Kimkim Trip Reviews for India

This was our first trip to India. We are experienced travelers, but generally have local contacts that help us arrange a trip. For India, we had no idea where to start. We wanted a trip to see plants, orchids, and birds, along with natural settings, but also wanted a few cultural and historical places too.
After much back and forth, we had a trip planned, all tickets bought. Then covid hit. Two years passed and yet we still wanted this trip. This spring we took the leap and am certainly glad we went. We were everywhere welcome and asked bring more foreign tourists. Imagine being at Taj Mahal and being one of a handful of people of northern European descent. Indians are touring their own country now.. and the Taj with all the colorful saris not tourists in kaki was lovely to see.
There did turn out to be a lot of driving, but that was required to get to the various places we wanted to go. we had various guides, and for all but one ( our "guide" at the Bharatpur Bird Sanctuary- I would have to give him a negative rating for many reasons) we had good to excellent experiences.
The accommodations arranged were sometimes over the top for we budget travelers but as we did not know the cost it and it was already paid for , we just enjoyed it.
Over all it was nice to just not have to arrange for anything. When we finished with a cultural site or were done with a hike, our car and driver were there, no walking to the car. We seldom carried our bags. Our biggest decisions were what to have for dinner. we have never traveled like this before and I will say it was nice.
We wrote a review of each day on the trip summary for specifics.

KimKim was great to work with to organize this tour. Priya, our local specialist was very helpful. Because of the time difference, it usually took 1 day to respond. My planning of this trip was revised (by me) many times, and Priya managed all of the changes easily. All of our transportation, accommodations, and tours was seamless. The guides were knowledgable and helpful. I most appreciated our driver, Puran. He was with us from the moment we arrived in Delhi, until we departed Delhi. I felt that he was always looking out for us - our experience and our safety. I also learned a lot about India from him. I will definitely be looking to KimKim again whenever I need help planning another trip. They have local specialists in many countries.
Thank you KimKim, Priya, and Puran for a great 4 day, whirlwind tour of the Golden Triangle.

Far beyond my expectations. It really brought me out of my bad mood. Warm welcome, quick response in WhatsApp group and considerate feedback calls en route, no harassment or traps. Thanks to my driver Mr Phrahalad, my guide Mr Verma and of course Mrs Priya, all excellent and professional. Overall, great trip, worth the price.

Great driver, guides were good , wonderful tour of interesting palaces, temples. Tag Mahal. Tiger safari

Priya, was the best agent who went above and beyond to help us with this trip. We had good car, great hotels, good drivers. Only in Goa ,we could not get English speaking driver due to driving company confusion. It was not a big deal because I speak there language. Every thing was on time and coordinated very well. Priya's work was very impressive. I will recommend this travel Co.. to all my friends and i will use the same in future also.. I appreciate them very much. Thanks to Ms Priya and Mr. Ravi Tikkoo

Jay was very knowledgeable and patient. He did everything very well. I recommend him.

Must-do trip in north India to get to know important spots of Indian's history and get amused by the marvellous architectural accomplishments.
At the same time, it is a very touristic tour. One will be pushed to buy stuff by the guides (which for sure is normal and moves the economy but one should be given the option in advance).
Jaipur is a great city, walking around the city is an experience of its own.
Make sure to review (and change if you want) the hotels given by the agency before accepting the tour.
The agency provided a great driver

KimKim was fine as a tour company. I, however, found out I was not crazy about having a guide and using a touring company - though I do recognize that I would probably have had a difficult time without them. Perhaps it would have been better if I had had only one guide? Or if I didn't feel somewhat rushed from one monument to another and then was taken to tourist-trap type places to buy things at elevated prices? In any case, KimKim was very efficient - they got things together well and were very attentive. Any problems or issues I had with using KimKim were probably more just personal preference than any inadequacy on their part - though I do think they could do a better job in terms of giving more 'local' experience.

The KimKim concept works fine. It's very handy to plan your trip, communicate and have your (personal) information integrated in one platform. We like the focus on sustainability and the transparent fee structure.

Our trip in India was great. The contact with Gaurav was friendly and he was very helpful in planning the trip we had in mind.
During our stay in India we had regular contact and he always informed us when needed.

What we also liked was the fact that his organization had an eye for social issues. In Delhi our transportation was arranged by Women on Wheels (http://azadfoundation.com/our-programmes/women-on-wheels/). When we arrived in Delhi we received a LifeStraw bottle (https://www.lifestraw.com/products/lifestraw-go). We calculated that by using this bottle we saved appr. 150 PET bottles.

The most important: we had a great trip and enjoyed our stay in India very much.

So we absolute recommend Gaurav / The Folk Tales when you want to plan a trip to India!

The trip was fantastic and very well planned. Choephell, our guide, was incredibly knowledgeable and attentive and thoughtful. The food on our trek was surprising and delicious; Maila is a truly amazing camp chef. One of the days of scheduled hiking was too long, almost more than we could handle, but we’d been warned about a long day and it was necessary because we had a shorter time than usual to do the trek. I guess the lesson is to make sure to ask questions and be clear in communication when planning. In any case, we definitely felt well taken care of.

- Organization and preparation was really excellent
- The trek was amazing and our guide very helpful and had a very broad culture on Buddhism
- Our driver (Ladakh) was excellent also, super kind , drove well and also very helpful
- The home stays were overall good, we were almost always alone with the families since not too many tourists so could enjoy cocking with them an choosing our rooms. The bathrooms were very irregular, some excellent and clean other really less. Not a big deal but worst to mention. Food was fresh and good, totally veg though which we were not expecting.
- Good surprise was that we did not need to carry our backpacks during the treks except for water and some basic stuff. I did not ask before but it would be important to let people know in advance, would not have bought so techy brand new backpacks
- Very disappointed with Singge Palace. First room we had was in the annex and very basic, second was nicer but we had a mouse in it. We claimed with management and they did not even bother to apologize. Buffet was good though. Overall people were not kind nor helpful specially at reception
- For all the Delhi connections, drives, Manish, keeping our bags,,, was really flawless (except the guy who asked me how recognize me but we already talked about it and by the way he ended being super nice)
I definitely would recommend the agency !

My India trip was everything I hoped it would be and more! So grateful to the KimKim team, especially Jay and my driver Kierin; Kierin was so much fun and taught me the most as we drove from location to location exploring beautiful exotic places in South India like Munnar, Alleppy, and Kochi. My guides were all knowledgeable, friendly, and professional: special thanks to Glen (Kochi), Junis (Munnar) and Shreedevi (incredible hostess at hotel UDS in Trivandrum) - these wonderful people, among others, made my experience extra special. My goal in India was to really immerse myself in the culture, try new foods, see wildlife, and interact with local people - coming from a large metro city in California, I also wanted to get off the beaten path a bit and unplug - KimKim made the whole thing seamless and fulfilled my desire to go a bit beyond regular “tourist” type experiences - the most memorable moment, perhaps, was waking up at The Leaf in Munnar and listening to the birds while I drank my coffee and talked to a family visiting from Saudi Arabia. I will also never forget the seeing the tea plantations and the mountains in Munnar; the best smelling place in the world! Alleppy houseboating was also incredible; I had a meal I’ll probably never top! When it was time to say goodbye to Kierin, I realized I had truly made a friend, and will always remember our conversations and the laughs we shared - so thank you AGAIN KimKim for finding me the perfect road companion and for setting up my dream travel in India! I will be back and I will use KimKim again, no doubt.

We’ve just finished our Indian Odyssey, all superbly organised by Priya from kimkim. Three perfectly coordinated weeks of travel adventure & Priya was with us all the way. It felt like she was constantly in the background ensuring everything ran smoothly, that we were happy & liaising with our driver & hotels to ensure we had the best of times. Priya put together a fantastic mix of travel, adventure, activities, & relaxation using a mix of hotels; some super luxury, some more basic, some historical, some querky but all really good. We couldn’t be happier. For the full 3 weeks we knew Priya was working in the background for our enjoyment. She called us every few days for a chat & report on how we felt the trip was going. We thought this was really good and it gave us confidence in what we were doing. She made the whole planning of the trip easy. Prompt and polite and always on hand with solutions and suggestions during the planning stage. She asked a few questions as to what we enjoy doing and magically produced a great itinerary. The local agent she used to represent kimkim, Active India was fabulous and every member of that team punctual, professional & polite. Puran, our driver was superb, he kept us safe, got us everywhere without any issue and totally focussed on our comfort and enjoyment. Totally reliable - there every step of the way. If we did a train journey an Active India rep magically appeared at our seat at destination to assist with bags & getting to the car, they took us to checkin counters at airports - all making the trip totally stress free.
We highly recommend Priya from KimKim to plan your Indian trip & need to extend a big thank you to the whole team for enduring our trip was so fantastic.

We gave the places we would like to visit and the time frame to the KimKim team who assigned us to Gaurav their Indian specialist and after a few tweaks we had the most amazing experience over the 13 days of our visit to India. Our driver Sadari was with us for 10 days and handled the chaotic roads, streets and highways like a real professional. We felt safe with him and he always Made sure we were dropped off picked up at easy accessible sites. Our guides on the tours were professional knowledgeable and passionate in their work. Every day when we thought nothing could beat the day before ... it did. From airport pick ups to accommodation to drivers to guides to the experiences we had I cannot recommend The KimKim team highly enough. Thank you Gaurav for this experience

The trip consisted of visiting Arunachal Pradesh and Assam. This part of India requires a separate permit due to the sensitive nature of the area.
Gaurav was able to negotiate the minefield of bureaucracy needed to obtain the permits for our party.

The travel arrangements were adequate - given the limited availability of tourist vehicles in India. The accomodation was also adequate - given the limited availability ( or even non-existent ) 3*, 4* and 5* hotels in Arunachal. Travelling in India is always unpredictable, given that the infrastructure is still being upgraded. Travelling over Sela pas was made difficult bt the 'freak' weather on the day. However, it was educational.

The driver (Porag) coped well given the difficult road network and heavy snow fall.

All in all it was a good trip and we learnt a lot.

We had a fabulous trip to India with a fantastic driver Vikram. However our whole experience has been marred by our guides need to feed us to the lions at every opportunity. We felt like they thought we were walking ATMs to be fleeced at every opportunity. Our first day we were talking to a store, our guide told us he just wanted to show us something. Then we were led to the slaughter. My husband works in the Middle East and is used to bartering but this was an all out attack that left us feeling abused. We bought a pashmina we neither needed or wanted just to get out. After this we made it clear we did not want to shop, we don’t need stuff we travel for the experience not the tat. Another guide took us to a palace and even though we had specifically said we did not want to shop we ended up sitting infront of an artist where both the guide and artist embarrassed us into paying £100 for a picture but were quite disappointed that we didn’t buy the £450 they started with. We were made to feel mean and tight by both of them. The fact that we could neither afford or wanted the picture meant nothing to them. If this is how your guides operate I would be reluctant to use them again.

Overall, our trip was fantastic. Our local guide, Jagdish Thakur was absolutely wonderful in every way. He was knowledgeable, professional, and compassionate.

I felt that communication with Angela could have been better. There were some issues with pricing that took a phone call to iron out. She also was unclear on the registration process to see the Dalai Lama in Dharamsala. It cost us a couple of hours of unnecessary waiting in a line (in the rain.) There was also a lack of communication with Jagdish prior to the trip.

It seems that the advertised itinerary was at times simply impossible to complete in the amount of time allotted. This was a yoga retreat, and we were unable to do yoga for the first week due to the schedule, and the hotels where we stayed. Seems this could have been better planned. (?)

As I said, despite these issues, everyone still had a FANTASTIC trip. Thanks so much!

Jessica Lohrey

The trip was amazing, more than I could have hoped for. I was able to meet with winemakers and winery owners. The guide assigned to my trip was extremely knowledgeable and was able to answer all of my questions.

Everyone showed up on time, and schedules were flexible enough to meet our needs. No problems, no "hitches", no hassle.

Very well done!

This is a response from Bernard and Jean as a couple.

In rating your services, we are making a direct comparison to the last time we were in India on a small tour in 2014 as well as a private tour in Portugal in 2017.

We found the contact with Preeti to be sporadic with twice having to contact kimkim because Preeti was not responding to emails. We suggest that kimkim should have a "follow through" strategy if staff/contractors are sick or on leave. All emails should be responded to within 24 hours.

The only time we had good response from Preeti was when payment was requested.

Accomodation, before and at the end of the tour, was not finalised until very late despite a number of requests for this to happen. As a result of this we booked our own private accommodation at the beginning and end of the tour which was infinitely better in character than was provided by the tour.

On previous tours we have been provided with an itinerary well beforehand by email as well as a paper copy on joining the tour. This was not offered or provided. We had to scroll through many emails to look for itinerary.

We were very pleased with our guide Arun. He was informative, knowledgable and well organised. He ensured that we were safely taken to our destinations re:accommodation, tourist sites etc. We would highly recommend him to any future tour groups.

Our driver Shaqa was also very good - he was polite, patient and got us safely around South India.
The vehicle provided was excellent and reliable. It was cleaned everyday and water bottles were provided on a daily basis.

A separate guide in Goa, Avi (sp), "shouted" at us. The only time he lowered his voice was in a church. He was however well informed and had a rich knowledge of the area.

We were disappointed by the accommodation provided. The hotels selected were all characterless boxes which could have been from anywhere in the world. It appeared that little thought was given to showing Indian authenticity and pride. On a private tour such as this we had an expectation that the accommodation would be chosen that reflected the character of the area.

Amit, our guide throughout the trip was an exceptional young professional on so many levels. His personality and patient disposition were indispensable in creating a relaxed and fun experience. He is very knowledgeable in the 4 major religions of India and his command of dates and facts rivals a PhD in Eastern religion. A good teacher communicates by sharing stories and Amit explained wars (political and religious), customs, cultures, gods and goddesses and historical people like he was intimately involved with each one and sharing the history of his country as if reading a novel or watching a movie. Vividly, animatedly, and with humor. We were lucky to have had him all to ourselves!. He was also a fun person and highlighted his stories with personal tales of his life in India.

DalGeet Ji was an incredibly skilled driver. His knowing the roads all over Rajisthan, especially when construction and some political demonstrations lead to road blocks, made the trip so much more reliable and safe. Again, we were very lucky to have had him. He got along with Amit so well.

Highlights for me were: (1) the night in the Thar desert with the best meal of the trip cooked by Soda and Abdul over the open fire, (2) praying in the Sikh temple and then visiting the kitchen , (3) The sound and light water show in Delhi, (3) the colors of the markets, men and women's attire, (4) the graciousness of everyone in letting us photograph them, and (5) the elegant little hotels that each had cultural character, beauty and /or historical significance.