Kimkim Trip Reviews for Chile

We had the most amazing trip to Chile (Santiago, Patagonia, Andes Mountains, Casablanca Valley, Valparaiso). Emi was SO helpful in the planning process. She listened to all of our desires and was always willing to make another change to the itinerary if we asked her to. And everything went very smoothly when we went on the trip. We absolutely loved Chilean Patagonia (stayed at Patagonia Camp which is the best place we will ever stay). Thanks to Emilce's communication she was able to hold a room for us for a week while we confirmed our trip plans.

Before, during, and after the trip, I am impressed and amazed and how KimKim and Emilce helped us plan the perfect honeymoon. I honestly wasn't sure how I would feel about using a service like KimKim to plan our entire trip, and I couldn't feel better about it. We highlight recommend KimKim for your next trip.

We are so thankful for your Emilce!!!

Hotel Reviews

Patagonia Camp

Torres del Paine

BEST HOTEL WE WILL EVER STAY AT IN OUR LIVES! Every detail was perfect. They are so nice and the quality of our stay was amazing. If I could give more than 5 stars for a place to stay, this is the place. 10 stars out of 5. My wife and I were so sad to leave this magical place.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Hotel Cumbres Lastarria

Santiago

Great hotel in a good location! Go to Bocanuriz nearby for dinner. The quality of the room was great!

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Fauna Hotel

Valparaíso

Fantastic hotel in Valparaiso. Great location, very cool inside of the hotel, and the rooftop restaurant has a fantastic view and food was great (breakfast and lunch!).

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Cascada de las Animas

San Alfonso

Great place! This was recommended to us by a coworker who stayed there 10 years ago. Really cool location in the Andes mountains, takes about 2 hours from Santiago airport to get there. It is definitely more remote. The staff was nice, but this was the place where we encountered the fewest amount of people who spoke english. Also, our perception is that this is a destination for local Chileans on the weekends. When we arrived Thursday night and had breakfast Friday morning, there was only one other group eating breakfast or had excursions planned that day. Then on Saturday and Sunday the place had lots of people. We always felt safe, but it's a big property so walking back at night was a little dark. Overall we enjoyed our stay, very unique and cool place that offers a lot!!

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Reviews

Torres del Paine all inclusive - Activities menu provided by the hotel

Torres del Paine

10 stars out of 5, we are active and just loved every minute of Patagonia Camp with guided hikes, and the guides would bring tea and fruit and chocolate for when you got to the top of the hike. And you'd have beers/drinks/wine after the hikes in the parking lot. The coolest stay ever, everything about it.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Panoramic private city tour around Santiago de Chile - Half day

Santiago

It was good, Orlando did a great job! I feel like Santiago doesn't have as much to see as I maybe thought, however it is a cool city with mountains surrounding it. Very scenic in terms of mountains.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Overall we had a wonderful trip! Chile is a very beautiful country and the people down there are very welcoming and accommodating. We met a lot of nice people down there including other tourists from around the world! I didn't know what to expect for it to be my first trip to South America. As far as our itenirary, we We met a lot of nice people down there including other tourists from around the world! it was planned out very nicely and our time was spent efficiently. We also appreciated the landmarks that were suggested as places to visit. Also, each days activities and directions were easy to follow and understand. As far as the activities, we are satisfied with each one overall. Our hotels were very good and met our expectations. We also appreciate that each one was relatively close to everything. Like I said before, overall it was a spectacular trip and we are glad we did it. Our trip planners and coordinators were very helpful and gave us timely updates and were very responsive to our questions and concerns.

Hotel Reviews

Hotel Albatros

Punta Arenas

Everything you can expect from a 3-star hotel. It wasn't shabby or rundown. The rooms were about as nice as one could expect. There was a heater in each room that kept us nice and cozy being that the temps can get very cold at night depending on when you travel. I would just rate this hotel as being more of a "utility" hotel, meaning it serves its purpose and is good for what it is. There is nothing extra about it no amenities or anything like that. Would recommend staying there if you're not looking for anything too fancy or luxurious after all you are in Punta Arenas and not Dubai. The breakfast was good and they make it to order so that was nice.

Authenticity & Character

Felt like we were in a seaside lodge which us what you would expect from a town like Punta Arenas.

Location

It was relatively close and at the center of the town. Not too far of a distance to walk anywhere if need be.

Staff

They were helpful and showed us on a map the best spots to visit

Cleanliness & Comfort

It was very clean and the beds were very comfortable.

Amerindia Patagonia B&B

Puerto Natales

Another quaint and cozy hotel. Met all of our expectations and then some. The rooms were bigger than we anticipated. Also they had a heater in the room which was nice. I will say they don't give you washcloths, which I don't if that's just a policy of there B&B or what but yeah was a little disappointing. But overall, would recommend staying there.

Authenticity & Character

Very authentic, again felt like we were in a seaside port town

Location

Not too far from anything. Everything is either in waking distance or a short uber ride.

Staff

Very good staff. Showed us our room and very friendly.

Cleanliness & Comfort

Very clean and comfortable.

Activity Reviews

Visit the Isla Magdalena Penguin Colony

Punta Arenas

Everything is as advertised. You will definitely see tons of penguins on this excursion and even some seals from a distance. Would highly recommend to anyone visiting Punta Arenas. One of us would say it was the highlight of the trip!

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Trip Briefing at Dittmar Adventures

Puerto Natales

Grey Glacier Boat Tour

Chile

Everything as advertised, terrific experience! Highly recommend.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Guided hike to Las Torres lookout [Central - Base - Central]

Chile

This is one of the activities that if we could do over we probably would replace it with another activity. The park itself was awesome and beyond spectacular. However, it should've been emphasized that this hike is not for first time or beginner hikers. To be fair, it did say in the description that it was a "difficult" hike, but I dont think thats appropriate wording it should be "advanced". It is a very strenuous hike and if you go on a particularly windy day can even be life-risking (not hyperbole). Be warned this is not a hike for beginners. The guides that we had go at a particularly fast pace and they do not take long breaks. I think our longest break was 10 minutes! My wife had to turn around within the first 30 minutes of the hike and go back. I managed to make another 2 hours or so past Chileno but eventually had to turn back also. I would consider myself to be in pretty good shape and physical fitness. But there is a big difference to being in shape and being used to hiking. It takes a tremendous amount of stamina to go up and down a mountain for 8 hrs straight. If you're used to hiking and have done it a good amount of times this hike may be a breeze for you. But if this is your first time or second time I would not recommend. There are other hikes I think offered that are not as strenuous.

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Felt like we were being rushed, not enough time for breaks

Transport

Very good itinerary planned for a 10 day trip to Chile. I requested to replace Pentagonia with Atacama Desert and Puerta Varas and Lorena was able to put together a fun intinerary for me.
The guides at each of the destinations were responsible and were informative.

Hotel Reviews

Hotel Boutique Le Reve

Santiago

Authenticity & Character

Very cosy hotel

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Hotel La Casa de Don Tomás

San Pedro de Atacama

This is the probably the only hotel I've seen that has a drive in lobby. It really helps as you can enjoy a cup of free coffee while waiting for your pickup early in the morning (most trips out to the desert start as early as 4 or 5am!). It beats waiting in the street for your pickup in the cold. The hotel restaurant has the best food I've eaten in this place. much better than what you can get in the town centre.

Authenticity & Character

Location

About 600m from the town centre

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Hotel Bellavista

Puerto Varas

Nice hotel overlooking the lake. It's quite strange that the hotel doesn't provide bottled water nor are there cups in the room. I enjoyed the delicious dinner in the hotel restaurant.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Lake view. About 400-500m from town centre.

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Reviews

San José Volcano & Andes Mountains

Santiago

Great guides.

Quality of Experience

Food

Bonus -- nice wine and snacks at the end of the hike!

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Stargazing Tour

San Pedro de Atacama

It'll be cold at night. The telescope is amazing!

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Knowledgeable guide

Transport

Excursion to Chiloé Island: Ancud, Dalcahue & Castro

Puerto Varas

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Trekking in Alerce Andino National Park

Puerto Varas

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Lorena was incredible. She was very attentive and adjusted to our changing needs very quickly. We all loved our Brazil trip and will be reaching out to her again for our next South American adventure.

Hotel Reviews

Evolucao Ecolodge

Manacapuru

amazing food and location and tours

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Hotel Saint Paul

Manaus - AM

great location and staff

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Mirador Rio Hotel

Rio de Janeiro

basic hotel. solid location but the room was nothing special

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Reviews

Corcovado Hill & City Tour

Rio de Janeiro

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Sugarloaf Hill & Beaches

Rio de Janeiro

did not really need a guide for this part of the trip. Beaches were not toured at all. That said, Sugarloaf was the best part of our whole trip

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Hike Morro Dois Irmãos & Favela Tour

Rio de Janeiro

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Meeting of the Waters & Janauari Park

Manaus

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Amazon Jungle Lodge: Hiking, Fishing & Nocturnal Tour

Manaus

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Amazon Jungle Adventure

Manaus

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Swim with Pink Dolphins

Chile

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

City Tour in Manaus

Manaus

great tour but not really worth spending a day in Manaus for a tour

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Great trip and amazing guides throughout our time in Chile!! Highly recommend!

so fun, drivers were timely, hotel(s) were great and it was all reasonably priced. Love it and I'll be back!

Wow, this was honestly the best trip we’ve been on! All our guides were so knowledgeable and went above/beyond to give the best experience. We have so many unique photos to look back all thanks to this. Our guide in Santiago was the BEST in terms of being personable and just down to earth. Kudos to him! The winery tour was memorable and this coming from someone who didn’t really like wine! I found that the reds and whites were so different and I kept myself open to the overall experience. My partner Nathaniel liked the lagoon and how we got to float effortlessly. It truly was a once in a lifetime experience!!! Not only will we be going back to Chile, but now we have started thinking about going to Brazil. Emilce made this whole process a breeze and I will go through her in the future.

Hotel Reviews

Pullman Santiago El Bosque

Las Condes, Santiago

The view from the our room was so beautiful, to see the sun coming up over the city and through the mountains. The included breakfast had the freshest fruit, so much better than anything back home.

Tips for future travelers

Get an idea of your surroundings! You’ll find that there are tons of restaurants and cafes within walking distance.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Our Habitas Atacama

San Pedro de Atacama

The private room/dwelling was wonderful with the terrace and grounds to walk around. The breakfast was delicious and the staff were so friendly.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Fauna Hotel

Valparaíso

The hotel was in a nice location and we could easily get around from it. Our room was unique and beautiful! The restaurant was fantastic and they had great views

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Reviews

Half day Maipo Vineyards - Concha y Toro Winery: El Marqués Tour

Santiago

The grounds, the tour, and the attention to detail was perfect! This was our first tour and it set an awesome tone for the rest of the trip.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

He was kind, friendly and we would recommend him!!

Transport

Rainbow Valley

San Pedro de Atacama

With the change in altitude and how dry it was, our guide did a great job of providing a tour that didn’t completely wear us out! He was so funny and took lovely pictures of us.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Half day Moon Valley and Mirador Ckari

San Pedro de Atacama

Our guide gave us a once in a lifetime experience! We walked on a dune and it was tough, but I would recommend it to everyone. I appreciated that he provided the tour but gave us space to explore.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Cejar & Tebinquiche Lagoons - Atacama Salt Flat

San Pedro de Atacama

The lagoons and seeing where life may have started was amazing. Plus we saw some wildlife and got to float in a lagoon!

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Lorena was fantastic at (a) tailoring the trip to my preferences; (b) taking on feedback and adjusting the schedule dynamically; (c) highly responsive and going above and beyond on service.
Thoroughly recommend!

Cannot give enough thanks to Lorena, she was continuously available both during the trip and for months before. There was no day where she did not get back to us when we had questions or concerns, which made our first trip to South America much more smooth. She has many contacts to connect you with in the area and knows what she is doing. Trust her and her group entirely to plan your trip.

All tours and activities were authentic and had locals and experts guiding them. Each of these local contacts and guides were also easily reachable and went out of their way to make sure they met our needs when possible.

Lorena developed an amazing itinerary that allowed us to experience as much as possible during our time in Chile. Beginning our trip at Gloria and Leo's home for an amazing dinner, ambience, and conversation was the perfect welcome. Our tour guide Felipe was a wealth of knowledge about the area, the history, and social issues impacting the country, which greatly added to our experience. We spent a day seeing the beautiful sights of Santiago and experiencing a signature Chilean completo for lunch, complete with talented street musicians playing in the background. We enjoyed a memorable day exploring the fun port city Valparaíso. Felipe and our van driver Gabriel worked together to make sure we could experience as much of the city in the time that we had, with the perfect combination of walking the narrow passageways and stone streets, riding the funiculars (hillside elevators), and driving. Our final day in the Maipo Valley didn’t go quite as planned because of traffic. However, Felipe quickly came up with an alternate plan to stop for ceviche and hike Mirador de Cóndores, which ended up being one of my daughter’s favorite experiences of the trip. We visited a couple of the breathtaking local wineries. The entire team expertly managed all the details and any last minute adjustments that needed to be made. For example, our flight was delayed, which was already being monitored by the team, and the necessary adjustments were made to our schedule. “Gabo” and Felipe were so personable and delightful. By the end of the trip we were able to enjoy a wonderful farewell dinner reminiscing and laughing about our adventures with our new Chileno friends. We made so many amazing memories on this trip and would highly recommend using this group.

My wife and I had a wonderful time in Chile. Emilce did an excellent job setting up pick-up times, transfer, flights and hotels. Everything was efficient, and we were able to maximize our time on the trip. We especially enjoyed our stay at La Casona. The winery was beautiful and relaxing. The sommelier was knowledgeable, and the food was delicious. We felt comfortable during our entire trip, and Emilce and her team were responsive to any questions or needs. We would highly recommend kimkim and Emilce and look forward to planning our next trip.

Hotel Review

La Casona at Matetic Vineyards

Lagunillas

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Review

Vinolia: Wine Tasting

Santiago

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Kimkim is reliable Travel agency and Leandro is amazing Travel Agent. We used Kimkim for our trip to Chile, our first trip ever to explore South America.
Leandro is very friendly, knowledgeable and always reachable. He is also very flexible when it comes to customising the trip. We had little issue with the tour operator and Leandro helped us to resolve the issue instantly. Lots of people do not see the value of travel agency and think they are overpriced!! You pay for the convenience and stress-free holiday.
I would always recommend Kimkim and Leandro to all of our friends and would contact them again next time I want to travel and explore other parts of the Earth!
Thank you so much for all your help Leandro! You are super star!

Hotel Reviews

Hotel NOI Casa Atacama

San Pedro de Atacama

Amazing from service, from the room to facility, to the service. Foods and drinks are delicious! Location is amazing (only 5 mins to the main road with lots of bar, restaurants and shops).

Tips for future travelers

Nope

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Hotel NOI Casa Atacama

San Pedro de Atacama

Amazing from service, from the room to facility, to the service. Foods and drinks are delicious! Location is amazing (only 5 mins to the main road with lots of bar, restaurants and shops).

Tips for future travelers

Nope

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Review

San Pedro de Atacama: Moon Valley and Death Valley Excursion

San Pedro de Atacama

Quality of Experience

Capricornio Expediciones has done a great job from communicating to taking care of us during the experience. They are very reliable! And I like them because they did not go behind travel agency back and tried to steal clients from travel agency (by telling us to book straight with them to save 2/3 of the cost).

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Paloma was amazing, she is knowledgeable, responsible, reliable and very energetic. She helped us enjoy the Atacama to the fullest

Transport

On time, easy to communicate, reliable.

We just got back from a week in Chile and could not have done it without Lorena! She was there every step of the way - helping curate the itinerary, updating us on covid protocols and requirements, answering any and all questions and so much more! She made herself so available to us and was extremely responsive and communicative.

As for our trip… it was fantastic! Kind, patient, educative guides and drivers. Everyone went truly above and beyond to make our trip wonderful and memorable. We enjoyed our day trip to Valparaiso and getting acquainted with the history of Santiago. But the highlight of our trip by far was Torres del Paine. We did a beautiful (albeit challenging) hike and saw the beautiful glaciers. I cannot wait to go back and will most definitely be using Kim Kim/Lorena for my future travels.

A million thanks!

Let's start by saying that due to Covid restrictions we could not go to Easter Island. But instead our wonderful local specialist Lorena had us travel to the Lakes region, which we would have never thought of it. It was a beautiful part of Chile where we got to tour lakes and towns around them, up to a volcano. It turned out to be even better thanks to Lorena!! We then toured the south, where we were booked in very nice hotels and tours.
My husband and I have been traveling for the past 20 years, mostly on our own, but after this trip and the attention given us by the specialist, we will continue to travel thru an agency!! I would like to specially mention the special treatment we received from our guide in Santiago, Leonides and in Puerto Varas by Joaquin. They treated us like family and gave us a deep introduction to the country and it's customs.

Lorena understood our travel priorities (more outdoor-oriented) and was very helpful in organizing and navigating the Chilean requirements for travel (Mevacuno) and local testing for return to US. The accommodations and internal travel/transfer options were well laid out. Lorena took extra care to accommodate some late changes and was responsive to all our queries and concerns throughout our travel, including making local flight reservations. Would highly recommend her as your travel consultant/organizer. The only recommendation would be for Kimkim to provide more info about local tour providers/contact numbers so we did not have to rely on Lorena as much.

Lorena was very responsive to our questions and concerns throughout the trip. Very helpful to ensure we had everything we needed. The team in Chile was also prompt and informative.

Top notch! Leandro was very responsive, communicated well, and chose excellent guides for my biking adventure in San Pedro de Atacama. Thanks again!

The trip was truly exceptional. The Amazon is a great adventure for anyone traveling with teenage boys. Our guide Robert was patient and able to help us spot monkeys, sloths, spiders, birds and caimans. The next stop was visiting the Sacred Valley. Our guide Dennis gave us a great foundation in Incan history prior to us heading to Machu Picchu. He made looking at the tiered potato fields interesting by talking about the debunked theories around their existence - such as meteorites and UFOs. We of course went to Machu Picchu with Marcellino - the most patient, fun and informative guide on the planet. And we finished with Arturo and Dennis in Cusco. The chocolate making class is so fun. But ultimately the time I was able to spend connecting with my son was the most valuable part of the trip.

We have never had a travel advisor like Loreena with KimKim. We had many issues with government forms and procedures and Lorenna went way beyond the call of duty for us. Her itinerary for our trip to Chile belongs in the travel hall of fame. 10 stars for her and Kimkim.

Norm and Lynda
Colorado

Our city guide Philllippe was knowlegable, informative and was always there to help with any local questions we had. Fernando, our Andes mountain guide, was very knowledgeable about the mountain however the tour we received (5k trek and hot springs) was not the tour written in the itinerary. Leo, our Santiago driver, was great in understanding all of our city activities. The meal at his home with his wife Gloria was a wonderful experience. Jose provided a well guided tour through Maipo vineyards. Valparaiso was very nice but were hoping for more of a beach experience. Our vineyard stays were a special treat. Matetic had exceptional food/wine pairing and we especially enjoyed the bio dynamic tour of the vineyards given by JP. Casa Silva had a very nice restaurant but was only open for lunch. No other restaurants open for dinner in the area. Thus, one night at Casa Silva would have been enough. Remaining time was on our own and Lorena was very helpful setting up wine tours for us. Overall, we loved our trip and the complete experience.