Kimkim Trip Reviews

Easy to plan and communicate with our travel specialist- he was quick to respond and organized an itinerary suited to our preferences. Would book through KimKim again!

We loved Isabella and Alexjandra as well as our driver. They worked hard to insure that we had a good experience.

I want to give a lot of credit to the organizers of our trip. Everything went like clockwork. People picked us up and ferried us exactly when they said so. All our guides were so nice and very well informed about their culture and history. Magaly, Rony, Maria and Julio were all great. We loved all the hotels especially in Cusco at San Blas where they warmed our sheets with hot water bottles.
We packed a lot in in one week and everything we visited was awe inspiring. Nazca lines, Machu Picchu, Ollantaytambo and other Inca sites were fascinating. We were lucky with good weather as well. Thank you for making it all a memorable experience.

From start to finish - the initial enquiry, through the planning and amendments to delivery and experience - just brilliant. Randall responded to my every enquiry, request and for reassurance. The mix of activities, rest days, hotels and places was just perfect. Driving ourselves gave us added freedom to see more of the beautiful country that is Costa Rica. We met lovely, welcoming people, ate good food and enjoyed the stunning scenery along the Caribbean coast, interior and Pacific coast. We loved the laid back feel of the Caribbean, the spinal mountain range, the warm waters of the Pacific coast and the fabulous OSA peninsula with all its wildlife above ground and below the sea. All the guides who took us on our hikes and snorkelling were gracious, knowledgeable, considerate and professional. Thank you for making sure our holiday was everything we wanted it to be.

I booked in July 2019 , for a trip in late January 2020, thru Kim Kim and got referred to Sharon at Moroccan Immersions. She was very attentive and booked me the experience I wanted for my first time to Morocco. I was picked up at Tangier airport by Mubarek, a really personable Berber, who drove me to a bank and ATM and then to see the seaside towns on our way to the blue city of Chefchauen. My accommodations at Riad Hicham were really nice. My only complaint is that there is NO heat in any public areas, ex: reception, restaurant , courtyards. I wore all my clothing. Would have liked a warning. This is not a fluke, as I encountered it in my riad is Fes. Besides that, once fully wrapped up, I had the best dinner and desert with the best darn service. Breakfast the next morning was just as delicious. After breakfast we headed to Vollolobis , Meknes and Fes. We drove thru the most beautiful agricultural area that reminded me of California, but way more green. The citrus was everywhere and served fresh all over the place. I had a guide in Meknes who was very informative about the history, the buildings and the market. I was taken to Fes and stayed at another great riad, Riad Al-Makan. Staff were extremely friendly and attentive. Upon arrival I was served mint tea and 2 pieces of cake (Yes!) Had a wonderful chicken tagine dinner with great vegetables, olives, and bread. The next day I had a great tour thru the medina and souk with my guide, Mustafa. I saw the tile making which was a big thing on my list, also the tannery, cactus silk scarves, and carpets. Including All the artisans from copper and brass to wood carving. Warning, the wood is cedar, in case your allergic, which I am. The following day after breakfast, we left for Casablanca. I stayed at Club V’al Danfa hotel, with a great view of the ocean, comfy bed and great breakfast buffet served. I toured Il Hasan Mosque, which was an amazing piece of architecture. The next day Mubarek picked me up at the hotel and drove me to the Casablanca airport.
I really liked Mubarek and all my guides. I felt safe and taken care of and I appreciate how hard everyone worked for my private tour. Thank you.

Cuba was a nice place to get away from being connected all the time. The great weather is a huge plus.

Usually, I personally prefer mid-budget, backpacking style trips, but I was with family and saw that Cuba is easier to see with a guide, so I opted for a guided tour. For my first time in Cuba, I wanted to see a little bit of everything, so I asked for an itinerary which included Havana, Viñales, and the beach. This itinerary is a very common one, and the price appears to be similar to tour packages I found on other sites. Since it is a private guided tour with taxi for the whole stay, it is pricey. There was a mix up with the prices (I received the wrong pricing), and my trip was almost canceled last minute, but Kate from KimKim reached out to me and we resolved the issue.

In Cuba, Darián, who was our guide for Havana and was with us for the early part of Viñales, was very professional and knowledgeable. He used to be a professor so his history and ecology knowledge was immense. If we had any questions, he was very helpful, and went above and beyond to make sure we were comfortable at all times. The driver we had was also very skillful, always on time and prompt, and always had water for us in his car which was great. He also took us to a beach for the last day. Beach was beautiful and mostly locals only. The guide at Viñales was great. I recommend the walking tour over the horseback riding tour if you only have a day as you get to see more in detail, have a chance to climb up a steep mountain and walk through a cave as well. Bring some cash as you stop by a farm on this tour which sells homemade cigars and coffee.

The casa particular we stayed at was a bit far from Old Havana, but walkable to the Hotel Nacional and the Malecón, near a popular restaurant and a park with wifi (very spotty/poor), and was very clean. There were two bathrooms (with new towels provided upon request), and the breakfast prepared every morning was very filling and excellent. Also, we asked about beach towels, and they went above and beyond by providing sunscreen as well (we were actually running pretty low). The beds were mostly okay, nothing outstanding, but we were usually tired after a long day, and slept fine. Next time would probably prefer to stay closer to Old Havana.

Overall, the days were packed and busy. We got to see a lot in a short time. I would say this is good for anyone looking to get a taste of Cuba. Definitely would've liked a tad more time in each place we went. I appreciated that we were not really taken to shops (unless we wanted to go) since on other tour packages, I always feel pressured to buy something. The old car tour was just okay, tad disappointing. The places we went in the car tour were not very interesting, and we definitely weren't prepared for it - bring sunglasses and maybe hair tie. I think driving even a short while along the Malecón would've been nicer, and getting some pictures taken with a better background. Plan to come back, but it will be more leisurely paced and hopefully, a longer trip.

Side note: I had baggage issues where Air France/Delta lost my baggage, and Karin and Darián did their best to keep me updated on the bags. I am very grateful for their part in this as the lack of internet access had made me very worried. Unfortunately, I never got those bags until more than a month later, but that is the airlines' fault 100%.

Really enjoyed our week in Egypt our guide on the cruise was Mahmoud and we had Achmed in Cairo. Both did an exceptional job with their explanations and organisation. Can highly recommend the program Ibrahim put together for us , I just now wish we had had more time.
Thanks to everyone involved.

evrything went smoothly, as plan, we had a very good time.
thank you for your help. \the trappers farm was amazing.

This would be a 5 star review except the questions are about booking experience and I had one glitch when asking to change the excursion one day and continued to get a stock itinerary returned to me. Eventually the itinerary was changed but it made me wonder if Esteban was listening to our request.
The actual trip was excellent and I would give 5 star review to Columbus Luxury Travel for our guides, itinerary, and attention to details of our privately guided tour.
Our flight to Flores , our car and local guide there were perfect. He listened to our preferences and chose restaurant and travel times according to our requests. He was knowledgeable about Tikal and the nature life, answering all our questions and had patience with Larry’s attempts to learn the Spanish language.
For the remainder of our trip we can’t say enough about our 5 star guide Juan Jesus or JJ. He made our trip a spectacular memory and we feel we could have a friend for life in Guatemala. We were given a very nice car for our travel on difficult roads and he was an excellent driver. We often felt our lives were in his hands and we were comfortable with his driving. Amazing!
Our accommodations were interesting, varied, and just what we asked for. All the hotel staff were friendly, attentive and made us feel like we should stay longer. Only the Jungle Lodge in Tikal was less attentive with a slow check in and busy staff. The beds were comfortable as we had requested.
Each community we saw was fascinating. JJ was able to give us information about all the different regions, Mayan people, and local traditions and cultures. He was protective, walking with us in Coban at night to find a local restaurant.
We were very sad at the end of our tour when we had to say good bye to JJ.
Columbus Luxury Travel was very responsive when we asked to change our itinerary in the middle of the week after some long days of driving, and were told there would be 5 hrs driving each day for the next 2 days of the proposed itinerary. We changed to an extra night at Lake Atitlan and more boat tours of local villages and a hike in a nature reserve.
CLT also arranged birthday songs and cakes at two different restaurants on Larry’s birthday. They gave us fun memories and we were surprised!
Some of the most memorable experiences were
Driving the rocky mountain roads across Guatemala 🇬🇹,
Seeing the indigenous Mayan people in daily life as we drive through the countryside and villages,
Small restaurant and village interaction with local people like in city of Coban and in villages I do not have names for.
Getting stuck in a rut at the top of a mountain with village locals gathering around to watch us figure out how to get the car out without offering help. 😆
Macadamia tree farm and active volcanos at Antigua.
Touring women’s cooperatives in the villages around Lake Atitlan.
The best experience was visiting a local family home and sharing a meal with Felicia and her family, frying tortillas with them in their open fire grill.

Having a private guide and driver made the tour exactly what we wanted, giving us enough time on our own and lots of individual attention so we could learn about the country.
Our only request would be more detailed information about the tour before we go and so we know better what to expect. This could have been done in a more personalized itinerary and tour map. We continued to receive only a canned general itinerary with minimal details even after we arrived.
We met the staff at Columbus on our last day in Antigua and they were lovely people. I know if we had made arrangements with them in person we wouldn’t have had any problems.
We would recommend CLT and especially JJ to any traveler and hope to see him again.

We were very happy with our trip to Peru. Mily in particular was amazing. she was very responsive before the trip and made an effort to meet us in person once we got to Peru. Our activities ended up being just like on the trip description and while we did not encounter any issues, Mily made it obvious that she would be available for any issues that may have come up. We will recommend Mily to any friends or family that we have for any future Peru trips. Additionally our tour guide Cesar was incredibly knowledgeable and so friendly and you can tell he loves his job and is very proud to show the wonders of Peru to tourists like us.

After finding myself en route to Santiago for work, a friend thought, "you should go to Patagonia and take some photos..." I hadn't thought about it until that moment... and with only 3 weeks out, I didn't think it remotely possible. That's when another friend passed along kimkim's info.
I truly didn't think it possible to put together such a well thought out, well planned adventure with so little time. But that's exactly what Erin was able to create... Essentially, pulling a rabbit out of a hat in a couple of weeks.
Given that my solo adventure was geared towards photography, my itinerary for 6 full days was tailored towards that experience. My journey took me from Estancia La Peninsula for a tour of an authentic Patagonian sheep farm, to portions of the W trek inside Torres Del Paines National Park including the French Valley and Mirador Las Torres hikes. From there, I was able to spend a couple nights in the Serrano River Valley outside the park, and mingle with the horses and herding pups at Pampa Lodge.
Finally, the culmination and the final day of my adventure was a private photography tour with an amazing guide, who took me to some of the great spots in Torres Del Paines as well as some hidden gems that only a true local would know about...
This experience was something that I will never forget. It was surreal and beautiful looking at the Andes Mountain range... meeting some amazing people in Refugias and along the trails... and it would never have happened without Erin and Julia. High fives to the two who made this whole thing so special and unforgettable.

We had a fantastic trip! We loved every place we stayed - they were all different so we got to experience a variety of designs. Our driver, Mohammed, was fantastic. Very patient and accommodating. The trip generally went very smoothly given the amount of territory we covered. The staff even went out of their way to assist when one person in our group had an unexpected medical issue.

Morocco is a beautiful country - I would definitely go back!

Andrea helped us put together a fabulous trip! The big component that we were concerned about was transportation, and all of our transfers were on time and completely seamless. Andrea responded in a timely manner and was very flexible in making adjustments to our trip beforehand, and while we were in Cartagena. I’m so glad that she recommended Punta Faro because it was exactly what we were looking for and was a tropical paradise. We will definitely use kimkim again to help plan the logistics and get recommendations for future trips!

Our guide/driver LaLa was very professional, always on time and drove with great care. The hotels recommended were excellent throughout. We restricted ourselves to the southern part of Sri Lanka which worked well for us as distances between our stops were short but take a long time. We spent a long time sitting in the car where every town looked the same. Sri Lanka is very green and surprisingly to us very clean unlike other similar countries. The people throughout were fabulous, happy smiling faces greeted us everywhere. We enjoyed a lovely holiday, well and efficiently organised and executed.
Would happily recommend Shalindra in Kim Kim who was patient and very efficient in helping us plan this memorable trip.
Best wishes to all.

We have so much to share regarding the start to finish adventure that Isabel planned for us. I know she was there in the background managing every leg of the trip and I only wish we could have thanked her in person. Planning with Isabel was easy with 2 way back and forth communication. She listened to what we wanted and delivered completely with perfect guides, transportation, top notch hotels and tours. This was the first time we have used a travel service such as Kimkim and it made the trip so easy with everything coordinated and booked for us. Special mention goes to David Carrion, who met us at Quito airport and became our friend and guide for the next several days. He was professional and knowledgable about his home country and city with many excellent suggestions. Thank you Isabel for suggesting cooking class and market tour with Chef Edwin of Altamira Restaurant which was one of our highlights. Second guide, Marco Herrera took over for the next leg to take us on a beautiful tour of Cotopaxi and Banos. He took very good care of us and was excellent driver through 2 torrential downpours and travel company for my chatty husband. We absolutely fell in love with Hotel Luna Volcan and wish we had booked for 2 nights. The trip then moved to Amazon and Napo Wildlife Centre. I think Isabel picked the best ecolodge in the area and would recommend this one over all others. Three days of exploring the jungle and river with our guide, Juan was perfect. We then switched gears to travel to Galapagos. We were happy Isabel suggested staying on land using boat tours to uninhabited islands during the day. Huge shout out to Isabella Island hotel, Iguana Crossing which was the nicest hotel on the island. We enjoyed exceptional service and upgraded accommodation. Again we wish we had a second night to enjoy this beach paradise. Another mention needs to be given for honest island residents. My husband dropped his passport by accident when we were out for dinner. By the next morning, there was a tourist news feed broadcasting a picture of his passport and asking where he was staying so it could be returned. Not really the way to become famous but we sure appreciated all the care and concern. Our tour guide, Julio and his lovely young daughter, Mia were absolutely fantastic and took us on a couple of amazing tours. Then we taxi boated back to Santa Cruz for 3 night and again had a lovely oasis hotel, Ikala Hotel close but away from the hustle and bustle. 2 boat snorkelling and island hikes were similar in structure but gave us a wider perspective of different species on each island. We sadly had to say goodbye to Galapagos and fly back to Quito. Tour ended with David meeting us and a very special and private tour of a rose farm close to the airport. What a treat that was! The last hotel Isabel chose was EB Hotel close to the airport for an early morning flight. They even offered to pack us brown bag breakfasts because buffet was not open that early. It was a quiet and lovely way to end a very busy and exciting tour. When I say this was a trip of our lifetime, I am not exaggerating. Thank you Isabel for all your background planning and coordination! I am not exaggerating when I say this is the lady to talk to for your Ecuadorean tour!

The trip was amazing! We had the most wonderful driver- Mohamed who was very helpful and patient with 8 women for about a week and a half. All the guides at the different cities were great and had many interesting facts to share. The accommodations exceeded all expectations. Everything about the trip fantastic. Yassine did a great job of keeping us informed during the planning process and was very responsive during the trip when we had questions on tipping.

Adriana did an extremely good job at tailoring the trip to my desires. All the tours, hotels and transfers were excellent that were set up. Since I emphasized hiking and outside activities, all was perfect. She was receptive to my overall plans and her picks for my activities were excellent.
Thanks for you work on setting this up!

We had a stunning trip to Jordon and our visit to Petra, our KimKim specialist Lena put together exactly what we wanted and her communication and responses were first class. Haytham was our local tour guide and we can really recommend him and his company. Over all it was a great trip and hugely enjoyed. Thanks to everyone involved

This was a fantastic trip! Our family was in Costa Rica for 15 days in January 2020. Our local guide was Randall Jiminez, and he was great.

The whole KimKim experience was really easy to deal with. We established how long we wanted to go for, as well as a preliminary budget. Randall gave us some ideas to start with, as it was our first time in CR.

We wound up doing what we later found to be (from other travelers) a pretty standard sampling of CR. We started in Arenal, staying in La Fortuna, then moved to the Cloud Forest of Mote Verde, and finished up on the Pacific Coast, near Manuel Antonio National Park.

Almost all of our experiences were excellent. The highlights that we would recommend to others would be:
Arenal:
- Proyecto Asis rescue centre. This was one of the first things we did, and remained in our top 3 for the whole trip. If you do this, make sure that you do the volunteer feeding part - that was special. Carlos, our tour guide for this one, was nothing short of superb.
- Cano Negro: This is a must on any trip to CR. We took a bus up to the wildlife area at Cano Negro, and from there took a two hour boat tour along the river, very close to the border with Nicaragua. We saw sloths, monkeys, and more species of birds than I can count, including some very rare ones. Also saw Caimans, which were cool. Had one of the best Costa Rican meals on the way back (Cosado, which is typical. You have to try it).

Monte Verde:
- Don Juan coffee tour - amazing, very tasty all around. Coffee, chocolate, and cosado. Very informative!
- Zip line - super day, did bridges in the cloud forest and then ziplines through the trees.
- Monte Verde Park: This was not arranged by KimKim, but I highly recommend it anyway. Get a guide, either private or through the park. They know what to look for, and will help you immeasurably.

Manuel Antonio:
- a bit more tourist-y, but absolutely beautiful. We were in easy walking distance to the beach, and our hotel was great. We stayed at the Costa Verde hotel, which has several restaurants in easy walking distance. The collectivo bus is also easy and cheap, and I wish that we had used it more (the temps were 35+C every day we were there.
- a note of caution: The Catamaran Snorkling tour that we booked was really a booze cruise. Dance music and drinks were the focus, with very little time spent snorkling, and that required us to wear life vests (a number of passengers had indulged a bit). The cruise was well executed, for what it was, but it was not what we were looking for. In retrospect, we should have more clearly laid out expectations for this activity.

We will definitely visit CR again, and I would have no hesitation recommending KimKim, especially to first-timers. Pura Vida!

Thanks Randall!
Annie, Tom, and Joel

My wife and I had a great time in Thailand! Ha was a great planner who set up awesome tours and guides who were thoughtful, friendly and fun. All of transfers were well handled and right on schedule. Never having been to Thailand before it was an amazing trip and based on our experience would recommend to everyone.