All four of us are 70+ years old and the vehicle used was not very uncomfortable in the back two rows of seats. My wife and our friend Karen were bounced around almost continuously. Plus the back of the seat was tilted back making it impossible to sit upright. The nine hour ride to the desert was especially difficult as the road was often rough, winding with tight curves. The road down the mountain into Marrakech was under construction which caused us to drive on temporary roads which were very rough.
Our room at the hotel in Rabat was dangerous. It had what we called the "pit", which was a sunken area with steps less than 5 feet from the foot of the bed with no guard rails. Our room in Chefchaouen was in need of repair as the walls had cracks and chunks of plaster had fallen off in the bathroom. A lamp had fallen over and couldn't be made to stand back up. The stairs up to our room on the third floor were narrow and treacherous. Our companions were on the ground floor and were subjected to loud music and noise from the town square until past midnight.
However, the hotel in Boumalne Dades was a pleasant surprise. Excellent, friendly service made our stay there very enjoyable. The hotels in Fes and Marrakech were outstanding.
The visit to the Sahara and the tent camp, which we were looking forward to, was not worth the two days on the road (one going and one returning).
Overall the trip would have been more enjoyable with a better vehicle and less driving.

There is so much good to write about that made our trip to Scotland a really fun adventure. We appreciated so much the easy to navigate planning process that allowed so much personalization of what we wanted to see and experience.
Our suggestions would be to include some sort of up front notice of the distance to travel from chosen hotels to the town/city or destination being visited. What we were unaware of was how far some of our expeditions were from our hotels. We ended up needing to miss two such days since there was so much travel involved. We would have made different choices on those days to save travel time.
We had a personal driver/guide for two days. It was well worth the extra cost involved to sit back and enjoy as well as spend this time with a local resident and get to know the area from his perspective.
Aside from one meal at a hotel, the food was all top notch. Scotland should take pride in their quality of food and how it's prepared and presented.
We will look to Kim Kim planning again when we are planning our next vacation adventure.

Hotel Reviews

Double Tree By Hilton

Ingliston,

A total surprise being located near the airport. We could walk from our hotel to the tram that connects to Edinburgh. This allowed us an extra day to get back to the city for additional exploration.

Authenticity & Character

A nice, American style hotel

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Isle of Eriska Hotel and Spa

Oban

a hard to find location, but so worth the travel. A beautiful building set on an island. Amazingly quiet and restful. We did not stay in the main building, but one of the remote cabins. I would rate this as the most unique part of our trip. The staff were so helpful and made us feel welcome.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Tigerlily

Edinburgh

A great location within Edinburgh to use as a place to eat, rest up. The overall décor was quite exotic. The hotel was very clean and well staffed. The restaurant was quite good and the breakfast service is a nice feature.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Easy access to public transportation and walkable to want to see parts of the city

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Review

Jacobite Steam train

Fort William

The train was comfortable. The ride was a bit simplistic. It was difficult to fill in two hours in the town of Mallig.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Rita Chaves was so knowledgeable and professional. I learned so much. I felt she was a great friend after our wonderful time with her. All the drivers were great. Special shout to Leonardo. We had an eight layover and a lot of luggage -heavy also. At one am he helped is take the bags up the street and give flights of narrow streets.
The Fada was so special and memorable.
Sofia was so flexible and accommodating. Loved her fun personality.
Mario was a great driver and fabulous guide.
Catarina was so helpful so and thorough. And very very patient!!
There’s no way our fabulous time in Portugal could’ve been done without all of the wonderful people. Please forgive me for the names I can’t remember,
I am looking forward to my next trip!

Kim Kim easily connected us with a local agent in Greece. With our input, Amalia planned an amazing 8 days for us in Athens, Paros and Santorini. While we would have liked to have hadthe final itinerary a little bit sooner so we could possibly make some scheduling changes, I understand they need to protect their resources so people don't cut them out and go directly to the source. Having said that, all of the excursions we did were amazing. All of our drivers showed up on time and were very nice. And when there was one issue, Julia, our on-call emergency person, resolved it quickly and fairly. And with all of the info in one convenient place on an app, it was easy to track where to go and what do do next.

Activity Reviews

Feel like a local

Paros

I don't know what "feel like a local" is but I assume this is our Organic Farm tour? IF so, this was fantastic!! The farm is absolutely stunning and impressive. Alkis, the farmer, was so much fun to talk to and unbelievably knowledgeable and impressive in what he does. The porch on which we had lunch was stunning, the views spectacular, the and food to die for! Could not have been better!!

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Athens Highlight Tour

Athens

We enjoyed this tour very much and our guide, Vickie, was extremely knowledgeable. This is a very specific type of tour- it's a mythology tour, limited to the acropolis, Olympian Zeus temple and the Agora. For us we would have preferred perhaps 2.5 hours of the mythology behind these sites and then a walking tour of some Athens neighborhoods as we didn't know the city at all.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Vickie was extremely knowledgeable and kind

Santorini Wine & Food Tasting

Santorini

Thoroughly enjoyed our tour! Our guide Elsa was fun, knowledgeable, and did a great job. The wines were delicious. We particularly enjoyed the second winery, in an art museum, and LOVED our guide there. The food at the restaurant was fantastic (though a sunset view would have been better, in this case it didnt matter because it was overcast!) We had a blast.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Cruise around Antiparos and Despotiko

Paros

Fantastic from start to finish! Demetrius and staff were fun, courteous, and cooked an amazing meal!

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Angela was very helpful in coordinating our trip. I would rate the trip an 8 out of 10. Angela was always available to check in on us and to fix our hotel in Tinos. The hotel in Santorini was spectacular. From that perspective, Angela did more than our other trip planners for other countries.

The reason that I rate Angela as a 4 is not entirely her fault. My two main issues were the hotel in Tinos, and the number of islands we visited, which I now think was too many. We should have visited Santorini and one other island. Perhaps the second island would have been larger so we could spend more time there. One lesser issue was the hotel in Naxos, which was too small, so we booked an additional room. Additionally, that hotel was less than expected and the "spectacular" view was of a back street.

Angela helped us find an alternate hotel in Tinos. The comment on visiting too many islands is from the extensive time we spent on ferries: four trips and several hours. The ferries were typically late, so that we would spend most of the day in transit or waiting for a ferry. Making three trips would have been better than the four we took.

We have travelled in Germany, France, Spain and Greece in recent years, using a tour planning service in the last three trips. I planned the Germany trip on my own, and we had problems with moving around the country, and some of the hotels were not great. The reason we use a service like yours is to avoid the transit and hotel mishaps that we had in Germany and Greece. In that sense, we were a little disappointed.

Hotel Reviews

Ivis 4 Boutique Hotel

Athens

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Armeni Luxury Villas

Santorini

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Polis of Naxos

Agios Georgios, Naxos Chora, Naxos, Greece

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Too small. We had to book an additional room.

Coocono Tinos Private Boutique Villas

Tinos

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Tinos Resort

Tinos

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

xenodocheio Milos

Athens

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Reviews

Local tastings 2024

Greece

The cooking class and winery were great. The lunch was very good.

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Our guide didn't say much of interest. He didn't add much to our tour. The most important part was the transportation to the winery.

Transport

Naxos Culinary Tour

Greece

Very fun. Alex was a great guide and we enjoyed the cooking class. The next day we rented a car to see some of the towns we didn't visit on the tour, and agreed that the towns we saw on the tour were better.

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Exo Meria Sunset Tour

Tinos

We didn't do the sunset tour. Based on our preference, we did a daytime tour, seeing the part of the island we didn't see on the first day. We had lunch at a fishing village and had a great time.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Catamaran Sunset Cruise

Santorini

Quality of Experience

Food

The food was basic, but that's to be expected on a small boat. There was plenty to eat and drink.

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Tinos Full Day Tour

Tinos

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Athens to Meteora day trip by scenic train ride!

Athens

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Long train ride.

Athens Highlights Mythology Tour

Greece

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Pedro made our first trip to Portugal beyond memorable. Working with him was very easy. He was responsive and his excellent communication continued through the entire trip. His choice of experiences were perfect for our group. Tours were well rounded in variety and all guides were fantastic. Our fado dinner at Mesa do Frades felt intimate, unique, and local. It was a stand out! As was a beautifully scenic tour to the Duoro Valley. Lunch and tasting at Quinta do Pacheco was another highlight. This was a well curated wonderful vacation! Thank you Pedro!

Pedro did an amazing job in planning and executing our vacation details. Everything was planned and carried out as expected. We did not have to worry about anything. The choice of hotels were wonderful. The guides for the walking tours in Lisbon, Porto and Evora were so well versed and full of information. We will recommend this company to all our friends

Hotel Review

Hotel Britania Art Deco

Lisbon

The location of this hotel is fantastic. Close enough to walk to all you want to see and yet off the main street for privacy and quiet. The most amazing aspect of this hotel is the staff. they are so friendly and make you feel as if you were family. the rooms were so nicely decorated and kept.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Review

Lisbon's Historic Odyssey on a Private Walking Tour

Lisbon

Ricardo was so friendly and so well informed about this city . He answered any and all questions we had about Lisbon and Portugal. This is a must for all who want to really understand what they are experiencing in Lisbon

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Great team - very responsive to all my questions and even called when there was a last minute change required. Would definitely work with them again on another trip!

Hotel Reviews

Hotel Mercure Munich City Centre

Munich

easy access to the old town and the train station. Rooms were clean, well maintained and comfortable.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

The Posthouse Berlin Potsdamer Platz – Leonardo Limited Edition 4*

Berlin

Great location - easy access to public transit and walking to all the museums. Rooms were clean, comfortable and well maintained.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Reviews

Neuschwanstein Castle

Germany

fun drive on the autobahn to get out to the castle. Castle views were breathtaking. Wish I had more time to see the other castles in the area, but this was a great stop!

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Reichstag Rooftop tour

Berlin

Didn't appreciate how easy it would be to see all of downtown from the rooftop - great idea. Audio tour while walking around was very informative and worth the time to listen.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Guided tour of Berlin

Berlin

Very well informed tour guide - learned so much while walking around town! Got great ideas of what to go see after the tour - really appreciate the time and effort put in!

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

bring water - lots of walking!

I’m most happy to have chosen KimKim and Francesca for my first trip to Iceland. All of the accommodations were really great. It would be hard to choose one above the others. The weather was an issue and forced cancellation of a few activities but it was no problem getting a new plan and refunds for cancelled ones. The Silfra Snorkeling was amazing and such great staff, I felt totally safe the whole time (and I’m 72yrs old.) All of the food I ate while in Iceland was amazing!!!!

Just back from a 9 day walk through the history of Rome, Athens and Naxos, organized by Harris and his team. We learned so much, saw so much and did it effortlessly, thanks to the organization of Harris. It was amazing to just show up to places, have our transportation ready with friendly drivers and lovely accommodations, knowledgeable and fun private guides. Our highlight was definitely Pompeii, with a fantastic and passionate local guide. In Rome, our private guide lead us through the deeper recesses of the Colosseum. While the schedule was busy, it was not overpacked. Naxos was a revelation, the island just smells good when hiking! Our food tour on the last day was the perfect end. It was all we could have hoped for.

The guides, horsemen and camp assistants were all very professional. They always had our safety and comfort in mind. I would not hesitate to recommend the Kimkim team to any travelers in Bhutan.

Hanna did an amazing job planning our Icelandic trip. She asked what type of family adventure we wanted and zoned in our family activity style with insight and great suggestions, which made our trip so memorable. When we had an issue with one hotel she was responsive and quickly resolved the problem. I cannot recommend Hanna enough. Thank you Hanna.

The careful planning and on-the-ground attention were seamless. We didn't have to think about a thing! Our driver Samir was the best :) He was kind, calm, and attentive, and he didn't ask a million questions / play music / talk the whole time, which is the fear in these long drives. We could relax knowing he was taking us from A to B and doing so in a friendly, professional manner. We never had to worry about anything knowing he was with us. I think we wish we would have flown into Tangier, or had that option made clearer as it was a long drive to Chefchaoen on the first day, but that was a minor detail. Also, for Maison Arabe, maybe to make it clear that its not a PRIVATE cooking class, it's with a group of others.
We loved the trip and all the destinations :) So thank you! It will be a long-lasting memory.

We are now safely home from our trip in France. We had a wonderful time. All the arrangements went well apart from a couple of minor issues which were promptly solved by Clement who was also extremely patient and helpful with various changes of plan. The hotels were clean and comfortable and everyone was pleasant and helpful. We would definitely use KimKim again.

Hotel Reviews

The Originals Boutique, Hôtel Le Londres, Saumur

Saumur

We only stayed one night but the room was good and convenient for us to walk to the river for our cruise

Location

Cleanliness & Comfort

Hôtel Palm - Astotel

Paris

Great hotel with good rooms, good breakfast and an exceptional receptionist who was fun and very knowledgeable about what to do, where to eat and how to get there. She really made it easy and special

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Hotel Les Trois Luppars

Arras

Amazing to stay in the oldest house in the town! Our room was clean and comfortable, breakfast generous and the staff helpful

Authenticity & Character

Location

The hotel is right in the main square and is part of the walking trail of the town.

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Logis Hôtel Restaurant Chaptal Amboise

Amboise

Our attic room was cute and comfortable but on the second floor and with no lift which could have been a problem, however the staff were very helpful and carried our rather heavy suitcases up and down for us. Reception was only staffed from 8am til mid evening but out of hours access was provided and we were able to get our cases brought down the evening before our 7am departure. Breakfast was good and plentiful. The hotel is well situated and we were able to walk to a lot of sights and to great restaurants.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Reviews

Aperitif cruise on the Loire

Saumur

This was a very pleasant way to spend an hour or more, drifting peacefully along the river. The snacks and wine were fine for the price

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Explore a cave village and discover a local vineyard

Saumur

The car did not come on time and we had to phone to find out what was happening. We were therefore late leaving and she drove really fast to get us to the vineyard which was not pleasant. Amelie however was excellent. We had not realised it was a walking tour (and mifht have brought better footwear had we known) but we really enjoyed strolling through the vineyards and the cave village. Amelie was very informative and spaced out her stops to explain the various aspects of the wine growing and then the cave dwellings which made it a nice leisurely pace. We also enjoyed the 3 wines we tasted! The car for our return arrived early - different driver. The grading of 4 stars reflects the late pickup - we would definiltey give 5 stars to Amelie

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Private transfer from the railway station to the city center of Reims (hotel)

France

I think this is a duplication of the previous request . We just had one transfer pre-booked on 18 April, for our departure to Saumur

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Private transfer in town

France

Our driver was early and was really helpful inadvising which platform for our train. The car was clean and comfortable

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Free time in the Loire Valley

Tours

We had a good day - visited the Amboise Castle and Clos Luce, both great and both easily walkable.

Chambord, Chenonceau & Lunch at a chateau - Full Day

France

This was a great day out - two very different chateaux with a delicious simple home-made lunch in another more personal one in between! Highly recommended

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Hop-on, Hop-off Bus through Paris

Paris

Always a wonderful way to get an overview of a city

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Timed tickets to Le Louvre

Paris

Great not to have to queue as long as those who were not pre-booked! An amazing collection - it would take days to see it all. Good that there were seats available here and there and staff at various points to direct one from place to place.

Quality of Experience

Cruise on the Seine

Paris

An easy way to get a different view of the city with an option of being under cover out of the sun - or rain.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Evening Eiffel Tower Tour

Paris

It was great to learn the history of the Eiffel Tower and to see the city both in daylight and in darkness.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Ficheux and the Arras Battlefield

Arras

We walked from the station to our hotel and had a bit of trouble finding it - our fault as we did not check the info provided. We were then delighted to find it was the oldest house in the town and right in the square so convenient for sightseeing and restaurants. Clean, comfortable room and helpful hosts. As we realised we needed to go to Achiet -le-Grande rather than Ficheux we contacted the driver and arranged to leave earlier. He came well on time and took us there, leaving us in peace to find the grave we wanted and to spend time in the cemetery which is beautifully maintained by the War Graves Commission. He then drove us back and left us at the Wellington Tunnels which was an interesting and educational experience. We had thought we were meeting a guide theme but realised in time that we were to join their regular guided tour. A poignant day.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Private transfer in Paris

Paris

This was a very professional service, excellent in every way. Confirmed by text the previous evening, spotless car, courteous helpful driver (Salman)

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

From the moment we cleared customs in Cairo, until the moment we said goodbye to our guide in Amman, we were totally spoiled by the best guides and drivers.

Personalized trips with Kimkim cannot be beat. We worked together to plan a dream holiday, and a dream it was. Our guides always knew how to navigate through the long lines and get us to the sights ahead of the crowds + the best times to visit and what to avoid. Culminating in the most enjoyable private tours every time. As a total bonus, our agents were able to negotiate several room upgrades too. Always a treat.

Thank you to the whole team that we worked with. Another excellent dream holiday with Kimkim.

Everybody involved in this trip were excellent.

Cannot recommend the kimkim platform and the team at Rutopia (the travel agent we were connected with) enough. We're a family of four after a customised tour of Mexico (Oaxaca, Puebla and CDMX) that don't have Spanish so was important that we would have support while we were away. This is exactly what we received.
From the initial response to my enquiry from Rene at Rutopia via kimkim that was within 24-48 hours (as compared to another travel company we have used before for South America that said it would take them 6 weeks to have someone contact me about customised tour) to the thorough planning with me and advice through to the support we received from Lisbeth while we were "on tour" was amazing. Thank you for making our trip a safe and memorable one that was stress free.

This was our first time booking a trip and we decided to give KimKim team a shot. Christina was awesome and helped us every step of the way. She made edits to make sure we went on adventures we wanted and put together activities that were so much fun! Our trip to Norway would not have been as fun nor as easy without her and the team. They were patient and were always available for assistance. Christina was an awesome guide putting our honeymoon itinerary together. I’d definitely book with KimKim team again for our next adventure