Kimkim Trip Reviews for Croatia

We genuinely felt the holiday met and exceeded our expectations. The hotels at Split and Dubrovnik were excellent - the Villa Nora in Hvar was also very good but slightly let down by faulty air conditioning. Veselka met us at Split airport and explained the itinerary well, delivering us to our hotel as promised. Ivan took us to Plitvice lakes, and was prompt, very friendly and informative.
Natalia from Villa Nora met us from the ferry and gave us good service there, very approachable - she recognised the problem with air conditioning and was awaiting an engineer to fix it. The guide who took us on the 'lavender fields and old towns' day tour in Hvar was first class (sorry can't remember his name) this included a great lunch at a tavern on the way, which was prepared specially for us and it was memorable. We walked all the way into Hvar town which was a challenge for one of us and he managed to keep us cool and resting along the way! Excellent.
Dubrovnik old town was if anything, quieter than we expected and Anada gave us a tour round late afternoon. She was very good (if we had any comment it was almost too much detailed information to take in re history facts). But it did mean that we knew where to eat, and we then walked the walls the following day.
Our kayake experience was cancelled in Hvar due to weather, but Veselka transferred this to our last day in Dubrovnik and we really enjoyed this, our guide was 'Sirjon' and he was relaxed, friendly and helped us with photos as we did not have our camera with us. We value the fact that this trip was transferred and not cancelled!

Our trip to Croatia was amazing, what a beautiful country. We have been wanting to make this trip for years but never got around to planning, mostly because of the complicated itinerary we wanted. Thanks to Veselka the planning was easy. She made sure we got to do everything we wanted and booked the perfect hotels and apartments, all in the best locations. She also made sure that someone was there at every point to take us to our accommodation making this a very stress free and relaxing vacation. Our family travels a lot and we all agree this was one of our favorite trips.

Our Croatia tour came at the end of a longer trip. Our time was limited so we wanted to ensure we made the most of the time we had in Croatia. Veselka worked with us up front to determine what kind of experience we were looking for. Our goal was to see and experience Croatia, not only the highly touristed areas, which of course are beautiful, but also Croatia beyond that. We wanted a taste of the Croatia that required a bit of exploration.

Veselka paired us up with some fabulous guides for our Dalmatian Coast trek. In Dubrovnik, Darko was our escort on a countryside cycling trip and cooking class adventure. He made the day so much fun for us. He was very knowledgeable about the region and could answer the endless stream of questions with patience and thankfully, a great sense of humor. It was a fabulous day and we were so sad to see it end.

Our next guide was Vedran in Hvar, who was tasked with taking us on a trek through a beautiful valley where we explored abandoned villages and saw incredible mountain scenery. A stop for lunch with a colorful character was a nice addition to the hike. Vedran also gave us the option of extending our hike from its planned end point, up the coast back to Hvar town. It was not a requirement for him but he volunteered to extend our hike by several hours to give us an incredible experience and access to views otherwise unobtainable... and he also suffered the endless barrage of questions gladly... and we had many great laughs along the way. We were sad to see the day end and bid farewell to Vedran.

The last parts of the organized trip were the most intimidating for two prairie girls from Canada. Sea Kayaking was our first taste of being on the open water. We adapted quickly and were amazed to find that we were able to kayak across open water to islands just off the coast. It was a glorious day and Edi was the perfect guide for the sport. He knew his stuff, and he was so much fun! Again, we didn't want to say good bye.

The big event was the 3 day sailing trip in the islands. Land girls on a sail boat... there were a lot of things that could have gone wrong for us. Captain Bartul was a wonderful guide and ensured we got the most from our sailing experience. The evenings moored in little, out-of-the way marinas located in tiny villages, nestled in beautiful, secluded bays were so much more than we expected.

Both of us were so pleased with the experience from start to finish. We have traveled extensively for a lot of years and this trip lands at the very top of our list of highlights. Croatia is magnificent, but what took the experience beyond that was the planning on the part of Veselka and the wonderful guides we had the privilege of spending our time with. They made us feel like we were hanging with friends and we brought home some truly special memories as a result. Just can't say enough about it!

Jennifer and Kelly from Canada

We had the most pleasurable experience! From the beginning of the planning stages to each and every transfer was easy, with friendly people, and fun. Veselka was easy to work with and managed our time well. She offered great suggestions and knew exactly what to suggest with our ideas. All activities were great. We especially enjoyed the cooking class and tour and bike ride. Hotels were clean, easy to access. Verdan on the bike tour was full of knowledge and friendly and funny. The farm we ended up at for lunch was sustainable and so peaceful. Our chef Mya and tour guide for the cooking class were so pleasant and also we gain so much information about the city of Split. It was a fully engaging experience. I highly recommend the cooking class. We had a perfect balance of independent time, guided time, relaxing time, and learning time.

Veselka--thank you so much! We will never forget this trip!

Ante did a fantastic job tailoring the trip to our needs. Allen and his wife Natalia the owners of Avocado were amazing as well. The islands we visited ( Mljet, Havar, Korchula, Saipan) and meals cooked on board were so much better than anticipated.
Allen has so many toys (seabob, electric bikes and paddle boards) you do not need to book any tours.

Overall, we're really glad that we had the personal touch of someone helping us plan our trip. We did start the planning process rather late for when we wanted to go, but that's why we enlisted help in the first place. A few points of feedback:

• The kimkim website FAQs indicate that we’ll be paying a 5% service fee to book our trip. I did also see that is says “in some cases, a more substantial planning fee” will be charged. We were absolutely fine paying the $250 for your services – you guys were very helpful. But I’m still not sure what the criteria were for the two different methods of payment. I’m guessing you didn’t get a share of the profit from the vendors when we payed cash upon arrival, so it probably helped cover those types of research and bookings. Again, we were very satisfied with what we got for the booking fee and consider it money well spent, but some more clarity around that process would have been nice.

• There were a few times when it felt like our specialists took longer to complete bookings or answer our questions than we expected. There was a time difference between us and Mandy and Alex, so I didn’t expect instant communications. However, there were a few times that I had to ask a second time before tasks were complete. I think some of this would have been alleviated if we (the travelers) had started the planning process earlier. Since we waited until a month before we left, I was definitely anxious to plan as quickly as possible.

• I like the format of a chat window for the planning discussions, but maybe in the future you might want to consider some kind of checklist feature where you turn the conversation into action items that you can assign to either kimkim or the traveler. Everyone would have quick visibility into the tasks/decisions that were remaining. You might even be able to turn completed tasks into items you need to add to the itinerary on your kimkim side. (This is my programming background coming out!)

• I mentioned this in my brief feedback right when we got home, but I wanted to repeat it here: We had a really great experience on the wine tour with Krug Travel. I would highly recommend that you send anyone who's going to the Istrian peninsula in Croatia to them. They offer other experiences besides wine tours, which I’m sure would be equally great.

• I mentioned this in my feedback too, but thought I would include it in the formal survey: Having never used booking.com before, we didn’t realize that there were hotels on the website that accept cash only. This was just a note to mention to future travelers before booking.

• Both transport companies that we used – GoOpti and Connecto – were excellent. Every driver was professional and arrived on time. We would definitely recommend these companies to future travelers.

• Laundry – this is more of a traveler note than anything. We did send out some laundry in Pula at the hotel, but it felt like we were somehow inconveniencing the hotel with this request (even though it is listed on their website as a service). We turned in our laundry early (probably by 10am) on the first day at the hotel, and we didn’t get it back until late on the second day. What was really strange was we stopped by the front desk on day 2 to reserve a taxi for a very early departure on day 3 (6am), and they almost seemed worried that our laundry wouldn’t be back in time. I always thought laundry service would be a less than 24 hour thing, and that we would definitely have it back the day before we were scheduled to check out. It was also much more expensive than I anticipated for basic shorts, t-shirts, and underwear. Obviously, you at kimkim had no idea that they were going to handle the situation so poorly. Personally, after that experience, I wish we had just found somewhere to do our own laundry or skipped that step altogether and packed enough clothes to last the whole trip. I don’t know where that fits in as far as feedback goes, but it’s just something I wish we had done differently.

We appreciated having someone to do all the planning legwork for this trip! We desperately needed a vacation but had no time to plan it. It was so nice having Mandy (and Alex) to do all the research and planning that we normally do when we go on trips. We would definitely recommend your services to friends and family who are looking to take a trip and just say “yes” or “no” to the suggestions from your team.

I included some suggestions about how our planning could have been better in the previous answer. I don’t think there’s anything particular that Mandy and Alex could have done better, but the big thing was that we were all talking about a lot of different things at any given time, and we lost track of some of the things that were still not complete. Both Mandy and Alex were super professional and helpful with answering all our questions and getting us ready to go.

Honestly, there really isn't anything that could have improved the trip. Communication from the get go was excellent and extremely thorough. Follow through on arrival was perfect and the guide exceeded expectations. Absolutely no complaints.

Had a problem with a hotel room but this was dealt with quickly and efficiently.

Vlasta stayed in touch during the trip to make sure all was well.

Can't say enough great things about our trip to Croatia! Andro and his team really made it wonderful. The tours were fantastic and the transfers were seamless. Would absolutely recommend them for your trip!

Andro was extremely helpful and responsive to all of our questions. Really it was fabulous!

Amazing trip.. a must to see the islands from your own boat! An experience to not miss in life!

Veselka was beyond amazing.. made everything so easy. Our bags got lost and she got them to an island that we were on. A very wonderful experience

Very easy and organized booking process.

She was incredibly helpful and always responsive to my questions and/or needs during the trip. Fantastic organization throughout, with a prompt and professional staff.

Podestine was a little far from town and accommodations of room were not great i.e. Sheet for blanket, shower did not drain, however Lara at the desk was amazing! Sailing trip did not have much time for swimming and snorkeling, majority was sitting on the boat, skipper was nice but would not recommend. Plitvice was amazing as well as accomadations, Dubrovnik is beautiful and Zagreb did not disappoint!

We would have liked to have a more in-depth conversation about the hotels and specifically the rooms that were going to be booked for the trip. In the end it worked our fine, but we were a little surprised when we got to the first hotel and would have considered spending more for a view or added amenity.

The biggest disappointment was a disconnect from our expectations of what KimKim offered when working with a local expert and what the final itinerary contained. We were expecting the final itinerary to include ideas/recommendations from the local expert for excursions, things to do or restaurants to checkout that may be slightly off the beaten path.

See previous comment regarding our expectations for the final itinerary.

It was perfectly organized and executed. Looking back I would have done one part differently, but it was really amazing to see that hotels were informed, transports by taxi or ship waiting when needed.

Was very engaged even throughout the vacation open for additional questions

kimkim booked us a perfect honeymoon in Croatia. They found the best accommodations, transportation and activity ideas based on our preferences.

Things I liked:
- how easy it is to book a quality trip vs. doing our own research
- the route through Croatia was perfect
- chat communication vs. having to talk to someone by phone, although the back and forth would have been easier via email, instead of having to sign in each time to respond to a comment
- the full itinerary. we referred to it multiple times a day.
- sailing!
- our final hotel in Dubrovnik was a gem

Areas for improvement:
- back and forth communication by email, as shared above
- the two ferry rides were both sold out at the times we wanted for day-of purchases; buying ferry tickets online or at least warning us to buy early would have helped some logistical difficulty
- more country coverage… would have liked help with the Germany stage of our trip as well.
- would be great if kimkim could have booked flights for us

Michelle was an absolute dream to work with, I tend to be very indecisive and she really helped me and my husband plan a wonderful trip. She gave great recommendations of places to eat, things not to miss and was even able to schedule a wine and cycling tour for us when it wasn't originally available. A few minor things could have been different but really did not impact our trip at all.

Our cycling tour with John was one of our favorite parts of the trip, he was an absolute joy to spend our last day in Korcula. The scenery was beautiful (cycling the countryside was a great way to experience Krocula), the wine was quite refreshing after a very warm morning and we could not have asked for a better group of travelers to be with! John was kind enough to email me after the tour and gave my husband and I some great recommendations for food/drinks for the next part of our trip in Split. He really went above and beyond anything my husband and I could have ever imagined and I am sure every service they offer will be as wonderful as the wine and cycling tour.