Kimkim Trip Reviews for Norway

All of what we seen it was a trip of a life time thank you

Hotel Review

Thon Hotel Opera

Oslo

Authenticity & Character

Location

All

Cleanliness & Comfort

All

Activity Review

Explore Oslo's hidden gems with a local expert

Oslo

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Sll

Transport

Sll

Julia and Sonia were incredibly helpful in building a wonderful itinerary for us, organizing activities and private tours, and recommending where to go. I would recommmend them to anybody - thank you!

I thought Linda did a great job arranging our trip to Norway.

Unfortunately outside influences affected the trip. SAS changed our flights 6 times which had a knock on affect to our itinerary but Linda was very patient reorganising it multiple times. SAS also lost one of our bags which was returned to us a day later thankfully. We returned to the UK with Norwegian Airlines who seem a great deal more reliable.

I would not recommend travelling to the islands over Christmas when many of the facilities are shut. However this may be due to Covid restrictions (restaurants are not currently allowed to serve alcohol).

Covid blighted this trip (I tested positive on day 3) but Linda continued to provide support and assistance throughout. Not the trip we wanted at all but not because of anything that KimKim had control of.

This was the first time we planned a trip via kimkim. With a spontaneous decision to get out there for a bit but with too much work in the way to at least set some things up kimkim seemed like the perfect place to start. And we weren't disappointed! They were quick to reply and connect us with a local specialist, Thao Nhi, whom we have so much to thank for! She made the idea of a trip to northern Norway possible and was a great companion all along the journey (even if she couldn't be there physically ;). This trip was all tailored to our preferences and we were able to get the most out of our vacation despite the short notice.
A little bit about the trip itself: We were looking to spend a week in northern Norway where we ultimately got to meet a Sami family, their reindeers and slept a night in a lavvo. We went on a winter kayaking as well as a night snowshoeing tour. Norway is infamously beautiful and being lucky to also experience the natural spectacle of the northern lights made the overall experience even more unbelievable.
We met a lot of kind and interesting people along the way but most of all, and I can't say this enough, we appreciate Thao Nhi, her friendliness and the help she was providing. All of our best wishes to you!

Ingrid was very responsive to all of our questions and concerns before and during our trip. We had a great time!

We enjoyed the trip to Norway. Thanks Hilde and Linda for customising the trip for us. Just couple of suggestions:
1. Felt that more suggestions could have been given for Tromso activities upfront
2. Felt we could have spent 2nd day in a row chasing northern lights instead of cruise. Maybe should have discussed bit more with us about options.

Hotel Reviews

Vangsgaarden Gjestgiveri

Aurland

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Grand Hotel Terminus

Bergen

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Thon Hotel Tromsø

Tromsø

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Reviews

Bergen Walking Tour With a Local Guide

Bergen

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Aurora Dinner Cruise

Tromsø

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Northern Lights Adventure in Tromsø

Tromsø

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Linda planned our trip to Norway and although we had to wait a whole year to get there, due to the pandemic it was better than we could have imagined! The accomodations were really nice and it was quite easy to locate them. Breakfast was delicious and we could even get a lunch package for on the road. Sorting out transportation wasn't always easy because unfortunately due to unforeseen circumstances, the trains going from the aiport to the city center were cancelled and information was hard to come by. I think it would have helped to have some more information on all options available (e.g. take train to or Bus XY etc.) and include ALL transportation fees.
We then spent one day in Oslo and explored the city by walking and taking a scooter. As we wanted to have dinner, we realized that most restaurants or shops in Norway let you book your food via a (web) app, so be prepared to pay by credit card most of the time. Although they do have to accept cash, some of the restaurants stilll refused to and we had to take a lot of cash back home . However, that being said, we do like Norway being so modern and digital. We think it's a great step towards a modern society! So not a major problem for us. All the activities that we did were really fantastic!!! Although we enjoyed visiting Bergen and Oslo, we loved spending time in Aurland, swimming in the Fjords and talking to the locals. It was incredibly peaceful and the most memorable day. Then we took a trip with the ferry which was super enjoyable, because you are literally floating over the water - and it feels like a sustainable, not very loud or disturbing choice to traverse nature. We loved loved loved the kayak tour in the fjords. Unfortunately there was a miscommunication with the guide who did not know that we had to take the shuttle and so when we arrived back on land, the shuttle had already left and we had to scramble to find another option (taxi from the nearest town). So be aware that when you are in the middle of nowhere, you really have to catch the one connection you intend to take. Besides from that travel hiccup, we really enjoyed the kayak tour because it is a great way to experience the fjors, while getting to know other travellers. The guide also told us some anecdotes about the region, which was really interesting. Then we arrived in Bergen and spend a day with a guide who taught us about the city's history. We loved taking the tour with him and really got to know the city well. I think it's good to mention that there are really really nice saunas available in Oslo, Bergen and even a floating one in Flam!!! Unfortunately, you have to book in advance, so they were closed when we got there, but I think that could be a really nice option after a long ride in the bus or train. To summarize, this was an amazing experience. We loved the country and the people, got to know a lot about the culture and the history, saw a lot of sights and the beautiful nature. It is perfect for people who love to be outdoors but still fancy a little city trip. It is modern and technologized, clean and tranquille, breathtaking and mindblowingly beautiful and I would have loved to spend more time there. But I will return...one day :) many thanks to Linda! It wasn't an easy trip to plan during a pandemic but you did it and you did it well. Take care! Best, Jess

Planning a three-week road trip around Norway, a country we had dreamed of but knew little of, was daunting. Right from the first interaction though, Julia proved knowledgeable, confident, and most of all passionate about the country. She listened to our specification and came up with what turned out to be a perfect road trip. It is a long and thin country, so focusing on what to see, where to go, how to get there was crucial to make the most of our time, and three weeks is nowhere near enough time for this amazing country.
We made many slight changes, tweaks during the months leading up to our trip, but Julia remained patient, understanding and responsive. Of course Covid restrictions proved to be a final challenge, and it was not until 10 days before our trip was scheduled to commence that Norway finally reopened based on the Covid passport. Julia offered reassurance over no lost deposit, and flexibility on delaying final payment until we were sure we could travel.
We will definitely use KimKim again, and anyone planning a trip to Norway will be well advised to use Julia & KimKim.

Hilde was great and took into account my profile to organise the road trip.
She was responding whenever needed and I enjoyed my road trip.
I will use Kimkim service next time I will travel. This is really a good quality service and this is a good service for time consuming when you have to organise it yourself (experience from last year when I did one from Stavanger via Flam, Geiranger Alesund.... and back to stavanger)
Thanks and I will recommand your site.
Kind regards
Chantal

When my son said that he had a lifelong dream to see the northern lights, I knew that I'd need the help of a travel agent familiar with northern Scandinavia. A quick internet search led me to Kimkim, which had already done the work of planning the outline for a perfect trip. I had never used an internet based travel agent before, but the idea of using agents based where we would be traveling was quite appealing so I gave them a chance. I was very glad I did.

From the very beginning it was a personal experience. I worked with Ingrid and Hilde, who both were very responsive and worked quite hard to create a custom trip for us. Their communication was excellent, and I especially appreciated their attention to emergency contacts in case anything went wrong. Unfortunately we arrived in Bodø to gale force winds, which immediately threw a wrench into our itinerary since the ferries were canceled. Hilde immediately rebooked our hotels and suggested an alternative and completely worthy itinerary. I expect that a lot of travel agents would let you down in circumstances like this, but not Kimkim. This "above and beyond" service convinced me to use them again for any of my future travel plans.

The trip itself was exceptional, and had many highlights:

- Northern lights. Even though we had poor weather, our guide in Tromsø managed to find the one spot with clear skies and we were rewarded with an amazing display
- Dogsledding. We really appreciated that it was much more than a glorified ride at Trapper's Farm, which has been our past experience with other sledding opportunities
- The people. The staff at every hotel, shop, guided tour, and museum were knowledgeable, friendly, and exceptionally welcoming.
- The sights. Lafoten in particular was extraordinarily beautiful
- The museums. The Bodø aviation museum, and the Tromsø polar and WWII museums were particular highlights. Honorable mention also goes to the science center and planetarium in Tromsø, where we went to ensure at least one sighting of the northern lights.
- The meals. We ate like kings and loved the food!

All in all I can't recommend the Norway tours more highly. There are plenty of sample itineraries to choose from, but the Kimkim agents are perfectly happy to customize one of the tours to your needs. You won't regret it - we certainly didn't!

evrything went smoothly, as plan, we had a very good time.
thank you for your help. \the trappers farm was amazing.

Our trip to Norway was absolutely wonderful. I already knew where we wanted to go and what we wanted to see before I contacted Ingrid. She was instrumental in several crucial ways: She helped me book our flights within Norway; she arranged for the train tickets to Flam and Bergen, as well as the tickets for the trip on the Fjord; and she arranged a local guide for a city tour in Oslo, Bergen and Tromso. She also helped me choose hotels in each city. Her choices were perfect. The hotels we stayed in were lovely, and they were all were very well located.
I worked with Ingrid over several months, and she remained very pleasant, kind and upbeat throughout the entire process. I would highly recommend her to anyone who wishes to travel in Norway.

Traveling to Norway in December presents its own unique challenges - mostly due to the fact that the weather is unpredictable (which we knew going into things)- but everything that could be controlled was handled smoothly and efficiently through Kimkim. We had a number of room reservations and travel connections that had to be coordinated, and Kimkim made sure that everything flowed together smoothly. We traveled northward by plane, train and ferry, and each step along the way we were where we needed to be when we needed to be there with minimal hassle. Kimkim also arranged for our local tours, including private walking tours, a bus tour, a whale watching tour, a Northern Lights chase, dog sledding, and reindeer sledding all of which were professionally run and very enjoyable. Ingrid, our Kimkim specialist, worked to incorporate our personal interests and was responsive to my many questions prior to departure. Once we were on the ground in Norway, a "glitch" arose regarding our whale watching tour (an equipment problem with the boat) and Ingrid quickly worked to rearrange things before we even became aware of any problem. As with any "complex" trip there were a few minor missteps, but overall things went very smoothly.
The highlights of the trip were our walking trip with Sonya, our guide in Trondheim, the Northern Lights Chase and reindeer sledding (also in Trondheim) and Birk Husky in Kirkenes. We traveled on two different Hurtigruten ferries, both of which we enjoyed - although we liked the smaller size of the Richard With better than the larger Trollfjord.

The help we had planning our winter trip to Norway was amazing. Right from the beginning our thoughts were heard and ideas were given to make it all work. Fridur was super helpful and responsive. Our bookings all worked seamlessly and were in great locations.

Fortunately the rain stopped for our walk with an expert in Bergen - which was so interesting and informative - Fartein from Ethical Travel Portal was a great guide and easy to be with. We really loved our time in Bergen and the Bergen Børs Hotel was exceptional. Due to such short daylight we felt we had too long in Svolvær (and not enough time in Tromsø) but this was not helped by a cancellation to our ship due to bad weather. We had several cancellations and changes made during our trip due to bad weather and Fridur was super quick to respond and help us get sorted so the rest of our itinerary could be completed as best as possible. The communication we received was exceptional!

In Tromsø we had 2 different accommodations (with a break in between) and we preferred the location of Scandic Ishavshotel over the Thon Hotel Tromsø.

Our highlight was a night in Lyngen North in a glass igloo - so so beautiful (and getting there by bus was so easy with Fridur's clear instructions). We didn't see the lights (due to unsettled weather for almost our whole time) which was disappointing however we still thoroughly enjoyed Norway! Is it such a beautiful and rugged country.

It would have been a lot better if ferry timings were taken into planning. We reached Bodø on Saturday from Oslo, not much to do. On Sunday ferry to Lofoten was not till 1 pm so lost morning. Reached Lofoten at 4.30 pm it was pitch dark so not much to see . So literally 2 wasted days Hurtigruten to Tromso cancelled no one’s fault . Rushed to Ice hotel that evening. That was fun
Next day after dog sledding we waited 2 hrs for nothing before getting dropped at hotel .
Christmas evening and day Tromso was shut so we stayed at hotel . Last evening was good we got to see northern lights so it was good
I think days could have been better planned depending on local closings . That was the purpose of getting a local planner. I received car refunds but not Hurtigruten refund

Tatjana and I had a great time, specially in Geilo, where the snow, sun and skiing conditions were absolutely perfect. Heidi was a great guide and, further, she arranged a wonderful evening dinner at the Geilo Mountain Lodge for her partner and us. (The Lodge should be on the Michelin list!!!) Oslo at the front and back end of our trip included Vinterland, Vigeland statuary park, and viking, Fram and Kon-Tiki museums that were very well done. The convenient light rail took us to Holmenkollen ski jump and museum that were also very impressive. And for my 80th birthday and New Years Eve the fireworks seen from the Opera fjord-side apron was great (Be certain to recommend making reservations for New Year's dinners and parties in advance-we lucked out at the Opera Hotel being the last couple accepted. Also recommend coat and tie for males and dresses for females-ski apparel would have been out of place). Because of the rain in Bergen (according to the hotel averaging 266 days per year) it was less enjoyable, but John, our guide took us to see the old town, Hanseatic row and up the funicular. There the clouds and mist parted long enough to see why Bergen is called Bergen. Our son and family joined us for two days and we
and we discovered the Vil Vite childrens's museum where our 3 year old granddaughter enjoyed 2 afternoons. Recommend changing the trip itinerary to one more day in Geilo and one less in Bergen.

The Bristol, Opera and Geilo hotels were excellent, particularly the Bristol-very elegant! The Zander K was marginal in room quality and services. However, it was close to the train station and good restaurants.

The pre-booked travel tickets were essential, especially for the Geilo to Bergen leg, where in Gudvangen in the rain and dark getting bus tickets would have been difficult (by the way the bus driver said that the ticket we had was for another company, but he took us anyway, saying he would make payment adjustments.)

So, thank you for the arrangements. We had a wonderful white Christmas and New Years in Norway.

Don and Tatjana

Our family of 6 from hot and wet tropical Singapore, had a fantastic trip to icy cold Norway! Ingrid has been very accommodating to our needs and very responsive to our numerous questions...and sh was able to allay all our concerns etc. There were a couple of slight imperfections (no fault of Ingrid). Firstly, we found the local guide from Oslo to be wanting...slipshod work despite we gave him a tip of 800 NOK while the young man in Bergen was fantastic. He might be short of knowledge (he couldnt answer a few qn) but he made it up with his dedication and enthusiasm, and walked with us for more than 3 hours through slippery terrain and windy conditions! The activities from dog sledding(Marcus) to Northern lights (Jann) were fantastic which were the highlights of the trip. The hotels were generally good as they were closed to transport...except for Zander K (no inroom telephone, no kettle and no coffee or tea were provided. Overall, thanks to Ingrid, KimKim for a job wel done!

Our 14 day trip to Norway was phenomenal! Linda did an amazing job curating our trip with a special overnight at a farm to table dogsledding adventure with Kjell. It was the highlight of our trip! Linda also arranged Sami reindeer sledding, northern lights chasing, private walking tour, fjord cruise, flam railway, another private tour and more. We went from Tromso and worked our way down to Oslo. Linda and kimkim created an awesome experience and also booked fabulous hotels, all with views and breakfast. We could never do this alone and our travel agent also agreed she could never have made these arrangements either! Thank you so much for working with us-you have made lifetime memories.

I contacted KimKim for a much needed solo trip away and I was thinking about Norway. Julia was my specialist and she was fantastic! Not only did she listen to all of the things I wanted, but she was super fast in her response time. What most impressed me was that she would respond, day or night and at one location where they couldn't find the reservation she was available in real time. Additionally, she messaged me throughout the trip to see how it was going. She made my experience wonderful. Surprisingly, the additional add of Finland ended up being the highlight for me so I'm glad she was able to help me add that on.

The accommodations were super fantastic particularly the Lapland Hotels Bulevardi in Finland and Malangen Resort in Norway. Kakslauttanen Arctic Resort in Ivalo is worth doing but it's more about the destination and experience than the accommodations or food which aren't stellar. Everything was really great.

My trip was planned by Fridur and after a lot of messages back and forth, the entire schedule was turned upside down or rather north south reversal and no regrets!!! Thanks to Fridur who managed to get all the things we wanted to do into our schedule.
Camp Tamok was our first stop and it was well worth the entire day spent there. Dog sledding with Kristin was fantastic with the huskies sooooo loveable and strong. What an experience! Then we tried our hand(and legs!) at cross country skiing which was done with head lights and plenty of snow! Another incredible experience. But the best is yet to come. Andreas took us to chase the northern lights and there was no chase, cos the lights came to us literally. We set up a camp fire on a frozen lake, and voila after some time we saw the first rays of the aurora. What came in the next 30 minutes were a feast for the eyes and camera as we witnessed the dancing aurora lights with our own eyes!!! What a sight. And this is only the first day. All thanks to the great experience and knowledge of Andreas, great guy and great company.
Next day we went snow shoeing near Tromsø which was another excellent experience. Followed by Tromsø city tour on our own. Boy my face almost froze on the way across the bridge to the cathedral. Oh and how we tried our best not to slide and fall on the slippery ice was fun.
Next thing on the list was to spend the night in a glass igloo waiting for the aurora. An unforgettable experience in Lyngen North but the Aurora decided not to show up in Lyngen that night. :-(
Then we were off to Stavanger for the Preikestolen hike. It was an adventure with ski poles and ice spikes to keep us from falling in the slippery ice. We had a great hike with some really friendly people in the group and our guide Fabrizio was great with the camera. His photos were amazing.
It was a really tiring hike but the reward of the views during the trip and the Pulpit rock makes it worthwhile. Unbelievable sights!
The grand finale of the trip was Norway in a nutshell from Bergen to Oslo. Highlight was the Flam railway and the fjord cruise. Fantastic views.
It was a great trip with fantastic experiences and unforgettable views. I have to say that the best hotel stay in the trip was Bergen Bors hotel with their warm and sincere staff that is ever ready to help and provide helpful tips. This is what makes the hotel the one we want to return to!!!
Oh and not forgetting the Norway in a nutshell staff(sorry forgot the name) in Flam who recommended us to take an earlier train and to stop at Vatnahalsen and explore the charming hotel and its surroundings as it was getting dark and we had to wait for the next train to Oslo. Views there were stunning.
All the above planned and recommended by Fridur, great plan and recommendations. Not all rosy and nice as some minor hiccups, mostly more detailed information needed, which Fridur was on hand to provide within minutes so no major drama.
5 stars service !!!