Kimkim Trip Reviews for Patagonia

This was the second time I used Kimkim to plan my South American trip. Jason was excellent in organizing everything from Beunosaires, El Calafate and peuroto natales to Punta Arenas. The day of ESTANCIA CRISTINA was the highlight of our trip!!! Even if there was hiccup he took care of it. Only improvement I might suggest is a packing list before trip might have been helpful. Punta Arenas some of the Penguin tours and transfers were not exactly up-to mark but Jason took care of the complaints very well to our satisfaction.

Hotel Reviews

Hotel Diego de Almagro Punta Arenas

Punta Arenas

Just disinterested staff overall

Authenticity & Character

Location

Location

Staff

Some of them not want to bothered to even attempt broken English

Cleanliness & Comfort

They can’t turn the coffee machine on even 5 minutes early. Most of tours start real early there but breakfast starts at 630. So you are going hungry

Lagos Del Calafate

El Calafate

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Hotel Costaustralis

Puerto Natales

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

474 Buenos Aires Hotel

Buenos Aires

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Reviews

Estancia Cristina - Classic Option

El Calafate

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

DONT MISS THIS ACTIVITY

Private Buenos Aires Sightseeing Tour

Buenos Aires

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

I’m just not that much into big cities. And king lunch place e stopped in had added cheese in the empanadas which caused sickens for my daughter.

Perito Moreno Glacier - Los Glaciares National Park

El Calafate

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Safari Boat - Sailing Rico Branch

El Calafate

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Highlight of our trip. The iceberg phots incredible

Full Day Torres del Paine National Park (ex. Puerto Natales)

Puerto Natales

Quality of Experience

Looooong day

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Trekking Cerro Benitez

Puerto Natales

Quality of Experience

I’m

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Erin was amazing! She nailed our itinerary on the first try. She was very open to questions and helped us narrow things down as needed. Every transfer, guide, etc was great. We spent two weeks in the region and never had any complications. I would highly recommend Erin for travel planning.

We loved the Estancia La Peninsula where we spend the day riding, eating incredible lamb and learning how the ranch worked. I left feeling like I’d spent the day with family.

We had several guides Devi, Virginia and Shelda (spelling may be wrong) and we learned so much from them about flora, fauna and the geology of the region. They were patient with our pace and let our son pick their brains about travel.

Truly and once in a lifetime trip that we got to share with our 20 something sons. Thank you Erin!

The overall experience of KimKim was great. I have to admit, when it started it out, it was very slow at first. My assigned specialist wasn't very responsive. But then, Erin took over, and she was excellent in terms of her timliness and her knowledge. Then, she referred me to an even more localized specialist, Nara, who also was great. I was very happy with their organization and their efforts!

The overall trip to Patagonia was wonderful. The highlights for us were the hikes on both the Argentina side and the Chile side. The Perito Moreno glacier hiking tour was also very memorable. We loved our Santiago city tour guide as well.

The only thing that wasn't so great for us was the hotel accommodations. I understand some of the regular partners that Kim Kim uses were booked up for the times we were going, so that is understandable. But our accomodations in Buenos Aires and Chile were less than ideal considering availability and pricing during the time. All other parts of this trip were amazing, and I would not hestitate to use KimKim again.

Hotel Reviews

Hotel Intersur Recoleta

Recoleta, Buenos Aires

Overall hotel location was pretty good. But the rooms and bathrooms were very dated and not what I would consider normal for a four star accommodation.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Bathrooms very dated, rooms very small

Hotel Lunajuim

El Chalten

This was more of a hostel experience as I believe KimKim's normal partners were booked up. The rooms were fine. The breakfast was okay. The staff was very friendly. Location was great. For a hostel experience, I think this was good, though we usually prefer staying in nicer places. I think "luxury" is not something that is in abundance when you are in remote Patagonia though, so this was fine for us.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Hostería Schilling

El Calafate

This was more of a hostel experience as I believe KimKim's normal partners were booked up. The rooms were fine. Heat was not working properly the first night, was better the second night. The breakfast was okay - did like that they cooked fresh eggs if you wanted it. The bathrooms were very barebones. The staff was very friendly. Location was great. For a hostel experience, I think this was good, though we usually prefer staying in nicer places. I think "luxury" is not something that is in abundance when you are in remote Patagonia though, so this was fine for us.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

El Establo B&B

Puerto Natales

We typically like to stay in hotels, but all typical partners of KimKim were booked up. However, we loved this charming little bed and breakfast. The host was great - so friendly, so helpful, made great breakfasts every morning at the time we wanted. The rooms were cute - everything we needed was in there. Location was a bit far walking from the town square, but it was fine. Would 100% recommend anyone to stay here.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Hotel Ismael

Santiago

Heat was not working. Not only could we not control it from our rooms, we had to call the reception any time we wanted it to be warmer or cooler - they said rooms do not have the ability to make temperature changes, only the front desk could. We waited 30 minutes to check in. There was only one person ahead of us - there was no issue, they were just extraordinarily slow. The rooms were tiny, but the bathrooms and sleeping arrangments were fine. The breakfast was a good one - but they ran out of eggs (one hour before breakfast shut down), and there was a line to get a table at 9am. I ended up having to stand and eat my breakfast. There was one staff member - Fernando - who was extraordinarily patient and friendly despite all of the frustrated guests. Kudos to him. With all of the other accommodation options in Santiago, please don't have anyone stay here again.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Fernando was great. The rest were very slow and overly willing to help with the issues that kept arising.

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Reviews

Buenos Aires Bicycle Tour (South Sector)

Buenos Aires

Tour guide was 45 minutes late - but we gave him a pass. Traffic was crazy because of the World Cup win. Great bike ride around the city. However - it's dangerous for kids. You often ride in the street, right next to cars and buses. Please know this if you are booking with children.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Had to get there on our own, which was fine.

Traditional Tango Show with Dinner

Buenos Aires

Wish we could have done the tango without the dinner. Not worth it for vegetarians. Also - if you have kids - the show starts after 10pm and ends after midnight. Still, the show was great, and a very cool experience for us all. Hated that they picked up five other guests along the way - it took us more than 45 min before we even got to dinner, even though the location was so close to our hotel. Would have rathered saved on the transport expense and uber'ed ourselves

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Kayak Lago del Desierto

El Chaltén

In theory, this is a great experience. Our weather was not great, so it was hard to kayak against the wind. Totally not the fault of our company. All that being said - the gear was great, and they provided most of it. Wish they would have explained a bit more about what to wear and not wear. What our tour operator told us was not accurate. Of the five kayaks on our trip, two were not perfect - the end of one kept sinking, and another had no backs to the seats. The guide was nice and enthusiastic. Loved the raft to help our kids along. However - the guide never sent us any pictures as he promised after. That's a big problem when he tells us not to take our phones on the kayaks.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Guided Hike to Laguna de los Tres

El Chaltén

This was an amazing hike. Not sure we needed a private guide. But all was great about it. A must do. It's tough - be warned!

Quality of Experience

Food

Packed lunch - hard to make it better.

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Minitrekking Ice Hike on Perito Moreno Glacier

El Calafate

What an incredible day and site! It's VERY commercialized, but despite that, we thoroughly enjoyed.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Wish we didnt spend 45 min plus picking up others - we were almost always the first to be picked up on all of these tours. And when they are early mornings, 45 extra min is huge.

Trip Briefing at Dittmar Adventures

Puerto Natales

Not sure how needed this was as it was the end of our trip. But it was great to meet Nara in person.

Torres del Paine Full Day Private Tour

Patagonia

This was a great way to see the park. Our tour guide (Vincenze?) was so friendly and fun. But he was chatty with almost every other guide he came across, so we would have to wait for him at every stop to finish talking with others before we could move on. We also didnt get a chance to see the eastern part of the park. We were told it was too windy. But we met others who were on private tours and they all got to go to that side of the park, so we felt let down by that. Too much time spent at Hotel Lago Grey - we didnt need a snack, we would have liked to take that time and seen another site.

Quality of Experience

Food

Packed lunch - was okay.

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Guided hike to Las Torres lookout [Central - Base - Central]

Patagonia

We were hesitant about the group tour. But it worked out well. Guide made us keep on pace, and we had an incredible view at the end

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Santiago City Tour

Patagonia

Nice guide, nice tour, great to learn about the city.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

The itinerary was well prepared, keeping the group's requests for preferred activities, hikes and hotel style selection.
Emi communicated well in preparation for the trip, and provided a local contact to work with locally at each stop. When programs were to be reorganized when cancelled planned activities ( 3 times, for local unpredictable reasons), I wish there had been better communication from Kimkim and contacts to avoid the stress of having to select a new alternative for the specific day.
Drivers for private transportation were always punctual, friendly and reliable.
The hotels were all clean, comfortable and friendly reception. I can recommend each of them.
Guides were helpful and pleasant.
Highlights for me were French Valley, kayak at Perito Moreno glacier, also the Tango show in Buenos Aires. El Chalten is definitely a highlight as well!
thank you Emi and Kimkim. i have recommended you to a couple friends .

We had an absolutely amazing time. Chile and Argentina were lovely places to visit and all the hard work from KimKim and Dittmar did not go unnoticed. It was truly a once in a lifetime trip and we are glad we did it. There were a few hiccups and those were annoying but that kind of thing happens.

The structure of this tour was set-up to maximize the places we were able to visit and that was wonderful. For our part, we had hoped for more hiking and less time traveling between destinations. By the end, it seemed to us that this was a tour for a crowd that was slightly older than us-the majority of our fellow travelers were 55+ (we are 36 and 40). Still, I don't know if there is really another way to see everything we saw in the time we had without all the traveling.

Our favorite activities included: Estancia La Peninsula in Puerto Natales, the Penguins of Isla Magdalena in Punta Arenas, and our hike in Torres del Paine.

The Leandro team was professional and planned us out a wonderful trip. Overall, the trip, which had many moving parts, went off as planned, and saved us many hours of research. We liked the amount of time spent in each place, the lodging chosen for us, the guide and transportation services. The details were all taken care of, and we could transition from place to place without stress. We found the people we met to be warm and welcoming.
Our Buenos Aires team, tour guide Andrea and driver Fabio, went out of their way to make our few days there memorable. We felt we made some true friendships and had a glimpse of authentic Argentina.
The Explora Hotel experience was one of our most memorable experiences. We didn't understand how it worked, but the all-inclusive experience was fantastic.
Our transition in Puenta Arenas was a bit more confusing. We didn't get timely notification of our transportation arrangements, and the Rey Don Felipe Hotel had us in a tiny room, with no window and a shower in the corner of the room. However, any time we reached out to the tour concierge service, we got a quick response and solution, if needed.
We will use the Kim-Kim platform again.

My husband and I decided to go to Patagonia for our 10-year anniversary, but we knew there were a lot of logistics. We decided to look around online for help and came across kimkim by chance. From the get go, the responses from Erin and her team we wonderful and so helpful. Erin took the ideas I had in mind for our trip and made them a reality. I really appreciated that she was patient with all of my questions and that she was so quick to get back to me on each aspect of the trip. She even made time to chat with me on the phone when messaging was too hard to convey some of my questions.

Our actual trip was absolutely everything I hoped for and more. Every day we woke up to new adventures that made memories that will be with us forever. It was so easy to have each aspect of the trip planned out and to have transfers that I didn't have to worry about to cart us from place to place. The tours we took were a blast and we loved all of our guides and the staff we encountered. Patagonia was stunning in every aspect and I cannot recommend it enough to people.

Thank you to Erin and her team for making this dream happen. We could not have done it without you!

The whole team was very helpful and knowledgeable with planning our trip. The W trek was an amazing experience. Shout out to Erin especially for all her help, she was wonderful to work with and did a phenomenal job!

Hotel Reviews

Refugio El Chileno

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Refugio Los Cuernos

Torres del Paine - W trek Circuit Reserva Cerro Paine

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Refugio Paine Grande

Puerto Natales, Chile

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Refugio Grey

Torres del Paine National Park

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Hotel Vendaval

Puerto Natales

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Review

Trip Briefing at Dittmar Adventures

Puerto Natales

Please verify next time before the meeting that we need to bring our stuff for the porter to the meeting and whether or not we need to provide a bag.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Erin did an awesome job and communicated very well with us!

Transport

Direct flight to puerto natales would be preferred

Erin was fantastic and very helpful in planning my trek on the W circuit in Patagonia. Communication was always prompt and concise, and she definitely took the time to answer all my questions.

My trip to Patagonia was amazing and the logistics worked out so well. I had never worked with a company before to help plan my entire trip but working with Kim Kim and Erin/Nara was great. They answered all my questions leading up to and throughout the trip and helped planning this trip painless. I knew exactly what to expect and everything went according to the itinerary, there were no surprises besides ones that had nothing to do with planning. I had few guided tours, seeing penguins, a hike to the Base Towers in Torres Del Paine, a glacier trek tour, and a hike to Fitz Roy in Argentina. All the guides were great and very knowledgeable. My two favorite hikes were to the Base Towers and Fitz Roy, part of that is just due to that being the best hikes on the trip but also having a guide made the experience that much better as I was able to learn more things. I highly recommend using Kim Kim when traveling as it makes figuring out all the logistics painless and have nothing to worry about.

Activity Review

Guided hike to Las Torres lookout [Central - Base - Central]

Chile

The hike to Las Torres Lookout was amazing. The view are incredible and having a guide made it that much better as I was able to learn things I would not have as I would have just been hiking. Having a guide makes the experience that much better.

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Thanks to Erin and her team we managed to pull off the best 3 weeks itinerary in Patagonia on a very short notice. Experienced what both Chile and Argentina had to offer without worrying and planning any of the details. All was perfectly taken care off; from local transportations, hotels, meals, treks, tours, and guided tours..
Would highly recommend !

Jad

I loved all the guides we had. Each one was so unique and different. Most of them went out of their way to give us a very special experience. And each of the places were so memorable and special. I especially liked seeing Torres del Paine, Camp Grey and Glacier Grey. Ditmar did a great job of coordinating all of the transportation and the excursions.

Erin, Dittmar Adventures and Jass all managed to make our trip wonderful.
Erin was incredibly responsive in the planning phases, flexible and creative in finding ways of helping us make the perfect itinerary.
Nara, as Dittmar's local Patagonia representative, provided real time help and support by Whatsapp (despite questionable 3G in locations).
Jass provided flexible solutions in the Puerto Varas region, especially when faced with ranger strikes that got in the way of our plans. Also tasty home made cookies and replacement hiking sticks for those of ours who broke on the trail!
Generally I was grateful for the local knowledge, the real time flexibility and responsiveness in changing plans, and the refunds (and wine bottles!) offered where money had been spent but the activity was no longer possible.
Chile is amazing!

Activity Review

Kayaking on the Reloncaví Fjord + Termas del Sol

Puerto Varas

Great fun - even on a rainy day! Bit daunting at the start given cold water and all the wet gear, but a really amazing day out!

We had a fantastic time on our trip overall though there were some logistics that I wish had been communicated better. I had provided the hotels and general itinerary and I was pleased with my choices. The guides in El Chalten were wonderful. Some items that could have been improved upon:

- When telling us the documentation necessary to travel, it would be helpful to have been told the tipping expectations for our trip.
-Seeing a detailed price breakdown for the total cost
-Park fee for the Perito Moreno was not included in our cost and we were not told how much to bring, that should've been mentioned
-Private transfers were requested for the entire trip, but my transfer to the Perito Moreno glacier was in a large tour bus of over 50 people and the guide there did not know how/when I would meet my mother later in the day.
-Every excursion had two options, one for me and one for my mother. I assumed this would be communicated to Awasi, as when we got there, they did not know we needed to do different activities. They luckily had an extra guide one day, but if not, we would have had to choose between my mother not visiting Torres del Paine park or me skipping the iconic Base de las Torres hike. This caused several hours of miscommunication upon arrival that should have been avoided.
-Unsure if Awasi communicated with you, but the hot tubs were not working due to weather and the park was partially closed off due to a strike - we would have appreciated knowing that prior to arrival.
-Awasi requires a guide to accompany us on every activity (this was unclear to us) and the guide who I was given to do my trek with had never done the trek and therefore did not know the correct signed route up, was not knowledgeable about the weather and climate (he claimed my outfit would not be enough, turns out it was completely fine), and walked over 30m ahead or behind me most of the way. Guides should match the speed of the guest they are with.
-It would be helpful to have been told about the various exchange rates in Argentina, it was confusing to see different ones across the country.
-We requested a private driver only for four hours in Santiago and I was shocked that the quote was $750 USD. We were able to get a taxi each way for less than $60 each way. No follow up was made to try and find us an alternative.
-We would have appreciated being told about a ten hour layover in Santiago, as we were not able to check in until four hours before so that would have left us six hours with no plans and our suitcases. Had we known before, we could have planned something earlier than day before.

Erin and her team were all phenomenal from start to finish with this trip. We were initially very overwhelmed with planning it out until working with the team who were super attentive and gave us so many options for activities to book based on our interests, as well as booking all of our accommodation for us and bus transport between cities. They were so helpful when we finally arrived in Chile, gave us a briefing on arrival and a very detailed itinerary outlining where we would be going and when we should leave. One of the highlights was that they arranged for us to have a private tour of Torres del Paine National Park with an amazing tour guide who was super friendly and knowledgeable, cannot recommend Christian enough and our driver for the day Miguel was also a very safe and careful driver!
We ended up missing one of our tours due to a misunderstanding and Nara really stepped up and helped us find a fantastic alternative activity to take up that day, where we had an unforgettable horse trek at Pingo Salvaje outside Puerto Natales, another highlight of the trip!
Erin, Nara and all the team were amazing and we cannot thank them enough for helping us make the most unforgettable trip happen!

Activity Review

Torres del Paine Full Day Private Tour

Chile

Amazing and unforgettable tour with the best tour guide!

Quality of Experience

Tour guide was so knowledgeable and took us to the best spots, was also very patient

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Guide and driver were great. Driver was super safe

Transport

I did a 5 day/4 night W Trek in Torres del Paine National Park. From start to finish, kimkim.com and Ditmar Adventures were easy to work with, put my mind at ease, and took care of the details. I told them my preferences and what kind of hike I was looking to have, and they built an itinerary that matched my budget. Everything was timely and everyone was friendly. I have planned my own trips before but this time wanted to take the guess work out of transportation schedules, places to stay, and things to see/do. The airline lost my bag on the way in and the Ditmar team provided real time support and advice that made a potentially disastrous situation much more manageable. They helped me rebook a later bus and communicated with the hostel about my (now) late check in. The value they provided exceeded my expectations and I recommend them wholeheartedly. I had a great hike and great experience in Chile.

Hotel Review

Amerindia Patagonia B&B

Puerto Natales

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Review

Trip Briefing at Dittmar Adventures

Puerto Natales

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

My mother and I traveled to Argentina in January of 2022 and had an amazing experience booking with KimKim.

Hotel Review

Calafate Parque Hotel

El Calafate

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Review

San Antonio de Areco & Estancia el Ombu

Buenos Aires

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Erin is simply the best travel agent I have ever worked with. She spent time up front understanding how we wanted to travel and then helped create an itinerary to accomplish this. Her manner is low key, yet responsive. She suggested a unique experience to visit Estancia Mercedes which was one of the highlights of our trip. She stayed with us for 3 years as we rescheduled several times due to covid. She was timely and responsive to every request we made, offering suggestions of her own. On her day off she made sure that there was a backup person we could reach out to if necessary. This trip involved so many logistics due to covid and she coached us along the entire way, even sending reminders when it was time to upload an affidavit or take a covid test during the travel process. We received a detailed day by day itinerary that we both carried with us which was helpful as we navigated various modes of travel and experiences. I highly recommend her services.

Hotel Review

Hotel Lunajuim

El Chalten

Great location and price. The beds in particular were very comfortable.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Review

Trip Briefing at Dittmar Adventures

Puerto Natales

Nara met us at 1o pm to review our upcoming trip. She was pleasant, had all our materials and provided helpful information. We had one activity where we met a boat early in the morning at an out of the way spot and she even sent us a photo the night before to help us be sure we arrived at the correct location. This was useful since the cab driver used it to find our drop off location and we felt is was above and beyond by Lara.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

We worked with Laura to customize a two week trip and it occurred flawlessly. Despite still some COVID restrictions, she helped plan many details we would not have been able to execute on our own with such ease.

Every pickup was on time, every detail perfectly managed. Buenos Aires, Ushuaia, El Chalten, El Calafate, Bariloche, Villa LA Angostura, St Martin De Los Andes and back to Buenos Aires with many treks, kayak trips and activities along the way.

Highly recommend letting the local experts guide your way here! Thanks again Kim Kim Team

Hotel Review

Cyan Recoleta Hotel

Recoleta, Buenos Aires

Great location next to Recolea and being able to walk around the city.

Authenticity & Character

H

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Review

Half Day Hike in Tierra del Fuego National Park

Ushuaia

Doing it with a guide so much better. Parts were difficult to navigate and it’s LONG but we’ll worth the effort.

Quality of Experience

Mo

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

The trip was well organised and everything was as expected - thanks to Erin's thoughtfulness and preparation. Gothe was excellent as our day guide - she was sharing interesting information about the landscapes, geology and the animals . Hotels were comfortable.
I will definitely recommend Erin & Dittmar as a travel agent for Patagonia.