Kimkim Trip Reviews

Good hotel..lovely views. Spacious and clean rooms, walking distance from several great restaurants. Courteous friendly staff. Breakfast service and checkout could be faster. Just FYI - For travelers with mobility concerns - the walking distance from restaurants is steep incline walks but that's Costa Rica for you

Lovely hotel. Beautiful landscaping... The hotel itself offers so much - hiking areas, zip lining, hot springs pools spa restaurants . I could just go stay at the hotel and have a 5 day vacation easily. Going from the main entrance to the rooms those is also a hike (use the shuttle). We are a very fitness oriented family and yet ended up getting tired/bored/overwhelmed by the long hikes from the room to the amenities and used the shuttle.

Stunning.

This is a very basic hotel. Good for the location (beachfront) but that's about it. Clean but As basic as it gets. No frills. Even the safe inside the room was broken. We wanted to ask someone to come fix it and guess what - no phone in the room to contact front desk - have to walk all the way to the other side of the road to get someone.

These guys know what they are doing and are extremely passionate about fishing, specifically fly fishing. They do a great job of providing a personalized trip. Most of all they know the area well, when and where the fish will run, and they won't waste your time and money. My husband and I have only taken 1 fly fishing lesson in the past. Using our time to learn fly fishing wasn't our goal; my husband wanted to catch a river king salmon. And he did! 42-44lbs. I did not catch anything but had a great time chatting with the guide and owner, who was incredibly knowledgeable about the history, culture and environment of Patagonia as well as Chile as a whole. I learned a lot (which made me happy) and my husband caught a king (which made him happy). Now, it IS called fishing, people, not "catching." We were fully aware there are no guarantees of catching fish, but we did see many trout and king salmon jumping out of the water which was reassuring that they were at least there!

Breakfast was the best of our tour. Lots of options on the buffet.

The room was small, but comfortable. There was some noise from the street as Hanoi is bustling early and late

The rooftop bar and restaurant is a plus. Breakfast buffet was very good. Fairly close to Siem Reap and Tonle Sap lake.

Very helpful staff. They only have one coffee machine at the breakfast buffet that makes both regular coffee and espresso. There was always a long line in the morning. It was frustrating. They need to make coffee in the kitchen and have two pots out to pour from given the number of people at the hotel. The buffet space is small. We had massages at the spa which were good. Rooftop bar is a plus, not crowded. They didn’t have mint for a Mojito and the margarita was served up, not on ice, not a big deal, but a must for these popular drinks and hot weather.

Jimmy was great! Very good knowledge of the area and history.

This overnight trip was fun. Great cooking class and excursions to the caves and kayaking. Loi, the cruise director is fabulous.

This was fun and very photo worthy. Tipping the row boat guide at the caves, while not required, is expected if you have a fun and helpful guide. Ours took lots of photos on everyone’s camera and was fun.

This was a fun tour and our guide was very knowledgeable. The lunch at the garden restaurant was delicious and fun.

This was fun. Good mix of local food market shopping and tasting unusual vegetables and herbs.

It was interesting to understand the Mekong river culture and sample food. The lunch was good too, a lot of food. We wanted more time at the temple at the end of the tour.

Interesting historical perspective of how the Viet Cong survived to win, if you want to know more history of the American/Vietnam war. Somber for both sides. A lot of people come to see this.

This is a must see tour, phenomenal. We took over 100 pics.

This was interesting.

The hotel is a part of a big conglomerate of hotel chains with a big quality on customer service. This hotel lacks some of the personable and reasonable customer service. The hotel is beautiful and the areas are astonish. We were out of WiFi for ours and we call several times without fixing the problem. After it was reestablished we did not received a call let us know the service was available. The competition is fear on this field. I think with more customer detail can keep being competitive.

What an experience!!!! It is authentic, dynamic and really fun! The family who is running this experience is warm, interesting and a fabulous experience! I will recommended to my friends to visit 😍

Please, do not bring customers here who wants a real experience. It is overcrowded, dirty and a purely waste of time .

One of our favorite places so far in Costa Rica. The house was beautiful, with art relating to the area and with a beautiful garden with many fruits, herbs, and local plants. The staff were friendly and cooked amazing meals for us! We thoroughly enjoyed our stay and would highly recommend spending as long as you can here!

We had a large room overlooking the Pacific. Unfortunately it was located right next to one of the bars that played music all day, but luckily went quiet by 6:00 pm. Since we were on the west side of the hotel, mornings were enjoyable sitting on our private patio, but by later in the day, it was way too hot to be outside. Breakfast buffet was good, nothing outstanding. The staff was friendly and helpful.

We only spent one night here on our way from the airport out of town. It was fine, nothing outstanding.

Nice bungalow in a resort 8 km or so from the main town. We had a premium room which included a jacuzzi tub (which was awkward to use when taking a shower) and a large patio with rocking chairs and hammock! It was quiet and private even though we shared a wall with one other unit.

We had a very informative tour of the coffee plantation and the process from planting to roasting the beans! Manuel was our guide and he did a great job explaining why their coffee is so good!!

I'm not sure if we were expecting too much from this tour or it just wasn't the right one for us. I think it didn't help that they were late picking us up, the 12 passenger van was full and it took 45 minutes to get to the actual tour location. The "traditional dinner" consisted of rice, beans and meat so overcooked it was impossible to eat. Our guide was knowledgeable, but really into frogs... we saw a lot of frogs.

Our guide was informative, but unfortunately it poured the entire time we were there which made it difficult to see the site fully.

We had a fantastic guide, Bernardo, who could spot a monkey high up in the treetops! He was great at answering our many questions about the area and wildlife. We were fortunate to see not only Capuchin but also howler and spider monkeys.

Floating down a river in Costa Rica is a not to be missed experience! We had an excellent guide, Chris, and another couple in our raft who were fun to talk with. While we did float downriver a bit, there was also quite a bit of paddling to be done. Th raft was ok the first hour, but by the end of the second, we were all sore and anxious to get off the raft.

This is a fantastic tour IF you have a guide! It makes the whole experience so worthwhile if you have someone who can not only find the wildlife you've come so far to see, but also the history of the park. Our guide was another gem who could spot wildlife and zero in on them with his telescope! We got some fantastic pictures of sloths and one Toucan!

There were several large hot spring pools cascading down a hillside with smaller, warmer pools scattered around. The dinner buffet was pretty good.

Fun experience on the tour owners farm. There were only 4 of us on this tour so everyone got the chance to dice the veggies and stir the pots! Delicious food and we were given the recipes at the end!! It was fun to get out of town and see some of the countryside.

The staff was friendly and helpful. We did a bird-watching tour with Victor who is very knowledgeable and saw many birds and even sloths on the property! We stayed in one of the glass bungalows. They have AC and are very quiet and comfortable but a little dark since they are in the jungle, The walk to the restaurant is a little tiring after a long day, bring comfy shoes!

We had a junior suite, it was immaculate, the shower was roomy, very comfortable beds, and a dehumidifier in the room which is a plus in the rain forest! They provide robe and you can make a reservation to use the private jacuzzi at the spa at no extra charge. They also have hot tubs and a large pool. This hotel is in the clouds, you have a wonderful view from the dining room and the bedrooms. The staff is friendly and helpful and the food is good.

The room itself is average but it is what you expect from this type of hotel. The pool is really nice and the fact that we could return our rental car at the hotel (enterprise) was a definite plus, along with the free shuttle to the airport which made our return stress free. The breakfast as included and was surprisingly good, including buffet and an omelette station!

This was a hard to beat first spot to stay on our travel through Costa Rica. It was relatively easy to locate, and a good location to get to Manuel Antonio, or drive down to Quepos. Had a beautiful room overlooking Manuel Antonio and the bay, and the sunset views from the restaurant were amazing. Staff are super friendly and accommodating. Are willing to work with my basic Spanish, and also English.

We had an incredible few days at the Cloud Forest Lodge, and the surrounding areas. Everyone was engaging and quite helpful. They even fixed my flat tire for me while I was off on an excursion!! The grounds are beautiful and it is convenient a few small walking paths are onsite, to enjoy at your leisure. The rooms are expansive, and they provide heaters which I do recommend using at night. We had wildlife coming almost up to our deck… and plenty of it around. The onsite restaurant has amazing cuisine as well, and you won’t be disappointed staying and eating there... Endemica provided us one of our most memorable meals from our trip.

We had a beautiful room overlooking the gardens and a direct view towards Arenal. It was a joy to look for the resident Great Currasow each day, and the many other birds. We were extremely comfortable and felt quite pampered in the space, and the staff were quite friendly. Particularly the gentlemen working the front gate were always quite friendly and happy to greet us. Easy access to their sister site with hot springs, and quick drive in to La Fortuna as well... really easy to access, but keep your eyes out for the signage coming back from La Fortuna, because you can miss it. ;)

This is an absolute gem of a location and a must-stay recommendation. We had our own spacious casita, with a deck overlooking the nearby valley and we were just surrounded by trees. The site has access to walking paths, which can get you right on down to the Rio Celeste if you're bold enough to take a dip. (just be careful of the current). We felt like we had our own private space with this location, and it was comfortable and relaxing. Woke up one morning to Howler monkeys nearby, and came back from a tour one evening to see a sloth in one of the trees. Of course, plenty of birds and other beings to entertain nature watchers as well... the dining area even has koi pond with an island in which birds will pop down and take up a branch or two. A great addition to the dining experience.

For being so close to the business of Tamarindo, being on-site was relaxed and we didn't feel the bustle. Our room was tucked away and private, though the walls were a bit thin for us to hear the family next door. The resident cats were entertaining and we had to stop to offer pets a number of times. Access to the beach was quite nice, and easy to stroll down from there towards Tamarindo Beach, and into town.

We had Andres as a guide and he was amazing... he found us two toed and three toed sloths, insects, frogs, iguanas, howler monkeys, and more. He had a wealth of information about everything we saw and shared a lot of great details. The park is a must-see for Costa Rica, and the guided experience is a must-do.

This was nice to get out on the water and see Manuel Antonio from a different view point. We had sunshine the whole time, but the waves were quite choppy. And our previous experiences had always been single kayaks on the ocean while this one we were put into a double kayak. Snorkeling was lower visibility due to the choppiness... and while I could confidently go at it, my wife was new to the activity and did not get much in the way of instruction as to how to use the mask and snorkel. Also, my history of snorkeling in various out places, I've always had fins.

Our second guide named Andres, and another one who had a wealth of information to share. He was kind to pick us up from our hotel (as we had a flat tire), and we headed over to the Cloud Forest reserve. Started things out with the hummingbird area, and also saw a motmot up close. From there, we hiked around and enjoyed the beauty of the forest. We were introduced to stingless bees and the value of their honey, and were introduced to a lot of the plant species in the forest.

It's an experience that is definitely about the food more than anything. The concept of the treetop dining seemed great, but in practice by the time we got there, it was dark and we were just looking out on the lights of the town. While it was a novelty to have our own private dining room up high... the highlight was definitely the food. We did have a bit of a communication issue and had to engage with Wilman and Serendipity to straighten out that our drinks had been paid for, with the food. And on that... definitely a great tasting sampling of regional-inspired dishes. It felt to me a lot like what deconstruction and reconstruction of food concepts might be with fancy restaurants. The wine pairings were good. Not to say the food was not delicious... it absolutely was! My own personal dining preferences, though, would have wanted more of it, and maybe less focused on reinventing foods that are already great.

This was a great trip out on the lake, and it gave us the best view we had across all our four days, of Arenal. Abel was a fantastic guide and helped us find cranes, kingfishers, and more. We had single kayaks (big plus!), and while it was windy, were really comfortable out on the water.

A great experience, for folks wanting to learn a bit more about how coffee is made... its history, and the basics of beans, roasting, brewing, etc.

A definite must for the animal lovers out there. Seeing a mother come up out of the ocean, across the beach, digging her nest, and laying her eggs... it is just absolutely next level.

This was a great opportunity to witness quite a unique animal up close.

This is a great hike and a must do in El Chalten. We got lucky with the weather which was a bit touch and go over the week. Our guide (Lihue) supplied by Walk Patagonia was excellent. She was knowledgeable, personably, great at setting an appropriate pace and keeping us hydrated and fueled. Great experience.

a much easier hike than Laguna de los tres, but a bit longer. this trek requires clearer skies to see the Torre as it sits much further away in the mountain range than some others. we didn't have perfect weather but we can't really complain considering how variable the weather is from day to day in Patagonia.

The tour was informative and hit all the important and interesting spots

Loved seeing the castle, the grounds and the chapel

Beautiful hotel, near -- but not too near -- the mix of things. Allowed us to have a walkable experience in Antigua. Rooms were comfortable, filtered water prevented us from needing to but bottled water. Breakfast was divine! Every day there was live music and great atmosphere. The lobby is nice and the public spaces are generally quite nice. All the staff are first rate. Warning -- they have a LOUD New Year's eve party with live and DJ music until 1:30 am and the rooms couldn't insulate against this kind of noise. Don't expect early check in to be an option.

This was a lovely space and despite the terrible weather of our first day (pouring an inch of rain) it was a dream! We arrived in the middle of said rainstorm and waited for the boat (SPBE) to unload our bags. We got a lift from Ramon's team and needed to stop at a pharmacy -- no problem. Took us to the check in and then to our rooms. sigh.... Needed dinner that night -- Pineapples on the Beach had an amazing menu! We went back 2 nights later because it was so good! Only concern was the final morning had to get the 0600 boat to get to Belize city for our international flight. We checked out night before and porters said they'd meet us at our rooms at 0540. But they didn't show up... got the night watch to wake up the driver and left at 0555. We made it, no problem. But we're no good at "island time."

Old Town Outfitters campsite on the side of Acatenango -- camping/glamping on the side of a mountain with unobstructed views of Fuego blowing its top. Meals provided by our guide, Rudy were excellent -- they were substantially better than what we saw the other families being served by their guides. Sleeping bags could have been a bit warmer.

We had a really short stay -- arrived around 9 pm and departed for our morning tour at 0400. We came back for breakfast and were on the road by 10:30 am. Breakfast was quite tasty but they were out of a few things. We note there was a hostel there but didn't explore that area. Visited the pool for pictures, but didn't get in because it was rainy that day. Property is dark at night, and with the rain, the sidewalks were quite slippery. Our daughter slipped by the plantings at the main entrance and ended up with a significant number of thorns in her arm and back.

Just do it. We had arranged for the full "superman" experience for the kids and we were planning to just enjoy ourselves at the cafe. But then Rudy and the kids encouraged us, and we said "why not?" Don't look down during the ladder climb. Do look down during the superman flight. Just amazing.

Rudy, our guide was absolutely the reason for our enjoyable trip. He engaged with our kids and took care of our needs. He's a budding chef and made remarkably tasting and filling meals for us on the mountain. Even when we had one member have to turn back for altitude sickness, he made sure the rest of us had a stellar time.

Again, our guide made this so amazing. Despite having to escort one of our party back to base camp, Rudy got the rest of us to the summit in plenty of time for sunrise. Unfortunately it was crowded, but there was plenty of space to see and get some pictures of the sunrise and the volcano. We met others on our way that were turning back and some didn't get to summit because of their party splitting up. Rudy was able to safely manage our group.

No question, it is a magical experience. You walk through the park in the dark, surrounded by nothing but darkness (and some jumping spiders). You climb to the top of temple IV and sit in the dark (others arrive, but it's pitch). Then around 5:38 am, the howler monkey's start up, and it's surreal. Unfortunately, no sunrise for us, just the lifting of the fog. Pictures at the top and then a descent and tour of the grounds.

Staying at the Belmond Hotel das Cataratas was an extraordinary experience. It's the only hotel located inside the national park on the Brazilian side of Iguazu Falls. Despite the high cost, it was worth every penny for the convenience and the magical proximity to the falls. By residing here, we saved hours we would have spent commuting, avoiding lines and crowds. The ability to step out and walk the uninterrupted pathways directly to the falls was incomparable. Waking up and enjoying breakfast with the astonishing view from the hotel tower was an experience I'll never forget. It's definitely worth considering if you're planning a once-in-a-lifetime trip.

Pousada Arte da Natureza in Bonito was the perfect blend of comfort and convenience. Right after arrival, we could unwind easily with an on-site restaurant offering delicious meals and drinks. This setup allowed us to relax without any hassle when we first got there. A short distance from the downtown area, it provided a sense of peaceful seclusion. Our guide, Gabby, was phenomenal! On our trips, especially during the snorkeling activity, she took care of us like family, making the entire experience even more special.

Parque des Aves is such a special place. We thoroughly enjoyed our visit and appreciated the opportunity to learn more about the Atlantic rainforest.

Bonito is a lovely idyllic place! Our guide Gabby was absolutely fantastic, so knowledgeable about the flora and fauna, and the conservation efforts in the region. Buraco das Araras is not to be missed and the snorkeling is amazing!

Beautiful place. Our guide Lillian is an amazing naturalist, so knowledgeable and a wonderful teacher.

It made such a difference to have a personal guide. Diego knew where to take us so we could get the best views, and also enabled us to avoid crowds to the extent possible.

Fantastic! Not to be missed.

Our experience was good because our guide tailored it to our needs and preferences on that day.

At Pousada Aguape, I had an amazing time on the photo safari. Initially, birds weren't a particular interest, but the experience was illuminating! Guided by an expert, we encountered a plethora of birds and other wildlife in their natural habitat. It became a beautiful and informative experience with unforgettable close encounters with nature in the Pantanal of South Pantanal region. We had a fantastic time with the friendly travelers we met there, making it truly memorable.