Kimkim Trip Reviews for France

The trip was fantastic, the locations, the pace, and all the guides we encountered were terrific. Stand outs were Yoann at canyoning, Francesca at the Louvre and Dan for the bike tour around Versailles.

Joel was very patient and helpful during our planning, and providing ideas and insight as we were really not sure how to begin the planning of this trip.

Trip plan and vouchers were easy to use and follow, a very stress free vacation.

Overall itinerary was well planned and hotel selection was superb with good location and services except for the following :

1) Hotel Splendid Nice, who did the dinner booking for us, failed to inform us of the change in restaurant. We had a nasty shock when we went to the given restaurant and found it to be empty of furniture. The alternative restaurant we managed to locate was poor with meat dishes.

2) Hotel in Forcalquier is an excellent resort hotel, but is located 2 km from town. Taxis service was hard to come by and under the terrible heat wave, we were thankful that the hotel get their staff to send us to town and later, after much frustration in trying to get taxis, arranged for their staff to bring us back to the resort.

Marion, the local guide in Nice for the gourmet walk about was very friendly and gave us plenty of information about Nice. Marc who brought us to Monaco was a responsible guide. The Aix walking tour guide, Arthur, was very helpful and gave insights of Aix En Provence, Remy, our guide from Aix to Marseille is a cheerful and caring guide that provide plenty of information about the places we visit.

Overall Simon has done a good job in arranging this tour. It would be better if we can have a communication link such as what's app established before the tour start. We were on our own on first night when we found the restaurant we were supposed to have dinner was closed, and we didn't know then it was the hotel who arranged it. My attempt to reach Simon by phone went straight to voicemail.

I had a great experience working with Joel in planning my month-long wine and food-focused road trip in France. I started in Bordeaux and went through all of the major wine regions in France (except for the Loire and Alsace) ending with an epic visit in Champagne and a few days in Paris. He planned the route, selected fantastic hotels and Chambre d'Hotes for me to stay. And in each location, he arranged wine excursions and food tours that were perfect for my interests.

At one point we had difficulty with one of the tours. I notified Joel right away and he was able to get things squared away for us quickly and easily.

Throughout this process (we refined the trip plan about 8 times), Joel was helpful and friendly. When we were in Beaujolais, he even came out to meet my sister and I. It was fantastic to put the face with the name and it felt like I was meeting a friend.

I will definitely work with KimKim again!

Overall, we had a wonderful trip. In general, the excursions Stephen planned and booked for us were a big hit all the way around. A couple didn't quite make the grade, and I'll mention below specific thoughts on some of the elements of the trip.
The hotel in Paris was not up to the standards it should be to be rated 3 stars. I would not recommend it to anyone. The first room they gave us was ridiculously small for 3 people. The lamp shade was torn, the bathroom sink fixture was broken and the tilt of the ceiling was such that anyone standing up would bump their head. We asked to be changed, and they were able to accommodate us. The second room was better, but still had issues. The towel bar under the sink was broken, which I mentioned to the staff, but they didn't repair it. A shelf was missing in the shower, and only bare screws showed. The hotel is in a lovely area walking distance to many different attractions, or a short subway ride. Their morning breakfast room was also very nice, and the breakfast they served was very good. The front desk staff seemed inattentive at best.
The Louvre tour was excellent, including a very good guide.
The tour guide for the tour of Montmarte was outstanding. She really knew her art and art history, and was very cheerful and pleasant.
Chunnel to England was the way to go - easy and smooth.
Our hotel in London was very nice, except they put us in a basement room. There was a lingering smell of mold and mildew in the corner of the room, which was unpleasant. Other than that, it was fine. We probably should have asked to change rooms, but repacking bags, etc. is a drag.
London Eye and Tower of London were great fun.
We missed the Sherlock Holmes tour due to us going to the wrong meeting place. I highly suggest you don't include the address for the company that runs the tour since that isn't the meeting place. Or at least pull the meeting place information up much higher - above the address of the tour company.
The speedboat ride on the Thames River was a blast. Highly recommend for people who don't easily get upset stomachs. Very fun.
The Buckingham Palace tour was excellent - including a fantastic tour guide.
The Jack the Ripper tour should be booked only with STRONG warnings that it is incredibly graphic and provides far too much information on just how each and every woman was killed and dismembered. Seriously, this tour is not for the faint of heart, or young children. There was a 10 year-old on our tour who was way too young to be hearing much of the tour. I had to turn my head away from some of the slides he showed. Don't book people on this tour unless they're well-informed on what they'll be hearing and seeing.
All the drivers we had were pleasant and well-informed. Only one driver - the one from the Paris train station to our hotel in Paris - seemed a bit clueless and not particularly interested in doing a good job. Everyone else was very professional.
We really enjoyed our vacation, and are happy we used KimKim.

This was the perfect travel experience and one that my wife and I will remember for a lifetime.

The accommodations that were booked for us in every town were in a beautiful setting, always very comfortable and with an extraordinary staff. We were especially impressed with our room in Sault maintained by Kevin. Not only was it in a beautiful valley each and every space was perfectly furnished. Dominique who was our host outside of Roussillon was very helpful and took great pains to make us feel welcome and comfortable. Our hotel in Vaison-la-Romaine “Hostellerie Le Befroi” had one of the greatest meals we ate in all of France.

The food was also of the highest quality. Each location that was booked was very accommodating and the meals were delicious.

The travel book provided to us was very accurate and provided a great guide to this long journey. We never once felt lost or out of place as the directions were so clear throughout.

The equipment was of the highest quality. The EBikes provided by Sun EBike and our specialist Estelle was fabulous. Estelle also gave us a great tip about a professional bike race that was happening so we could be prepared in our route. We were given panniers that were large enough to fit all of our gear and still have space. The GPS provided to us had pre loaded maps for every day and was very clear and kept us on route.

The greatest part of this trip was the journey itself. Every hill and valley we rolled through was more beautiful than the next and we could not imagine having had a better experience.

Thank you to Simon and So Provence So Alps for this vacation that will live with us always.

Overall a good trip. We had 2 drivers. One was English speaking - Emanuel. We enjoyed his knowledge and sense of humour. The other was Patrick whose English was less extensive. So we couldn't chat much to him unfortunately so we couldn't learn as much from him during our long drives.
Both drivers were nice people and very punctual and helpful.
We missed the train ride due to incorrect timetable information provided ( traveling on a public holiday) and that was a shame. However that hiccup was quickly overcome and Emanuel drove us where we needed to be. We were very relieved about that.
Given the small cost of the boat trip we think that fare could have been included in the package with a voucher ( like the train voucher)
The Colonna hotel was fantastic. But it's a long way out of the centre. There was no shuttle and no taxi which is an issue. We suggest you lobby them for a shuttle service in the evenings early in the tourist season so guests can dine in the town centre. Or maybe the hotel could offer the use of some e-bikes?
The Calvi Hotel while adequate did not compare to the standards of the other two. We wonder whether a better 4 star hotel exists in town? For example there was no wifi operating for our entire stay
These are small details. Overall we enjoyed our trip and loved Corsica!

We were not aware that we are creating permanent memories while having super fun.

Kimkim has organize perfect holidays and have selected our stay at the place where no indian has visited so far . It was our first time as a cycling tour and first time hosting any Indians .

Tour map was so precise that we have stopped viewing our google maps .

We can’t thank enough for the relaxing holidays .

First of all, Sophie Bonaque did an amazing job setting up our trip. In designing the trip, she answering all of our questions and made the necessary and appropriate changes to our itinerary to set up the trip exactly the way we wanted.

The trip itself was fantastic! All the arrangements she made worked out perfectly. All the tours were great and all the tour guides and drivers met us at the right place and time.

I’ll give some feedback on the hotels. The hotel in Paris (Hotel Le Basile) was only 3 stars but we liked it very much. It was a very charming hotel and the proprietor (or manager) was very helpful. It was also in a very good location. The breakfast was excellent and they also had a person to cook an omelette if you wanted it. We would definitely recommend it and think of it as a high 3 stars. As we say in the US, “it punches above its weight”!

The hotel in Marseille (Hotel Maison Montgrand ) was okay, but 3 stars is a reasonable rating. No real complaints. It was just that the service was a bit impersonal, the room was on the small side and the location was just okay. The breakfast was very good but as expected. Again, no complaints but we want to give you good feedback.

The Palais Saleya in Nice was by far our favorite! What a great hotel! The room was large and very comfortable. The location was fantastic. They don’t have their own kitchen to serve breakfast so breakfast was brought to our room every morning on trays. It was a great breakfast: fresh yogurt, fresh breads, crepes, orange juice, etc. We very highly recommend this hotel.

Finally, just to mention again, all the tour guides were great.

We loved Nice and Paris! Marseille was fine, but two days was just the right amount of time.

Overall it was a great vacation. Again, Sophie did a great job on all the arrangements.

I thought the hotels and guides were great. The first two nights in Aix Provence were the best as far as service and hotels go. This small hotel provided great service and an excellent room. The cooking school was enjoyable with a trip to the market and then a quick wine tasting before the class. The food proved amazing and the event filled the day. Don't suggest having any more meals that day. The hotel in Arles was quite beautiful. It was a treat to stay there. The wine trip the next day was the highlight of our stay in Provence. Eric the wine tour guide was excellent. The private tours were wonderful and the places were beautiful. I would highly recommend him to anyone. Our hotel in Avignon was nice but not exceptional. It was located in a great place and they gave us a nice room with a deck overlooking the city. We enjoyed our touring around the area by rental car and managed to fill the day with the high-points of the region. All and all the package proved very good. I would highly recommend Simon. He was able to readjust our schedule due to a flight cancellation that eliminated our first day. Simon's rescheduling enable us to almost recapture the elements of the lost first day. The only item that was a bit negative was the cost of the private transport in Provence. Our driver, while very nice charged much more than estimated in our itinerary. But that didn't diminish the excellent services and information provided and the great assistance Simon provided for us. Many thanks to Simon.

The trip was very well-planned according to our requests. Lodging was good to very good. The people who picked up our luggage for transfers were always extremely punctual and reliable. Our only issue had both a good and bad side. Arriving the first week in October meant that there were no crowds, less traffic, and it was easy to get into restaurants. The bad news was that many things were already closed for the season and were unavailable. One glaring example was that when we went to use our voucher for a boat transfer in St. Florent the water taxi had closed for the season. With great persistence and very little French we were able to arrange for a private boat to take us. Although we made sure that everything went as planned, I think it's important for others planning a trip at that time to know that it is definitely post-season and they should know in advance that many places will be closed. Also - I felt that some of the hikes were much more rigorous than described. In English there is a difference between a path (very well-groomed and generally flat) and a trail (well-marked but rougher terrain). The "paths" in St. Florent (along the coast) and Corté (in the mountains) were very rugged trails that, for me (65-yr. old woman) required walking sticks and a knee brace that I didn't bring. All in all, Corsica is a beautiful place and we thank Kim Kim for making our wonderful trip possible!

Estelle from sun e bikes was great and very helpful. The staff at the restaurants: Fort in Marseille, La Fourchette in Avignon were very pleasant and good experiences. Heily Lucullus in Avignon was very good and our owner/hostess was very nice. Eating dinner outside at Les Fin Roches in CDP had excellent ambiance. CDP itself was just OK. Sylvie at La Nerth gave a great tour although a little rushed since we were a little late. But she spent a lot of time with us in the the tasting room and it was very memorable. Very attractive woman by the way. ;) . Before we got to La Nerth, we stopped at Mont Redon winery. Very friendly staff and a beautiful place. I recommend that as a stopover. Domaine de Manville was an excellent experience. The staff was excellent and we were treated very well by everyone that we interacted with, excepting the misunderstanding at the proshop.

Our Trip to Provence and The French Riveria was great. Alex our guide and driver was fantastic. Very professional but friendly, excellent driver, so knowledgeable on the history and geography of the area and very flexible when we had requests for small variations. Our hotel accommodations were all very good - the last one - Hotel La Perouse was fabulous - great way to end our holiday. Regarding the activities we partook in - we all thought the hike in Calanques National Park was great but in some places a little slippery - not recommended for people who aren't steady on their feet or are not wearing appropriate footwear - or elderly.

We all loved our day in the Luberon visiting Gordes and Roussillon .
St Tropez was also well liked - some good shopping.
Our excursion to Grasse and our workshop at the perfume House of Galimord was probably one of our most memorable experiences - wasn't sure how the interested the guys would be but we all thoroughly ended it.
Monaco and Eze were also beautiful and very enjoyable.

Gourmet walking tour in Nice was good - Marion was lovely and very knowledgeable but a little disorganized and it was hard for everyone to hear her - concept was good and she showed us some great hidden foodie spots - would be a good tour to do the you first arrived in Nice so you could you this information to your advantage to close where to dine.

The wine tasting at Domaine du Clos des Roses was disappointing - we all thought it would have been better to stay in St Tropez - afternoon was a waste -No tour - tasted 2 wines - not worth it.

In all - we were very satisfied with the itinerary except for the wine tasting - perhaps next time we would allow 1 day extra in each location for shopping and wandering the town at our own leisure or enjoying the facilities of the hotels

The two days of hiking in the "Vallee des Merveilles" was wonderful with Damien. He was very considerate, interesting and fun. The tour was exactly what I was hoping. Sometime in the future, I would love to plan another but longer hike through that part of France.

The tour of Nice was good. Our guide knew the information and presented it well. Our only problem was that she talks too long with a very fast loud voice. Sometimes she talked so quickly that we could not follow her strain of thought.

Simon, thank you for putting together a great 3 day tour of southern France. Hopefully there are other opportunities to give you a call.
Thanks again
Sheila

Heidi and I truly enjoyed Corsica, the Corsican people, the cycling and the beaches! Anthony and his company did a fine job planning the trip and moving our gear along for us. They were very attentive and seemed to think of everything. We would do this trip all over again!

This was a perfect trip for us! We are not ready nor do we ever want to be in a crowd of lots of other tourists who are just like us; we have always enjoyed exploring and being on our own and/or with a few close friends. We realize, however, that we are not country experts and that "stuff" happens especially when you are older and also living in a more complicated world. So, having assistance and local support should we have needed it was incredibly reassuring. For us, KimKim and Berangere helped us shape travel experiences that were individualized and allowed us to delve deeper into the culture than we have done in the past. We had a wonderful time and we thank Berangere very much.

We more than appreciated having drivers to help us get to and from airports and train stations. The drivers were always on time, polite, respectful, friendly and very helpful.

Our first stop was in Honfleur which we loved. It would have been fun to spend one more day there but then we would have had to give up a day somewhere else...a difficult trade-off. I loved the hotel Les Maisons de Lea; our room was cozy and the hotel people were very kind and friendly to two tired Americans. It was a great place to begin our trip.

Although we had booked the hotel du Luxembourg in Bayeaux on our own, you should know that it was also a wonderful place to stay. The two tours in Normandy were excellent. Our guide to Mount-Saint-Michel was very knowledgeable and she was clearly dedicated to helping us understand the history of this amazing structure in the context of history and times in which it was built. Unfortunately, Steve was not able to share the experiences of the D-Day beaches as he was not well but I had an amazing day and I was very comfortable touring on my own. The guide went out of his way to ensure everyone in the group saw what he/she had come to see and it was a very moving experience to imagine where my Dad had probably been in a mine sweeper off shore on that day.

We appreciated having first class seats on the train to Paris and the assistance of our driver to ensure we were in the right place to get on the train. We stayed at the hotel Le Clos Medicis in a fairly large room on the first floor. We were grateful to not have stairs to navigate with small but heavy suitcases. After our two experiences in Normandy where we felt so warmly welcomed, however, we were a little unsettled by a much more subdued welcome at this hotel. We enjoyed being in a neighborhood that was new to us (previously stayed in the Marais). One of our favorite tours of the whole trip was with Sylvie to the Louvre. We felt as though we were with a friend and loved walking to the Louvre with her as well as visiting the museum; we had been to the Louvre before but it was great to have Sylvie give us more detail and history than we had gleaned on our own.

We liked breaking up the trip so that we had a few days in Paris before we went to Bordeaux.
Again, our driver helped us navigate the Monparnasse train station so that we were at the right place at the right time for our train to Bordeaux. Although, we had to do some coordinating with our driver once we arrived in Bordeaux, we did eventually find each other and we enjoyed our ride with him to the hotel Particulier. A great hotel---especially the breakfast!

The day after we arrived in Bordeaux, we were scheduled for the small group tours of Arcachon and Le Medoc. Both were great tours. We loved climbing up the dune, having oysters and visiting Le Medoc. However, it was LONG day which started at 8:30 AM and we did not get back to the hotel until well after 8:00 PM which was definitely too late for us. Based on that, we changed our schedule so that we could do two half day tours in the following two mornings. We appreciated their willingness to accommodate us. The tours were all excellent and led by exceptionally knowledgeable and enthusiastic guides.

Back to Paris and le Clos Medicis: Our new room was at the top of building and did require some minimal stair climbing from the elevator which we managed just fine but because we both have knee issues, this could have been problematic. We enjoyed our river cruise and finally (after three other tries), I actually made it to the top of the Eiffel tower!

What else can I say??? We had a great trip.

Thank you for all.
Wendy and Steve

Simon was very helpful to meet with me pre trip and make sure I understood where I was supposed to be each day. The hotels and restaurants that he selected were fantastic. I especially loved Danielle at the wine b and b. The wine experience was fantastic. Sun E bikes made the trip pretty tough. While I am certain they had the best of intentions, the person who drops off the bike needs to be trained on how to set the GPS up for success. I asked immediately how to zoom in and he wasn't able to make that happen so that I could see the roads. With in 10 minutes I was lost and when I called no one answered. I should have left a message and didn't. The rest of the day was a mess as I was continuously lost. My road book pages weren't numbered and got out of order. Even if they hadn't, once you are lost I am not sure they would have helped. The bike specialist did try to meet me at the wine tasting. he was correct that the gps was working (as in pointing the right direction and having signal, it just wasn't set up to zoom in and see roads) He was still unable to fix this but brought me paper maps. Since I couldn't sleep because I was worrying so much about my next day, I was able to change the setting myself. I'm not sure why that couldn't have been done right away, it would have saved a lot of frustration for everyone. I did appreciate the pickup on the second day when I couldn't go further after riding in rain and a thunderstorm. One thing that would have been helpful to know as well in St Remy is that according to my hotel concierge, taxi's need 2 days in advance reservation to make the 20 minute drive to the train station. I almost missed my train back to Paris due to this. Since the rating asks to describe Simon, I don't think it is fair to rate him based on Sun E bikes failure to set up the gps, overall, I would unfortunately rate the trip as a whole lower as it was really stressful.

Simon and Florian were both wonderful. The itinerary was great, although I wish I Arles was included in the itinerary given its significance. When I had to go to the hospital for emergency surgery Simon helped rearrange everything, and Florian even came to the hospital to visit. Since I was traveling alone, their attentiveness and consideration made all the difference. I was able to tailor the rest of my trip the way I needed. Simon was always communicative and made sure I was okay. Thank you guys for taking care of me and being so supportive and professional!

We are a family of 4 who travelled to Provence in July 2018. Our children are aged 4 and 6. All our accommodation was superb and the guided tours excellent. The tour of the calenques with skipper Laurence was one of the most unique and memorable experiences of our travels so far - we traveled quickly to some magnificent swimming locations and saw a really different side of Marseille.

The tour of an Olive mill was delicious and fascinating. The family were really welcoming and involved the children in cooking and touring.

The children also had an amazing time on Olivier’s carriage ride - what a great way to tour the countryside!

We would definitely engage Simon Hardy and KimKim again for our next holiday. Many thanks.

What an incredible journey! Merci merci merci Simon for a well thought out itinerary and the amazing guides that were assigned to take us to all those beautiful places. Having a private guide made all the difference because we were able to see even more than what was on our agenda Alex and Natalie were incredibly knowledgeable and so nice! Our hotels were fantastic! Located close to everything. The one in Marseille was amazing located right across from the Old Port and just around the corner from Lafayette Gallery for great shopping. We are so grateful to have visited your beautiful country.... ours seems so boring in comparison 😉. Canada is a wonderful place to live but there’s no comparison when it comes to the History, Architecture, Culture & let’s not forget the food!!! I bought the best Macarons ever in Nice ... they are my favourite! So on that note I will say thank you again and I will be sure to post a comment on the trip advisor regarding our experience with your company. We truly made the right choice and so grateful for all that you did for us!

Merci!🙏🏻 Vive La France!!🇫🇷🇫🇷🇫🇷🇫🇷🇫🇷

Hi we began from Corte, Hotel was in great location but rude staff on reception. Walk next day was excellent. Directions usually clear. Very friendly lady in Calacuccia with fresh roses in room. Tough to carry cases without a lift. Lovely walk to Castell Verghiu and great views from room. Very good meal. Another great walk though some of our party didn’t make the waterfall. The bridge isn’t there which should be more explicit in directions. Night in Evisa. The walk to Ota was beautiful and we had one of our best meals at Chez Felix. We walked down the road to Porto. Shame about overgrown path - could that be cleared? Hotel was great with stunning pool in eucalyptus forest. We took a boat trip after a tip from fellow walker - perhaps you should suggest that in the notes or even get a discount? Corse Adrenaline was good company in small boat. We didn’t find anywhere good to eat. Recommendations would have been helpful. The walk to Piana was tough in heavy rain. Les Roches Rouges was stunning with a very kind Patronne Mady. It is a way from the beach so a hire car might have been handy. We did another walk by ourselves to Capu Rossu. We ate at wonderful Italian called Le Hospiton about 6km away and then the hotel restaurant which was great. Overall we would have enjoyed more background detail in the directions eg date of the Genoese bridges, more on wildlife, possible diversions eg Ruines of Dispensa, restaurant tips. But this was a great trip.