Giorgia Carraffa

Our feedback from our 12 day trip in May/June 2018 to Sicily organised for 4 adults by KimKim was outstanding to say the least. We asked KimKim to put together a leisurely itinerary that covered the history of Sicily, farmhouse lunches and a Sicilian cooking class.

From our pick-up on arriving by ferry from Malta at 6.30am by Stefano our driver and Maria our guide. Maria and Stefano (supplied by Valdinoto Tours) were both outstanding. So helpful throughout our 3-4 days with them. Maria was so knowledgeable and gave us an in depth history lesson on the areas we covered with her.

All the other transfers and guides were of high standards. They were all on time and helpful throughout their time with us. Only one slight hiccup being one driver could not speak English but was still helpful as 2 of our party could manage with Italian language.

All of the accommodation were to the standards we expected and in very good locations.
They all were very helpful with any requests and the breakfasts supplied throughout each B&B or hotel were excellent.

Our guide in Agrigento was also outstanding. So passionate about the history of the te archaelogical site we visited. One slight problem with our stay in Agrigento the street where this B&B is located is closed to traffic at certain times of the day and unfortunately we arrived during this time. Our driver overcame this by speaking to the police about how to get there and at the end we had to reverse up a one way street! The owner of the B&B met us to carry the bags up a stairway.

The cooking class we had in Taormina at the Porta Messina was excellent they could not do enough for us and it was such fun along with plenty of food and drink.

All the other farmhouse lunches the lunch at Acitrezza were excellent, so much food! We certainly enjoyed the experiences.

From the time we arrived in Sicily to the time we left we did not have to handle our luggage.

We highly recommend KimKim for their excellent organisation and their very reasonable pricing.

We could not fault the whole trip. All the guides were exceptional. The places we visited were fabulous. The farm house lunches absolutely great. We would recommend this trip to anyone who asked for advice.

With our input, Giorgia came up with a great itinerary for our trip to Sicily, and the experience was smooth and stress free. We were paired up with very knowledgeable guides and really enjoyed the street food and culture tour in Palermo and the tour of the temple ruins in Agrigento. The hotels where we we we stayed were clean and centrally located so that we had only short walks to the center of town, The agriturismo was my favorite stay -- located in the countryside with gracious hosts and a veranda with spectacular views of the countryside which we enjoyed while we sipped some wine and relaxed at the end of our day,

The drivers were courteous and arrived promptly, and having a driver really made a difference in our enjoyment of the trip. We would have had some issues finding some of the places where we stayed, especially in the agriturismo which is tucked away and off the beaten path, Having this trip planned for us by an expert allowed us to really enjoy the experience without the worry and work that normally goes into planning vacation of this sort. I don't think I would travel any other way from now on!

I reached out to KimKim because I had a difficult time planning the itinerary for our Italian vacation on my own. Giorgia did an excellent job with helping us plan. She had great recommendations for tours and things to do in Florence. She booked a small group tour of the Colosseum including the underground and other off-limit places. She also booked us for a small group tour of the Vatican. Our guides were extremely knowledgeable and seemed to love sharing the history of their city. Giorgia also booked us for a food tour in Florence. We loved trying the local foods and our guide was a lot of fun.

Giorgia had excellent communication with us and answered all of our questions. She even reached out to us during our trip to make sure everything was going smoothly.

I would definitely recommend Giorgia and KimKim to anyone looking to plan a memorable vacation!

This trip to Italy was amazing. Giorgia did a fabulous job arranging everything, responded to emails quickly and efficiently! We had some issues with our flights getting changed multiple times, and Giorgia was amazing, kept in contact with us and our driver and our driver was there to meet us when we finally got there. My daughter especially liked the guide (whose name I can't remember) for the city tour of Florence, she took us to several churches, told us about art (my daughter is a artist so was especially happy) and history and we just had the best day! Seeing David was really the best part of the day! The next day we went to Pisa and Lucca, Simone, our driver was fabulous. He was funny and interactive, and made the trip driving seem really short. The hotel was perfect, Hotel Basteri was perfectly located within easy walking distance of everything. All in all this was a perfect trip for my daughter - it was a surprise for her 26 birthday!

Several accommodations were outstanding - Palazzo Failla Hotel in Monica and Hotel Olympia in Venice were great and exceeded out expectations. However, the hotel in Catania, Hotel Alla Giudecca was in a good location but was pretty "spartan" and dark; the kitchenette for our purposes was unnecessary. The hotel in Catania, Hotel Etna 316, was also only marginally acceptable. Again it was in a good, central location. Problems include: it had poor air conditioning; our room was literally connected to the breakfast dining area and was noisy; the host who greeted us, Marco, was rude and obnoxious, and instead of answering our basic questions about the neighborhood, safety, etc, he felt compelled to brag about himself and avoid answering our questions. Also, somewhat curiously, they demanded to hold our room key at the front desk when we went out.
The tour guide in Siracusa, Eva Greco, was outstanding and should always be recommended for her knowledge and personality. Our guide in Venice, Fiona Giusto was also very solid.
The transports to hotels and back to the airport were also very dependable, calling the hotels to remind/confirm our departure times.
One of the highlights of the trip was wine tasting and lunch at Cantina Planeta Buonovini. They had a great presentation, excellent wines, and a great lunch in an outdoor setting.

Giorgia was very responsive to the several questions we had while on the trip, and sent reminder messages to us about tour times and connections. Her choices for accommodations and tour guides were, overall, excellent.

There were a couple of problems when we were using the private transfers. We couldn't find the drivers and had to call the car service a couple times. The drivers were actually there but they were hard to find. They usually had a sign with our name but those times we couldn't find them, the drivers were in a high traffic area or not holding the sign up at all. When we called the car service number we provided, they often did not speak English so it was difficult to communicate the problem. Otherwise, the transfers were fine.

Giorgia was very attentive and answered questions quickly. When we had problems with the private transfers or with a tour guide meeting point, she was attempting to troubleshoot and find solutions. She always checked in with us to make sure everything was going well and was very friendly.

The itinerary - Giorgia worked with us to create the trip that was suited to us, at a fair price.
She was always there if we wanted to contact her with any queries or comments.
The hotels - Were all in great locations, and were very good to excellent rooms. There was only one that was unsuitable, and this complaint was quickly rectified by the hotel and Giorgia. The staff were always helpful and friendly, and were always expecting us.
The connections - All connections were met, the drivers were on time, English-speaking and well-briefed.
Extra activities - All activities that we booked were arranged with excellent guides, and were great experiences for us. Tour guides were professional and fluent, and activities such as food tours of particular towns and the cooking class were outstanding value for money.

All this meant that we were able to be confident in our itinerary, certain about what would happen, and therefore fully able to experience the trip without worry.

Thanks to Giorgia of Kimkim for her great work in organising and implementing what was an excellent and memorable two-week immersion into Sicily. We have great memories for life.

Robert Lewis and Ros Gilchrist

Only one slip-up on a day which was overpacked with 2 archaeological sites and a guide scheduled too close together.

It was mostly perfect. The drivers were all wonderful. They were punctual, friendly, obliging and cars were immaculate . The guides were even better, especially Valentina in Palermo who we adored.The others were fabulous too.Accommodation was mostly good,but we found the agiturismo in Agrigento tooooo remote,and my brief did say we were city slickers . Also it was feragosto eve and they had a party.
However,I have been recommending you to everyone.

Also nearly perfect but better than good. As I mentioned,The accommodation in Tenuta San Giovanni was really not us, we would have preferred something in the city of Agrigento. This place was 7 kilometres from the nearest village and 50 minutes from Agrigento.I have stayed at farmhouses before but they were walking distance to piazza's. Not this one.
Also, the voucher for the Etna excursion said meet at 9.30 at the hut. When we arrived at 9.23,they told us the 9.30 group had gone and we would have to wait for the 10.30 group. This would've got us back to our transport to Messina too late, and also we had arrangements in Messina to get to on time.So we paid for the shorter version out of pocket. The man in charge of hut Etna excursion said we should get a refund for the one we missed,so I am also enquiring about that .