Huyen Nghiem

We visited Vietnam and Cambodia. Our guides were Gracie, Tom, Danny and ChanSip. They were all wonderful in their own way but Tom deserves a special mention. The VIetcong tunnels are not to be missed, the Saigon Vespa tour with its guides was truly memorable and a once in a lifetime type of tour and, the street food tour in Hanoi was exceptional. The meals and restaurants chosen by our guides were all delicious and not just standard fare served to tourists. We became a huge fan of Vietnamese food! The hotels chosen for us were also lovely, comfortable and well-located. Ms. Huyen was very accommodating of any changes we wanted to make to our itinerary (which were minimal bc it was so well planned) and very responsive. She handled communications with the local guides and it was a truly hassle free trip. Highly recommended!

Tour operator in Vietnam & Cambodia created a well planned itinerary that matched our travel style & interests. They gave quick responses to our questions before our trip & during our trip & chose excellent guides & drivers with nice cars. Tracked our movements during the trip to make sure all was going well. Good hotels. Excellent platform for planning & communication. Highlight was meeting a family of a tour guide where they shared roasted sweet potatoes & corn. And another guide took us to his favorite off the beaten track eating places & taught us how to eat native fruits in the market. A memorable experience besides experiencing the best food!

Hotel Reviews

Palago Boutique Hanoi Hotel

Hanoi

Just as pictured & noted.

Authenticity & Character

Felt like we were in Vietnam with the decor. Not a huge hotel which felt more authentic.

Location

In a good part of town & close to the places we wanted to go.

Staff

Yes. So nice & helpful.

Cleanliness & Comfort

Yes even the beds were comfy.

Victory Star Cruise

Hanoi

Advertised as a replica junk with sails but there were no sails. It was poorly maintained. Needed painting, wall paper peeling, picture frames broken & the anchor system so rusted I thought it could break at any moment. Towels like sand o Paper & faded. Outside furniture faded. The staff was courteous & helpful & food quite good. Just the boat was poorly maintained. And the false advertising of having sails. Not good at all.

Authenticity & Character

Maintain the boat as noted above. Don’t advertise as having sails.

Location

Ha Long Bay too touristy. Over tourism at its worse.

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Beds were hard as rocks. Was clean though.

Emeralda Tam Coc Resort

Luxury resort but not too pretentious. Great location.

Authenticity & Character

Vietnamese decor with beautiful tropical grounds & pool.

Location

In Tam Coc a quieter location than Ninh Binh city center but still near restaurants & shops.

Staff

Always helpful & courteous.

Cleanliness & Comfort

Spotless.

Hoi An Delicacy Hotel & Spa

Hoi An

Great little hotel in Vietnamese decor. Good location walking distance to Hoi An old town.

Authenticity & Character

Vietnamese decor & peacock theme throughout.

Location

Walking distance to Hoi An ancient town

Staff

Always helpful. All of the staff remembered our names, where we came from & when we were checking out. Truely amazing.

Cleanliness & Comfort

Spotless.

Thanh Lich Royal Boutique Hotel

Had a room under the restaurant & was noisy. They did change my room the next day which was quieter but heard rats in the ceiling during the night.

Authenticity & Character

An Asian style but so poorly maintained didn’t work.

Location

Close to the promenade.

Staff

Courteous.

Cleanliness & Comfort

Was clean at least.

Angkor Village Hotel

Good location in Siem Reap, beautiful grounds & rooms. This was our favorite hotel of our trip. We didn’t want to leave. The rooms were fabulous. With the first walk-in, beautiful spa/meditation music playing from the room’s music system. Pure Nirvana.

Authenticity & Character

Beautiful tropical grounds with huge Cambodia inspired decorated rooms.

Location

Walking distance to good restaurants & night market (Pub Street).

Staff

Very courteous.

Cleanliness & Comfort

Perfect

Activity Reviews

Hanoi - Halong Bay Cruise - Overnight on boat

Ha Long Bay

Too touristy. Would skip or just take a day tour. Too many boats & tourists.

Quality of Experience

Limit number of boats to at least half allowed in Ha Long Bay

Food

The buffet was excellent & serving staff professional.

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Buffet Dinner with Apsara dance show

Siem Reap

Show was just ok but too many tourists. Going through the buffet with that many people was a bit disgusting. Too touristy.

Quality of Experience

Food

Just average. Too many people to serve excellent food.

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Our guide was the best.

Transport

Our driver was there for us immediately after the show because we wanted to get out of there fast to beat the hundreds of people that would be leaving at the same time.

Siem Reap: Explore Angkor Complex Temples

Siem Reap

Temples amazing.

Quality of Experience

Remotes uniqueness

Food

Local restaurants with excellent local food.

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Our guide always informative & helpful.

Transport

We thoroughly enjoyed our mother/daughter trip to North and Central Vietnam in December. Huyen was great to work with – accommodating and flexible. She provided many options, listened to our requests, and tailored our trip to suit our needs. We were able to enjoy a few days on our own exploring the cities and finding activities like temple of literature, water puppet show, tailored clothes, Hoi An at night among others to do.
Highlights of our custom itinerary included Hanoi Street food tour, a day trip to Ninh Binh, an overnight cruise on Ha Long Bay (kayaking and incredible views), cooking class, basket boat, ba na hills, etc. Our tour guides, Long (Hanoi) and Han (Hoi An) were fantastic – very friendly, helpful and knowledgeable of their cities and cultures. They gave us recommendations for the best pho, bahn mi, cafes and restaurants for an incredible dining experience. Activities like spa and lantern making were perfectly suggested for a rainy day in Hoi An. The drivers were always on time. Having KimKim take care of all the hotel reservations, airport/road transfers, some meals, domestic flights, etc. made our trip so much more enjoyable and stress free. Highly recommend that to anyone planning a vacation to a foreign country or want a worry-free experience.
There were some miscommunications about dietary restrictions which led to our guides believing we required vegetarian meals which wasn’t true. We wish we had been able to try more of the local cuisine rather than catering to something we didn’t want.
Our thanks to KimKim for so many memorable moments. We enjoyed it all!
Cecilia B.

Amazing Vietnam and Cambodia mother/daughter adventure. Highlights included Temple of Literature (Hanoi), kayaking and views of Ha Long Bay, our fave Hoi An (bamboo boats, best guide-Thu, Memories show, cooking class, tailored dresses in one day and more), beautiful temples at Angkor Wat & Siem Reap fun, final stop: Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City)-super local food tour at night on scooters with excellent guides-Phat and Nguyen. Appreciated having Huyen on the ground as a resource pre-planning and in country. Wonderful memories made-highly recommend!

Activity Review

Saigon By Night Food Tour - Experience Vietnam on Two Wheels (Group tour)

Ho Chi Minh City

So much fun to eat local foods (tailored to our diets/preferences) and ride on scooters at night in Saigon. Phat and Nguyen were fantastic guides, so personable and added to our experience. Fave tour of our trip-highly recommend!

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

We had the best time on our trip! It was even more exceptional than we imagined. Everything ran so smoothly and we didn’t have to think about anything. Considering we saw 5 cities in 10 days we still felt relaxed and like we had a vacation because we didn’t have to worry about anything. Hoang and our driver took great care of us always making sure we were enjoying our time. We saw some of the most beautiful landscapes we’ve ever seen and met so many sweet people. We fell in love with Vietnam, thank you to the whole Kimkim team for creating a spectacular itinerary and wonderful trip.

Our 2 week trip to Southeast Asia was incredible. The itinerary that Huyen set up with us met or exceeded our expectations. Our local guides and drivers took care of us completely. The 2 night Indochine cruise on HaLong Bay was beyond exceptional. The suite featured an enormous bathroom with soaker tub and the room provided a king sized bed! Service was 10+.
We REALLY enjoyed our countryside adventures in Vietnam and the 3 days in Cambodia were amazing. Our guide - Chansip - was very knowledgeable and also so accommodating to tweak our itinerary once he got to know us. Chang Mai was the highlight of our journey and the morning at the elephant sanctuary rates as one of our top lifetime experiences.
Huyen was ultra supportive throughout the trip. She always stayed connected, assisted with flight info and boarding passes and anything else we needed help with.
We would recommend KimKim and their services to travellers of all experience levels. We could just sit back and enjoy our holiday with the personalized: service that was offered.

When my partner and I decided we wanted to explore Vietnam but didn’t know where to start, we sent a message to KimKim - we are so glad we did.
After a short quiz and a few clarifying messages back and forth, Huyen perfectly comprised an intinerary that was exactly what we were looking for. She was also highly responsive and very kind.
Travelling, transfers, and all transportation was so simple, and each guide met us at the station with a sign of our names and took us to our accomodation!
Each of our guides was deeply knowledgeable and a pleasure to spend time with. Trung managed to fit Hanoi into one day, and we still felt like we saw so much of the city and everything that was previously recommended to us. He was also fun to talk with and knew so much about Hanoi and Vietnam.
Ly in Sapa took us on the most amazing hikes through the hill villages (Ma Tra & Ta Phin, then Lao Chai and Ta Van). Ly seemed to know everybody and everything in the area - so we not only learned so much about the land and distinct culture of each tribe, but we were put at ease being in an environment so different from our American city life. We had a great balance of popular attractions (Fansipan, etc.) and off-the-beaten path adventures - very hard to do but Huyen and Ly nailed it.
Our final guide Brian met us in Hanoi after the sleeper train from Sapa (actually a fun experience, + managed to get some sleep)! Brian managed to make a 3 hour car ride fun and interesting, as he knew so much about Vietnam and was so hospitable. The 2-day cruise in Ha Long Bay was the perfect way to end our trip with some relaxation.
Huyen stayed incredibly responsive throughout the whole trip and even checked in with us via Whatsapp in each city to make sure we were okay. We felt we had the perfect trip - great accomodations, intineraries, enough free time… KimKim really was the right call for us.
If you’re thinking of exploring Vietnam but aren’t sure what to do or where to start, I recommend at least messaging a specialist to see what they come up with for you - it can’t hurt!!