Kimkim Trip Reviews

My boyfriend and I had a fantastic trip in Sri Lanka. We did a nine-day tour, and Shalindra patiently worked with us to create the itinerary and answered all of our questions. Our driver/guide, Kapila, was very knowledgeable and accommodating whenever we wanted to change up the itinerary a bit. He also gave us suggestions and brought us to some local roadside stands for snacks like coconut roti and hoppers. Our hotels were fantastic and the breakfasts were really great, especially the Colombo Court Hotel & Spa in Colombo. My favorite spots/excursions were Ravana Falls in Ella, the elephant safari near Dambulla, and the whitewater rafting in Kitulgala.

My two small "negatives" are 1) I wish we'd gotten to spend more time in a few places, like Kandy and Nuwara Eliya, but now I know for any possible future trips to SL and 2) the spice garden is a bit more of a touristy shopping trap, so I'd probably skip that in the future, but we did also get nice mini-massages there.

All in all, I'd highly recommend Shalindra/Kapila/Exemplary Voyages!

My friend booked this trip and I joined last minute, the communication with Erin in the booking process was really difficult, which she blamed on the time difference but that was just an excuse. My time difference with Erin was only 2 hrs and 45 min as I'm not located in the US and apart from that, she could go more than 24 hrs to reply. She never even apologised for this.

Once I confirmed the trip I never even got a confirmation that my money arrived until we followed up, which was unprofessional.

Upon arrival in Kathmandu I had two guys waiting for me at the arrivals. Once I got to the car I realised one guy was a scam as he just asked me for money. The representative told me to just give it to him otherwise he would fight him. This isn't directly the fault of KimKim, but the representative at the airport should have definitely stepped up.

The next morning Erin came to meet us at our hotel for a briefing, now working myself in the travel industry, I might have had high hopes as I've briefed many clients myself but this was just disappointing. There wasn't any clear information we got. She went through the program, but all she said was, today you will go for sightseeing, on the day you arrive back from Bhutan you will go for sightseeing.. No further details regarding the sightseeings.. We also had to confirm a couple of other details with her and when we asked her a question she seemed a bit annoyed answering it and that everything was just supposed to be obvious. I felt uncomfortable asking her any further questions from there. She also was a bit unclear with her program as she thought on the last day we were staying in Kathmandu and I had to make it clear that this wasn't the program.
I also asked her during the booking process if I could get a discount as I won't be doing any activities on the last day as I had an early flight out of Kathmandu and my friends only left late evening. She said that was calculated properly but once I asked during the briefing she didn't even remember my friends had any sightseeings that day. So I even doubted whether or not I paid too much for my trip.

At the end of the first day of sightseeing we received a rather cold message from her regarding tipping. I believe that our guide complained we didn't tip her, which is understanding but we thought we tip at the end of service and we knew we had the guide again for the last two days during our trip so we knew we had to tip her at that time, not at the end of each day.. Again something that should have been made clear from Erin's side during the briefing not writing us a vague and cold message about it later onwards. Apart from that, I believe tipping is based on how satisfied you are with the service, so if we weren't satisfied I think asking for a tip from Erin's side onwards the guide isn't the right way to go about it.

Now regarding the hotels, we stayed at the Patan Inn and Millas Guesthouse, both places were super lovely and amazing food, would definitely stay there again if I would return to Kathmandu.

Our guides name was Pratikshya and she was a super lovely and knowledgeable woman. I enjoyed every minute spent with her. She was very polite, explained in nice details but didn't overdo it and she was always on time and very professional. If I was to ever return to Kathmandu I would also use her again as a guide.

So to sum it all up, the guide and the hotels were really nice and a great pick for us but Erin's services were very disappointing. However to be honest, we already had a feeling that our interaction with Erin wasn't going to be so great as we noticed during the booking process.

Marina was very tentative from the very beginning. She’s very responsive and explained very details to us. At first I was a bit nervous using online travel agent since we didn’t have any in person interaction but after a while Marina made us feel very comfortable. I would recommend Kimkim to my friends and our future adventures.

Midgard Basecamp was a great place to stay. Friendly staff, and great food and drinks! Our guide Bjarni Guðmundsson was awesome! We spent a few days with Bjarni exploring the wilderness and he knew lots of great spots to show us. I would definitely recommend Midgard Adventure!

This is a complicated review to write because I had very mixed feelings about our trip. Let’s start with the positive: Lena quickly put together the trip and patiently fielded endless questions from me. Our driver in Jordan, Moustafa, was truly fantastic and made our stay in his country very rich and special. The dinner with a local family in Petra was the best meal we ate on the entire trip and the family could not have been more welcoming and kind. It was an unforgettable experience. We felt safe on the entire trip. Our guide in Jerusalem/Bethlehem, Issa, was also phenomenally knowledgeable, and he was just fun to be with for the day. Our driver in Israel, Gorge, was jovial and eager to please.

Now for the honest negatives. The accommodations were terrible. The boutique hotels in Amman and Tel Aviv were what we expected and we were perfectly happy there. We are used to staying in five star or chic boutique hotels, but in an effort to be economical we chose only boutique for this trip. I read all of the hotel reviews and looked at photos before we left, and I really went back and forth about staying at, for example, The Kempinski or The Hilton at The Dead Sea and decided that the extra thousand dollars wasn’t worth it for one night. I was wrong. Know that traveling in this area five stars will be closer to 3.5. The agent was not clear about that. However Lena and Tania were very responsive and helped us move. The alternatives were no better though the staff was very friendly so I hate giving a terrible review. We arrived in Israel in time for Purim, and, as a result, a couple of the attractions that I paid for were closed. Tania and Lena are refunding is, and I appreciate that, but I was not happy that we were not warned in advance. It’s a big holiday and three-four days long, so to arrive and have the driver say “everything will be closed have a nice time on your own today” was very upsetting. Fortunately he was wrong and we had a nice day.

I took a risk using a service based strictly on a NY Times recommendation, and while I was relieved to have a very organized itinerary, I think I could have done it on my own with much better hotels. I have used similar services with much better outcomes. The whole experience was ok but not without its issues.

Kuchara is the name of our tour guide.
3/15/2019 is the date of our cruise. When Perez Group arrived at the cruise port Princess have a bus that took us outside the port to meet our guide. Kuchara was not there and we are so worried because there are so many guides who is asking if you needed a tour. I have to call Sandun to locate our guide. My goodness, he was sitting in the bus and we did not see our name because the sign is just lying on the dashboard not posted on dashboard window. And as a guide, Kuchara should be waiting & standing for us holding the sign like the Viator and ToursByLocals guides we saw at the port.

I would like to suggest, your guide should at least provide bottled water to the tourist. It was already hot and humid although its only 9:00 am. All our guides;: Singapore, India, Sri Lanka, and Dubai gave us bottled water and it makes a big difference. Our guides also have cameras and took us pictures and email them to us after our tours. We felt special and connected with our guides.

The most memorable part of our tour is the lunch. Kuchara took us to a Chinese Restaurant while we were in Sri Lanka because we don't eat spicy food. The food was great, location and service were excellent.

All the best!

I'm so grateful to Ingrid, Kimkim and Trapper's Farm for helping me arrange the Norwegian adventure of my dreams. I wanted to chase the Northern Lights on a multi-day dogsledding expedition, and Trappers Farm delivered. The 4-day trip was highly personalized, authentic and filled with once in a lifetime opportunities. If you want to experience dog sledding off the beaten track, I highly recommend arranging a trip with them.

We had an amazing trip traveling to Athens and Santorini. Each hotel we stayed at was very accommodating and the staff was wonderful. Each tour that was set for us was very punctual and the guides were all very polite and very generous and kind and always made sure we were comfortable and enjoying the trip. We were very pleases with every aspect of the trip. Tasos was wonderful in helping us plan this trip to our liking and was very pleasant.

I visited Morocco 2 weeks ago with my 14 year old daughter. We had an amazing experience. We are truly pleased with the services provided by KimKim. The tour was arranged by Brahim. He had always provided timely, courteous responses to my questions and helped me every step of the planning process. We reached Marrakech later than scheduled due to flight delays. I had failed to inform Brahim of the delay. Brahim exhausted every resource available to him trying to make sure we were ok/ safe. He even checked in with us during the trip to make sure we were having a great time.

Our driver Amine was awesome. He was pleasant, safe and very punctual (we were the ones who made him wait :)). He tried to keep us informed in advance about the places we were visiting/ stops en route. It took him a couple of days to warm up to us, but when he did he was a lot of fun. We spent one evening playing cards after dinner, my daughter had a great time learning card tricks/ games from him and teaching him card games. He was very accommodating and stopped any time we requested a stop. He appeared to be quite knowledgeable of the places we visited and took us to some fantastic restaurants for authentic Moroccan lunch. He took us to places (women’s co-operatives and workshops) where we learnt in length about the fossils, argan, rose and carpets. The vendor at the rose products shop was very friendly, not only did he sell us some good quality rose products, but he also taught me how to make tajine and gifted me a bag of spices that he had bought to make his own meal. That was so very generous of him and his tajine smelled so good :)

The arrangements exceeded my expectations most of time. The arrangement at the bivouac in the Sahara desert deserves a special mention. The tent was very comfortable with washroom and shower facilities. Our camel man Sayeed deserves a special thanks for making our experience a memorable one. The food was plenty and the entertainment was fantastic. He helped me up and down the massive dunes and even gave us company while we were star gazing in the dark trying to explain the stars and life in the desert. The Riads were clean and comfortable. The hosts/ riad staff were very friendly and welcoming. Dinner served at the Riads (Dar Sofar, Hotel Amazir and Makhtoub in Ait Ben Haddou) were fresh, delicious and plenty, often too much for us to finish. Moroccan breakfasts are different from what we are used to in North America, but the freshly squeezed orange juice made a huge difference, delicious 

The only thing I would like to mention is that some Riads charge you for bottled water, but they don’t tell you that until when it is time to leave. This I thought was a little inconvenient especially since I had bottled water in the car, and I ended up paying almost 3-4 times the cost unnecessarily. Also, I had exchanged only limited $$ for each day and this resulted in my budget being messed up for tips, etc. Perhaps it would be a good practice to let the guests know in advance that there is a cost for the bottled water, so the guests can make an informed choice.

All in all it was a fantastic experience, I would recommend Brahim and his team in a heartbeat. You can trust them for your travel needs. Thank you Brahim and team!

Erin was a delight to work with. She was very prompt in responding to our questions, took our feedback on board and managed to put together our ideal itinerary. We had fairly limited time and quite a few things to fit in, but Erin managed it! Everything worked super well, all transfers on time and comfortable and the local partners she put us in touch with for the hiking equipment, lunches etc were also super lovely and helpful.
As 2 friends with very busy and quite stressful jobs in big cities, we just didn't have the time and mental energy to figure out this itinerary by ourselves. Having Erin take care of things so well for us was amazing and meant we could just relax and enjoy with full peace of mind that we were in expert hands. Thank you Erin & team!

It was a great trip. Everyone was super nice, the weather was great, and all the guides and drivers were very attentive.

Ingrid did a wonderful job planning our trip. She was prompt, professional and thoughtful. We had limited time and wanted to fit in Oslo, Bergen, the Flam railway, a Fjord cruise, dog sledding and the Northern lights. It took some adroit and creative planning to fit all this in 5 days, and we simply could not have figured this out on our own, and I give Ingrid great credit for figuring out a travel itinerary where we could do all this without feeling rushed. Everything went smoothly thanks to Ingrids' careful attention to detail. She was also on call during our trip — a mere text or e-mail away. I also want to thank her for arranging an Oslo walk with Stig, which was wonderful, as we got to see Oslo through a natives eye. We did the same in Bergen, where Ingrid took us on a charming walk through town and up into the hills. Both walks are strongly recommended. In all, I recommend Ingrid with the greatest possible enthusiasm. She will make your trip richer!

Why Jordan? Why not Jordan! What a wonderful trip we have just had to that exciting country.
From start (the booking) to finish ( saying goodbye to our experienced, eloquent, knowledgable guide, Mohammed) everything worked like clock work and nothing was too much trouble.

The people of Jordan are friendly , honest and always willing to help. The food was delicious especially the Kunafeh in downtown Amman!

The highlights are too many to mention them all so here are just a few;
1 Petra- wow! Advice for us older generation- walk in, go up to the Monastery by donkey , walk down the 850 steps from the Monastery and get a horse ride or chariot ride back to the entrance.
GET THERE EARLY!
2 Wadi Rum desert experience is a must. Such beautiful desert landscapes.
3 Jerash and Karak Castle are also a must see.
4 Dead Sea- put on that mud!

My Bali trip has been a dream. Beautiful island, warm and friendly local people, rich culture. Our local specialist Ayu had been so wonderful throughout the consultation and booking process. She advised and helped us book everything we needed/asked for to make sure we have a wonderful vacation. Our driver Krisna Arimbawa had been above and beyond our expectation. He was so friendly, resourceful, helpful and always with a big smile. Nusa Penida is so worth the trip to visit. Highly recommend the Authentic Balinese Day - you will get to meet and experience the humble and wonderful lives of a local Balinese family (they were absolutely wonderful, warm and loving).

The arrangements for flights and hotels all worked perfectly. The guide we had for Bogota was extremely knolegeable about history, archaeology and art. In Villa de Leyva we had a thunderstorm but the guide substituted a talk on history and politics of Colombia. I didn't find the salt cathedral interesting. Guatavita was very beautiful but unfortunately there was no English speaking tour. San Agostin was particularly interesting, and the guide was very knowledgeable and helpful. Tatacoa was very interesting but much too hot for the hike we did. We particularly enjoyed Cartagena's beautiful architecture. The hotel and service were gracious. Our trip to fishing village and boat tour were fun, and we enjoyed the guide's explanation of the biology.

We enjoyed all of the trip. Our personal guides were all really informative, authentically and genuinely interested and passionate about their environments and willing to share their culture and lifestyle with us. To us, that is one of the best things about this sort of trip, and we were happy with your choices. It was a long trip, so there is much to recommend, and if I don't mention something, it doesn't mean we didn't love it! - I'm thinking of you Medellin with our great guide Marcello---

We always enjoyed the special heritage Colombian towns like Villa de Leyva, Jardin, Barichara... We won't ever forget visiting the Kogi in their village and our picnic by the river there.

There were a couple of odd things which I'd like to mention, just to keep you all in the loop. The driver at the airport in Medellin picked up the wrong travellers, so wasn't there when we arrived. A call to the agent who's number you provided soon sorted it out.

Our trip to Jardin was interesting. We noticed that most of your drive times are a bit optimistic... We expected a three hour drive or something, but about half way there we found the road between Medellin and Jardin is closed. We had to travel back quite a ways and then take the awful road down to Jardin, turning this into i think a 5-1/2 hour trip. We were surprised that the driver didn't know anything about it, because we are under the impression that this is a long term road project and the driver says you drive there all the time. Anyway, it was an awfully long trip, because it was at least as long back to the airport the next day and maybe longer.... just for a short one night visit. I would re-think your Jardin approach. Before we asked for an overnight, I think you had us going there on a day trip, which Obviously can not be! The rest of the day's description was out the window too.. We didn't see a museum, or taste any award winning sweets, and I can assure you, that cable car hasn't run in quite some time, although we did walk around the town and enjoy it! The itinerary indicated Dinner was included that day, but I don't know where! We had cervezas with the locals around the square and went out for Pad Thai later. So, we enjoyed Jardin, but we didn't seem to have had an experience as outlined in an itinerary.... When we left Jardin we went directly to the airport and flew from Medellin to Bogota at 6pm, then Bogota to Santa Marta at 8 pm. Of course we got into the Hotel Villa Maria quite late after dinner, and the bar were closed. We were wondering why we weren't on any of the direct flights from Medellin to Santa Marta that evening? Perhaps they were sold out, but they could have been booked two months in advance?

We particularly enjoyed the guides and the visits around Tayrona. The guides were all so enthusiastic and knowledgable, thank you. Christian brought a couple of books and props to discuss in depth the history and lifestlye of the local indigenous group, which we enjoyed at the nice picnic site set up for us. That day was a little "off script" too... we definitely went to a different village. We drove to Rio Ancho, then took a 4x4 up as far as the road went, then walked in the heat and dust about an hour and a half to the Kogi Village. We didn't meet anybody besides the kids there, but it was good, and the picnic spot on the River Ancho was awesome. We were pooped from this dusty day so much that the next day, we mostly sat in the shade and talked philosophy with the guide Juan. He had lots to tell us about Indigenous beliefs.

Barranquilla Carnival was a blast. Those people really know how to party, and we get why you picked the spot for our viewing (bathrooms, thanks!). We drank enough beer to need them. Luckily we were able to pick up our Fiesta tickets right in the hotel lobby upon our arrival. That, and a new hat to boot.

Finishing up in Cartagena was great. We enjoyed the shopping and dining scene there with many memorable food experiences. Unfortunately, on the last morning at 4:30 am, our last driver was no where in sight. We gave up shortly after 5 and hailed a ride with the help of our hotel.

All in all, these small things are just details, and our trip was long and varied, so everything can't be perfect! We had a wonderful time in Colombia and feel like we learned a lot and enjoyed quite a few different experiences. It takes a lot of patience to plan this type of holiday and the pre-booking questions and emails takes a certain about of patience and follow though. Nicolas did a pretty good job with all of that, Thank you Nicolas.

Kate and Mike

We can’t say enough praise for Tasos and Travel 12. From the very beginning he provided constant, consistent communicate throughout the booking process as well as the trip itself. He made it very easy to communicate with him and his team during our trip if we had any questions or needs. Having concluded our trip, it is evident Tasos is proficient in his area and took great care and put such detail in planning our trip. He genuinely cares about his clients and their experience. Tasos listened to our interests and created a trip that catered to our desires in addition to immersing us within the culture of Greece, both ancient and modern day. It was a perfect balance between touring time and free time.
We relished that Tasos booked us in boutique hotels. We were able to obtain a more authentic, enjoyable experience of Greece this way. These lodgings exceeded our expectations. In all cases we were very impressed and surprised. Not only were they clean, the beds comfortable, and possess all the amenities Americans are accustomed to, but the staff were universally helpful, charming, hospitable and accommodating. The breakfast they provided were all wonderful, fresh, and more than filling. However, Kalimera Archanes Village provided the best breakfast of them all, filling our table in our villa. (Additional food notes: Black Sheep in Athens had the best greek salad and Yehanni’s first stop in the 7 villages tour in Crete provided the best greek coffee.)
The guides Tasos scheduled were extremely knowledgeable, engaging, and affable. With each guide, it was evident care had been taken to select ones that were passionate about Greece, its history, and culture. They were all phenomenal. Ioannis (John) was our guide in Thessaloniki. With the comfort that is present among friends, we strolled the streets of Thessaloniki and soaked up what he was teaching us. We had the pleasure of Anastasia touring us through Pella and Vergina. Upon observing our interest in Christian Biblical history she thoughtfully added an unscheduled stop in Veroia were we able to visit a tribute to the Apostle Paul and learn some of its history. Vangelis (Evan) took us on our hike of Meteora (the rocks) in Kalabaka. I would definitely recommend this experience if you are physically capable and in the area. He allowed us to set the pace and was well versed in the history of the area. Not only were the views breathtaking but it truly added to the experience of visiting the rocks and the monasteries. Alexandria, a native Athenian, was our guide for Athens. She was well versed in the history of Athens and local mythology. We toured the Acropolis, including the Parthenon, and ended with the Acropolis museum. She even accommodated our last minute request to stop at Mars Hill, where Apostle Paul preached. Then we headed to Corinth, Nafplio, and Epidaurus where our new tour guide had a college degree in history! He also lived in Nafplio and treated us to a wonderful lunch where we felt like locals. We took the overnight ferry which was a new, yet pleasant experience. The rooms were larger than standard rooms on a cruise ship. In Corinth we experienced another site where we learned more about Apostle Paul and got to walk down the paths he would have! Our guide was Katrina and she took us to the Palace of Knosos and the archaeological museum. Again, another guide (like all the others) that not only knew their stuff but was so very passionate about it! From there a father and son team, Demetrius and Yehanni took over. Each was a wealth of knowledge and a great personality- very vibrant, full of educational information, great company, and very competent. They truly made us feel like family by the time we left. Yehanni took us on a tour of 7 villages where we experienced Crete that shouldn’t be missed. We had greek coffee in one village, visited a bakery in another, and a family cheese factory in another. Everyone was welcoming and patient with us.
Our drivers were all courteous. They even allowed one in our party to sit in the front, passenger and “play tour guide” as she relayed information from them as we drove past areas of interest to them. In a sense, they were tour guides themselves. It was fantastic to be picked up each day by a driver and in a Mercedes passenger van to boot. We didn’t have to worry about anything as they had been given our schedules. All we had to do was show up on time each morning. Lampros was our most exceptional driver, and best dressed as he wore a suit each time we saw him, and made us feel special during our trip. On our last night he made a detour and took us to an amazing overlook high above the city Athens that offered a stunning view of the city and the Acropolis at night.
We walked away from this trip feeling very well taken care of, spoiled really, and having made so many memories that we will keep with us well past the next trip we book with Tasos. He blew our expectations out of the water and all four of us HIGHLY recommend using Tasos and his company Travel 12.

Wonderful job by the team for my first trip to Nepal. Everything went to plan, thanks to Kripa. Also many thanks to my guide Suman for taking good care of me and showing me around the beautiful country. Will be back.

Natalia, and Kimkim, worked together with our group point person to facilitate our visiting many wonderful places in Colombia. We stayed in very comfortable hotels, were the staff made us feel at home.

Our guides added great interest to our visits to so many wonderful sites. In addition, the guides were really fun people to spend time with.

Everything went flawlessly, all of our check ins, check outs, getting picked up, getting dropped off, making connections.

For me this was a wonderful introduction to South America.

My husband and I just returned from a lifetime trip to Peru where we both celebrated our birthdays! Everything went beautifully and according to plans. The service offered by Kim Kim and Peruvian Soul exceeded all our expectations, mostly regarding our three main contacts: Anne (Local Contact), Cesar (Guide) and Roberto (Driver).

Anne who was involved in the full logistics and planning was excellent since her very first contact with us, always very friendly, very helpful, very responsive, and very patient...she ensured that every detail of our trip went spectacular, THANK YOU Anne!! Cesar, our very friendly and knowledgeable guide provided us every possible detail to make each experience memorable, including his help taking beautiful pictures for us. Roberto, our driver, in addition to being responsible for safely driving us to every destination, provided us a peek inside the quechuan traditions and practices through his marvelous stories. He even had the very special detail of sharing with us a quechuan tradition the day of our birthday! THANK YOU Cesar and Roberto, our two new peruvian friends!

Finally, we want to thank Peruvian Soul for the delicious chocolates left for us at our last hotel room, it was a beautiful birthday surprise!

It was our very first experience booking a trip through Kim Kim and we had an EXCELLENT EXPERIENCE! We would DEFINITELY recommend Kim Kim and will DEFINITELY book through Kim Kim again. Thank you Kim Kim for making our birthday trip to Peru such a memorable life experience!