Kimkim Trip Reviews for Colombia

Oliver,
First, let me say that we enjoyed our trip and have no regrets. Kimkim and you generally did an excellent job. The hotels were generally a pleasure, with a great deal of character. There were odds and ends they could do better, but we were quite happy with them. The pace we had worked out gradually before the trip was just about right. We had enough time to simply wander on our own, which we value. I think there is a tendency to try to pack in too much, and we were glad we had pushed back a little to ensure a more relaxing pace.
In terms of the tours, the fishing tour at Cartagena was the highlight, because it was so participatory, but the tour of Cartagena town was extremely well done too. The guide was really knowledgeable and enjoyed sharing his knowledge of Cartagena with us. The tour in Tayrona Park was fine, but I only managed two hours of the four-hour activity. The guide did a good job of substituting a route I could manage. On the tours, our one general comment is that it would be helpful to have a more detailed idea of what is involved ahead of time. I wonder if it would be possible for the tour provider to get on the phone with the customer the day before the tour to go over what is planned and answer any questions.
The only significant problems were on the Amazon part of the trip. We arrived in mid-afternoon and were met, though by people from a different organization than you had mentioned. There was an excellent translator, someone hired just for our visit. She provided the continuity for our trip but because she had not worked with the organization before, she was learning how they worked as we went along. We asked for an itinerary for the four days in the Amazon, but no one seemed to know the program beyond the broadest terms. We should have had the time to sit down with someone from the agency to discuss a detailed itinerary and should have spent that night in Leticia, repacking for the field. Instead, right off the plane, we were taken to their office and asked to repack for the trek, to don rubber boots to go to meet an indigenous leader that afternoon. We walked for an hour or two on muddy roads to a large traditional home to listen to a community leader hold forth on the traditional devotion to the environment and brotherly love. To be honest, it wasn’t worth the trek. We stayed that night in a local hotel that was basic but very well managed. We were told that the next day we would walk a half hour to an indigenous facility called Merisha on a lagoon near the Amazon, in Peru. From our earlier communications I gather you had been told it was not too ambitious a trek for me. I was told the same thing, that it would be a half-hour walk through the jungle.
I can only say that that assessment wildly off base. Much to the trip was wading through flooded jungle, through thick growth, water up to our knees, negotiating brambles and poor footing and tangled roots underwater. There were swarms of mosquitos and other biting insects. It was a very challenging trek even for my wife and because her boots were not high enough, the guide had to carry her on his back at several deeper places. He provided interesting insights as we went but it took us nearly three hours to complete the walk, without a stop. We arrived at Merisha absolutely exhausted.
Facilities in Merisha were rudimentary but of course we expected that. The lagoon and river there were magical and the guide was very competent, and inspired confidence. We never felt insecure, just exhausted tired and frustrated. Frustrated because on arrival at Merisha we found tourists arriving on day trips, having come by boat on a flooded road a stone’s throw from where we had embarked on our trek. We demanded to return from Merisha by boat and at first this was resisted. Later, it was agreed to if we paid extra (not much). It was an easy trip and took twenty to thirty minutes.
There seem to have been failures in communications between Kimkim and the local agency and between the local agency and the contractors they used. I think I made my condition clear before the trip and cannot imagine how anyone imagined I wanted to deal with an ordeal like the trip to Merisha.
In our earlier discussion you had stressed that it anything seemed to much, we could simply not to it. That seemed reasonable at the time. But it assumes an informed decision, and we were not always given enough information and sometimes given incorrect information. Plus, once you are a couple of miles into the jungle and you realize what you have gotten into, and the guide tells you it is just as far to go back as to go ahead, just dropping out is not an option.
The next day, back on the Amazon, we embarked on a mototboat trip involving several stops, interesting and not too tiring. Again, the translator was very helpful. The only downer was at a monkey island park where we were swarmed by tiny monkeys. One snatched my hat and another scratched (bit?) the top of my head badly enough for it to bleed. Fortunately, we and the translator had first aid supplies. I believe it was a scratch and not a bite but I will see my doctor tomorrow and get a rabies shot, just to be on the safe side.
When after the boat ride we returned to Leticia, we were taken to the office of the local agency to retrieve our suitcases and go to our hotel. The hotel was an older place, and at first seemed ok. But our room was an ugly share of green, and bare except for a couple of metal frame beds with matresses made up with sheets and pillows. It felt like a hostel room, just with fewer beds. There was a small unattractive bathroom and no hot water, indeed to water was icy. After three days in the jungle, dirty, our hair matted with sunscreen and insecticide, and bone tired, the hotel was an extremely disappointment. After I googled other hotels in Leticia, and found there were much better options, we asked to be moved. You declined to do so, saying that the local agent had made the arrangement and was the one who had to deal with it. After one quite unpleasant interview with a woman who had arranged the trip and was remarkably rude, the local agency’s logistics chief turned up and moved us to a better hotel, at their cost. We appreciated it very much. I did not appreciate your washing your hands of the situation.
I think you can see that the Amazon portion fell short of expectations. We would do it again but mistakes were made that should have been avoided, largely through failures to communicate expectations clearly, I suspect. I think all concerned had good intentions but I do hope that future travelers to the Amazon with KimKim can arrive with clearer expectations and find fewer surprises.
Best, John Bruce

We had a super time and felt very supported. Chio was there for every little question I had! All the drivers, hotels and tour people were on-time and extra nice. I'm so pleased.

Our 10 day trip to Colombia was a very memorable one. We weren't sure what to expect, but were pleasantly surprised. Beautiful country and people. Natalia was extremely helpful and responsive to all our questions, queries and concerns. she was connected via whats app and available for any questions during our trip. Since our trip was in December, she was even working on the 25th addressing our needs. From putting the itinerary together and catering to our specific requirements; Natalia was awesome. we had 8 versions of the plan and she patiently helped us with tips and recommendations. The two of the tour guides she arranged were excellent; Claudio who was our guide in the Amazon and Carlos Valencia in Medellin.
This was our first trip via KimKim and very happy.

My husband and I travelled in Colombia with our four children (ages 11-15) and overall we very satisfied with the kimkim experience. The planning stage was fantastic-- I spoke with an agent in the US and also an agent in Colombia-- and it was very easy to come up with a specific itinerary to fit the needs and wants of my family. Our local specialist (Chio) was very responsive to my questions and requests and always responded in a timely manner.

For the most part, everyone involved in tourism who was recommended by kimkim (the drivers and guides for example) was excellent-- very professional and always on time. When we had drivers that did not speak English they let us know in advance and we always knew the specific itinerary for each day. The trip, in general, ran VERY smoothly. Over fourteen days there was only one mistake--- when we arrived at a certain hotel it turns out they had mistakenly booked us at a hotel with a similar name (which was not as nice as the one we were supposed to be in). As soon as we called her, Chio (and her supervisor Jules) immediately tried to rectify the situation-- we did have to spend one night at the wrong hotel but the next day they had us moved to a much nicer hotel and took the extra step of arranging for us a new itinerary for a "day at leisure" including a driver, lunch, and two excellent activities. They (Chio and Jules) kept in constant contact with us making sure we were happy with the new arrangements. (And I felt like they were truly sorry for the mix-up).

All in all I would definitely recommend kimkim-- it was VERY user friendly and our itinerary was excellent.

(If you are planning on going to colombia-- we particularly loved our Hacienda Santa Clara in the coffee region and our tour of Don Juan coffee farm, horseback riding in the cocora valley, EVERYTHING in Medallin, the beach and tubing in Palamino (outside Santa Marta), and our incredible hotel (the hyatt) in Cartagena.

Excellent. We really enjoyed all parts of our trip. The tour guides were excellent and the trip was well planned and very enjoyable.

Working with KimKim made my boyfriend and i’s trip that much better! Fabian was awesome, he gave every option I asked for. From seeing multiple cities and including day trips, drivers and hotels at every stop, Fabian wasn’t pushy on the itinerary and was so helpful with all my questions. He set all my nerves as ease going into the trip and allowed for my boyfriend to just enjoy Colombia and not worry about the itinerary.

Throughout the trip, Chio who replaced Fabian (as Fabian sought out a new position) was excellent. He answered all my questions I had so quickly that I never had to worry at all !

I will definite work with kimkim again in booking my future travels. All the drivers and people who were employed by kimkim to help us we’re all fabualous and so kind. Can’t wait for our next trip!

Jessica

Kimkim does make things much easier, but it's not the best option if you want to save money.

For flights and hotels, we saved more than $500 booking everything on our own.

Cartagena was great and it's the place I would have spent more time.

The guide in Medellin was awesome and explained everything we saw and asked about!

However, the guide in Bogotá was quite different. His English wasn't very good so it wasn't very easy to communicate. Perhaps this was the reason why he didn't explain much of the things we were looking at during the tour. He'd just say that X thing was the most important. There was a moment where I asked about Monteserrate and he gave the wrong timeframe of the photo I was referring to.

When we went to the Gold Museum, he took us only to see basically 2 things which he said were the most important and didn't explain anything about why they were important.

We stopped by to grab a bite and agua de panela at La Puerta de la Cadetral and we paid for his food as well (which I didn't know we were paying for). He took the receipt after I paid.

The tour included Museo Botero, but we walked pass by it and didn't stop.

The tour was supposed to last 8 hours, but he said we were done a bit after 1 PM.

The trip was great and we enjoyed it.
Chio was very good all the way and was very responsive to our needs and did her best to solve any problem we had.
I have an issue, however with the team that designed the trip. Here are some points:
The transport company in Medallin was bad. Out of the three trips with them there were two problems. On the second one, they simply sent the driver with the wrong name, as a result, he ignored our sign and it caused delay.
The trip to Nuqui was good, but we should have been informed in advance that the Nuqui airport may be closed for any period due to simple weather problems like fog, which is very likely.
We were told that we can take a trip to some water falls on the second day, but found out that on that day, which was Jan 1, that trip cannot be taken.
Jacob Tal.

The trip was excellent! We loved the activities and guides (especially Samuel, Diego, and Manuel). The one day that could be improved was the trip from Cartagena to the island since we did not realize the car ride would be so long and in a group bus (we would have prepared better and brought a car seat).

We used Kimkim for traveling in Colombia in Nov-Dec 2019. All was great! Communication, punctuality, service, transport, guides. Thanks to Natalia!

I recommend the Kimkim team in Colombia without reservations. We had a fantastic trip and I could not have asked for a better agency to work with.
In terms of the initial planning, they patiently helped me through deciding whether to go to Colombia or Peru, which areas to cover, and worked with me through my endless questions and changes. Lisa and Chio worked out an amazing itinerary for our family based on our stated interests, and changed it with only a few weeks to go when it turned out that we could not easily get the appropriate vaccine to visit the Amazon. I had been a little distressed at the need to change the plans at that late date, but they quickly came up with a revised itinerary and I think it turned out even better because we had one fewer plane flight that way within the country.
Chio and Jules answered every question I had after arrival with patience and frequently checked in on us. Jules brought us to our hotel late at night upon arrival in Bogota and made several good suggestions for the rest of the trip. I was really impressed with Kimkim's organization, planning, and the guides they chose in each location were fantastic - very nice, fun, comfortable to be with and knowledgeable, and patient with our attempts to speak and understand Spanish, which made the trip so much more fun and intimate. I really felt like we (me, my husband, and early twenties daughters) got so much out of the trip when with the guides, particularly in Bogota, on our hike in Tayrona Park, and our visit to La Boquilla fishing village. We also really loved going to Minca and staying in the mountains, and the hotel near Tayrona was spectacular. On the way from Minca to Cartagena, a long drive, we were a bit nervous about a country-wide protest's impact on our ability to get through (though sympathetic to the cause), but we had a fantastic driver with whom we had many good conversations and he took great care of us, in addition to being such a sweet and interesting person. We really learned a lot on this trip, stayed in some lovely places, saw varied terrain, and thoroughly enjoyed our stay. Thanks so much to Kimkim for this experience.

We had a great experience planning our trip with Laura and the KimKim team.
All our drives we're nice and polite the vehicles were very clean, in all cases except once our drivers arrived on time.
Our guides were great and we got to ask them about their daily life and learn a lot more about Colombian culture. In general the tours outside the city were more comprehensive then the city tours. We especially enjoyed our in and around Valle de Cocora tour with the wonderful Mauricio, who was full of knowledge kindness and joy.
I wouldn't hesitate to plan another trip through KimKim as it really takes the hassle out of planning it yourself.

We had a wonderful 10 days trip to Colombia. From start to finish our experience with Laura in Kim Kim was perfect. She gave us plenty of options and listen to our feedback and needs and answered all very promptly and kindly.
I would highly recommend using her services.
The guides were good and I wish to particularly mention Mauricio who walked us through the Valle de Cocoa and Salento. His knowledge, energy and beautiful way made it the favourite part of our trip!!!

all the arrangements were well planned and perfectly executed
our guides in all the cities were excellent and went out of their way to accommodate our needs and wishes
all in all it was a great trip
i would recommend Kimkim and Yuliana without reservation

All of our guides were exceptional! Lina in Bogata, Mauricio in Villa de Leyva, Natalia in Pereira, Daniel in Medellin, Juan in Tayrona Park, Carolina for the cooking lesson and Ingrid in Cartagena. The guides were all very knowledgeable and obviously proud of their wonderful country.
We enjoyed all of the things we experienced. A couple of things that stood out were the visit to the coffee farm that was run by women, the visit to Bazurto market with a local that knows her way around. We also enjoyed the physical beauty of all the different areas of Columbia and being able to do a bit of hiking.

Had a wonderful time on our 13 day Columbia tour . Yuliana who coordinated everything was wonderful .
All our guides - Viviana in Bogota, Claudio in Amazon, Jaime in Medellin & Roberto in Cartagena were excellent & very informative.

Nafisa

A few comments.

Perfect Hotels ! Authentic , clean , good breakfast , very nice service. ( Bantu and Punta Faro at Isla
Mucura )

Uncomfortable feeling in transfers and overall pick ups as I did not have direct contact - until I asked for WhatsApp contact and even with that not always responded to in real time. I ended up talking to Laura once as we planned - internet communications is uncomfortable as I can’t reference back as I can with emails.

Overall all transfer were fine, as was the Cartagena city tour with Ingrid.

The fishing village was a disappointment . Both the trip and the guide. Inexperienced young kid , poor English and the trip itself - was not clear for us. We expected something else hence a real disappointment. All tourist should be aware this is a very poor place , where I was afraid ... and full of bugs , mosquitos etc.... definitely not for us Had we understood.

Isla Mucura is a unknown paradise. It was a amazing choice and we should have spent more brights there and less in. Cartagena. Had Laura knew us better , she may have advised us as such.

Thank you again for the opportunity.

This was my first trip through KimKim and it exceeded all my expectations. The tools that KimKim offers for connecting with and communicating with the tour planner where effective and easy to use. Oliver from Aventure Colombia was great. We were looking for off-the-beaten path travel . Oliver suggested some great options and was very flexible in adjusting the options to arrive at an itinerary that worked for us. We were supported by Oliver and his peers from the minute we arrived in Canada to the day we left. The logistics around our itinerary were quite complex, but everything worked like clock-work. We especially loved our time in the Amazon and our time at a farm in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta mountains. It was a wonderful adventure from beginning to end.

The trip to Colombia was planned out very well. Laura Joy was available to address any concerns or answer any questions. She was helpful and flexible. She worked together with us to plan the trip that we wanted. Will use kimkim again in the future.

Laura was a pleasure to work with! Every detail of our trip was planned to our liking and she was very responsive to any changes we wanted to make or questions we had. During our travels, when minor issues arose she (or her coworkers) was readily available to sort it out. She suggested places I would not have known to go for instance beyond guatape, we loved our overnight in San Carlos. I would unhesitatingly recommend Laura for your next trip to Colombia.
Thank you, Laura!