Kimkim Trip Reviews

We had top notch service with kimkim and have already recommended them to several friends. I was a bit leery using this service without firsthand knowledge of what we were getting into. But I was worried for nothing. Kristy put together a great 12 day Costa Rican itinerary for our family of five, including three teenagers! And Monica booked all
of our lodging, excursions, and in-country transportation (we took three Sansa flights...an easy and quick way to get around...and had private drivers everywhere). Even when I had questions while on our trip, Monica was available and promptly responded to our needs. We started at Manatus in Tortuguero on the Caribbean and we loved our quaint bungalow there. In fact, we loved everything about the Manatus resort; the service, food and included wildlife tours. Next we went to the LaFortuna/Arenal area and stayed at the Arenal Lodge. We loved the area and all of our excursions (zip lining with Sky Adventures and volunteering at Proyecto Asis), but we were not fans of the Arenal Lodge. It’s pretty run down and in need of some major renovations and repairs. With only breakfast included there, we were interested in trying different restaurants for lunch and dinner. But the lodge is also extremely remote and was an expensive and long cab ride into town. Seems like there are plenty of nice places to stay that would have been a better choice. Next we went to Rafiki Lodge outside of Quepos, and this was a major highlight...camping in the rainforest. The owners and staff were wonderful, and the included excursions and food were outstanding. What a unique and neat experience at Rafiki! And finally we spent the last three nights of our vacation in Manual Antonio at Tulemar Resort. Wow. This was a perfect way to end our trip with some beach time, relaxation, and a last opportunity to see sloths and monkeys up close. Views here from our Villa were amazing. We did do one excursion in this area, the Damas mangrove tour. I’d probably skip that if I could do this trip over, mostly to give us more time at the amazing Tulemar beach. And it wasn’t all that well done.
All in all, we were extremely happy with our vacation, experiencing a new place we’ve never been, and will now most likely return, thanks to kimkim!

Our Pura Vida guide in Arsenal, Christian was awesome and we were the only two people in our group that included hikes of Arenal and the hanging bridges.

Every aspect of our itinerary either met or exceeded our expectations. The one exception would be the night tour in Monteverde. We were not the only ones to say it was over-hyped. There were over 100 tourists in groups of 6-8 walking the same paths that reminded me of a “snipe” hunt.

Lodging at Arsenal was superb! Great complimentary breakfast and on-site hot spring.

From when I was first connected with Tha until even during the trip when I contacted her for a couple of questions she was very good. Answered all my many questions and organized an amazing trip while in Thailand. Thank you Tha we have a wonderful time .

Two weeks in east Australia by Judie Yamamoto and Charley Mullally

Overall, our trip to Australia, arranged by Jasmine through KimKim, was excellent. The accommodations were comfortable and for the most part spacious, modern, and conveniently located, quite more luxurious than we’d expected on the “mid-level” plan we had requested. Transportation (airport and hotel ground pickups as well as our three flights in Australia) went very smoothly, spoiling us for the return home when we had to drive ourselves! And even though we were always based in the city centers, there were enough excursions into the countryside to provide both urban and rural experiences.

Our most memorable day was probably our trip to the Mornington Peninsula, made so by our driver/guide Juliet. She was absolutely delightful and clued us in on local specialties: where to eat in Sorrento, vanilla slices, a little known “secret” oceanside cliff walk in front of million dollar homes. The upbeat music she played enroute didn’t hurt the day, either.

Other highlights:
· Watching wild kangaroos and koalas at the Conservation Ecology Centre in Great Otway National Park (the B&B there looks worth coming back to spend a few days!);
· Views along the Great Ocean Road;
· Up close opportunities to see the remarkable beginnings of recovery from the extensive bush fires that had occurred only a short time before our visit.
· Sydney Harbor cruise and strolling through Sydney’s Chinatown (all those Asian restaurants!);
· Tour of Sydney Opera House followed by dinner and front row tickets for “Six!”
· Swimming in a mountain stream in the Daintree Rainforest

The major downside to our trip was that there wasn’t enough downtime – days with little or no planned activity. At age 78, both of us needed more time to kick back and relax, fewer early morning pickups, less bus travel. We didn’t know that when we OKed Jasmine’s arrangements, but we will be sure to be cognizant of it on our next journey.

If you seek a spectacular once in a lifetime adventure in the Heart and Soul of Japan, KimKim will create a unique trip experience, specifically built around your individual interests and passions! 
Soleil was the creator of our unique Japan adventure, and she did a highly commendable job.  She gave generously of herself during the extensive planning phase, and throughout our entire 9 day Japan adventure to Tokyo, Kyoto and Osaka!   
Gibwa, from our Japan support team, greeted us at the airport and we traveled together by train to our hotel where we checked in and went over our trip package, containing various train cards, show and tour vouchers.  Soleil had left several very thoughtful gifts in our room for my daughter, based upon her interests in a particular Japanese culture.  What a very  thoughtful surprise this was! 
Our Japan support team checked in with us daily to ensure we felt supported if we had any questions or concerns.  Our trip was so well detailed, but also gave us huge flexibility to change up along the way if we wanted, which we loved!  
The cooking classes, food tours and other very unique tours and adventures which Soleil planned for us were highly enjoyable!  Some of our favorites were the Ramen and Gyozo cooking class by Chef Yumi, (who was incredible) the absolutely fabulous food tours by Arigato Japan, and the beautiful Hozugawa River Cruise!!!  
Soleil additionally ensured that everyone along the way celebrated my daughter's college graduation while we were with them! Thank you so much Soleil!  
I am extremely happy we chose KimKim to help us create and execute our highly unique and fabulous trip to Japan!  It was truly AMAZING!  A very heartfelt thank you to Soleil and the entire Japan support team, who spoke perfect English, by the way!  
*Also, a very special thank you to Anne Kyle, CEO of Arigato Food Tours, Japan,  for her very generous heart and truly awesome food tours!  Her tour guides Haruka and Anna were fabulous!!!

My husband and I are avid travelers and we tend to do all the booking, organizing and trip planning on our own, however I had recently come across Kimkim's website so we decided to give them a shot.

From the start the KimKim website was user friendly and the staff were kind, informative and attentive to our needs, and trust me I am a VERY detail oriented person. We were paired with our amazing coordinator, Hsu Hlaing, who was patient with me and answered every single question I rose, which were A LOT. In addition to this, there were multiple times where I had requested itinerary amendments and Hsu fulfilled each request perfectly, and even took the time to provide her personally opinions on areas she thinks were must sees, and which were nice to see places if we had more time. At the end we came up with a perfect itinerary, one that combined a seamless blend of tours and guides and personal exploration time. Myself, my best friend and my husband are grateful for Hsu, as she was beyond helpful and ensured every aspect of our trip was taken into account and all the even littlest details and requests came to life on our trip.

Hsu even coordinated SIM cards for each of us on the trip which made communicating with loved ones at home easier. On top of that she provided me with an incredibly organized packet which included our detailed itinerary, all our flight tickets and our hotel vouchers, labeled and organized by date. She checked in on a daily basis either with me personally or with our tour guide to ensure everything was going as planned and that we were having a good time, which personally went above and beyond her role, as she has already sold us an amazing trip yet she still made the effort to check in, which showed me how invested she was in ensuring we enjoyed every aspect of our trip.

Regarding our trip itself, our trip went perfectly to plan and working with KimKim made everything SO SIMPLE, allowing us to fully enjoy each one of our experiences as opposed to having to worry or plan our next move. At every point in our trip we had someone waiting for us to take us to or from one amazing experience to the next. The guides and drivers selected for us made our experience even more unforgettable. They were informative, easy to understand, fun to be around and were also very attentive to our needs.

Our experience in Myanmar will definitely be one of our favorites, not only is the country beautiful, clean and so diverse, the people themselves are kind, welcoming and made a lot of effort to make us feel welcome and at home. We hope to one day go back to explore more of the beauties of Myanmar but for now we will cherish every moment spent there and every memory made.

We are so glad we chose to explore Myanmar, and even more delighted that we were able to put Myanmar on the map for many of our friends/family's must visit lists after sharing most of our trip on social media.

HUGE THANKS TO HSU AND THE KIMKIM TEAM FOR A SEAMLESS AND INCREDIBLE ADVENTURE! We are looking forward to using KimKim again in the near future for our next adventure.

Our drive for the entire trip was Samad. Though not a full guide he did have a lot of local information and in essence helped make the trip as great as it was. He has a great command of English, He was willing to stop to allow my wife to take roadside photos. His road skills were excellent and we never fear for our life while he was driving. We did have local guide in Fes - Hakim. He took us into the many winding streets and alleys that was a wonder that he didn't get lost. He was very good. In Marrakesh Youssef walked us around the City and again I was surprised that he did not get lost, but a life time resident he knew his way around and it showed. I would also like to say that each of our Ryads and Dars had hosts who really looked after us and made us feel very welcome. They were always eager to help with any thing we needed. The Bellamane Ryad & Spa the host heard my wife had a sore throat so he went to the local market for fresh lemons and ginger for a hot tea potion - it did the trick!

My team of 5 avid hikers hiked 7 volcanoes in 11 days with guides Carlos and Lucas, who went out of their way to make our trip fun, safe, exciting and full of wonderful surprises. Their passion for adventure, love for the outdoors of their country, dedication and commitment to meeting our needs and cheerful disposition made it an epic experience for us.

I am also extremely grateful to Chris Gwinner, of Old Town Outfitters (OTO), who tailored this adventure for my group. His professionalism, prompt and accurate communication and patience in answering questions left little to unknown which helped everything run smoothly.

Getting up close to volcanoes is unique and humbling. The breath-taking scenery from the summits were awe-inspiring. The hikes were challenging but the experience was worth the sweat and dust on our boots, hair and skin, and OTO played a vital and commendable role in making it all possible.

The trip to Peru was fantastic. Cesar Surco, our guide post Lima, was exceptional in every way. He was patient, kind, knowledgeable and an absolute genius with the camera. He was filled with excellent recommendations of what to do (and what not to do). We were never rushed and yet, got to see and do everything. He is a true local and took us to places we would never have seen on our own. I can't stress how great he is.
Although we spent very little time with Anne, she was amazing as a planner. She had so much patience helping me put this trip together. We changed our plans multiple times and Anne never seemed annoyed with changes.
Lastly, in the Lima portion of our trip, our guide Sheila on our day to Ica was exceptional. She was so friendly and warm and knew so much about the area. We thoroughly enjoyed our day with her.

Our local specialist Deborah was fantastic in helping us organise the trip from start to finish. We encountered a few teething problems along the way to do with booking of flights but all issues were resolved to our total satisfaction without any fuss. Deborah also arranged excellent choice of on the ground personal guides and car transfers which all went very smoothly, they were all very professional and knowledgeable. All in all we would highly recommend Deborah and her team and would like to thank her for making our honeymoon so memorable in South Africa.

Huyen and all the guides were fantastic. Nothing but good things to say and great memories. Your service made my trip effortless because you did all the planning. Thank you so much. I will be back again. Ron Brooks

Preeti, did a fantastic job of scheduling our day to day activities. She is very experienced in this line of work. She somehow managed to almost perfectly time our stops with the time we had each day. Thanks and we will be using kimkims services again.

Five days before flying to Colombia I found Kimkim online and was encouraged by the favourable reviews. I like that there was a form to decide if it was the best option for me within my budget. I was contacted by Natalia who made an itinerary with all the things I wanted to do; I’m grateful for them making my stay in Colombia AWESOME. I’m truly grateful for the itinerary, accomodation in fantastic locations and the BEST local guides.

My guide in Bogotá - Juan Carrillo gave me 3 wonderful days in Bogota; it really made all the difference. And the local touches crowned everything.

Lydia was great in Medellín with personalised touched in the tour; highlight of my trip was the transformative Communa 13 trip.

Last but not least, Carlos in Medellín - a most engaging and wonderful guide; I truly enjoyed our day together.

Megan was amazing - she helped us organize our perfect trip! This was incredibly helpful, she made a detailed itinerary, and answered all of our endless questions. She was super understanding of our minimal budget and was very helpful organizing things accordingly. This service is incredible for it's price and I highly recommend it! Megan was outstanding and made all of our wishes come true! Cannot recommend this enough!

Our trip to Peru was out of this world, beyond expectations and truly life changing. What a rich and beautiful culture, country, and people. We had everything set up perfectly through Aspiring Adventures and I would recommend them over and over again for a perfect Peru trip. From the multiple calls with Steve and communication with Katy to make sure everything was exactly what we wanted and executed perfectly, to arriving in the country and connecting with our excellent guide and driver, Aldo and Paul, everything was well beyond expectations. There are not words to describe how special this trip was for my family and friends. Aldo was beyond helpful, thoughtful and and incredibly devoted to the rich history and future of the Incan people. We were in safe hands with him and our driver Paul the whole trip. I would and will go back!

Amazing customized trip across Peru in 7 days!
We had a great time with our Kim Kim team. The trip was tailored to our needs and we saw everything we wanted to during the week of our trip. The guides were extremely knowledgeable and all the transportation/tickets/other logistics were seamless. Each event/activity was thoughtfully planned. Have already recommended this to several friends.

Valentine created an awesome itinerary for us! If I were to pick out the best highlight (which is hard because everything was awesome!) I'd say it was the Waimarino glow worm evening kyak tour which was absolutely fabulous. However, everything was great from the moment we arrived in Auckland, to the whale and dolphin watching, to the wine tasting on Waiheke island, to the Hobbiton movie set, hiking around Wai O Tapu, and hanging out next to the stunning ocean in Tauranga. We had an amazing time in our 7 days in NZ!

Guides and activities were outstanding! Hotel in Puerto Varas was fine, but not exceptional -- very much enjoyed the hotel in Pucon. We had to defer the trip for a year after a preceding trip to Antarctica was deferred -- Oxana was extremely helpful in working with us on those changes. We did have some confusion with internal Chile airline reservations -- caused by different requests within the travel group -- also some confusion with final payments (likely caused by the fact that we had to defer). Overall, it was a very positive experience.

Ha was awesome from the start! She offered a lot of great initial options, and we worked together over a few weeks to make this vacation everything we wanted it to be. We were spoiled from the moment we met Mr. Sauce and his driver at the Bangkok airport, when we met Ms. Mew and her driver at the Chiang Mai train station, and until our last driver dropped us off at the Bangkok airport at the end of our vacation. And Ha was in constant contact with me the entire time to make sure everything was perfect. I would highly recommend Ha and her team!

We had an amazing trip to Sri Lanka. Mohit, our agent, was very attentive to our requests and planned a great schedule for us. All arrangements including hotels, transportation and sightseeing trips were wonderful. Our guide and driver, Mr Assange, was really good, a careful driver but engaging and reliable. We will definitely be using KimKim again.