Kimkim Trip Reviews for Finland

I can’t travel without KimKim ever again! This is my fifth time traveling to Europe and I can’t imagine doing it without KimKim. Moonika took care of everything! The transfers were seamless, it was easy to access all of our tickets and passes needed. We never once worried about being on time for anything. Our guide Felipe for the Sauna Bike tour was amazing and was very knowledgeable about Helsinki and the sauna culture. Our Sea kayaking tour around the Archipelago was fantastic. Aavameri created a camping trip to remember. On to our Backpacking trip into the National Park with Ylläs Experiences, Yuusi put together our trip based on our experience and how far we wanted to hike. The food was great and who doesn’t love picking blueberries and cloud berries for breakfast. Nordic Odyssey was our final tour with a trip to a Reindeer Farm and a Lakeside Sauna. So fun to feed the reindeer and learn about this animal that makes Christmas so special. I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend any of these experiences if you are looking to get to know Finland. Thank you Moonika we will back for a winter trip!

Hotel Reviews

GLO Hotel Art

Helsinki

Beautiful hotel, the staff was excellent! 15 min walk to 2 saunas and the beautiful water. Breakfast was great and they have plenty of seatings areas to enjoy a glass of wine or an Original.

Authenticity & Character

Great history and beautiful architecture

Location

Walkable to museums and the waterfront

Staff

Friendly and helpful

Cleanliness & Comfort

The rooms and bathrooms were very clean

Hotel Kakola

Turku

Hotel Kakola was one of the favorite parts of visiting Turku, the Spa attached is incredible. You have to experience the saunas. There is also a brewery and cafe near but the restaurant inside was delicious! The history of converting the prison into a hotel a community is really interesting. When the Funicular is working it’s a fun way to drop down into the streets of Turku but you get your exercise on the steps if not

Authenticity & Character

Great history, love the way they preserved the characteristics of the prison but added modern style

Location

On top of the hill overlooking Turku

Staff

Great staff, very helpful and always available

Cleanliness & Comfort

Rooms and bathrooms were very clean

Lapland Hotels Saaga

Ylläsjärvi

Beautiful hotel, delicious breakfast. The rooms are modern and the sitting area outside was perfect for watching reindeer graze on the hillside

Authenticity & Character

Very Finnish, beautiful and modern at the same time.

Location

Away from other restaurants but during the winter you couldn’t ask for a better location

Staff

I can’t say enough about the staff, so helpful

Cleanliness & Comfort

Lapland Sky Ounasvaara

Rovaniemi

Beautiful hotel, delicious breakfast. It is a 40 minute walk to the center of Roveniemi so unless you plan to make reservations for dinner there meals elsewhere can be tricky. The Nature trail created around the hotel is gorgeous a great way to start your day with an hour trek.

Authenticity & Character

Beautiful style, very modern and rustic at the same time. Nature brought inside.

Location

It’s quite a ways from the city center but if being in Nature is your goal it is Perfect

Staff

The staff was very helpful and friendly

Cleanliness & Comfort

Rooms and bathrooms were very clean, the saunas always had plenty of towels

Activity Reviews

Turku City Walking Tour

Turku

Anu was lovely! So knowledgeable and made Turku one of my favorites in Finland. Such a beautiful city with a fascinating history.

Quality of Experience

Anu made sure saw the interesting and beautiful sites in Turku

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Very knowledgeable

Transport

Helsinki Sauna Tour

Helsinki

Fun biking around Helsinki. Felipe was fun, easygoing and had lots of fun facts and tips for visiting the Saunas.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Moonika planned a perfect trip for us through Finland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. Every detail was covered with awesome guides and drivers. Our itinerary allowed us to experience the beauty of the Baltics as well as give us time to relax and explore by ourselves. A fantastic time in magical places, everything we asked Moonika gave us.

Activity Reviews

Day Trip from Riga

Riga

The palace was nice to see, our guide was not very engaging.

Riga - Klaipeda Private Transfer with a Stop in Kuldiga

Finland

Gadis was a great guide and driver, as he was born in Kuldīga he had some tales to tell about growing up in this area.

Discover Beautiful Curonian Spit

Klaipeda

Curonian Spit was truly beautiful. Minda our guide was extremely friendly and had a great knowledge of the area especially about the folklore.

Cultural e-fatbike Tour

Rovaniemi

Great way to overview the city and surrounds with fun guides.

Midnight Sun Photography Tour

Rovaniemi

Juhani provided us with a great trip out in the wilderness, complete with campfire, to capture the midnight sun.

Amethyst Mine Adventure (Summer)

Rovaniemi

Something that is completely off track but very much a fun activity. Scratching around for an amethyst with a wilderness background was amazing.

Summer Floating (Day or Night)

Rovaniemi

What better way to relax than floating in a lake. Fabulous night with a fun guide and small group. Don’t trust Tommy to take a photo though🤣

Ranua Wildlife Park Visit

Finland

Probably a great place for younger children but limited interest for adults only.

Turku City Walking Tour

Turku

Interesting tour of the city, our guide was not as engaging as others we have had.

Picnic Cruise along the Aura River

Turku

Nice cruise on the river with a light lunch provided. The boat was clean and well equipped with the operator very friendly.

Guided Hike in the Archipelago Sea

Helsinki

Great walk through the wilderness with Helena with a well organised and tasty lunch provided.

Walking Tour of Tallinn

Tallinn

We loved Estonia and our first tour of the city cemented this, our guide was extremely knowledgeable on the history of the city.

Bogshoe Hiking Tour

Tallinn

What better way of seeing the forests and bogs of Estonia than a trip with Marilin. We picked forest strawberries, blueberries and cloudberries before shoeing across the bogs. A must do trip with Marilin.

Parnu City Tour With a Visit to the Panoramic Cinema

Paernu

Great few hours visiting this lovely seaside city, our guide was very good and passionate about her home.

Riga Old Town & Central Market walking tour

Riga

Great guide who showed us the different side of Riga while still capturing the tourist must sees.

Vilnius Walking Tour

Vilnius

Jelena gave us a very extensive tour of Vilnius, taking us off the tourist path and providing us with a wealth of knowledge.

Day Trip to Trakai and Darguziai Community Centre

Vilnius

We had a great time with the ladies at the Darguziai Community Centre cooking and learning about different artisans. The day was topped off with a visit to the must see Trakai castle.

We had an amazing trip to Helsinki and Tallinn. Moonika arranged the entire trip flawlessly. She found us a bike tour to Kadriorg Park and Pirita area that was a lot of fun. We liked the hotels she selected for us and the transfer to and from ferry and airports were very reliable and on-time. We had an unplanned emergency that caused us to miss the scheduled ferry. Moonika was there, a click away, helping us get through the episode. I can't thank her enough for her help.
For a family whom always plan the trip ourselves, we won't hesitate to recommend to anyone and we'll use her service if we return to Finland and Estonia. I would give her 10 STARS out of 5.

I had five guides and all were wonderful.

The entire experience with Kimkim has been fabulous; right from the first email inquiry till the end of the trip. Moonika was the agent assigned to us and she has been there 24/7 answering all our queries and meeting us when we visited Estonia. The constant communication made us feel very secure. The tours arranged have been exactly what we were looking for. The guides Dominic, Elisa and the others were very well informed. Kept the day pretty entertained. The hotels booked were comfortable, clean and convenient with children.
The transfers by the card arranged were very good. Everyone were punctual which was something we liked. Overall a fabulous trip with a lot of memories. Can’t wait to book another trip with Kimkim. Thank you guys😀

Hotel Reviews

Hotel Haven

Helsinki

Fab hotel with good food. Great reception and we loved our stay here.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Close to everything

Staff

Very friendly

Cleanliness & Comfort

Super clean

Arctic SnowHotel & Glass Igloos

Rovaniemi

Beautiful hotel with activities for children. Igloo can get a bit warm during the day.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Northern Lights Village

Saariselkä

Love the hotel, food and staff. Activities can be arranged. Walking distance to a supermarket. If you are lucky, you can see the Northern lights in the comfort of your room.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Very hardworking staff and always smiling

Cleanliness & Comfort

Ski-Inn Kultakero Hotel

Pyhätunturi

Loved the location, room and restaurant. Has a dryer in the room which was an added bonus.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Lapland Hotels Ounasvaara Chalets

Rovaniemi

Very basic but the room had a sauna so kinda made up. The room could be modernized a bit.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Reviews

Tallinn Day Trip

Helsinki

Was good. Just wished there was a later ferry as we arrived early that morning. Had quite an adventure here😀

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Dominic was lovely.

Transport

Helsinki City Walking Tour

Helsinki

The guide was nice and so passionate about the history of the place. The library was awesome. She got the kids involved in making pins😀 as souvenirs.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Northern Lights Tour

Rovaniemi

We saw the lights in the first location. It was cold. Beautiful experience. The guide made it fun and entertained the children too.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Husky Safari (5km)

Finland

Beautiful experience as we were the only people there at that time of the year. Friendly dogs and the owner was lovely.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Sami Culture Day

Finland

Loved the reindeer farm. The couple who owned it were just amazing. Super friendly and loved to tell their story. Made it very kid friendly. The museum was beautiful.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Our trip to Rovaniemi, Finland was amazing! Moonika was so helpful and customized our trip with all of the adventures we wanted while in Lapland. I would highly recommend Kim Kim for folks who are interested in traveling, know what they want to do, but would like someone else to plan the logistics for them.

Hotel Reviews

Nova Skyland Hotel

Rovaniemi

Authenticity & Character

Location

So convenient, right in the Santa's Village complex - Such a wonderful location!

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Arctic SnowHotel & Glass Igloos

Rovaniemi

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Guests and Staff communicate via What's App and they are at your service with anything that you may want!

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Review

Group Reindeer Safari

Rovaniemi

Reindeer sledding was so much fun! We bundled up in a sleigh and off we rode. We had a snack and hot chocolate after we got to feed the reindeer and the family who ran the location were absolutely fabulous!

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

We had so much fun in Finland! Overall, we had a great trip. Moonika helped us plan some amazing excursions and we had a great time. The excursion to Riisitunturi National Park was incredible. It was expensive, but Moonika told us that it would be worth it, and it completely was. The one Overall, very happy with our experience with KimKim yet again.

Hotel Review

Scandic Rovaniemi City

Rovaniemi

Exactly what we expected and paid for. A very nice hotel that was clean and efficient.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Reviews

Northern Lights Tour

Rovaniemi

Didn't see the Northern Lights, but our guide worked hard to get us to the perfect location. It was a completely clear sky with a great view of the milky way. If the lights were closer, it would've been incredible.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Driver/guide was really nice and worked hard to get us in a good position! But, she had worked a long shift earlier that day hiking and nearly fell asleep driving. One of us had to talk to her on the way home so she didn't swerve off the road.

Transport

Husky Sledding Safari

Rovaniemi

Nice working with a local family, and visiting a place that wasn't too touristy. So much fun on the sleds!

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Aurora Hunt by Reindeer Safari

Rovaniemi

Definitely the more touristy excursion of the trip. Saw the Northern Lights! Definitely a lot of people that took some of the "special-ness" away, but the talk afterwards where we got to learn of the reindeer was so interesting.

Riisitunturi Private Photography Expedition

Rovaniemi

This was the best excursion of our time in Finland! We had a clear, sunny day with no wind. The snow was just incredible on the trees. So happy with this experience!

Quality of Experience

Food

What you'd expect for a bbq in the forest

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Amazing trip, well planned and nicely executed with all the different tours in the day.
We did snowshoeing, Northern Lights BBQ, Husky ride, reindeer ride and stayed in a glass igloo on the lake with a private sauna - all this in 4 days!
The only con was lack of details on certain activities e.g. at the ice igloo - until we asked we didn't know we had to bring our own dinner.
I would highly recommend a trip with Kimkim to Finland!

Everything was amazing handled. Finally we could see the Aurora twice during our stay.
The staff, the driver and Aurelie were really helpful.
We look forward to another excited tour package

Wonderful trip. Amazing organization. Friendly service. Aurelie from KimKim was a great contact who helped us throughout. Thank you!

This was one of a lifetime trip! Absolutely Amazing! We have a 7 year old and we decided to take the chance and travel from Atlanta, GA in the US to Lapland to be able to find the Real Santa and do everything possible to make my son experience Santa with all the bells and whistles!

Finding the right partner to do is very important. And here is where Kim Kim comes to life once again. We chose NORD DMC with Julia and Thao behind everything, and when I say everything, I really mean it!

I am a very particular traveler because I like to do research first and find the exact places to stay and the activities I want to do, and then, work the itinerary together so that I can get the local insights and the experience and expertise of people like Julia and Thao.

They understood my wishes and gave me different options until we were able to create the perfect experience and spend a wonderful Christmas in a beautiful country.

The hotels they chose, the adventures tailored for our family and all the ideas of what to do and where to eat were on point. Not to mention that they were always available if I needed to ask something. They are both very warm and knowledgeable.

I have a lot of more countries to go, but if I go back to Lapland or any of the Scandinavian countries, I will contact them for sure!
Thank you Thao and Julia for a Magical White Christmas with Santa in Lapland.

We've just spent a wonderful week travelling with Adventure By Design from Rovaniemi (Lapland) to Tromso (Norway). Our trip was all about immersing ourselves in the environment and taking beautiful day hikes. Elina & Sonja organised a great itinerary which gave us a taste of the different types of environment in the Arctic Circle. It wasn't till the end that we reflected how different each day was and how that made the trip so great! The hikes were well marked and really suitable for us in terms of difficulty and duration. The night in the wilderness cabin was a highlight- a great way to meet other Finnish hikers and have an authentic Finnish summer hiking experience. The accommodation varied: self-catering cabins (with sauna's) and hotels which were clean and comfortable and in great locations. It was easy to pick up food supplies (snacks, breakfast food) along the way. My partner's need for gluten-free food was NO problem at all in Finland and Norway. Everything is labelled. How refreshing! Gareth and Amanda were fantastic guides and we really enjoyed our time with them. Everything went smoothly, as planned, and we enjoyed every single minute of our fabulous trip. Highly recommended, and we look forward to coming back one day soon.

We absolutely loved Norway. It is a beautiful country with wonderful people. Everyone was so friendly and helpful. Our boat tour through the fjords was gorgeous. We especially enjoyed the Flåm train ride and our trip to Lofoten Islands. A guide named Boyd, from Aktiv took us on a very nice kayaking tour. He was very informative about the people, the culture, and the history of the area.

Planning the trip with Ingrid was a dream! She had excellent suggestions, was thorough in her planning and left us very detailed instructions. She even gave us maps so that we would have a general idea where we needed to go. I have given all of my friends the recommendations on booking travel through kim kim. We had a wonderful experience and every hotel and activity met or exceeded our expectations.

Our only obstacles were generally in the area of language. While everyone spoke English, we really had a tough time reading the signs or following directions that were written in Norwegian. This posed most challenging while driving. Some how we made it through the trip with just a parking ticket!

I cannot rave enough about Gareth & Elina. They were so knowledgeable, responsive, and gracious. The agenda they organized for us was exactly what we wanted - they took our travel goals and interests and turned them into an outstanding programme. Both are true experts, customer-oriented, and kind people. We wanted an active, hiking-centric trip through Swedish & Finnish Lapland and far norther Norway. This is what Elina & Gareth delivered, and we could not be happier.

Rikka was a great guide - very knowledgeable and helpful and so full of energy! She made our two snowshoeing trips very easy and enjoyable!
Elina and Sonja tailored an itinerary exactly according to my interests and gave me very clear instructions so that I had a very smooth trip and was able to do a lot in a short period of time. When she heard that my camera was not functioning, Elina even helped to adjust it to enable me to successfully photograph the Northern Lights.

Right from the start Elina was excellent at helping to plan our trip . Elina and Gareth always responded quickly to our questions and were very helpful in providing us with information from what clothing to wear to what camera to buy.
Our trip was amazing from start to finish . Gareth picked us up in Kittila and drove us to Ylläs and Kilpisjärvi , then on to Tromso. Our accommodation were beautiful cabins in the woods (exactly what I had asked for ). Our activities, snowmobiling, dog sledding, reindeer farm , snow shoe walks and Northern Lights hunting were all fabulous. Gareth personally took us on 3 fantastic snow shoe walks which were unexpected highlights . His enthusiasm for Lapland is infectious and he is great company . Gareth guided us on 4 Northern Lights chases. He helped our daughter with her camera and taking the Northern Lights pictures , which we saw 4 nights out of 6 and every night we went looking . Gareth looked after us , took us to the supermarket, lent us bigger boots and ‘grandma’s ‘ knitted socks to help keep us warm. He was totally focused on making our experience as wonderful as it could be .
Thank you Gareth and Elina for an unforgettable stay in Beautiful Finnish Lapland .

Elina and Gareth from Adventure by Design put together an amazing Finnish Lapland experience for our family. After sharing with them the general structure of our holiday they sourced terrific providers and developed an itinerary that would ensure we made the best of the limited daylight. The traditional sauna and ice swimming at Wild Blueberry was a magical experience. As it was a small family business the service was personal and of a very high standard. We had so much fun on a snowmobiling tour run by another smaller company, Kinos Safaris. Our nights in a glass igloo and the ice hotel were memorable. The jewel in the crown for our whole visit was our guide Tuija. She was so friendly, welcoming and accommodating from the minute we met her. It soon became apparent that she was a highly experienced and knowledgeable guide, who went above and beyond to ensure our Finnish experience was perfect. She played joyfully in the snow, teaching our children to toboggan, ice fish and snow shoe, and through her local knowledge of weather and location, guided us to see the northern lights. Spectacular! Thank you Elina & Gareth for doing all the background work to prepare for our holiday. And thank you Tuija for making our visit to Lapland even more wonderful than we hoped it would be.

Elina and Gareth did a great job of putting together a nice itinerary for us. We really loved the snowmobile excursion and the boys loved riding the mini snowmobiles. Rovaniemi is just a magical place and I'm so glad we got to see it. There is really so much more to do than I expected so if I ever get the chance to go back I'll know! (Like the amethyst mine!)

The Scandic hotel was just OK. Our friends ended up in the Arctic Light hotel and that is a really lovely place! I loved our night in the glass igloos.

Generally the trip went very smoothly. There was one minor miscommunication but I think that was in part due to our friends that joined us on the trip joined the planning late so getting both itineraries synced up was a little challenging.

We had the most amazing trip and a great time with Elina and Gareth. Visits to nature center, raindeer farm and husky farm were interesting and educational. The day-long hike was incredibly enjoyable! Overall our whole group was very happy with the experience, especially living in the cabins, going to sauna and making pancakes on the open fire!

Elina planned a fantastic trip for us. Her and her husband Gareth were very accommodating to us given the late notice we gave them, they even managed to condense a 5 day trip into 4 days for us.
The whole trip was a highlight and all the activities exceeded our expectations!!!
- Accommodation in Tromso was great and the breakfast at the hotel was amazing.
- Husky sledding was brilliant and the lunch in and tour of the ice dome/igloo was an unexpected bonus.
- Snowmobiling was fantastic.
- Gareth was absolutely awesome, he checked in on one of our party when they were sick. He hunted down the Northern Lights for us two nights in a row. Even took us to a supermarket to get snacks and "roadies".
- The Reindeer Ranch and the opportunity to be hosted by a Sami family in their own home was very special and unique.

Elina and Gareth were an incredible team and we would highly recommend them to anyone thinking of heading to the region. We would absolutely use them again.