Kimkim Trip Reviews

All places we visited were wonderful. Our highlight was the dessert stay and visiting Petra as well as floating in the Dead Sea.

Hotel Reviews

Aladdin Camp

Wadi Rum, Aqaba

Excellent stay. Lovely tent and great location. Staff was very friendly and helpful. Delicious dinner and nicely prepared breakfast. Highly recommend a stay here.

Authenticity & Character

The campsite with the fire place and traditional cooked dinner was very nice

Location

While setting of the camp was very nice as well as our tent with nice views of the dessert

Staff

Excellent customer service, very friendly staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Petra Corner Hotel

Wadi Musa

Bathroom looked tired. Room was nice

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Holiday Inn Dead Sea Resort

Sweimah

Excellent hotel lovely clean room and excellent buffet and pool area.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Marina Plaza Tala Bay

Aqaba

The first room we were offered was very dirty and we changed to another room. Hotel looks very tired especially the rooms and bathroom and need of refurbishment. The restaurant, food and pool area are very nice. Also the location of the hotel.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Clean rooms and bathroom

Toledo Hotel

Amman

The first room I was offered had a small double bed and we changed the room to a twin bed. Hotel was nice but bathroom looked a bit tired and need of modernisation.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Clean fridge and bath room. Some mould on bathroom tiles and hairs in fridge. However the room was nice.

Activity Review

Amman/ Madaba/ Mount Nebo/ Little Petra/ Petra (269 KM)

Jordan

Quality of Experience

Excellent holiday

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Our tour guides was really good. Ahmed was an excellent driver/tour guide. Very knowledgeable, professional, friendly, helpful, caring, always polite and he made our trip an memorable experience. I would highly recommend him as a driver. Ahmed looked after us well. Also Refreshment drinks were filled up every day and he is very knowledgeable about Jordan culture. It was a real pleasure traveling with him and made it a special experience. He also bought us a present and birthday cake which was very kind of him and touching.

Transport

Nice car and we had such a wonderful driver called Ahmed who looked after us well. I would highly recommend him again. He is a very kind and professional person, helpful, caring, friendly and looked after us during the whole trip. Refreshment drinks were filled up every day and he is very knowledgeable about Jordan culture. It was a real pleasure traveling with him and made it a special experience.

Honestly, I cannot imagine exploring Morocco without WanderLust Voyages which we found through KimKim. Our own private guide with a comfy van outfitted with wifi picked us up in Fez and took us everywhere on our itinerary over the next 10 days. Without a personal guide and driver, there is no way we would have seen as much. Leading up to the trip, we had to change our dates and plans over and over again due to COVID and work and Megan just rolled with it. We even ended up having an extra two days and Megan was able to extend our trip easily without changing the budget. We stayed in gorgeous Riads, which are boutique hotels with spas and authentic Moroccan decor. Each one was special and perfectly located inside the old Medina areas with excellent service, luxurious rooms, wifi, and truly phenomenal meals. I would never have known which one to pick without Megan making the selections. On our own, we probably would have used frequent flyer miles in generic hotels in tourist areas. The activities to which we were directed weren't the tourist traps many of the tours take you to. They were genuinely memorable lifetime experiences. In several cities, Megan arranged for highly knowledgeable guides to explain the history and interesting stories about the places we visited. We could ask all our questions and veer off the scheduled route when something curious arose. The whole trip was like a treasure box with each day full of unique delightful surprises.

We didn't have time to go to Marrakech because we chose Fez, the desert, and Tangier--- I would not recommend missing either the desert or Tangier. We took an hour-long ride on a dromedary ("one hump camel") in the dunes at sunset which was silent and sacred. After the meal in our tent, the local teenagers taught us how to play Berber drums. In Tangier, we looked across the Straights of Gibralter to Spain. If you are a foodie and fan of irreverent Beatnick history, definitely watch the Anthony Bourdain special on Tangier before you go. Learning the thousands of years of history of this international zone really rocked my worldview-- crazy to compare a place that holds onto 200,000 years of history in its current context with Los Angeles which has managed to erase anything before the last 200. Actually, if you are coming from Spain, I highly recommend the ferry across the Straights as your starting point. We spent one night near Meknes in a winery/spa/boutique hotel that was phenomenal! I only wish we had booked two nights. We were thinking it was just a stopover during a long drive, but it was worth a longer stay to truly enjoy the classical herb garden, 750 hectares of vineyards, winery, spa, pools, and food--- very decadent.

Nevertheless-- everyone said, "What! You're not going to Marrakech!?" next time...

Our local guide and driver was Ibrahim-- request him!! Kamal was our expert in Fez-- request him too!

Megan is great. She planned and replanned the trip keeping everything within budget so there was no stress or surprises, and check up on us through Ibrahim all along the way.

If you want something special or different-- Megan can guide you. Stay as long as you can.

Loved it!

Hotel Review

Riad El Amine Fès

Fes

This place is a total shock to the uninitiated. It is located in the old Medina and, if you arrive as we did, your van pulls into this overcrowded dirt parking lot next to a public park, packs of stray dogs, and a cluster of what seem like dingy ancient 4 story plaster buildings with no windows and with graffiti proclaiming "Never Fall in Love" scrawled on a wall. Some people were playing cards and smoking in a pharmacy of one building. Our guide took us walking with our bags among winding passageways to a fancy door that we decided must be the door to the TARDIS because the inside was definitely bigger than the outside! It opened into the gorgeous courtyard and elegant rooms with intricate mosaics covering the walls. Inside, everything was immaculate and luxurious. The staff was always present and helpful. The meals were delicious-- and always more food than we could possibly eat. The swimming pool was beautiful but freezing. One night a band came in to entertain everyone with traditional music. Our room was great-- one thing, though, if you are used to a king-sized bed with your spouse that is made up for two people to be under one cover, you will be surprised. A king-sized bed here is two twins pushed together-- easily remedied, though. The Riad served as a great jumping off point to explore Fez!

Tips for future travelers

Somewhat difficult to walk to things from the hotel. Plan to drive or order a ride.

Authenticity & Character

Gorgeous mosaics

Location

Close to the Medina

Staff

Very accomodating and helpful

Cleanliness & Comfort

We were there during the end (I hope) of the pandemic and felt completely safe.

Activity Review

Tour Fes with a Private Guide

Fes

Kamal was a great guide! Not even bread crumbs would save you in the 9,400 streets of the old Medina and having someone along who knows the history and stories makes it so meaningful. He also steered us to a delicious and beautiful spot for lunch-- we would never have known it was there without him. The local craft places were a little bit touristy-- and priced for tourists-- but, hey, we were tourists! The textiles, ceramics, silver, rugs, and leather were fun to see because they were being made the old way right in front of you. We could peek into but not enter the mosques, but what we could see was beautiful. I am so glad that UNESCO is investing in saving this piece of history.

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

We had the trip of a lifetime with the help of William and Stephen. They tailored the trip to the things we liked and took out all the stress of planning the trip. We particularly liked all of our tours, the wildlife tour, riding bikes in Callander, and the tour of islands in Oban. All of our guides were knowledgeable and kind. There was not one activity we did not love, and the team checked in to make sure things were going smoothly. The accommodations were also amazing. Our favorites were the Dunstane Houses and Hotel du Vin. We miss Scotland already and are already thinking about when we can come back- and we know we will use KimKim again!

Hotel Review

The Roseate

Edinburgh

The place to stay in Edinburgh. An old house that was updated but kept the integrity of the house. You feel transported.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Slightly farther from town center for those that can not walk long distances

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Review

Electric Mountain Bike Hire in Callander

Callander

Incredible views you can take in at your own pace. Very little energy expenditure with E-bikes but a large reward with epic views as you ride through the woods.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Great trip, beautiful scenery with lots to do. Very affordable especially if you use cash.
All the activities were very good and well planned. If getting a rental car get specific instructions on where to return it to and watch out for the return fees.
Most people are very friendly and like to help.
Please don't use the Hotel Los Lagos Spa & Resort although gorgeous grounds the spa was closed, room service was unavailable and the front desk staff acted like you were doing them a favor by staying there.
We drove from San Jose to Liberia which is an adventure in itself. Not for the faint of heart but was fun for us. A working GPS is mandatory and driving more than a few miles at night is not recommended unless using the highway. We had to reschedule one of our activities to the morning since it was a 3 hour drive at night.

Hotel Reviews

Hotel Bosque del Mar

Playa Hermosa

Great Hotel, good location. Beach activities by the locals right on the beach so can book an activity as soon as you step onto the beach(10 yards)

Tips for future travelers

Watch out for the Howler monkeys. They are entertaining.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Hotel Los Lagos Spa & Resort

La Fortuna

Looks like a 5 star resort but behaves like a Motel 6. Rude front desk staff, no spa, room service not available.

Tips for future travelers

Go some where else

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Location and grounds

Activity Reviews

Zip Lining - Hanging Bridges & Aerial Tram

Arenal/La Fortuna

Scary and fun at the same time

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Catamaran Sailing Excursion & Snorkeling

Costa Rica

Party Boat with great staff.

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

KimKim is the service I needed and didn't even know it!

We were super impressed from start to finish with the KimKim format and the complete ease of booking with the help of Bea. I used to work as a travel agent and like to plan our trips with a lot of detail and thought...but frankly I just don't have the time to do all the necessary research on a new destination every time anymore. KimKim exactly fit the niche that I needed.

Bea was great to work with - super responsive and helpful as we planned this last minute trip to Portugal.

Portugal was amazing! We're so glad we went and are already talking about going back. Highlights were the walking food tour in Lisbon (which sadly my husband missed due to jetlag but he feels like he was there because I haven't stopped talking about it) and the entire stay in the Douro valley. Porto has some really charming elements, but we found it to be overwhelmingly flooded with tourists that this relatively new tourist destination hasn't figured out how to envelope yet. One day there is plenty. We did an e-bike tour there which we would not recommend. The guide was perfectly nice, but conceptually a bike tour in Porto just doesn't make sense. We were biking on crowded sidewalks and through narrow streets where it felt rude and/or unsafe to be biking.

Hotel Reviews

chic&basic Gravity

Porto

Great location, friendly staff, very clean, good breakfast. Almost too trendy...looks like it was designed to be instagrammed. A small thing, but they could use sheer curtains on the windows, it was either blackout or be fully exposed to the courtyard and guests on the other side of it.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Quinta de la Rosa

Pinhão

Stunning hotel! We would be very happy to stay there again. Our room was very recently refinished (it smelled like they had finished that morning) and had a couple of odd quirks. Namely the front door was abnormally short such that my husband had to duck to come in. And despite the room being HUGE, the bathroom didn't have a door on it which we found uncomfortable. Views were incredible, breakfasts were great.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Add a door to the bathroom

Casual Belle Epoque Lisboa

Lisbon

Location couldn't be better - hotel was clean and had a great breakfast. Room was pretty small, but you expect that in Europe.

Tips for future travelers

There are two "secret" elevators nearby that locals use to avoid the hills. We found them towards the end of our stay - both are a left turn as you leave the hotel.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Reviews

Wine Cellar Guided Visit with Lunch

Douro Valley

We loved everything about Quinta de la Rosa - I would just recommend leaving out the lunch portion of this or adding some expectation setting. It was a huge (delicious) lunch that ended up being the same thing as I had ordered for my dinner at their restaurant the night before. It was huge and lengthy and ended up taking a huge chunk of the day when I think we would have preferred a light salad and to move on to another tasting instead.

Quality of Experience

Food

Food was amazing, just a bummer that it was the same dish I had the night before without knowing.

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Lisbon Fado Dinner Experience

Portugal

This vastly exceeded our expectations. I really expected this to be a tourist trap dinner and a show type deal - and I mean yes, mostly there were tourists there, but the quality of the performances and the food were very high. And a few locals even came in later on! Definitely recommend.

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Get to Know Lisbon with a Local

Lisbon

This was a good tour of the city and our guide was very knowledgeable and personable. Through no fault of her own though she followed the SPECTACULAR guide I had had for the food tour, who is a hard act to follow and had already shared a lot of the same information. At this point we had already walked some of these spots as well, albeit with less context. I would recommend doing this tour before the food tour to help set overall context for Lisbon.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Get to know Porto by E-bike

Porto

Our guide was nice and the bikes were in good condition, but we would not recommend this excursion. Porto is not at all a cycling city. We were riding bikes on crowded sidewalks and through narrow streets where it felt alternately super rude and super unsafe to be biking. Our guide mentioned that we were a small group (seven of us) and I literally cannot imagine having any more of us do that at once. Avid cyclists will be mortified and anxious cyclists will panic. Stick to walking tours.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Group Excursion to Sintra, Cascais & Estoril

Lisbon

So, the destinations were lovely. But our "guide" Rui on this was really pretty terrible. This was originally meant to be a small group tour and we really wish it had been. Rui was our private "guide" but he was really more like a driver. He didn't have anything to tell us about about the sights even we asked him really easy questions. As soon he picked us up he started to try to sell us on booking a walking tour with him in Lisbon and using him to book stuff for Douro where we were going next. Since he didn't have anything useful to say about the sights he was more like an awkward third wheel that we wanted to ditch. We overheard some of the stuff other guides were telling their guests and really felt like we missed out.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

He was a fine driver.

Lisbon Foodie Experience

Lisbon

Amazing! Loved it! Highlight of my trip (I say "my" because my husband missed it due to jetlag). I learned so much, the guide Daniela was superb, and it was the perfect way to spend four hours in Lisbon.

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

We had a very positive experience booking our trip with KimKim (thanks, Megan), and our trip was great too. We had originally booked our trip for March 2020… and ended up cancelling shortly before we were due to leave because of Covid. Fast forward two years, we emailed KimKim/Megan and she still had all our details and was able to rebook our original planned trip for the same price.

Everything about our trip turned out just as planned and worked out really well. Our driver, Aziz, was great - driving us all over Morocco in his Mercedes van (with WiFi!), doing so safely while also sharing his knowledge about our surroundings. We even had the pleasure of having tea with his family in Erg Chebbi, which was very nice.

Our tour included extensive time with dedicated guides in both Fez and Marrakech - and they were great, showing us around the key sites and the inner mazes of the medinas, providing in depth knowledge of the history and architecture of these places.

The riads where we stayed we’re all nice - centrally located and architectural marvels , especially the ones in Rabat and Fez. The desert camp was a great experience, from the camel ride out across the dunes to having a campfire and Berber songs under the stars.

The above is just about the service provided/arranged by KimKim, Megan, and their local agent, Wanderlust Travel. But Morocco itself was stunning. We’ve traveled extensively, and I’d say Morocco is tops, both for it’s amazing landscapes as well as the incredible experience of going through the medinas.

Patricia did a fabulous job of matching our itinerary to our interests. YTTSP gave us a local phone, preloaded with information we needed in case of questions. Only a few minor isssues occurred, and Patricia called right away to discuss the question and the solution. Her customer service is outstanding, and was very much appreciated on our first visit to Spain.

We spent 8 days touring 4 cities, and had incredible guides for all the important places we wanted to tour. Laura, who handled our tour of the Sagrada Familia and Guell Park in Barcelona, was a particular standout. Federico toured us through the Alhambra and Generalife Gardens in Granada with an incredible amount of background information and details drawn from poetry and letters written by the occupants and visitors of the time. Patricia handled all of our transportation, including flights, trains and drivers. Instructions were always clear and very straightforward. The hotels chosen for us were also standouts.

I highly recommend Patricia and YTTSP for a relaxing and rewarding vacation!

Bolivia has soooo much potential to be an amazing place to visit but from the beginning of our trip everything was a hassle. We arrived to La Paz at 2:30am my husban and my 8 year old daughter are Americans are they were treated very poorly we with the most absurd demands of paperwork and visas ($130 each ) that the government officials didn’t even know how to work in the computer..it’s very obvious they don’t want Americas to visit because all the Americans that came in that flight were the last ones to leave the airport . I came with a Colombian ID and there were no issues. We left the airport at 6:30 am super tired to only arrived to a terrible hotel, smells soo bad with very uncomfortable beds and terrible food.. La Paz didn’t have much to offer. Then we took a 8 hour bus ride.. we couldn’t sleep the driver was going over every speed bump possible and was a very reckless driver 🥺 Uyuni was absolutely gorgeous Almost magical but our tour guy didn’t speak any English and his personal hygiene wasn’t great and makes us listen to his music in the car the whole 3 day tour.. silence could be much better. The first hotel “palacio de sal was pretty good and the service was great it had a nice warm pool that after a long drive or trip was a nice treat.. also it had a beautiful architecture. The second hotel Flamingo longe was terrible. They didn’t have our reservations, then the heater was broken so the whole place was freezing, the Internet works for few hours so by the time to arrive to the hotel they had turn it off.. there is not much to do there.. the next day we went to the lagoons and hot springs.. long ride for a child who got very sick from the altitud and fainted in an area with poor hygiene, the bathrooms were traumatizing, no water the smell of feces was unbearable .. to only found out that the oxygen tank that the our driver had in the car was empty and the mask was super dirty so you can literally die in the middle of no where with not medical attention or the minimal basic aid kit .. I’m sorry but $2000 + for this tour was a total rip off we will not recommend this tour to anyone specially with children.. the tour company should had been more informative.. this was definitely not a family trip..it was like vacation from hell.. we canceled our hotel reservation that the tour had booked for us.. to book our own hotel in La Paz to be able to sleep and rest before leaving Bolivia.. at the airport again to exit it was another nightmare.. the immigration officer gives you a code to scan everyday during your stay and let them know of every place you stay.. how are you supposed to do that is there is not internet ?? Well there is another huge fee.. we had travel all over the world and had never experience anything close to this.. very disappointed with this tour. Highlights definitely the salt flats.. everything else 👎👎👎

All of our transfers and meet up with drivers and guides went quite smoothly. Wine tour (Danny), walking tour(Joseph), and boat tour of Amalfi and Capri(Luigi?), All guides were very knowledgeable and entertaining. Each presented options to personalize our tours to our wants and needs and all were quite attentive. The seafood dinner after our tour of Naples was good, but could have been enhanced by better attention by wait staff and possibly a explanation of what we were going to experience that evening. Accommodations were not your typical lodging, but after recognizing the individual personality and unique location, we began to understand why they were chosen.
Overall, very pleased with the attention to detail by planning staff to accommodate our schedule and insure that all locations and providers were prepared for our out of the ordinary needs in advance.

Hotel Reviews

Villa Rosa

Positano

Amazing breakfast. Staff was great.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Caruso Place Hotel

Naples

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Hotel Athena Siena

Siena

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Casa Howard Firenze

Florence

Very unique with lots of personality. Staff was very attentive and more than willing to do whatever was necessary to make out stay enjoyable. The Oriental Room was comfortable and the open window let the sounds from the street below lull you to sleep.

Authenticity & Character

Location

location was close to lots of attractions but off the beaten path with a good selection of shops and restaurants nearby.

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Reviews

Private Amalfi Coast Driving Tour

Italy

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Afternoon Naples Walking Tour & Seafood Dinner

Naples

Quality of Experience

Food

We didnt know what to expect and after wait staff got busy with other tables we didnt know what was next?, if we were done? Maybe they could have given us a breif explaination of what we were going to experience.

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Private Val D’ Orcia Wine Tasting

Italy

Danny was an excellent guide. We truly enjoyed this experience.

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Private Capri Island & Grottos Boat Tour

Italy

Even after getting off to a bad start being late because of preflight covid testing, our captain never missed a beat and gave us a tour to be remembered. Making sure to show us all the typical sights, he even made sure to give a back story and lots of details to bring details to life in the things we saw.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

wish we could give more than 5 stars

This is the second time I use KimKim for my travels and I will definitely keep using the services in the future. From the travel inception to the assistance during travel itself, the levels of service and care were superb.
Lucas has accommodated all my requests and help me build the perfect trip. He was in touch all along to make sure I catch my flights and if there were any unforeseen changes.
They providers selected were also very friendly and when the weather wasn’t allowing to do the planned activities they have suggested amazing alternatives.
Lastly, Argentina has so many beautiful travel options to offer, from luxury travel to adventurous hikes or family vacation. It is such an amazing country as it is its people.
Totally recommended!

Hotel Review

Belmond Hotel das Cataratas

Foz do Iguacu

Excellent service, luxurious rooms and facilities, amazing food!

Activity Reviews

Spirit of Glaciers

El Calafate

At first I was a bit hesitant about this experience but it was totally worth it to see the glaciers from up close and know a bit more about the national park. The food and service were excellent I recommend doing the private lounge experience!

Quality of Experience

Food

Transport

Explore the Argentine Falls

Puerto Iguazú

Thanks Pilar for such a beautiful journey through the national park and for taking care of use at anytime during the trip!

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Trekking Cerro Bellavista

Bariloche

Thanks to Carlos and Monica for organising the best excursions even when the weather wasn’t behaving. We had an amazing time and we will totally come back!

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

The planning and booking process was very easy. Alberto was very quick to answer all my questions and make the small changes we where asking for. We wanted a mix of adventure and relaxing down time for our honeymoon. The Hanging bridges in Arenal experience was great, Marcos was a very knowledgeable guide of all the animals and very enthusiastic. Rosa was our guide to Rio Celeste and she was also very knowledgeable. Orjel in the Cloud forest in Monteverde was very fun and we even got to see the Quetzal! Fabian in Manuel Antonio was very nice and genuinely happy to be our guide, saw a few sloths! Every driver was very nice, also every interaction with staff at the hotels. We would use kim kim in the future.

Hotel Review

Arenal Springs Resort

La Fortuna

This was the best hotel we stayed in! From the greeting with juices to the service at the front desk. They decorated our suite for our honeymoon. The breakfast buffet was delicious and the food at the restaurant too. And the best part were the thermal pools.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Review

Arenal Hanging Bridges Walk

Arenal/La Fortuna

It is definitely necessary to use a guide since they are the ones that know the forest and spot all the animals and plants and are so very knowledgeable

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

I cannot stress enough how happy I am with our experience with kimkim and our local specialist Tiago Filipe. Our trip evolved from start to finish. And at each step of the way Tiago was patient and accomodating to ensure that the end result was exactly what we wanted. The trip met all our asks and more. We traveled from Lisboa to Porto and everywhere in between. I am so glad I found this service and recommend it to anyone I know who is traveling. My friend and I appreciated him checking in with us to make sure we arrived safely at our next destination or if we returned back to hotel safely after a day of making a day trip. Loved our experience!!

A trip that was 2 year in the making due to Covid we had an absolutely amazing time in Turkey. Murat was very patient and considerate of all our questions and requests. The accomodation was special, namely Gil Konaklari in Cappadocia and Nisyanan house in Sirence. The Pan Thermal hotel in Pammakule was a bit disappointing.

Yunnus our guide in Cappadocia was excellent. He has so much knowledge to share and we enjoyed his stories of places and people. He is a good driver and made every effort to also take us to places that were not on the program. Thanks to him we were able to get a booking for the hot air balloon on our last morning after two cancellations on the first two days.

Our guide Ozan in Izmir was also great. He quickly understood what we were interested in and planned the day accordingly. He came across as a very genuine person. Both guides took us to some local places for meals and the food there was delicious.

Overall the trip was well organised and went without a hitch. We got to see everything we wanted. The only recommendation I would make of Kimkim is if they could also arrange car hire for tourists as we had a lot of trouble while picking up the car with Enterprise car hire.

Amazing trip and customer service. Our family of 3 had the most incredible 9 days in Colombia - split between Cartagena, Tayrona and 4 days hiking the Ciudad Perdida trail. Margoth fielded my numerous questions in advance patiently and graciously! And then once there we were still able to reach out and make tweaks to our itinerary. We ended up catching a bug on our penultimate day, and Margoth and team had the driver show up with gatorade and extra hydrating drinks. So thoughtful! We would love to return to Colombia and will definitely use Margoth and team again. Absolutely loved Colombia and its people. We felt totally safe and it was so relaxing to have everything set up front (drivers, guides, restaurant reservations) so we could just sit back and enjoy!

Marina was outstanding in our quest to get to Portugal and Spain. She listened to our feedback and am made adjustments as needed. Marina’s quick responses took the worry out of planning our trip. Once we arrived in Lisbon, it was clear to us just how much work Marina put into our trip. From the food and historical tours to the highlight of the trip of cooking a dinner with a Portuguese chef we had an outstanding week. Thank-you Marina and Kim Kim. You are a top notch travel agency. Most importantly….you have our gratitude.

Hotel Reviews

Exe Almada Porto

Porto

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Dear Lisbon Bordalo House

Lisboa

Nicely appointed historical hotel. Made us feel a part of the culture.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Reviews

Lisbon Foodie Experience

Lisbon

Denielle was an incredible tour guide. We’re pretty sure she knows everyone in Lisbon and they knew her! Food was great, drinks were great and she made us feel a part of this awesome culture.

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Private Guided Visit of Porto

Porto

Tomash or Tommy was incredibly knowledgeable about every aspect of our tour. More importantly he was a blast! Tommy made our day with him very fun and we learned many things about the incredible city of Porto. Touring with Tommy is highly recommended!

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Private Guided Visit of Porto

Porto

Tomash or Tommy was incredibly knowledgeable about every aspect of our tour. More importantly he was a blast! Tommy made our day with him very fun and we learned many things about the incredible city of Porto. Touring with Tommy is highly recommended!

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Private Porto Cooking Class & Market Visit

Porto

This was the highlight of our trip. Vito and his staff not only attended to our every need, he ensured we were involved in every aspect of our experience. Vito’s talent, passion, and negotiation skills ensured we had the best ingredients! The fish market was great!!! Once arriving at his kitchen we were quickly immersed in an awesome culinary experience of which every aspect was carefully choreographed with passion and fun! The sea bass, crab and shrimp main course was outstanding! The fish soup was even better. Vito never hesitated to give us credit for cooking our own dinner, but we all knew better. Without his passion for quality ingredients and free spirit for fun -it could have been just another dinner. Vito has our strongest recommendation. If your passionate about great food and making new friends, this the experience for you. . We consider Vito and his staff family now. Thank-you for all you do!!

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Vito drives an awesome old Land Rover. Unfortunately…he won’t sell. 😀

We had a wonderful vacation in Vietnam! Every location we visited was memorable in its own way, ranging from the bustle of city life in Hanoi and Saigon to the mountains and indigenous communities in Sapa, the rock formations in the Halong Bay and the waters of Nin Binh and the Mekong Delta.

Camellia (local specialist from the Footprint Tarvel agency) made every effort to understand what we were looking for and did an amazing job planning out the itinerary in detail. I had a mix of phone/email interactions to finalize our plans.

Camellia was fantastic! She was creative in dealing with the situations on the ground since Vietnam had just opened to international tourists a few weeks before. We had excellent local guides in each place that gave us the experience we were looking for.

We loved the variety of the food. For those looking for adventurous items, they’re available too!

We were one of the first international travelers that the country was seeing in two years. They warmly welcomed us and were very appreciative that we were visiting.

For those of you thinking about going to Vietnam, jump in! You will have a fantastic holiday with warm, positive memories leaving Covid behind as a distant memory.

We were extremely pleased with the overall experience we had with KimKim. Our local specialist, Monica took our ideas and provided us an itinerary that was specific to us. She offered excellent ideas and options and promptly answered any questions we had.
Alessia, our overall coordinator was excellent. From the first time we met her we felt a connection with her. She was warm, welcoming, so very knowledgeable and a joy to be with. Her command of the English language was comforting and just made everything easy. Alessia was precise in her coordination of our activities. She arranged every appointment with guides, drivers, etc. so that everything ran smoothly. She provided an updated itinerary every night for the next day.
In Venice, in addition to Alessia, Sylvia provided a guided tour to St Mark’s Cathedral and Doge’s Palace. She was knowledgeable, informative and cordial. We especially enjoyed the uniqueness of Venice. For the next several days, Simone was our driver. He was friendly, helpful and his good English was appreciated. Simona, our city guide in Florence did an excellent job of informing us of the depth of history, culture and arts in Florence. We were especially amazed that the church of Santa Croce was the burial place of so many famous Italians and there is a statute in there that may have inspired the Statue of Liberty in New York harbor. Our day in the Tuscan countryside was my favorite. The stop in Sienna was fun and the wine tasting and lunch at Casa Emma in San Donato was a fitting celebration for 50 years of marriage. Our guide in Pisa, Vincenzo, was also knowledgeable and friendly. We were surprised at actually how much the leaning tower is actually leaning and what has been done to stabilize it. Our last few days were spent in the amazing Cinque Terre. Chiara was our guide of the five lands. Again, she was pleasant, knowledgeable and seemed to enjoy the day with us. We were disappointed that because of the weather we couldn’t enjoy the lands from the boat, but Chiara adjusted the schedule so that we still had a fun day. Two other drivers took us to Milan and then to the airport. They were both prompt and did an excellent job of delivering us to our designated places. Of everything, the planning and attention to detail was evident to us and very much appreciated.

Hotel Review

Santa Croce Boutique Hotel

Venezia

The friendliness and helpfulness of the staff at Santa Croce Boutiques Hotel was above and beyond our expectations. The room was clean and convenient to surrounding areas.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

The friendliness of the staff and their desire to meet our every need.

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Review

Full-Day Private Excursion to Siena & Chianti Wine Region

Florence

We enjoyed seeing the countryside. The lunch and wine tasting in the beautiful surroundings was a memory we won’t forget.

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

The trip plan was great. Andrea made sure to provide us with a real taste of the cities and country sides of her beautiful country. The Guides in all locations were knowledgeable friendly and accommodating. We would recommend such a trip to many of our friends.

Hotel Review

BOG Hotel

Bogotá

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Review

The Salt Cathedral & Zipaquirá

Colombia

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

But Jennifer was not our local contact but certainly put together an excellent itinerary

Hotel Review

Guayaba Inn

San Cristóbal de las Casas, Chiapas

Low key. Serene. Easy walk into town. Very close to Na Bloom museum. Great breakfast

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Review

Visit 2 villages in Los Altos de Chiapas: San Juan Chamula and Zinacatán

San Cristobal de las Casas

Surreal. Unreal. Wish I could have taken a long long video. Will have to stay in my heD

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Here is what I posted on TripAdvisor…

We started to work with Luis on an itinerary and made many changes until we came up with a final version. Along that process, Luis was patient and helpful with great suggestions. Once we arrived in Spain, the hotels Luis booked were excellent and all very central and perfect for easy access to things tourists want to be near. We wanted a few tours included and I stressed that I wanted only “small group” tours. Luis found us perfect companies that specialize in small groups and in each case, the tour guides were excellent ! He was in regular contact with us along the way and when we had a few questions, he was quick to respond. Everything he organized for us worked perfectly !
I highly recommend Luis and Hidden in Spain!
Maureen R.
Vancouver