Kimkim Trip Reviews for Colombia

Working with Brian and his colleagues was truly a great experience. Brian was very responsive from the start and provided great input. After my initial contact, Brian suggested a call to learn more about what we were looking for and to share with us what his company was about. We travel quite a bit and have used local guides for tours, but this was the first time that someone suggested a call to better understand the travel experience we were looking for. We wanted a more cultural experience vs just the usual tourist sites and we are so grateful for the experience we had with Brian and his colleagues. Brian and his team handled the logistics from start to finish.
We were a family of 11, including 4 children, traveling on a family vacation. We couldn't get enough of the delicious fruits at the local market with our lovely guide Ana and her husband Freddy. We then cooked dinner with Brian and his fiance at their place...what a treat. Added bonus was Freddy playing his cello after dinner. We were lucky enough to visit a couple of private homes and meet the amazing owner and her family in Santa Fe de Antioquia and visit a coffee farm that does not do public tours and can only be visited with Brian and his team. On our last day, we visited communa 1, which was led by the local artists in the neighborhood and had lunch at one of the local artist's home cooked by his mom. It was truly a special moment to have met these amazing people with their inspiring stories. We very much enjoyed talking to our guide Diego as well as his story started off in a neighborhood similar to communa 1 and his journey that took him from Medellin to US and now back to Medellin.

From reading the review, one would think our trip went without any glitches. However, on our 2nd day in Medellin, the glass shower door broke while my niece was in the shower and cut her right foot deep enough to cut a couple of tendons requiring an emergency surgery in Medellin. As unfortunate as this situation was, we were very grateful that if it had to happen, it happened in Medellin where there was good medical care and Brian and his team along with the staff at the hotel were just amazing in the care they gave us. The hotel had someone Spanish/English speaking with my niece and brother-in-law the whole time at the hospital and must have pulled some strings as they were able to operate on my niece's foot the same day.

Overall, we feel very lucky to have visited this very special place and very lucky to have found Brian and his team for our journey.

We just returned from our family 8 day vacation to Colombia. Jules, our specialist, helped us plan, organize and get ready for our trip. He was also available during our trip to answer questions along the way. This was so helpful.
Once we got to Colombia we had a great driver, Evan and a wonderful guide, Fabian. Fabian was an energetic, personable guide and great with our kids. He took our 10 year old son all over the beach, climbing rocks and exploring the shore. We enjoyed his genuine positive attitude.
We also enjoyed our beach time, river float and the sunset cruise!

Natalia at kimkim helped us with our 8 day Columbia itinerary,
that consisted of 3 days at Tayrona National Park, 2 days at Cartegena, and 3 days at Salento.
All hotels, activities, and ground transportation was arranged by Natalia.
Everything went perfect. Drivers were always on time and helpful. The hotels, while not very expensive, were perfect. (Boutique hotels that were perfect value for money).
We were especially impressed with the guides for our Cocora valley hike (full loop at 7 hours) and Tayrona hike (9 hours). Overall, we were very happy with the value we received.

Overall a great experience, we really enjoyed Colombia. We were in Bogotá, Medellin and Cartagena and they all were worth the visit. We had very good guides in Bogotá and I think we should have stayed longer. Our guide in Medellin (day trip to Guatapé) was really good too, he really was engaging. If I were to do it again I would arrange more guided trips with kimkim in Medellin. The last guide we had was in Cartagena and a tour of the city, our guide here was not the best guide, while she was personable, her English was hard to understand and she spoke very softly making it almost impossible in the city to hear what was being said.

Our transfers were always extremely professional, on time with only the best and most comfortable transportation for our family. I will travel again using kimkim to help me make the arrangements. I would highly recommend Colombia to other families. My kids are aged 8, 10 and 12 and together with my wife we had the family adventure that we wanted.

Jess was very helpful in planning the trip and made all the changes we wanted. Laura took over and was super helpful when we needed to make a couple of changes part way through the trip. She was quickly responsive over What's App which made it much easier for me to communicate with her than through email. At one point we needed to go to the hospital and Laura arranged private transport for us at the last minute from Taganga to Cartagena and found out hospital recommendations for us which was very helpful, especially when we were stressed out about the situation.

Rio Claro was terrific, we loved everything about it. The activities there were also crazy cheap (like 8 USD to go rafting!)

The Los Nevados Trek was beautiful and incredible. Highly recommend this trek. I would not recommend the guide that we got though. He was nice enough but didn't interact with us much and was not a great guide. He didn't bring very good food, had a water filter that was not appropriate for group use (small in-line water filter for himself), and told us the water was fine to drink "because it didn't look that dirty." (even though he was filtering his own water and the other guides for other groups were like "do NOT drink the tap water! It's definitely not safe to drink!" We were fairly cold at night. I would have liked to bring my own water filter and a sleeping bag in hind sight. (I was told we didn't need them.) Also, there was an error with the pick up for the trek in the morning. We were told 10 am by the travel agent and got picked up at 5 am by the guide. (Something to work out for the future.)

The transportation arrangements were invaluable with private transport.

We had a fantastic trip to Colombia over the 2018 winter holiday break. For a family of four, Nathalie Clavet helped personalize and customize our Colombia trip experience and provided a multitude of options for us to select from as we were in the planning stages. While in Colombia, Nathalie and her colleague, Mathilde, took care of us, checking in and were available to help us with any additional questions. Thank you Nathalie! My family and I really had a memorable time in Colombia and we can't wait to visit again!

A very good trip. Tatiana and Pablo were great guides and we all enjoyed the places we were at. Favorites were Bogota and Salento. Great food and lots of fun.
Just a few hiccups, not unexpected in South America.
Some suggestions for future travelers around Christmastime.
Do Salento on the 24th and Christmas Day. Everything is open there.
Do the coffee farm in Salento on one of the days instead of Cocondo. Too many bugs at Cocondo. We all got eaten up despite the repellent.
Don't do Medellin on the 24th. Everything is closed.
Thanks.
Ezra

Our trip to Colombia took me and my husband to Bogota, Salento, Cocora Valley, Tayrona National Park, and Cartagena. I think what was most striking to us was the multitude of landscapes that exist within the country - mountains, valleys, beaches, tropical forests - it was all very beautiful and steeped in a tradition of ceremony, sustainability, and conservation. We were also impressed with the knowledge of our guides and the variety of their subject matter expertise. One was a world-traveled artist (Camilo in Bogota) who was able to give us a deep, immersive lesson on the famous street graffiti, Botero, gold craftsmanship, along with a brief history on the origins and expansion of the city. Christian, an extroverted and boisterous botanist, was our guide in Salento and Cocora Valley. He knew everyone. And vice versa. We learned a lot about Willys, wax palms, coffee, and Tejo under his watch - he was an attentive guide, ensuring that we were well taken care of...and entertained! Jose was our trusty and tireless guide through the depths of the jungles of Tayrona National Park. He led us to Pueblito one day and the playas the next, providing a history of the pre-Colombus indigenous people and pointing out monkeys, caimans, and sacred rocks without breaking a sweat. In Cartagena, Rafa took us inside the minds of the engineers and architects, pointing out the strategy behind the construction of the fort and the wall. He also took us through the Old City neighborhoods, giving us a brief overview of of the plazas - and advice on where we should eat and shop. That said, our only negative experience was with the boat trip that was arranged in Cartagena. Our itinerary promised we'd be "treated to a boat around the Islas del Rosario...Aboard this boat you'll visit 3 beaches, in some top-secret locations that the day-tripper crowds have not heard about (nor are they likely to)." Instead, we were jammed onto a boat with 40 other people and taken to Bendita Beach about an hour away. The boats anchored off of the beach ensured that we sucked in gas fumes all day. Trying to redeem the day, we signed up for a snorkeling trip, which again was super crowded and the guides kept yelling at us to hurry up as we swam through the reefs. This was not a tour, nor was it 3 beaches, and it was anything but top-secret. We were very disappointed in the huge disparity between what was described and what we experienced and wonder how it happened and who benefitted off of our misfortune. We will never get that day back.

Nathalie was incredible, she knew exactly what my husband and I were looking for and designed the perfect trip for us in Colombia! She passed the "baton" to Mathilde during the holidays and it was totally flawless. The tour guides were all different in their own ways which gave us an interesting flavor of the culture and the hotels were perfectly located, in the heart of the city and in safe neighborhoods. The people we met during our journey were very kind and very sweet and I believe that a big part comes back to Nathalie, Mathilde and her organization. Bravo!

This was our first experience in Colombia and with KimKim. We worked with Nicolas while before our trip and he was very prompt and accurate in providing the detail level of information as well as customizing the entire trip for us.

The entire trip went very flawless and smooth as planned and committed. One thing to consider and be patient with is that there are several companies involved in the service chain including the KimKim, their domestic office, their local agent and their subcontractor which might make it a bit complicated but they planned all well. For example the driver picked us up on time from airport however he did not know the person who we had made the reservations, but everything went great.
The driver Anderson in charge of all transportation for the entire trip was fantastic, although he did speak almost none to minimum English, made every attempt to understand us and specially my limited Spanish.

The Coffee farm tour at Santiago's farm was amazing, the tour, lunch and their hospitality was amazing. Also the Cocora Valley and Finlandia tour guide Alberto was extremely knowledgeable and great company for the entire day.

Overall we were very pleased with the tour and highly recommend KimKIm company for Colombia and Zonacafetera visit.

At the end thank you Nicolas for this wonderful memory and experience.

Thanks
Greg G

Overall we had a really good trip. We were greeted at airport by Daniel, who was sweet, engaging and very knowledgeable. His English was quite good and he was very informative, sharing personal insights on history and culture. We never felt threatened or unsafe on the trip - we're also assuming that the second man who accompanied us during our first afternoon tour, and did not speak English, was there for security! Our lodging at Casa Canabal was very comfortable and very accommodating - though the rooms are small and have no windows. A very creative lighting system in the walls, however, gives the semblance of outdoor lighting and ended up being fine. Breakfasts were good and the waiters were wonderful and very friendly. I would suggest that the hotel have towels available at the pool.
We enjoyed the cooking class the second day with Sandra and Ellie. The trip to the market was eye-opening and truly a cultural experience. Visitors should be forewarned, however, not to wear nice shoes! We made ceviche, guacamole, fried plantains, salad, fried fish, coconut rice and passion fruit panna cotta - all delicious!! Sandra was engaging and very interactive - teaching us new skills and lots about Columbia.
We had been told in our tour itinerary that we would be going to Playa Azul in the Rosario Islands and getting there by private speed boat. We were surprised and a bit confused when we arrived at the dock, and amidst a large and equally confused crowd of tourists, found out we were going to Bendita Beach on a speed boat with 30 other tourists. No one spoke English, other than the other tourists, so all the safety and general information given once we got on the boat was entirely in Spanish - not very helpful OR safe! Once we got to the beach, we were pretty disappointed with the number of people there (masses) and being "herded" to the lineup of beach chairs which weren't very comfortable. All activities were pretty haphazard - again, because English was limited and there were so many people. The lunch was good. I'm not sure we would have gone if we had known it would have been so crowded and uncomfortable - it certainly wasn't very relaxing and not what had been depicted and described in our itinerary. There certainly wasn't any place to go walk and "explore the island" and no one was around to talk about the flora and fauna.
All transfers were very good and on time. Our driver to the Tayrona region was excellent - Jorge was a wonderful driver and spoke relatively good English. Our lodging at La Mer de Bien was lovely - though we didn't we didn't realize we were staying there until we read the fine print itinerary (it wasn't the lodging listed in the larger itinerary which was actually quite a bit closer to the park). We loved La Mer de Bien - and Sergio and Diana couldn't have been lovelier hosts. Food was delicious and they were very accommodating making us sandwiches to take with us with our pre-breakfast early departure. Tour of Tayrona and the Victoria Coffee plantation in Minca with José were great. At Tayrona we had a great hike and saw monkeys and lizards. The afternoon at the beach was terrific. The tour at the coffee plantation was incredibly interesting and very well done. Again, visitors should be forewarned about the bumpy road from Minca to the plantation! We were fine, but our driver seemed worried in the van he was driving - especially since the road is so narrow and there was definitely traffic going both ways. Overall - a great trip and we very much enjoyed seeing this part of Columbia. We felt the country has done an amazing job making visitors feel welcome and safe.

We loved all three hotels. BOG hotel was excellent, had a wonderful breakfast and great service and was walking distance to restaurants. Great location.
Allure Chocolate is a wonderful hotel in a wonderful location. Service was great. The rooms are a bit on the small side but still a wonderful choice.
Las Islas is a dream resort. It’s very new so still has a few problems which I am sure will be fixed. We had an amazing time there.
The transportation everywhere was great! Drivers were always nice and the buses or vans were great. Apart from one problem where the driver didn’t know our flight got moved to an earlier time and wasn’t at the airport when we landed all of them were on time.
The only problem we had was the guide in Bogota who despite being a very nice person was very unprofessional , didn’t know the facts and gave us both days disappointing tours.
We can highly recommend a tour we booked ourselves in Cartagena with Experience Real Cartagena- Alex Rocha. His son Chris took us to a tour of Cartagena and a day later Palenque. It was amazing!!!!
Mathilde was always available on WhatsApp and always very helpful and so was NathLie who helped us with booking a restaurant in Bogota. Thank you all, we loved Colombia.

Had great time in Colombia! Trip was very well organized by Lisa! Thanks!

Sharon in Bogota was amazing, as was David in Perreira.
Lovato in Medellin did a great job.
Dency in Cartagena lived up to her name (meaning "Dignified , explorer, powerful, happy, beautiful.")

We learned so much from each of the guides and enjoyed the various day trips and tours.

The wax palms hike and Penon of Guatape got us out into the countryside and were good physical challenges for me.
Loved the Cathedral of Salt, which was my "add" to the itinerary.
The coffee plantation visit was amazing.
Really, a great trip and filled with surprises for me, since my daughter did most of the itinerary planning with Nathalie.

Thank you Nicolás for planning our trip on short notice and being so responsive to our questions! We had a great time and things went smoothly - from our transfers to our accomodations and our guides. We especially liked our accomodations in Cartagena and Tayrona. Our guides were also wonderful, particularly Jairo in Bogotá. He was very flexible and knew a great deal. I can't recommend him enough!

Miguel was a very competent careful driver. The driving part of the trip was longer and tougher than expected - 9 hours day 2, 7 hours day 3, 6 hours day 4. There was a lot of extreme poverty with many beggars requesting water and rice because they were so hungry. The main sites to visit were nice enough but the scenery along the way much less interesting than I had imagined. Taroa dunes beach is lovely. Places we stayed at understandably very primitive. Food monotonous but we did not get sick.
We very much enjoyed the boat trip in camarones. Carlos, our boatman and guide was well informed and we saw many flamingos and red ibis. Learned about Wayuu which interested me. Would NOT recommend trip to others unless they have some real reason to be interested in area.

The full trip was awesome the guides very well ínformed and puntual and very helpfull. Every activity was memorable.

We had a really excellent experience in Colombia, and with KimKim in particular. One thing we appreciated immediately was that our drivers were always punctual and pleasant, and their vehicles were in great shape. We started off in Bogota and had a wonderful bike tour led by Daniel Felipe. We were particularly interested in street art, and it turns out he is a street artist himself, so it was a perfect match. The next day we had an equally great tour to Monserrate led by Sharon. We then flew to Salento (in the coffee-growing region), which was the highlight of our trip. We stayed at Reserva el Cairo, which we can't recommend highly enough. We spent 2 full days there. On the first, we did a mountain bike tour of the wax palms through Salento Cycling (not through Kimkim), which was absolutely fabulous. The next day we had our best tour ever (provided by Kimkim), which was a tour of several local towns with our guide David. We learned to grow and prepare coffee, saw incredible beauty, and hung out in some really gorgeous (non-touristy) little towns. Loved it! The last part of our trip was in Cartagena. This was not our favorite, due to the heat, multitude of tourists, and extremely obvious income inequality. However, we recognize that many people really enjoy the hot coastal environment and that our going there and not loving it was predictable. We did, however, learn a lot about the history of the place, and really enjoyed our tour with Nestor despite our cutting it a bit short due to our discomfort in the heat. It was a relief for us to get back to Bogota, where we all agreed we could spend a lot more time. Overall, we loved Colombia and feel like we want to come back, spending more time in Bogota, the coffee region, and other areas that we haven't visited yet. I also was very pleased with KimKim's services, which were exactly what we needed and perfectly executed.

We loved our trip to Estación Corcornan. We enjoyed birds, monkeys, hippos, waterfalls and life on the river - all without a single other tourist or boat in sight! Our guides Ana and Victor were awesome and super knowledgeable about the area. Victor knew all the birds, frogs, and wildlife in general and even some of the tree species. I asked for a bird guide (I am a birder) and I definitely got someone who knew his stuff!

The trip felt very authentic and we enjoyed living like locals and eating traditional foods. Highly recommended and thanks so much for all the arrangements!

Nathalie organised a wonderful trip for us. She was very responsive and everything was organised perfectly. We were very happy with all of the hotels, guides and activities. Nathalie called us at the beginning and end of the trip to make sure everything was ok so it was a very personalised experience. We loved Colombia, especially our time in the Amazon and will definitely go back.