Kimkim Trip Reviews

Our trip to Colombia was excellent. We had a wonderful time in the coffee region and the trip organized by Gael and Tucaya was a lot of fun and seamless. We had a few minor snags while booking the trip, as we were originally booked on a return flight that did not leave enough time to catch our connecting international flight, but we were able to switch our flights after bringing this up with Gael. Gael was very helpful with suggesting activities and excursions for us, all of which proved very enjoyable.

Once in Colombia, we corresponded with Nicholas at Tucaya via WhatsApp and he was very helpful. He promptly responded to any inquiry and made sure to check in with us in the mornings and evenings to recap the day and preview the next day's activities. On the ground in the coffee region, everything worked very smoothly. We had driver's and tour guides waiting for us at the appointed times without issues, the hotel (Finca Bosque del Saman) was beautifully picturesque, and our activities were great.

One day, we to Filandia, Salento, and the Cocora Valley with our tour guide Sebastian. Not only were these areas beautiful, but Sebastian is an amazing and thoughtful guide who took us both to the main tourist attractions but also took us off the beaten path to local coffee shops and restaurants. Cafe Jesus Martin in Salento and restaurant Helena Adentro in Filandia were highlights. We can't recommend Sebastian enough.

Another day, we visited Finca Casa Vieja, a coffee plantation run by a local family. Santiago, one of the owners, gave us a wonderful tour of the farm (which grows many types of fruits and flowers in addition to coffee), as well as a look inside the coffee making process. After a delicious lunch prepared by Santiago's aunt (using produce from the farm), we visited the family's coffee shop in Quimbaya, Cafe de Altura, where we sampled many different preparations of coffee as well as some baked goods prepared by Alejandra, Santiago's sister. Sebastian, our tour guide from the day before, also joined us for coffee, which was a pleasure. To cap the afternoon, we took a bamboo raft down Rio de la Vieja, which offered great views and some fun swimming opportunities.

The main downside to this trip was that we were only in the coffee region for a few days. We certainly plan to visit Colombia again and would be happy to book through Gael and Kim Kim again, as we had a great trip that went seamlessly after we got everything booked properly.

We have just returned from an amazing 9 day trip to Norway which has been truly one of the most memorable family holiday's we've had.

KimKim connected me with Ingrid, a Norwegian specialist in Bergen. She listened to what we were looking for and created a unique trip that met the different requests of my husband, myself and my two children. Not only did she save me hours of research, but she managed the hotel bookings, train and ferry tickets and provided recommendations of things to do and places to eat. Her organization enabled us to experience Norway independently but without the feeling that we were all on our own. I contacted her a couple of times while we were on our trip and she answered my questions and provided guidance quickly and efficiently. It was super to meet up with her personally in Bergen where she gave us a fascinating tour of her hometown.

Cannot complain about anything! Really was an incredible experience.

We had the most pleasurable experience! From the beginning of the planning stages to each and every transfer was easy, with friendly people, and fun. Veselka was easy to work with and managed our time well. She offered great suggestions and knew exactly what to suggest with our ideas. All activities were great. We especially enjoyed the cooking class and tour and bike ride. Hotels were clean, easy to access. Verdan on the bike tour was full of knowledge and friendly and funny. The farm we ended up at for lunch was sustainable and so peaceful. Our chef Mya and tour guide for the cooking class were so pleasant and also we gain so much information about the city of Split. It was a fully engaging experience. I highly recommend the cooking class. We had a perfect balance of independent time, guided time, relaxing time, and learning time.

Veselka--thank you so much! We will never forget this trip!

My mother and I had a brilliant time in Ethiopia, and the quality of the trip exceeded our expectations. Marco and Yirga were very helpful, flexible, with a constant smile, and looked after us the whole time. Every day was different and captivating, with knowledgeable local guides who also helped us understand the local life and the people of Ethiopia.
We highly recommend a visit to Ethiopia, and Simien Eco Tours. You will not be disappointed.

My husband and I enjoyed a two week, self driving tour through West and North Iceland. We had an excellent, detailed itinerary with lots of options each day from our specialist Preeti. She focused on what we most wanted to see and do, and we weren't disappointed! Particularly of note were the dining suggestions - it's sometimes challenging to decide on the right place, so we enjoyed all her suggestions without worry. We also enjoyed having vouchers for our accommodations and excursions, it made for hassle-free check-in's each night. Our favourite lodging was Siglunes Guesthouse in charming town of Siglugfjordur, and our favourite excursion was a beautiful, exciting hike up to Glymer Waterfall - a workout for us middle-aged folks!

Accomodation all good.

My only one thing is that our itinerary had has going to the bear sanctuary on a Monday but it is closed on a Monday. Thankfully we worked this out in advance by looking at out Lonely Planet book and looking at their website on line so we could plan ahead and alter our itinerary. It would have been very frustrating to get all the way there and realise it was not open and miss it all together as it was one of the highlights of the trip.

Raluca made our trip very enjoyable. She organized car rental, all accommodations and an itenerary which was interesting and easy to follow with places of interest etc

This was an exceptional trip! Colombia is a beautiful country; a hidden gem. Floriane was as invested as I was in making this trip a wonderful and unforgettable experience. Every driver and every guide was pleasant, professional, knowledgeable and fun. Everywhere we went, the locals welcomed our guides as family and extended the same warmth to us.

Our 8-day trip included Medellin, Guatape, Armenia, Salento, Santa Marta and Bogota. My daughter are already planning our return trip.

A million thanks to Floraine and to all of our guides and drivers.

Maria

We had an incredible time during our 12 days in Morocco!

We usually travel quite independently, and this was a new experience for us having a private driver for the first 7 days of our trip, and a mountain guide for another 2.

Now that we are back, we wouldn't have had it any other way. We learned so much from our time with Said, about his culture, family, and other random facts and observations. I think this was the best way to really immerse yourself into Morocco, especially if it's your first time to Africa or a Muslim country.

Said was also very knowledgeable of the general area. He took us to many places we didn't know about and often stopped in small towns or the side or the road to show us a collective (fossils, roses, argan oil, ceramics), taste some dates or watermelon, or to see a small gift a local was selling (Without feeling pressured to buy). He also took us to visit a nomadic family and share tea with them in their tent, a very special experience for us. It was sad to say goodbye.

I'm not sure that we would do anything differently. We packed quite a bit into our trip, but there is so much to see: Roman ruins at Volubilis, wandering around the blue city at Chefchaouen, the busy medinas in Fes and Marrakech, and of course the desert!

The desert was probably our favorite part of the whole trip. We spend about 3 full days driving between small market towns, stopped at a fossil factory in Erfoud, saw beautiful oases hidden in the rocks and sand, and enjoyed a memorable camel ride at sunset into the dunes where we spend the night enjoying music from local Berber people, who were all very friendly. We even got to hold a baby sand fox that a local boy had on the side of the road!

Another very special part of the trip was spending 2 days hiking in the High Atlas mountains between small villages. We enjoyed 2 lunches with Berber families and spend a very crazy lightning storm in the home of another. Our mountain guide was great and very knowledgeable of the area, even when we had to change our route to avoid the river that grew from the storm.

The riads we stayed at (Fes, Marrakech) were beautifully designed, and the service was top notch. It was great to enjoy a delicious meal on the roof or in the ornate dining areas of our riad after a long day of exploring.

This trip really opened our eyes and re-prioritized our list of places we wanted to jump into next.

Shukran to Larbi & Said for this very special trip!

so this wasn’t just you’re average planned trip, I was in a bind from a last minute trip because i had broken up with my ex girlfriend, flights were paid for. looking online i discovered kimkim, so i thought i’d give it a shot. I was referred to james on kimkim, was the best trip planner i could ask for, he was very accomadating to my needs, even helped me out when i got to cusco for my shortened trek, trip to machu picchu, day tour to salt mines, moray and sacred valley! His team are very professional and handle everyone to their needs and wants in treks and tours around peru! also had met james personally as i was travelling alone, he’s a great planner as well now a great friend! i plan on returning soon and meeting up again with james!

We had a wonderful trip and experience in Peru. Our guides were everything we expected and more. Nestor, and Alex the chef, in the Amazon, safely and comfortably guided us through the splendour of Manu National Park. Luis in the Sacred Valley educated us regarding the Inca wonders of Pisac, Ollantaytambo, Cusco and the spectacular Machu Picchu. They were very knowledgeable, attentive, helpful and welcoming. They made the trip extra special. Kim Kim took care of all the details that made our vacation worry free. All we had to do was show up on time each day, usually very early, and enjoy each new adventure that had been arranged for us. I think it fair to say for our group that we all came away from the trip with pleasant memories of Peru and the Peruvian people. You couldn’t ask for more.
Katy and Kim Kim have developed a great business model that allowed our group of family members to suggest our interests and Kim Kim delivered a tour tailored to those interests. There is nothing about the experience that I would change.

Dear KimKim,

Please update the rating scale. Only having five stars from poor to great does not allow me to rate how I genuinely want to. And my words do not provide justice to my overall experience in planning and booking my trip with the services I received from my local specialist.

In the past few years, I faced many tragedies. The first one was dealing with my oldest brother's suicide. Then I encountered looking after my grandfather for six years and witnessing him die with his battle with cancer. After that, I lost the relationship with my mother and two youngest brothers. And finally, I endured a breakup with my ex-partner.

Traveling has become therapy for me. Each time that I have gone outside of the United States, I flew with others who knew how to communicate fluently in Spanish. And going to Columbia by myself and barely knowing and able to speak Spanish, I knew was going to be a challenge.

On May 11, 2018, I contacted KimKim to plan a trip to Medellín, Columbia. My travel dates were May 17, 2018, to May 24, 2018. No one responded to me, and I urgently reached out to KimKim again, on May 14, 2018. Finally, later on, that same day, Juan Ortiz, my local specialist responded.

Juan organized this last minute trip and assisted me 24/7. He was honest, polite, and upfront with me. ATTENTION KimKim, Juan deserves a trip on the house for going over and beyond serving and making me a fulfilled and happy customer.

My four-day adventure started on Friday when I went on the Pablo Escobar tour. I was mind blown by Carlos, who is one of the two remaining officers that served during the years that Pablo was alive. Saturday, I met my main and magnificent tour guide, Marcelo. That day I went on an Innovation tour of Medellín. Medellín has so many environmental and collected community organizing that I want to create in my hometown, Bethlehem, also known as the Lehigh Valley, in Pennsylvania. Sunday, I went to the Rio Claro Reserve. The Rio Claro Reserve brought me up and also down. It brought me up because it is an environment where I can see myself losing myself and escape from the madness of the world. Rio Claro brought me down because there is a need for new zoning laws to be reinforced. It will be devasting for Rio Claro to be taken over by the industrial invasion. I did not finish my tour small. I completed my journey with a big bang, on Monday and going to Guatapé. Guatapé was breathtaking, and no one has lived until they visit this beautiful "peace on earth." The last two days I was left to explore and have some me time.

KimKim, if there is a way to update your rating scale with all of the stars in the universe it will be a tremendous help. Then the range would be more accurate. Visiting Medellín, Columbia, alone was nerve wrecking. Notably, having uninformed people plant negative seeds into my head about going alone and the dangers that I might encounter. Everyone that I met including the Conquest 33 Hotel representatives treated me like family. Thus far, this has been the most memorable trip I have experienced. On June 1, 2020, please be my travel agency to plan my trip to South Africa.

Greatly appreciative and humbled,

Dèjour

We loved our trip...great planning so much accomplished!!! Thanks Christina

We loved our trip to the Arctic Circle. Enjoyed the Nature Baths. Our trip was well planned and we even had time to change a few things along the way. Great job Christina.

While we really enjoyed our trip overall, I would not book with Kimkim again without there being more transparency on the costs. We spent nearly $6800 with Kimkim for only about 9 days of services including one internal flight for 2 people.

Jules did a pretty good job communicating with us but he did say the following about providing us with some tips on packing but he did not provide this detail, even after we followed up with him inquiring about this. He later apologized saying he was on a trek in the Amazon but if he's unable to properly respond to people he should make sure someone else is monitoring his emails to do so. From Jules: "I will get in touch with you 15 days prior to the trip with the last details and a checklist for the things we recomend you bring on the trip (nothing too special, but like this you have a good idea on how to pack ! )."

Our Guides:
Nicholas was fantastic. We really loved him. 5 stars
Diana was also very good. We enjoyed the time we spent with her. 4 stars.
Qapac was okay. He spent too much time talking about politics and religion. He made assumptions about food that we would like. For example we went to a restaurant after a hike and he ordered us plates of spaghetti without consulting with us. I don't want spaghetti when I'm in South America. 3 stars.

The whole trip- all the connections the tour guides, the hotels- awesome!
Thanks!

The ryokans hotels were cheap 2-3 stars rating the most. Should not cost more than USD $200 for 2 for one night. Kim Kim charged us over USD$ 600 for 2 for one night. It was a rip off. We feel this is a lesson we learned and it will be our last dealing with your group, in the meantime we will warn other about your deceptive practice.
I you have any decency you should refund us for over charging us.
Ken and Katherine Wong

We had a fantastic time exploring Iceland and are very happy with our decision to book a trip through kimkim. We were able to see many extraordinary features of Iceland without being too busy or 'overbooked' feeling. The hotels and rental car accommodations were also fantastic.

Amazing trip ! Everything was perfect!
Good hotels selection .
Thanks a lot

Gaelle

I had very limited time in Albania and I felt that I got a true exposure to genuine Albanian life and the Albanian people. Henri was great. Nothing but amazing kudos for the experience. I definitely would use them again if I choose to go back to Albania, which I hope to do in the future. Thank you.

Jeremy