Kimkim Trip Reviews

The guides were all fantastic and look after us all very well.

We had a wonderful time with Responsible Treks!

Responsible Treks is a great touring company with a respectable business model and mission. By mainly hiring employees from a single, impoverished village high in the Himalayas, they are providing a way for members of the village to earn a living outside of the mountains. Our guide was Sonam and our porter was the famous dancing and singing Nirmal.

Our trek was a 7-day/6-night hike through the south Annapurna Conservation area. The highlight of the trip was being on top of Poon Hill for the morning sunrise! If the afternoon weather was clear, we would have tried to climb up for sunset instead - the mornings can be very crowded with fellow tourists. However, it was still well worth the climb.

We would choose Responsible Treks again!

A stand out negative- the Oscar hotel in Petra is not clean and is very tired and smoky. I asked for simple but clean. We ended up moving to the move pick for our second night. I would remove it from your hotel list.

We also had three different drivers all were nice and efficient but better to have one that can tell a few stories. They were very reliable and punctual though.

Otherwise Jordan was fantastic. Thank you.

The guides were excellent especially Chiring and KB. They were very attentive and helpful. The whole journey of trekking and places and people and views we passed thro were so awesome and amazing .

My wife and I just returned from a 12 day (Sept 30-Oct 12) road trip around the island of Sicily. We worked with Marianne to book our car, places to stay and visit, and local guides. I started to work with Marianne back in early 2018 and she delivered on all counts.

The itinerary for each day provided us many interesting things to do, as well as plenty of time for us to explore this beautiful island. All accommodations were very comfortable and inviting. There were a few in which we would gladly return without hesitation. Our local tour guides were excellent! We were with guides at the Vally of Temples, Villa d'Casele, Syracuse, and Palermo. It was great having our own guide, not like the oters in groups, 30-40, following one person. Our guides also knew of ways to bypass long lines, a great thing at the Valley f the Temples.

During the trip, Marianne was always just a text message away, but we didn't need much from her, since the trip was well planned in advance.

Overall, an excellent experience/vacation/trip! Our first time using KimKim, and not our last I'm sure.

Richard & Brigette

Max, the local specialist, did an outstanding job planning our two week tour through China. We moved around alot during the two weeks (planes, trains, boats, etc) and everything went smoothly. We were always met by local tour guides who ALL did a fantastic job showing us around China. Max put together a fantastic itinerary and even called us in China to make sure everything was going well. We will definately use KimKim again for future travels. (This will be our second trip using KimKim - my family visited Iceland in the summer of 2017). Iceland trip was outsanding too.

Ayu was so helpful and professional in booking our trip to Bali. With all the information available online, it is overwhelming to know where to go or what to do. She gave us invaluable information on which beach city was the least touristy and helped us come up with an itinerary that minimized travel time. Our Guide Leni and Driver Mady were so warm, personable and helpful throughout our trip. It was an amazing experience.

Jorge turned around a complete tour with under 24hrs notice. The tours were informative with great guides and delivered exactly what we asked for. Thanks!

Everyone I dealt with was absolutely wonderful! Very friendly and helpful. Chris did a great job!. Heimir was an excellent tour guide! It was so amazing to be greeted so warmly by everyone at the coffee break. Bjorg greeted all of us with a warm smile and a handshake. The tour was outstanding!!

The Nar-Phu trek was superbly organised, kimkim tours were great to deal with, Amanda was fantastic to deal with and very knowledgeable and our guide and porter were both brilliant and so helpful and fun to do the trek with. Would recommend the trek to anyone looking for a extremely interesting and varied out of the way trek and certainly would have no hesitation in recommending using kimkim tours.

Very interesting trip, the guide Yuhan was knowledgable , friendly and extremely good

Overall I had an amazing experience trekking the three passes. Lots of amazing views, Our Guides Mingma and Cher Sherpa, kept us safe whilst our friendly porters helped transport the bulk of our stuff. I felt a little bad about porters carrying my things, but then I was made aware that it does give porters a job to earn money for them and their family and can be a gateway to becoming guides themselves.

We did have some transportation issues too and from Lukla because of poor weather conditions but alternative travel was arranged via helicopter thanks to Ngima (the tour group manager ) who has been organizing trips for years and has developed a lot of useful contacts in such circumstances.

I would say there are a lot of advantages in traveling with a guided group I believe they get more of a Priority when it comes to booking ahead in teahouses etc (another thing you wont have to worry about). And as mentioned above if transport becomes an issue alternatives can be looked at instead of sitting at an airport waiting for a few days in hope that the whether will clear up.

I would recommend our tour group due to their experience with dealing with any problems that might arise during the trip, and I believe paying a little extra for that is definitely worth paying for.

I had a wonderful trip from start to finish. Lisa was the BEST travel agent in assisting me in organising my wonderful trip to Colombia who has also turned into a wonderful friend. She was very patient and accepting of all the changes, questions, additions that I had in organising my holiday and I would highly recommend her to anyone who wished to book their travels to Colombia. I would personally like to recommend and thank German in Medellin and Carlos in Salento for being wonderful people and being so passionate about their country and being wonderful tour guides during my visit. The places I stayed in Colombia I think made my trip that much more special as I stayed mostly at little B&B type places that had a more personal and local touch. I loved especially my stays in Santa Marta (Casa Verde) and Salento (Posada del Cafe) which had such a unique and wonderfully local touch to them with the loveliest people running them. I couldn't recommend Kim Kim highly enough for my trip through Colombia. It was the first time I have every used the company so I was a bit apprehensive at first but I could not fault the service at all. Everyone I came into contact with were so genuinely nice and friendly and all the guides very knowledgeable and fun. Thank you for a wonderful holiday and thank you Lisa for putting it all together for me and for being a loveliest person to deal with throughout my booking with Kim Kim! I can't thank you all enough. I loved every single minute of my time in Colombia.

We had a wonderful trip organised by Carmen. We were able to see Wadi Rum, Petra and Dead Sea. The whole experience has been breathtaking and it will remain in our memories for a long time. Our driver Mustafa was always prompt and ensured that we were taken to the places of the visit as per our Itinerary. We loved this trip and will recommend to our Friends as well.

We had a lovely time in Japan and enjoyed getting to know the culture and the people. We now know the people of Japan are very polite and patient people willing to help us when we needed, even though language was not always possible they were very helpful. Our first guide was Seiichiro Hara which we knew as Hara walked our legs off for 8 hours which we have discovered was not necessary as we could have done a few taxi for some of the walks between some of the places Hara took us. We also were a bit shocked that we had to not only pay for our tickets on one tour but we had to pay for Hara's as well maybe that was not the right thing for Hara to do. Our guide for Kyoto was Wakako Nakagawa and she was amazing she listened to us and took us to places we were interested in and even took us shopping to the right places to get the things we were looking for and told us about other places we could go to get other things. Still taking us to see all the places we wanted to see about Kyoto. Our guide for Nara was Reiko Karita who was very knowledgeable on Nara and its history and had great suggestions for us to see and wasn't worried about taking a taxi when needed. Reiko was also very easy to talk to about life in Japan. One highlight for us was speaking to school children who were learning English and wanted to ask us questions they were delightful.

Our trip was amazing! From start to finish we were taken care of. Sharif and his crew were very friendly and their hospitality was great. Sharif was very knowledgable about the area, spotting Mantas, Dolphins and baby sharks! We had some enforced changes to our itinerary, as we were unable to see Padar island which was a disappointment, but we always had interesting places to go, snorkel and view the wildlife. The crew cooked us a banquet for every meal, so we never went hungry! The facilities were basic, but we had everything we needed.

The highlights of the trip were definitely the animals we saw. The Komodo dragons on Komodo island, swimming with Manta Rays at manta point and watching the flying foxes exodus in their millions against the backdrop of the sun setting were really special.

The 3 days on the boat were an amazing experience and we would both highly recommend it to anyone.

Chris was very flexible in the modifications we made to our schedule and had some on the spot great suggestions along the way.

I joined a group departure on Manaslu Circuit and was very satisfied with everything, we had a great knowledgeable guide who made sure everything was ok, the porters were also great, the whole trip went smoothly, amanda was very helpful and always answered my question quickly, she also helped me to arrange a car which drove me to chitwan after the trek, no complains :)

We used Why Jordan travel agency based in Petra through KimKim. When you arrange a holiday where you are reliant on the tour operator for your driver and guides you put yourself totally in their hands.
Tamara from Why Jordan worked with us to plan the 6 day trip across Jordan taking in Jerash, Petra, Wadi Rum and the Dead Sea. It was a whistle stop tour and every step of the way the events unfolded as previously planned. From the reception at the airport including sorting the visas to our driver Mohammed who was with us for the entire trip it ran like clockwork and provided us with a very personal experience.
The places were amazing and the guides were always extremely friendly and knowledgeable whether it was trekking from little Petra or walking round the temple of Artemis. Our Driver was also a mine of local knowledge and in our eyes exceeded his brief along with always being on time he was able to show us Jordan on route to the planned locations.
Everyone we met throughout our trip contributed to an amazing holiday and we would happily recommend KimKim and Why Jordan along with the country and its people to anybody planning such a trip. Jorden is a place everyone should experience and we feel privileged to have been.
Peter and Theresa.

My trip to Nepal was rather unique in that I was taking my Chinese girlfriend and her 20 year old niece. Their idea of Trekking was wearing high heels to the mall! not that they don't enjoy a good walk for a picnic outside...they just aren't wired for Nepali Trekking. I explained the kind of adventure to that I wanted to provide them and Erin our trip planner pit together the absolutely perfect trip with just the right amount of adventure and luxury. It took several months to get the itinerary just right, but Erin patiently adjusted every day plan to meet our exact desires. We really left every detail up to her and the trip could not have gone smoother from the moment we landed to the minute we departed Nepal. Erin met us the first day at the hotel...gave us a great orientation and went over every day of the trip in detail. She then proceeded to walk us to her favorite money xchange house and then to the best restaurant in the area. The attention to our needs was amazing. Erin and Raj the trip manager checked on us at every stage of the trip to make sure everything was going to plan. They even met us at the airport with a mobile phone preprogrammed with important contact numbers? Who thinks of these details. The guides, the drivers, the hotels and every persoin involved in our trip was outstanding. Erin even met us on the last day at the hotel for a casual debreifing to help her smooth out any trouble spots in the operation for the next guests. Attention to detail makes the difference and KIMKIM knows how to manage the details. We had 14 days, five different destinations, tours almost everyday and everything ran like clockwork. two thumbs up! A+