Kimkim Trip Reviews for Iceland

We had such a wonderful trip in Iceland! It was our first time there and Emanuela was extremely helpful in communicating with us while we were there about any last minute confirmations or changes due to the weather! Everything was set up and very easy to follow, from the google maps to the daily itinerary. It was such a special trip and we would highly recommend Emanuela to anyone planning to travel to Iceland , especially for the first time! It was an unforgettable trip!

I have great things to say about Emanuela. We traveled to Iceland in March, which is not the typical or ideal time to travel there. We had originally signed up for a group tour but realized we wanted more flexibility and to travel just by ourselves. I had bought two different guide books but Emanuela was invaluable in telling me what would be appropriate for the season-- half the hikes and activities that I read about were snowed in or the roads were closed! She helped us pivot to do a fun winter trip with ice caving, snowmobiling, horseback riding on the beach, a Northern Lights tour, a premium Blue Lagoon experience, a Reykjavik food tour, and fantastic hotel recommendations. Some of the activities ended up being cancelled or rescheduled due to weather but we had enough going on we didn't feel any loss. She planned our whole trip out with great google map links and even set us up with a wireless internet hub for the whole trip through the rental car agency. The restaurant recommendations were always the best as well. She consistently checked in while we were in Iceland and also was very communicative about the changing covid protocols. I also switched the plans around quite a bit (dates, activities, hotels) and she was always patient and friendly. I know folks going to Iceland and I am recommending Emanuela for all their needs!

Our trip to Iceland was an absolute adventure. We experienced true Icelandic weather with a red storm warning on arrival and the whole range of possible conditions after that. This understandably affected our activities/planned tours but Jenny and the kimkim team did an excellent job communicating with us and updating our trip plan. We received very helpful and quick replies to our questions and felt very well supported throughout our trip. Jenny did a great job spacing out planned tours which made it possible to reschedule things as needed. This also gave us plenty of time to do our own hikes and dive into the Iceland landscape at our pace. I’m extremely glad we used kimkim and know that our experience was better because of the knowledge Jenny brought to our trip plan.

Hotel Review

Magma Hotel

Kirkjubæjarklaustur

We absolutely loved this hotel. The little cabins are more spacious than most hotel rooms. We also got lucky and we’re able to see the northern lights from here!

Tips for future travelers

Food options are limited at this location. There’s one restaurant in town that was excellent though!

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Reviews

Crystal Blue Ice Cave

Iceland

We loved seeing the ice cave. Our only frustration was with other tourists on the tour who delayed the hike and caused us to spend less time than expected at the location.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Blue Lagoon

Iceland

Overall we didn’t think the blue lagoon was worth the money. There are other smaller geothermal baths that are natural and not as crowded with tourists.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Everything Preeti did was amazing! We had enough time to explore on our own plus her suggestions of what to see and do made Everything manageable. I cannot recommend her enough!
I would book through her again. She knows this country! Iceland cannot disappoint, but having inside knowledge made it spectacular!

Emanuela was amazing she was informative helpful and was able to help pivot and adjust our schedule when asked and even worked through our flight delay to move bookings around on the fly. This enabled us to still see all of the sites we had desired without a hiccup. She listened so well to all of my questions, needs, and wants and created a trip of a lifetime for my children and I! All of the local nuances and recommendations she made were spot on. She gave us plenty of information and clearly communicated throughout our trip to keep us on track. I left in love with Iceland and long to come back to see more. I can’t thank Emanuela enough for putting together the trip of a lifetime!!

The February weather created a challenge as several of our booked tours were canceled or cut short due to storms. Our agent, Emanuela, was remarkable in rebooking tours, hotel rooms and reassuring us that she would take care of us!! We can't thank her enough for making our holiday a success! We visited the Katla Volcano, ice cave and and glacier; Víðgelmir Lava tube; Blue Lagoon water spa and enjoyed visiting the shops on Laugavegur in Reykjavik. We met so many nice people from Scotland, Ireland, England, Lithuania and even Brazil. To see Iceland in the winter was amazing!

Jenny was amazing to work with. Despite working with a shorter than ideal planning timeline she found us a truly memorable vacation experience. With a daughter on the autism spectrum our travel needs can sometimes be very specific with a lot of flexibility built in and Jenny found that perfect balance for us. I doubt I’ll ever plan my own vacations again now that I’ve experienced first hand how smooth this process was. She removed the stress of planning and potential travel challenges so all we had to do was enjoy our time as a family.

Activity Reviews

Horse Riding Tour

Iceland

We loved the horse riding experience through the snowy fields. Toni, our guide was great; friendly and knowledgeable.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Crystal Blue Ice Cave

Iceland

This was a fun and informative trip. My kids were less than pleased with the distance we had to walk to get to the ice cave but our guide made it all worthwhile once we got there. He engaged the kids personally in some of the things he was showing all of us and made sure they were having fun. The cave itself was beautiful to see but sad to think about how the glacier keeps getting smaller each year. We were all glad we got a chance to see it.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Neat to ride in the giant 4x4 but VERY bumpy. Almost like being in a boat so if you typically get motion sick you may want to plan accordingly.

Using KimKim was a fantastic overall experience and I’d definitely recommend using them to book another trip. We were able to pack a lot in during our visit to Iceland and our guides with Hidden Iceland with super friendly and knowledgeable. It was so helpful and easy having our schedule set in advance, with a detailed packet of all of our activities. Our travel concierge was responsive and helpful both before and during our trip as well. We had a great time and I look forward to visiting Iceland again!

Terry did an amazing job planning our trip to Iceland! I would highly recommend!

Our trip to Iceland was phenomenal! Emanuela designed a fantastic itinerary that allowed us to make the most of our 5 days. From our first glimpse of the spectacular waterfalls at Seljalandsfoss, every stop she planned revealed amazing wonders! The glacier lagoon was a highlight for us all! We loved dinner at Lava at the Blue Lagoon and lunch at Fridheimer. They were both delicious!

Emanuela was so helpful not only in planning, but to support us during our travels! She provided a number and was easily reachable during our trip to help with anything we needed. She rearranged dinner and lunch reservations when our schedule changed and was very responsive to all our questions.

I highly recommend a trip to Iceland with Emanuela’s help!! We can’t wait to go back!

Emanuela did a great job setting up our trip to Iceland for us. She asked lots of questions about our interests and was extremely responsive to our questions and requests. She came up with an itinerary that fit perfectly with our preferences, needs and desires and exceeded our expectations. We chose KimKim to book our trip because Emanuela customized our trip for us when most other travel companies simply offered “canned” itineraries with little opportunity for questions or changes. Our trip was fantastic. Every accommodation and activity was arranged exactly as planned. Emanuela suggested great restaurants, tours and off the wall coffee shops and local bakeries that we would never have found on our own. We loved Iceland and Emanuela definitely helped make our experience as great as it was. Thank you Emanuela!

Emanuela planned a trip that was one amazing experience after another. We followed her recommendations and were not disappointed with the sites, the lodging, and the restaurants. The guides for the glacier walk, Northern lights, and ice cave were extremely knowledgeable. Each was a unique experience. She customized in a few places based on our preferences and that worked really well. Iceland should be on everyone's bucket list.

Emanuela planned one of our favorite vacations ever. Our decision to go to Iceland was last minute so we turned to kimkim and Emanuela to plan out our itinerary. The itinerary/plan was very detailed and included activities that we enjoyed doing. Every suggestion that she made was great including her recommendations for local bakeries. We even credited her for the wonderful weather we had. Going to Iceland? Using Emanuela to plan your trip is a must.

My parents and I had an amazing 2-week vacation in Iceland!! This was my third time visiting, but it was my first time driving the Ring Road; it was also my parents' first time visiting. Preeti was an exceptional agent to work with. We initially planned to travel in May 2020, but COVID-19 altered that. Once we decided to go in September 2021, Preeti was able to get everything arranged without difficulty. We loved all the hotels and excursions she arranged for us. It was so nice to have someone else responsible for the details so we could just enjoy the trip stress-free. Her colleagues Michele and Halldor were also helpful. Iceland is such a beautiful country, and we thoroughly enjoyed seeing all the different regions. It is truly magical and honestly one of my favorite destinations in the world. We're already looking forward to our next trip!!

We were on our own having a rental car for 7 days. Our walking is limited so we asked Preeti to consider that while putting our itinerary together. We missed a few sights due to walking and a few due to torrential rain and wind. The weather is unpredictable so we were disappointed that it was too cloudy at night to see the Northern Lights. That’s the negative. The positive was the spectacular scenery right out the car window, the amazing geothermal baths, a fabulous helicopter ride into the volcano that had been active for months prior to our visit. We were happier that it was inactive so we could get a really close look. The overnight stay at the Retreat at the Blue Lagoon was worth every cent, although the sulphur smell (from geothermal water source) at night in our room was pretty nauseating. The endless lava fields were awesome in the surrounding area we were in. I’m sorry we didn’t arrange more time in Reykjavik but we will next time. The food was good , we tried reindeer burgers that were great and the morning breakfasts at the hotels were mostly good.
I think our itinerary of the Golden Circle and South was pretty standard fare but Preeti really spent a lot of time with me to try to individualize the tour for us as non-walkers, considering most tourists are hiking trails and glaciers. I would be very comfortable contacting KimKim and Preeti for another trip.

I had a wonderful 2 weeks trip with my son in Iceland. Many thanks to Jenny, Preeti and the team. Especially to Jenny, thank you so much for being there and helped me through everything.

Me and Sean were having some problems pre-depature after everything been booked up, I was panicking but of course and thankfully Jenny 'saved my life' Jenny and the team were absolutely amazingly, they worked so hard to rearrange the whole trip again for me in such a short time.

Communicate with Jenny through kim kim website was easy and simple. I am very happy with the service and thanks once again for everything all of you did for me and Sean to be able to enjoy Iceland.

Wonderful team, thank you.

This was our second trip planned by KimKim and our second great success with them. The first one was two years ago in Norway and this time in Iceland. Preeti did a wonderful job of connecting with us to find out what our specifics were in terms of arrivals and departures and what we wanted to see and how we wanted to experience Iceland. She put together a great itinerary that met all of our needs, reserved very comfortable hotels with a large breakfast each morning. She and her associate were available to us during our stay, to answer any questions we had. Iceland is a fantastic country with so much to experience. We love traveling independently and yet appreciate the expertise of local people helping us plan all the details! We highly recommend Preeti and her staff and will definitely use Kimkim again when traveling around the world. Thanks for a great trip.

Michele planned such a perfect trip around Iceland! He really helped us find the "off the beaten path" gems. He selected great activities and hotels and really listened to what we were looking for! We even have the good fortune of an incredible northern lights display. We especially enjoyed the time we spent in eastern and northern parts of Iceland; away from some of the "crowds" of the golden circle and Reykjavik. Iceland was our favorite trip we have taken! We highly recommend Michele!

Preeti was my Iceland specialist who planned and organized our trip for two over many months. Preeti was exceptional. Unfortunately, she can’t control the weather. If anyone could though, it would be Preeti. We were away for 19 days returning Oct 6/21 and toured the country counter-clockwise with an emphasis on great hiking opportunities. It was a very busy itinerary. All of our many bookings- car, hotels, ferry, glacier hike, etc., went through without any glitches and all met with the expectations that Preeti described for us. Whatever didn’t turn out as planned was due solely to the weather but we were able to make the best of the bad days regardless. There were too many highlights to single out only a few from the many activities and sights Preeti selected for us. I won’t be talking about this trip without praising Preeti and the ease of dealing with kimkim. Many thanks to both.
Allan

Excellent itinerary for Iceland! Emanuela was excellent before and during our trip. All recommendations were spot-on and met all of our needs. Even when we had questions during our stay in Iceland, we were able to get quick responses back from our guide. We especially enjoyed the Glacier Lagoon boat trip, the volcano hike, and hunting for northern lights (which we saw twice!). I would absolutely recommend doing the self-driving tour of Iceland as I believe this is the most flexible way to see the country.