Kimkim Trip Reviews

Great trip overall. Chris was very responsive and easy to work with and has been supportive of working with me to address the few issues that did come up on the trip.

The ease of planning this trip through kimkim was one of the notable highlights of our honeymoon! Harris, our local specialist, suggested some great things for us to do that we wouldn't have been able to coordinate if we were planning the trip on our own, and he was very quick to accommodate any requests we had. Stepping off each plane or ferry to find someone with my name ready to take care of our transfers really eased a lot of the logistics of traveling. You always know that the sights & foods, and people you meet on a vacation will be highlights, but with Harris and the team at Travel 12, the actual details were also a highlight of the trip - who knew?!?

The match with the local organisation was excellent. The local organisation turned out to be very flexible.
A porter who turned ill was quickly replaced and there was a great anticipation on changing wheather conditions.
Our guide was really amazing in her organisation and motivation on the group, the clients as well as the porters.
Great work!

If I'm being honest - I was skeptical at first. I'm typically the traveler who likes to book all my own hotels, excursions and transportation. However, I came across Kimkim online as I was planning my trip to Costa Rica and decided to send an initial message. I was partnered with Randall, who ended up playing a key role in making my trip to Costa Rica unforgettable! He was very patient and flexible as I customized the 9-day itinerary, with multiple iterations, and gave many recommendations for activities and places to see during my stay. We didn't have any hiccups during our stay and all drivers arrived on time. When we first arrived at the airport, our driver even provided us with a folder of our itinerary and all vouches required for the trip. The organization was impeccable! In addition, the activities were awesome and my mom and I had a blast! Some activities included: volcano hike, hot springs, hanging bridges, waterfall hike, ziplining, butterfly garden, guided hike through Manuel Antonio park + more. I highly recommend Randall to help you plan your trip if you are thinking of going to Costa Rica and want to experience as much as possible. I definitely plan on using the Kimkim service again. Thanks Randall!

From the very first conversation to the last day there Ingrid was there to make sure we had the time of our lives in Norway for 18 days. With no detail left out and the time taken to make sure we had everything throughout our trip. She answered our questions as needed was invaluable. Meeting a local with knowledge of the area makes the difference in planning a trip. Would highly recommend this service to anyone who needs assistance in traveling and would love to have a full time travel planner! Worth every cent!

We had a truly memorable experience in Nepal. The services rendered from the start was prompt and impeccable. Thank you everyone especially Naresh, Kunga and Erin!

Overall we had a great trip to Costa Rica.
Our first 4 days of reservations were done by KIMKIM - Lily( Kim Kim guide).

Although I made it clear when booking the trip that we had 5 people we had to explain and wait extra because they needed to arrange an extra bed. The extra cost wasn't the issue it was that we had to explain and go through the same process at each hotel. Our driver Dhanuka was amazing,safe and adjusted our trip to our needs and requests. The van was new, very comfortable. I feel I could of planned a trip myself for a lower cost but it was nice to have everything taken care of. Overall it was a great trip. We love sri lanka and will definitely be back.

It was a very planned trip and the transfers were seamless. The kayaking guides Carlos and Polina were outstanding, affable and provided great service and kept us safe. Well done team!

Jess did a great job adapting to our requests and providing great suggestions. We made some changes on the fly and Jess was able to roll with it and make our trip a delight. Jess even booked us restaurant reservation and was always available.
A couple of comments and suggestions.
The city tour in Bogata really works better if you start by going up to Monsarrat then venturing into the city.
A ceviche tour in Cartagena, which we heard about from other travelers at our hotel, sounds great and we suggest you folks add it to your options.
Medellin tour to Guatapa was great .
The rum tasting was a highlight, Abraham is a great guide to the world of rum. All of our guides, while all very different were great, informative and adaptable, not going from a script.
The transportation options were good, we never waited for a driver.
We handled most of our own hotel options, we liked both the Bastion in Cartagena and the Charlee in Medillin and would recommend both hotels.

Thank you Jess we had a great time.

Best Brian and Terri

We would like to thank Randall for his fantastic planning of our trip to Costa Rica. Everything went like clockwork from the transfers to and from the airport to the transfers between areas visited and the fantastic accommodation selected for us. All trips booked (which were many) were fantastic and showed how diverse Costa Rica is as a travel destination. The Ticos are warm, friendly and welcoming people and all went out of their way to make our holiday great.
I will have no hesitation in recommending your company and paticularly Randall for any persons planning a trip to Costa Rica.

The only suggestion I would make is on checking out in Manual Antonio we had to be out of our hotel at 11am and our transfer was at 2.00pm normally this would not be a problem but with the heat and humidity it would have been nice to have a later checkout or earlier transfer (we however did not see this a a negative in any way and did not reflect at all on our enjoyment of this holiday) it is merely a suggestion.

Thank you and Pura Vida

Morag and Brett

Wonderful trip to Mexico visiting Mexico City, Puebla and Oaxaca. Perfectly organised by Jorge who arranged a fantastic itinerary based around Mexican gastronomy. Lovely hotels, excellent guides and everything worked very smoothly. Highly recommend Jorge to plan a memorable holiday in Mexico!

Tough, upexpected weather overall. Guide was great and knowledgeable, and accommodating. Had a good memorable trip as such.

Another great trip with Kim Kim. Accommodations were great, trail instructions accuracy, food amazing.
Well organized.

Max arranged an excellent trip for us.
We were met as per our itinerary and the boat, hotels and tours were all first class.
I have no hesitation in recommending KimKim and Max to anyone.
We will be using their services again.
Thank you.

Great experience....a trip of a lifetime...Mohamed was our guide, did an outstanding job, made sure we are always satisfied... he went above and beyond.

Kimkim connected my husband and I to Ngima from NMMT. We communicated via kimkim's easy online platform, and Ngima answered all our questions and suggestions in a timely and sensitive manner. Ngima's coordination of hotels, in-country flights, guides, drivers, trekking, and cultural tours were invaluable.

In Nepal, we did a day of sightseeing in Kathmandu to see Swayambhunath, Pashupatinath, and Patan Durbar Square. Our guide in Kathmandu, Kedar, was outstanding: incredibly informative, kind, and obviously well-known and liked by many in the city (everywhere we went he was greeting and shaking hands with other tour guides)! We learned a lot and would recommend all first-comers to Nepal to experience Kathmandu with a guide. The driver organized by Ngima was also wonderful and made moving around the city easy.

After sightseeing, we departed from Pokhara for the Poon Hill Trek. We were accompanied by Chhongba (guide) and Dawa (porter). Both of them ensured all our needs were well taken care of. At times, Chhongba seemed a bit checked out and spent a large amount of time on his cell phone. (Cell service appears uninterrupted for Nepalis with national coverage along this trek, which is great for safety but hearing the guides’ YouTube videos and music at teahouses took away from our desire to disconnect.) Chhongba was willing to answer the questions we asked him, but he offered relatively little information on his own. Next time we would advocate to cover more miles per day; we ended up at the teahouses and in Pokhara by 1pm the last three days of the trek and would have liked to spend more time walking each day. The trek is BEAUTIFUL, and we enjoyed every minute on the trail. Overall, Chhongba and Dawa were kind and helpful on our trek and they allowed us to relax and not worry about the details. We had a stressful exit from Nepal due to delays on Yeti airlines, and Chhongba, Lakpa (Ngima's son), and driver in Kathmandu were essential to helping us make our international flight in time.

Overall, it was a great experience!! We will highly recommend kimkim, NMMT and Nepal to friends and family. We will definitely be back to do another trek (hopefully Everest Base Camp) and would book with kimkim and Ngima again.

The trip was very well planned and all the complicated connections came off as smooth as a babies butt. Hosteleria Cuernos tent situation was the only bummer of the whole trip. They put us in a tent immediately adjacent to the large tent housing the staff for this site. The staff stayed up until one in the morning laughing loudly singing talking and keeping the exhausted travelers up. Someone needs to let them know that we are supporting their livelihood and their behavior is extremely rude and uncaring for their guests.

Paty was the best host. Every detail was perfectly arranged. She was always available during the trip for any questions.

Our 7-day excursion to Iceland went very smoothly, and we were very pleased that all the logistics involved with the reservations and itinerary planning worked out well. Except for the hike to the airplane ruin, I think we did all the recommended activities!

Before engaging with KimKim, I had considered just piecing together an itinerary and reservations by myself. In the end, I'm glad we paid the premium to have specialists organize everything. It was extremely helpful to have someone with local knowledge of the terrain and travel conditions to sketch out our daily schedule.

Driving at the end of March brought us a little more wintry conditions than I had expected. We drove through a couple of snowstorms on the Ring Road, and it was scary for some moments with zero visibility, but fortunately we had no problems. (The last time I visited Iceland was in 1997, and I skidded off the road into the snow on the way back from the Thingvellir Park. A nice family stopped and helped jack up my rental car to clear out the snow from around the tires, so all turned out well in the end.) Driving in Iceland is no joke! There were days when I was mentally planning to not be able to drive because of the weather. (But we did drive daily). It was nice that our itinerary wasn't jam packed, and we had some time flexibility.

We enjoyed every part of the trip, but our absolute favorite parts were:

-The snorkeling in the Silfra fissure: Our guide, Taz, from Arctic Adventures was excellent! She had a very sunny disposition, was very careful about getting us suited up properly and kept a good eye on us while we were in the water. I actually felt very light headed at the very end of the snorkeling route, and she had to tow me to the stairs and help me get out of the water. I felt like I was going to faint, but she was extremely attentive and helped me walk back to the parking lot without incident. I will write to Arctic Adventures directly to thank her again - Taz was truly an outstanding professional.

-The ice cave tour outside of Vík: Our guide, AJ, was great. We weren't sure if the tale he told us about the Katla eruption in 1311 was a myth or not, but he made the details very entertaining. The small cave we visited was beautiful, and the pristine, desolate surroundings were stunning. We were very glad to have been the first tour of the day, so we were able to go out and see the cave by ourselves with no other visitors around, because we were the only ones on the tour. (The other clients didn't show up.)

-The hike to Svartifoss: Wow- what a beautiful waterfall and a pretty little route to get there.

-The hike between Arnarstapi and Hellnar was a majestic path that gave us a tiny bit of solitude for a while.

Since I visited in 1997, tourism in Iceland has obviously grown exponentially. I remember going to visit Gullfoss and not seeing anyone else around for miles. This time around was obviously quite different with hordes of tourists stepping off buses.

The next time we visit Iceland, we would like to tour the north and the interior and do a lot more walking or hiking. This trip was a great introduction to the country for my husband and daughter and inspired them to also want to return someday.

Thanks for your help in making this a great experience!