Kimkim Trip Reviews

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.

Natalia was very helpful, caring, and effective in working with us to plan this adventure the Colombian Andes. Even after the trip began, she maintained contact with us to ensure that we were having a great time and that things were running smoothly. She was quick to rectify a tiny glitch in scheduling. The tour guides she arranged for us were wonderful, especially the young man in Barichara.

I had an amazing travel experience in Costa Rica! I was there for about a week and felt like I was able to see and do so much during my time there. During my trip I saw many different types of birds, sloths, monkeys, a Quetzal, and so much more. I traveled to San Jose, Monteverde, La Fortuna, and Arenal and saw volcanos, jungles and cloud forests. This was my first time booking with KimKim and it was relaxing to know that everything was booked and planned for by our travel specialist. Carlos my travel specialist did an amazing job booking and planning my entire trip. He even called me during my trip to check up on how I was doing. Everything ran smoothly and the guides were friendly and knowledgeable about the biodiversity in Costa Rica. My guides Jorge and Juan Carlos did an amazing job teaching me about their culture and traditions. I would highly recommend booking with KimKim as they take care of everything and you get to enjoy your vacation. Thank you Carlos!

What an adventure! Erin and Julia were amazing working through all of the details to plan out a perfect trip for us to Patagonia. Everything from choosing our hotels to booking our daily adventures, it all went flawlessly. Timing couldn't have been more perfect each day. Erin figured out our needs early on in the planning, and was right on target with everything that we did. We did get extremely lucky with the weather the week we were there - No rain, winds or extremely cold weather made each day picture perfect. The hotels were quaint and clean and in nice locations, although now that we've seen other places we could've stayed, we probably would have wanted to upgrade a notch.
Felipe, our guide in Santiago and Cajon de Maipo started our trip off in a great way. We couldn't have imagined how much we would enjoy our time with him. His knowledge of Chilean history and culture was outstanding and his easy going demeanor was perfect on our road trip to Cajon de Maipo for hiking and and beautiful landscapes.
We flew to Punta Arenas and the 2-hour transfer to Puerto Natales was easy, although flying directly to Puerto Natales would have been great. We loved going to Estancia La Peninsula and our guide Nico from the estancia was excellent! Horseback riding, jeep tours, sheep shearing - one thing was better than the next. Highly recommend! Transferring to Torres del Paines was easy and Tomas, our guide, was THE BEST! He helped us with taking amazing pictures and showed us beautiful spots around the national park trying his best to stay away from the crowds. Gorgeous national park! Stayed overnight at Hotel Lago Grey - loved staying in the park for the night!
Our drive from Torres del Paines to El Calafate was long, but well timed, crossing the border into Argentina. Our driver, Daniel, was on top of everything including getting us ahead of a huge bus load of people also crossing at the same time. He saved us at least an hour of long lines in Chile and Argentina!
We loved El Calafate and Perito Moreno! The group tour to the glacier was fine. We had enough time to do everything we wanted to do and got amazing pictures and videos of the glacier and calving. Beautiful place!
Ended our adventure in Buenos Aires, where we planned our own time there since KimKim couldn't help us there.
Amazing, once in a lifetime adventure. Erin did an awesome job!

Nicholas planned the trip just right. We have some issues on the first day (out fault, that I left the phone in a Cabify taxi). Our trip guide helped us a lot, and eventually, we have got it back the next day. The rest of the trip was good and enjoyable. Nicholas was always accessible, and the tour company made everything hassle-free. Thanks, Nicholas.

We used KimKim for our first visit to Vietnam because they use local people as tour arrangers and guides, and their reviews seemed to reflect the sort of trip we were interested in. Ms Thuy, who set everything up for us, and our guides, Mr. Nhan in the north, Ms. Tra My in the center of the country, and Mr. Loan in the south, were all exceptional resources and teachers.

Ms. Thuy suggested the itinerary, worked with us to make sure we could do what we wanted, made all of the arrangements and answered all of our questions in great detail up until the moment we left. She followed up with a phone call mid trip to make sure everything was going well.

Mr. Nhan gave us our initial introduction to Vietnam in Hanoi and surrounding areas. He is knowledgeable, interesting and enthusiastic. He seemed to love all the excitement about the lunar new year and we grew to share his joy about peach tree blossoms and kumquat trees. He taught us how to cross the street, which sounds like a small thing only if one is unfamiliar with the traffic in Hanoi. He is an excellent guide.

Ms. Tra My picked us up from the night train and whisked us off to the beautiful Hue. She was like a glass of champagne--fun and bubbly, and she was proud of her home town. She was endlessly informative and went out of her way to help us with shopping and exploring the area off of the tourist track. She showed us a lot about the local communities and customs. She is an excellent guide.

Mr Loan took us exploring in the spectacular Mekong Delta where we didn't see another tourist the entire day. As the New Year was very close, the traffic was wild, but he persevered and with his guidance we were able to get a very good sense of south Vietnam. He is an excellent guide.

And every one of the drivers was awesome. Please let them know!

I would recommend this team, without reservation, for travel in Vietnam. Many thanks to everyone.

The first time using KimKim for mine & my Mum’s 10 day trip to Thailand. I had visited the country a few times but it was a first for my Mum & therefore I wanted to incorporate places that I had been to that I thought Mum should experience as a first-timer, with places that I hadn’t been. We only had 10 days but decided to cover 3 areas, Bangkok (city life), Chang Mai (Countryside) & Koh Samui (beach). We went with the recommendations from Suwanna for accommodation & activities & she did a great job with all of them, the only thing we had to organise was our flights. It was also lovely to have everything organised from the get-go so we didn’t have to think about transfers or activities on arrival. The vehicles were of a much higher standard than expected & our guides were really friendly, knowledgeable & always on time. Our highlights were the 60k bike ride in Chang Mai & the cookery course in Koh Samui - fantastic! I would highly recommend KimKim & will definately use them again in the future.

This whole experience has been wonderful, start to finish. Everyone involved in the trip planning portion (Erin & Julie) were very attentive, informative and prompt. I would just like to say that I work in marketing for a tourism DMO and have been in the hospitality industry for 10+ years - Cote was one of the best guides I have ever encountered. She was organized, genuine, hospitable, knowledgeable and she intuitively knew what our group needed at all aspects of the trip. I cannot stress enough what a unique and authentic person she is, she truly made the trek all the better.

Also, the staff at all the lodges (in particular our third stay at a Fantistico Sur) were so warm & welcoming. I’ll be spreading the word about this experience!

Lots of pre-planning emails with Isabel resulted in a beautiful trip. Two little glitches along our 3-week mainland trip were resolved very quickly. Our guide/driver Marco was knowledgeable , and when we asked for a deviation, he knew if it was do-able. Wonderful stays at Les terrazzas de Dana in Mindo (recommend Chocolate massage), Hacienda Porvenir(beautiful, peaceful lounge and hiking outside your door.) Thursday market at Sasqisili was fun.

Diego was really fantastic! There is no way I could have made it up & down Acatenango without him.
He is truly an expert , and gave me encouragement and great instructions. He was fun to be with for all those hours

Cote our guide was fantastic! She set a great pace and made our time very enjoyable even through the more demanding parts of the trek. Most memorable is the lookout on grey glacier, French valley, and the secret lookout Cote took us for the towers, not busy at all which made it really great. 10/10 would recommend to family or friends that are interested!

We were two teenager families traveling in mainland Ecuador for the first time. Stayed 6 days in Quito area with visits to Mindo, Cotopaxi and Quilotoa. Our guide Marcelo was perfect match with his deep knowledge of biology and earth sciences, as well as being very flexible and service minded. Highly recommended!

I never met Lena. During planning she was very helpful and responsive in answering questions. I do not know where in the process there was break down in communications. Lena was given the details of arrival - 2 separate flights. airlines and arrival times for the party of 7. The first flight to arrive had no one to meet them. They sat 3 hrs before the arrival of the remainder of us. The person who met the second group paperwork was based on all arriving together on the later flight but was asking where the first 2 were as he couldn't find them. He was very anxious and thus confusing us. Our tour guide Hassan was the worst guide all 7 of us have ever had. All of us have been traveling throughout Europe, Asia, Canada and Australia for many tears.

Great trip and guide and local people who provided services as per the plan

Hotels all good with one exception on the last night when a local disco partied all night preventing sleep. This should have been known easily by Kim Kim with a little bit of research into reviews of the hotel by other people. This hotel should NOT be used again. Very disappointed that our trip conclude on this sour note

South Island, New Zealand 16 days 19 January through 03 February, 2020. Kimkim organized our self drive 16 day trip of South Island. It was perfect from start to finish. All the BnBs were fabulous. Having a local NZ phone was a great addition for contacting hosts of our arrivals and to check on excursions. Promt refund issued for a cancelled excursion. Would highly recommend and would use again to put a trip together.

I can’t remember all of the guides names but they were all very good. The entire trip was incredible.

Our trip was perfect! Sotiria did a great job. I had tons of questions and she never seemed bothered by me and my need for details. She always responded quickly and was available before, during and after our trip. She went above and sent a anniversary gift our first night, to our hotel!

We had a wonderful trip to Spain. Ramon listened to our interests and created an outstanding itinerary! Ramon checked in with us daily, inquiring about our travel and providing us with the names of our guides and a phone number in case we needed. In Madrid (Pablo), Toledo (Almudena), Cordoba (Joaquin), Sevilla (Elena), and Malaga( Julian) we learned about Spain's rich history from our knowledgable guides with a passion for Spain. Almudena surprised us with a visit to her beautiful home where we were greeted with hot tea and an extravagant table of baked goods and Marzipan. Our tour guides were personable, considerate and accommodating to our needs. Ramon listened and was sensitive to my needs by having our guides provide transportation when the extent of the walking would be too much. Helio, our driver to Malaga , was very kind and professional. The hotel accommodations were luxurious and all in ideal locations with beautiful views. Our room in Cordoba had the original mosaic ceiling. We feel very fortunate to have experienced Spain through the eyes of people who love their country! We loved experiencing the culture, history, and sights of Spain. Some highlights included meandering through the gardens, touching the stone that has withstood time, learning about the religious and Jewish history of Spain, the cooking class, markets, museums in Madrid, listening to a group singing and playing guitar in the street, wandering the narrow streets of Toledo and sampling the tapas, wine, churros with chocolate, and ice cream. An experience of a lifetime that we will always hold dear. A special thank you to Ramon and kudos to kimkim!

I really enjoyed my trip to Colombia. It is now my favorite Latin American country. I was impressed with it's infrastructure, cleanliness and kindness of the people.
One of my favorite places I visited was Bogota and our guide Juan. The city was very clean and the graffiti murals were gorgeous. Going to the market and trying all the different fruits was a lot of fun. Juan was very knowledgeable and did a great job showing us around the city.
My favorite hotel was the Finca Barlovento-Maloka. It was pure paradise and I would go back in an instant.
My favorite cities were Penol and Guatape. This is another area I would go back to in an instant. Climbing The Rock was exhilarating and the view at the top was absolutely beautiful. The city of Guatape was very pretty also and I would love to go back and enjoy more of the water activities.
We ended our trip at the hotel Movich Buro 26 where the staff were the kindest and most professional. I would stay at that hotel the next time I visit Bogota and take a taxi into the city. The hotel is located very close to the airport and the rooms were extremely quiet.
One of the nicest perks of the trip was having all our transfers set up for us. Everywhere we went our driver(s) were there to greet us and take us to our destination. All the vehicles were very clean and the drivers very professional.