Kimkim Trip Reviews

We had a blast on this trip and the planning process was extremely easy. Michael designed an itinerary that nailed exactly what we wanted -- lots of nature, culture, and hands-on activities. We loved both hotels where we stayed (Senda Watapuy near Tayrona, and Bastion in Cartagena). All of our tours and guides were fantastic. My 7 year old daughter loved tubing on the Rio Don Diego, swimming under a waterfall, exploring the fort in Cartagena, and making her own jewelry. We appreciated that our activities each day finished early enough for us to enjoy some pool/relaxation time at the hotel before dinner. Michael was super responsive via WhatsApp whenever we needed anything. Thank you for helping us plan such a wonderful trip to beautiful Colombia!

Hotel Reviews

Senda Watapuy

Santa Marta

Incredible experience in the jungle and a great value. The scenery around the hotel area is stunning, the pictures online do not do it justice. The bungalows are very comfortable. The only thing to note about the bungalows is that (at least in ours) the bathroom was not very separated from the rest of the structure so anytime someone wanted privacy to use the bathroom, everyone else had to go outside. But we made it work. The beds were comfortable and there is air conditioning and fans, so along with having the windows open at night we were very comfortable even though it was pretty hot. The food at the restaurant was delicious and the drinks were great, especially the mojitos. If you're a wine drinker, note that the availability was hit or miss - but Colombia is not really a wine drinking country, so better to have a beer or cocktail anyway! The staff were extremely nice and helpful, although not all of them spoke English.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Spectacular scenery, right outside the entrance to the national park

Staff

They checked in on us often to make sure we had what we needed

Cleanliness & Comfort

Bastión Luxury Hotel

Cartagena

We enjoyed staying at this hotel a lot. The location is great, right inside the walled city of the old section of Cartagena. The room was comfortable with good air conditioning. The only issue with the room was that the water in the shower never got hot, but a cool shower actually felt pretty good after a hot and sweaty day walking around outside. The breakfast buffet was very nice and there was also hot food made to order. The best part of the hotel was definitely the rooftop pool with a great view of the city, and the delicious cocktails we enjoyed up there. It was a great way to end the day and cool off before getting dressed for dinner. The staff at the hotel were all super nice and helped us with various requests including dinner reservations.

Authenticity & Character

Interesting old building (with modern updates)

Location

Walkable area

Staff

Very helpful

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Reviews

Market Visit & Cooking Class

Cartagena

The visit to the market was very interesting and we loved our guides, including the chef. The food was absolutely delicious and it was fun to help prepare it. Our only complaint would be that the chef and her assistant did almost all the cooking and didn't explain to us what they were doing, so it wasn't really a "cooking class" as we did not learn how to prepare most of the food (with a couple of exceptions). That said, it was a fabulous private lunch so we couldn't complain! It was also a bit hot on the rooftop area where we were cooking/eating, so it might have been even a bit better if it were in an indoor location with air conditioning.

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Coconut Workshop

Cartagena

The women leading the workshop were wonderful and we had a great time making crafts. "Coconut workshop" is a bit of a misnomer as this is really a jewelry/accessories making workshop with polished colorful beads. You can't even tell they're made from coconuts. The finished products were all lovely and we can't wait to wear them. The setting of the workshop was also very nice, right on the beach with a cool ocean breeze.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Hike Tayrona National Park

Colombia

Spectacular! The park was very crowded because we were there during Easter week (Semana Santa) but we made the bets of it and considered it part of the experience. Our guide helped us spot lots of birds, monkeys, and lizards.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Tayronaka Natural Reserve

Colombia

We absolutely loved tubing on the Rio Don Diego all the way to the ocean. The indigenous ruins and museum before the tubing portion of the day were also interesting although it would have been even better if we had been able to spend a bit more time learning about the indigenous culture.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Nature, Waterfalls & Coffee Farm in Minca

Colombia

We enjoyed the tour of the coffee farm, it was interesting to see the traditional way of processing the beans. It would have been nice if we could have seen it in operation but we weren't there at the right time. It also would have been nice to see more of the area where the beans are grown, which was not part of the tour. Hiking to the waterfall where we were able to swim in the pool beneath it was very nice - our guide recommended that we go to Pozo Verde instead of the more popular one (Marinka) because of crowds, and that was a good idea. The lunch we had at La Casona with the hummingbirds was memorable. Overall we had a nice day, but the drive to Minca was quite long and it would have been nice to see more of the town/surrounding area to make the long drive more worth it.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Nueva Venecia and the stilt villages of the Ciénaga Grande (On the Way to Cartagena)

Colombia

It was very special to see the stilt villages and learn about the culture and history. We were invited into a resident's home for lunch, which was wonderful. They accommodated the vegetarians in our group. Our guide was very nice and also helped us identify the birds we saw on the way.

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Cartagena City Tour

Cartagena

Our guide Roberto gave us a fantastic tour. Most of the time was spent at the fort because that was particularly interesting to us. Afterward, we walked back through the park with the sloths (!!) and through the old city back to our hotel. It was a very hot day and our daughter was tired, so Roberto very kindly adapted the tour to be a bit shorter. He made sure we had umbrellas to keep the sun off of us as well as cold water to cool down. It was a very good experience.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Boquilla Mangrove Tour

Cartagena

The mangroves were lovely and we saw a lot of birds. It was very special to help plant a baby mangrove in a reforestation area as well as to get a demonstration of the traditional fishing methods. The cold coconut water at the end was a bonus!

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Sunset Drum & Dance Safari at the Beach of La Boquilla

Colombia

Our schedule changed and the drum workshop was not at sunset, so we can't comment on that aspect of it - but we had a great time watching the performances and learning the drum rhythms ourselves. We were given some very nice refreshments (appetizers and a mojito) as well.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Siena and team planned an exceptional vacation for us in Greece. She carefully listened to our interests and provided great options. We had a hard time deciding on which island in Greece to go to and her choice of Crete was perfect. We particularly loved the seven villages tour. All the guides and drivers were on point.

Hotel Reviews

Gatsby

Athens

Funky hotel in a great location. If you're sensitive to noise, it's not the best option as it's on a narrow street. The hotel itself has live music 5 PM to 12 AM Friday through Sunday and the bar across the street is blasting music seven days a week.

Authenticity & Character

It's funky and a fun vibe

Location

Walkable

Staff

Nice staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

It was clean but people smoke on the balconies and in the alley so the hallway and room would fill up with smoke once in a while.

Casa Delfino

Chania, Crete

Lovely and unique hotel in the heart of old town.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

It's quite a nice ambience, but the air conditioning doesn't work well and the room was hot

Activity Reviews

History & Foodie Walk in Old Town

Chania

Fun and yummy tour. Lots of food.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Ancient Athens Acropolis and Mythology Walk

Athens

I'm glad we did the mythology focused tour because it made the whole experience more entertaining. Tour was a bit long though.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Day Trip to Apokoronas Villages

Chania

This was quite a charming experience. I don't think the tour description does it justice. We were able to visit different villages, see local life, eat some good food. We did not visit any museums.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

The trip planning was easy and Lucie was very prompt with her service and very courteous.
The guide was also excellent. And the hotel chosen was perfect.

Overall a great trip.
We had a bit of back and forth about our planned accommodations, but after that, we had three great hotels- resorts and nice trips to attend.
Manoa Hotel in la Fortuna has the most beautiful gardens and a ton of birds- tucans, wild peacocks, and a ton of egrets and small birds. We had a hiking trip around the Arenal volcano forest and we had a great guide named Carlos. Very knowledgable about nature and history and geology. Then we went to hot springs spa- totally not worth it, unless you enjoy to share a warm, crowded small body of water with a bunch of strangers who are served drinks and never leave to pool to go to the bathroom. They had a very nice buffet restaurant. one downside- our driver forgot about us and it took the front desk to call and investigate before someone showed up 30 minutes later to get us to our hotel. He appeared surprised that he wasn't tipped.
Poco A Poco in Monteverde- nice, compact hotel, with its own trail into nearby jungle. I arrived there with a bad stomach issue and they had a room for us in 10 minutes, even though the check-in wasn't for another 3 hours.
All the trips we booked- cocoa plantation, night jungle trip and the canopy bridges the next day were enjoyable, in my husband's view ( I was sick for 2 days, so I didn't participate)
And then Shana by the sea near Manuel Antonio National park - forget the sea. water is not clear, nor blue. No surprise, it is on a Pacific side. The path- very steep-takes you to the secluded beach with dark colored gravel. But first you have to wade thru a dark murky pond with water coming out of Mongrove forest. Not big, maybe 25 feet wide, but enough to make you not trust the water. Don't bother to go there, better spend time at the pools. Beautiful pools and gorgeous views make up for no beach. The staff, especially Carlos in the front office, are extremely helpful and nice.
We had added attraction of Capuchin monkeys visit the hotel every afternoon. Nice but they steal stuff- keep your balcony doors closed. Again, lots of colorful big and small birds .
And Views to die for.
I highly recommend a tour of Manuel Antonio National Park. We managed to see both kinds of sloths, an anteater, monkeys, birds, inland crabs, deer, the famous colorful frogs, lizards ,even a tiny snake.
Downside- we visited in a week before Easter so all locals had time off and the park was beyond crowded.
I was pleasantly surprised that Eli, our guide, managed to find animals for us to see. I imagine that any less busy time of the year only adds to the allure.
Overall, a nice trip, well organized,
To those who expect a real jungle experience- you may be surprised . The trails and paved with gravel, there are water stations along the trails. Very civilized.

I just concluded a 10-day trip in Morocco, the itinerary and actvities were organized by Ali and then supported by Said. Overall I had an awesome experience as we traveled from Marrakech to the Merzouga desert areas followed by visits to Fes, Tangier, Rabat and eventually, Casablanca. Each place had their own distinct character and culture. Our local guides were fanstastic and I learnt a lot about the Moroccan history and they ways of life. I do have to mention the delicious Tangia and Tagine preparations; the likes of which I have never experienced before. A special mention about our driver, Rachid. I travel a lot and have worked with many travel tour operators, guides and drivers. Rachid is exceptional at what he does. Not only he is a great and more importantly, a safe driver, he went above and beyond his job and took care of every requirement of ours. I have to mention an incident where our vehicle suffered damage on account of flooded road conditions on our way to Merzouga desert. It was past sunset and all of us were worried about getting stranded in the middle of nowhere. Rachid organized the locals to get a hold of a mechanic and with the help of ordinary citizens managed to get our vehicle to a driveable condition. What was the most important aspect of this episode was the calmness and control that Rachid demonstrated. I did not see him getting flustered or in panic; he calmly went about the process of getting the vehicle restored. I and all others in my group were really impressed by this.

The entire trip was a success, all of our guides at different points were amazing and knowledgeable. Special mention to Thuy on our Vespa tour in Saigon as well as Sandi in our food tour in Hanoi.
Long was amazing, the communication was brilliant, I could not have asked for more. Thank you so much for making our holiday in Vietnam the best one it could be

Hotel Reviews

San Premium Hotel

Basic hotel, but lovely staff and more importantly a great base to explore Hanoi old quarter on foot.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Aspira Cruises

Ha Long, Quang Ninh

Beautiful boat, great cabins. Lovely food

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Coco River Resort & Spa

Quang Nam

Lovely appartment , swimming pool was great. Free shuttle to town was a nice addition.

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Eldora Hue

Hue

Nice hotel, swimming pool was a nice touch but sooo cold !

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Sala Danang Beach Hotel

Danang

Amazing Hotel, good location by the beach. great swimming pool, and nice breakfast

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Acnos Hotel

Smaller rooms than other hotels and no swimming pool. Location however was great.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Reviews

Day trip to Ninh Binh (Hoa Lu & Trang An & Mua cave)

Vietnam

Hanoi City tour - Joint in tour

Hanoi

Hanoi Street food walking tour

Hanoi

Great to have on your first day, especially if you stay a few days in Hanoi. Sandi was lovely

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Boarding cruise in Ha Long Bay

Ha Long Bay

Cycling in Cam Thanh & Thanh Dong Organic Farm Visit

Vietnam

This is a must, Tham was wonderful, everything was great, the cycling, the boat, the cooking class, the eco Garden...a must

Disembarking the cruise

Ha Long Bay

Hoi An Local Market, Basket Boat, Fishing & Cooking Experience

Hoi An

The cooking class was great !

Saigon Vespa After Dark

Ho Chi Minh City

We absolutely loved this, would highly recommend, the drivers and our guide was amazing, we had such a great time.

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

This was our first time planning a trip with a travel agency and we had a great experience. Anita and her colleagues were incredibly responsive and helpful at every stage of the process. We really appreciated being matched with a travel company local to Spain and with specialists who live in the areas we visited. We did find it hard to not have a good handle on how much individual aspects of the trip cost, but at the same time were able to identify a budget we could live within and let our specialists handle the details.

Hotel Reviews

Gran Hotel Havana

Barcelona

We really loved this hotel. Service was excellent all-around and the hotel was very clean and well-kept. We had a Top Havana room, which was awesome for our family of 4.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Very centrally located in the Eixample neighborhod.

Staff

Housekeeping staff and front desk staff were excellent. The front desk arranged for a doctor to come to the hotel when one of our children was sick.

Cleanliness & Comfort

Housekeeping was very attentive .

Hotel Meninas

Madrid

We really liked Hotel Meninas. It has a lot of charm and is in a great location.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Situated near the Opera, the hotel is in a lovely historic district close to Mercado San Miguel and the Palace.

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

We had a large room on the 5th floor that provided plenty of space for our family of 4. It was very quiet and comfortable.

Activity Reviews

Flamenco Night

Madrid

We loved the Flamenco show at Las Carboneras. It was one of the highlights of our trip.

Madrid for Kids - Walking Tour with Activities & Snacks

Madrid

This walking tour was a great activity for our first day in Madrid. Rosa, our guide, was excellent and really made a connection with our tween and teen daughters (12 and 14). We were worried they'd be too old for a tour like this, but they really loved it.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Train Madrid to Toledo, Guided Family Visit, Train Toledo to Madrid

Madrid

We loved visiting Toledo. Elena, our tour guide, was great. We learned so much about the history of this incredibly special place that we would have never learned without a guide. Highly recommend.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Tapas Walk in Barcelona

Barcelona

As non-Spanish speakers, we found the tapas scene a bit intimidating and really appreciated this 3-hour guided tour that took us to 4 different stops.

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

All local guides were great and speaks reasonably good english. They have a good knowledge of Local as well as Moroccan history and answered all our questions and queries.
A special mention to our fulltime driver Rachid, who was outstanding in his job and is great in conversation. There were really long drives and it is not easy to keep a bus full of people happy. He did that and also resolved all issues to our satisfaction.
He became just like our friend. Love him.

Hotel Reviews

Riad El Yacout

Fès

The room was smelly and very shabby. Hot water was not working and had to call maintenance to fix it.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Orient Desert Camp

Merzouga

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

The floor carpets were all wet

Riad Mokhtar Tanger

Tangier

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Le Casablanca Hotel

Casablanca

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Reviews

Quick Tour of Casablanca with your Driver-guide

Morocco

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Transfer from Marrakech to Merzouga Desert via Ouarzazate

Morocco

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Marrakesh Evening Food Tour

Marrakesh

Moroccan Dinner and Fantasia Show at Chez Ali

Marrakesh

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Desert Adventures around Merzouga

Merzouga

The ATV and Camel Ride experience was the highlight of the tour

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Gustavo Camperos, our kimkim specialist, was absolutely amazing in every aspect of trip planning. On this type of performance feedback evaluation, I tend to be a "tough grader." Hence, my "absolutely amazing" rating speaks volumes. To provide a bit more detail: Four of us (myself, my wife Joan and our two friends, Jon and Deirdre) began our interaction with Gustavo by first describing our "vision" for an eight-day trip to Costa Rica. This included many details such as the type of hotels we like, type of activities we wanted to pursue, the amount of territory we wished to cover and our desire to have drivers from location to location rather than rent our own vehicle.

What followed the above is best described as an "iterative process." That is, we went back and forth with Gustavo many times using the kimkim messaging system, email and Zoom. As things progressed, we observed our evolving itinerary get better and better. At each step along the way, we requested changes which we viewed as incremental improvements. For example, add one day at location X and subtract one day at location Y, swap the hotel at location Z for one which is more upscale, add guided bird-watching and volcano hikes at location Z, etc. In this context, we easily monitored the dynamically changing trip itinerary and cost and could customize our "adventure" to any level of luxury which suited our fancy. In achieving all of the above, it was a sheer pleasure working with Gustavo. Over and above the fact that he lives in Costa Rica and gave highly-expert advice on the "best things" to see and do, he would rapidly respond to our large number of queries. To add icing to the cake, the week before our departure. he suggested that we meet on Zoom to review the final itinerary to make sure all details were to our satisfaction. Finally I should also mention that throughout the course of our planning, we also had a number of interactions with kimkim associate Greg Fendler who helped make sure that all our logistics were solidly in place. We were also very happy with the work which Greg did on our trip.

Kudos to kim kim. Thanks to your dedicated travel experts, our trip to Costa Rica was excellent. The trip went off without a hitch exactly as planned.

Thank you Mar for the amazing adventure to Norway. We explored Oslo, then headed into the fjords and stayed in Flam and Balestrand. Hiking the fjords was a dream. Our final destination was Bergan. The city was a dream. The funicular above the city is a must do. We will certainly use KimKim again to plan our next adventure.

Nader, Samara, Yasser, Omar, Sawy, and Mustafa were all absolutely amazing. Nader took my incredibly packed itinerary and made it a reality with ZERO hiccups. It was flawless. We spent 2 weeks in Egypt and left feeling like it was our adopted county. Everyone felt like family and treated us with complete respect. I cannot recommend Nader and his team enough. They truly made our dreams a reality.

Shirley worked with us to customize an itinerary for our family of four, including two kids 10 and under. We had a fantastic trip with a great balance of planned activities and rest time. When we had particular requests about hotel styles and room layouts, Shirley engaged in a back-and-forth with us to get things just right, and even managed to get us a very early check-in after our long flight. Our driver, Reggie, was fantastic, keeping us on-time and adding in a few surprises. He was a calm, helpful presence on our trip, great with our kids and adaptable to our pace. We had a really wonderful, memorable trip and KimKim's service was a huge part of it.

Hotel Review

The Grand Hotel Taipei

TAIPEI CITY

Modern amenities with traditional decor. The staff was very helpful and we were very comfortable.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Being uphill away from the bustle is sort of the charm, but you'll have to take the shuttle or a long walk if you want the metro.

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Reviews

Gold Rush Town – Jiufen & Yehliu Day Tour with Shilin Night Market

Taipei City

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Making Vermicelli by Rope Jumping and Releasing Sky Lantern in Shifen

Taipei City

Probably not worth doing without kids... but they'll love it.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Yilan's Market Tour, Farm Encounters and Tea Picking Experience

Taipei City

The Yilan market tour was a bit longer than we would have preferred, with more talking than food stops. Okay for adults, but our kids were a little restless. The Capybaras at the farm experience were a huge hit with the kids. The tea picking was a nice, calm end to the day.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Yilan market guide was very friendly, but not very tuned to the pace of a family with young kids.

Transport

Highlights in Sun Moon Lake

Yuchi, Nantou

We hadn't planned on biking but thank goodness our guide planned it... big hit with the whole family.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Samir’s travel group, particularly the drivers, were outstanding. They were always on time and enjoyable to be with.

Wonderful trip - better than I could have done myself!

As a veteran family vacation planner, it's not easy for me to admit, but Alfonso did it better. Activities were well chosen, taking our interests fully into consideration, and guides were all exceptional. We made things more difficult at the end by our last minute planning, but Alfonso nevertheless managed to score tickets to the Alhambra, perfectly timed to catch our train from Granada to Madrid. Hotels were exactly as hoped, and impeccably located. All transitions were perfectly seamless, and when we needed a minor adjustment it was managed in minutes. We really appreciated the daily check-ins from Alfonso and Uhaina to make sure we were still on course. It certainly makes it easier to ask questions as well.

All in all a wonderful service; I would not hesitate to use it again.

Sandy and team were great. Some teething issues with being able to contact someone on the ground when we arrived due to connection problems and a late hour of night but all worked out and mostly smooth sailing from then on in. Our local guides: Kaiko, Kahori and a special mention to Masaaki san, were amazing. Masaaki was especially great and very understanding on our last full day in Japan when our kids (9 and 11) were tired after clocking over 20,000 steps everyday for two weeks.

We especially loved the local and less touristy recommendations and Masaaki's ability to pivot at short notice due to bad weather. The kids absolutely loved the Toeii Film Studio!!

Hotel Reviews

Park Hotel Kyoto

Kyoto

This was our favourite hotel during the trip. Clean, quiet and well equipped rooms. The breakfast has a decent offering and the staff were friendly and helpful.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Cross Hotel Osaka

Osaka

Superb location for Osaka sightseeing and shopping. Close to the metro and shopping streets. Hotel is clean and well appointed. Breakfast was the best on our trip. Only criticism is if you stay in a room on the street side rooms are noisy at night.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Sotetsu Fresa Inn Hiroshima

Hiroshima

Hotel is clean and comfortable enough. Breakfast is decent. Location is good for transport. Hotel is very busy though (Special mention to the staff running the breakfast room though, Japanese efficiency 👍).

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Hotel Rose Garden Shinjuku

Hotel is in a good location, close to central transport. Clean and comfortable. Sometimes a bit loud at night from street noise. Beds are comfortable.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Reviews

Bamboo Grove and Monkey Park Tour with a Boat Ride

Kyoto

We didn't get to the boat ride or the monkey park due to weather but the alternative was just as good if not better.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Tokyo Day Tour with Tsukiji Outer Market & Senso-ji - East & Central

Tokyo

A really good tour of the city, the personal explanation of the temple and shrine. Authentic Japanese paper making and traditional Nori making. We had a really great day.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Full Day Mt. Fuji with Lake Kawaguchi & Oishi Park

Tokyo

Such a great day, we were lucky that the weather let us see Fuji all morning before the clouds came in. We loved our local Hotou lunch.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Our trip plan was great and all of the guides were so friendly and gave us a great insight into Portugal in many ways.
The trip app was so helpful and made things so easy to follow with links and directions.

The trip to Paris was all we had hoped for when started planning last summer. KimKim provided us with a driver most of the days we were in Paris and this proved very important. Our drivers name was
Mohammed and he greatly enhanced our experiences.
Prompt, courteous, masterful driving of the car in Paris traffic allowed us to relax and see the sights. The only thing that could have been added was that Mohammed spoke a bit more English.
We also toured for 90 minutes by vintage 2CV car. Our guide was Vivian and he was very good. A major part of our time was spent in Montmartre which I really enjoyed. It was first thing in the morning , so no Champagne. It was cold, so had to put top on the car. The old car was not for people our age (in our 70’s)as it was hard to get in and out. Vivian was a charming Frenchman and we enjoyed our time with him.
Our next guide over the next 2 days gave us her nickname SoSo. My wife especially liked her warm and friendly manner. She was especially good at looking out for my wife’s limited mobility. For both of us she was very intelligent and informative and we learned a lot about The Louvre and Versailles and had a good time doing the tour.
To quickly review, our journeys to the Loire Valley and Giverny were a couple of favorite parts of the vacation. The food, wine and flowers and castles makes me want to return in the near future and spend more time there.
Lastly 9Hotel had a great location and good accommodations. Only complaint was only hard wooden chairs in the room. Breakfast was hot and good. The staff was kindly and helpful.
My compliments to Slimane for putting together all the details of this trip. He was patient and helpful during the planning and made everything easy and trouble free.
We would recommend KimKim for any overseas trip and would use their services ourselves in the future.

Mike and Pat Largen

Hotel Review

Le 9Hotel Opera

Paris

Please see above review

Authenticity & Character

Small French hotel. Just right for that part of town

Location

Newest the center of town. Convenient

Staff

Helpful and accommodating attitude.

Cleanliness & Comfort

Beds and bathrooms very nice

Activity Reviews

Seine river dinner cruise

Paris

The Seine river dinner cruise was fantastic. We went on the early cruise, which wasn't crowded, and the food was really good. The scenic views along the Seine were very pleasurable and a highlight of our trip.

Romantic tour of Paris by vintage 2CV car, with a bottle of Champagne included

Paris

The romantic tour of Paris by vintage 2CV car was charming but would be better in warmer weather and we ended up asking to put the top down. I recommend doing this is the evening as the champagne included didn't make much sense for a 9 AM tour. The guide was knowledgeable and driving through Montmartre was delightful.

Guided visit of the Louvre museum and its surroundings

Paris

The guided visit of the Louvre museum was wonderful. Our guide was exceptional, able to maneuver through the crowds and enhance our experience immensely. I had a great time and appreciated the warm reception we received.

Versailles Half Day Tour

Paris

The Versailles Half Day Tour was amazing, especially walking through the gardens and seeing the palace. Our guide was very knowledgeable and we ended up renting a golf cart after we parted to better explore the extensive grounds, although just be aware it's a bit pricey.

Loire Valley Private Wine Tour including 8 tastings & lunch

Paris

The Loire Valley Private Wine Tour was terrific. Chambord Castle's grounds were park-like and relaxing. The wine tasting experience in the caves was unique and memorable. We enjoyed it so much we brought a couple of bottles home!

Ben did a phenomenal job planning my family trip to Japan! Our guides, Peter and Ursula, were very helpful as well! We can’t wait to book our next adventure with KimKim!

Overall the trip went smoothly.
A couple hiccups. No time listed to meet guide in Cordoba. The guide María was nice enough but never had dialogue on our way to a site. We passed lots of opportunities for her to give a continuous chat on our way to the first stop. She was full of details when we arrived at the destination but we felt we missed more details on our way. She could easily improve on that.
The hotel in Cordoba, while convenient to the train, was NOT a 4 *. Absolutely no amenities whatsoever in the room. Nothing extra in the bathrooms either. I would rate it a 3.
Train tickets were perfect as were directions.
Loved Seville. Loved the hotel. The guide was very good. As was the flamenco evening.
Excellent driver to Ronda. Nice wine tasting. The food was great, the wine Ok. The driver gave us details during the entire drive about the area. He was great.
Ronda was lovely. Also excellent tour Guide. We were given crappy rooms at the hotel
and asked for them to be changed. We paid an up charge, as the original rooms faced the parking lot not the spectacular views. We did not like the rooms at the place but the hotel was pretty. The staff was nice. We would have hoped that KimKim would have guaranteed us a better room. Driver to Malaga was on time and good.
We would recommend your company again but think that you should ask for clarification on some of the things we mentioned. For example: How important is the hotel to you?

Hotel Reviews

H10 Corregidor Boutique Hotel

Sevilla

Lovely

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Hotel Catalonia Reina Victoria

Ronda

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Awkward room. Toilets on one side. Shower on the other. Did not like hotel

Hotel Soho Boutique Cordoba

Córdoba

Lacking any amenities.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Robes slippers vanity kits lotions. Anything

Activity Reviews

Private Guided Visit of Córdoba

Spain

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Ronda Wine Experience

Spain

Food excellent. Winemaker good. Wine ok

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Private Guided Visit of Seville

Seville

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

As we booked all the hotels by ourself ( with the only exclusion of the desert camp) I can review Majid only on few things.
The guide in Marrakesh : we spent why too much time at the Medina ( despite we told him at the very beginning we did not have any intention to visit or buy at the " touristic" shops ) . As a results, some of the activities / visits included in our one day tour of Marrakesh were canceled.
We canceled the guide tour of Fes and visited the city for 3 days by ourself.
The half a day tour of Rabat went well as our guide was professional and engaging.
Majid booked the desert camp : as soon as we arrived at the camp, we immediately realized that the camp was not the one we booked ( we were supposed to be in a luxurious camp for a night and we end up in a smelly, dirty etc. camp) We immediately sent a message to Majid to get a reimbursement of 300 $ as this was the difference in price between the 2 accommodation. We got the reimbursement the day after.
Our young driver for 2 weeks Moad was pretty good and we had pretty good time with him !!

Hotel Reviews

La Mamounia

Marrakech

Amazing hotels !!

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Eden Boutique Hotel

Boumalne Dades

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Royal Mansour Casablanca

Casablanca

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Le Meridien N'fis

Marrakech

The hotel is under a huge renovation....is probably going to be better at the end of it.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Reviews

Guided Tour of Aït Benhaddou

Morocco

Canceled

Fes to Casablanca via Rabat

Morocco

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Free day in Marrakesh

Marrakesh

Quality of Experience

Food

Boumalne Dades to Merzouga Sunset Camel Ride via Tinerhir & Rissani

Morocco

No camel ride !!

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Walking tour of Marrakech

Marrakesh

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Marrakech to Boumalne Dades via Ouarzazate

Morocco

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Jeep to your luxury Desert Camp (15 Muintes Drive)

Merzouga

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Merzouga to Fes via Rissani, Midelt, & the Atlas Mountains

Morocco

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Fes: Exploring the Imperial City

Fes

We did it by ourself.

Day Trip to Meknes & the Roman Ruins of Volubilis

Fes

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Guided Tour of Hassan II Mosque

Casablanca

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport