Jessica Wang

Overall, I had a great trip. My planning was definitely a little different. As I was going to visit my cousin, plus break up my trip with popping over to Thailand for 15 days, when I first put together an idea, Kimkim said that they wouldn't be able to do it. After I contacted customer service, they quickly explained to me that they were more than happy to accommodate what I was wanting for my Korea trip. I did have a problem arise while planning and when I contacted customer service again, they promptly called me and told me that they would get my agent to contact me so we could get my issue resolved.

Most of my trip was self-guided, but when I went to Gyeongju, I did have a guide. William was an excellent guide and I greatly enjoyed touring with him for the few days. He was able to take me to all of the sites I was wanting to visit in and around Gyeongju. Plus he had the best recommendations for lunch spots. If one is able to get William as a tour guide, one will definitely have a great experience with a very competent guide.

Part of my trip, I researched 2 places I wanted to go: Gyeongju and Jeonju. While researching the cities, I saw the recommendations to stay at 2 different hanoks. When I was putting together my trip, I requested to stay in those hanoks and Kimkim was able to make the reservations. I definitely recommend staying at Siwoowadang. The hanok was situated within walking distance to multiple areas and the hanok village. The restaurants around Siwoowadang were fabulous and my breakfast every morning was delicious. The couple that ran the hanok were amazing hosts and I had all the comforts I needed. When in Jeonju, I definitely recommend staying at Samlockhon as it is in the heart of the hanok village and the host is quick to give you the best restaurant and cafe recommendations. Jeonju was definitely one of my favorite places to visit.

My trip planner did plan my KTX tickets at a perfect time leaving me with a perfect amount of time visit each city. I am so glad that I was able to plan my trip with Kimkim and I will use them for my next vacation planning.

Jessica was amazing. She managed to understand and follow up with all my requests. This was my first solo trip and I felt safe. I had wonderful guides. Mr Taylor Woo and William were amazing. Had a great vacation.

Hotel Reviews

Lotte City Hotel Jeju

Jeju

I wanted to share some feedback about my hotel experience, as it was unfortunately the only downside of my time in Korea. The hotel lacked room service and didn’t have an onsite restaurant, so I was left with only the convenience store onsite for meals—which wasn’t ideal, especially with the heavy rain preventing me from going out. The TV was outdated (not a smart TV, NO netflix or other apps), with only CNN available for English-speaking guests, and the staff’s limited English fluency made it difficult to get assistance. Additionally, there was a strong, overpowering smell of wood in both the hallways and the rooms, making the environment uncomfortable. I seriously considered changing hotels due to these issues.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

They took my shower cap and didn't replace it. NO hand soap. Only 2 large and medium towels. NO small, face towel.

Grand Josun Busan

Loved the location, the staff, the room and the food!

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Soi Hanock Stay

Gyeongju

Very nice host and very clean! So relaxing!

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

There is no on-site staff. The owner of the house is pretty accessible.

Cleanliness & Comfort

The Westin Josun Seoul

This hotel is great and has an amazing location. I had 2 situations. 1) there was construction and they had to relocate me to another room. 2) In The second room the A/C was not properly working so they had to move me again. Although I had to change rooms three times, the staff was very helpful and acted quickly. They tried to make me feel comfortable and well cared for.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Reviews

Sightsee in Seoul: Gyeongbokgung Palace&Bukchon Hanok Village&N Seoul Tower

Seoul

Mr. Woo was a great guide

Hwadam Botanic Garden&Gwangmyeong Cave tour

Seoul

This was a group tour. They just drop you there and you walk and practically self-guide. If you want to do the Monorail you have to purchase ahead of time since it gets sold out quickly.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Full Day Petite France and Nami Island Tour (join in )

Seoul

Self guided. They just provide transportation.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

We had a fantastic trip to South Korea. Jessica organised everything to perfection, all to our personal needs. Nothing was too much trouble and all our requests were met.
The hotels were good, guides were good and very informative and also happy to change the itinerary on a day if needed.

We would highly recommend Jessica and kimkim.

Jessica was phenomenal in planning our trip. She took into account the regions we wanted to visit and recommended the best locations to stay which made access convenient.

She is very flexible about how involved you need her to be and is willing to work with your budget. Based on our budget, we paid her for the itinerary and did all the booking ourselves. If you don’t have months planning using the lonely planet and feel overwhelmed based on too many options, Jessica is your best bet! She is extremely responsive and even found the address of the trailhead for us middle of our trip when we changed one of the days and the information on the website for the trails was in Korean. I would highly recommend her if you are planning a trip to South Korea!!!

It was my first solo trip, and I chose Korea (Seoul, Busan, and Jeju Island) as my destination. The trip lasted two weeks. It was my first time working with the KimKim agency, and Jessica was my travel agent. She did an amazing job planning and suggesting activities that I would not have thought of doing if I had planned it on my own. She was quick to respond to my needs, especially within the three months’ notice before my departure. Jessica was very accommodating and made changes to the schedule as needed. I liked how the itinerary included a little bit of everything. She organized a variety of activities, from popular tourist attractions like Bukchon Hanok Village, Haeundae Sky Capsule, and Nami Island, to outdoor adventures such as paragliding near Busan, hiking at Bukhansan National Park (highly recommend), and fishing on Jeju Island. All the drivers and guides were punctual and accommodating, ensuring that I was taken to and from the airport, hotel, and my planned activities. Before leaving for my trip, Jessica provided a thorough outline not only of my itinerary but also a mini cheat sheet with what to expect in Korea and useful phrases to learn. Learning these phrases was very helpful, and I used them daily at restaurants and cafes.

1) drivers: very helpful always in time. special mention for Mr Nam.
2) guides: good level of english, helpful and professional, special mention for Jones: veru helpful , nice may be a little too shy
3) hotels: for us OK as center city
gyeongju: price range for budget.
busan: oK for budget visitors. stanford hotel in front is better. foret hotel not indicated for western people. no continental breakfast, only local breakfast machine coffee only no sugar
seoul: stanford location fantastic, suitable for western people. for us most convenient hotels/ stanford and ibis myeongdong.
4) Trip intinerary and informations:
Informations regarding meeting point/time: for older people like us who are not used to handphone better to state in the initial itinerary in order to avoid questions or worries.
- meeting point: usually hotel lobby driver/guide will confirm by sms or whatapps 1 or 2 days before
5) Sky capsule or cable car: not much interest for us as most of us go to ski resort 1/2 a year in the mountains.
6) a little more assistance may be required for shopping fans in Seoul as most of the markets are so huge that we need time to understand the mapping.
We would like to thank Jessica Wang, Alicia Lee and the Ordynovo team for their assistance.

Hotel Reviews

GG Hotel

Gyeongju

Authenticity & Character

nothing special

Location

only interest center city

Staff

Ok for this category

Cleanliness & Comfort

normal

Hotel Foret Premier Nampo (Korea Quality)

Busan

only interest next to BIFF and Jagalchi Market

Authenticity & Character

nothing to remeber of

Location

only interest of this hotel

Staff

normal for this category

Cleanliness & Comfort

budget hotel

Stanford Hotel Myeongdong

room a little small but fanstastic location for shopping. bdget wise good.

Authenticity & Character

normal for tourist people

Location

for shopping

Staff

ok nothing special

Cleanliness & Comfort

ok for this category

Activity Reviews

Half Day Bulguksa and Seokguram Grotto Tour with night view of Donggung Palace and Wolji Pond

Gyeongju

must in Gyeongju

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

OK

Transport

OK

Full Day Seoraksan Tour From Seoul

Seoul

this comment is only for our case: not worth 6 hour car trip for scenery reason.

Quality of Experience

for us: no interest

Guides, Drivers and Staff

nothing special

Transport

6 hour trip

Full Day Haedong Yonggungsa, Sky Capsule, and Traditional Market Tour

Busan

sky capsule or blue line: no interest for us

Quality of Experience

no comments

Guides, Drivers and Staff

no comments

Transport

OK

Full Day Gamcheon Cultural Village, Songdo Sky Walk and Jagalchi Fishery Market Tour

Busan

for us: only jagalchi market and gamcheon of interest

Quality of Experience

ok

Guides, Drivers and Staff

ok

Transport

ok

Full Day Seoul City Tour with Gyeongbokgung Palace and Bukchon Hanok Village

Seoul

OK must in Seoul

Quality of Experience

ok

Guides, Drivers and Staff

ok

Transport

OK

Jessica has provided an outstanding service from planning, booking and following up with us throughout the trip. She provided accurate, on time and detailed information for each day. When we had question, Jessica replied very quick. She always made sure that we received the responses that we needed.

Hotel Reviews

Hotel 28 Myeongdong

Seoul

Beautiful small hotel. Staff are all friendly very attentive and give excellent services. Very comfortable bed. Very clean room and bathroom . The hotel always smelled very nice. Excellent location. One bad comment is the breakfast which has very limited choices for a small luxury hotel, same food was served, not much choices of fruits . Overall I had an enjoyable stay.

Authenticity & Character

Charming

Location

Convenient to walk to shops and restaurants

Staff

Excellent customer services

Cleanliness & Comfort

Bed is super comfy. Room smells very nice. One bad comment is the AC very noisy . We had to turned it off but the it was hot During the night

Lotte City Hotel Jeju

Jeju

Very disappointed for a 4 stars hotel. The check in staff was not friendly and slow. The hotel is old. The restaurant for breakfast is old and need a lot of renovations. The food is not quality and has poor choices . The coffee is awful even Korea is known for good coffee. I don t recommend this hotel to my family and friends.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Lahan Select Gyeongju

Gyeongju

Nice hotel with excellent buffet and beautiful scenery on the lake

Authenticity & Character

It’s a typical big chain hotel. The hotel needs some touch up’s

Location

Great location for a getaway from busy Seoul

Staff

Average service like big hotel chains

Cleanliness & Comfort

It s clean nothing special

SIGNIEL BUSAN

busan

We were lucky to have a corner room on the upper floor with amazing ocean and mountain / city view. The beds are comfy. Room was clean . The breakfast buffet is outstanding I enjoyed very much. I also enjoyed very the lounge for tea, cocktails … The hotel has beautiful infinity swimming pool. Good location for evening walk but it s a bit far away from the shops and center of Busan. Overall I had a good stay I would come back to Signiel. The concierge services staff is outstanding . The check in services need to be more efficiency especially at the 3 o clock check in time when many guests checking in at the same time.

Authenticity & Character

Beautiful hotel

Location

Good location with beach walk

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Reviews

Full Day Seoul City Tour with Gyeongbokgung Palace and Bukchon Hanok Village

Seoul

The visit to the palace and the village was interesting.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Mr. Micky seems knowledgeable. Have a little accent that sometime it was difficult to understand. Overall he gave a very good service

Transport

Full Day Suwon and Yongin Tour From Seoul

Seoul

In my opinion there was not much to see. I did not like the lunch fried chicken . The restaurant is not clean . I did not enjoy the walk to the local market after the lunch, there was nothing to see and it s quite filthy. I do not recommend to spend have these places in the itinerary.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Half Day Gyeongju National Museum and Tumuli Park Tour with Night View

Gyeongju

Beautiful scenery , museum , Very interesting . I enjoyed the explanations provided by Mr. Jade Kim.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Excellent tour guide, fluent in English, Mr. Jade Kim is native from Busan that why he is very knowledgeable of the history and the area . He made sure we enjoyed the visits and learned about Korea history. He was open to accommodate our interests and not sticking to the itinerary.

Transport

Half Day Bulguksa and Seokguram Grotto Tour

Gyeongju

Love love the visit. Highly recommended. The best is the lunch at a local tiny restaurant who makes their own tofu . Thanks Mr. Jade Kim for introducing to us home made cuisine. Most memorable meal.

Quality of Experience

I

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Half Day Gamcheon Village, BIFF Square and Jagalchi Market

Busan

Interesting visits beautiful view of Busan from different spots on the mountain . Excellent lunch with fresh seafood at the fish market. Best fresh abalones, clams that I have never had. Not mentioning the marinated crabs , typical Busan . Another unforgettable meal. Thanks Mr. Jade Kim.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Half Day Busan City Tour with Haedong Yonggungsa Temple

Busan

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Half Day Hyeopjae Beach, Spirited Garden and Green Tea Plantation Tour and Arte Museum

Jeju Island

Another excellent visits in Jeju island. Beautiful beaches. It was interesting and different to discover a beautiful bonsai garden. Mrs Susie gave excellent services and very attentive to make sure we had a good time in Jeju

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Our agent Jessica has been so efficient and professional during our trip. She keeps in touch with us daily and has made our trip flawless and worried free. Thank you Jessica
Our guide in Seoul is very knowledgeable and professional.
Our best guide is Mr Jade Kim , he is very knowledgeable, professional but same time very friendly, he makes our trip so enjoyable, especially when he introduces us to his favorite lunch spots . We love so much tofu restaurant that we still talking about it on our way home , not counting the fish market . Thank you so much Mr Kim .
Ms Suzie in jeju island is so nice that we have adopted her as our younger sister!
Thank you so much for choices of guides.

Hotel Reviews

Hotel 28 Myeongdong

Seoul

Best for location , service , room cleanliness and confort Breakfast is a bit poor in choices.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Best staff , friendly, caring , professional

Cleanliness & Comfort

Modern nice room , mattress so comfortable

Lahan Select Gyeongju

Gyeongju

Great hotel ,amazing choices for breakfast Comfortable room , huge hotel

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

SIGNIEL BUSAN

busan

Best hotel of whole trip

Authenticity & Character

Huge modern hotel , but still manage to make us feel comfortable and homey . We have access lounge, as extra which is absolutely amazing after a long day . We have tried also infinite pool , amazing .

Location

Amazing location , right on beach

Staff

Very professional and helpful

Cleanliness & Comfort

Room is very clean and well situated , we have corner room with view on beach and city . The best !!!

Lotte City Hotel Jeju

Jeju

Not very update hotel

Authenticity & Character

Room is old looking, some furniture is falling apart

Location

Very good location , walking distance to shops and restaurants

Staff

Professional but old staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Reviews

Full Day Seoul City Tour with Gyeongbokgung Palace and Bukchon Hanok Village

Seoul

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Full Day Suwon and Yongin Tour From Seoul

Seoul

We can skip Suwon

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Half Day Gyeongju National Museum and Tumuli Park Tour with Night View

Gyeongju

Good experience, museum interesting, tumuli tour surprising

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Half Day Bulguksa and Seokguram Grotto Tour

Gyeongju

Great visit

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Half Day Gamcheon Village, BIFF Square and Jagalchi Market

Busan

Good visit , interesting visit of old busan , jagalchi market for lunch is a must

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Half Day Busan City Tour with Haedong Yonggungsa Temple

Busan

Busan is general great to visit , so many things to do and see

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Half Day Hyeopjae Beach, Spirited Garden and Green Tea Plantation Tour and Arte Museum

Jeju Island

Visit of beach , spirited garden , Arte museum is great Can skip green tea plantation tour for us,

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

From the planning stage, the service was very good. The attention of our specialist, Jessica, was excellent; very good guidance, suggestions. The location of the hotels they chose was very good.

The drivers and transfers from airport to hotel to airport were good, punctual and without any problems.

We had 3 guides, each one in their own style was very good, attentive, helpful and sharing their country and culture. But I want to highlight our guide in Busan: Jade Kim, her service, her accent, her knowledge, her energy, her suggestions, her guidance, everything was excellent!

Also our master chef in Busan with the cooking class: hee-young Jang, excellent, fun, her space very nice.

And at the end the locals (agency) give us a very nice present from Korea, big thanks!

It is the first time I use Kimkim's service and I will definitely make future plans with them.

Activity Reviews

Full Day Changdeokgung Palace & Bukchon Hanok Village & N Seoul Tower

Seoul

These visits are basic in Seoul, we really enjoyed

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Half Day Golgulsa Temple Stay

Gyeongju

My experince was very nice and funny, but does not feel like a real temple, only for tourists.

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Half Day Gyeongju City Tour

Gyeongju

Historic and very nice city., our guide excelent.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Our guide Jade is excelent, I learn a lot from him

Transport

Full Day Haedong Yonggungsa, Sky Capsule, and Traditional Market Tour

Busan

A perfect day and with our guide suggestions about food and drone show, creat a perfect day

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Half Day Cooking Experience

Busan

A great experience to learn about food, culture and locals. I really recommend the chef and school were great!

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Jeju Western and Southern Routes Sightseeing Day Tour

Jeju Island

We really enjoyed Jeju and the visits and different areas. A very beautiful views and very pleasant place.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Our guide give many suggestions about change itinerary, like trying to skip a visit. I do not feel that like that

Transport

Full Day Korean DMZ and The Hybe Building Tour

Seoul

We like to visit DMZ and have the experience. The HYBE building it seems is close since the end of 2023, permanently.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Our guide give us a nice option because Hybe building was close. and during the visit to DMZ he was always very attentive to us

Transport

Half Day Gamcheon Village, BIFF Square and Jagalchi Market

Busan

We really enjoyed the visit to this area of Busan. We do not have too much time, but our guide give us a great experience and search for great photo locations.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Amazing guide and his english accent is very good.

Transport