Kimkim Trip Reviews for France

Margaux was excellent in planning and helping with any hiccups during the trip. Very impressed with how dedicated Margaux was in ensuring I was had a great experience even when some things didn’t pan out.

Mathilde was super responsive to every request. We had to make changes in our planned tours, and she made sure what we needed happened. Paris is dreamy and fun! Mathilde made it easy to show that side to our teenagers!

Hotel Review

Hôtel Lorette—Astotel

Paris

We had two rooms and one was def better than the other. The smaller had a shower curtain instead of door, which makes for a less enjoyable experience. Otherwise location is perfect!

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Review

French Dessert Cooking Class

Paris

Chef Dominique is easy going and funny! This was the best part of our trip! The desserts were simple but delicious! Will show off to our friends our new baking skills!

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

All the tour guides were VERY knowledgeable and super friendly.
We especially enjoyed the Nice part of our tour and Xavier as our guide.
Resihome in Nice was not as nice as we hoped.
Marriot was nice and the staff very friendly.
Train ride was ok. Difficult to navigate due to our large luggage and inexperience traveling on trains. Would prob prefer not to travel via train in the future.

I have many positive things to say about Kim Kim and some questions about the costs of the trip. Sebastian was very responsive and helped us when we needed it. This was especially true about getting in to our hotel early. It was nice that he was from France and knew Paris. In the beginning he sent several possible trip options. It seemed that the these options were not really what we had in mind. Our primary reason for going to Paris was to see the Mark Rothko show. Sebastian recommended many other types of activities and we were not interested in them. We like to wander around Paris on our own without many tours. I can imagine that this was frustrating for Sebastian. I wonder if somehow that could have been more clearly stated. I had a friend who contacted Kim Kim recently wanting a trip to Paris. She wanted to wander around without many tours and was told by Kim Kim that it wasn't the type of trip Kim Kim planned.
When I inquired about the price break down I was given a vague response, they said they don't give the actual prices. When I look at the cost and what we actually used from Kim Kim its hard for me to reconcile. Kim Kim provided the cost of the hotel, transportation to and from the airport and tickets to 2 events .I am happy to pay for the all that Sebastian did and yet the price seems very high. The cost differential ( to the best of our abilities) was a several thousand dollars higher. If there is a representative from Kim Kim who would like to discuss tis further, please feel free to contact us.

Hotel Review

My Maison in Paris - Louvre

Paris

This place was great. The location was accessible to many things and the staff was helpful. The place was clesan and had all that we needed. Many conveniences are in the neighborhood. Would highly recommend?

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Reviews

Covered Passageways of Paris

Paris

This tour was long and heavy on the ancient history of Paris.

Exhibition at the Louis Vuitton fondation

Paris

This exhibit was amazing. Having a ticket was important. We provided our own transportation both ways.

Quality of Experience

Our family trip to France was fantastic. Bastien, our local specialist work with my wife, Gina, to customize everything to
us. We have planned tours with guides to amazing Chocolatiers in Paris, Versailles, the Beaches of Normandy , Sainte-Mère-Église, and near by bunkers and other sites of WWII, Mont-Saint-Michel, and Château d'Amboise. All of our Guides deserve their own 5 star ratings. All of our travel, from being picked up at the airport, our tours, the hotels we stayed in were all well worked out . And if we had any concerns, even just to verify what we thought we knew, Bastien promptly responded. Even on Christmas Day!

While they were all good, our tour guides for the marais and the Louvre were exceptional. The cooking class in the chef’s kitchen was also a highlight. The wine tasting was more a history with nice wine and cheese but an interesting evening (next time I would go to a vineyard instead). All in all a great trip.

We had the most amazing trip of the French Riviera thanks to Kimkim team and especially Sarah. Everything from hotel bookings, to car rental, 5-6 trips to various historic locations, food/walking tours, winery/olive oil tasting and tips and adivce were planned flawlessly.

Most importantly, Sarah kept helping us with adjustments to the trip based on changes in weather (rain/wind) etc. so were able to enjoy every single day. The choice of hotel locations was very thoughful and we were always close to transportation and food. the plan included driving directions, local events (like Christmas markets etc) - it just made our trip hassle free and truly memorable!

Matthew at Mont Saint Michele, Roberto for Notre Dame and Saint Chapelle, David on the chocolate and pastry tour, Celine at the Louvre tour were all very pleasant and very knowledgeable! I would give a word on the fashion tour...it was more of the education on history of fashion and not quite what we expected. Overall the tours were very enjoyable and informative.

Activity Reviews

Treasure Hunt at the Louvre

Paris

We all enjoyed this activity very much and Celine was a delight, however, we did not do a treasure hunt.

Arc de Triomphe - Skip the line ticket

Paris

Wonderful view from the summit! Our first view the day we arrived...perfect!

Paris Dinner Cruise

Paris

Such a fun way to see some of the city from the River Siene. Food was ok, but the Eiffel Tower was worth seeing from the boat.

Saint-Germain-des-Prés Pastry and Chocolate Tour

Paris

David was very helpful and the tastings were over the top. However, it should be advised to eat before...it was a lot of sugar for an empty stomach.

Cheesemaking workshop and cheeses and wine tasting (small group/2hours)

Paris

This was a very interesting and scientific experience making butter, cheese and then sampling! We enjoyed this a lot.

French Fashion, Fragrance and Fun in the Marais

Paris

This was not what we expected for this tour. We assumed we would see some fashion, maybe a small fashion show, however it was more of an overview of the fashion through history. Very interesting, but not as much fun as informative.

Palace of Versailles Half-Day Trip including transportation from Paris, Skip-the-Line Access and Audio-Guide

Paris

Cool tour, but limited information on the self guided tour. I have been before and there is so much more information that was not disseminated on the app we were given. Still a very good tour and Versailles is always beautiful despite the rainy cold weather.

Skip the line Eiffel Tower Summit Tickets

Paris

The summit of the tower was amazing! We climbed some of the stairs but opted for the elevator to the top! Amazing views! Worth the tour for sure!

Mont Saint-Michel Tour and Abbey visit with Cider Tasting

Paris

This tour was great and Matthew was a very informative guide. Long day but totally worth it!

Private visit of Notre-Dame and Sainte-Chapelle

Paris

Unfortunately, Notre Dame was not ready to tour, still surrounded by scaffolding, but Saint Chapelle was beautiful. Roberto was very knowledgeable and informative.

Bastien did a great job with the planning and communication throughout our trip. We loved all of our guides and the personalization they provided. I'm glad we used this service for our international trip which made everything go smoothly.

This was our first experience using KimKim.com for travel arrangements. The process was extremely simple with great communication with Mathilde. We gave Mathilde dates and the key destination of St Malo we wished to visit, and she created a fabulous trip allowing us to experience Western France and Paris.
Starting in Tours on our way to St Malo she booked a fabulous dinner at Casse-Caillox and an unexpected gem with a visit to Chateau de Chenonceau.
The hotel booking in St Malo allowed us to be close but not in the tight quarters of the walled city. It was also adjacent to the wall allowing for views as the tide receded and the expansive beach was revealed.
The train ride to Paris put us in the center of town, making it simple to get to the hotel that was, once again, in a great location for the excursions she planned for us to the Eiffel tower and Versailles.
We are already looking forward to our next trip to Europe with Mathilde's help.

Hotel Reviews

Hôtel Monterosa - Astotel

Paris

Wonderful staff and amenities but the rooms thermostat did not seem to control any temperature or fan speed.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Escale Oceania Saint-Malo

Saint-Malo

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Best Western Plus l'Artist Hotel

Tours

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Reviews

Skip the line Eiffel Tower Summit Tickets

Paris

Must see attraction that was made easy with the advance tickets. Foggy evening was the only detraction from the visit.

A Half Day Trip From Paris to Versailles Palace & Gardens

Paris

Skipping the line was well worth it.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Chateau de Chenonceau Loire Valley Castle - Entrance Tickets

France

Hidden gem outside of Tours with amazing history.

Quality of Experience

Private guide Literary Walking Tour

Paris

Roberto was an amazing guide with immense knowledge of the literary history of the area.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

My granddaughter, and I just had an awesome experience with KimKim.

Our travel agent, Lucie, selected places for us to go and things for us to see in Paris that were specific to our interests and fit within five day timeframe.

The Mythic 2CV 3-hour tour that opened our trip was wonderful! It gave us an overall picture of Paris so that we could add onto it throughout the week. Our 9 Hotel Opéra had a great location and was very clean!

We would never have missed making macarons, chocolate goodies, and the gourmet food tour. Believe it or not, our food tour guide was gluten-free just like my granddaughter. She even went out of her way to buy gluten-free bread for her to use as we sampled so many goodies.

Of course, we loved the Dali museum, the wonderful tour by Alouise a Montmartre, the Eiffel Tower at night, the boat tour on the Seine river, and the Saint Chapelle Stain-glass windows.

I would recommend Lucie as a travel agent to anyone who wants to go to France!

Hotel Review

Le 9Hotel Opera

Paris

Very clean! Daytime receptionist was very helpful.

Authenticity & Character

Great breakfast

Location

Near many restaurants and a beautiful park

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Reviews

Visit of the chocolate museum with tastings

Paris

Besides, seeing the museum, we added on chocolate making. That made the experience 10 times more meaningful.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Visit of the Louvre museum

Paris

Too crowded

Joel and his team helped make our honeymoon absolutely unforgettable! They handled every single detail for us over our 2 week trip to France. All of their local partners were exceptional--the hotels and tour companies they chose to work with. On our relaxation days we frequently found ourselves trusting Joel's travel suggestions for restaurants and attractions. They even helped us mid-trip when we ran into logistical issues with arriving on time for some of the tours. If you are looking to make your trip to France carefree, then definitely choose Joel and his team.

Hotel Reviews

Le Clos de la Commanderie B&B

Amboise

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Hotel La Villefromoy 4*

Saint Malo

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Best Western Aramis Saint Germain

Paris

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Reviews

Eiffel Tower Summit Ticket

Paris

Seine Cruise with Commentary

Paris

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Saint Germain des Prés Food Tour

Paris

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Half day guided tour of the Palace of Versailles with priority access in a small group (1 to 15 people)

Paris

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Private Guided Tour of Mont Saint Michel (Self Drive)

France

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

D-Day U.S beaches tour

France

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

We worked with Olivier as our tour guide. He was the best tour professional I have ever worked with. He paid close attention to all our requests. He designed our mother-daughter dream trip with care and attention to detail. On our last evening, Olivier planned a river cruise on the Seine and added in a surprise birthday cake delivered by the crew. Who could ask for more?

Hotel Reviews

Les Trésorières Tours

Tours

This Hotel was wonderful. The staff were terrific, and the breakfasts were amazing.

Authenticity & Character

Location

It was a short walk to everywhere.

Staff

The staff went out of their way to make us comfortable. They made reservations for us at recommended restaurants.

Cleanliness & Comfort

The room was cleaned every day. It was spotless.

Maison Colbert Meliá Collection

Paris

This hotel deserves every one of its five stars. Superb!

Authenticity & Character

This hotel was the home of a famous French writer. Our room was on the fifth floor with a private hallway. It had exposed wooden beams and was beautifully decorated. There was even a welcome sign on the screen of the Television that was personalized for us.

Location

The location is right near the river and Notre Dame. Also on the edge of the Latin Quarter which we always love.

Staff

The staff are professional and ready to help. Everyone spoke English and many other languages which was helpful.

Cleanliness & Comfort

Impeccably clean.

Hotel Le Clos d'Amboise

Amboise

This is one of my new all-time favorite hotels.

Authenticity & Character

very clean

Location

short walk to castles, wine caves, and great restaurants.

Staff

The staff went out of their way to help us. Making reservations, recommending restaurants finding a driver.

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Review

Paris Dinner Cruise

Paris

This cruise was well done and fun! We had a spectacular last evening in Paris because of this cruise and crew!

This trip was several weeks in the making. There were some changes along the way and all booked and suggested experiences were spectacular. Vaseem was patient and took a lot of pride in making sure that my wife and I saw France through the same bright lens he saw through.
Each day was thoughtfully planned. Not hurried, we were able to explore at a decent pace. There was careful consideration given to daily and weekly activities. We used the underground, Uber, bicycles when we were not able to explore on foot.
All accommodations were excellent as were the ease of being able to download tickets or directions as we proceeded. Vaseem checked in on occasion and minor adjustments were able to be made in real time.
Thank you for a most memorable experience. Thank you Vaseem, thank you KimKim. Most professional.

Amandine did a great job booking our trains and accommodation

Hotel Review

Hotel de l'Amphithéâtre

Nîmes

A small but unique hotel. Very close to the amphitheatre and water gardens and train station

Authenticity & Character

Small with lots of character

Location

Perfect location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Bathroom was quite dated but all fine with us as we appreciated the age of the building. Others may not be so understanding

Activity Review

Panoramic Dômes

Clermont Ferrand

Train trip from Nimes to Clermot Ferrand was unique 106 tunnels through beautiful landscapes. Well worth the trip back to the south of France. The Domes were better than expected and the history was amazing

Quality of Experience

Transport

Mathilde was excellent in responding promptly and revising the trip as we expressed our wishes in terms of the locations we wanted to visit and budget as well. When Mathilde was away, Kevin stepped in and was very helpful as well. In one situation when we needed help, Valentine also stepped in and offered to switch our hotel but we did not need to move, although the offer was very nice.
We had a fantastic time, sometimes challenging but very satisfying overall. For further commentary see a couple of my blogs below, and you can see all my blogs on the time we spent in France at andrasthehun.blog on wordpress or click on and-r-as-the-hun.ca. I copied two of the blogs below describing our unique experiences in Aix-en-Provence.

Finding Our hotel in Aix-en-Provence, France (blog published at andrasthehun.blog)

The travel agent reserved a place for us in Aix-en-Provence and the GPS in the Peugeot 208 indicated a map showing how to get there. The rush-hour traffic engulfed Kathy driving the car and I assisted navigating the road. Crowds of people walking across the street made driving more challenging. And the roundabouts, of which there were more than traffic lights, complicated driving by sprouting many exits and lanes that we had to assess in trying to find the right exit.
Some exits were just lanes. Once the GPS directed us to take the next right, which was a lane that took us into an underground parking that we toured searching for the exit. On exiting, the inserted ticket triggered the gate to open, and we sped out.
The car rental agent switched the GPS to English from French and a serious-sounding, deep-voiced female directed us to our destination with a UK accent. We learned some new expressions such as “bear right” which means to turn right.
The rush of traffic, the crisscrossing pedestrians, and listening to the deep UK-accented voice combined to make us highly nervous driving in a town new to us, and we wanted to get to our place fast. But that was not to be.
With the hotel address typed into the GPS, the GPS directed us to turn left into a lane right after going around the Rotunda, a central square in Aix. In the fast-moving traffic, we did not notice the small lane quickly enough and missed our turn in the rush-hour traffic. We were frustrated and used some words not appropriate in a blog. After recalculating, the GPS moved us around a few kilometers to come back to the Rotunda again. By that time with our nerves frazzled, we missed the turn lane yet again, being pushed by the cars behind us on our tail.
The third time around Kathy slowed down ignoring the honking behind us and we entered the single lane promising to lead us to our hotel. The next left turn ordered by the GPS left us facing a few bollards not allowing us into the single lane. Stumped, we stopped trying to analyze the situation before the honking became overbearing and people yelling at us to get a move on. We had no choice. We moved on while Kathy, in her utter frustration showed a finger to the woman driver behind us shouting at us.
At this point, having driven around for over an hour and a half, I said, hell with the hotel reservation, let’s take another hotel anywhere in Aix. Then we realized that we needed gas to continue our search. I clicked on Waze on my cellphone and looked for the nearest gas station. Still, in rush-hour traffic, we missed a few gas stations because we could not get to the right lane from the middle lanes fast enough. We filled up at the gas station that we finally reached, where a friendly soul directed us to a suburban hotel twenty minutes away. We were happy though with a full tank of gas and redirected the GPS to find the hotel.
Khalid, the hotel receptionist, was sorry but said his hotel was full and he came with me to two adjacent hotels to speak French to the other receptionists, which he said would help us, poor Canadians, find a place to sleep. Walking back and forth among the hotels afforded me time to discover that Khalid came from Tunisia and he became excited to hear that I loved Tajine.
The horrible option of sleeping in the car came to my mind, should we not find a hotel. But that idea also created a problem; where to find a place to park? Parking in Aix seemed nonexistent. When I shared this idea with Khaled, he would not hear of it, he said he would make sure to find a place for us.
But the nearby hotels were full as well. Khalid called another ten hotels to no avail. By this time, it was dark, and we were totally tired out and the impossible scenario of finding a quiet spot to park and sleep in the car has become a real option. Instead, Khalid suggested we leave the car at his hotel’s parking garage and take a taxi to our hotel, wherever it was. Since it was an offer to park free in the garage, and we were too tired to think, we accepted his offer. We took our overnight bags and waited for the taxi he called.
The taxi followed the route we had taken previously around the Rotunda, but instead of going off to the left where we had gone three times, the driver took the next right which was Cours Mirabeau where our hotel was. When confronted with bollards at the entrance – Cours Mirabeau is closed to traffic except for delivery vehicles and taxis – the driver inserted a card into a slot on a post next to him to make the bollards sink into the ground. And then we drove onto rue Mirabeau and found our hotel.
The next morning, after surveying where we were, we took a taxi to retrieve our car and returned to park it in the nearby parking garage. The instructions to our hotel would have been clearer if instructed to seek a garage, and not the hotel, which was inaccessible by car. But since the hotel has a street address, the GPS took us on a futile trip.
In retrospect, the travel agent should have told us to park first with an address for a garage and instructions on how to reach the hotel next. Instead, the address to the hotel was provided with the suggestion that we park in the nearest parking garage. But we were happy just to find the hotel located along a wide sidewalk full of outdoor cafes with crowds of people. Nobody paid attention to us entering the hotel.

Entering Our Apartment in Aix-en-Provence, France (blog published under andrasthehun.blog)

Talk about security! I thought we would get a key from a receptionist and go to our room in a hotel. Not so. We were registered at Les Suites Du Cours in Aix-en-Provence, which we thought was a hotel – but discovered later that in Aix, at least, a hotel is a type of townhouse in the center of the old city, they used to be houses of the wealthy. Our hotel room turned out to be an apartment.
Let me start in the beginning when we received instructions on how to access our “self-registration” where we would be staying tonight. Although we had the street address, the instructions on how to enter our accommodation from the travel agent came the day Kathy drove from St. Remy to Aix-en-Provence, about an hour’s drive.
I was surprised; I expected a hotel with a lobby and a receptionist. Not so. We received an algorithm on how to enter this place via ten successive emails that mirrored a five-page manual on entering this place, the latter also sent via email!
Challenged by digital codes and fobs and keys in the instructions, I was apprehensive about our arrival; what if we could not follow the instructions and were left on the street with no receptionist? Although we had a phone number, what if they do not work at night or not at home? And would my French be good enough to communicate with them?
When we arrived at the address with two backpacks, after being lost for three hours, we faced a large, ornamental door, shown in a picture on the five-page instruction manual. The door at our address was in the middle of outdoor cafes, with people occupying all the tables, oblivious to the new arrivals.
So, we started by punching in the four-digit code to open the ten-foot-high historical, ornamental, heavy door; it clicked and we pushed it inwards. The door was very heavy with springs so strong that I had to lean into it to keep it open. Total darkness awaited us inside the twenty-foot-long vestibule, and I fumbled to find a light switch, indicated by three lighted dots on the wall ten feet away from us. We searched for the mailboxes, as instructed, opened the door, and looked up the next code to open the number 5 mailbox, our apartment number. We punched another four-digit code a few times with no success until I realized that the star after the four digits was part of the code and not the end of the instructions. Two sets of keys fell out of the mailbox for our next set of doors.
A fob was attached to both sets of keys and one of the fobs opened the next door, leading to the staircase and the elevator. This part of the building was also totally in darkness but by now we knew to look for the light switch. With only our backpacks, we decided to walk up the stairs instead of using the elevator even though the twenty-foot ceiling made the stairs long. The instructions were that only one person and a suitcase could be in the elevator at one time, and yet another key to use it. At any rate, our apartment was only on the second floor, we reasoned, and Kathy was worried she might get stuck in the ancient elevator.
Having reached the second floor, we tried to use the old-fashioned elaborately molded key to open the large, ten-foot-high ornamental door. We were tired and the key was obstreperous, it would not work. I was unsure whether I put it in the right manner and twisted it around in all directions. Finally, I banged on the door in frustration, expecting someone to be around to help us or tell us to get out of there but nothing happened.
Then the realization struck us that in France, the second floor is actually on the third level. The ground or first floor is the “rez-de-chaussee”. So, we hauled our baggage up to the next floor in the dark again since the lights worked for a short time only and we had to find the next switch on the next level. This time the old key worked. Finally, we arrived in our “hallway”, but it was pitch black again, and fumbled in the dark to find a switch.
In this hallway, several double doors faced us which, I thought would lead us to the kitchen, bedroom, etc. I heard voices behind one of the doors so I went there and burst in to let the intruders know that we reserved this unit. American voices greeted us in a friendly tone, and they said that they had reserved this unit for five days and our apartment must be behind another door opening from the “hallway”.
Three apartment units opened from this hallway and we, apparently, reserved one of these but we did not see numbers to indicate which one. Each unit had a set of double doors in front of the locked door units themselves – the unit number itself was a small number on the inner door, not visible from the hallway. The ornamental double doors, we speculated, were probably the original doors to be kept for historical purposes, and the inner doors, where our keys worked, were modern, lockable ones.
I was embarrassed for bursting in on the American visitors, apologized, and went to another door in the hallway where one of the keys on the second set of keys worked. Finally, we arrived at our apartment. The “hallway” served three apartments; I mistook the word hallway for our apartment’s lobby.
Once we settled into our bright place, we engaged in a friendly discussion with the neighbors and imbibed a glass of wine to calm our frazzled nerves, I reflected on the amount of security installed here. We needed two digital codes, a fob, and two keys to enter our apartment! Was this necessary? Is this overkill? Is the crime rate in France high? I did not know. But I thought the five barriers to mount to enter an apartment were beyond the pale. But perhaps when you get used to this system, it becomes simple. At any rate, we felt secure to leave our passports in the room when venturing outside.
Now you might think this entrance to occupy your hotel/apartment was frustrating, irritating and unnecessary. It was. But at the same time, to me, it was a puzzle to solve. It was fun. I used to do sudoku and now I do wordle. The satisfaction of solving puzzles was similar to solving this real-life puzzle to get into our accommodation.

The Astotel hotel in Paris was amazing!! Service was great, staff were friendly and very accommodating, rooms were clean, breakfast was wonderful with many selections and complimentary snacks in the comfortable lobby all day was a real plus.
All of the hotels we stayed at were clean and accommodating and made us comfortable.
The guided tour to Normandy was a fantastic experience and the guide (Guton) was friendly, knowleageable and responsive. The tour to Versaille was worth the trip and the Guide (Edwardo) made the experience enjoyable and informative.
Simon from KimKim was readily avilable during the trip and helpful with any questions or asssitance that we needed.

My wife and I had a wonderful trip! There's always trepidation placing an experience (and investment!) like this in the hands of a company you've never heard of nor dealt with. I can't say enough good things about how smoothly everything went. From the taxi drivers to-and-from the train station to the staff at our amazing hotel (couldn't have asked for better accommodations with proximity to everything we wanted in Amboise) to our skilled and fun tour guides, Alex (who we were lucky enough to have for two straight days) and Cecelia (for our all-day private tour) to Justine, our local specialist, who promptly replied to our every concern or question leading up to the trip, everything was better than we could have hoped for. It was an impressively organized effort. Thanks to everyone involved! We wouldn't hesitate to book with Kimkim again.

Hotel Review

Hotel Le Clos d'Amboise

Amboise

Charming chateau with amazing staff, highly rated restaurant and location, location, location. Wouldn't think of staying anywhere else in Amboise.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Reviews

Villandry, Azay-Le-Rideau & Vouvray wine tour - Full Day

France

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Alex was everything you'd want in a guide: youthful energy, knowledge and loads of fun!

Transport

Chambord, Chenonceau & Lunch at the Château - Full Day

France

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Alex was everything you'd want in a guide: youthful energy, knowledge and loads of fun!

Private guided tour to Chaumont-sur-Loire & Blois

Amboise

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Cecelia was a perfect private guide. Thoroughly knowledgeable and fun! It was a pleasure to spend the whole day with her.

Our travel planner Lise was amazing. She was easy to work with, made great suggestions and accommodated our unique needs. We had private transfers to and from the airport and train station and that was really a life saver. Our drivers were in communication with us and easy to find even during busy rush hour traffic. Our first tour in the Loire Valley was with Nicholas. He took us to Chenonceau, Chambord and a small privately owned Chateau for lunch. Nicholas was very knowledgeable about the history of both castles as well as the "drama" behind the lives of the kings and queens who lived there. He made it very interesting for us and gave us plenty of time to explore the beautiful gardens on our own.
Our next tour was supposed to be of Castle Bois and The House of Magic. We were disappointed to learn that the House of Magic was closed the day we went and had been closed for several weeks. That was one of the things my son was most excited about seeing. However, our guide for the day, Cecilia was able to shift quickly. We instead went to a local family winery for a wine tasting and then she took us to the last home of Leonardo da Vinci where we were able to see his inventions displayed throughout his garden. We then headed to Paris and had a nighttime summit tour of the Eiffel Tour. Our guide was Lekshme and she was very enthusiastic and knowledgeable. The next day we did a private walking tour of Medieval Paris with Victor. He picked us up at our hotel, showed us how easy it was to ride the Metro (which we did consistently after that point and even saw Lekshme on the metro--she said hello and gave us directions) and gave us a great tour. Notre Dame, Sainte Chappelle and so much more including modern churches, a stroll through St. Germain showing us jazz clubs, bookstores, parks etc. Victor is very good at his job and very knowledgeable about history. From there we had a walking food tour through St. Germain des Pres with Philipe. It was amazing being able to taste the best cheese, wine, bread, chocolate, croissant, macarons and coffee that Paris has to offer. Philipe was a great guide, very smart and engaging with all of us. The next day was our bike tour of Versailles. We met at the train station and took the 12 minute train ride to Versaille where we were outfitted with bicycles. Clara guided us to the Palace of Versailles and gave us a wonderful tour including the Hall of Mirrors. After the tour we rode our bikes through Versailles to the market where we had lunch and time to explore on our own. We then met back up with our group and biked the Palace gardens and Marie Antoinette's hamlet. It rained in the afternoon, but it was SO beautiful. This was probably my favorite day in France. The next day we had a private tour at the Louvre. Marie Claire was our guide and while we had limited time, she really showed us a lot including the Mona Lisa, Venus de Milo and the beautiful Rubens paintings. She is SO knowledgeable and just a very pleasant person. The tour was a nice stroll after a busy day biking in Versailles. We also saw both Victor and Philipe at the Louvre and they both made it a point to say Bonjour! Our final day in Paris was a free day which I specifically asked Lise to schedule for us. And while it was lovely to have time to explore on our own, I missed having the knowledge of our guides showing us the hidden treasures of the city. Our final evening, Lise arranged a Sienne River dinner cruise. It was raining lightly, which made the lights of the city even more beautiful and we had a lovely meal. Unfortunately both myself and my son did experience food poisoning from that dinner which hit us on our 10 hour flight home the next day. The meal itself was very good and I'm sure it was just a fluke. Overall, we loved our trip to France, saw and learned so much, and met the most lovely guides the country has to offer. I will definitely be using Kim Kim to help plan our next international adventure.

Hotel Reviews

Au Charme Rabelaisien

Amboise

This is a very charming, small hotel in Amboise. It was clean and lovely. We were on the very top floor and the elevator didn't go all the way up, so there was a lot of climbing for us. But the views from our room made up for it.

Authenticity & Character

Very charming and lovely.

Location

Quick walk to Centre Ville, shops and restaurants.

Staff

Everyone was so friendly and helpful.

Cleanliness & Comfort

Very clean and the staff was helpful with all of our needs.

Hôtel du Rond-point des Champs-Élysées - Esprit de France

Paris

Great location close to the Champs Elysees. The staff was really great, helping us with urgency anything that we needed.

Authenticity & Character

I loved the decoration of the hotel, especially the cheetah print carpeting. Very French!

Location

Close to everything, but tucked away too.

Staff

Every staff member we encountered went above and beyond.

Cleanliness & Comfort

Very clean and comfortable.

Activity Reviews

Chambord, Chenonceau & Lunch at the Château - Full Day

France

The tour of Chambord and Chenonceau was fantastic. The guides were not only interesting as individuals, but they were also extremely knowledgeable about the places we were touring. The communication was seamless, with reminders and confirmations being sent a day before the scheduled transfer. The convenience of the transportation was greatly appreciated, especially when traveling with my two children.

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Combo visit of Blois Castle and the House of Magic

France

The tour was scheduled to include a visit to Blois Castle and the House of Magic. We were looking forward to the House of Magic tour, particularly for my 13-year-old son. However, upon arrival, we found out that it was closed and wouldn't be open for several more weeks. Our guide was able to pivot last minute and took us on a wine tasting and to Leonardo da Vinci's house, which were enjoyable, but the unexpected change was a bit disappointing.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Saint Germain des Près Food Tour

Paris

All the guides we had in Paris were fantastic. They were very knowledgeable and made the tours a learning experience for all of us. The food tour was particularly interesting as our guide was passionate about food and taught us about different cheese processes. It was fun and educational.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Nighttime Seine River Cruise with Dining Experience

Paris

The Seine River dinner cruise on our last night in Paris was a high-end experience with a fancy meal. However, both my son and I got severe food poisoning from the meal. We were violently ill for about five hours during our 10-hour flight back home, not sure if this was related to the dinnner or not.

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

We had a lovely trip. I do have a couple of reservations, which I'll talk about below.

First, I should say that Vaseem was very responsive and helpful. We probably contacted him more than he would wish while we were traveling! We did find one of the hotel rooms quite cramped, and we don't think 15 square meters should be called "spacious" for a couple, especially with a huge bed taking up most of it. But my main reservation is about the Kimkim model in which buyers get no breakdown of costs. This makes it very hard to tell whether we are getting reasonable value for the money, and to weigh and choose different elements. We chose to reduce the level of hotels, but in retrospect might have dropped some of the private pickups instead. These were very uneven in service. On the plus side, all the drivers were on time. But we expected help with luggage (being rather old), and while some were great about this, one young fellow in Lyon led us on a long bag drag without offering help, just peeking around occasionally to see if we were trailing along behind. We passed a line of taxis we would have loved to jump into instead.

We greatly enjoyed the Beaujolais wine tour with Eddie and Roman history tour with David. For each of the tours we were given inaccurate information about the meeting place and time, which led to some unnecessary worry and inconvenience. We liked most of the hotels, except for getting luggage up and down spiral staircases. The most charming was in Montpellier (luckily the kind concierge gave us a room in the portion of the hotel with an elevator, so there was only a little bit of spiral staircase). Our hostess in Avignon was extremely helpful with advice about sights and restaurants.

Anyway, thank you to Vaseem and the tour guides. To Kimkim management, please be more transparent about costs. I know we're not the only travelers who want this.