Kimkim Trip Reviews

Family of 4 (kids ages 9 and 11), 1 week in Colombia (Bogota and Cartagena), Margoth arranged an amazing trip. Everything was seamless from pickup/dropoff at the airports, to all tours with local English guides, and reservations at top restaurants. It was my eldest daughters birthday and she arranged a very special day for her with treats and birthday celebrations throughout the day. There was constant communication throughout the trip and nothing was left to chance. They even arranged a nurse to come to our hotel for the obligatory Covid test to come back to the US. 10/10, I've already recommended them to other friends.

I cannot provide enough superlatives that capture how beautifully my family's trip to Spain, (and side trip to France) unfolded. While very well traveled, and having used Trip Advisor incessantly for many years, I had been unaware of kimkim.com, until I saw it mentioned in a travel magazine. Learning of its origins and creators, and then reading excellent reviews about it, I thought I would give it a try. I generally arrange all of my family's travel, but have been feeling overwhelmed in the past year like many, and decided it would be nice to have a little bit of help "in country", in connecting some of the dots and details. That said, I didn't have very high hopes because cause in the past I have tried a couple of travel agents and been sorely disappointed. Because of my experience in traveling and preference for exacting detail in hotels and itinerary overall, I have found I have to explain too much to an agent. They also tend to want to designate something "typical" or popular for the average tourist.
Well… from the very first encounter with Patricia to our last communication upon arriving back in the States, I could not have been more blown away by the excellence and professionalism offered by Patricia and her associates.

We first exchange some letters and I explained the basics of what I was after. She suggested a phone call to better communicate; I found kimkim's set up of arranging a phone call via the website worked beautifully. Phone calls seem to route through Palo Alto headquarters and the connections were always excellent. At any rate, Patricia was so intuitive fom the get-go. I never felt guilty or pressured when I expressed atypical things like my family doesn't generally like to have a tour guide at attractions. We prefer to just be together and educate ourselves via audio guides or internet searches. She started to get a real sense of our travel preferences and really ran with it. She suggested hotels but knew that I had done a lot of research and respected my considerations. We had such a wonderful back-and-forth regarding selections and I was so impressed at her savvy, warmth, and kindness. I always felt throughout the 7 or 8 weeks of planning that Patricia had my back with every detail. Kimkim has a wonderful platform for sharing every detail of the itinerary, including what is and is not included in the final cost proposal.

Our trip was only 9 days and fairly full. I always felt confident, though, because Patricia had placed the entire detailed itinerary right on the cell phone she provided upon our first hotel check in. An in-country local phone might seem like the smallest detail, but It was seriously the smartest travel luxury I think I've ever been given. I could text Patricia on it at any time and it was unreal how quickly I would hear back from her. What travel agent is that responsive any time of the day or evening?!

We centered in Barcelona, with side trips to Montserrat, the Pyrenees for skiing, the coast, Girona, Perpignan, France, and Port Aventura. So much of it was simply stunning, and always culturally-enriching. There were quite a few times that questions would arise, due to language barrier or a typical international travel snafu, and my husband and I were absolutely blown away at the convenience of having that phone. Patricia would think of a suggestion for a dinner reservation and make it intuitively, just knowing that places would be filling up around the holidays. Then she would check in with me as to whether we were interested. We always were. I just felt like she read my mind and was saving me the trouble; so refreshing not to have to be "Mom the Travel Director" every minute! Her business partner and the driver, Omar, they assigned to us for all of our transiting, pick-ups and drop offs (except for when we rented our own car) were also fabulously professional, sharp, and proactive.

Some real challenges were presented because of changing Covid protocols and requirements, and I thought it spoke volumes that Patricia's team were so adaptable and helpful in overcoming these obstacles (twice very late in the evening!), making it as easy as possible for us. Whether just to check in that all was going well, or calls and texts related to troubleshooting, the level of enthusiasm and responsiveness from Patricia and her team was almost shocking. Such an incredibly high bar was set that I'm almost afraid to arrange a trip to a different part of the world because I will miss her level of service! That stated, I will definitely look to kimkim in the future, since this trip was so seamless.

Do not hesitate- in fact, RUN to arrange a trip to Spain or Portugal and request Patricia and her company Your Trip to Spain and Portugal via kimkim!!

What a beautiful country filled with the nicest people on the planet! Diego helped our family plan a memorable trip to Costa Rica. We trekked through the rainforest, swam in the waterfalls at La Paz, zipped lined for forever (terrifying but incredible), walked around the Arenal Volcano and ended that day at the Tabacon Hot Springs (so awesome). Our last three days were at Samara where we swam, kayaked and snorkeled on the most beautiful beach (Playa Carrillo). Our guides along the way-- Jorges, Philipe, Ray, Walter, Samantha-- all so knowledgeable about the rainforest, plants, animals, history--and so full of love for their country. All our transfers around the country were seamless and easy, and the hotels were so sweet-- especially Hotel Arenal Montechiari, complete with a resident sloth. Diego was incredibly helpful and available throughout the whole planning process, and during the trip when I had questions. Will definitely book another trip through kimkim! Thank you Diego!!

Hotel Review

Hotel Arenal Montechiari

La Fortuna

Super nice place-- in walking distance to town, and the staff is so charming and nice! The bungalows are nice and surrounded by beautiful gardens. Sweet pool as well!

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Review

Sky Tram, Ziplines & Sky Walk Adventure

Arenal/La Fortuna

We had a wonderful trip to Costa Rica planned by Olman (through KimKim). From start to finish the whole experience was easy and seamless. Olman was extremely responsive to our requests during our planning and made every modification that we requested. When we were on our trip, every reservation was waiting for us without any issues. KimKim and Olman made this trip absolutely stress-free for us.

First, our driver Roy. We decided to use a driver for our trip so that we didn't have to deal with renting a car and navigating from city to city (3, 4, 5 hour drives), so we hired Roy as our driver and that was a GREAT decision. Roy was professional, easy-going, and SO FUN. He has a great personality and just made our trip so fun and effortless. Roy drove us everywhere and accompanied us on many of our day trips. He was part of our family for 10 days and we truly loved having him. He definitely gave us space to do our own thing, so even though he was with us a lot it was a good balance. I cannot recommend Roy highly enough - such a gem.

Stop 1: Manuel Antonio. The Parador Resort/Hotel was wonderful. It was a luxurious resort - great food, lovely staff, beautiful property and great rooms. It was a sure treat. Manuel Antonio itself was just okay in my opinion. We went on a sunset catamaran cruise and it was also only ok. It was very crowded, very loud and very party-like (not what we wanted). Overall, we felt that Manual Antonio was very touristy and busy, and after going to Arenal and Monteverde I'd put it last on my list of favorites. Glad we went there first...

We then drove from Manuel Antonio to Arenal (5 hour drive - while long, it's a lovely drive)

Arenal: We stayed at Las Lomas de Volcan Hotel for 4 nights. This is also a lovely property. Our family had our own cabana/room and it was very nice. The property itself was lovely and the hotel restaurant was delicious. The cabanas themselves are comfortable. While in Arenal we did horseback riding to the waterfall and white water rafting - both were very fun. We also spent a day volunteering at Proyecto Asis. My family loves animals so this was really fun for us. We also took a cooking class one evening and that was really fun. We made tortillas and ceviche (and they'd already cooked the rest of the food) but it was a great experience. We really enjoyed Arenal overall. There's a lot to do and it was all really enjoyable.

Monteverde: We stayed at Koora Hotel, which was hands down the most wonderful hotel I've ever stayed at. It is a boutique hotel with only 14 rooms and it was AMAZING. The service, the accommodations, the food, the view... everything was absolutely top-notch. This is not a resort so there's not a pool or other amenities so I wouldn't necessarily recommend this for families with young children. My kids are 12 and 15 and they loved it. We had a two-level family unit so it was extremely spacious and comfortable. It was a splurge for sure, but it was worth it. This hotel was a total highlight for us.

Monteverde was top of our list overall. The surroundings are beautiful and we just really enjoyed being there. We did ziplining and went to a sloth sanctuary - both were family favorites for us.

Overall, it was an absolutely amazing trip. My blood pressure stayed at a constant low level for 10 days so there you have it :)

Hotel Review

Koora Hotel

Monteverde

This hotel was hands down the nicest hotel I have ever stayed at. This is not a resort (no pool, spa or other similar amenities). It's a boutique property with just 14 rooms and it is absolute paradise. From the second we walked in the door the staff was nothing short of amazing. They exude warmth and professionalism. The family unit we stayed in was so lovely. It had two levels (it's like a mini apartment) and it was just so comfortable, light-filled, and spacious. The food at the hotel was wonderful. The view was breathtaking. The service was impeccable. I cannot recommend this hotel enough.

Tips for future travelers

Do it! It's worth the extra money to stay here. It's a total treat.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Review

Horseback Riding to La Fortuna Waterfall

Arenal/La Fortuna

This was a really fun experience. The guides were excellent and really helped us out.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

It's a 17-day trip to Chile and Argentina involving activities that's 95% outdoor. Clearly, I am an outdoor person. Enjoyed meeting gracious people with different personalities in both countries. Overall, there are many great places to visit but not enough time. I would like to visit South America again in the near future.

Hotel Review

Quijote Hotel

Argentina

Activity Review

Full day Hiking Base Las Torres - 20km approx

Puerto Natales

I want to preface this review by saying that I've traveled to almost 50 countries, so I've had my fair share of trip planners that I've worked with. Margoth has by far been the most efficient, professional, responsive, and thoughtful one I've ever encountered!

We just got back from a trip to Medellin last week. There were 8 travelers, all with different arrival and departure dates. Margoth seamlessly planned around each individual and crafted an itinerary that best fit our needs and numbers on any given day. We had a mix of requests for her - from adventure to food to relaxing days - she was able to meet them all, offering several suggestions that helped make the most members of our group happy. She always responded within a few hours of our requests (often much sooner), even over the holidays! There was never a time when I felt something would not be taken care of because we had that much trust in Margoth. She is amazing!

Beyond Margoth, the trip we took was so great , in large part because of our tour guide, Juan Manuel. His English is perfect - he was able to describe to us in detail about the history of all we were seeing, often bringing in vivid imagery to bring home his commentary. He was patient and helpful - from e-biking to waterfall hiking (where his patience was needed in spades!) to our various questions about everything - he could always be relied upon to help! There was one day our car had issues (small!), but he made up for them by getting another car ASAP. I could not have imagined a better guide for us on this trip.

Overall, we loved Medellin, and we are so happy that we used Kim Kim to book it. I researched thoroughly before choosing a trip provider, and we chose Kim Kim due to a combination of reasonable pricing, great offerings, and the responsiveness of Margoth. Thank you for a great trip!

Hotel Review

Sites

Medellin

Sites was good for our needs - we had three different families, so it was nice to have a common area to hang out in while in our rooms. The amenities were nice and clean and modern. The cleaning staff was amazing. We appreciated the on-site laundry and breakfast each morning. The pool and workout facilities were also good for our needs. The dinner at the hotel restaurant was fantastic! What we think could have been better: --Lighting - it was so dark everywhere. Some brighter lights would have added to the cheeriness of this place --Breakfast - we had to make a reservation to go down in the morning, but if we didnt let them know in advance, we would not get the timeslot we needed. We are used to being able to go down at anytime for an included breakfast, especially considering that the meal was the exact same, EVERY SINGLE DAY (no variation at all). --The elevator was very very slow, and there was only one on site. We often walked down or up the stairs to get anywhere. --All of the above wasn't a huge deal to us. We are not too picky when it comes to hotels, and we would not even complain about the above. But the biggest problem for this hotel was bad wifi. Only if you were in the lobby or floor 12 was it good. In our room (floor 6), our wifi came and went constantly. If it was connected, it was very fast. But for the most part, it rarely connected, and we could not even get 3G or LTE service, so we were often without internet for our entire stay. In nice hotels these days, to not have reliable wifi, especially for international travelers who don't have local phone plans, is tough.

Tips for future travelers

Do not stay here if you need reliable wifi

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Review

'La Miel' Waterfall and Hike Tour

Colombia

So much fun to hike along the river, but not for the faint of heart!

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Our 14 day trip to Costa Rica was the best vacation we have ever had! Diego planned a trip that had a perfect balance of fun, adventure, relaxation, beauty, and learning! He was very easy to work with during the planning stages - and very kind and affable. Diego was also very accessible and responsive during the trip. I would highly recommend KimKim for planning your next trip and for working with Diego if your plans take you to the incredible country of Costa Rica!

Hotel Review

Parador Nature Resort & Spa

Manuel Antonio

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Review

Transfer San José to Arenal with Rafting on the Balsa River en Route (Class II & III)

Costa Rica

Everything went smoothly. It was nice to have someone overlooking everything.
Highlights were the day tour in Manuel Antonio, canyoning, white water rafting and surfing lessons.
All drivers were on time
Negatives
1) aggressive passing and driving from Monteverde to tamarindo (I didn’t complain but was very nervous)
2) hotel in tamarindo was right beside night club. Could not sleep at all until after 1 am.
3) night tour in Manuel Antonio was disappointing and our guide Carla was scared of spiders.

We cannot say enough about Jessica, our local specialist for Italy with Kimkim, and Storywalking. We are seasoned travellers but with this being our first international trip since the pandemic, we decided to use KimKim for the first time. It was wonderful!

With a short interactive questionnaire to start the process, we were able to dialogue back and forth with Jessica including a zoom call, to exchange ideas and options to make our trip perfect. Jessica found the perfect matches for us including private airport transportation, hotel, city tours, excursions outside the city, a trip to a local farmer and formaggio maker, an olive oil tasting, and fine dining.

We hit the streets with a night walking tour with Susanna, a private cooking glass in the Ghetto, and walk with Sarah around Trastervere.

Not only where things organized well, on time and secure, Jessica kept in touch with us throughout the week to see if we wanted any modifications, any additions, etc. She was truly someone we felt we could reach out to in a minute if necessary. We even asked for what seemed like the impossible, a reservation at a fine restaurant that we had not booked in advance and was booked up. Jessica must have good connections because we were in (we were also flexible which is important) and had a wonderful afternoon on an otherwise wet afternoon.

Thank you so much Jessica! We had a wonderful trip thanks to you.

Hotel Review

47 Boutique Hotel

Rome

Great location, staff and hotel rooms!

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Review

Michelin restaurant: a day trip from Rome

Italy

This was an amazing day! The visit with local cheese maker and sheep farmer was quite interesting and the couple (3rd generation family owners) were the sweetest! The olive oil tasting was new to us and certainly opened our eyes to another tasting besides food and wine. The restaurant, La Trota, was amazing: we completed a wine pairing of local wines with each course. The staff were great, the atmosphere lovely and we had a wonderful experience. And our driver was very professional and courteous.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

This trip was great!
I found KimKim through an Internet search and was so excited. I told them a basic outline of what I wanted and they found me someone who could organize it for me. I basically had a bespoke vacation planned for me. The KimKim web interface is easy to use and what’s really nice is that keeps all of your correspondence with your travel specialist in one place.

I was assigned to Old Town Outfitters in Antigua Guatemala. Eduardo organized my trip EXACTLY how I asked for it. I got to do everything I wanted to do. I had an extra day and Eduardo suggested a volcano climb and it was the perfect addition to my trip. The hotels were clean and had charm.

My itinerary included a volcano climb, a visit to Tikal, a 5 day jungle hike/camp to El Mirador, and a free day to wander Antigua. My guides were all very knowledgable. The guide I had for Tikal, Mario, was one of the most knowledgable guides I have had anywhere. He was able to put the ruins in a historical context encompassing other ruins I had visited before. The guide i and for El Mirador was an amazing mix of guide and outdoorsman. He really took care of our group and I felt completely safe in the jungle with him.

I highly recommend KimKim and will use their services again for other trips. And I also highly recommend Old Town Outfitters and Eduardo if you are going to Central America.

I thought Linda did a great job arranging our trip to Norway.

Unfortunately outside influences affected the trip. SAS changed our flights 6 times which had a knock on affect to our itinerary but Linda was very patient reorganising it multiple times. SAS also lost one of our bags which was returned to us a day later thankfully. We returned to the UK with Norwegian Airlines who seem a great deal more reliable.

I would not recommend travelling to the islands over Christmas when many of the facilities are shut. However this may be due to Covid restrictions (restaurants are not currently allowed to serve alcohol).

Covid blighted this trip (I tested positive on day 3) but Linda continued to provide support and assistance throughout. Not the trip we wanted at all but not because of anything that KimKim had control of.

Mathias was extraordinary! He helped us through the entire process from customizing the trip to our needs and physical abilities to covering as much as possible culture and nature. He had a network of amazing guides in all locations to that truly cared for us. He even came to meet us in person at our hotel and left us a little present w Ecuador goodies. From Quito bike tour & cooking class to Quitsao& Otavalo and then Galapagos we had an great time in Ecuador! Also, we appreciated the transparency of the process and how easy it was to communicate w Mathias. We are already thinking of our next Ecuador trip ( this was our first time in South America, usually we travel to Europe). Highly recommend Mathias and KimKim!

This was just an overall incredible experience for us. Diego really listened and set up an extraordinary 7 day trip for our family. It was an outstanding blend of fun, culture, relaxation, and excitement.

There was one little hic-up with one of the drivers, but Diego and the team responded very quickly... we didn't miss anything.

My 7 year old daughter could not have enjoyed it more. We'll be going back and will trust Diego with all our plans.

Using KimKim was a fantastic overall experience and I’d definitely recommend using them to book another trip. We were able to pack a lot in during our visit to Iceland and our guides with Hidden Iceland with super friendly and knowledgeable. It was so helpful and easy having our schedule set in advance, with a detailed packet of all of our activities. Our travel concierge was responsive and helpful both before and during our trip as well. We had a great time and I look forward to visiting Iceland again!

Trip was as planned. All scheduled transfers showed up within (10 to 20 minutes) of the scheduled times. Organization of the trip was easy with Alberto.

As far as the trip itself, Costa Rica is a great place to visit, however; going from place to place is taxing. Our normal car ride was 3+ hours. This was expected for the places we choose, however; looking back on it we spent too much time getting from place to place and not enough time seeing relaxing on our vacation. For a week long trip, we estimated that we were in a vehicle for 30+ hours in total. This is not the fault of the company we choose, they did a great job, just a thing of note for others following in our footsteps.

Beer was cold, weather was ideal, people were friendly, food amazing and Costa Rica was beautiful.

Marina was a wonderful trip planner! She was knowledgeable about the cities in Spain we wanted to visit, offered detailed guidance, took care of all the details and was exceptionally responsive. She selected hotels that were perfect for us and provided all the resources and information we needed to have a wonderful trip. She checked in with us all week, even on Christmas day! Thank you, Marina!

What an amazing vacation through kimkim! Right from airport pick up to drop off and everything I’m between we had the best experience at Costa Rica. The outfitters they arranged for the activities such as zip lining, canyoning & rafting were perfect. A special mention to Olman who was our advisor. He’s been nothing but awesome! We had some changes to itineraries, flight cancellations etc and he helped our group throughout!

Would Highly recommend kimkim for anyone looking for future trips!

Thanks
Tina

Chile is a wonderful country and we will likely go back there soon. While we enjoyed the trip very much, there were quite a few short comings. I would have planned the trip a lot better myself. Chile is extremely strict on Covid protocols. We appreciate the strictness and made us extremely safe traveling to the country.

We spent couple of days in Santiago, but much of the time was spent sitting in the hotel room. We arrived on Saturday morning. We could not leave the room due to quarantine until about 4pm. Our Santiago tour guide arranged a trip to the city only in the afternoon on Sunday. The Santiago tour guide (local) was nice and the van carrying was very nice. We never got to the see the famed Mercado Central and Mercado La Vega. Out of more than 48 hours spent in the city, our tour guide spent about 4 hours taking us around.

Our trip to Punta Arenas was on Monday, with the flight leaving at 11am. There were flights leaving earlier in the day, but we were only booked on the flight that left later in the day and with a hop. This killed more than half the day.

More wasted time in Puerto Natales. The trip to Balmaceda and Serrano Glacier was supposed to be for a full day (9 hours). But the trip was done within four hours. We never stepped foot on the land anywhere. Overall, lots of time was wasted. For a trip that cost us a lot, we would have used the time better.

Finally, our hike to the base of Torres Del Paine was supposed to be on Thursday initially. This was changed to Friday after we arrived in Chile. We did not want to do the hike to the base as we were not sure we would not have enough time to recover as well as time to take the covid test before hopping back on the flight back to the US. We wish the planning was better.

To our surprise, we never met Lorena, our travel agent. We thought we are meeting with a travel specialist based in Chile, not Houston.

This was Eileen’s dream trip. In March of 2020 we came one question away from booking our trip with another company when COVID-19 stopped the world.

At the beginning of June 2021 we started talking to KimKim and they connected us with Daniel Larrea, their Ecuadoran expert. They could not have found anyone better. Three different itineraries came to us in a couple of days. They were all good, but one was really on target for us. We asked, and Daniel answered a lot of questions over the next few months. A number of tweaks to the schedule were not a problem. We booked and waited for October.

At every step, Daniel was superb and a pleasure to speak with from the “middle of the world” as he likes to say. Responses to our questions came within hours.
They always contained an amazing level of detail, whether on hotels, guides, pickups, or transfers. Everything was well planned.

He even came to meet us at the hotel the day we landed!

We got home on November 4th and it could not have gone better. Everything Daniel arranged worked out like clockwork. The guide, David, in Quito was a true professional. He has an amazing level of knowledge on everything from history to the flora and fauna we saw along the way. After we expressed interest he rearranged the whole 5 day schedule so that we could participate in the Sunday Quito bike ride. The bonus to that was being able to hike at Cotopaxi on Monday with almost no one else there.

Once we transferred to the Galapagos, the ship the Integrity, was luxurious and beyond our expectations. The staff was outstanding. Having a stateroom with a kingsize bed, a private balcony, and only 16 other guests certainly helped add to the level of luxury and attention provided. 8 days flew by in a blur of hikes, snorkeling, kayaking led by the expert naturalists on board. All of the meals were delicious and varied and they accommodated a dietary restriction perfectly .

Another terrific choice by Daniel was our guide in Guayaquil. Francisco provided us with a wonderful city tour in the morning and early afternoon. He then came back to get us at the hotel at 11 PM to drive us to the airport and walk us through every aspect of airport check-in up until we said our goodbyes at the entrance to security.

We are happy to give top marks in every category for Daniel and all the folks he lined up to take care of us. The KimKim model of using local experts certainly worked for us and we wholeheartedly recommend the company and its chosen experts!

Where do I even begin. Hammid was an amazing addition to our trip. I think without the addition of this wonderful soul, who provided our transportation throughout Morocco, the trip would not have been the same. The country is beautiful, but it is really these personal connections that make KimKim standout compared to other travel services. Hammid went out of his way to ensure our happiness and safety throughout the trip, and we shared in food, laughter, adventure, and stories. I was very pleased with my experience, and I will of course come back!