Kimkim Trip Reviews

Preeti and Halldor did an excellent job of designing an itinerary for us to explore the island via the ring road over a 2 week period. Halldor made great suggestions for hikes and exploring the less visited areas of the West Fjords. We were amazed at the variety of landscapes, waterfalls, and birds we saw on our adventures and we can't wait to come back! Thank you for a terrific trip!

We traveled to Greece early June 2019. Harris was our Kim Kim local specialist who helped us plan the trip. He was always responsive and helped us refine the trip down to each detail. He was in touch with us throughout the trip as well, providing tips and suggestions , making sure everything was going as planned and problem solving as needed. Our trip was in two parts. The first part was just two of us traveling in the Peloponnese Peninsula with a car rental. The boutique hotels we stayed in were perfectly comfortable and friendly, with a lovely breakfast . The breakfast at the hotel in Napflio (Amymone and Andiande suites) included everything fresh from the owner's farm. In Mystra, ( Mazaraki Guest House) our breakfast was served in a basket delivered to our room so we could eat on our balcony overlooking the beautiful valley. All historical sites and tours with private guides were impressive and fascinating to say the least. We toured Olympia with our excellent guide Antonia , and Mycenae and Epidaurus with the knowledgeable guide Ilias. In Olympia we had a very charming meal at the Bacchus Inn which if we had more time we would have stayed there over night along with enjoying their hillside pool and excellent house wines. The food and wine everywhere was always outstanding especially the remarkable seaside village of Limeni where we feasted on FRESH seafood that was caught and grilled very near to our waterside table. Nafplio was also a wonderful seaside town with many outside dining spots and unlimited fun small boutiques. Another highlight was our visit to Monemvasia, which was an ancient island village on the Aegean sea, one of a kind, with soaring views of the turquoise blue water. Our auto rental was an Audi 3 which was perfect for the winding sometimes narrow Greek roads and on the perfectly engineered smooth highways.
The second part of our trip was returning to Athens to meet with our three adult children. Our welcome dinner at Mauro Provato ( Black Sheep) was excellent. We toured the remarkable Acropolis. It was extremely crowded. I had been there 38 years ago and at that time was on the rock with myself and a traveling companion and not another soul! Such a difference!! We visited the market place named Monestraki where the shopping was exciting and very worthwhile. We traveled on to the islands of Mykonos, Naxos and Santorini by high speed ferry. The ferries were a wonderful way to travel, very comfortable and fast! We enjoyed a "strawberry moon" festival in Mykonos, a wonderful hike with our brilliant guide Matina and a Greek night of dancing and plate smashing at the Flamingo on the water front in Naxos. On Santorini, we enjoyed the breathtaking views of the caldera, shopping, an ebike tour at sunset (with guide Dimitri) and a catamaran sunset cruise and barbecue, our favorite event . We sailed to three different beaches and could swim off the boat at each location. The cliffs and colors were amazing. Thanks to Harris and Kim Kim for helping us plan this wonderful journey.

Thanks for a fantastic trip. We loved the experience and our time spent in Norway. Thank you to Andre for making it a memorable occasion. From tailoring the experience to our liking to being flexible in adding day guides at places we wanted. I have to say overall we were very satisfied.
I do have two suggestions for improvements. Both are not under your control, so just future recommendations. 1. Oslo city center is very noisy during the summer evenings and without air conditioning we are force to keep windows open in the hotel room, which leads to late lot of street noise and sleepless nights. 2. During Norway holidays, nothing is operational. Including restaurants, transport or even grocery stores. Need to account for those especially if you are in remote locations like Kalvag.

From our local area specialist, Abdellah, to our driver to our constant guide, Abderrahim, to our local guides in both Fez and Marrakech, our trip could not have been ANY better. A great example of this was, as soon as I notified Abdellah, of some concerns I was reading of our Sahara Desert accommodations (while ON the trip), he immediately investigated and decided to make changes, which were WONDERFUL (I had not wanted to say anything just off reviews, but glad I did, and he agreed, that changes since we booked had been made to the accommodation, and he was unaware, until I notified him). I NEVER use full service tours such as this, as we are very seasoned travelers, but given our shorter trip (6 days), I did not feel there was any room to leave things to chance, and am SO GLAD we selected both KimKim and Abdellah! Cannot recommend enough! This "seasoned" traveler will be using KimKim for future adventures for sure!

No one can predict the weather, but even with half the trails covered in slow, we were able to navigate with very little worry. Olivier was great to deal with, and we look forward to planning another trip some day.

You driver was phenomenal. Had a wonderful trip and plan on returning.

My 16 year old daughter and I had the trip of a lifetime, thanks to KimKim and Tasos' planning! Firstly, Tasos was incredibly patient and helpful as we tailored the trip to fit my budget and my daughters dreams (there were several incarnations of this trip before we finalized the best version). And we were not disappointed! It was the perfect mix of tours (private, small group and large group), down-time and free-time. So glad we made a two nights stay in Athens to take in the sights with a super cool semi-private "Mythogical Tour". On Santorini, our hike from Fia to Oia with Georges was a definite highlight. What an excellent guide; funny, interesting and knowledgeable. He definitely had the inside scoop and helped us avoid the crowds and see some really beautiful sights. Throughout the trip our lodging was excellent. The Agean Gem, on Santorini was above and beyond expectations. The hotel is impeccably clean, beautifully decorated and in an amazing location, very close to the beach, beautiful hiking and within walking distance to the outdoor cinema (which I highly recommend).

The rafting trip was well organised and a great day out !

Planning process with Hsu Hlaing was very smooth and she obviously had a lot of experience. She was very responsive, communicative and proactive and made the whole experience getting our ideal itinerary so easy as a local expert.

Both our guides, Tunn tunn in Mandalay and Min in Bagan were excellent - friendly and professional and had so much to share with us about the history, people and culture of Myanmar.

Overall a great experience and would highly recommend for planning your dream trip with minimum fuss!

My husband and I took our four children (ages 11, 8, 5 and almost 2) and my mother-in-law (aged 60+) to explore Iceland on an 11-day Ring Road tour. Preeti was excellent in assessing our desire to see as much as possible, while being realistic as to what was possible given the ages of our crowd and the duration of our trip. The itinerary that she curated for us was excellent. The accommodations were fantastic -- cozy, spacious and conveniently located. Whenever an issue came up -- once with our rental car and with our accommodations in Reykjavik -- Preeti and her team (Pauline and Halldor) were quick to respond and followed-up until the issue was resolved, checking back-in with us to make sure we were satisfied. Communication through the app is easy and convenient. We had a great time and would definitely use kimkim again. We especially recommend horseback riding in Husavik with Madja at Saltvik Horse Stables (she could not be more attentive with my daughters, both beginner riders), Into the Glacier at Husafell (the entire team was excellent, although it is a long experience and younger children are likely to get cold and wet and miserable towards the end), and glacier hiking at Skaftafell with Icelandic Mountain Guides (Till was awesome, but note that this is a long hike and younger children may get tired towards the end). Too many great experiences to choose from -- we are exhausted in a good way!

Trip was great. Andre was very responsive to our questions. We had a tour guide cancelation on the first day and he quickly found us another. He also quickly helped verify our kayaking trip when the company had questions about a voucher #.

A few thoughts about the locations:
We didn't know what to expect at each location, and relied on the local experts for that. That being said, Bergan was a nice jumping off point. Flam was probably our favorite mainly because of the bike ride and kayaking. 3 days there was just right because we had activities planned for each day. Had there not been any activities, there is nothing to do there as it's a cruise ship port with nothing but tourist shops. The hotel was nice in Bergan and Flam.
The visit to Bordund on our way to Skei was great. Skei didn't have much to do as it seemed like a midpoint between driving destinations. The hotel there was just ok.
The next stop was Gerainger. The location of the hotel was amazing. This was another tourist/cruise ship stop. We never went down into town as there wasn't much to see there. instead we went on some nice hikes up to the waterfall and up to the viewpoint of the fjord above the hotel. That was very nice. The last stop was Alesund. I read a lot about this town and everything written said it was an amazing town, lots to see and do. We had 3 nights there which was 2 nights too many. Walking around the town, it was nice, but it looked like any other mid size European town. There also wasn't a whole lot to see. When looking at activities to do in town, almost every one was something that we had already done (day trip to Gerainger, Stave Churches, kayaking....). There really didn't seem like a whole lot to do there. The day long road trip to Trollstigen was really nice. I found a few other stops along the way which made it more interesting (Andalsnes and Valldalen didn't offer much to see).

Overall, the countryside was incredibly beautiful and we wouldn't have been able to see it had we not rented a car and drove through the smaller villages and towns. Kimkim was very helpful in arranging the tip, but some of the locations didn't offer much to see.

Thanks again!

Olman did a fantastic job arranging our trip to Costa Rica. We were very happy with the hotel recommendations as well as activities that were pre-arranged. Transportation was flawless. Various drop-offs and pickups were all right on time. I changed my plan mid trip , and Olman sent new itinerary within a few hours. Great job.

Our trip to Greece was lovely. The guides were wonderful, and the itinerary covered what we had asked for - archeology, mythology, and some family relaxation time. The visit to the family farm / vineyard was especially memorable for our entire family. Hercules, a guide that we had in Nafplio, was also wonderful interacting with the kids- teaching my youngest all about the local plants, and talking to my older two about Scouting in Greece.
The primary reason that I am giving 4 stars instead of 5 for our local specialist was that I didn't receive the confirmation numbers - particularly for our car and hotel until just a few days before our departure. I believe they were booked beforehand, and would have appreciated having those numbers "in hand" for my own comfort.

It was a great trip - and I would use Kimkim again!

Highly recommend KimKim and will use them again on my next big adventure! The travel company with whom KimKim matched us, Royal Silk Holidays was fantastic! Our main travel planners, Suwanna and Supi were great during the planning phase. Great communicators and truly tailored our trip for our interests and budget, making as many changes as we required. Our Thailand private tour guide, Niracha Saksopin (Pom) was fantastic! She and her driver were a huge part of our excellent experience. We will request her on our next visit.
Our outdoor "adventure" experience with 8 Adventures was phenomenal! Highly recommend them! Our guides, were top notch! Our 4-wheeler guide was kind, fun and attentive. Our hiking and home-stay guides, Oat and Jafu were terrific! The Lahu home-owner for our village home stay, Pim Weda, was so very nice and hospitable.
Our "Elephant Owner for a Day" experience at Patara Elephant Farm was even better than expected! Highly recommend!
Finally, the beautiful boutique hotel, Yaangcome Village was absolutely wonderful! Highly recommend!

Hi there,

I was skeptical of using an impersonal travel service like this, but it worked out fantastic and I guess this is the way of the future. I am a single female traveler and usually go alone. Myanmar was intimidating to me so I hired KimKim to help me out. I will definitely use them again. Everything was set up exactly as they stated. The price was reasonable. They were with me every step of the way. They tailored my six day trip to Myanmar perfectly. The guides on the ground were flexible, spoke English, and super helpful.

Most importantly as a single travel, I felt 100 percent safe. I loved Myanmar in large part because of the experience that KimKim set up through the guides. I will use them again (did I say that already?!).

Some small nuanced notes: I chose the least expensive lodging choices. In doing it again, I would work more closely with KimKim on the lodging. One location was very far outside Yangon city center. I liked the place but the location was not ideal. The hotel/guest house set me up with a sim card and Grab so I could get around the city using this service (the Asian version of Uber). It only cost about $2 to drive the 15 minutes into town.

Also, very nuanced, I had a hard time leaving Myanmar. My guide helped me buy some jade rocks in the market. We didn't get a receipt as it was only $20 at a place that was not the kind of establishment with official receipts. However, when departing Myanmar, I was immediately confronted by Customs after the X-ray of my bags. I was accused of exiting the county with "precious" stones without a receipt and they were confiscated. The guide should have known that would have been an issue. If I had a receipt, it probably would have been fine. It could have got dicey. It did not. I lost $20.

I don't consider the rock incident KimKim or the guide's faulty. Myanmar is still emerging tourism. It was ultimately my fault as a tourism 101 will teach you to get receipts.

See you for the next trip KimKim,
Megan

Our 15 day tour with our guide and driver Sanjaya was most enjoyable. We visited most of the main tourist sites. Sanjaya was both knowledgeable and informative about the history and culture of this beautiful country and was a confident and competent driver. We really enjoyed his company and attention to detail. He took a little extra care to show us some of the foods and fruits of the island and always knew a good place to eat.

The various types of accommodation were just as we had requested them. All of them were reasonable in price, clean and with the basic amenities that we needed. We didn't want anything flash and yet we wanted an opportunity to meet people. The accommodation arranged met those requirements. We stayed in hotels, homestay, a safari camp and self contained BnB types of accommodation. Of particular note were our homestay at Alex's Homestay in Kandy where we enjoyed home cooking and great conversations with our hosts. They were lovely people. In Jaffna, we stayed at D'Villa with Raj and his team and once again enjoyed his company and his home cooked Sri Lankan breakfasts. He loved a chat and was always on hand to provide information or assistance.

The Lion Rock at Sigiriya was most impressive though we needed some help from the guides to climb the 1 200 steps. We could only marvel at the ingenuity of the third century artisans and craftsmen who built the water gardens and sculpted the rock formations. Similarly, the rock temple at Anuradhapura , with its beautifully sculpted Buddha and ancient roof paintings, captivated us. indeed, all the temples in the various cities were of great interest to us, particularly with Sanjaya's guidance and information on their part in the culture of the country. We were disappointed not to be able to explore the highland tea country a little more because of the weather - foggy and rainy.

In summary, we believe we got great value for money and, despite arriving at a difficult time after the Easter bombings, we felt safe and comfortable wherever we went. We can certainly attest that the situation is well in hand and encourage people to come and experience this magnificent country and meet its friendly people.

Thanks to the folk at Kimkim for putting together a fantastic trip.

Overall itinerary was well planned and hotel selection was superb with good location and services except for the following :

1) Hotel Splendid Nice, who did the dinner booking for us, failed to inform us of the change in restaurant. We had a nasty shock when we went to the given restaurant and found it to be empty of furniture. The alternative restaurant we managed to locate was poor with meat dishes.

2) Hotel in Forcalquier is an excellent resort hotel, but is located 2 km from town. Taxis service was hard to come by and under the terrible heat wave, we were thankful that the hotel get their staff to send us to town and later, after much frustration in trying to get taxis, arranged for their staff to bring us back to the resort.

Marion, the local guide in Nice for the gourmet walk about was very friendly and gave us plenty of information about Nice. Marc who brought us to Monaco was a responsible guide. The Aix walking tour guide, Arthur, was very helpful and gave insights of Aix En Provence, Remy, our guide from Aix to Marseille is a cheerful and caring guide that provide plenty of information about the places we visit.

Overall Simon has done a good job in arranging this tour. It would be better if we can have a communication link such as what's app established before the tour start. We were on our own on first night when we found the restaurant we were supposed to have dinner was closed, and we didn't know then it was the hotel who arranged it. My attempt to reach Simon by phone went straight to voicemail.

Ingrid was fabulous. She planned our trip perfectly and was always quickly available and pleasant to work with when I had questions. I would highly recommend kim kim and Ingrid.

I am so glad I found this site. I was able to describe our interests, and Isabel put together a very nice itinerary that hit all our interests and maximized the use of our limited time, but still had some down time built in. Having a local "shepherd" us, first from the airport onto the bus/hotel, and then each morning to the group activity, took so much stress off of us (standing in line, buying tickets, wondering where the meet point was, etc.). We have traveled in many countries, but this by far was maybe the smoothest and best thing I've ever done -- all the comfort of a local who speaks the language without the constraints of being tied to the same group/same activities each day. Once in Puerto Ayora, Karina checked us into the hotel and explained the itinerary for the coming week, including what activities, recommended footwear, etc. Karina was both personable and efficient - always on time to the minute, with the taxi right on time as well - no stress at all. The group tour (hiking and snorkeling - our two favorite things) with Fausto on Santa Cruz was a big highlight - great tour!

Sortiria organized everything very well. Her suggestions about what to see and do when were excellent.

The car rental was excellent, and the enterprise agent was very helpful.

The hotels / Guesthouses were all good - the best room was the Stracta hotel. In general the hotels all had winter blankets, and for many the windows did not open very wide so we were quite hot given the weather. It would be great if hotels could use the "layering concept" that hikers use for their clothes when the plan the blankets for their beds.