Kimkim Trip Reviews for Myanmar

Our trip to Myanmar was our second month-long trip arranged through kimkim and once we are able to travel again, we will be booking a third!

All of our guides provided us with more information than expected and there were new discoveries every day.

Our countryside biking and nunnery lunch in Mandalay was very peaceful, but the bikes provided were far from comfortable for us. We loved the experience, but suffered later.

Bagan was breathtaking and the hotel was very special. I didn't feel comfortable handling an e-motorcycle, so I hopped on the back of our guides bike while my husband drove his own. We made so many wonderful discoveries in Bagan including a cooking class with May. We had a tour of the market and then were given a basket and money to buy any ingredients we wanted for our meal. I was worried about the language difference, but the market vendors were so kind. We stopped for a tea before going to May’s house to cook our meal. So much fun! Our boat trip on the Irrawaddy River at sunset completed the day.

My personal favourite point in the trip was our time spent in Kalaw with the elephants at the Green Valley Elephant Camp, a retirement home for former logging elephants. We interacted with the elephants by feeding them, touching them and then bathing them in the river. The time spent with them in the river will stay with me forever!

Our guide, Thwe Wai Soe and driver for this part of the trip were the best that we have ever experienced!

We traveled by so many different means of transportation, had so many different experiences and stayed at wonderful accommodations. Well done, Myanmar Pure!

Our guide in Yangon, Linn Linn and our bike guide Nay (apologies for spelling) were both excellent, well informed, helpful and pleasant to be with. The transfers, accommodation, food and cycling were great. The amazing temples in Bagan and the view from Popa Mountain were beautiful as were the sunsets and the river cruise.

Local Green Season travel lead by Jack came up with a suggestion to an itinerary for a private 1 person 7 days tour visiting Mandalay, Bagan, Kalaw and Inle Lake. I had a few tweaks and wishes he accommodated. I booked and he set the whole thing in motion. There were no glitches and everything went as I hoped for. Without fail I was collected , driven around and had the most wonderful expert guides where I arrived. I saw a lot and learned a lot about amazing Myanmar. I private tour expertly organised is definitely the way of travel for me in the future. Kimkim.com and Jack can be highly recommended.

Everything was perfect, from itinerary creation, to booking, to the actual visit!

Anne is a great communicator - she listened to everything I wanted and gave me just that. She was always reachable and very helpful with everything I needed (even random stuff like printing needs).

I also loved all of my tour guides. Each one was different with their own personalities, background, experiences, etc. and it was great to get to hear so many different perspectives.

The accommodations and transport options were all fantastic.

Overall, I couldn't have asked for a better first trip to Myanmar. I can't wait to go back!

My husband and I are avid travelers and we tend to do all the booking, organizing and trip planning on our own, however I had recently come across Kimkim's website so we decided to give them a shot.

From the start the KimKim website was user friendly and the staff were kind, informative and attentive to our needs, and trust me I am a VERY detail oriented person. We were paired with our amazing coordinator, Hsu Hlaing, who was patient with me and answered every single question I rose, which were A LOT. In addition to this, there were multiple times where I had requested itinerary amendments and Hsu fulfilled each request perfectly, and even took the time to provide her personally opinions on areas she thinks were must sees, and which were nice to see places if we had more time. At the end we came up with a perfect itinerary, one that combined a seamless blend of tours and guides and personal exploration time. Myself, my best friend and my husband are grateful for Hsu, as she was beyond helpful and ensured every aspect of our trip was taken into account and all the even littlest details and requests came to life on our trip.

Hsu even coordinated SIM cards for each of us on the trip which made communicating with loved ones at home easier. On top of that she provided me with an incredibly organized packet which included our detailed itinerary, all our flight tickets and our hotel vouchers, labeled and organized by date. She checked in on a daily basis either with me personally or with our tour guide to ensure everything was going as planned and that we were having a good time, which personally went above and beyond her role, as she has already sold us an amazing trip yet she still made the effort to check in, which showed me how invested she was in ensuring we enjoyed every aspect of our trip.

Regarding our trip itself, our trip went perfectly to plan and working with KimKim made everything SO SIMPLE, allowing us to fully enjoy each one of our experiences as opposed to having to worry or plan our next move. At every point in our trip we had someone waiting for us to take us to or from one amazing experience to the next. The guides and drivers selected for us made our experience even more unforgettable. They were informative, easy to understand, fun to be around and were also very attentive to our needs.

Our experience in Myanmar will definitely be one of our favorites, not only is the country beautiful, clean and so diverse, the people themselves are kind, welcoming and made a lot of effort to make us feel welcome and at home. We hope to one day go back to explore more of the beauties of Myanmar but for now we will cherish every moment spent there and every memory made.

We are so glad we chose to explore Myanmar, and even more delighted that we were able to put Myanmar on the map for many of our friends/family's must visit lists after sharing most of our trip on social media.

HUGE THANKS TO HSU AND THE KIMKIM TEAM FOR A SEAMLESS AND INCREDIBLE ADVENTURE! We are looking forward to using KimKim again in the near future for our next adventure.

We were extremely pleased with the guides and drivers on our Myanmar trip. Guides were knowledgeable and eager to share information. They were reliable regarding pick up times and helpful in making our trip extremely positive.

I will recommend using kimkim to our friends

Hsu was very responsive and offered several itineraries as I explored possibilities. Once I settled on one she failed in details of activities, lodging, and travel very well! Our guide in Bagan was outstanding. Her knowledge of the area was superb and she filled our days til sunset making sure we were happy with activities. Our guide in Chin State was also good but we finished by 3:00 one day and while friendly and informative he was a bit quiet.

I had an excellent experience in planning my trip to Myanmar with Anne and with everything that she arranged for me while I was there.

Anne was extremely responsive as soon as I was put in touch with her, and she was very patient while I went back and forth on what I wanted to do on short notice. Once I decided to pull the trigger, she gave me great options tailored to the way that I like to travel and was very quick with suggestions and changes. She was amazing with everything within Myanmar, and I have to give her additional credit and thanks for making really helpful suggestions related to my international travel/ long haul flights, which she certainly didn't have to do since she wasn't directly involved with them.

I feel that everything that she planned for me allowed me to see a lot of the country and certainly all of the highlights within a relatively short period of time (roughly 10 days). I loved everything that I did - sightseeing by bike and boat in Mandalay, visiting the amazing pagodas and taking a cooking class in Bagan, seeing the markets, countryside and caves from Heho to Pindaya to Kalaw, spending a day with amazing elephants at the Green Hill Valley Elephant Camp, exploring Inle Lake, and finally seeing the sites in the big city of Yangon, which was so completely different than everywhere else I'd been. It would be hard to pick favorites, but Bagan, the elephants, Inle Lake, and Yangon were particularly wonderful.

Beyond taking in all of the places that that beautiful country has the offer, the people were amazing. Anne set me up with absolutely incredible guides and drivers everywhere that I went, and they were all for lovely to spend time with and informative about everything that they were showing me. I even got to meet some family! Anne herself also took the time to meet me in Mynamar and take me for a drink and nice conversation. As a more general note, I was traveling alone, and I always felt completely comfortable and welcomed everywhere I went.

I had always wanted to go to Myanmar, but it exceeded my expectations. I hope more people get to experience it and its lovely residents.

Jack was exceptional. From the planning stages to the end of the trip, Jack was always willing to accommodate my numerous requests to customise the trip.

In addition to the standard plans, Jack helped me to plan the whole trip to meet my specific requirements. Even when some of the guides were not up to the expectations, Jack was quick to get involved and sort things out for me.

I would definitely recommend Jack for anyone visiting Myanmar!

Anne was outstanding from initial contact, providing excellent advice during the planning phase and at every point during the trip. Nothing seemed too much trouble and she certainly goes the extra mile. The trip was wonderful and full of surprises. The daily itineraries were well balanced but it felt like every day had an unexpected bonus whether it was e-bikes in Bagan or the Irrawaddy cruise boat in Mandalay. We also loved meeting Anne in Mandalay. This was easily the best organised holiday we have had and we have had many. Our high expectations for the trip were exceeded.
We loved Myanmar and the people. The guides (Wai, Nay, Thinzar and Naing) were all superb....knowledgeable, enthusiastic, flexible and charming.
We were glad we did the trip in the order we did (Yangon, Mandalay, Bagan, Inle Lake) as highlights increased as we moved through the locations. There were certainly many highlights but the balloon trip over Inle Lake probably takes the accolade.
The hotels have all been great, with the Sanctum Inle Lake up there as amongst the best that we we have ever stayed in!
I also think the holiday was excellent value. So all in all a holiday to remember.

My 23-year-old daughter and I chose to visit Myanmar to learn more about the fascinating culture, history, political transitions, and people there. Anne planned an 11-day adventure for us which far exceeded any expectations. We had an amazing time!

First, I will say that I barely needed to communicate with Anne. She “got” how I travel almost immediately and my trust in her decisions was gave me no worry. I could focus on the rest of my travels and the rest of my life. We spent the first two nights at the Mercure in Mandalay. Nay was the first of several guides Anne arranged. Each of them is OUTSTANDING! Nay has spent a lot of time guiding trekkers, which we were not on this trip, and so he led us on a beautiful bike ride through the countryside outside of the city. We opted to start and end inside the city and I’m happy we did. We could handle the busy streets and we got to see some interesting sites. In the outskirts we stopped several times to learn about different industries and had lunch at a nunnery, which prepared and educated us on this fascinating side to Myanmar culture that we revisited everywhere we went. Nay also showed us other Mandalay sites — the sunset from high up, the World’s Biggest Book and the last remaining building from the former Royal Palace. Nay is lovely!

Our next two nights were spent aboard the Strand Cruise, motoring down the Irrawaddy. We visited U-Bein Bridge, Mingun, and Ava. Site visits included a tuk-tuk ride and a horse and cart ride…so fun. And the boat accommodations were wonderful. We upgraded our room upon arrival because there was a larger one available and the staff could not have been nicer. The entire crew deserve incredible accolades! All the details, the food, the excursions (Aung was our guide from The Strand Cruise), the entertainment, the rooms, everything was lovely. On the second evening dinner was served shoreside BBQ style. The crew had string lights, a bonfire, music, and had raked the sand into intricate patterns. Magical!

Our next two nights were in Bagan, which I could go back to tomorrow! We loved it. Numbers vary but I’ll use 8,000 — temples, pagodas and other religious monuments litter the landscape and sparkle with their gold. Thin was our guide in Bagan and she is really engaging. She grew up literally among the temples and was moved by the government to New Bagan before the site became a UNESCO site. I was super excited when we arrived at the e-bike stand to get our bikes, but my daughter was not. No problem…Thin just put her on the back of her bike and off we went! That is the way to travel there, scooting among the temples on the small pathways. We saw a LOT of incredible temples, each unique and full of stories. We visited a lacquer workshop where Thin’s mom used to work. They give a wonderful and really impressive explanation of the process. It will wow anyone, the amount of labor involved. We stayed at the Aureum Palace, which, if in your budget, is worth it! It’s in the middle of the site and I’ll bet one could not build a hotel there anymore. Views are stunning. The next morning was an early one for our balloon ride. Again, if in the budget DO IT! Enough said. That afternoon, another DO NOT MISS: May’s cooking class. May could run a Fortune 500. She had the 12 of us from 3:30 to 7:30. We made 21 dishes in her back patio on eight open flame wood stoves. She introduced all the ingredients, let us make choices, gave assignments for prep and manning the stoves. Everyone participated, everyone learned and the spread on the table was so impressive. I’ve been doing these cooking classes in various places on my travels and this one tops them all. May was so well organized that we were just finishing up the meal when our guide came to collect us. Not easy to do! As we were walking out, we passed an open garage facing the street filled with books on shelves, because May runs a free library for her community. 🙂

The next morning we took the first of our two in-country flights to Heho and drove to Kalaw. There, we met our next guide, Naing, who we LOVED! (Recommended reading: The Art of Hearing Heartbeats and A Well-Tempered Heart by Jan-Philipp Sendker). We stopped at Pindaya to visit the famous cave filled with thousands of Buddhas…pretty crazy! And we stopped at a local home to learn about their tea crops and the famous tea leaf salad, and at a local market for bulls, and the local every-five-day market which happened to fall on that day. We stayed overnight in Kalaw Heritage Hotel in order to drive the next morning to the Green Hill Valley Elephant Camp, a retirement home for logging elephants. We spent the day feeding and bathing the eight elephants in residence there, learning about their history and medical requirements, and eating a delicious lunch. I could go on an on about these beautiful animals, and certainly our phones are filled with special images of our time spent with them…it’s a special, special place and so beautiful. I would like to retire there. We drove to Inle Lake afterwards, which is where Naing grew up. We stayed at the beautiful Aureum Palace Resort on Inle. Naing picked us up the next morning by boat for a full day on the water. This was another highlight. We chose to visit a lotus fiber weaving factory and a silver factory. Then we had the most amazing experience: Naing took us to his home, where his sister-in-law cooked us a delicious meal and we got to sit around and chat (with Naing’s help) with his aunties and his mom, who put thanaka on us. His home is a traditional wooden one on pillars lining the lake. Wandering after lunch over bridges and alongside homes, and experiencing Naing chat with everyone he passed was really special. He is special.

We flew to Yangon the next morning to meet our final guide, Sandar. Each one of our guides, carefully chosen and nurtured by Anne, are young, eager, enthusiastic, transparent, delightful people. Our experience throughout our journey would not have been possible without them. And it’s clear that Anne knows how to not only find the right people, but communicate and manage them too. Sandi is adorable. The best way to learn about cultures is by sitting down to eat with local people. We did that throughout our trip. In Yangon, with Sandi, the experience was even more immersive. She is so chatty and funny and sweet. A simple stop at a street stand because my daughter was hungry, turned into an experience with crickets, the difference in taste between males and females, which ones her husband would like her to bring home, and more. Hilarious. Sandi guided us through the famous Shwedagon Pagoda the next day. I was really glad we organized the trip this direction, from Mandalay to Yangon, finishing with this impressive site. We went in the evening of the local new year, so it was a bustling scene, beautiful with the moon and the people and the spirituality of it all. A wonderful way to conclude our journey.

My daughter and I highly recommend Anne, Myanmar Pure and kimkim as travel planners. I’ve planned many trips in my life and just didn’t have the bandwidth. Anne connected with my request and created the exact experience I was hoping for. My daughter repeatedly said, “This is the best trip I’ve ever been on, Mommy.” Is there anything better? And we cannot wait to return someday to Myanmar — to connect with such a diversity of people, walk and ride through so many beautiful places, eat the delicious food, and feel the spirituality. Thank you!

Our 2 weeks of honeymoon in Myanmar was magical. Anne was very helpful and she did her best to accommodate our needs. All local guides who accompanied us during our journey were not only knowledgable but also they told us their experience growing up as novice monks, how Myanmar has changed these past few years, development in the country they have seen so far, etc. And that was a great learning experience for us. Also, visiting villages and having lunch in a local house was a delight! We saw how the villagers helped one family building a house (it takes only one day to build a house!) at Inle Lake, getting to know their daily life, the challenges, their local belief... And this kind of insight would have been impossible without our guides. Although it was an intense trip, the balance in the schedule Anne made was perfect. Thank you so much for the unforgettable trip!

Anne is amazing: always goes the extra mile to accommodate any request
Excellent guides and hotels
Very well organized tour

My family enjoyed our 8 day trip to Myanmar so much! We have been to over 80 countries and taken many tours, and this particular tour was one of the best. Every guide was there to meet us at the airport right when we exited the baggage area and were so helpful with the four internal flights. All internal flights were safe and nice--with meals even served on two of them. The drivers always had water and wet wipes available and all vehicles were all clean and comfortable. All accommodations were fabulous (we honestly did not know what to expect in Myanmar). The breakfasts at each hotel were amazing and the places the guides took us for lunch were wonderful as well (always Indian, Thai, Chinese of Myanmar dishes available). The activities of the tour were good as well. I was a bit templed out towards the end, but if we had wanted to do or see something else, the guides would have made it happen. The pace of the schedule was good with a mix of early mornings and some later starts and with most tours/activities for the day ending around 5, we had time for dinner and relaxing each evening.

I have great pleasure in giving this 5 star review to Jack and his team that were introduced to us through Kimkim. My wife, our daughter and I just completed a 9 day journey through Mynamar that was organized by Jack and his colleagues. First, I appreciated the close attention he paid to make sure that all our suggestions were meticulously follow up at the planning stage. Typically every suggestion I sent him at the end of the day was acted upon and I would have a confirmation and reply by the next morning. Jack's guides were exceptional people and had benefited from careful mentoring and coaching. They were caring and helpful beyond the call of duty in most cases.
This trip to Myanmar was an eye opener to all three of us. The experience, richness and variety that the country has to offer is unique. We found the streets and shop fronts in the areas we visited neat and tidy. The hospitality offered at the hotels we stayed in warm and memorable In the prevailing atmosphere of tension and conflict prevailing in many parts of the world we found the places we visited - Yangon, Mandalay, Bagan and Inle Lake offered a contrast in the meditative tranquility particularly in the places of Buddhist worship that dot the countryside.
We have provided more detailed feed back and a few suggestions to Jack. We look forward to being back sometime and seeing Jack and his team doing well with their passion and commitment to excellence.

We had a brilliant time in Myanmar and found the experience to be more enjoyable after researching the trip and speaking to Hsu Hlaing in the weeks and months leading up to the trip. She would respond promptly and her knowledge was everything that we needed.

The guides that were selected were mostly perfect with particular praise to our guides in Yangon and Madalay - although the area of Bagan was the highlight of our holiday. Through Hsu, we found a beautiful beach in Ngapali and had a fantastic few days there.

The service was excellent from start to finish and we found that their extensive knowledge on the ground was a price worth paying.

Just returned from a 12 day trip to Myanmar. Our host/guide(s) Jack et al were great. We were met at all of our destinations by a guide and driver. Accommodation was very comfortable, several with lots of character/history. Highlights were:

1) Boat Trip from Mandalay to Bagan on a small river boat that had 7 cabins. We really enjoyed ourselves. It was very relaxing and we got to see lots of activity along the river with a few stops for land tours here and there.
2) Bagan. We spent two days in Bagan. The first day was with a guide who showed us some of the more notable pagodas and also took us on a tour of a local farm village which we enjoyed. The second day we were on electric scooters and had lots of fun exploring around the place.
3) We flew from Mandalay to Heho and then got driven to Kalaw which is a small town in the foothills (elevation around 5000 feet). We stayed in a hotel that was at one time an English school. From here we rode bicycles for three days through the hills and ended up at Inle Lake. We had good quality Bianchi hybrids and the local driving population were very respectful to bike riders.
4) Inle Lake is very cool and where we encountered the most tourists. We enjoyed visiting the Inle Horse Club (where you can ride horses if you like) as well as the Red Mountain Estate Winery. These two venues are very close together and the winery is very well done. We also went around the lake in a long boat for a day which was a lot of fun.
There are a few cautionary notes for travelers to Myanmar. We took US $ which are readily accepted everywhere. However, at the airport money exchanges, if the bills were not in mint condition, they would not accept them. This includes any writing on the bill or the slightest tear. Secondly, our credit card company cancelled our card when we initially tried to pay for our trip. A lengthy discussion ensued between me and the credit card company but they indicated that there was a computer algorithm which was responsible for the cancellation and it could not be over ridden. Fortunately KimKim offered us an alternative payment through a wire transfer.

Our experience with Kimkim was exceptional. To start with Anne was one of the best communicators I have worked with. She was professional, helpful and knowledgeable. Our guides were also wonderful and understood what we were looking for in experiences. In Yangon we learnt so much from our guide. Inle Lake was the highlight of our trip. We loved the 2 days and wished we had more time. This was enhanced by our wonderful guide, Wei. He was delightful. In Bagan we were once again thrilled with the guides we had. May really assisted and made the market and cooking class a day to remember. I have absolutely no negative feedback and will be recommending Kimkim at any opportunity. I hope to have the pleasure of travelling with your help in the future. Thank you

From start to finish, in country operator Myanmar Pure made our 26-day trip to Myanmar a seamless, rewarding experience. Passing off logistical arrangements allowed us to focus on all this geographically and ethnically diverse country has to offer. Our requested itinerary included the well known "don't miss" sites and a peek into the often unseen "real" life of Myanmar people. Myanmar Pure delivered. Owner Anne's relationship with her local guides brought us into homes for meals, tea, and conversation. We were even serendipitously invited to join wedding receptions in two small villages, an opportunity missed if our guides had not been there to translate. More often than not, we were the only foreign visitors in places off the standard tourist trail.

While the known sites were certainly worthwhile, the overall best part of the trip for us was the brush with day-to-day life. The depth of that experience we owe to Myanmar Pure. Anne chose well when she selected local guides Zayyar, Lu Wine, Thinzar She and Aung Naing Thu. They were our gateway to rewarding interactions with the people we met on the course of our travels. And, they were just plain fun to be around.

We recommend "the kimkim team" for anyone considering Myanmar. Your pre-trip questions will be answered promptly, courteously and completely, and in-country logistics will, if our experience is an indicator, run smoothly.

Our family of five (with three kids aged 9-14) travelled to Myanmar in October 2019 having a wonderful experience. We had made some initial arrangements and bookings by ourselves as we were including a visit to our friends who were volunteering in Bagan. Because our trip was quite short in duration and we were unfamiliar with the country (and our kids haven't travelled much), I researched a lot on line about places to visit and people's blogs. I came across KimKim. We had an excellent experience using the KimKim platform, and working with Hsu Hlaing at Pegu Travel, to help design our itinerary and organise logistics. Hsu Hlaing synthesised our existing bookings into the Itinerary so that we left Australia with a well organised holiday that exceeded our expectations. We had a guide, driver and mini-van in Yangon, Inle Lake, Mandalay and a driver from Inle Lake to Bagan. This made our travel logistically easy and comfortable as we moved around, a priority for us to have a great family holiday together. We learnt so much because our three guides were really nice people, knowledgeable and fun. I feel that Hsu Hlaing interpreted our style of holiday well and matched us with great guides and activities. Hsu Hlaing communicated extremely well and was helpful when developing our itinerary or providing guidance about travel times and distances. We loved our time in Myanmar, and were very impressed by the friendly people we met, as well as the culture, history, food, temples, crafts etc.