Kimkim Trip Reviews

The first thing is that I had never done an organised tour before. Of course with the regulations in Bhutan it is the only way to see the country that I had wanted to visit for so long.  In my early exchanges with Vishal he made me extremely comfortable that a tour did not mean bus rides with many people; controlled timings on visits to places; and having to ensure we experienced the country at the pace of the slowest person in the group. Vishal carefully asked me what it was I wanted to see in Bhutan, which Places drew me to the county, and what kind of experience I wanted to take away.  He built an itinerary that combined my need to experience the history, the landmarks, the culture and the trekking, suggesting timeframes that would encompass all of these things without needing to rush, and giving me options throughout the itinerary that gave complete flexibility for us to enjoy. The planning became an exciting part of the trip (as it should be) and was an excellent experience.

Guide and porter were both great. Very friendly, calm and understanding.
The trek itself was ok as well but the 3rd was just too much.
As we already knew beforehand that it will be a long day, we couldn't really enjoy the view at the peak because we had the feeling that we need to rush in order to get all the distance covered within daylight. Although we hurried, we did not manage to arrive Junbesi by daylight. The last 2 hours we were trekking in the dark. Further the trek on this day was really hard and there were several Situations where i was really scared to death. The Trek was full with stones, it was tight and slippery and next to some really high cliffs. I spent 4 hours of the day Just praying to survive. I know this might sound a bit dramatic but I was really facing big fears. Our Guide was really helpful and supported us best possible. I would split the 3rd day and only walk till Lunch. There is No need for a full restday in Junbesi, if the day before is devided into 2 days..

The team of Himalayan trails was very helpful on planning, booking and solving problems that arouse in our trip. The few things that could have been better were may be, due to misunderstanding with our guide, but nothing really important! We appreciate so much that they did their best to make our trip possible and successful.

Mads was always very helpful! He answered our questions soon giving us good options and confidence.

The guide and porter were fantastic and we had an amazing time. Raj did a good job responding to our questions. Anura Rai, however, was absolutely horrible at communicating really all details for the trip. The bulk communication we received from her was VERY last minute...we were already at the airport enroute.

Raj was good but we were very disappointed with the lack of information provided by Anura.

Ngima was fantastic

The itinerary - Giorgia worked with us to create the trip that was suited to us, at a fair price.
She was always there if we wanted to contact her with any queries or comments.
The hotels - Were all in great locations, and were very good to excellent rooms. There was only one that was unsuitable, and this complaint was quickly rectified by the hotel and Giorgia. The staff were always helpful and friendly, and were always expecting us.
The connections - All connections were met, the drivers were on time, English-speaking and well-briefed.
Extra activities - All activities that we booked were arranged with excellent guides, and were great experiences for us. Tour guides were professional and fluent, and activities such as food tours of particular towns and the cooking class were outstanding value for money.

All this meant that we were able to be confident in our itinerary, certain about what would happen, and therefore fully able to experience the trip without worry.

Thanks to Giorgia of Kimkim for her great work in organising and implementing what was an excellent and memorable two-week immersion into Sicily. We have great memories for life.

Robert Lewis and Ros Gilchrist

The trek was the highlight of our 3 week trip to Peru. Food, cooks, overall trekking experience was great. All places we stayed were great, especially the overnight at the hot springs. There was an issue with my sleeping bag: The zipper in my $40 rental sleeping bag was broken from day one. I had to put extra layers on to keep warm on the 1st night. In the afternoon the guide was nowhere to be found and I told him at dinner. Someone went to fix it, but they didn't try the zipper and I went to bed and the clasp fell off so the zipper was broken.

I would definitely look to Kimkim again for traveling overseas. The trip was very well organized and the team did a great job working with my budget and making arrangements, communicating with me and answering questions.

There was only one thing that wasn't 100% but still not bad. 2 tour companies merged in Iceland and my voucher said one company would be picking me up but it was actually the other companies bus that came and he was a bit late. That one 2-day tour had a young inexperienced guide that wasn't well organized with food and bathroom stops and didn't inform us well of all the places we went. e.g. there was one stop listed on the itinerary, kind of a big deal for that location, and he never mentioned it or took us the 50 meters on the other side of the trees to see it. I just happened to stop there with another group, unscheduled, where that guide did show us and give the story. The other 2-day guide was the best, i can't imagine having a better guide. It felt like the first guide wasn't properly trained and we were the unfortunate beneficiaries of his being new at this.

But as far as Kimkim arrangements, superb. If I see airfare sales in the future I will defiantely keep Iceland and Kimkim in mind for my plans.

Amanda was extremely helpful throughout the process, from assisting us in choosing the right trek to answering all our questions. Her local knowledge was invaluable. She met us in Kathmandu at the start of the trip to ensure that everything was in order. The itinerary that she put together for us was excellent, and worked out as planned.

Only one slip-up on a day which was overpacked with 2 archaeological sites and a guide scheduled too close together.

Booking on kimkim.com was easy and very convenient. All our questions were promptly answered and details about our trip were provided up front.

We would like to say thanks to Ngima and his team for arranging this amazing trip. Ang and Lakpar (guide and porter) were amazing guides and tended to our every need. Also, they were very patient with our hiking pace! They made sure we were comfortable throughout the trip and we felt safe all the way.

Nicole was incredible, and took the time to figure out what kind of trip I wanted, then helped me adjust last-minute when I needed to make some emergency changes.

I plan to recommend Nicole to anyone I hear is going to Peru—whether they ask for recommendations or not :)
She was available, helpful, knowledge, and lovely.

The overall experience with Zulmy and Kim Kim went beyond my expectations. Zulmy was nice to work with via the internet, and the resulting trip was excellent and enjoyable. Your planning took all the worry and stress of traveling away so we could enjoy Panama to the fullest. Our driver, Roberto, and our 2 guides were excellent and fun to travel with. I will highly recommend KimKim to anyone wanting to organize a custom vacation experience like we had. Thank you !

Zulmy did a wonderful job for us. She understood our requests and provided good options. I think she did a great job.

Everything ran very smoothly on KimKim, Amanda was very responsive and answered all questions I had. The trip was organised with no fuss or hassle whatsoever.

Amanda provided a brilliant service - we were v impressed with Amanda and Himalayan Trails

This was one of the best trips I have been on. So well organised. 5 start accommodation and service. The guide we had was so friendly and helpful. The taxi drivers were friendly and very helpful too. I would recommend this tour and company to anyone who wants the best in Jordan.

Bianca did every she could to get the best tour together for my team. I changed the plan/days multiple times and Bianca continued to help us get the best price and experience out of it.

We felt the length of the trip, the schedule, the accommodations, the personnel, etc. were all top notch. We knew essentially nothing about Panama before we went, so we weren't sure whether we were signing up for and engaging in things that would be meaningful or not. But, with Zulmy's help we together came up with a great itinerary that kept us happy and entertained and informed the entire time.

The only disappointment was that there were a couple of times where we were working together on-line and suddenly she would disappear for a few days. In the end the package she helped put together for us was excellent.

Amazing tour, so fantastic. Lucky with the weather too. The guide (Dario) showed us new things we were not aware of from our pre trip research too. Highly recommend Dario / Gabor.

Lots of communication - great.

This trip far outlived my expectations. It was amazing!

Gabor put together the perfect itinerary for me. I told him I had 2 weeks and wanted to see as much of Ecuador and Galápagos Islands as I could in that time. He made sure I did!

Communication was easy and efficient. I felt that all my questions and concerns were taken care of in a timely and professional manner.

Ngima and his employees did a tremendous job taking care of us! They were always on time and easy to communicate with. They went out of their way to make sure we got to the airport and even all the way to the gate in a couple instances.

It was mostly perfect. The drivers were all wonderful. They were punctual, friendly, obliging and cars were immaculate . The guides were even better, especially Valentina in Palermo who we adored.The others were fabulous too.Accommodation was mostly good,but we found the agiturismo in Agrigento tooooo remote,and my brief did say we were city slickers . Also it was feragosto eve and they had a party.
However,I have been recommending you to everyone.

Also nearly perfect but better than good. As I mentioned,The accommodation in Tenuta San Giovanni was really not us, we would have preferred something in the city of Agrigento. This place was 7 kilometres from the nearest village and 50 minutes from Agrigento.I have stayed at farmhouses before but they were walking distance to piazza's. Not this one.
Also, the voucher for the Etna excursion said meet at 9.30 at the hut. When we arrived at 9.23,they told us the 9.30 group had gone and we would have to wait for the 10.30 group. This would've got us back to our transport to Messina too late, and also we had arrangements in Messina to get to on time.So we paid for the shorter version out of pocket. The man in charge of hut Etna excursion said we should get a refund for the one we missed,so I am also enquiring about that .