Kimkim Trip Reviews

Christchurch accommodation was awesome. All accommodation was clean and comfortable. Really helpful at the Geraldine place. Loved the Vintners retreat as well.

Great trip Kimkim a big thank you

Maria was wonderful from start to finish. She picked a terrific itinerary and gave great advice on where to go and how many days to spend. All the arrangements she made went off without a hitch. She helped with changes and a traveler who had to change plans last minute due to illness. We all had a wonderful time and I would use Maria again in a heartbeat!

We just returned from our family 8 day vacation to Colombia. Jules, our specialist, helped us plan, organize and get ready for our trip. He was also available during our trip to answer questions along the way. This was so helpful.
Once we got to Colombia we had a great driver, Evan and a wonderful guide, Fabian. Fabian was an energetic, personable guide and great with our kids. He took our 10 year old son all over the beach, climbing rocks and exploring the shore. We enjoyed his genuine positive attitude.
We also enjoyed our beach time, river float and the sunset cruise!

I must say I did not have a great experience with KimKim and will not be using again.

For starters, communication took too long. I would respond to a message within seconds of receiving it and I would get a response the next day.

Secondly, when booking a tour, I had asked for a more private tour. The booking I received stated semi-private. When I asked what semi-private actually meant, how many people would be in our group, I never received a response. When I was picked up and taken to our boat tour, there was nothing private or semi-private about it. It was a regular tour boat with what seemed like 70-100 people. We were also promised a guide. There was no guide.

The price we paid seems a bit high for a large group tour that I basically could have bought a ticket through the boat company themselves and saved money.

Finally, although we were reserved as VIP. The boat had some problem on the return trip and we had to wait to take a different boat back where there was no VIP section at all. This was a waste of money in my opinion.

We had a wonderful time with our guide Watermelon. She was fun and informative. Our coordinator Ha was very helpful in planning our day before we arrived. We would recommend both of them to anyone!

Natalia at kimkim helped us with our 8 day Columbia itinerary,
that consisted of 3 days at Tayrona National Park, 2 days at Cartegena, and 3 days at Salento.
All hotels, activities, and ground transportation was arranged by Natalia.
Everything went perfect. Drivers were always on time and helpful. The hotels, while not very expensive, were perfect. (Boutique hotels that were perfect value for money).
We were especially impressed with the guides for our Cocora valley hike (full loop at 7 hours) and Tayrona hike (9 hours). Overall, we were very happy with the value we received.

My husband and I will for sure be using KimKim for future travel trips. Everything was perfect and KimKim took the headache out of putting an itinerary together.
Hands down best vacation ever!

Overall a great experience, we really enjoyed Colombia. We were in Bogotá, Medellin and Cartagena and they all were worth the visit. We had very good guides in Bogotá and I think we should have stayed longer. Our guide in Medellin (day trip to Guatapé) was really good too, he really was engaging. If I were to do it again I would arrange more guided trips with kimkim in Medellin. The last guide we had was in Cartagena and a tour of the city, our guide here was not the best guide, while she was personable, her English was hard to understand and she spoke very softly making it almost impossible in the city to hear what was being said.

Our transfers were always extremely professional, on time with only the best and most comfortable transportation for our family. I will travel again using kimkim to help me make the arrangements. I would highly recommend Colombia to other families. My kids are aged 8, 10 and 12 and together with my wife we had the family adventure that we wanted.

We had a great trip that was really well planned by Shalindra. Our itinerary was a mix of active days and optional rest days where an activity was suggested or you could relax and chill out (we generally opted for the latter on those days). Ossie was a first-time driver and he did a great job. He knew the roads (and shortcuts) around the place and he had a great sense of humour – we had some good, funny chats between the three of us. We travelled from Colombo to Tangalle to Yala National Park to Ella, then Kandy, then Sigiriya then to Colombo and out.

The highlights were the wildlife at Yala National Park and visiting a 2000 year old monastery there. Driving back from the park we were confronted by a 'tusker' – a somewhat angry bull elephant with tusks (wow). Our 'glamping' accommodation nearby was also fun – they also had great lunches. The wildlife around our Yala accommodation was simply extraordinary – so many birds and flowers. We enjoyed walking around Ella and seeing the amazing views there, and Sigiriya did not disappoint – a great climb up the rock and an amazing glimpse of some of Sri Lanka's ancient history at a very memorable location. I really enjoyed the gardens and grounds at the base of the rock. An old monastery at Dambulla (en-route to Sigiriya) was a memorable visit too, with five rooms of ancient Buddha statues and paintings. Cruising around a large lagoon the day before climbing Sigiriya was a also a wonderful experience, finished off with a fantastic traditional Sri Lankan meal where all the various ingredients for the curry were explained to you –then eaten (!)

We had a mix-up at one hotel, but Shalindra was able to step in and quickly resolve the matter –this was most appreciated. All up: a very memorable trip that will stay with us a long time.

The planning process was great but the itinerary was a little dull. We were looking for a little more adventure. Luckily our local guide was able to change our itinerary to better suit our needs.

Priya quickly understood what we wanted and arranged everything very well. She was also flexible with some changes we made, and was gracious.
All of our drivers showed up and were very courteous. The hotels were very good, no complaints there.
The best tour was to the Elephanta Caves. The guide was a local, very knowledgeable and sweet.
The weak part was that one day in Mumbai was overloaded. The guide for the day was late in the AM. We had to beg for lunch after the Elephanta Caves, which we ate in the car on the way to the "Bollywood tour." Looking back, we should have had a longer tour on day before and less on that day. Also the Bollywood tour, as it was called, was inadequate. It was a dusty old set and there was no demonstration of a shoot-out as described. The dancers were good (just three) but we had no interest in the karaoke. The tour guide there was nice enough, but the place was practically empty and it took over an hour to get there from our hotel. We didn't watch the whole Bollywood movie because it was so late by that time. I would not recommend that studio tour, and especially not during Christmas vacation when hardly anyone is working there.
We liked going to the Hanging Gardens. That day the guide was going to take us somewhere far away, I can't remember where, but we were tired of traveling in cars so we said no. I think overall in Mumbai attention must be paid to the travel factor. It's not something I had thought to ask about.

Thank you very much for arranging my trip to Kerala in India.
Over all the experience was very good and I had an enjoyable time.
My driver was very nice and keen to please, his English was sufficient.
I thought The Brunton Boat Yard was very good as were the staff.
The Flamingo Marari was also very nice, loud speakers broadcasting a religious festival made sleeping a little tricky! The hotel was also not exactly on the beach which was a little disappointing but not disastrous.
The boat house was fine for what it was.
Cardamom County was very good and the entertainment on NYE was also good, they tried hard to make it special.
Rivulet Resort I did not like, I the room was basic and a little run down, I found the restaurant staff awkward and not particularly friendly, there was no atmosphere, the hotel did not have a swimming pool which I expected.
The guide in Thekkady was good as was the guide in Fort Cochin. The guide in Munnar was not that good.
With kind regards
Jason

Felix put together the vacation of a lifetime. Everyone we came in contact with was incredibly professional and friendly. Tom, Tifiin and Magda were fantastic and super helpful with getting us around and seeing the northern lights. Pierre gave us probably our favorite experience with the dog sledding. Best day ever! Mark was extremely helpful and informative on our snow mobile adventure.
I can't wait to see the next vacation adventure that Kimkim puts together for us.
Thanks again!

Our trip to Jordan was perfect. Every detail was taking care of by Tamara and her team. We were taking care of from the moment we arrived until the moment we left. No complaints at all. It was a wonderful trip from start to end thanks to the detailed planning and assistant from Tamara and her wonderful guides. Loved it. Highly recommend.

Amanda and Himalayan Trails were amazing at planning a customized trip for my honeymoon. It was such a memorable experience. Exactly what we needed although we couldn't explain it exactly at the start...she knew what we wanted.

And execution was flawless. A few things on my trip didnt work out (flights, altitude sickness) but Amanda managed to adjust the trip on the spot each time with no extra cost or headache.

Wonderful experience. Unique memories.

Overall, we had a wonderful experience on our 12 day tour of Jordan. Lena did a great job planning our itinerary with us. We had different drivers which we were not expecting at the beginning of the trip but need up having Haithan for 6 days at the end and really enjoyed working with him! He was a super guide, went out of his way to introduce us to new restaurants, new experiences, was always on time and shared interesting information with us and was very flexible.

We would definitely book with you again!

Many thanks,

Cassie Carroll

Thank you KimKim team for my bespoke tour of Nepal. Ngima organised my itinerary customising the places I wanted to visit.
Lakpa Thapa and Saraswoti were always on time to accompany me and fill in the details of the places I visited and I thoroughly enjoyed my stay in Nepal
Thank you
Subha Naidu
Sydney Australia

Jess was very helpful in planning the trip and made all the changes we wanted. Laura took over and was super helpful when we needed to make a couple of changes part way through the trip. She was quickly responsive over What's App which made it much easier for me to communicate with her than through email. At one point we needed to go to the hospital and Laura arranged private transport for us at the last minute from Taganga to Cartagena and found out hospital recommendations for us which was very helpful, especially when we were stressed out about the situation.

Rio Claro was terrific, we loved everything about it. The activities there were also crazy cheap (like 8 USD to go rafting!)

The Los Nevados Trek was beautiful and incredible. Highly recommend this trek. I would not recommend the guide that we got though. He was nice enough but didn't interact with us much and was not a great guide. He didn't bring very good food, had a water filter that was not appropriate for group use (small in-line water filter for himself), and told us the water was fine to drink "because it didn't look that dirty." (even though he was filtering his own water and the other guides for other groups were like "do NOT drink the tap water! It's definitely not safe to drink!" We were fairly cold at night. I would have liked to bring my own water filter and a sleeping bag in hind sight. (I was told we didn't need them.) Also, there was an error with the pick up for the trek in the morning. We were told 10 am by the travel agent and got picked up at 5 am by the guide. (Something to work out for the future.)

The transportation arrangements were invaluable with private transport.

Both Shalindra and our driver / guide Ash performed with professionalism, flexibility, and precision to provide an exceptionally satisfying experience in Sri Lanka. I would not hesitate to use their services again.

We just completed our first vacation with Kimkim support - and we absolutely loved it! Our family of four travels a lot, and we consider ourselves pretty sophisticated travelers. Our trip was to Nepal where my wife and I lived for a year 15 years ago - so why Kimkim, you might wonder? I sure did, initially! I stumbled over their website and loved it (and Nepal info I can judge, I feel) and then started my online discussion with Amanda from Kathmandu-based Himalayan Trails. She was incredibly available and quick and proactive in her responses. Based on her recommendations, we added a few real gems to our itinerary: Two nights at an herb farm just outside Bhaktapur - rammed earth homes which are beautiful and home grown food which was amazing. A final night at Traditional Homes Swotha in Patan, a beautifully restored Newari house in an unbeatable location.
Amanda met with us at the beginning of our trip and even loaned us a simple local phone...invaluable as our US Iphones did not accept the local SIM cards.
Beyond some great recs, everything organized by Kimkim was top notch: The jeeps were a bit better than what we could find ourselves (and you do want the AC to work when you drive through KTM!) - and Amanda was incredibly helpful when we had to make a late adjustment to our itinerary.
Overall a truly memorable trip, made possible by the incredible support Amanda and Himalayan Trails provided!