Kimkim Trip Reviews for Chile

It took a couple of years to organize this trip because of the pandemic. Serena and Lorena put together an excellent ten day itinerary that introduced us to Argentina Tierra del Fuego and Patagonia.
We spent three night in Ushuaia. This was sufficient time to tour the town and vicinity, visit the prison museum, tour the National Park, cruise the channel and experience the penquins on Martillo Island, and tour the Haberton Ranch.
We spent four nights in El Calafate which was plenty of time to tour the town, visit Perito Moreno glacier (boardwalk and boat tour), boat tour of the other glaciers, and Nibepo Aike ranch, including 3 hour horse back ride.
The next stop was three nights in El Chalten. I was able to trek to the lagoon of Fitz Roy, tour the small town, trek to the lagoon at the base glaciar Huemul and take the boat tour of the nearby lake.
We stayed in the Fuegueno hotel in Ushuaia. It was a nice hotel but noisy at night. Our room was facing the mountains; we had to endure a lot of noise from the street below.
In El Calafate, we stayed at the Kosten Aike. This is a nice hotel but it is noisy at night. After the first night we switched rooms from the street side to the court yard side of the hotel - which was very quiet. The staff is excellent!
In El Chalten, we stayed at the Destino Sur. This was a very pleasant hotel and a grade above the others.
There were a couple of glitches. My transit never showed up at the bus stop in El Chalten. I had a ten minute walk to the hotel. On the transit from El Chalten to El Calafate, the driver stopped for about an hour at the airport outside of town to pick up another passenger, but the passenger was a no show.
Ryan's Travel itinerary was vague. They should provide more detail of the daily activities.

Lorena is excellent. Down the road I am sure that I will use her travel agency again.

I was totally blown away with the service I received from Lorena, she had booked a pre and post cruise plan that was excellent. When the cruise cancelled she got right on making plans to fill in the days, basically she saved the trip and turned it into an excellent adventure last minute. She went above and beyond not only making hotel reservations but everywhere we went a driver was waiting to pick us up and deliver us to our hotel. All tickets and passes were waiting, with never a glitch. There is no way I could of done it without her knowledge of where to go and how to get there. Lorena is definitely an invaluable member of your team. 5 stars are not enough.
Sam and teresa

The trip was amazing, start to finish. We enjoyed every aspect of this trip and felt we had a good mix of city and nature experiences. Santiago, Chile was a welcoming city with beautiful historical landmarks, parks, neighborhoods and museums not to be missed such as Sky Costanera, Cerra San Cristobal, Barrios Bellavista and Lastarria, Museos Chileno de Arte Precolumbino and La Chascona. The views from Sky Costanera and Cerra San Cristobal were eye popping and really gave you a sense of the city largess. The museums were a moving historical and cultural experience. We walked the neighborhoods and used the local subway daily, located safe and convenient from our hotels. The Atacama desert was incredibly beautiful and greatly exceeded our expectations. The guided desert tours with José Miguel Ruiz-Tagle were very well done, the mountains, salt flats, lagunas, geysers, natural flora and fauna made this feel like an other worldly place. Hoteles Altiplanico accommodations were peaceful and the manager Oscar was very helpful. Puerto Natales, the national park tour of Torres del Paine and the full day hike to the base of the Torres were both great outdoor experiences. The hike was not difficult but long at 9.5 hours round trip and definitely requires endurance, strong legs and knees. Mauro, our hiking guide was patient and paced the group well. Hotel Noi Indigo accommodations were perfectly located with incredible mountain views. If we could do it over again, we would have spent more time there. We also visited the beach towns of Valparaiso and Viña del Mar, a great place to find a unique artisan gift, dine overlooking the pacific ocean, and experience the beaches. Loved Buenos Aires, Argentina and the trip to Iguazú Falls, both Argentine and Brazil falls and took a fun boat tour to feel the falls up close. Once there, not hard to understand why this is a Unesco World Heritage site. Buenos Aires was beautiful, very large, impossible to see in the short time we were there and we would love to go back again. Really enjoyed walking the city, the many city parks and mature trees lining the roads. We visited Museo Evita, a great tribute to her societal contributions and place in history, as well as MALBA, Ecoparque, Puerto Madero, Palermo Soho and Hollywood, easy walks from our hotel.
The people of Chile, Patagonia and Argentina were warm and welcoming. Emilce, Clementina and all of our ground support/guides (Jose Miguel, Fernando, Vitor, Natalie, Lauren, Mauro and Vitor) were great, particularly during this period of COVID, helping us navigate the testing, locations and timelines. Go and have fun!

We had an AMAZING time in Chile & Patagonia - Lorena (our kimkim local specialist) got us started with the highlights and helped us customize the trip to a perfect fit. With her guidance we were able to squeeze in spectacular stargazing in the Atacama Desert, living like a local in Santiago, rock climbing and breathtaking views in Patagonia. Whenever we hit small bumps, Lorena was there to smooth things out, making course corrections and ultimately saving us days on our trip. We never could have done all this (three weeks of constant adventure) without the planning and help provided. We've never booked though any sort of travel agent before — and while it was initially a little scary to have someone else in the driver's seat, the ultimate trip was one of the best we've ever done. 🎉🎈💯

Lorena was a super duper help before and during the trip. She was flexible, accommodating, super responsive and very available. She arranged for us to have the best tour guides and we loved the hotel she arranged for us. Everything was the best of the best and would recommend to anyone!

The whole process was easy, and seamless. Everything was done through online communication and the response time was often less than one day. Overall our trip was seamless and the only areas that brought up any concern had nothing to do with the travel planner but more with the Covid situation.

Chile is a wonderful country and we will likely go back there soon. While we enjoyed the trip very much, there were quite a few short comings. I would have planned the trip a lot better myself. Chile is extremely strict on Covid protocols. We appreciate the strictness and made us extremely safe traveling to the country.

We spent couple of days in Santiago, but much of the time was spent sitting in the hotel room. We arrived on Saturday morning. We could not leave the room due to quarantine until about 4pm. Our Santiago tour guide arranged a trip to the city only in the afternoon on Sunday. The Santiago tour guide (local) was nice and the van carrying was very nice. We never got to the see the famed Mercado Central and Mercado La Vega. Out of more than 48 hours spent in the city, our tour guide spent about 4 hours taking us around.

Our trip to Punta Arenas was on Monday, with the flight leaving at 11am. There were flights leaving earlier in the day, but we were only booked on the flight that left later in the day and with a hop. This killed more than half the day.

More wasted time in Puerto Natales. The trip to Balmaceda and Serrano Glacier was supposed to be for a full day (9 hours). But the trip was done within four hours. We never stepped foot on the land anywhere. Overall, lots of time was wasted. For a trip that cost us a lot, we would have used the time better.

Finally, our hike to the base of Torres Del Paine was supposed to be on Thursday initially. This was changed to Friday after we arrived in Chile. We did not want to do the hike to the base as we were not sure we would not have enough time to recover as well as time to take the covid test before hopping back on the flight back to the US. We wish the planning was better.

To our surprise, we never met Lorena, our travel agent. We thought we are meeting with a travel specialist based in Chile, not Houston.

Great Trip to Chile - February

Nicholas helped us to organise a great itinerary in Chile at very short notice due to a change in holiday destination!

During our trip we visited Santiago, Vina del Mar, the Atacama desert and then down to Patagonia;. The tours and guides were all fantastic and we managed to fit a lot in in the 10 days we had available and felt like we had seen a lot of Chile by the end of our trip.

The stand out experiences were seeing the geysers in Atacama, visiting Magdalena Island with the penguins and viewing amazing glaciers in Patagonia.

Nicholas was always extremely helpful and available to answer any questions we had; the expert planning meant that everything went really smoothly - overall a big thumbs up!

Chile is such a vast country that next time we visit we would plan to focus on Patagonia and spend some time hiking in the national parks.

Thank you,
Alice and Andy

This is the 14th day of my isolation. I left Santiago. a city then filled with smiling friendly people going about their chores and lives. to return to a place filled with fear and going deeper in civic shutdown, where some are even being encouraged to tell on one another for alleged breaches of the new normal. And I am so thankful for the ten wonderful days we spent in Chile with all of you looking out for us.

I can truly say that our visit owes much of its magic to the care and thoughtfulness of our handlers and hosts. So I want to thank Maria and Lilia and Across Argentina for planning and organizing our Desert and Wine Tour. Your itinerary and accomodation selections were spot on . The local Tour operators Chile Roads and CI Mundo were very professional and always prompt. The tour guides were very friendly and so very helpful. We learned so much from them all, But I want to especially recognize Nelson Silva, a warm and caring person. We came to appreciate his efforts greatly, In general the tour guides (four guides) were enthusiastic about their work and very knowledgeable Their employers should be very pleased with their work Without the guides and drivers such as these, a tour is empty. And ours were full of life and captivating.

Thank You all Please be sure that you share our gratitude with them all

so here we are
not yet home
but almost with these strange circumstances..........
a big thank you to Vi for organising this trip already last summer
long before Corona hit while we were in Chile
how shall i start
good things first
txs for the arrngments and the support
pucon was good
the climbing was though and guides ( Eduardo ) very helpfull and comprehensive
HuiloHuilo was super
puerto varas was not so good as hotel .... but the Corona was laready there
chiloe we missed ( and this would heve been very far away of Puerto varas to get back on the plane)
but Vi made it work
we stayed one day longer and the left for Santiago just to make shure
we could change the flight tickets with the help of the hotel and backed up efficiently by your emergency nr personel
txs again
renting the car in Europ car is always somehow a desilusion
the car promised was ( of course...) not available
the altenative was not what we had expected
these companies always flaw you one way of the other !
the highway billing system is somewhat crazy
we had no cash when leaving Temuko
so the billed us 5€ for the first 500 m highway as we had to get on the usual way tp Pucon
and around Puerto varas one had to pay every single time we hit the highway
not so expensive but not fair i felt ! at least unexpected
but then again chili is super scenic and very friendly and helpfull people
just this coronoa infection busted it up
txs for having us here
thank you for your dedication Vi !
rgds
rene and chantal on our way out tomorow we hope

Guides and activities were outstanding! Hotel in Puerto Varas was fine, but not exceptional -- very much enjoyed the hotel in Pucon. We had to defer the trip for a year after a preceding trip to Antarctica was deferred -- Oxana was extremely helpful in working with us on those changes. We did have some confusion with internal Chile airline reservations -- caused by different requests within the travel group -- also some confusion with final payments (likely caused by the fact that we had to defer). Overall, it was a very positive experience.

Overall the trip to the Lake District was enjoyable with several hickups. We wrote to you about the discrepancy on Day 2 between what was originally quoted about lunch being included and still have not received any answer or verification of that. The original quote on which we paid stated lunch was included and then we found out it was not. The stay at Casa Karfu in Punta Arenas was not enjoyable. The hotel is very noisy, ALL the floor boards squeak, the walls are thin, and you can hear people walking above you. If you don't have ear plugs you won't get any sleep. The staff was not particularly friendly except for one young lady at the desk who was helpful. It was a 15 min walk to town, which after a long day was not something we felt enthusiastic about. Thankfully there are 2 options down the street. Breakfast did not start promptly at 0700. Ronaldo, our guide in PA, was very good. He was professional and answered all our questions. All the activities were enjoyable.
Casa Estado in Pucon was very nice. The only complaint, if any, is it is far from town and costs about $12 each way in a taxi. You are pretty much stuck there without a car. Stefanie from Amity Tours was very nice. She was not good at keeping pace with the whole group on the hikes. One person was a fast pacer and she kept her pace with him. The 2 of them walked far ahead of the 3 of us. The 3 of us felt we could have just taken a walk together without paying for a guide. She should have considered the "pace of the whole group" and set that pace so all of us would have had the benefit of walking with the guide. This happened both days. Otherwise, the hikes in both national parks were beautiful. The thermal pools were enjoyable.

We had a great tour with our guide, Rodrigo, and our driver, Oscar. The two had a great rapport and were both very friendly. Our favorite sight was the Rainbow Valley (which was not on the original itinerary, and we only ended up going because the Taito Geyser Field was closed), because Rodrigo took us on some paths that most tourists don't go on, and we had the whole place to ourselves. Additionally, Rodrigo has studied geology in university, so he was very knowledgeable on the rock formations and other geologic details we saw throughout the whole trip.

After finding myself en route to Santiago for work, a friend thought, "you should go to Patagonia and take some photos..." I hadn't thought about it until that moment... and with only 3 weeks out, I didn't think it remotely possible. That's when another friend passed along kimkim's info.
I truly didn't think it possible to put together such a well thought out, well planned adventure with so little time. But that's exactly what Erin was able to create... Essentially, pulling a rabbit out of a hat in a couple of weeks.
Given that my solo adventure was geared towards photography, my itinerary for 6 full days was tailored towards that experience. My journey took me from Estancia La Peninsula for a tour of an authentic Patagonian sheep farm, to portions of the W trek inside Torres Del Paines National Park including the French Valley and Mirador Las Torres hikes. From there, I was able to spend a couple nights in the Serrano River Valley outside the park, and mingle with the horses and herding pups at Pampa Lodge.
Finally, the culmination and the final day of my adventure was a private photography tour with an amazing guide, who took me to some of the great spots in Torres Del Paines as well as some hidden gems that only a true local would know about...
This experience was something that I will never forget. It was surreal and beautiful looking at the Andes Mountain range... meeting some amazing people in Refugias and along the trails... and it would never have happened without Erin and Julia. High fives to the two who made this whole thing so special and unforgettable.

Nicholas planned the trip just right. We have some issues on the first day (out fault, that I left the phone in a Cabify taxi). Our trip guide helped us a lot, and eventually, we have got it back the next day. The rest of the trip was good and enjoyable. Nicholas was always accessible, and the tour company made everything hassle-free. Thanks, Nicholas.

This whole experience has been wonderful, start to finish. Everyone involved in the trip planning portion (Erin & Julie) were very attentive, informative and prompt. I would just like to say that I work in marketing for a tourism DMO and have been in the hospitality industry for 10+ years - Cote was one of the best guides I have ever encountered. She was organized, genuine, hospitable, knowledgeable and she intuitively knew what our group needed at all aspects of the trip. I cannot stress enough what a unique and authentic person she is, she truly made the trek all the better.

Also, the staff at all the lodges (in particular our third stay at a Fantistico Sur) were so warm & welcoming. I’ll be spreading the word about this experience!

Cote our guide was fantastic! She set a great pace and made our time very enjoyable even through the more demanding parts of the trek. Most memorable is the lookout on grey glacier, French valley, and the secret lookout Cote took us for the towers, not busy at all which made it really great. 10/10 would recommend to family or friends that are interested!

Nicholas’s trip preparation for us was fantastic. We got to see what we wanted from the lake region to Patagonia to Iguazu Falls within our budget. The local drivers who picked us up at various airports in Chile were on time, so we did not have to worry. The local guides were knowledgeable and attentive. We will ask for him if we will visit Chile/South America again!

Everything was already fully detailed on the planning but getting on the sites itself, it got way more spectacular!

You also get the help you need and everywhere I stayed, the people were very helpful and nice and welcoming!
Even if you have the slightest misfortune (a delayed flight) they came to check on me and to adapt the planning accordingly.

All by all, it is something I will do again and i would recommend.
It helps you travel but does not forget to give you enough free time where necessary!

Overall, good experience
Emilce is knowledgeable of Argentina and provided great suggestions. The service provided was affordable and of good quality. The only improvement I would like to see is to be provided with a fully detailed and confirmed itinerary before we departed. We made this slightly more complicated due to some last minute flight changes but in today's digital era, an updated itinerary would be easy to provide via email. We did not know our exact itinerary for each location until we met the local guide at each airport. This included formal confirmation of our flight arrivals and hotels accommodations. This made for a mistake in pickup time at one of our arrivals and required us to make some calls to confirm our exact hotel and to take a taxi to get there (which they did reimburse us for). More than anything, this lack of explicit detail was just unnerving and can be easily fixed with a detailed itinerary.