Kimkim Trip Reviews

Overall working with kimkim was a great experience. Norway in winter was beautiful. The best was wisely saved for last. Or experience at Trasti & Trine was magical. Hannah, or dogsled guide was terrific and Johnny's food was an event every meal. We will definitely be back and will use kimkim again.

booking process was easy, feel fees are a bit high could consider flat fees rather than a percentage of total costs.

Experience Morocco provided a great itinerary and their service was impeccable. Our driver, Amin, was courteous, knowledgeable and spoke very well english.

the local guides were amazing providing a broad range of information as well as local culture and spots.

I recently visited Nepal for the first time. I used Kimkim because I wasn't familiar with the country and I didn't have much time to plan the trip personally. Using Kimkim was the best decision I could have made.

Kripa from Himalayan Trails was helpful beyond belief and provided an itinerary that was exactly what I was looking for. She arranged the accommodations, guides, and all other logistics. Although it seemed somewhat expensive up front I realized I got an extraordinary deal! I look forward to using Kimkim and Himalayan Trails again soon.

Highly highly recommend it.

Carmen organized a perfect first trip to Jordan for us, and our driver, Azzam, could not have been a better ambassador for Jordan. We saw and explored wonderous sites and take home with us wonderful memories. The value for money spent was excellent. The hotels were good value with the exception of the Grand Hotel in Madba, which was sub standard. We highly recommend Carmen and KimKIm!

I found the web platform and payment method a bit challenging as I was travelling with a group. Marie-Lou was generally prompt in responding to me. It would have been better if we could have talked directly to Mauricio, our guide for the wine tours as he had a plan that would have involved less driving. We went the way I requested but that was because I really didn’t understand the driving times/traffic etc. However, we did enjoy driving up the coast from San Antonio to Valparaíso as we were able to see where Chileans spend their summer holidays.
Mauricio was very good - he was always striving to give us a good experience. The wineries he chose were so diverse that we were always surprised that we were learning something new. Mateo and Leo were our guides for touring Santiago, were very good at answering questions and giving us options (such as walking or driving through the city center). Going up the gondola for the city view was a highlight.
The hotels - Hotel 17 in Valparaíso - great location, beautiful rooms with amazing views, Good breakfast, but a little run down and it could have been a little cleaner. Inca Hotel in Los Andes, Great pool area, good location, good breakfast, modern looking but moldy showers! Hotel Torremayor Lyon - nice neighbourhood, very good breakfast but this once very beautiful hotel needs renovations - it wouldn’t even look that bad if the floors were cleaner and stains removed from upholstery and carpets. The pool was very grubby.
Our guides and drivers definitely made this trip enjoyable and informative and I would recommend them to anyone. I would also use Kimkim in the future as it is a good way to find customized, unique travel experiences.

Our 4 day trek in Nepal was fantastic. Gelu was a great guide, took it at a nice pace and looked after us all.
I loved the different terrains we walked through. Meeting the locals and being thoroughly looked after.
The trek was a good challenge, long days but do able and very rewarding.
We were lucky with the weather, a little snow storm the afternoon we reached base camp but it added to the mood. Getting up early in the freezing cold to summit was a struggle, but to get outside to see clear starry skies was amazing.
We stuck in, and made it to the summit just in time to see the sun rise. It was breath taking (the walk up and the views). The mountain range standing tall, fantastic view of mt Everest and surrounding mountains. Out of this world! Definitely felt I had accomplished something. Smiles all round!!
A massive thank you to Gelu, Tongba and the two porters! A trip we will never forget.

Goody and Ziggy showed our group parts of Iceland that few tourists get to experience. We climbed to the bottom of a large crevasse on Mýrdalshreppur Glacier and had the whole location to ourselves. Ziggy gave us a personal tour of Midgard Base Camp and Goody introduced us to the owner of Hotel Ranga whose entertaining stories were “mostly true”. These personal touches made for an amazing trip.

Working with Sophie from L'Objectif France was great. She took the time to phone me to ask important questions. She was quick to reply to my questions and requests. Thanks to Sophie, we were able to fit in a lot of neat things in such a short tip. The Road Book Sophie put together with the itinerary and directions - including maps - was fantastic. I have never seen a comparable book from another agent.

The car transfers arranged in Brussels with Blacklane were superb. Clean, comfortable vehicles and professional drivers. Drivers were on time/early.

Waffle tour (can't remember company or name of guide) was really neat and provided a memorable experience. The waffles we made themselves were so-so, but the history and knowledge of Belgian waffles in general was really neat.

Day trip to Ghent and Bruges with Brussels City Tours was good. Weather was pretty miserable, but the guide was great and knowledgeable. Spoke/walked at a good pace. Made for a long day, but I felt like I got a good sense of both places without being rushed or with too much time doddling.

City tour of Brussels was ok, also with Brussels City Tours. This was originally scheduled for our first day, which is ideal for me as a traveller in order to get a sense of the city at the beginning of the stay. This tour was rescheduled due to low booking. Sophie was great about getting in touch to communicate the change and allowed us time to decide if we wanted to keep our booking. They ended up having a last minute cancellation, so it was just the two of us on the tour with a big coach bus. Was nice to see more of Brussels other than the city centre, but there was too much time on the coach and I would not have enjoyed the tour if the bus was full. Definitely prefer tours with more walking.

The chocolate tour of Brussels with Groovy Brussels was amazing! Highly recommend.

Private tour of Liège was good. Interesting city history. Guide focused a lot on architecture and churches a little too much. Felt like we could have seen more if we didn't spend so much time on individual buildings talking about windows and lines.

Kimkim overall was a useful tool. As a Canadian, I would have liked to pay in the local currency rather than USD so I didn't essentially pay the exchange rate twice. There seemed to be a technical glitch when a second traveller was added, which made payment more complicated than it would have been otherwise. If it worked properly, would have worked great to split the costs between two travellers. It also would have been nice to have a breakdown of costs for each itinerary item as well as more info upfront about how the agent's costs work. I noticed each time I asked for a change, her fees went up. This made me hesitant to ask for changes. However, the amount of time I saved by not looking up tours and hotels myself was well worthwhile.

We had a three day tour of Greece and it was wonderful. Christos was great at putting everything together and making sure that we knew where we were going and when. He even called a couple of times during our trip to ensure that everything was going well. Our guides Theodorus (Epidaurus/Meteora) and Anastasia (Thessaloniki) were both very knowledgeable, spoke English well and enjoyable. I would definitely consider using kimkim and Christos again if we ever came back to Greece.

Well to sum up our trip it definitely met the "Incredible India" tour. We found the whole trip to be wonderful. A few items could have been better but both my wife and I believe we truly got immersed into India, history, culture, cities, countryside and most importantly the wonderful people of India.

We were met at the Mumbai Airport at 3AM in the morning by a guide and driver who took us to a money exchange person at that time of the night and got a better rate than the airport exchanges. We were driven directly to Hotel Godwin and got checked in with NO problems. We received our documents and vouchers for our whole trip. Hotel Godwin proved to be a very nice hotel at a great location near the India Gate in Mumbai. Since we got in so late we took the day off and just wandered around the area with no problems. Breakfasts were very good at the hotel but the restaurant in the evening (Cloud 9) was just so-so, not bad - not good.
Our tours were nicely timed typically our pickup was about 15 to 20 minutes after the agreed on time but considering the traffic we were not displeased. Elephant Island was very interesting and our guide was informative. The great thing was our guides were conversant in English and they were with us to make sure we got to the right spots, offered tips on how and what to do and gave us a very great analysis of what we were looking at. Victoria Train Station was fun and interesting as was the outdoor laundry amazing place. Bollywood was OK fun to learn about the filming process, the dancers were just students in a tiny stage versus a real Bollywood performance. Watching a 3 hour Bollywood movie got boring very fast as we did not understand Hindi, just an hour of so would have been plenty. I was nice to visit a movie theater and sample the snacks. The Dabbawallas were very interesting and it was great to learn how they perform their services. Fun little train ride and to buy tickets. Another outdoor laundry and we were driven to the airport with plenty of time to spare so we have no last minute hassles. Good Mumbai visit.
We were picked up at Delhi Airport and deposited at the Taj Princess Hotel. Hotel was good also breakfast was OK and the location was nice allowing us to wander the street. Old Delhi was a very good visit, riding in Rickshaw, visiting temples and mosques etc. Amazing place with animals in the streets and crowded bustling area. We were a little disappointed we did not get to sample "street food" as we were warned the water and oil used in the cooking process might not be the best for us. Probably good advice but it sure smelled good (we love Indian food of all sorts) The Gandhi memorial was nice but the real great thing was the Gandhi house with the little museum, learned a lot and it was very nicely done without hurrying us along. The New Delhi was very nice wide roads and modern government buildings. The annual independence day was coming up so we got to see preparations for the parade and a few groups practicing. The Qutab Minar and the Humayun Tomb was great and our guide very informative. The visit to the Delhi slums was interesting and we got to provide some bags to chips to the children again something you need to see. This tour was to a "newer" slum as the Indian government is trying to rebuild the area providing better housing. Our guide Samar in Delhi was very good providing us with a lot of information.

Our driver for much of our northern India tour was Ravinder Tiwani and he was excellent getting us thru unbelievable traffic without any mishaps. Our drive to Jaipur took us thru countryside. He took us to the Hotel Suryaa Villa which was a nice hotel good breakfast. My wife was not too happy with her dinner but I kind of liked my dinner at the hotel. The Pink City tour was great and the Amber Fort with the elephant ride was very good. We asked for some extra time to allow my wife to walk the Jaipur markets and our guide made sure we had the time we asked. Our tour of the Jai Singh II Observatory is not to be missed (I actually thought of cancelling it BUT am SO glad we did not cancel) I was very impressed. The Maharajah Palace tour was good as well. Our poor driver worked a long day as we did the evening Indian cooking class we love Indian food and learned so new tricks to making a great Indian dinner. Fun and Yummy at the Harsoli Haveli with Beena as our host.

Now on to Ranthambore a long drive but again we got to see the countryside stopping at the Om Rudra Priya Resort - what a great room huge. Disappointed at no wifi in rooms and one evening no hot water but a very nice place. We wandered out and took a tuk-tuk ride into town to wander around. Our tiger safari was wonderful. We made a mistake and did not have a blanket with us in the morning so we were extremely cold riding to the reserve BUT we had the great luck of seeing a tiger in the open and got great pictures of the tiger and the herds of deer, antelope, crocodiles, monkeys, birds etc. Wow was this fun!!! Breakfast was very good and our evening dinner was nothing short of excellent - do not miss the pre-fix dinner too much food but incredible veggies and a little butter chicken. We were so surprised and happy exactly what we were looking for.

On to Agra with a stop at the Bharatpur Bird Sanctuary. We had been told to see the Bird Santuary from an Indian ex-pat here in the US but I was kind of skeptical about seeing birds. Once again I was totally wrong what a great stop our guide was Krishna was excellent. We learned a lot and got to spend some time walking the park with him. He was an enthusiastic Indian tourist supporter and made our visit great. Also he found a few Indian Rock Pythons for us to view.
Our hotel in Agra was the Howard Plaza The Fern. A very nice modern hotel with a great breakfast. Our tours of Agra were also very good with of course the Taj Mahal being the star. Our guide suggested a few tour modifications since the Taj in winter is hidden in early morning fog so we took his suggestion and visited the Red Fort first - as interesting as the Taj in my opinion. We saw the exterior of the Taj and then early the next morning we visited the interior. Our guide was great. He allowed us time to explore the town on our own where we walked and rode tuk-tuks. Fun to visit the local market place but watch out for the open sewers.

Our driver got us back to Delhi with plenty of time to spare to catch our flight to Varanasi. As usual we were met at the airport and escorted to our hotel the Temple on the Ganges. Although the location was very good on the Ghat Assi it was certainly the worst hotel of our stay. Our room was not cleaned although we were there three nights we just asked for fresh towels. The bathroom was tiny so when you showered the whole place was wet. Small room and the breakfast was so-so. I ate dinner there one night and it too was OK but nothing special. Varanasi is a very special place not to be missed. Our guide did a great job getting us to the right places and explaining the city with its temples, Hindu and Buddhist, Ghats in the morning and at night. At the end of our temple tour they dropped us off to allow us to wander the streets and Ghats. We spent a lot of time watching the cremations and walking the streets. We finally took a tuk-tuk ride back to our hotel but then stopped at a restaurant called Diyva near our hotel. Again we ended up with a spectacular vegetarian dinner so good I asked our waiter to write down the names of what we ordered so we could try to make some of these items at home. Lots of open sewers, animals of all sorts wandering the street, traffic and blowing horns but we got the full immersion into India. We were driven to the airport with plenty of time to get our flight back to Delhi. Once back in Delhi we were met at the airport to be transferred to the International Terminal for our flight out of India.

Spectacular trip which we will never forget. By and large the hotels were good with amazing wifi access except for Ranthanbore. Our Varanasi hotel left a bit to be desired. I think the location of all of the hotels were located in almost perfect spots to allow us to walk the streets. We had no problems in the streets and never felt unsafe. There was enough English speaking available for us to get around and purchase what we wanted. We were very pleased with the drivers and guides across the board. Having our "own" driver and guide made the trip extra special as we could make minor changes along the way. We recommend Kimkim and Active India if you want a tour tailored to your specific requests.

Highlights
• The archaeological sites. The English-speaking guides were excellent.
• Cycling off the beaten track (except for the Horton Plains descent)
• The Temple of the Tooth Relic
• Kandy
• Sri Lankan food- especially at local restaurants
• Mountain scenery
• Horton Plains walk
• Udawalawe Big Game Camp and Safari
• Cycle through Sinharaja forest
• Meeting local people and school kids.

Cycling Guide
Our cycling guide, Manjual, was very hard working, easy going, and a joy to travel with. His organizational skills were excellent, and he responded to unforeseen incidents very well. He was a strong cyclist with good cycle maintenance skills. He was honest and trustworthy, and very resourceful and always concerned about safety. His positive personality is his key strength and he worked hard to make sure we were happy and had a good time.

Driver
Our driver Santha was easy going and a very careful and safe driver. He also helped out on other tasks and fit in with the group very well. A good person to have on a tour and we were happy with him.

All our guides were informative, polite and eager to make our experience memorable. However, each guide was also eager to take us to a particular shop, each saying there was no pressure to buy.
Both our drivers, Vinod and Thaslim were most accommodating, and Thaslim often suggested places we could look at, or that we might find interesting. This added to our experience. We appreciated Vinod's driving skills, which were exceptional but unfortunately we also found it a little difficult to communicate with him to his lack of English and our lack of Hindi. The guide which met us at Cochin airport was very informative and spent the time talking through the itinerary - we really appreciated this and would have like this to happen in Delhi.
Transitions from place to place and guide to guide was flawless and very well managed.
It would be hard to write about the most memorable place as every place we went was fantastic. Each of our family members liked something different. My husband particularly enjoyed the Ranthambore National Park, spotting 2 tigers and 2 leopards, as well as the boat ride on the Ganges. I loved the Mehrangarh Fort.
We were a little bit sad that our organiser had written on our form that we were to visit places that weren't actually open on the days we were there. Such as Cochin - Mattancherry Palace and the Jewish Synagogue. Also in Jaipur the bazaars weren't open as it was a festival. The tea museum was also closed. Checking the timetables against opening times and special days etc is not difficult. Unfortunately when you arrive somewhere and are told that it is closed can be disappointing especially if you have been looking forward to it for a very long time.
All hotels were good, whilst some were fabulous. Unfortunately our first impression of India was not good with our stay at the Taj Princess - we arrived late evening and was put into a room which was not nice - it was dirty and the bed was very soft and uncomfortable. We asked to be moved and the staff were happy to do this. Unfortunately this room, whilst looking better, had electrical sockets hanging off the walls and the toilet seat was not attached. At this point both my husband and I were very apprehensive about our choice to go to India for our holiday of a liftetime - this was not a good first impression and we would recommend that you do not use this hotel anymore (I also feared for our safety). However, the food and people were wonderful. We had an issue with some chocolate that we had bought for our grandchildren was stolen at Clouds Valley Hotel - we reported this and the chocolate was replaced but we weren't really happy with how it was handled.
Whilst a lot of this sounds negative. I have written about the hotels as feedback so that you can do something to improve this and perhaps consider their selection in the future.
I would thoroughly recommend Active India to everybody and have already done so to a family member. We loved our time in India and will start saving to come back in the next couple of years. Thank you.

We loved our trip to Colombia, it completely surpassed our expectations. The country and people are so warm and vibrant!

Nicolas helped us to build a great itinerary and he was available for us to contact in country. There were a few issues where information seemed to be lost between Nicolas and the tour providers on the ground, but everyone worked quickly to rectify them and ensure we had a great trip.

All of our guides were very knowledgeable, friendly and keen to ensure we experienced the best of Colombia.

Natalia did a wonderful job planning our trip to Colombia. She worked with me to ensure that I had the accommodations and tours that I wanted. We loved all our tour guides. Everyone was on time and super friendly. We loved our hikes, coffee tour, and bird watching. Thanks for a great trip!

Great trip all in all.

Trip to morocco was packed with adventure and can’t wait to take more trips with Kim Kim would highly recommend to any traveler

I just returned from an 8 day trek to Annapurna Base Camp. It was outstanding! The whole process of booking was seamless. Pasang Sherpa was extremely responsive and customized my trip and made excellent recommendations including hotels. She checked in on me during my trip through my guide. I was greeted by my guide Lhakpa Chhetar Sherpa and Lakpa Sherpa, his colleague at Nepal Myths, at the airport. They are both so courteous and took me to my hotel on the first night in Khatmandu. My guide made the trip extremely fun, and we even diverted from our itinerary and took side trips to see a Buddhist monastery and hot springs. I highly recommend trekking to ABC. The trek is moderate in difficulty and we trekked 5-7 hours each day, which was just right. The different landscapes that you cross are spectacular, from rhododendrum forests, bamboo forests, waterfalls, streams, and of course the snow capped peaks. Everything was great! I would highly recommend Nepal Myths and Mountain Trails as the outfit to choose when trekking in Nepal. I definitely want to go back!!

How do I even begin to review our 21 day Patagonia trip? It was incredible. After trying and failing to figure out the logistics of what we wanted to do, we found Ditmar Adventures and worked with Erin via KimKim. After the intro phone call, we felt like Erin had a really solid idea of what we were looking for and had nothing but faith that her and her team would put together something that we would be pleased with. That was an understatement. She worked with our group in the planning phases and was able to make the trip everything we were looking for and within our price point despite varying numbers on participants. Ahead of the trip, she was super helpful in our preparation and packing (bringing our own food and snacks was a lifesaver).

Once we arrived in Chile, everything was handled - a luxury that we have never experienced. All of the lodging selections were wonderful and fit perfectly with what we were looking for in the way of being affordable without doing the hostel thing. Each destination that we stayed at was exceptional in its own way and Erin anticipated the amount of time that we needed in each location very well. While trekking the Cerro Castillo circuit was something that we added in ourselves, it proved to be an amazing addition to the trip and the Ditmar team's support of that sub-trip was excellent. David meeting us in person before we embarked was also a treat. He had so much insight to share on where to eat and things to see along the route. The tips in the itinerary on where to get gas and money along the route were invaluable as well.

Overall, everything we had asked for, all of the activities that we wanted to take in as a group were accounted for. We saw craggy peaks and hiked a lot, drove through some of the prettiest (and ugliest) landscapes I've seen, saw the marble caves, rock climbed, fished, drank all the red wine, ate all of the delicious food, sat on front porches and watched sunsets, stood in wide valleys with snow kissing our cheeks, sat in hot tubs with mountains of bubbles, and savored every moment of it. While the hours saved in planning such an adventure were worth every penny, the most vital element of their service was that it afforded us all the opportunity to be free and present in the moment, something we all desperately needed and are very much grateful for. Aside from a few flat tires (which as Clayton mentioned were a blessing in disguise), everything exceeded any expectation I could have had. I can't recommend this route enough for adventure-loving folks and Ditmar enough for making it possible. Cheers!

A few attempts needed to convey that we did not want city/corporate style hotels. The stand out accommodation was Ahilya By the Sea, which we sourced ourselves.

Guides were good (other than Elephanta) - drivers were excellent. Trips were broadly ok but nothing we could not have organised ourselves. However, more thought needs to be put into making a tour special. The itinerary pretty standard, was disjointed and needed rearranging. Whilst we were able to do this, on one occasion it required a guide to travel by road overnight from Mumbai to Nasik (!). Otherwise, we would have been having a wine tasting straight after breakfast (!). Not sure why a local guide would not be available.

Major issue on our last day in that a dolphin tour was substituted with a fishing trip and an afternoon on a beach without any communication. In fact, in was only when we were on the beach (not to our taste at all) that we were told that we were not on a dolphin trip. Whilst I understand the reasons for the John's Tours trip being cancelled, alternative dolphin spotting trips are promoted via Trip Advisor, including one at Coco Beach (where we were staying!). What a waste of a day....

The offer of dinner hardly compensated and to add insult to injury, Kim Kim refused to pay the drinks bill (just INR 1550!). In context, we paid over $9,000 for this trip.

Going over old ground again, shortly after we paid the balance for the trip, our preferred hotel was changed for the first 3 nights in Mumbai. We remonstrated at the time without success but Kim Kim somehow construed that we were happy with the replacement hotel option and decided to change our final night in Mumbai (2 weeks later) to that hotel also. Whilst the replacement hotel was good, it was not our choice (which was Abode - a 'must visit' in a number of guide books).

All this is of course covered in your T&C's but it does not lead me to conclude that Kim Kim is a quality operation and I would not recommend. Quite the reverse in fact.

Sandun, the trip planner, could not have been more helpful. He answered questions promptly and always courteously and professionally. He helped me through the someone arduous process of securing permits to fly a drone, and made sure that my itinerary included a variety of sites, including temple visits, World Heritage Sites, mountains, valleys, hikes through rice paddies, a safari to see wildlife, and a day at the beach. Many thanks to him and appreciation for all of his hard work. My driver throughout my two-week stay made sure I got to each destination safely without incident.