Kimkim Trip Reviews

We had the most amazing time in Ecuador. We spent 2 weeks there and were able to see so much more than if we had attempted to plan this ourselves. The tours, guides, hotels and transports were all perfectly coordinated and made the trip stress free for us! Linda really put the most spectacular trip together!!! 10/10 recommend for anyone!!

Hotel Reviews

Hotel La Laguna Galapagos

Puerto Villamil

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

La Isla Hotel

Puerto Ayora

Great place and staff! Perfect location to restaurants and shops, with a beautiful roof top view of both the city and ocean.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Sacha Lodge Yasuní

Quito

Everything about this place is wonderful! The location, guides, daily excursions and food were spectacular!

Authenticity & Character

Location

Really amazing how deep in the jungle we were!

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Casa Joaquín

Quito

Everything was great about our stay here! We had 3 seperate stays here between our time in the Amazon and Galapagos and each time was great! They were very accomodating with some very early departures and late arrivals, and the coffee and breakfast was delicious!!

Authenticity & Character

Location

Close to a variety of restaurants and a short taxi or transport to the cable car and/or old town.

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Reviews

Kayaking & Snorkeling at Las Tintoreras

Galapagos Islands

We had so much fun Kayaking, especially with sea lions! The water is so clear, and the snorkel afterwards was on the clearest water we had experienced yet! Such a wonderful time!!

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Snorkel at Los Túneles

Galapagos Islands

Such a wonderful place to visit! Our guide was great and was able to find sea horses during our snorkel! Los Tuneles is incredibly beautiful both during our walk and then our snorkel.

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Excursion to an uninhabited island

Galapagos Islands

So many animals to enjoy and experience! The walk was great for watching birds and iguanas and then the snorkel is so refreshing afterwards!

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Visit to the Charles Darwin Research Station

Puerto Ayora

Astrid was incredibly knowledgeable and we learnt so much from her. Not only that but also really fun to hang out with and incredibly sweet!

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Transfer to Quito Airport, Arrival to Galapagos & Highlands of Santa Cruz

Ecuador

All of our transfers were seamless and stress less! Astrid was waiting for us at the airport and got us through to our transport smoothly! Then we had an incredible time visiting the huge tortoises in the highlands and visiting the Darwin research station. Astrid was an absolute joy to be with and was incredibly knowledgeable on everything Galapagos!

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Last rainforest activities, Transfer to Coca & Flight to Quito

Ecuador

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Parrot Clay Lick & Forest Walks

Yasuni National Park

Everything about our stay at Sacha was amazing! The parrots are very cool to watch and walking through the forest is an incredible experience. Every day was we're able to see something different!

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Kapok Tower & Canopy Walk

Yasuni National Park

The towers and canopy walk were incredible. I'm afraid of heights and definitely had to push myself out of my comfort zone but it was sooo worth it! The view is spectacular and your able to see more birds than from the ground.

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Flight to Coca, Transfer to rainforest lodge & Night walk

Ecuador

Sacha lodge is such an incredible place! The transfer was stress free and very organised, the guides are so knowledgeable and the food is delicious!

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Visit the "Middle of the World"

Ecuador

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Quito City Tour

Ecuador

There is so much to learn and experience in Quito and we never would've been able to do that without this city tour! Cristian was so knowledgeable and fun to hang out with! My husband and I are more the outdoorsy nature type and not hugely interested in history but we both really enjoyed this tour! From the middle of the world, and then to old town with an incredible chocolate tasting, there's so much to take in with the city and we're both really glad we had this tour.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Chris was incredible. We wound up calling him our deus ex machina because he was always there and responsive if we had any questions or issues. This was our first time using a travel agent and we'll never do it any other way. Chris listened to what we were looking for in our trip to Greece and created a plan that we then read through and adjusted if we wanted to. We were met at each airport by a driver holding a sign with my name on it. We visited many ancient sites and he arranged private guides at each one. When we flew on an internal flight, the boarding passes magically showed up on my phone. When we had a late flight leaving Rhodes, we were about to ask the hotel for a late checkout, only to find that Chris had already arranged it for us. Every day had suggestions for what we might want to do as well as restaurant suggestions. We even met him (and his kids!) for dinner. We can go on, but he made this a truly wonderful and memorable trip.

PS I have no idea what Kimkim did other than set us up with Chris. He was amazing.

All of our guides were wonderful. We were impressed with how knowledgeable all the guides were. Marilu told us so much about the history of Sicily and took us on an interesting and varied walk around the old town of Palermo. And then met us again the next day to explain the incredible cathedral of Montreale. Claudio took us through the Valley of the Temples and explained each temple and the history of the Greeks and Romans in Agrigento. In Catania, Margherita was delayed due to unforeseen traffic conditions so she sent her friend, Angela to meet us at our hotel at the specified time. Angela was great. She took us to the Bellini Gardens and told us about their history. Then we met up with Margherita who condensed a lot of history into the next 3 hours while walking around Catania. We saw cathedrals, gardens, the market, streets of the old town and even stopped for coffee at a historic coffee shop.

All of our drivers showed up when they were expected and got us to the next location on time. Each of them made sure we met up with our host contact or the hotel where we were staying.

Our tour of the Amalfi coast with Antonio was amazing. He stopped several times for us to get pictures and took some of us as well. Lunch at Le Bonta del Capo was amazing! Picking lemons with the chef, making the limoncello, the wonderful meal and the limoncello at the end were among the most memorable experiences of our travels.

We couldn't have asked for more.

Hotel Review

Hedoné Design Experience B&B

Agrigento

Barbara met us on the street and directed us to the B&B which was hard to find. She gave us information about the town and offered to drive us to the Valley of the Temples the next morning for our early tour. She served us breakfast each morning with wonderful Italian pastries, jams, and spreads. She was more than gracious. The room had a view of the valley of the temples below and the sea in the distance. We would have enjoyed the balcony if it had been warmer, but we chose to travel in the winter.

Authenticity & Character

I don't know how to answer this question.

Location

Staff

Barbara was absolutely wonderful.

Cleanliness & Comfort

Air from the heater blew directly on the bed when it was on. I solved this problem by hanging the decorative bed cover over the top bar above the bed. I would have appreciated a light blanket as the duvet is too much for me. I have this problem in all hotels that use duvets.

Activity Reviews

Limoncello Tour & Tasting

Amalfi Coast

Full Day Tour: Positano, Amalfi & Ravello

Italy

Catania: Food & Folklore

Catania

Catania Tour - City Highlights Walk

Italy

Valley of the Temples Tour

Palermo

Palermo Private Walking Tour

Palermo

We can’t say enough good things about our trip! Ana was great at every step - from planning, to pre-departure, to questions and check ins along the way. We had a great mix of activities and saw and learned things we never would have on our own. We can’t wait to book with Ana again!

All of the tours and transportation that she scheduled were prompt and knowledgeable about the area

Activity Reviews

Private Full-Day Guided Birdwatching

Monteverde

Our guide was amazing! Took his time and helped us see some amazing wildlife! He used our phones and spotting scope to get beautiful pictures

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Private Carara National Park Guided Hike

Costa Rica

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

We used KimKim for a trip to Portugal. They were amazing!

The process for planning our was simple but comprehensive. We were able to give some guidelines re what type of trip and cities we wanted to see and Pedro at Across Portugal build an itinerary for us. We were able to change things around to end up with the perfect trip!

Pedro and his team were top shelf. They made our trip so enjoyable and personal. Pedro knows Portugal and knows the travel business. His expertise really showed in creating our vacation. I can’t say enough great things about Pedro and Across Portugal.

Ray & Sue

Kim Kim did a great job at organizing our 15 day trip to Egypt. 1st of all the people , culture, food and sights are wonderful. While I know using a travel agent usually cost a little bit more, it was well, well worth it. My husband and I usually like to go to any location for at least 2 weeks or more and try to pack in as much as possible. Kim-Kim and their Egyptian team was able to lay out a great final literary after several versions to get to what we wanted. We had a heavily pack literary, and Kim-Kim travel and their Egyptian team ( Ibrahim, Mahmoud Hashim and so many more) made it happen smoothly with no worries. When I think of it, to do it on our own would have been a logistical nightmare.
We captured all the great sights in and around Cairo, a day in Alexandria, 2 days, and a night in the White Desert (A MUST DO!!). Our Guide in the North was Khaled Roshgy and he was wonderful, very well informed, energetic and enthusiastic to show us all the sights. We then flew south to visit all the sights in Aswan and took a Dahabiya sailing boat trip down the Nile to Luxor to take in everything it had to offer. The sailing trip included 4-5 stops at ancient sites that many of the motorized boats don't have access too. Our southern guide was Mohamad Helmy and he too was a fantastic guide who was very informative at every level. He made us feel so welcomed and was not only very informative of all the sites, but also Egyptian everyday life past and present. I would highly recommend the Dahabiya sailing over the motorized boats. The Food and Crew of the Maya was fantastic! We then moved on to Hurghada for some diving and some beach relaxation at the Sheraton Soma Bay. (Great Hotel and team providing great service )

Felipe was excellent from start to finish. My family and I had a wonderful trip to Columbia. Felipe was so helpful in putting together a trip that made all of us with different needs and desires happy. The hotels were steller, the guides lovely and knowledgable. We loved the drumming workshop in Cartegena - a real highlight. We needed to change directions on our trip several times as I had an injured leg. Felipe arranged for me to have an appointment with a physician and had medication delivered to my hotel. Also, when my daughter got a bad cold, he sent supplies and checked in daily. I always felt there was someone there if I needed anything at all - from something small to larger requests. This was the first time I used an agency to plan a trip. I researched many companies. This one was the only one willing to do as much or as little as I wanted and was not pushy about having us do more touring than we like.

Columbia is a beautiful place to visit. The people were kind and helpful. I learned so much about the history, and culture, and got to spend time in both cities and nature. I would love to go back. A shout-out to Margoth and everyone who helped make our trip easy and fantastic.

Hotel Reviews

Senda Watapuy

Santa Marta

A wonderful magical place in the middle of nature. The rooms were large and private and the property was well taken care of. The pool was lovely. My only wish is that they had more umbrellas or created shady pots around the pool. The sun is quite intense and there needs to be a way to stay outside by the pool without getting burned. Other than that, it was a great place to stay and I would not hesitate to go back.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Patio del Mundo

Medellín

A lovely, quiet retreat in the middle of the city. Beautiful house with magical outdoor space. Lovely service and care.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Hotel Casa San Agustín

Cartagena de Indias

A beautiful hotel with a staff that is kind and attentive. The rooms are lovely, the courtyard magical, and the food delicious. There was nothing the staff would not do to make you feel comfortable. It was a quiet retreat in the middle of a bustling city. Once inside, you were transported to serenity.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Review

Drums and Music Workshop

Cartagena

All I can say is go..... Support these amazing musicians, dancers, and artists. I loved the workshop, playing the drum, and dancing with the dancers. They were exceptional, and it is a great way to support their school. A highlight of my trip.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Lorena was very wonderful. Lorena responded quickly and accurately. She always kept us in the loop and was extremely accommodating when changes came up. It was a very easy, no stress process. We had a pretty logistical heavy trip and Lorena was great. We will be using Kim Kim again.

Arsenal manoa was exceptional! Great food great atmosphere!all the staff were excellent the guides for trips were all outstanding : Franklin for the waterfall: Justin for the coffee chocolate tour, Winston for arenas
Volcano and Warner for kayaking and snorkeling. It was an excellent trip the transportation was great as well

Hotel Reviews

Espadilla Gardens Hotel

Manuel Antonio

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Monteverde Country Lodge

Monteverde

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Arenal Manoa & Hot Springs

Fortuna

Authenticity & Character

The grounds the hot springs

Location

Town transport

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Reviews

Ocean Kayaking & Snorkeling

Manuel Antonio

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Guided Hanging Bridges Walk

Monteverde

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Arenal 1968 Hike & Visit to Ecotermales Hot Springs

Arenal/La Fortuna

Quality of Experience

Food

Not food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Hike to La Fortuna Waterfall

Arenal/La Fortuna

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Coffee & Chocolate Tour

Arenal/La Fortuna

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

I gave this Five Stars. It could have been 10 Stars. First, I had a great experience with lining up a trip that suited MY needs. The service was patient with me, always adapting to what I wanted to do and never pushing me.

Second, once I arrived in Colombia, David (tour coordinator) kept in constant contact with me. this was most appreciated.

And finally, I had a real Passport problem that necessitated a major change in my itinerary. this could have been a real issue. But David got right on it and things were worked out and I went right on with my tour.

I would highly recommend KimKim to anyone. Very professional.

My daughter and I decided to visit Brazil in January. I heard about Kimkim from my neighbor and decided to use them. Being two women traveling by ourselves it seemed like an ideal choice. After answering some questions on a very user friendly website we were put in touch with Daria our trip designer. I cannot say enough good things about her. She gave great recommendations to visit 3 places in Brazil and use our 7 days/6 nights wisely. Every detail including pick ups and drops off to airports were planned and we felt very safe and all transfers went very smoothly. We visited Rio de Janeiro first where over 2 days we saw all the important sights leisurely in private tours where only my daughter and I were with the tour guide. The tour guides picked us up at the hotel, took us through leisurely to visit the right amount of sites for half a day leaving us half a day to explore on our own. Rio was beautiful, the liveliness of Copacabana, the majestic views of Christ the Redeemer, the Birds Eye views from Sugar loaf, the artistic Selaron steps and quaint district of St Theresa were all awesome. From there we boarded a flight to Iguazu to see the majestic Iguazu Falls. The falls go as far as the eye can see. We took a boat tour recommended by Daria which takes you right under the Falls. It was exhilarating! We had time to see the Falls from the Brazilian and Argentinian sides. After that we flew to Rio and directly had a taxi take us to Paraty, a village settled by Portuguese in 1600s and it has the original cobblestone streets. This was a recommendation by Daria because I wanted to see a colonial town. It is situated beautifully with the bay on one side and the forest on the other. We enjoyed the walking tour of the serene village in the morning and the bustling streets in the evening. We took a boat out to the bay and the captain stopped at various islands for us to snorkel, sunbathe, lunch! It was a big highlight of our entire trip. I’m so glad Daria suggested this village as it’s not on a traditional itinerary. The food and drinks and the people were also wonderful! Daria and kimkim get 5 stars and more if we could do that!

Hotel Reviews

Pousada Porto Imperial

Paraty

Beautiful quaint, historic, clean and comfortable hotel!

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Wyndham Foz do Iguaçu

Foz do Iguacu

We had a comfortable stay at the hotel. Food, staff and location were great for our visit to the Falls.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Arena Leme Hotel

Rio de Janeiro

Beautifully located on the quiet part of Copacabana! Wonderful food, beds and showers. We had a great stay.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Right by Copacabana

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Reviews

Jeep Tour Regular

Paraty

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Private Boat Tour around Paraty Bay

Paraty

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Walking Tour of Paraty

Paraty

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Sugarloaf, Santa Teresa and old Rio

Rio de Janeiro

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Argentinian Side Falls Tour regular

Foz do Iguaçu

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Christ the Redeemer & city tour private tour

Rio de Janeiro

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Brazilian Side Falls Tour regular

Foz do Iguaçu

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Gran Aventura

Foz do Iguaçu

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

I found it confusing before the trip commenced because you had my name mixed up with Earl our trip organizer. I did not get all of the emails and had trouble paying the balance of my trip.

I did look me the organization of the actual trip. The hotels, transportation , food and guides were first rate. Was surprised, however, when the bicycling was suddenly dropped and switched out for a cave and a palace without explanation.
I am not certain who decided to suggest a week containing a three day weekend national holiday . The first day at the butterfly refuge (Sunday) was totally overrun. Luckily we had added a second day at another refuge which was MUCH less crowded and saved the experience.

The whole experience was wonder and perfectly planned. Not a single issue for the entry week of multiple excursions, shuttles, and hotel. Great recommendations on hotel and excursions. We looked it. Thanks Yuliana

Trip was overbooked and very exhausting. Communication was lacking. Most of our trip was spent in airports. No accountability taken

Deb provided one of the most amazing and well planned itineraries we have ever experienced. She took care of everything down to the minor details. She truly made Southern Africa a trip of a lifetime. We will be back again traveling with Deb!

Emi was wonderful. We changed our itinerary so many times. We had to cancel one year and rebook the next. We started out with a completely different itinerary than we ended up with. The entire time, Emi kept up to pace and planned accordingly. Our trip was mostly seamless and wonderful. Thank you Emi

Activity Reviews

Trekking to Emerald Lagoon 🚶‍♀️🏕️

Ushuaia

Beautiful but didn't really feel like I needed a guide for this trip. Would have enjoyed a ride

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

The Best of Argentina Culinary Experience

Buenos Aires

This was so much fun! We had a blast and got to experience all sorts of culturally relevant activities

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

I was initially set up with a specialist who wasn't listening to my preferences and became increasingly more difficult to communicate with. Once I voiced my concerns though, I was matched with Sabina who was such a pleasure to work with! She was always quick to respond, worked with me on a good balance between budget and activities, and made my trip such an incredible experience. I'd love to work with her in the future when I go back to visit New Zealand and Australia!

Everything was so amazing. The tours and the hotel just perfect. Everything was easy and well taken care of. Anytime I had a question it was responded to.

They were simply amazing. What a great trip