Flor Bonis

Santiago, Chile and Argentina’s Patagonia region is beautiful and we had a wonderful time, but KimKim’s support overall did not meet our expectations for the trip.

Major issues
– Detailed itinerary was not provided to us until we were already at the airport for the trip preventing us from reviewing and possibly identifying issues.
– The car rental was an open pickup truck. While it met the needs of having 4x4 drive and room for 5 adults, having a vehicle where luggage is in an unsecured area opened to the elements should not be offered or explicitly disclosed upfront. We discussed this with Flor at the beginning of the planning and told her we were not interested in having a truck. When we landed in Punta Arenas, with a long drive in front of us and it raining outside, we had to drive 30 minutes the opposite direction into town to find trash bags, which we had to use every time we changed locations throughout the trip.

Minor issues
- We were prepared for travel and had a car rented, but each activity included us to get picked up by a new vendor to drive us to a nearby site which we could have easily done (Repeated in Calafate for the Glacier boat, Chalten for the white water rafting, boat trip in Ushuaia, Penguin visit in Porvenir). We could of easily driven ourselves to these activities and two time these pickups potentially negatively impacted the experience (see below) and probably increased our cost.
- Pickup to Glacier boat ride in Calafate was almost 30 minutes late and as a result we were one of the last people boarding onto the boat and were sat in the worst seats possible (we were facing a wall where most had a window). We could of easily driven ourselves to the activity.
- Penguino National Park visit in Tierra del Fuego: KimKim was aware we were staying in Porvenir the night prior and Ushuaia the next night, and with the penguin exhibit approximately 1.5 hours on the way to Ushuaia, why did we hire a guide that didn’t even go into the exhibit, and was contracted to drive us back in the opposite direction of our day’s itinerary? BTW, the guide was good at sharing history about the region

Everything was very good. Flor was very responsive with the planning and changes. I appreciate the service via whatsapp while we were in Argentina-- people responded very quickly.

Hotel Reviews

Loi Suites Iguazú Hotel

Puerto Iguazú

very nice!

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Hosteria Senderos

El Chalten

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

CasaSur Recoleta

Buenos Aires

Great location and nice staff!

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Design Suites Calafate

El Calafate

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Reviews

Cristina Estancia Discovery

El Calafate

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Personalized City Tour 🏛️ ⭐

Buenos Aires

Guides were great!

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Leisure Day in Puerto Iguazú

Puerto Iguazú

with flight changes we had very little time

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Argentinean Falls - Full day

Puerto Iguazú

very nice but super crowded

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Perito Moreno Glacier Excursion 🗻

El Calafate

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

CATAMARAN RIDE: SUNSET

Puerto Iguazú

not very scenic-- not good food

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

driver was great!

Transport

Tango Show and Dinner at Café De Los Angelitos

Buenos Aires

great dancing but started late-- past our bedtime!

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

If I had to summarize our experience with the travel company contracted through kimkim. I would describe it with one sentence – our trip appeared to be outside of their scope of expertise.
• We did not receive the detailed itinerary until we were already at the airport for the trip preventing us from reviewing and possibly identifying issues.
• The car rental was an open pickup truck. While it met the needs of having 4x4 drive and room for 5 adults, having a vehicle where luggage was extremely problematic. Furthermore, we discussed this with the travel agent at the beginning of the planning and told her we were not interested in having a truck. This was an explicit discussion point. Instead, when we picked up the vehicle, it was a truck with an uncovered truck bed. We had a long drive that day and it was raining outside, we had to drive 30 minutes in the opposite direction into town to find trash bags into which we packed our luggage - every time we changed locations throughout the trip. As a side note, our guidance from the travel agent included repeated warnings that the Chilean border closed at 16:00. The border did not close until much later. This resulted in unnecessary stress on our first day after we landed in Punta Arenas, dealt with the issues with our rental car, traveled into town to purchase bags for our luggage, and then drove to El Calafate.
• The trip plan that we approved on the kimkim website did not mention pick up and drop off being included for the planned activities. There were many instances where what we approved via the kimkim chat was not ultimately what we experienced. I can only conclude this resulted in extra expenses for us.
o For example, on December 24, we had an excursion via boat to view glaciers. The description on the kimkim chat indicated that we would have lunch at the reserve and the departure time. That is what we approved. The day before the excursion we were contacted by another company who was picking us up. They let us know we needed to be ready to go at 8:00. At 8:30 they finally arrived and then we had three other stops to pick up other individuals. We were the last to arrive at the boat dock. As a result, we were provided with less-than-ideal seating on the boat. We also learned that the company that picked us up had included lunch. All of these were unnecessary expenses. We had a vehicle. We did not need to be picked up. We also did not need to have a provided lunch.
o This was also the situation with the rafting excursion we did in El Chaltén. We had a rental car. The rafting company picked us up and dropped us off. Likely that increased our cost.
o This happened again with our excursion to the penguin reserve. The travel agent knew after the penguin reserve we would be driving to Ushuaia. In the kimkim chat on December 6, I indicated that we would like the itinerary updated to reflect that we would arrive at the reserve at 10 and then drive to Ushuaia. We were not informed until two days beforehand that a tour company would pick us up, drive us to the reserve, and then return us to Porvenir. However, it was VERY clear in our kimkim chat that we did not need a ride, nor did we need a ride back to Porvenir. A company was hired to travel via ferry from Punt Arenas in a large van and then drive us to the reserve. We had a car. Again we were paying for an unnecessary expense. Also, we were told that would include lunch and we were not provided with lunch. Ultimately, three of us drove with the tour company and the other two drove our vehicle. Our next destination was Ushuaia. Returning to Porvenir would have resulted in an extra 3 hours of travel for an already long day.
o The final boat activity in Ushuaia also included a pickup and drop off. We did not need that, we had a car.
Upon arrival, In Santiago on our final night in Chile. Our travel companion who was included in our trip itinerary did not have a room reserved for him. After a very long travel day, we contacted the company emergency line and it was resolved. However, it was one more issue in a long line of issues
Chile and Argentina’s Patagonia region is beautiful, and we had a wonderful time, but kimkim’s contracted travel agency did not meet our expectations for the trip.

We worked with Flor for our trip and she was amazing to say the least. Our plans changed multiple times and our final itinerary was very different from our first draft but she was extremely patient throughout the process and crafted an itinerary that was super fun and accommodated all our requests.

Activity Review

HD City Tour in Sao Paulo - with time for Lunch

São Paulo

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Flor was great about helping us narrow the immense list of options in Patagonia to give us the trip we were looking for. She suggested many different types of hotels and helped us find really unique and fun places to stay that were off the beaten trail that helped us have a truly authentic trip. Her team arranged all transfers, gave guidance about places to eat and excursions, and even made dinner reservations for us while we were in country. Throughout, she was responsive, supportive, and accommodating as we changed our minds many times and moved around our budgets and dates. We would happily work with her again.

Let me preface this by saying we take pride in planning our own trips - we like the challenge and the adventure. But when my wife decided our next destination would be Argentina, we knew we would need some help. Enter Flor - the trip magician. Flor took all of our ideas and made them a reality - and gave us ideas we didn't even know we wanted. She was endlessly patient as we made multiple tweaks to the itinerary, getting the balance just right.

We had a delightful time in Buenos Aires, but the magic really got underway when we arrived in Patagonia - first stop, Calafate. Flor's plan to get us onto the Perito Moreno glacier was flawless - we even got to see the glacier calve a large iceberg up close!

Our private transfer to El Chalten was led by the most wonderful guide, Florencia. She brought the Argentinian culture alive, sharing Yerba mate and homemade treats with us. She is a wealth of knowledge and passion, and made us feel so welcome.

But by far the biggest highlight was visiting Estancia Bonanza - outside El Chalten. Flor suggested this stay for us, and it was pure heaven. Majestic views of Mt. Fitzroy, generous hospitality, delicious food, and comfortable accommodations nestled in a remote valley surrounded by the Andes.

Without a doubt, we will be using KimKim again. They made our trip smooth and simple - all we had to do was enjoy!

Hotel Review

Estancia Bonanza

El Chaltén

Our stay at Estancia Bonanza was pure heaven - nestled in a remote valley with majestic views of Mt. Fitzroy, we loved every minute of our stay. From tea and breakfast with Lili who welcomed us as if she were welcoming a friend into her own kitchen, to wine on the porch outside the dining room, to beautifully served dinners, we felt at home at every turn. We traveled with our adult children, and everyone was able to choose his or her level of challenge on the excursions, including a beautiful horseback ride along the river. We will find our way back to this extraordinary place!

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Activity Reviews

Full day tour to Parque Nacional Los Glaciares and Minitrekking

El Calafate

What a wonderful day in a remarkable place! Our guides for the trek were knowledgeable and friendly, and the drink and chocolate at the end were the icing on the cake.

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

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Estancia "La Bonanza" - Enjoy the activities of the countryside 🐎🌲

El Chaltén

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

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We had some great guides and drivers. We were lucky because in Mendoza we had the same driving for all our trips (can’t remember her name) - she was an excellent driver. Then in Santiago our driver was Orlando - he was wonderful! Very friendly and had lots of information about the town.
The day trips in Salta were too long - they were about 10-12 hours which is too long to be sitting in a bus which is why we canceled our third bus trip.
The hotel in Salta does not have an elevator and there was no hot water in our room on the last night and morning. We didn’t talk to reception about it due to language problems.
The tour Gabriel for the walking tour of Salta was not that great, plus it was supposed to be 3 1/2 hours but it was only for one hour (which did work out better as we had been walking around Salta for most of the day).
All of the wineries that you booked for us were really great, we had some great wine and great food.
It was great being meet at the airport with a driver, that made everything so much simpler/nicer.
We will definitely use your company again and recommended you to lots of people that we met during the trip.
For the Iguazú falls - the boat ride that you booked for use was canceled so we ended up taking a jet ski boat ride, we highly recommend this ride as it is amazing - they take you under the water falls (they provide dry bags for all personal items).

Flor did an incredible job making our ideas reality! She managed to get everything we asked for plus more! From Buenos Aries to Mendoza to Iguazu Falls to Ushuaia! All in our 11 day frame! We got as much of the diverse Argentina as we could possibly get! These trips are the once a year time I get to see my bestie so thank you so much Flor for everything you do/did for us! For anyone who gets a chance to work with this amazing person you can rest easy knowing she will do her best to get you exactly what you ask for! Flor was very tentative, responsive, gave great advice and wonderful options. Any questions we had she answered right away! On top of that, we had amazing guides, tours and drivers! We learned so much about the history at each place we went! Saw amazing tango dancers, ate delicious food, drank fantastic wine and had so many write home about experiences! Thank you Flor for an amazing time!!

This is my first time to Chile, Argentina and Bolivia and was excited because we travel to many of our bucket list destinations, such as San Pedro de Atacama, Uyuni, Santiago, Patagonia, El Cafalate, Buenos Aires and Mendoza. The planning process was smooth and Flor was given many local excursions for me to choose. Most of the local guides that were either picking us up or for taking us on a tour were very knowledgable and helpful. But Julio and Willie (the driver) for the 3 days tour in Uyuni are the best. They are knowledgable, caring (very important when travelling at 4700m elevation) and flexible in the plan. Our city tour guide in Buenos Aires was also very good. The local excursions included a combination of private and small group tour. Private tour was definitely more intimate and flexible. But the small group tours especially in San Pedro de Atacama were great too because we had an opportunity to interact with other tourists and had make many new friends. Before we this trip started, we were contacted by Kim Kim's operating team Julian that he would be assisting us 24/7. When we arrived in different stops, the local tour organizers would check on us and provide assistance. As for the accommodations, the hotels in El Cafalate and Mendoza are below our expectations. The staff were helpful but the facilities were dated. Overall, we are glad that we have Kim Kim planning our trip.

Hotel Reviews

Hotel La Casa de Don Tomás

San Pedro de Atacama

The hotel is off 5 mins walk to the centre. The room we had was quite small. Due to the design of the hotel, the room is quite hot and we had to open the door to allow air circulation. The hotel is a bite dated but the staff is great and helpful. The best thing of the hotel is its restaurant. The food is very good and priced very reasonable (actually, it is cheaper than the restaurants in the centre).

Authenticity & Character

Location

It is away from the busy centre

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Tayka del Desierto

Ojo de Perdiz, Potosi

This hotel is in the middle of nowhere but perhaps there are not a lot of choices in the hight desert. It is dated and cold. It is cold because the hotel turn on and off the heat at certain time. They even shut off the power at night (without informing the guests). So you will not have light or wifi. Most rooms have a window facing the common corridor, when people talking in the corridor, you can hear everything. The hotel should have advised all guests to be quiet in the corridor. The dinner on the other hand is quite good.

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Hotel de Sal Luna Salada

Uyuni

We were staying there for 2 nights. It is supposed to be very highly rate hotel. Obviously, we are disappointed. The facilities are dated and you can see many things were fallen apart. The wifi doesn't work and there is no closet space in the room. The food in the restaurant is disappointed. The only saving grace is the staff. They are very helpful and nice.

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Patagonia Camp

Torres del Paine

The hotel/camp is very unique because the room is a yurt connected by walk ways to the main reception and restaurant. The best part is that you feel that you are in the nature and not being disturbed by other hotel guests. But since it is a yurt. you are subject to the nature as well because you will hear the rain and the wind (it is quite windy in Patagonia). All the staff are fantastic and helpful. The food for breakfast, lunch and dinner are very good. Many people chose not to go for activities to enjoy the facilities and lunch. In addition, the guides of the activities are also very wonderful. The only draw back for us is that we were waiting an hour at the airport for pickup even though they were informed of the plane arrival time. There is only 2 flights flying in Puerto Nateles everyday.

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Hotel Sierra Nevada

El Calafate

The hotel is dated and service is average. The breakfast is sad too.

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Argentino Hotel

Mendoza

We are staying in Hotel Mod, not Argentino because we were advised that Hotel Mod is better. Hotel Mod is about 6 blocks from the centre in a safe neighbourhood. The hotel is big but the service can be improved. The staff is good and helpful. The check in service is lengthy because you need to download the key app to your phone to open the room door. The restaurant in the hotel only provide breakfast and the breakfast is disappointed. They served a lot of canned fruit.

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Activity Review

Evening Astronomy Tour

San Pedro de Atacama

We were picked up from the hotel to a location not far away. We were provided with a translator to explain what we would see. It was a great experience because the guide provided a lot of information and answered all our questions through the translator. Unfortunately, we had a full moon and we could't see a lot of stars. At the end of the tour, we were provided with drinks and snacks.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Planning was easy, responsive team and would highly recommend