Kimkim Trip Reviews

Thank you to everyone at Kimkim, especially Cami who was so helpful in putting together my trip to Colombia.
I visited bogota, Santa Marta, Cartegena and did the Lost City Trek.
Cami helped put this altogether as well as arranging trips, tours and transfers meaning all I pretty much had to was get on the plane and the rest was taken care off.
Special mentions to the tour guides of Jhon and Alvaro for showing me around Bogota and Cartegena.
For the Lost City Trek I'd like to thank Denis, Gostavo, Luis and Samir who were amazing guides and helped make the whole adventure truly memorable.
Thank you to Kimkim for being a major part of giving me a fantastic Colombia experience!

Our travel guide Fridur helped me plan a once-in-a-lifetime trip to Norway for me and my family. She quickly assessed what types of activities we were interested in and proposed an itinerary that perfectly met our needs. We're adventurous outdoor enthusiasts, so she tailored the Nordic Adventure for Outdoor Lovers to allow us to spend extra time in the beautiful Hardangerfjord area and to change the Trolltunga hike to the Via Ferrata + Sunset/Sunrise Combo. We had an amazing experience and look forward to going back to Norway to explore more someday. Having the kimkim team provide local expertise takes a lot of pressure off in planning travel to a new country. Definitely recommend working with them!

My wife and I visited Norway in August 2019 and Ingrid has been a key part of planning and executing our itinerary. We visited Bergen, Balestrand, Tromso, Lofoten Island and Oslo. Ingrid arranged our local travel visiting fords, Balestrand and then the most beautiful train ride via Myrdal. Ingrid also came to meet us personally at Bergen and walked to the city centre. She is a great asset to her company and I found her extremely helpful. Highly recommend Ingrid and Kimkim,

Overall - great trip. I was a very passive planner for this trip - my first using a company like KimKim - and I accept some responsibility for the itinerary disappointments - the greatest of which was that we saw way too many cathedrals and monasteries. At one point I told Maro that we were Jewish and would like to visit some Jewish areas or synagogues, which we did on one of our free days after the trip, but there was nothing included in the itinerary.

Our driver Achiko was great: he was helpful and friendly and did "extras" that we appreciated, such as bringing us some of his father's wine and cha cha and his mother's sauce and providing a copy of the Georgian music we heard while in the van. He was always on-time and good-natured. The van was comfortable and clean. His driving was smooth. His English language skills need to be improved.

Due to problems with airlines, we flew out July 19 instead of July 18 which meant that we missed one day in Tbilisi. I took out travel insurance so would like feedback on whether we get a refund for one night at the hotel. I notified Maro of the delay and Achiko was there July 20th at the airport for us.

Our first day with Achiko we went to the history museum and National Gallery - which we LOVED - and some other places like Matsminda park.

Jvari was okay as was Mtsketa... that was early in the trip and we were tired from having a catch a 5:35 am flight the day before.

The Prince Alexander Chavchavadze's museum house was a big disappointment. We were told we would get 5 glasses of wine, and we only received 1. The man serving wine at the museum was unfriendly. The museum was unimpressive, and we received no information about the museum. I told Maro I wanted to visit the wine-growing region. We did - but didn't get to drink any wine or learn about the wine-making process. The visit was a huge disappointment because we drove and drove to arrive in the region... for what? On my own I wandered around and found a fancy hotel that had a wine bar... and I could have sampled wines but it was time to go... big big disappointment.

Uplistsikhe - great! Ushguli - great! Except... we drive around for 1.5 hours trying to find the place we were going to stay. I think Achiko thought Mazeri was the name of a hotel.... who knew it was a village about 30-40 minutes from Mestia? Began to lose our patience... Maro said he had communicated this to me... that we would not be staying in Mestia... I think he should have sent an updated itinerary. He may have sent the "final" itinerary... but I don't think he did.

But Mazeri the next morning was lovely... and the site for several walks 10-12 km that could have been fun to do. But... not on itinerary. Instead we got to "wander" around Ushguli... not quite like hiking/walking I had hoped to do.

Gori was interesting - especially the Stalin museum.

Martivili - no big deal. Lots of rain the day before meant that we didn't get to go on the boat ride (which apparently was not very long anyway). Why did we even go here? WE drove and drove and then walked a tiny big along the paved trail. Don't think this was much of a destination.

Borjormi was interesting... but we never went to the National Park of Borjomi...?? Walked around a park within Borjormi... a city park.... ??

Green Monastery was lovely.

Vardzia and Rabath Fortress were a lot of fun.

Accomodations;

Old Mestia hotel in Tbilisi was great.
The hotel we stayed in 2 different nights in Kutaisi - nice location; lousy mattress.
Bed and breakfast in Marzia was great - lovely hostess.
Rabath Fortress was wonderful in every way.

Food - wonderful!!! Portions were very generous, and we felt guilty for not being able to eat it all. Only not good meal was in Borjomi... we were only ones in restaurant... and we had to order the meal ourselves (which is NOT a problem at all... it is just that the food was provided at all the other restaurants we went to for lunch). To clarify - we did not PAY for the meal - Achiko did... but the whole thing seemed "off". Why was noone else at this restaurant? Why was the food not ready for us... (I know I sound spoiled: I'm not. I just want to give you the feedback that this day was different from the others, in case you didn't know).

Billing: After taking the trip, I realize I would have liked to have received more information on food provided in advance, and also an itemized bill for expenses: hotels; lunches; drivers' fee; etc. We did not know anything about the food we would be receiving (enough for a family of giants) and I don't know how much I paid for what.

Reimbursement: do we receive refunds for anything that we couldn't go - such as our missed night in Tbilisi on July 19 or the lack of a canyon ride in Martvili.

Overall, I appreciate that KimKim did all the research and arrangements so that my husband and i could visit many places in Georgia in a country that we knew very little about. I have never been this passive in planning, and it was a learning experience to travel this way. It was my choice to be passive. I think to improve your services: either an initial phone conversation or more questioning of the travelers would be helpful to flesh out for the trip planner what travel elements are important to the travelers to make sure that they experience those elements in the trip. I really wanted to do a bit of hiking and visit a wine region to learn more about wines in Georgia. Neither really happened. I did see lots of monasteries and cathedrals... but that was never really a priority for me.

Also, I originally wanted to go to Armenia and then changed my mind to go to Georgia. Small detail but Maro is located in Yerevan...????Why was he assigned to plan my trip?

We confirmed our 4 region trip a couple weeks before leaving for Columbia. Our initial consult with Lisa proved quite helpful in narrowing down the regions and activities we wanted to experience. We then were contacted by Chio who handled booking the schedule and was in contact with us throughout the trip to check that everything was going well. All of our drivers and guides were amazing - on time, super friendly and helpful for our family of 4 (mom/dad/2 older teens). Lina in Bogota provided in-depth historical context, local and urban insights to our visits to Monserrat, city walking tour (Botero, etc.), and Salt Cathedral. Jasmine was delightful when we visited the woman-owned coffee farm and guiding us hiking thru the Corcora Valley wax palms pointing out local plants. Jose guided us through the dense jungle on our hike through La Tayrona pointing out animals and local plants along the way to the secluded beach (super refreshing swimming in the clear, blue water). Braulio greeted us at our last stop in Cartagena - he is a wealth of historical, urban, and cultural knowledge -- we toured the city with him 2 afternoons. And we have to mention Carolina - probably one of the most eye-opening / moving experiences of the trip where she took us early morning to Bazurto Market and then to her restaurant (Ohlala) for cooking/eating. The boutique hotels were comfy. Meals were delicious - ginormous portions were the norm! The warm hospitality we encountered from the people we met throughout the 4 regions we visited was amazing! We will definitely visit the country again.

The agency did a great job of making ensuring my comfort during my time there. My guide mr.hicham was extremely hospitable and courteous. I throughly enjoyed my trip .my only mistake for fly Air Maroc
They delayed my flight and lost baggage and no customer service to help passengers.

The trip was very well organised by Andre. I found him to be responsive, friendly and helpful all the way through the process. We needed a change of bike (to an e-bike) at the last minute and he organised it for us. The places we stayed varied in quality. The hotel in Oslo was not bad - the rooms and feel of the place was that it was a little pokey but clean. Reception was frequently overloaded when more than a couple of guests arrived. The hotel in Gielo was pretty good. It was crowded with a bus load of tourists and the hotel had a bit of difficulty handling the numbers. The absolutely loved Balestrand and the Midtnes Hotel. The owner of the hotel really took pride in the place and could not do enough for us. We are glad we had two nights there. Bergen is a beautiful little city and we also enjoyed that. The hotel had a lot of difficulty dealing with crowds from bus loads. The staff were very friendly and worked hard but they were unable to deal with the peak periods and the place was bedlam. Our guide David was hilarious. I liked David and his tour because he didn’t really seem to know any detailed history about Bergen but gave us a good idea of the society and life of the Bergen people. It felt like a stroll around the city with a nice guy who knew a bit about the city from living there for many years. His recommendations for a good coffee shop and restaurants were spot on. The restaurant he recommended was Naboen. We loved it. Reasonable prices and very nice food and service. So his tour suited me but would not be for someone really interested in the history of Bergen. My kids thought it hilarious that outside the oldest church he read out a few points straight from the sign next to the church. Thanks again Andre for organising our tour so we’ll.

Great trip throughout. Our guides Aye, Nay and Thin was absolutely fantastic, and we had a lots of fun visiting the beautiful Myanmar. The guides gave us tips to the best vantage points to take our photos.

Laura and Natalia were our travel coordinators.
Many emails were exchanged and many questions were asked and they responded with their knowledge and experience. We were a group of 2 couples requesting specific experiences. The vehicles used were in good condition , clean and comfortable. The guides were informative , flexible and punctual. In particular Victoria, our guide in Bogota was able to gauge our interests and adapted the tours accordingly. Taking us to good restaurants and joining us for meals to help us order authentic Colombian dishes. In Cali, Natalia our young Colombian guide was excellent and passionate about showing us her hometown , she gave us a history lesson and made it fun.
Overall, the trip was well planned and organised.
A tip, be very specific and explanatory about the type of experience you want so that Kimkim can match you with the best guides and tours and the style of hotels.

The positives:
-Ibrahim planned the very jam-packed tour we hoped for (we had very limited time), and we were able to do everything we hoped for. And when an issue came up with our flights a few weeks before the tour, he was flexible in helping re-arrange some things.
-We were met every time we were supposed to be, and all on time or close to on time.
-The guides were very knowledgeable.
-The guide in Luxor (Ahmed, but the guide in Cairo was also named Ahmed) helped arrange a wonderful evening for us.

Room for improvement:
-The drivers should NEVER, EVER speak on their handheld cell phone when driving.
-There is NEVER a reason to continually quiz the client. This got very old, very fast.
-Both the guides seemed to feel the goal was to spew out as much data, information and trivia as possible. As they were both super knowledgeable, this made it become quite tedious and pretty boring. Telling the historic story, and adding facts and data to put the story in perspective, would have made the tour more fun, interesting and we likely would have learned a lot more if it had been done that way.

My first trekking on Poonhill with kimkim was fantastic from A to Z.
They managed all my itinerary according to my personnel schedual even though sudden circumstance happened due to heavy rain.
My guide, Mr. Angello and Pasang were really specialist to make me comfortable all the time even I was very bigginer on that.
In addition my coordinators, Mr. Tash and his father and his brother, they have absolutely professional attitude to their visitors.
Once again I sincerely would like to recommend someone who want to try trekking in Nepal to be with kimkim. You are never disappointed.

My trip has been amazing. Olman perfectly understood my expectations and organized it as well as I could have hoped. Strongly recommended.

Ms Hsu Hlaing was very closely in touch with us from the get-go. From the planning stage till the end of trip she kept in touch with us and our tour guides as our visit to Myanmar spanned across 3 states.

She also customised the trip to our preferences. Eg, we skipped Mount Popa and on hindsight it was a good decision as it was monsoon season and the day slated for it became an e-bike free and easy around Bagan and we were drenched before evening due to heavy rains. She also booked us lovely accommodations that wished we had more time there!

We loved our trip that (We after all only had 5 nights in Myanmar) we were able to see very much of the attractions despite the 3 transfer flights between cities. We even had free and easy time.

On top of that, on our 2nd last day, we were able to totally change the itinerary on a last minute notice because we discovered vineyards in Inle! So our morning Mountain Biking trip became a lovely market visit and wine-tasting before we flew back to Yangon.

Overall we had a 5-star experience booking through Kimkim and Hsu Hlaing and would recommend this to anyone who wishes to visit Yangon

My husband and I were celebrating several special occasions this year, one being our 25th wedding anniversary and so we decided to do something wonderful to celebrate. That’s how we thought of adding a trip to Morocco to our OS holiday. We are so pleased we did as it was an amazing experience!
Brahim went out of his way to produce a comprehensive travel package, suited to our budget and including as many local sites as possible in the allotted time. Adnane, our driver collected us from our Riad in Tanger on time and spoke perfect English so we were instantly relieved and reassured about the trip ahead. We first went to Chefchaouen which was several hours away but as the scenery changed with the climb up the mountains and Adnane provided many interesting commentary the time flew. This turned out to be how the rest of our trip would go as Adnane would not only assure our safe arrival at each destination he also endeavoured to educate, entertain and attend to our comfort/needs at all times. Our guide in Chefchaouen, Abdul, was a local gentleman who walked us through the old Médina pointing out interesting buildings or facts, so we passed a very relaxing and enjoyable afternoon in Chefchaouen. The following day we went to Fes but stopped first at the ancient Roman ruins of Volubilis. Our guide in Fes, Hafid greeted us and showed us the restaurant he had suggested for us to enjoy dinner that evening. It was perfect!
Our tour of the Médina the following day was an extraordinary experience. It would have been impossible to navigate the labyrinthine corridors without the help of Hafid who not only knew his way around but also every second stall owner, or so it seemed!
From Fes we went to Rabat, the capital of Morocco, then the following day to Casablanca and finally Marrakesh. We saw the third largest mosque in the world at Casablanca, the amazing Hussein II and then also what looked to be the worlds largest outdoor swimming pool we’d ever seen!
This was truly an amazing trip and one filled with fantastic memories and we must thank Brahim and Adnane for making it happen for us.

What an experience! Our family thoroughly enjoyed our trip to Iceland. No one, from the youngest to the oldest (ages 4 to 77), has had any negative comment.
We were there almost twelve days and really needed more time. Well, I suppose that will have to happen in a subsequent trip. We were pretty much seeing the southwest quadrant of the island, doing all the activities requested and then some. Halldor was an excellent tourist agent. It must have been quite a feat to pull together such a nice trip following our (probably strange) requests that included the interests of every individual in this family. He succeeded in doing so. He even made certain that the vehicle in which we would be traveling would be booster seat compliant for the children. Kimkim, your organization has a real treasure in this local specialist!
The lodging was very nice, family-friendly, with nice dining facilities and delightful breakfasts. I was particularly impressed by the fact that most places had an area for young children to entertain themselves while still in sight of their parents.
Our guide, Mr. S, was most accommodating to the various members of our family. He was a good choice! I never heard one complaint, even from the four-year old. Mr. S came up with activities to supplement our experiences, from the requests and questions we asked. There was plenty of participation from the oldest to the youngest. If a question arose concerning our reservations at any previously-scheduled part of our trip, Mr. S got it straightened out. He directed us when, mid-trip, we needed to have our laundry done, locate a postal facility or a bank, etc.

One person had a birthday during the trip. Mr. S oversaw the request of the two children to pick berries, and he prepared a cake to celebrate using those berries. It was delicious! He also recommended museums, eateries, woolen/gift/souvenir shops, and all of the things that one likes to become acquainted with when traveling. I thought that perhaps there would be too much time allotted to rest in the afternoons, but that was definitely not the case.
Everything we did was memorable because of the planning and direction of Halldor and the suggestions of Mr. S. We chased sheep, pointed out "dead" horses, climber a crater, fed retired horses, rode horses, took a sled-on-wheels ride pulled by huskies, counted seals, relaxed in various geothermally heated pools, watched geysers, identified birds, hiked lava fields into a lava cave, saw mushroom production before eating probably the best mushroom soup any of us had ever had, ate hot dogs and more hot dogs, walked to a waterfall, straddled a rift in the tectonic plates of North America and Eurasia, visited a museum a day I think, trolls, history of this country, Vikings, and the list goes on . This is not a trip any of us will ever forget, nor do we wish to do so; therefore, Get ready Kimkim, Halldor, and Mr. S. It may take awhile, but this family will probably be back! Thank you for everything you did to make our trip memorable.

Overall the trip was great. The activities were fantastic and varied, and it was all relatively seamless. 2 areas of feedback:

1. Some of the hotel information wasn't provided until a little later, so it gave us a little anxiety since it was our first time using the service.
2. The first hotel took payment from us even though the hotel was paid by kimkim. I think that was the hotels fault though.

Besides those 2, I am very satisfied with the service!

I appreciated the detailed itinerary and arrangements that Emanuela prepared for our Iceland trip. She had lots of activities and suggestions for how to make the most of our time there, visiting Reykjavik, the Snaefellsnes, Thingvellir, Golden Circle, and southern coast. As we travelled at a self-pace, we were not able to do all the suggestions, but I think that we got the highlights. The recommendation for the Iceland Lava Show in Vik was great, the show is informative, entertaining and interactive!

One suggestion that I have is that while the rental car (Kia station wagon) was fine, there are many places where the roads got a little rough (pot-holes in gravel). Having a little more ground clearance (such as an SUV) would have been better. Also, we didn't use the GPS much, and opted for an in-car WiFi hotspot and used our phones for navigation.

The trip was really well planned and every single arrangement just worked - even in cases where we requested modifications to the plan.

The trip was fantastic and very well planned. Choephell, our guide, was incredibly knowledgeable and attentive and thoughtful. The food on our trek was surprising and delicious; Maila is a truly amazing camp chef. One of the days of scheduled hiking was too long, almost more than we could handle, but we’d been warned about a long day and it was necessary because we had a shorter time than usual to do the trek. I guess the lesson is to make sure to ask questions and be clear in communication when planning. In any case, we definitely felt well taken care of.

Our 10 day trip to Thailand was amazing. Suwanna, our Bangkok travel agent was brilliant. She organized two airport pick-ups, eliminating the stress of finding a cab, she connected us with some interesting joined group tours, and there were some individual tours with a tour guide. My husband and I really enjoyed the personalized tours as they provided rich opportunities to connect with local people and develop an understanding of the people and culture of Thailand. Most memorable was a Bangkok foodie tour in a tuktuk. We ate food that we would not have dared sample without guidance. Our guide was a young recent university graduate. She was delightful - charming and satirical and a lot of fun. Another highlight was a trip two hous north of Chaing Mai to an elephant sanctuary in a small Karen village in the middle of nowhere. We stopped at a village market to buy food four our lunch and for the elephant. We spent time feeding the elephant and washing him in the river.