Kimkim Trip Reviews

Our trip to Peru was out of this world, beyond expectations and truly life changing. What a rich and beautiful culture, country, and people. We had everything set up perfectly through Aspiring Adventures and I would recommend them over and over again for a perfect Peru trip. From the multiple calls with Steve and communication with Katy to make sure everything was exactly what we wanted and executed perfectly, to arriving in the country and connecting with our excellent guide and driver, Aldo and Paul, everything was well beyond expectations. There are not words to describe how special this trip was for my family and friends. Aldo was beyond helpful, thoughtful and and incredibly devoted to the rich history and future of the Incan people. We were in safe hands with him and our driver Paul the whole trip. I would and will go back!

Amazing customized trip across Peru in 7 days!
We had a great time with our Kim Kim team. The trip was tailored to our needs and we saw everything we wanted to during the week of our trip. The guides were extremely knowledgeable and all the transportation/tickets/other logistics were seamless. Each event/activity was thoughtfully planned. Have already recommended this to several friends.

Valentine created an awesome itinerary for us! If I were to pick out the best highlight (which is hard because everything was awesome!) I'd say it was the Waimarino glow worm evening kyak tour which was absolutely fabulous. However, everything was great from the moment we arrived in Auckland, to the whale and dolphin watching, to the wine tasting on Waiheke island, to the Hobbiton movie set, hiking around Wai O Tapu, and hanging out next to the stunning ocean in Tauranga. We had an amazing time in our 7 days in NZ!

Guides and activities were outstanding! Hotel in Puerto Varas was fine, but not exceptional -- very much enjoyed the hotel in Pucon. We had to defer the trip for a year after a preceding trip to Antarctica was deferred -- Oxana was extremely helpful in working with us on those changes. We did have some confusion with internal Chile airline reservations -- caused by different requests within the travel group -- also some confusion with final payments (likely caused by the fact that we had to defer). Overall, it was a very positive experience.

Ha was awesome from the start! She offered a lot of great initial options, and we worked together over a few weeks to make this vacation everything we wanted it to be. We were spoiled from the moment we met Mr. Sauce and his driver at the Bangkok airport, when we met Ms. Mew and her driver at the Chiang Mai train station, and until our last driver dropped us off at the Bangkok airport at the end of our vacation. And Ha was in constant contact with me the entire time to make sure everything was perfect. I would highly recommend Ha and her team!

We had an amazing trip to Sri Lanka. Mohit, our agent, was very attentive to our requests and planned a great schedule for us. All arrangements including hotels, transportation and sightseeing trips were wonderful. Our guide and driver, Mr Assange, was really good, a careful driver but engaging and reliable. We will definitely be using KimKim again.

Overall the trip to the Lake District was enjoyable with several hickups. We wrote to you about the discrepancy on Day 2 between what was originally quoted about lunch being included and still have not received any answer or verification of that. The original quote on which we paid stated lunch was included and then we found out it was not. The stay at Casa Karfu in Punta Arenas was not enjoyable. The hotel is very noisy, ALL the floor boards squeak, the walls are thin, and you can hear people walking above you. If you don't have ear plugs you won't get any sleep. The staff was not particularly friendly except for one young lady at the desk who was helpful. It was a 15 min walk to town, which after a long day was not something we felt enthusiastic about. Thankfully there are 2 options down the street. Breakfast did not start promptly at 0700. Ronaldo, our guide in PA, was very good. He was professional and answered all our questions. All the activities were enjoyable.
Casa Estado in Pucon was very nice. The only complaint, if any, is it is far from town and costs about $12 each way in a taxi. You are pretty much stuck there without a car. Stefanie from Amity Tours was very nice. She was not good at keeping pace with the whole group on the hikes. One person was a fast pacer and she kept her pace with him. The 2 of them walked far ahead of the 3 of us. The 3 of us felt we could have just taken a walk together without paying for a guide. She should have considered the "pace of the whole group" and set that pace so all of us would have had the benefit of walking with the guide. This happened both days. Otherwise, the hikes in both national parks were beautiful. The thermal pools were enjoyable.

We were delighted with our Sri Lanka trip. The organization was great and when we were dissatisfied with one of our hotels, Yasantha quickly made alternate arrangements that were perfect. Our guide/driver, Kumar added to the overall enjoyment of our visit to Sri Lanka. He is an excellent reflection on the Kim Kim operation, along with Yasantha.

There are too many highlights to cover. We REALLY enjoyed the Horton Plains hike; and, of course, Sigiriya, and the cave temples of Dambulla.

Carlos was so great! He gave us a ton of options before we booked our trip, and then made sure everything went smoothly thereafter. He also quickly jumped in to help out with any bumps in the road while we were on our trip.

I had never been to Jordan, but after some research went for Kimkim. Went with them and Sara(h) was the agent.

She is outstanding. organised an outstanding trip, form collection in Israel to dropping off back in Israel. Great suggestions too. Definitely will recommend her to anyone going to Jordan and Petra. Stayed in a Bedouin camp near Little Petra which was very good, and a lot cheaper than the overpriced hotels in Petra as well.

We recently used kimkim.com for our recent 11-day trip in late February/early March, 2020 to Costa Rica. Alberto Molina, the local specialist, was really easy to work with and easy to contact with any questions. A few days into our trip, we had a few questions and Karol with Green World Adventures, and she was very quick to get back with us. She helped us several times during our trip and adjusted our tours when we had questions. She was always handy and helpful.
The following tour guides were standouts on our trip:
Felipe with Green World Adventures: Great walking downtown tour of San Jose! He graciously gave us his own recipe of ceviche, and kept us entertained our our drive to and from the airport.
Axel and Victor with Desafio Adventure Pioneers: Hanging Bridges tour, Aerenal Volcano hike and La Fortuna waterfall. What a fun filled day with these guys! They were so accommodating during these fun adventures!
Javier with Iguana tours, our nature guide at Cari-Canche Private Reserve. He was full of knowledge about this beautiful area.
Yenaro Suarez, our guide who conducted our tour at the Don Juan coffee, chocolate and sugar cane plantation. That was such a wonderful, tasty treat!
"Professor" Andres, our very informative nature guide who conducted our tour at Manuel Antonio National Park.
Hector Altamirano of HecTours. He was our ultimate nature guide at Carara National Park. He was a marvelous tour guide, along with our driver Eddie, who spotted the macaws at the very beginning our our trip. This was our last tour and was such a memorable day.
We all hated to leave beautiful Costa Rica, but hopefully will return sometime soon.

Our local specialist, Lena, was very impressive. She created an itinerary that perfectly met our objectives, and gave knowledgeable answers to all of my questions. After we finalized the plan and paid for the trip, she continued to provide assistance via email as we prepared for our Jordan adventure.

Our drivers, Jamal the first day and Medhet the other four days, were very professional and accommodating. They always arrived on time (early, in fact) to pick us up, and were eager to help in any way possible. In fact, when I left my phone in Medhet's car one evening, he made a special trip to our hotel to return it that night.

Our 5-day tour included Al Maghtas on the Jordan River (the baptism site of Jesus), the Dead Sea, Petra, Wadi Rum, Amman, and Jerash. Petra was the most amazing and impressive attraction, but we would highly recommend visiting all of them. In particular, Jerash was much larger and more interesting than we had anticipated, so it was a special treat to go there on our last day and carry that memory home with us.

If we were planning the trip again, I think we would want to spend 2 days at Petra (making a total of 6 days in Jordan). The extra day at Petra would allow time to explore more of this very extensive site, and also permit spending more time in the museum at Petra, which is by far the best museum we have seen in our visits to Middle Eastern and African countries.

We were four "60 somethings" who have traveled together previously. On fairly short notice, Sharon was able to arrange a schedule that fit our logistical requirements and desires. She accommodated each adjustment and modification easily. Her suggestions no doubt added to the diversity and depth of our experience and made the planning process enjoyable. In Tangier we were met by Hicham, our driver and guide for the next 15 days. In very short order we realized that our trip would be greatly enhanced with him as manager. He attended to our individual needs and interests and his knowledge of Moroccan history, straight-forward analysis, sense of humor and enthusiasm kept us all focused on learning as much as possible about his people and their culture. All of that, and the many miles of safe, error-free driving, often in tight quarters, added to our enjoyment. From Tangier to Marrakesh we delighted in the many geographical and cultural offerings. Thank you Sharon and Hicham
Joanne, Jim, Mark and Judy

Macarena was professional, flexible and responsive. Quick follow up is very important to me when planning a trip.
Her suggestions made my trip special: cooking class, wine tour and Termed hot springs I would not have found.

Overall this was a wonderful trip, and we were very pleased with our accommodations at Hotel a la Villa des Artistes in the Montparnasse area. That Les Jardins de Luxembourg was walking distance made it even lovelier.

All of our guides through Localers were extremely knowledgeable. We do want to offer a bit of constructive feedback regarding the Treasures of the Marais walking tour with
Patrick. I was at first reluctant to book this tour during discussions with Joel because I felt it would not be of much interest to our daughter, but he assured me that we would enjoy the historic aspects of the traditional Jewish community and the LGBTQ communities. The tour was far more about the French royalty and aristocracy than it was about the historic communities. Our itinerary also stated that we would be offered a midway stop at a traditional French and local cafe for a hot beverage — this did not happen. I felt that while Patrick was very knowledgeable, he was not reading his audience well at all.

While we found our Louvre guide, Melanie, did a great job, we found the itinerary description misleading. When we were told that we would have a private, after hours tour, we expected that the museum would be closed except for small private tours. This was not the case as the museum was open to the public at this time. I think you should be more accurate in the description of this tour. The term “after hours” has definite connotation.

I do want to offer a special accolade to our guide for Musee D’Orsay and L’Orangerie, Victor. He brought great insight and wonderful narrative to his tour with us. His passion and knowledge were outstanding. I am very glad that we were able to enjoy these two museums that highlight the Impressionists since Giverny was not an option at this time of year.

Overall, we had a great trip and with minor exceptions all the logistics and tours went very smoothly. Some notes regarding our specific experiences in each destination:

1. Bariloche
- Gabriella, our guide for the first two days (Kawen Adventures) was exceptional. She was extremely knowledgeable and provided a wealth of information regarding the geology, flora and fauna, etc. She was very attentive and accommodating to our individual needs and interests.
- Both drivers (Tricky sp?, and Freddy) were very good. Freddy in particular was very attentive and functioned almost as a 2nd tour guide rather than just a driver. He shared Mate with us, helped with lunch, and assisted us in navigating some rough terrain when we hiked to a waterfall near Lake Traful.
- Kawen Adventures was very responsive with including Rupert in our tours when his plans for fly fishing on 24 and 25 February did not work out.
- The gluten free lunch we requested through Mery was not provided for Patricia on the first day. Gabriela made the effort to ensure a gluten free lunch on Day 2, but the lunch providers need to improve their ability to respond to dietary restrictions in a creative way.
- The Design Suites hotel was comfortable and the restaurant at the hotel was very good. However, the rooms did not have good sound insulation, and the showers did not drain properly. The front desk staff were a bit surly and not very customer friendly.
- We thoroughly enjoyed all of the tours and activities in the Bariloche area, including strolling around town.
- The white water rafting was well organized and a fun day. Lack of changing or bathroom facilities at the shore where we began the trip was a challenge. The lunch provided was very nice.

2. El Calafate:
- The Esplendor Calafate Hotel was comfortable and had a good breakfast. The front desk staff was very helpful. We had to arrange our own laundry service in town as the hotel's clothes dryer was broken. I don't understand why the hotel could not have taken our laundry to a private facility, but this was a minor inconvenience. There was a problem with elevator floor not stopping at the same level as the corridor floor, which resulted in Carol tripping and falling. The hotel did take the elevator out of service, and fortunately Carol was not injured.
- The Perito Moreno Glacier tour was spectacular, and our guide Natalya was exceptional. She was fun, knowledgeable and responsive to our interests and requests. The itinerary incorrectly identified the meal to be provided as "breakfast". In fact, we ordered our box lunches to take with us from the hotel's kitchen.
- The bus trip from El Calafate to Puerto Natales was OK, but not the most comfortable bus we have experienced. The bus departed about 45 minutes late. The immigration and customs process to enter Chile was time consuming, and we waited in line outdoors in a very fierce wind.

3. Puerto Natales:
- The Weskar Lodge Hotel was cozy and comfortable, although the rooms are a bit small (challenging when you are traveling with luggage). The Ennos Restaurant in the Weskar Lodge is very good, as were the breakfasts. Nicole at the front desk was exceptionally helpful, and even adjusted the breakfast serving time to accommodate our schedule. They also were very helpful with arranging taxis, and coordinating the pick-up times with Patagonia Planet.
- We clearly did not receive the same level of personal service from Patagonia Planet that we enjoyed with Kawen Adventures and Huellas del sur. When we went to the pre-tour briefing on 29 February, Macerana of Patagonia Planet told us we would be in a group of seven (7) rather than with a private guide as per our itinerary. She also seemed to exaggerate the difficulty of the trek. We worked with Ines of Say Hueque while at the briefing and Patagonia Planet honored the commitment for a private tour.
- The vehicle that Patagonia Planet sent to pick us up at the airport appeared to be a personal vehicle and was too small for all our luggage (so we had to hold some bags on our laps).
- They did not provide the gluten free lunch that we had requested for Pat.
- They required that we travel to their office for the briefing rather than meet us at our hotel.
- It appeared that the first time they really paid attention to the requirements that you had arranged for us was when we showed up for the briefing on Saturday evening.
- The the trek in Torres del Paine National Park with Rosanna (our guide) went very well. Rosanna made adjustments to the pace, and Carol decided to stay at the "refugio" (where the cafe and bathrooms are) while Rupert, Pat and I continued. We did not make it all the way up the the lookout over the lagoon, but we made it onto the moraine. We were tired and it was getting late, so we decided to return. On the way back, Rosanna took us to a 2nd lookout behind the ranger station where we ate our lunch. We got back to the vehicle at about 6 p.m. We had a very good day. A little rain at the end, but otherwise the weather was very good (and not windy), although when we arrived at the lookout the clouds and fog was coming in and partially obscuring the 3 towers.
- Overall, Patagonia Planet seems more focused on the physical logistics of moving bodies to the Park, and not really focused on providing personal service and an experience matched to the needs of the client. That said, Rosanna was very attentive and accommodating to our needs and we had a great day.
- The tour of the Balmaceda & Serrano Glaciers was enjoyable, although a bit crowded due to the size of the group on the boat and on the trail. We very much enjoyed seeing the sea lions, and the interesting flora along the trail to the Serrano Glacier. The itinerary indicated that we needed to get a taxi to town to the 21 de Mayo office, but the Weskar front desk was able to call and confirm that they would pick us up at the hotel on the way to the dock.

4. Santiago de Chile:
- Luis, our driver, was great. It was nice that he did all the transfers for our stay.
- The Cumbres Lastarria Hotel was very luxurious and comfortable, and the staff very helpful. We had a great dinner at BocaNariz just a short walk from the hotel.

5. Regarding the entire vacation, we are very pleased with everything. The only significant issues have been that the tour providers did not provide the requested gluten free meals for Pat (although Kawen Adventures made an effort to provide a gluten free meal for Pat on the 2nd day), and the disconnect with Patagonia Planet regarding the private guided tour to Torres del Paine.

When my son said that he had a lifelong dream to see the northern lights, I knew that I'd need the help of a travel agent familiar with northern Scandinavia. A quick internet search led me to Kimkim, which had already done the work of planning the outline for a perfect trip. I had never used an internet based travel agent before, but the idea of using agents based where we would be traveling was quite appealing so I gave them a chance. I was very glad I did.

From the very beginning it was a personal experience. I worked with Ingrid and Hilde, who both were very responsive and worked quite hard to create a custom trip for us. Their communication was excellent, and I especially appreciated their attention to emergency contacts in case anything went wrong. Unfortunately we arrived in Bodø to gale force winds, which immediately threw a wrench into our itinerary since the ferries were canceled. Hilde immediately rebooked our hotels and suggested an alternative and completely worthy itinerary. I expect that a lot of travel agents would let you down in circumstances like this, but not Kimkim. This "above and beyond" service convinced me to use them again for any of my future travel plans.

The trip itself was exceptional, and had many highlights:

- Northern lights. Even though we had poor weather, our guide in Tromsø managed to find the one spot with clear skies and we were rewarded with an amazing display
- Dogsledding. We really appreciated that it was much more than a glorified ride at Trapper's Farm, which has been our past experience with other sledding opportunities
- The people. The staff at every hotel, shop, guided tour, and museum were knowledgeable, friendly, and exceptionally welcoming.
- The sights. Lafoten in particular was extraordinarily beautiful
- The museums. The Bodø aviation museum, and the Tromsø polar and WWII museums were particular highlights. Honorable mention also goes to the science center and planetarium in Tromsø, where we went to ensure at least one sighting of the northern lights.
- The meals. We ate like kings and loved the food!

All in all I can't recommend the Norway tours more highly. There are plenty of sample itineraries to choose from, but the Kimkim agents are perfectly happy to customize one of the tours to your needs. You won't regret it - we certainly didn't!

This is a long overdue review of our fabulous November 2019 trip to Colombia.
Despite a prolonged wait to clear customs, we were greeted by Lina who graciously made sure we were safely transported to our destination. For the next two days she provided an energetic and welcoming introduction to Bogota. In Villa de Leyva Mauricio was a delightful guide, providing a personal and entertaining opportunity to explore area. We really enjoyed his musical background and knowledge.
Natalia brought the Cocora Valley to life despite rain and mud! She is passionate about the flora and fauna and a great ambassador for nature lovers. We enjoyed Salento and Filandia with her and a very special stop at Finca Divisa de Don Juan (coffee farm)
Daniel was our special personality in Medellin. His walking tour and history lesson were amazing. We were appreciative of his attention during our visit to Penol Rock and Guatape making for two rewarding experiences.
Juan was our steady, patient and knowledgable guide in Tayrona Park. We very much enjoyed learning about the area as well as his family background. It was a strenuous excursion and he timed the pace and experiences beautifully to match our requests.
David helped us enjoy Los Pinos. His familiarity with the area diminished our concerns with the muddy, rutted roads to arrive safely at our destination. Again, this guide's love of the area made for a special day.
A highlight of the trip was a visit to Bazurto Market with Carolina. The market was incredibly interesting, and Carolina's presentation, interaction, and selections were memorable. Her class was extraordinary.
Ending our trip in Cartagena, we were entertained by Ingrid - an insightful and fun-loving personality that enriched our time there.
Chio and team were responsive and supportive throughout. We were especially appreciative of their flexibility when our departure coincided with national protests. They made sure our transport got us to the airport with time to spare.
Colombia is filled with beauty, architectural charm, intriguing history and welcoming nationalities.
Thank you for a trip that will not be forgotten!

The trip was beautiful. We saw amazing places and were very happy with location, activity and settings. However going from Manuel Antonio to Arenal takes 5h and might be too ambitious for those on shorter trips

Carlos was very responsive.

This was an excellent trip not only for Jordan but all the facilities extended to us by the Kimkim team. The guides, drivers were all excellent.
Thanks a lot
Ram & Madhu Addanki