Kimkim Trip Reviews

Back from our 9 day trip to Peru. It was an amazing trip with fantastic sights, food, and experiences.

Clara/Liz from Andean Experience did a great job planning the trip and setting up the hotels, tours and transfers. Some of the highlights of the trip
- Transfers: we had many of them and every single one of those went amazingly smoothly. All the drivers were helpful, courteous, punctual and drove clean vehicles
- Great tour guides: Alexandra, our tour guide in Sacred Valley was very knowledgeable and made the day very interesting. Jackson, our guide in Posada Amazonas was also very friendly, helpful and informative. Jamie, our guide for the Inca trail hike and Machu Picchu was very encouraging when the going got tough.
- Paul, our co-ordinator in Cusco met with us and explained our itinerary. His restaurant recommendations were spot on and he made restaurant reservations when needed. Nice!
- Clara and Liz were available for questions during our planning and very helpful in suggesting itineraries and activities. Glad they Clara got us on the Short Inca Trail hike!!

Things that could have been better
- Chinchero was a canned experience showing just one weaver. Felt it was setup mostly for selling their products. It could be removed from the itinerary.
- Hotel in Ollantaytambo didn't have working showers. Location and garden was great but the room and shower were sub par.
- We could have gotten a warning about the access to Posada Amazonas. We were taken by surprise when we were faced with over 100 stairs to access the resort; it was strenuous for the grandparents (over 80yrs) in our group (rest of group was perfectly alright with them).

Overall, loved the sights and experience in Peru. Inca trail, salt ponds of Maras, Ollantaytambo ruins, WinayWayna ruins are spectacular. The eco experience at Posada Amazonas was unique and well worth the time spent.

We had an amazing family vacation thanks to Christos. Greece is a beautiful country and thanks to Christos and his team (Kostas, Sophie, Spiro just to mention a few) we were able to enjoy all that it had to offer. In addition to excellent tours and experiences, Christos's team went out of their way to help us to surprise and celebrate by dad for his 70th birthday in Santorini. It was a memorable experience for everyone and a fantastic vacation!

My boyfriend and I are just back from the most amazing 11 days in Costa Rica. Randall was a great specialist - giving fantastic recommendations on where to go and what activities to do, based on the information we gave him. He also provided a number of different itineraries for us to choose from, and was v. flexible with our requests.

Everything was a highlight really, but the top highlights were:

Our guide Pierre from Canoa Adventures in La Fortuna, who took us on the Mistico Hanging Bridges and waterfall tour. He was a fountain of knowledge and spotted so many things that would have gone unnoticed if we had done the walk by ourselves. He also shared some great photos via whatsapp after the tour as he had a good camera.

Our 3D2N stay at Laguna Lodge, Tortuguero. Our guide Alex was really knowledgeable too, and on two boat safaris we saw a huge number of animals and birds. The food at the lodge was delicious too.

All transfers between places were comfortable and on time, and the restaurants where we were being picked up from for each leg of the journey were fantastic. Selvica even had a butterfly sanctuary out the back!

We also loved Le Cameleon, the hotel we stayed at just south of Puerto Viejo. While we were there we took ourselves to the Jaguar Rescue centre and saw some amazing creatures, and on another day rented bicycles and cycled down the coast to Manzanillo, where we had miles of beaches to ourselves. We also loved Punta Uva beach - totally breathtaking! Whilst staying there we saw sloths and toucans daily, as well as a yellow eyelash viper on a hike in Cahuita.

We cannot wait to come back to Costa Rica and will definitely book through kimkim again.

Thank you!

What an incredible experience! Two weeks in the Himalayas was an extremely welcome reconnection with the natural world. Walking through villages, seeing how local people live and experiencing the incredible wildlife there was a very unique way to travel the country. My guide Priscilla was excellent - very passionate about her country and her job. She was an experienced guide, a hilarious companion and a truly kind friend. I can't recommend her enough, and it's always great to support female guides in a field where they are pretty rare.

From start to finish, Kripa provided me with all the information I needed, as well as answering all my (sometimes silly) questions. She was incredibly kind and helpful, and displayed a lot of passion and care for her job.

Thank you so much everyone!

We had a fantastic trip to Peru and really appreciate all of the help from our coordinator, Liz Karen. We had unexpected delays with our incoming flights and Liz was able to help change our itinerary! She was a pleasure to work with.

In country, our guide's name with Extreme Adventures was Ronny Pillco Farfan - he was absolutely awesome! He was fun, knowledgeable, accommodating, and was a great guide for our trek.

The Sankaltay Trek was an unbelievable experience! Our guide Ronny was very good and accommodating to our group and did an amazing job! Our chef Grimaldo and Manuel also did an incredible job for us and together, the three of them made the trip wonderful! The trek itself was beautiful, the scenery was pretty incredible. We had a beautiful day for our Machu Picchu tour and were able to see everything! Overall wonderful trip.

This was a tremendous trip! I can’t say enough about the entire team. From the very first step, Sibila was knowledgeable, friendly and more then helpful throughout the pre-planning pre-booking phase. She helped coordinate a trip that exceeded every expectation. She responded immediately to every question, and concern that I had. The trip was planned expertly and we were able to see and do things that we will remember for a lifetime. We had local guides that spoke impeccable English, and had the historical knowledge of a college professor; Anna, Paola, Fidel, Gilberto, Manuel...all amazing . We were more than impressed. Our local representative, Melina called and texted me immediately upon arrival, and she too was available and responsive at all times. We had a wonderful driver: Javier, who went above and beyond each time he drove us, and was truly a joy. We can’t wait to go back to Mexico, and will definitely be using Kim Kim for our next journey. Muchas Gracias todos!!!

Nathalie planned my vacation experience in Colombia perfectly. Not only was she flexible with my changes but she was also very understanding. From the tour guides to the transportation, everything worked out perfectly and I had no issues getting around since she was able to plan what I needed. I would highly reccommend anyone going to Colombia to use Nathalie if they're unsure as to what to do. Thank you for everything!

We enjoyed our time with Hassan he was very knowledgeable and attended to our needs, Hassan's english was very good as well.
The lost city of Petra was amazing definitely worth seeing...Jerash was really neat and lunch was incredible.

James Miller

This is the first time we’ve used a travel agency and it was a great experience! The hotels were excellent, with the exception of the location of one hotel in Crete, close to an outdoor party area, it was noisy and bright in the room. The tours they booked for us were excellent, every guide was so knowledgeable and very engaging. Christos personally came to our hotel in Athens to hand deliver a SIM card for our phone. We had only one incident of a driver not actually waiting for us getting off the ferry in Mykonos. We called KimKim and someone was there to get us within 20 minutes. We would not hesitate to use KimKim again, a very good experience.

We had an amazing time exploring different areas of the country. Even though our stay was short, we thought we experienced a lot of variety and interesting parts of the countries. Thank you for showing us your amazing country!!

We just got back from our 8-day imperial city tour from Morocco last weekend. I have to say that it was the best planned trip I've ever had, and my husband and I have traveled A LOT! We wanted to plan a special trip for our ten year anniversary but with our work schedules, three weeks before our trip the only thing we had booked were our plane tickets! So in a panic, I started researching online for hotels and sights and felt totally overwhelmed, in the past we've planned our own trips no problem but this time we just didn't have the time. I stumbled upon kimkim and it was like magic. Within a couple of days our Morocco travel specialist Sharon, had sent us a complete itinerary with hotels, transportation and tours, it was AMAZING! We felt such a weight off our shoulders and all we had to do was pack our bags and get on the plane. When we arrived, just like Sharon assured us, we had a driver waiting for us at the airport to begin our Moroccan adventure. Our driver Salam was with us for half of the trip and then we had another driver for the second half of the trip. We could not have asked for a better introduction to all things Morocco, we absolutely loved Salam and were very sad to part ways with him half way through our trip but we wanted to be flexible as Morocco Immersion had been very flexible with us, accommodating our last minute requests. Our second driver Abdulah was also great, so we felt very lucky to have two great guides during our time there. We would highly recommend Morocco Immersion, the local travel company we used through kimkim, and would highly recommend booking your trip through kimkim. It was so easy and secured. We were so pleasantly surprised, as this was our first time using this service and now we are spoiled, I don't think we'll ever go back to planning trips on our own. We got so much more from this vacation than any other trip before and the best part it was completely customized to meet our needs. The level of accommodations and the transportation provided by Morocco Immersion were top notch, we were very pleased. We can't say enough good things about this experience!

We had a great trip and are sending a big shout out and thanks to our local specialist - Karin Eckhard w/Espiritu Travels - and her team. We were in expert, caring hands w/Karin: she was very responsive and capable in orchestrating our 16-day trip to Spain and Portugal with "lots of moving parts". We were pretty specific in where we wanted to go and what we were interested in (architecture, history, nature, hiking/biking, food/wine, culture) and she accommodated it all! Everything went like clockwork - all the drivers and guides were on-time and prepared, all the hotels and activities were ready and waiting for us. The drivers and guides were wonderful company and very well informed - we loved spending time with them and learned a lot.

Karin was just great. She planned the best trip ever and help us get the most of Portugal in just 1 week. All the hotels, tours and transfers were perfect. She was always available and proactive while we were there.
The Kim Kim Team is also great. They have this great company that is always willing to satisfy and help their clients!

Everything went very well with our trip. Everything was well coordinated and our driver Yassin was really good at coordinating all the guides and site visits and really helping us get the most of our trip. Thank you to Radia and her team!

We had a fantastic time in Greece and thought it was a great trip. The welcome dinner at ManiMani was superb, each dish better than the one before. The tour of Santorini's farm produce and wines with Anna was terrific; our trip to Delphi with Effie was also fabulous. Another highlight of the trip was the hotel in Ornus -- it was so delightful just to be there. I thoroughly enjoyed everything about it and the staff was great. We also had lovely people running the hotel in Kamari -- Mary was really delightful. We had some really great guides -- Kostas was wonderful at the Acropolis and very understanding when Marvin was having his spell. I also really enjoyed the tour of Akrotiri and the Palace at Knossos, and found the guides knowledgeable and capable of handling questions. I would suggest that perhaps more time be allotted to both of those sites, however, since it was very rushed and we didn't really get to savor things. I do understand that there are so many visitors and our guides were trying to stay ahead of the crowds -- this may not be something that could be fixed during a tour in May, but I offer it just in case. The museum in Knossos was fantastic, as was the National Archaeological museum (we visited it on our own). I had been told how great the Parthenon museum was and it did not disappoint. We took the suggestion of a friend and had lunch there, overlooking the Acropolis. That was really delightful and I recommend it to others.
One complaint i have, however, was our tour in Delos. I found the guide, Athena, was not particularly responsive to the group. Her accent was such that we had a great deal of difficulty understanding her, and hearing was also a problem. I would suggest that for a group of anything over 10, Assisted Listening Devices be used. I work in an art museum and that is our policy and it really makes it a much better experience. Everyone can hear; guides don't need to raise their voices to be heard. I would suggest that a Delos visit be longer, or at least people should be told that they could take the later ferry if they wanted. Since we had someone meeting us after the tour, I didn't realize that was an option.
I don't want my review to end on an extended complaint, however, since for the most part it was a wonderful trip and we enjoyed it immensely. We found the KimKim staff, as well as some of the local agencies, very responsive and for the most part, things went smoothly and we had a terrific vacation.

Our family wanted to tour Bulgaria to visit our adopted daughter's birth place, We worked with Simeon Dimitrov to set up a two-week tour that included a visit to the Rila Monastery, hiking in the Rila and Pirin Mountains, and kayaking in the Rhodopes. We visited Plovdiv, the Valley of Roses and the Black Sea. One of our final stops was at the Orphanage in Targovishte that our daughter lived in until we brought her home. Simeon arranged for our daughter to meet staff in the Orphanage. Simeon put together a wonderful, balanced, well-paced itinerary for us. He patiently answered our questions and made sure we saw the best of each place we visited. We enjoyed dining on Bulgaria's wonderful Mediterranean cuisine at the restaurants he chose for us. A highlight of our trip was our stay at a Bulgarian Guest House, where we ate traditional dishes and drank rakkia. By the end of our two week tour, we had fallen in love with Bulgaria! We can highly recommend Kimkim for your tour of Bulgaria- the Crocker Family

Rachid our driver was great. His English was excellent and he helped coordinate our daily activities.

This is the third time I’ve used kimkim to help with my travel planning. Clearly they work with the best travel specialists in the world. For my South African adventure kimkim connected me with Elgin Africa, I couldn’t have asked for a better match!

Deborah contacted me first, she got back to me right away with answers for my questions about budget and best time to visit South Africa. After couple of emails I knew I was in good hands.

Tara contacted me second, she was wonderful from the start, always available to quickly and patiently answer any questions, worked around my budget and tailored the itinerary based on the list of places and experiences I wanted.

This trip was amazing largely to Tara’s impeccable planning, I never had to worry about a transfer, guide (the guides that Elgin Africa works with are wonderful), or accommodation, everything was perfect!

While traveling, Deborah and Tara checked up on me often making sure everything was running smoothly and that I was enjoying my trip.

Anybody planning to visit South Africa should contact Elgin Africa, they are the best!

We started the trip with a free day in Mykonos and spent it at the Kahlua beach club, dinner at Busulas and out at Semeli that night. The next day was a trip to Delos Island. We had the most fabulous, authentic, amazing guide named Toula. We wanted to take her home and have her be our very own Greek grandmother. Took the speed ferry to Santorini and had a hidden Gem and Wine tour hosted by Manos, another great local guide and a tour we very much loved. Our favorite activity the following day was our Catamaran cruise hosted by Spiros & Spiros (yes two men on the same boat with the same name!). Spent the rest of the night with the locals after hours at Vineyart and enjoyed a local flight of wines. In Athens, we enjoyed a very tasty food tour and found our new love of Greek coffee + Freddos. Had a nice meal at Feedel and had our most authentic meal of the trip at "The Traditional". Stopped by Clumsies, Baba Au Rum and Noel for some cocktails along with Oinoscent wine bar to round out the trip. Had an amazing views in Meteora and could not get over the tranquility of the perfectly preserved monasteries. Overall we had zero hiccups, all of our drivers were on time, hotels reserved, tour guides punctual, and a great experience. It was a nice touch to get a welcome call once Travel 12 new we arrived. Will use this service again!