Kimkim Trip Reviews for Peru

Thank you, Haku, for arranging this wonderful trip. All aspects of the Salkantay trek were excellent. Our guide, Rubin, was knowledgeable about all of the logistics and provided us with lots of information on local culture and customs, and plants and history.

Our first evening accommodation at the refuge at Soray Pamp was a great start. We were served a delicious lunch and the refuge was rustic but lovely. We could see Mount Salkantay in the distance. We took a day hike to Glacial Lake Humantay which was spectacular. We were welcomed back with a delicious dinner cooked by the gentleman who ran the lodge.

The day 2 hike over the Salkantay pass to Chalullay was grueling but satisfying. We arrived at Chalullay in the late afternoon. Accommodations were a bit chilly but beds were comfortable. Day 3 we hiked through rainforest cloud, a more gentle up and down hike with lush vegetation and views of the river. The evening at the Coffee plantation was a highlight. Fredy the owner and his family were wonderful hosts and the accommodations were very nice. We enjoyed the warmer climate at this elevation. With our guide translating, Fredy showed us the step by step process from growing and harvesting the coffee beans to roasting them for our breakfast. From here we started on an Inca trail with a long but not as challenging hike.

Highlights were the ruins of Llactapata and lunch with views to Machu Picchu. At the end, we took a short train ride to Aquas Caliente and Macchu Picchu. We were very glad to have the opportunity to climb Huayna Picchu on our visit to Macchu Picchu. At Nicole's recommendation, we added an evening in Ollantaytambo where we enjoyed the lively town square, local activity, and the ruins. On our return trip to Cusco by car, we explored the salt mines and a village were weaving and knitted goods were produced and sold. The knitted goods in Peru are beautiful.

We also booked 3 days in the Amazon rainforest in Puerto Maldonado, also arranged by Nicole and Haku. Our guide Efraim was excellent-- extremely knowledgeable and helpful. And Freddy, the local contact who picked us up by boat, cooked us lunch and carried our luggage through the jungle had endless energy. Our stay at Lake Sandoval lodge was memorable. Great food and service and the setting, overlooking the lake was memorable. The lake was full of otters, caiman, and fish, and at the water's edge, we enjoyed the monkeys and variety of birds.

We would highly recommend Haku to plan a custom itinerary for a Cusco based travel adventure.

Initial planning process was great - Stephanie was knowledgeable, assisting, and patient. However, the service "during" the trip was a bit inconvenient. Stephanie was hard to contact and in the moment we couldn't reach out to anyone, like the time we arrived at Uyuni but no one was there to pick us up, we waiting til 10 am local time Peru to call Stephanie, but still we couldn't reach her.

Other than that the trip was well organized with great guides in every stop. Especially our Macchu Picchu guide and Norma from Puno. Our Uyuni guides were great too.

Our trip was full of activity and adventure in Northern Peru for 2-1/2 weeks. Our guide Jhon was young and full of energy and our driver Carlos was an attentive, safe driver. In Trujillo, we thoroughly enjoyed the Sun and Moon Temples and Chan Chan. The demonstration of the straw boats and cooking class in Huanchaco was fantastic.

Heading into the Andes is spectacular. Outside Cajamarca, we loved our hike through Cumbemayo to see the remarkable Andean water works. The Revash was very interesting and we enjoyed our horse ride to the site. Visiting Miguel in his workshop and painting our own Sarcophagus was a lot of fun. Perico and Lola's private conservation property in the Utcubamba Valley was so beautiful and was a favourite of ours. It was hard to say goodbye to them and the family they had visiting at the time. Then off to Kuelap by cable car and another hike to the site...fantastic!

The biggest surprise and highlight for us was our stay at Villa del Monte in the coffee country of Rodriguez de Mendoza. We have a coffee roasting business and requested some time with coffee growers. The home we stayed at in the area was really great and the caretakers living next to the home were warm and friendly. We did an afternoon at an underground cave that was pretty cool although fitting through a small hole to start was a little scary but worth the effort. The best part for us was spending our time with the coffee farmers (owners of Cafe Monteverde) who provided us with such a detailed education of their business from the growing of the coffee at their farm (tasting included) to going to their laboratory in town to watch and participate in grading and cupping of the coffee. This was fantastic for us.

The Gocta Falls is another favourite. The hike is fairly difficult so the horses came in handy. Lunch at the Gocta Lodge is outstanding and so is the view. Our last stop on the coast was the Pyramids of Tucume and Museum Tumbas Reales with the latter being our favourite museum.

With a little more time, Jhon will get better at his English. It's good but sometimes we had translation difficulties. He is a great guide and really cares about what he does. Both him and Carlos were always available and willing to make things work for us.

Thank you Phima Voyages for a great adventure in Northern Peru!
Darlene & Gary Carlton

Miguel is friendly and helpful. 1 of the best i have met. Carlos is nice too altho' due to language barrier, we didn't interact much.

i guess the best part of Miguel is he can take great pictures! now I have headaches with so many potential IG post-able photos!

As for Lima, Arturo definitely knows where the good local food is. we had a great time of food sampling.

thanks again.

James, Mayra and the entire Quechua Trek team were incredibly helpful, responsive, and professional in setting up a trip customized to our needs. Everything went off without a hitch, in spite of very short notice and some real time adjustments. Our guide, Yilbert, and driver, Paul, were both the ultimate in professionalism and tailored the entire experience to our desires. In addition, Yilbert's historical knowledge, and deep cultural engagement made all the difference in our experience!

James and Mayra have been great throughout the itinerary planning process. Responsive and flexible, and they give very sensible suggestions. Our guide in Cusco Miguel was great too - he knows the area in and out and is quite resourceful in accommodating our requests (dinner choices, getting local SIM card, etc.)

Special touches were much appreciated, such as picnic lunch prepared by Quechua's private chef when we arrived, off the beaten path hikes in Yucay, great recommendations on dinner restaurants in Sacred Valley, to name a few.

BTW we compared Quechua Treks with other providers such as Jacada, Audley, andBeyond, etc., and found Quechua (on Kimkim platform) to be the easiest to work with, most reasonable in price, and with the most approachable folks. Perfect for us, travelers who want something in between "roughing it" and "absolute luxury". The other providers might offer additional concierge service e.g. booking great restaurants, but it may not be guaranteed and you definitely pay for it.

Net net, Quechua is legit and good people, work with them!

Everything was splendid before , during, and after the trip. The only thing that was REALLY hard was the hike to the lodging at Keulap.

Very professional and high-quality service from Martina, accommodating all of our requests and needs during the trip.

The North part of Peru is not very well advertised and there are not too many tourists in this area (good for people like us, who really enjoyed the real Peru experience, not overtaken by tourism industry yet.) We were nicely surprised and definitely I would suggest using this as a key point in the advertisement of this region. So thank you, Martina, for pointing to us these incredible places to see and stay.

Kuelep, Mausoleum of Revish, Sarcophagi of Karajia - amazing sites. Getting to these places through the real Peruvian villages is an attraction on its own. Chachapoyas and Cajamarca - very authentic Peruvian towns with beautiful main squares and beautiful architecture (a little bit disappointing was the fact that there was a major renovation of the main square in Chachapoyas - which we did not expect).

Also, the drive from Cajamarca through the valleys, mountains, and an incredible one-line road was amazing: the views, the trill passing another vehicles and change of sceneries were unforgettable.

Two amazing places we have stayed I would like to mention. Perico and Lola house in Nogalcucho: quiet and isolated house with beautiful private accommodations. Great homemade dinner and breakfast. Lots of options for walks or areas to sit and enjoy the beauty of their place.
Another is in Cocachimba hostel Sacha Puyo (best view on Gocta falls). The views and quietness of this place are out of this world.

Even though we did not have a guide, our driver Beto was able to give us enough info so we did not feel lost without knowledge of Spanish. But the knowledge of a minimum of Spanish language is a must when traveling in this region so I would recommend to always let people know about this fact. In general people in Northern Peru do not know English.

Very well organized! Had a great time without having to worry about details! Thank you!

Evelyn was very quick to answer questions and make the perfect itinerary for us!

Wonderful, wonderful experience, booking was seamless and easy. The entire trip was absolutely just amazing. The service was top notch, the equipment was top notch and I have made new friends. There truly is not enough nice things I can say about Quechua Treks and James. This was an amazing trip. The food was excellent as well. I am already in the process of booking several other trips through kimkim and Quechua Treks.

James is amazing. Perfect communication and kept in contact. I'm actually not sure he ever sleeps because he answered every question I had promptly and I work nights!!!!

The trek was the highlight of our 3 week trip to Peru. Food, cooks, overall trekking experience was great. All places we stayed were great, especially the overnight at the hot springs. There was an issue with my sleeping bag: The zipper in my $40 rental sleeping bag was broken from day one. I had to put extra layers on to keep warm on the 1st night. In the afternoon the guide was nowhere to be found and I told him at dinner. Someone went to fix it, but they didn't try the zipper and I went to bed and the clasp fell off so the zipper was broken.

Nicole was incredible, and took the time to figure out what kind of trip I wanted, then helped me adjust last-minute when I needed to make some emergency changes.

I plan to recommend Nicole to anyone I hear is going to Peru—whether they ask for recommendations or not :)
She was available, helpful, knowledge, and lovely.

Great trip that more than exceeded my expectations. The guides, activities, and accommodations were fantastic. The only thing that I could have improved would have been to do more research myself and request more days hiking.

Having the opportunity to chat with James on the phone could have sparked a discussion of the pace of the trip and whether a more aggressive itinerary made sense for us.

It was the most amazing hike we ever did and Stephanie was of great help from the day we arrived in Cusco until the time we left. The hotels were really nice and all the people were very nice and friendly. One suggestion would be if you will be able to pair the hikers in the group based on abilities; our group was small and that was perfect. Thanks again for the wonderful trip!

Again, Stephanie went above and beyond to customized our trip based on our needs and she helped us from the time we arrived in Cusco until the day we left. Thanks Stephanie! It was a great pleasure to meet you!

We had a good guide, Joise. To improve, it would have been great if we had more communication from the travel agent.

Everything was good. Had a good driver and perfect guide. Would have liked to have more communication

Fantastic communication and great advice from Nicole. The guide and driver were brilliant.

I had a great first experience with KimKim. I told others about it before even going on my trip. I began to fear it was too good to be true.... no, it was great from start to finish. I was regularly surprised with more than expected... more supported and more amenities than I thought.

I generally interacted with Nicole. She was very responsive, often responding within the hour or early morning after a late night inquiry. She alerted me to a period of a few days where she would be unavailable. Our short notice trip went off without a hitch.

Planning and booking the trip was easy. KimKim connected us with a great tour provider, and always responded quickly to questions and requests.

It's rare to find a tour organizer really dedicated to creating a perfect experience, but that's the impression we had with Nicole and Haku. It's not the cheapest option, but hearing about others who had trekked with larger groups we are happy with our decision.

Our guide Josias was experienced, patient and a great companion for the 6 days. We stayed in comfortable lodges in epic locations, and really enjoyed the meal on the final night.

There were no hidden costs or surprises, and every detail was covered. This truly allowed us to enjoy one of the best hiking trails in the world.

I only received the one company as an option. Not sure if KimKim restricts the replies to the first company or if only the one company was interested in responding but it would have been good to get multiple companies to reply.

James was great to work with and was VERY fast to respond to questions and concerns.

We had a couple of minor hiccups with miscommunication causing delays but Diego always tried to make things right and waited in our hotel lobby to personally apologize. Other than that great service.