Adam Gomez

We enjoyed a fantastic family trip to Costa Rica! All three locations were fantastic, and the activities really let us see so many different animals. Adam and Jessica were very helpful especially with changing weather conditions right before the trip started!

Hotel Review

Hotel Kokoro Mineral Hot Springs

La Fortuna

Fantastic location, very quiet and peaceful. Easy to get into town and such a spectacular view!

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Review

Arenal Volcano Hike & Paradise Hot Springs & Meal

Arenal/La Fortuna

Great hike and our guide was very knowledgeable about the area and the history of the area. The hot springs and meal afterwards was a perfect way to enjoy the evening.

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

It's been almost a year since our honeymoon in Costa Rica, we've had an extremely hectic year and have been delayed in writing this review for many many months. But we still talk about how amazing our trip to Costa Rica was and all the amazing memories we made there. Our trip was very well planned, we loved all of our accommodations and excursions. We personally got a little zealous about how much we could do at a time, and didn't realize how much travel there would be to some of the excursions, but that was on us. We wish we would have spent some more down time at the amazing resorts, but other than that our trip was perfect and all the recommendations from Kim Kim were great! I would highly recommend their service to other people and we will definitely be using them again in the future. Every single shuttle/transportation service was excellent and every person we encountered on our trip was super friendly and welcoming. Everything was on time and all the tours and guides were super knowledgeable and fascinating. We saw all types of animals and wild life. KimKims flexibility in building your itinerary is great and it was the perfect level of assistance while also making it super personal to you. Thank you for a great trip!!!

Hotel Review

Arenas del Mar Resort

Manuel Antonio

This was our favorite hotel on our trip. I was blown away by the ocean views when we arrived and were taken up to the lobby. The property is stunning and cozy. The entire staff is amazing and by the time we left we were sad to go. They had great amenities, the food was excellent, the views were incredible, and they have their own private beach access. It was a perfect mix of luxury but also felt intimate and familiar. We saw so many wild animals on the property and the staff went out of their way to make sure we got a chance to witness the wild life. We did yoga which was amazing, and when we called for a ride, the response was almost immediate. We cannot recommend this property enough.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

People are absolutely incredible.

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Review

Guided Visit to Nauyaca Waterfall

Costa Rica

This was our favorite activity on our trip. Potentially because it was our first, however it's still stands out as one of the best experiences. Our tour guides were super friendly and knowledgeable and I felt with them the entire time. They made the experience personal and special and guided us to jump off the cliffs in a once in a lifetime experience. Cannot recommend enough.

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

All of the transfers worked out seamlessly. We loved all of our guided tours and excursions with only one exception, which is impressive. Kim Kim was great to work with and had good ideas for things to do. We had only 8 days for our trip, but we were able to do so much and the planning made that possible. Would highly recommend working with Kim Kim!

Hotel Review

Hotel Eco Arenal

Fortuna

Affordable hotel with very nice breakfast and very comfortable beds. Beautiful grounds. Restaurant within walking distance. Easy to get to town via car/Uber/taxi. Friendly and helpful hotel staff. Cleanliness was average. The toilet are was not closed off from the room, only had a 3/4 door, making privacy a challenge. Showers were fine.

Authenticity & Character

Location

away from the bustle of town in a beautiful setting by a river, lots of wildlife

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

cleaner walls and bathrooms. install full doors to give toilet area more privacy.

Activity Reviews

Self-Guided Hike to La Fortuna Waterfall

Arenal/La Fortuna

incredible swim in the waterfall. did not matter that there were many people present - it was still so magical.

Quality of Experience

Río Peñas Blancas Safari Float

Arenal/La Fortuna

Guide and trip were stellar. Would highly recommend this activity to anyone.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Private Tamarindo Surf Experience

Tamarindo

The guides were so nice and we had a great time. The surf shop was excellent. Highly recommend them.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

our guides and all the staff - so friendly and helpful

Arenal Volcano Hike & EcoTermales Hot Springs Visit

Arenal/La Fortuna

This was difficult to execute well because it was 2 very different activities merged into one. We were unable to complete the volcano hike because of extreme rain and lightning. We started the hike, but only proceeded to get drenched and muddy before turning around to go back to the bus. The rain made it impossible to even see anything beyond the path below our feet. The guide told the agency we canceled the tour, although the elements (lightening) made it unsafe to continue the hike. The guide was not proactive about guiding for this trip - he was basically an escort. We then sat in traffic in our wet clothes on the bus before arriving at the hot springs resort, only to learn that we couldn't enter the facility until our previously scheduled arrival time. We waited in the lobby there for 30 minutes. Would not recommend these 2 tours together. I'm sure the volcano hike is amazing though! The hot springs were incredible. Highly recommend those to everyone. Food buffet was great there too.

Quality of Experience

Amazing hot springs resort. Less amazing hike experience.

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

TreeTram, Hanging Bridges & Zipline Adventure

Monteverde

Everything about this experience was incredible.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

14 day Andalucia solo travel - Adam and Lea were great with helping me book my trip. Adam especially was helpful in working on last minute changes, etc. Adam spent a lot of time with me working through the changes I had suggested.
One area of improvement that I would suggest is, I felt most of the trip details, etc. came from me including the places I wanted to visit, how I wanted to plan my day yo day, etc. I would have expected suggestions from the travel rep as to what I could do in my free time, on days when I did not have a KimKim tour planned, restaurant suggestions, etc.
I am not sure yet if I will use KimKim platform again because of the fact that I have limited ability to change my trip once booked, and also due to the fact that I am less in control of the options, etc.

Activity Reviews

Private Mezquita, Alcázar & Jewish Quarter Discovery Walk

Córdoba

Ruben was really awesome! he spent almost 3 hours with me on the tour explaining the history of Cordoba, the Jewish quarter, etc. His tour of the Mezquita was so thorough!

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Private Alhambra & Generalife Gardens with a Historian

Granada

I couldn't provide a 3.5 rating which is what I wanted to give this. Edu was good but not great like the other guides I had. He was a very nice person and gave a good high level overview of the Alhambra and the gardens. He did not go in-depth w.r.t. the details as some of the other guides that I happened to notice on the tour. It was a good tour.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Could have provided more details about the history, pointed out interesting aspects, etc.

Historic Old Town Walk

Málaga

Even though it was supposed to be a group tour, I don't think anyone else had signed up so I ended up as the only one. The tour was great! Victor was really thorough and took me around the old town in addition to the Alcazaba, Roman Theater, etc.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Private Visit to Seville’s Cathedral & Alcázar

Seville

Cristina was awesome! Really thorough explanation of the history and architecture.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Private Ronda & White Villages Day Trip

Seville

Carlos was a pleasure to travel with. The only part that I was not very thrilled with is I did not get much time in the stops and did not know about some of the sites that I could have visited (for e.g. in Ronda, I had no idea there was a castle, old town, Church, etc. that I could visit). This was a private trip which cost a lot, so I would have loved to spend more time in each of the places I visited. Other than that the trip was nice and pleasant.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Nice car

Flamenco Show & Museum Visit

Seville

Really loved this experience. The performers were very professional

Quality of Experience

Adam our travel consultant was very approachable and very knowledgeable about Portugal which made planning the trip easy and satisfying. The drivers who transferred us around were all quite accommodating and very efficient and easy to communicate with . There were some excursion options that we were interested but not available thru KimKim , which forced us to book outside of their app. Overall, a great experience.

This was our first trip with KimKim. Some highlights:
- Trip planning was super easy and they were very flexible to match our needs
- Hotel locations and hotels themselves were excellent. In both cities, the hotels were an easy walk from all the places we wanted to go and close to restaurants/shopping/public transport
- the guided tours in Barcelona and Seville were fantastic. Special shout out to Noah in Barcelona for the food tour. It was just the two of us with Noah and honestly it felt like we spent the evening with a good friend. Our other tour guides Alexi in Barcelona as well as Miguel and Mariam in Seville were excellent as well.
- due to some internal miscommunication within KimKim, our tour for the Alcazar was not booked. They let us know, refunded our money and offer another complimentary tour with Mariam which was excellent
- prearranged transportation is a huge value add as landing in a foreign country and not knowing the language makes navigating public transport challenging. On our return, the pickup was at 4 am and we were grateful for the prearranged ride
- The call with our planner Adam prior the trip was very valuable as he ran through the itinerary and answered common questions (how much cash do we need to carry, how much to tip, what type of weather to expect etc)

Downsides:
- The missed tour of the Alcazar though handled well, was a big miss. It is one of the marquis attractions in Seville and one that we will likely not see again
- Most of the tours are available from TripAdvisor or Viator at lower cost BUT the trip planning and co-ordination needs a lot of prep work if you do it your self

We booked the Andante hotel, Paella Cooking Class, and the Tapas Tour. The hotel was alright, it's not the cleanest, but it serves its purpose and a bonus to convenient location. The Tapas Tour and the Paella Cooking Class were one of the highlights, wine was definitely not scarce with either of these. We also got the Welcome Pick Up where a taxi cab immediately pick you up from the airport and to your hotel and vice versa, this was an absolute game changer for us.

Hotel Review

Andante Hotel

Barcelona

Great view and location. The infinity pool is picture worthy.... Could be cleaner though.

Authenticity & Character

It's pretty and modern and of course the infinity pool

Location

Near a convenient store and a few restaurants

Staff

They can be stingy with the cups of ice and housekeeping is a hit or miss

Cleanliness & Comfort

Stains in bedding sheets and towels can be seen even after being changed. The tiles of the pool looks neglected. We also might have had bed bugs.

Activity Reviews

Multi-Course Cooking Class with Wine Pairing

Barcelona

Very friendly staff with a hipster atmosphere to the place. We paired up and made a unique paella dish per group that we then got to sample each dish made.

Quality of Experience

We learned so much history about Spain as we cook up our Paellas.

Food

The Paella of course! The bread they give you during the cooking session was good too.

Guides, Drivers and Staff

They are nice and engaging. You won't feel like a complete stranger.

Gothic Quarter Tapas Walk

Barcelona

We happen to be in a small group so we were able to get to know the other guests more. We walked to multiple restaurants and tried a variety of dishes - think of it like bar hopping if you will. As we walked to each place, we gain insight of the city and the origin of each tapas dish.

Quality of Experience

Super casual and you'll be well fed.

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Loved Cordoba and Grenada. The Mezquita and Alcazar were amazing, as was the Alhambra. People were friendly and we received an excellent overview of Spain which we can build on in future trips. Loved the Tapas tours and the opportunity to eat as the locals do. Appreciated all our guides and their passion for the history and culture of a nation who once claimed ownership of more than half the known world.