Kimkim Trip Reviews for Iceland

We were very pleased with the entire trip. The itinerary worked out just perfectly. The pre-booked activities were excellent, especially the zodiac ride, glacier hike and the Sky Lagoon. Duncan’s suggestions for hikes and points of interest were very helpful; we did many of them. The accommodations were very good with the exception of Heradsskolinn Guest House.

So very glad that we booked with Duncan and Kimkim and would recommend the company to others.

Hotel Reviews

Skuggi Hotel Reykjavík by Keahotels

Reykjavík

Authenticity & Character

Modern and a bit sterile

Location

Easy walking to restaurants and attractions

Staff

All good

Cleanliness & Comfort

Hotel Langaholt

Stadarstadur

A bit tired and in need of update

Authenticity & Character

A bit run down and the dining was poor

Location

Nice views, and enjoyed the golf course

Staff

Very helpful and friendly

Cleanliness & Comfort

Rooms and public places were clean

Hótel Valaskjálf

Egilsstadir

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Gauksmyri Guesthouse

Gauksmyri

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Fosshótel Vatnajökull

Lindarbakki

Authenticity & Character

Location

Very pastoral and quiet

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Hótel Kría

Vík

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Héradsskólinn Historic Guesthouse

Laugarvatn

Worst accommodations on our trip. Restaurant was overwhelmed and food poor. No shower in room, tub only. Made us remove our shoes at the door. Staff was over whelmed and confused.

Authenticity & Character

Too authentic! Like staying in a dormitory. Uncomfortable and in need of update.

Location

Staff

Confused and under staffed

Cleanliness & Comfort

Overcrowded, and noisy

Activity Reviews

Blue Lagoon

Iceland

Too crowded and a bit tired.

Quality of Experience

Vatnshellir lava cave tour

Iceland

Very informative and an excellent guide.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Myvatn Nature Baths

Lake Mývatn

Very enjoyable and organized.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Jokulsarlon glacier lagoon Zodiac boat tour

Iceland

One of the trip highlights! Very well organized with excellent staff and a super guide.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Solheimajokull Glacier Hike

Iceland

Terrific experience!! Great staff and guide, very conscientious. A real highlight of our trip.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

We had a great trip to Iceland and would love to come back! Emanuela reached out before and during our trip to make sure everything was going smoothly. Fortunately we didn’t need any assistance but I’m confident it would have been promptly provided if we had needed it. Just FYI, the monster bounce house and zip line are no longer at Perlan in Reykjavik.

This trip was excellent and eric made sure that we were well taken care of - with accommodations and reservations to attractions waiting for us in advance of our trip and suggestions for some off-beat places to see. We had a few hiccups with accommodations, but they were dealt with quickly by the staff and every effort was made to solve the problem. Once you leave the main tourist trail, it is hard to know where to sleep, eat and tour. KimKim's suggestions were much appreciated.

A beautiful trip well balanced between planned activities and free exploring. Reykjavic food tour and sites along the drive to Vik including many memorable waterfalls were a highlight. The hiking with Fjallabak trekking was amazing with a great opportunity to check out the backcountry huts in the highlands. Great time of year to visit with all the wildflowers in bloom. Fire and Frost Hotel was a great base for the Golden Circle as it is in a nice small town with hotsprings, but not too far from Reykjavic.

Francesca and her collegues did a great job! Francesca had so many great sites for us to visit. It was a lot packed in to a 10 day trip, but so worth it. We had great weather the entire time we were there. Sunny but windy at times. I've never seen so many waterfalls in one place! The towering cliffs and mountain views are just unbelievable! My kids loved Selijalandsfoss. They walked behind the waterfall and got soaked, but both said it was worth it! Bruarfoss was absolutely stunning and an easy, short walk from the parking lot. A must stop! My favorite place was the quaint, charming town of Heimaey on the Westman Islands. Especially visiting the puffin colony. We spent just one night there and wish we had more time. The Katla ice cave was spectacular but not for the faint of heart. I felt safe but if you have a fear of heights, it might be tough. Another favorite of ours was Diamond Beach and the Fjallsarlon area. I've never seen so many icebergs! Reykjavik City is a great place to walk around and try local cuisine. We all felt very safe there.
As far as the touristy, Blue Lagoon...we did that right off the plane when we arrived in Iceland. It was a great relaxing experience but later in our trip we did Sky Lagoon on our own and liked it much better. Smaller yet less touristy of a feel and overlooked the ocean, where we could see the erupting Fagradalsfjall volcano in the distance. How lucky were we to be there when the volcano erupted?! Something my kids will always remember. While we weren't prepared for the very long hike to the volcano site and we couldn't secure a helicopter trip, it was still awesome to be there at the time. I had some concerns the days leading up to the eruption, but Francesca assured me we would be safe and provided a website to follow for updates and warnings that may be issued. Overall I can't say enough about the trip. It was a great experience and well planned. Iceland is truly a beautiful place. I hope to return some day to visit the North.

Hotel Reviews

Hellnafell

Grundarfjordur

Very clean and great views of Kirkjufell Mountain.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Hotel Skalholt

Selfoss

American travelers must remember if traveling in the summer, while Icelands summers are cool compared to US, there's no A/C and the rooms get warm. Luckily the windows open!

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Guesthouse Hamar

Vestmannaeyjar

American travelers must remember if traveling in the summer, while Icelands summers are cool compared to US, there's no A/C and the rooms get warm. Luckily the windows open!

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Fosshotel Núpar

Kálfafell

American travelers must remember if traveling in the summer, while Icelands summers are cool compared to US, there's no A/C and the rooms get warm. Luckily the windows open!

Authenticity & Character

Location

Overlooks the glacier.

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Skuggi Hotel Reykjavík by Keahotels

Reykjavík

American travelers must remember if traveling in the summer, while Icelands summers are cool compared to US, there's no A/C and the rooms get warm. Luckily the windows open!

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Reviews

The Secret Lagoon

Iceland

We opted to skip this lagoon due to it being very small and crowded.

Blue Lagoon

Iceland

Very relaxing after the flight from the US.

Quality of Experience

Vatnshellir lava cave tour

Iceland

Quick lava cave experience and educational. Two sets of spiral staircases to go up and down.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Our guide was very friendly and knowledgeable.

Fly Fishing in Golden Circle

Golden Circle

A great experience! We were new tonfly fishing but got the hang of it pretty quickly. Three out of six people in our group caught fish.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Maria and Freddy were great. Even when we tangled the line for the 100th time!

Katla Ice Cave

Iceland

Very cool experience. If you are afraid of heights, this might not be for you. While it's not crazy high, two people in our tour had problems and turned back.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

The super jeep that took us out to the cave was a fun experience.

Reykjavík Classic Whale Watching

Reykjavík

It was very choppy seas. Apparently, the day before was also choppy. We saw no whales and many suffered from sea sickness. I wish the tour company Elding, would have canceled. They most likely knew we wouldn't see whales in those conditions. It was a little disappointing that we went out in such rough conditions for 3 hrs. I understand that there's no guarantee, in any conditions, but this tour should have been canceled and refunded.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

The capt was very informative about the whales and ocean.

This was my first experience with kimkim. Overall, I was disappointed. For the amount of money I paid, it was a subpar experience.

Feedback on kimkim and Eric: Eric was very responsive and always diligently followed up on my questions and requests. We were hounded for items like shoe size 6+ months ago, but kimkim took their time securing lodging which really bothered me. Then I had to look at Google reviews on the lodging because the first one I looked at got 1.5 stars and had the worst google reviews I've ever seen; Kimkim changed the lodging, but I shouldn't have to double-check everything kimkim is doing. But I felt I had to check everything. I had to ask for check-in information and didn't get it for one property. One property owner asked me to contact kimkim because they didn't get paid. It just took much of my time for the amount of money I paid kimkim. I decided to pay the premium and go with kimkim because I did not have the time with my intense job. But it really didn't work out like I expected.

Feedback on rental car: Van did not have air conditioning; it has a ton of glass and was scorching hot inside the vehicle at times. Very uncomfortable for 10 days. In addition, windshield wipers were extremely bad. Could not see in the rain due to poor windshield wipers. Otherwise, right sized vehicle for family of five

Feedback on activities:
Carla at Silfra Snorkeling was AMAZING; highly recommend this activity
Puffin and Volcano tour by Ebbi on Westman Island -- HIGHLY, HIGHLY recommend; Ebbi was awesome; whole family loved this
Had very good guides (Hannah and Joku) at glacier hike
Had a great guide at glacier kayaking
Vok Baths is INCREDIBLE (we booked this on our own) -- it was by far the best bath
Myvatn Bath had a significant sulfur smell -- okay, would skip in hindsight
GeoSea -- very nice bath, 2nd favorite after Vok
Secret Lagoon -- booked on our own -- it was nice especially as part of Golden Circle activities
Lava Show in Vik -- booked on our own -- Amazing! Highly recommended

Feedback on lodging:
-- Borealis Hotel -- very rustic, bare bones -- staff and breakfast were great -- not bad for first night
-- Hotel South Coast -- nice hotel but two of the three rooms had bad smell -- breakfast was good
-- Pier Apartments -- best property we stayed in; HIGHLY recommend
-- Fosshotel Glacier -- very nice property and breakfast
-- Hotel Framtid -- we were in two very separate buildings where you had to drive between buildings -- accommodations and breakfast were fine but odd on how apart we were spaced
-- Lonsleira Apartments -- very nice cottage; had to contact the owner directly to get check-in (kimkim did not provide); owner shared they had not been paid and asked me to contact kimkim -- great location and property
-- Dimmuborgir -- spend two nights here; we were originally booked somewhere else that canceled last minute (after I asked kimkim for confirmations...) -- it was VERY RUSTIC, only one bathroom for the five of us and the unit was in slight disrepair (toilet seat would shift off the toilet, multiple lights didn't work, some lose tiles, etc -- breakfast and staff were nice -- breakfast area had very scenic overlook -- ** This was the only location we spent two nights; it felt like kimkim booked us at a lot lower quality location than our original booking -- Disappointed for our two-night stay
-- Lauggarbakki Guesthouse -- HIGHLY, HIGHLY recommend -- terrific property and owner
-- Exeter Hotel -- nice property, great location, helpful staff

For the amount of money I paid kimkim, I expected a hassle-free and worry-free experience. I realize items like the last-minute Askja cancelation is outside of kimkim's control. However, I was put in a much lower quality accommodation that was not in great repair, and had to share one bathroom for all five of us for two days. A van without air conditioning. Having to double-check and follow up on planning. This is the most I ever paid for a trip like this and do not feel like I got what I paid for.

Activity Reviews

GeoSea Geothermal Sea Baths Experience

Iceland

Very nice experience; amazing views; not overcrowded -- we really enjoyed this bath. It was our #2 favorite bath out of five (Vok was our favorite).

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Silfra Snorkeling

Iceland

Carla was amazing. The water is clear (and cold). This exceeded our expectations. Being able to see where the tectontic plates come together is amazing.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Puffin and Volcano Tour

Westman Islands

Ebbi has lived his whole life on Westman Island and has amazing passion for this tour. He shared a ton about life on the island, history, and made this an amazing experience!

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Solheimajokull Glacier Hike

Iceland

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Jokulsarlon Glacier Kayaking Adventure

Iceland

If you are capable of kayaking, I highly recommend kayaking rather than the motorized boats. You reduce your impact on the planet. More importantly, it is a more serene and enjoyable way to spend time amongst the icebergs.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Myvatn Nature Baths

Lake Mývatn

Myvatn has a strong sulfur smell. They are older baths and have quite a crowd. It was our least enjoyable bath out of five we visited during our Iceland trip.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

We could not recommend Iceland and working with kimkim highly enough. The country is shockingly gorgeous and fun/energizing to visit. There is so much one can do and we were so grateful to have Eric, our specialist, arrange our trip. Eric was fantastic to work with. He made a perfect itinerary, helping us see the highlights and find off the beaten path gems. In addition to the must see spots that most people visiting the country seem to go to in the South, which Eric had on our itinerary, our favorite places that Eric recommended as good options were the Reykjadalur Valley hike to the hot river and the Hjorleifshofdi Cape & Cave hike - they were both just mind blowing and wonderful. If you are looking for good hikes with not a lot of people to see the wonders of nature, do these!

The hotel accommodations were excellent - very comfortable and in gorgeous places. And Eric recommended great eating options. Outside of Reykjavik, you definitely want to call ahead to restaurants to make reservations, which thankfully Eric warned us about.

Lastly, Eric was so responsive to our desires for the trip in planning and being available during it with additional recommendations when we reached out. We will definitely use kimkim again for future trips and highly recommend them.

We had a fantastic trip to Iceland, tailored to the specific needs of our six person family, which included 4 active 20-something men and their parents. Our guide Gummi even helped plan our small wedding on a beautiful black pebble beach. He found us a wonderful house on the sea, near the wedding site, and helped plan several activities afterward, including a glacier hike, iceberg lagoon cruise, and many other interesting and unique activities. There’s no way we could have such a great trip without his expertise and advice. And when the inevitable minor hiccups arose, he was always quick to respond and set things right. Five stars all the way around!!!

It was our first time to Iceland. It’s quite daunting to figure out what you’d be interesting in seeing and what all activities you’d like to do along with optimal route and hotel selection/booking. Luckily we had Elisa, our guide/booking agent who is also a native of Iceland. She was very helpful in understanding our needs, suggesting an itenary and extra activities. After some back and forth we booked the trip with her.
Trip went mostly flawless. We had an issue with a hotel booking on one of the days where a new management of the hotel pretended to not find our reservation. I texted Elisa and she went above and beyond her normal duty and booked a new hotel for us within minutes. Imagine if you had to do all this in another country by yourself.

I’d whole heartedly recommend Elisa, if you are looking for a trip to Iceland. She takes care of her clients and takes the stressful planning part out, so that clients can focus on enjoying their vacation.

Thank you Silvia for the amazing trip itinerary and help along the way.

I was able to enjoy my Iceland the way I saw it 20 years ago. Unfortunately with technology evolution, we didn't get to cross rivers as bridges were built along the way. We didn't get the trill of crossing the rivers but it made it a safer travel.

We thank you for all the nice recommandations. Hotel and restaurants were to our satisfaction. Hotel 360 was amazing as well as Hrifunes Nature Park, Silica and Kerlingarfjoll Mountain Resort. Actually Kerlingarfjoll was my highlight. The suggested Hike was my best ever.

We were able to enjoy the beauty that Iceland nature had to offer. The falls, the volcanos, the glaciers, the geysers, hot mud, the iceberg and the ride was very different than what we are use to as well as beautiful as nature can get.

We have numerous photos and great memories to share.

Thank you again for your presence along the way. It was reassuring to know that you were there and easy to reach if needed.

Please keep safe
Diane xx

We had a great trip. Things to note, there was certainly a lot of driving but Terry did a great job of providing us plenty of stops to break up the trip. Our hotel in Vik was nice, we did think breakfast was included but they said it was not. The coffee machine in the room was amazing! It was warm in the room, and because of the black out curtains leaving the windows open didn’t really help much. The zipline tour was fun, kids and adults loved it. Alexandra was the guide and she was awesome. The glacier hike was so fun, it was the only time we really needed multiple layers, otherwise the cool weather was very tolerable. Swava was an our guide for the glacier, he gave us a lot of history on the trip over. We did take the trip out to the glacier park o our own, it was an 1 1/2 drive from Vik was is was worth it. The hike to the glacier was easy but nice and the pictures were awesome. I have to also mention every public bathroom was so clean and there were plenty of them. The geothermals pools were awesome. We loved Fontana, we ran into the cold lake a few times. We also sat in the sauna and steam rooms. We loved the rye bread making, it was so good with the smoke trout. Our second hotel was in the middle of no where but it was beautiful. It would have been a great spot to see the northern lights. The people who ran the inn were so nice and breakfast was amazing. The snorkeling adventure was another great experience. The fresh water you could just drink! It was cold but not unbearable. Interesting how many of the tour guides we had were not locals from Iceland but transplants. Many spend the “summer” there and then go to another place to spend “summer” somewhere else. Listening to peoples life stores were interesting. Our snorkel guide was from the Netherlands, he was super helpful and had a great respect for the land. Our third hotel was our least favorite, but it was big. The room was actually oky, the views were amazing, but the common areas needed some TLC. It ended up being okay, the girls went in the hot tub when we arrived. And we did have our own room…Harmen and I. The lava cave was really fun. Our guide was so passionate about the history and geology of the area. Her name is short was Eve. She was a lot of fun and the girls had a blast. The waterfall area up near the lava cave was breath taking, we have so many amazing photos. Our two night in Reykvik were so fun. The girls loved the city and did like being near the middle of town. I think the first night was very difficult to sleep because we were too close to a bar. I would think i better to stay a little further. We spent a lot of time walking f around, we visited the church and some parks down near the water. It was a great place to get souvenirs too! The ATV ride was fun. I am glad we moved it from the departure date, it was nice to have that morning to relax and I think it was have been a bit of a rush getting to the airport. It wall worked out and your staff in Iceland was easy to work with. Everyone was so responsive and helpful. The locals were so friendly. We felt so safe and welcome. This was a trip of a lifetime and an amazing investment for our family. The twins had a so much fun!

Hotel Reviews

Black Beach Suites

Vik I Myrdal

Very nice. Clean and good coffee.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Very clean

Álftröð Guesthouse

Selfoss

Beautiful views of the countryside

Authenticity & Character

Felt like Iceland!

Location

Off the beaten track but beautiful

Staff

So sweet

Cleanliness & Comfort

Very clean

Room With A View Apartment Hotel

Reykjavík

A little noisy. And parking was difficult

Authenticity & Character

Location

Center of the city

Staff

The front desk was very helpful.

Cleanliness & Comfort

Hótel Hafnarfjall

Hvalfjarðarsveit

Rooms was huge and we had a bedroom. Common spaces needed some TLC. Staff was nice. Views were great. There were cabins there which May looked newer. Not sure the size!

Authenticity & Character

Location

Views

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Reviews

Blue Lagoon

Iceland

A great way to start.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Easy to get to

Zipline Adventure Tour

Iceland

So fun! Ziplining was fun for everyone. The tour guides were really nice

Quality of Experience

Our group was alone, so the guides were so attentive and helpful

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Friendly

Transport

Van from meeting location to ste was nice

Rye Bread tour (Geothermal bakery)

Iceland

This was a fun and the bread was yummy!

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Katla Ice Cave Experience

Iceland

I loved this. The girls liked the cave more but this was really a fun adventure. The ride out and the hiking. Not something for someone not comfortable to do some difficult walking.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Safety was key!

Transport

Fun ride.

Fontana Geothermal Baths

Iceland

Loved this!

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Silfra Snorkeling

Iceland

Amazing. Staff was also helpful and made everyone comfortable with their gear. The water is cold…not sure this would have been as fun in the winter! Everyone enjoyed this.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Excellent help

Transport

Lava Cave Explorer Tour

Iceland

This was a fun tour. The cave was super interesting and the guide was so educated on the history. We all loved this.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Wonderful

Transport

Short walk to cave

Mountain ATV tour

Iceland

Fun way to end. We all had fun. The group was large so there was a lot of stopping. Sort of wasted a lot of time. The riding was easy, could have done something g more challenging but we had fun.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

This was the best holiday we have ever been on. We'd like to thank Emanuela and the team that worked with her to arrange this. Before the trip the service and responsiveness from Emanuela was excellent - she was quick to clarify options and to come up with suggestions and ideas based on our queries.
The itinerary was excellent and allowed us to see so much of this beautiful country. The accommodation was also top class - we loved virtually all of the places we stayed in. I have provided more detailed reviews below of the individual places where we stayed.
The car was perfect and WiFi device provided with the car was just superb. We were amazed by the Internet coverage even in remote areas of Iceland!
The activities proposed by Emanuela were also excellent and loved every one of them. Here are some details about our accommodation and experiences:
1. Foss Hotel Baron was excellent - our suite was large and comfortable and had a great view facing the sea. The bathroom was great, breakfast was good and the view facing the sea was also excellent. Location was not perfect as it was away from the centre of town… but that was OK and did not affect us much.

2. We enjoyed the amazing Sky Lagoon in Reykjavik - did not want to come out and spent several blissful hours there.... very unique experience! All our friends have seen the amazing pics on Facebook and now want to do the same!

We also did the Fly Over Iceland in Reykjavik - what an amazing experience! It was exciting and we really felt we were flying over Iceland... We all loved it - very well done and memorable. We visited the Whales of Iceland museum and again really enjoyed it with my 17-year old very interested in the guided tour where we learned so much. The huge life sized models of the whales were amazing and we spent a lovely couple of hours here. We also went to Perlan and again thought it was excellent.

3. We had two very enjoyable meals at Hlemmur Matholl. Very cool place that was walking distance from our hotel... and we also could not believe it was just a bus station in the past! The meal from Krost was excellent with some good wine and beer as well. Thanks for suggesting this!

4. Snorkeling in Silfra was the most unique experience of all. Very enjoyable and exciting. Our guide - Gabriel was our guide - he was top class and really made us feel comfortable. Some feedback for your information: The dive.is team at Silfra was very busy ... probably too busy - if you ask me they have too many people and our 11am dive eventually happened at 1pm - they were quite backlogged and I feel that they need to cut down on the number of people. But we were in no hurry and really enjoyed the unique experience. I will be writing to dive.is with some detailed feedback as I feel they are not equipped to handle the large volume of people that are being booked in summer.

5. The Kerid crater and the walk around it was wonderful and also a new experience for us to walk around a dormant volcano. It was beautiful and we got some beautiful pictures.
We missed out on Geysir and Gulfoss waterfall as the road was closed... and we did not have enough time to go around the other way.

6. Hotel Arnarstapi was a very special experience. We really liked the stand alone 2-bedroom suite - it was well designed and very comfortable for the three of us. The location was just spectacular as it was not far from the cliff walk. We did long walks along the cliffs and enjoying the sights of all the sea-birds roosting on the cliffs. The place had a wild beauty that we fell in love with... could not stop snapping pics!
The Snjofell restaurant on site was top class - a beautiful setting with excellent food and service. We had a memorable dinner there.

7. The VATNSHELLIR lava cave was also an interesting experience and our guide Irina was wonderful.

8. We were a little apprehensive about the Acco Apartment when we were standing outside in the street. But once we went in we were super happy with the beautiful and spacious apartment. It is beautifully located and has amazing views. It is comfortable with all of the amenities and really enjoyed the evening there. In fact my wife wanted to stay another night in the apartment - she liked it so much.
The breakfast in the Cafe Berlin was excellent - the best breakfast on the trip. The staff were super nice and very competent and professional. We'll be giving Cafe Berlin 5 stars on tripadvisor.

9. The Whale and Puffin tour was amazing - we ended up seeing 3 different humpback whales and all three of us were thrilled. We also saw dolphins and of course the puffins were wonderful. The guide - Victoria was wonderful and funny and did a great job. A very memorable experience and a first for us as we had not seen Whales before!
We had lunch in Húsavík at the Salka Restaurant - again an excellent meal that we all thoroughly enjoyed.
Later the Godafoss waterfall was lovely and we enjoyed the walk to and from it.

10. The Sel Hotel at Myvatn was just wonderful. I think it was my wife's favorite place. The rooms had beautiful views and we loved the surrounding area. The staff were very helpful and we enjoyed a good meal at the restuarant of the hotel. The Pseudocraters of Skutustadir were wonderful and we enjoyed walking among them and the lake area. In the evening we went to the Myvatn Nature Baths and very much enjoyed the experience and the views. We explored e DimmuBorgir rock formations and the Grjotagja cave with the hot water inside.
We had lunch at Vogafjos farm - another superb sugestion - the food was excellent and we enjoyed it very much.

11. The horseriding at Safarihestar, Safari Horse rental was a major highlight for me. They were truly wonderful and patient as my wife was very nervous and they handled her perfectly. The horses were beautifully trained and very obedient. I loved the landscape and the setting and took so many photos from horseback. Thanks for suggesting this wonderful experience.

We very much enjoyed the Hverir Bubbling Mud Pots... a truly unique experience that none of us had had before.

Móðir Jörð restaurant with its wonderful vegetarian food was probably our favourite restaurant in Iceland! We loved the food and setting and had our coffee in the greenhouse and loved wandering around the lovely area.

12. Hotel Egilsstadir was lovely as well. We loved the setting and the warm bar area was so nice - my wife and I stayed up until late having a couple of drinks. The staff were superb and very helpful and friendly.
We later visited Seydisfjordur - the drive to that village was beautiful and very memorable.

13. Hofn Inn guesthouse: The accommodation was spacious and it was clean and functional. It was comfortable for the few hours we spent there - but it was not our favorite. They had an unusual rubber floor instead of carpet which felt odd. But everything was comfortable and we are just being a bit picky as all the other accommodation was superb.

The amphibian boat tour was excellent and quite a unique experience. We saw some seals in the lagoon which was wonderful.

14. The snowmobile tour on Vatnajokull glacier was just out of this world. Sven our guide made it very enjoyable and put my wife at ease as she was quite nervous. Very special experience that we will not forget.

14. The Kria hotel in Vik was just superb. We loved our corner room - 101 - and the views of the mountain opposite. What a special location! We had dinner at the hotel restaurant which was excellent and the next day had lunch in Restaurant Suður-Vík - I had the best softest lamb dish here.

15. Finally the Ice Cave tour with our guide Maria was amazing - my wife bonded with her as she really lokked after my wife and held her hand through some areas where my wife was a bit apprehensive.

16. The last night at the Hotel Keflavik was also very nice. We expected a functional airport type hotel - but were very pleased with the quality of the hotel and the view toward the sea.

If we could give 6 or 7 stars to Emanuela we would! Thanks for a memorable experience which we will remember for the rest of our lives.

Activity Reviews

Relax in Reykjavik and Sky Lagoon

Reykjavík

Nothing short of top class. The Sky Lagoon is magical and an amazing experience. The design of the lagoon is beautiful and the water temperature is wonderful. There is a beautiful pool bar and the changing facilities are first class. The seven step experience is amazing and must be done. The view from the dry Sauna is outstanding.

Quality of Experience

The beautiful design of the lagoon itself

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Staff are super helpful and friendly

Vatnshellir Lava Cave Tour

Snæfellsnes Peninsula

The experience of going into the lava cave and learning all about it from our guide Irina was excellent. My 17-year old daughter was very interested in the details and kept talking about it afterwards. We really enjoyed the experience and found Irina to be excellent - she had great knowledge, was uncompromising about safety - but had a good sense of humor and made it fun.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Silfra Snorkeling Adventure

Reykjavík

The most unique experience - very special to be snorkeling between two tectonic plates! Our guide Gabriel was excellent, caring, funny and very friendly. He did a great job and gave us an experience that we will never forget. When you are in the water and snorkeling between the tectonic plates, it feels very special and you feel like pinching yourself! I have not given 5 stars for this activity because I found that dive.is has taken on too many people and is not able to process this volume of tourists effectively. The expected 30-minute prep took 2 hours. Our 11am snorkel in fact started at 1pm. Our group of 6 people also had two issues with the equipment/dry-suits as two of them were leaking. There seems to be too much pressure on the guides to keep things moving and weight of numbers of tourists is too high. My strong recommendation is that dive.is review what is a realistic number of tourists and cut down a little bit. They should charge higher prices if need be but it is important to reduce the volume of people to keep it fun and enjoyable and safe.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Gabriel our guide was just awesome. His sense of humour helped one of our party which was nervous to relax. He was professional and made it a special experience for us

Horseback on the Lake

Lake Mývatn

Is it possible to give an experience 6 or 7 stars? We just loved the horse riding in the unspeakably beautiful environs of Lake Myvatn - a big thank-you to Emanuela for recommending this! The people at Safarihestar, Safari Horse rental - were just awesome. My wife was very nervous and they handled her perfectly calmed her down and handled everything very professionally. The horses were superbly trained and just followed the lead horse. Although none of us were very experienced horse riders, we were comfortable all the time. We rode along the margin of the lake and then into the wild area. It was unspeakably beautiful and I could not stop taking photos whenever I had the opportunity. A superb experience - 7 stars - highly recommended!

Quality of Experience

The personal care, the well trained, gentle horses and the astounding scenery!

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Great care and patience. We always felt we were in good hands.

Whale and Puffin Watching Tour

Husavik

It was a phenomenal experience. Our guide Victoria was excellent - funny and informative and also very non-nonsense when it comes to safety etc. We were given thick waterproof overall to wear on top of our clothes - which was excellent - as it was quite windy and cold - but the overalls kept us warm throughout. The boat was not large and was a speedboat which is essential to be able to maneuver and quickly get to where the whales are. They also had a good system of keeping in touch through the radio with other boats / spotters so that they know in real time where to go to see the Whales. Before we saw the whales we really enjoyed the puffins! They are beautiful birds and we learned a great deal about them.... we saw hundreds of them which was amazing. We saw 3 different humpback whales on our tour - with one of them getting very close to the boat - on one occasion - only about 15 or 20 feet away. We saw the whales come up on multiple occasions and then dive down. It was an almost spiritual experience for me to see these huge but gentle animals so close. The experience was awesome and I would not miss it for anything.

Quality of Experience

The sight of a beautiful huge whale coming up right next to us and blowing and then diving down!

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Victoria was awesome and funny and very informative

Beautiful green Iceland brings you face to face with the power energy and beauty of nature at every step
Rinolda did an amazing job catering our itinerary to our hiking goals
The driving tips / plan for the day ,, restaurant Recommendations were on the dot
Hotels provided were great
Driving was easy
We had a flat once but got Immediate assistance from our rental car insurance
We had to postpone ferry tickets due to that and contact the emergency on call at Kim Kim —- great help and assistance provided

Glymur falls hike , Gulfoss,, thorsmok orange loop hike and day at Lanmanalaugar were our highlights
Looking for puffins in the rain and cold at westman island followed by dinner at Gotts and a hike up eldfell volcano with 360 view of ocean on all sides —- superb ethereal experience

Thank you !

We loved everything about our Iceland trip. EVA WAS THE BEST!
we had some bad weather one day and an outing was cancelled/postponed. i panicked, thought we wouldn't get it all done or be on time, and Eva rearranged things so easily and reassured me .
Going someplace that i knew little about, Eva and KimKim made the trip easy and smooth
and i will definitely use it again and have already recommended her and KimKim to others!
thanks , Felicia and John Lacksen

Rinolda was exemplary. She has been very resourceful and responsive from the onset and continuing well into the trip.
Her suggestions and arrangements were very well suited for us. The itinerary was perfect.
She guided us through some hurdles we put ourselves into.
My utmost favorite place was Thorsmork. The volcano huts were akin to a luxury hotel. The scrnery and hiking were spectacular. I enjoyed all the hiking trails.
Golden circle was nice and is a must do but was dispensable for me. The day with all the falls also was okay for a first time visitor but I wouldn’t go back. Hveragardi was mind blowing. So was Glymur hike, Vestmannayer, and Landmannlagur.
Blue lagoon was good , again, as a first time visitor.
All the food recommendations were amazing given we are vegan. Hotels were very well selected. Favorite was Hotel Klaustur.
Rinolda even made time to meet us personally. I am overjoyed that we chose to go with Kimkim, especially Rinolda. Sorry, I forgot her associate’s name whom also we called a lot and who was also very attentive and helpful.

We had an amazing trip to Iceland! Eva did a great job outlining the best stops and planning our accommodations. We loved the hotels, food, and excursions. Iceland is the most beautiful place I have ever seen!
10 out of 10 for the Super Jeep Tour of Valley of Thor
10 out of 10 for the Glacier Lagoon
I would recommend water proof boots and rain coats!!

Hotel Reviews

Reykjavik Residence Apartment Hotel

Reykjavík

We loved this hotel! They deliver a basket of delicious breakfast foods each afternoon and fresh bread each morning. They also have free laundry machines to use!!

Authenticity & Character

Location

One block off the main strip.

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Hotel Vík í Mýrdal

Vík

Restaurant was delicious!! Rooms were small but nice. Location was great- easy walk to shopping and quick drive to many activities.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Across the street from major shopping center.

Staff

They dried our boots in the boiler room- so nice!!

Cleanliness & Comfort

Fosshotel Glacier Lagoon

Hnappavellir

Adorable hotel. We loved the hot tubs, restaurant, and sheep right outside our window! It is a great location for getting out to the Diamond Beach and Glacier lagoon but nothing nearby. There is no shopping (grocery or supplies) or restaurants within 20-30 min.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Review

Jökulsárlón Glacier Lagoon

Iceland

Our guide was amazing!! We loved this boat trip!

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

We wanted to go in an epic tour of Iceland to celebrate some milestones, but neither of us wanted to take on the challenge and responsibility of planning the trip. On the recommendation of trusted family, we turned to KimKim (at the last minute) to put it together.

Our trip to the WestFjords was amazing. Adam took our minimal guidance and built a well-balanced trip that took us off the beaten path but also checked off some of the most popular destinations in Iceland. He gave us full daily itineraries that gave us plenty to pick and choose from if we wanted more free time, or plenty to keep us going from early morning to late night. (Not dawn to dusk so close to the Arctic Circle in the summer!)

We loved our (premapped) drives broken up by hikes. We loved his dining recommendations. We loved talking to Icelanders we met while traveling.

The scenery, hiking, people, weather, stories and food are only some of the elements we enjoyed in our trip. We only appreciated the unhurried time and space of the WestFjords after we went to the Golden Circle (with what seemed like the rest of the world)—and we got a taste for how much for how we had learned about Iceland after talking with other travelers in the last couple of days.

Truly, letting Adam from KimKim take on the planning of our time in Iceland was the first step in making our trip a stress-free, remarkable and enjoyable experience.

Thank you, Adam!

Janel didn’t an incredible job mapping out all the locations and making it an incredible easy to follow along.

However leading up to the trip, she was very slow to get back with responses and when we needed help with something on the trip she never responded to us.

Activity Reviews

Silfra Snorkeling

Iceland

One of the coolest things I’ve ever done

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Solheimajokull glacier hike & ice climbing

Iceland

Incredible experience, but for about 1.5 hours you are just standing around.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Kimkim helped us plan the most amazing travel experience in Iceland. We did an independent travel trip as a couple and our Kimkim consultant Rinolda was key to the success of the trip. It was her suggestions and assistance that helped us shape the perfect trip. Having someone who lives in Iceland assist us was a big advantage. Our days were well planned with suggestions and ideas of what to explore for that day according to our interests. The accommodations were booked for us, as were any 'extras' like our ferry, special activities like whale watching, spa stops etc. We haven't used this type of service before and this trip came together as we shared back and forth online planning discussions. It was an excellent experience and trip. Thanks so much Rinolda!

Adam was a great contact and very knowledgeable about Iceland. Adam was very organized and tailored the schedule to my requests. He also helped me with time management and food recommendations in the area. I highly recommend using KimKim and Adam if you’re going to Iceland!