Liz Chreist

Liz and the KimKim team did a fabulous job planning our first trip to France. Liz worked with me through several iterations and connected my phone to ensure she was providing the experience we were looking for. She helped develop a very diverse 10-day trip throughout France, ensuring the places we wanted to hit - Nice, Paris, Normandy - where included and then some! Liz was always so responsive - even after our return when I had a question! She even sent some goodies - stickers and a water bottle, after I booked as the trip was a gift. She even sent a hand written thank you card upon our return, such a nice touch especially when things feel so automated or less personalized.
The trip was wonderful. We especially enjoyed Champagne country, Giverny and seeing Monet's breathtaking gardens, paying our respect and learning more about history on the Normandy trip/tour, and really enjoyed the dinner cruise on the Seine. Southern France was great and so different than the north and Paris. We especially enjoyed the private tour guide we had with Lucy to see Antibes, Cannes and more. We're glad one of our day excursions also included Monaco - although that day felt more rushed and more checking in quickly to Ez, Monaco, etc - it was very brief in each area - 1 hour is all. The hotel in Nice as nice as well as Paris; however in hindsight, given where our meeting locations were in Paris for the various excursions, we wish we had a hotel that was closer to the meeting locations - especially when several days called for 6:30/6:45 am meet ups. With our hotel not being near the metro and such early times, we ended up using cabs and probably added another $250 to our trip in all the cab rides - including from the Paris hotel to the airport , which wasn't included in our other transportation. The cost for the Versailles and Giverny excursion was very expensive and wouldn't do it again, but glad we got to see the area. Our favorite excursions was the Champagne country, Normandy, private tour guide in Nice, Antibes and Cannes and the Seine dinner cruise. We were disappointed in the Notre Dame tour - the tour guide was lovely and we learned a lot, but for the money and time, all we did was walk around the exterior....it noted a tour and we were so happy given that Notre Dame had just reopened , then to find out that if we wanted to go inside we'd have to get in line which was wrapping around and a few miles long.
We enjoyed France and found everyone very kind and welcoming. Thank you for helping to create such a memorable experience!

Activity Reviews

Champagne Region Day Trip with Tastings

Paris

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Louvre Murders & Mysteries Experience

Paris

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Jet lagged and new to Paris, would have been preferred to have a cab or transport lined up for ease and to reduce some stress - the hotel staff was helpful and helped us secure a cab

Private Notre-Dame & Sainte-Chapelle Visit

Paris

Expected a bit more - travel guide was wonderful and enjoyed Sainte Chapelle, but Notre Dame was underwhelming and disapointing to not see anything but the outside (not a lot of value as we could have just walked there and saw it on our own and saved hundreds of dollars, frankly).

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

None and had to navigate on our own, not horrible

Seine River Gourmet Dinner Cruise with Live Music

Paris

Quality of Experience

Transport

Really a neat experience!

Giverny & Palace of Versailles: Art, Royalty & Gardens

Paris

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Driver was more of a driver and didn't go into too much until we got to Versailles

Transport

Private French Riviera Sunset Electric Cruise (with private transfer)

Nice

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Full-Day Tour from Paris: D-Day Beaches Exploration

Paris

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Grand Riviera Journey: Eze, Monaco, Antibes & Cannes Excursion

Nice

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Full Day Exploration of Antibes, St-Paul-de-Vence and Cannes

Nice

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Lucy was great!!!

Transport

loved having a private excursion - able to customize and really learn more about the area

Self-Guided Beach Day

Nice

we needed a "free day" :)

Quality of Experience

Overall, the arrangements were excellent. The hotel was lovely and as long as folks are walkers like us, it’s well located. Otherwise, folks would be taking taxi or Metro which is fine too if they are comfortable with that.

Tours:
• Saturday - Walking/eating tour. Nathan was very personable, knowledgeable, with good sense of humor, coped well with our request to speak in French and we enjoyed the tour. Good introduction to the city. Food stops were great. Just two other people with us on that tour, a local French couple who don’t come into the big city too often and were delightful company.

• Sunday- we were on our own and walked and walked trying to find the market which turned out to be a long, uphill walk. The market was colorful and full of fresh veggies/fruits mostly. There was a large portion of the area that was dedicated to carnival rides, attractions and fair food. Because it was Sunday the area was full of young families enjoying the day. It was interesting, we saw a lot of the city but we probably needed to do more research to focus our day.

• Monday- E-bike, 4-hour tour. Bruno, our guide, was wonderful. He does need to know when to stop talking about politics but otherwise, sensitive to our needs, knowledgeable about the city and its history, architecture and best views. Despite the separate bike and pedestrian paths, construction and vehicle barriers and city traffic made navigating on an unfamiliar bike challenging. We would say that one needs more than a passing level of skill with an E-bike. The beautiful park Tete D’Or with bike avenues was much easier. The choices were either 2- or 4-hr tours and only 3 of us chose the 4-hour tour. We did the food stop, warmed up (it was cold and rainy); then Bruno suggested we take the funicular to the Basilica due to rain (ponchos included with the bike) and the steep climb; the rest of the tour was on foot. Bruno showed us the gorgeous church upstairs and down providing lots of details about the history. Our tour ended up being a total of six hours. Though we loved the tour, we were flagging by the end and had to walk the whole way down because the funicular was closed for repairs.

Our guide Francois
One common denominator of our last two tours, both of which were private, was the outstanding skill of our guide, Francois. He bore up so well under our fledgling efforts to speak French, he shared his passion of the subject(s) and he shared immense amounts of history, culture, architecture as well as knowledge and appreciation for French local wines. Those last two days in Lyon were so valuable and enjoyable because of his gentlemanly manner and broad knowledge.

• Tuesday - French Resistance Tour 4-hour private tour.(it was reported in our itinerary to be a 3-hour tour though we were happy to spend four hours on the subject) This is a “don’t miss” tour because the history of the war years, the valor of the French citizens who sought to defy their occupiers and the cause of the French republic is a Lyon story that we all should know.

• Wednesday - Beaujolais and Burgundy wine tour. Previously we did not have a good impression of Beaujolais wine, perhaps because of drinking only Beaujolais Nouveau in the past. We’ll look for Beaujolais now that we’ve tasted wonderful examples. As we drove further north, the wines were more interesting to us, Chateau Pierreclos was fabulous, for the chateau itself and, of course, the wines. Our last stop was Burgundy white wines that were fabulous. The variety of wineries- small, family run with the tasting led by the owner, the chateau with its wonderful buildings and welcoming staff (red and white wines) and the more modern looking Nadine Ferrand -Le vin au feminin, with the tasting led by the owner’s daughter and ending with its Premier Cru white wine - was excellent and a totally enjoyable day.

My Wife and I spent 7 days in France with the help of Liz, our Travel Specialist, and the Operations Team. We were very happy with KimKim and our trip. Liz had several great ideas on how to organize and improve our agenda. The contractors hired by KimKim to transport us and guide us were top-notch. In the south, we spent a day with a guide visiting Eze and Monaco as well as the Rothschild Ville. Theo, our Guide, was excellent in his knowledge, affability, and well-connected to get us in places and reservations for lunch, etc.. His knowledge of the area was excellent, and he was very patient with our questions.

Later, we traveled without hick-up to Paris on the TGV trains. Once again pick-up service was flawless, and we started the Paris portion of our trip with a dinner cruise on the Seine River. We had KimKim hire guides for a tour of Notre-Dame and Sainte-Chapelle. We were again extremely pleased with the guide and his knowledge. These guides are worth every penny as they make the experience so much richer. No way we could have had half the experience without their local knowledge and historical context.

My only minor correction or suggestion was the seating assignments on the river cruise. The seats were a little tight and would have preffered a better spot on the boat.

Thanks again to Liz and the Ops Team for taking such good care of us.

The App we used, as well as the personalized Tips Video of our Trip, and all the care and attention during our trip were spot on. Not over or underdone.

Best Regards,
David Faber

My husband and I travelled with another over 70’s couple to the south of France (Côte d’Azur)
using Nice as our main home base. We wanted to focus on art and great food and suggested
several ideas to Kimkim who ran with our requests. They did an outstanding job coordinating
our drivers for each adventure as well as our hotels and walking and boat tours in all of the
towns we visited. Kimkim’s timing for each activity was perfectly orchestrated without a hitch.
Their team responded immediately all during the trip if we had questions or concerns.
Our 3 central hubs were Nice, Aix-en-Provence and Marseille. Of the 3 hotels we stayed in
during the 10 day trip, the Aquabella Hotel and Spa in Aix-en-Provence was by far our favorite.
Each hotel was centrally located per our request.
On several days we were driven to various nearby hill towns such as Eze (Fragonard factory),
Monaco (stunning Ephrussi de Rothchild Mansion and gardens), St. Tropez and Cassis (not to be
missed!). We requested an extra side trip to Saint-Paul-de-Vence to visit the Maeght Gallery
which was one of the highlights of our trip. We even had one day when our driver, Donato
realized there was a triathalon in St. Tropez and that it would have been impossible to get to
the town. Kimkim changed our itinerary so that we wouldn't miss St. Tropez.
One highlight was our day with Rosa the chef at Les Petits Farcis cooking school, who first led us
on a tour of the local market and then guided us through cooking all aspects of a meal. Frankly,
the meal we cooked with her was one of our best of the entire trip and that is saying a lot since
the food all during the trip was quite good.
All of our guides from A la Francais were equally charming and informative: Mohamed who paid
careful attention to the late arrival of our planes in Nice, Brigitte who toured us brilliantly
through the history of old Nice, and Donato, with whom we spent the most time touring many
hill towns. Donato spoke in depth about all that we were experiencing as he drove us to special
small villages including in the Luberon. All of his recommendations were perfect for us. He
even surprised us with some special views of Mont Saint Victoire as he drove us from Aix-en-
Provence to Marseille.
Other highlights in Nice were the Chagall Museum and the Matisse Museum which featured all
the preparatory drawings for the Stations of the Cross which we then saw at the Matisse Chapel
when we visited Vence. Our sunset electric cruise was relaxing and beautiful as we learned
about the new electric boat kits. Kimkim arranged this for us as well as the boat tour of the
Calanques National Park (think fijords). We'd never heard of this magnificent place and were
thrilled to have experienced it by boat.
In short, Kimkim did an outstanding job arranging our trip. They were also available and
responsive during the trip, including some last minute scheduling changes. We really enjoyed
the experiences they recommended. They were a pleasure to work with, and their "platform"
was easy to use and quite helpful.

All five stars… except the following which we submit to help both KimKim and your future customers:
Transfer from airport to hotel was perfect. Hotel wonderful, quirky and close to the train station. Tell your customers to learn the train early to avoid pricy taxis.
While waiting for the hotel to be ready, we walked to the Big Bus and did a two hour lap around Paris. Excellent. But the hotel was not ready for us so we sat way too long. If I hadn’t been a bit pushy we might still be waiting! Finally we got a room at past three PM. They promised us noon!
Louvre and Notre Dame in one day was too much. Guide Ed was absolutely fantastic. Use him as often as you can.
Trip to Versailles was ok. We have seen palaces before and this one was similar. However the guide had too many people and she was often talking French to other people so our ear pieces were confusing. Back to Paris for a brief moment before dinner at Eiffel’s place. Fantastic. But you could suggest customers not flash the pink ticket to get off the elevator at the first stop and go to two for free for a couple of minutes. Then back to one for first rate dinner and view.
Transfers from hotel to train and from train to new hotel went well.
Hotel in Arramoush (sp) beautiful and we thank you for adding the breakfast. Both excursion trips were good and the free day on Sunday was a welcome break but a great day. Transfer to ferry went well and the driver helped us to the check in area. He received our last 5 Euro note!
We arrived in England broke! But found our hotel and an ATM.
I forgot to comment on Champagne; great tour. Great guide.
D-Day tour was great. But arrival time for lunch was so late, all restaurants were closed/soldout.
Mount St Michael has over 300 stairs and we are both still sore! Guide, Lou, was very good and interesting (and a cutie).
Thanks, Liz. We appreciate everything you did.
When in Southampton, or anywhere probably, don’t use MOXY by Marriott. Room smaller than a cruise cabin. No shelves, storage, phone, safe. Also no A/C!

Hotel Reviews

Hotel OFF Paris Seine 4*

Paris

Fantastic views. Waving to the dinner boats as they went by was fun. Slightly disappointed that they didn’t have our room ready. At 9:30 they promised noon and even advised that the previous guests had already checked out. We napped by the pool and finally were invited to our room at 3:15 PM. Extremely long day as we flew overnight and were in France at 6 AM. Excellent breakfast three days but missed one day because our Champagne tour started early.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Les Villas d'Arromanches

Arromanches-les-Bains

We thought the commute to the meeting place in Bayaux was inconvenient but we are so lucky to have stayed in Arromanches. The hotel was fantastic. The breakfast excellent (except the day we checked out very early). Having a Sunday without plans worked out well. The 360 movie at the far end of town was excellent and tied together all of the D-Day sites we visited. Big lunches and light dinner was the plan most days.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Reviews

Free Day in Paris

Paris

Big Bus on our own. Pretty good way to see everything in order to plan the rest of the stay.

Private Louvre Museum Visit

Paris

Pricy taxi but once we found Ed, all was excellent. His guidance through the ancient Egyptian displays was top notch. He made sure we saw the “big three”. Venus de Milo, Mona Lisa, and a horse with an angel on it.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Ed is attentive to our needs and pace.

Transport

Learn the train!

Private Notre-Dame & Sainte-Chapelle Visit

Paris

Long line at Saints-Chapelle so we skipped it. Long line at Notre Dame but worth it. Again Ed’s knowledge was great. Ed also found us a lovely restaurant for lunch in between and came back to pick us up prior to Notre Dame.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Versailles Essentials – Half-Day Tour

Paris

No rest room at the meeting point. Then long bus ride with many groups. Our guide was talking non stop to others as well as us. The free time in the gardens was good.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Eiffel Tower Madame Brasserie Dinner

Paris

Dinner of a lifetime. Note that the ground floor meeting place looks closed until check in time when the blinds rise. Be in that line. Then go up and don’t get off at the first stop. Have a quick look at the second stop and come back down for the dinner reservation. Window view is well worth it.

Quality of Experience

Food

Champagne Region Day Trip with Tastings

Paris

Long taxi to the meeting play. But the restaurant was open for breakfast. Scope out the others in the group because we split into two groups for the rest of the day. Small winery was absolutely fantastic. Informative and very good quality Champagne. Visit to Reims Notre Dame was good. Big winery was a bit overwhelming. Quick stop at Dom P’s grave was interesting and a scenic stop later on was nice. Very good lunch somewhere. Donna may have pictures to help identify.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Wish bus had a toilet.

Omaha & Utah Beach War History Day Trip

Bayeux

This is why we came! Guide was extremely good. Great stories. Enough time at each stop. We cried at the cemetery. And prayed at the chapel. Guide took special interest in helping us find anything to do with the USS Nevada. We located a plaque at Utah Beach saying the ship was 5.6 miles off shore. Great history. The last stop at a church that was used by the medics was a great story/coincidence. One problem was our lunch break was very late and none of the restaurants could seat us. Terrible “club sandwich” was thick stale bread and thin slices of dry ham/cheese.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Mont-Saint-Michel Day Trip

Bayeux

Long drive but interesting. (We all slept on the return trip!) Lou was a great guide. She told us good stories and lied to us about just how many more steps! Note; this is hard on 71 year old people with aches and pains already.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Lou was a cutie!

Transport

Fantastic trip plan put together by Liz and her team, we enjoyed all of the tours! We made some incredible memories, met some nice people and had some delicious food.

Prior to our trip, we appreciated going over the itinerary with Liz, who had a lot of tips for maximizing our stay. She had ideas for nearly every activity.
The hotel location was excellent!
In country, the local guides were great. We met a new local every day, and each was so kind and tailored the activity to us.

Hotel Review

Citadines Saint-Germain-des-Prés

Paris

Excellent location, walkable to many museums and historic sites. It’s surrounded by great places to eat. Each room has a small kitchen, so there’s no on-site restaurant. There are complementary beverages and vending machines in the lobby, and there’s a small gym with a few machines and free weights.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Walkable to many popular tourist sites

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Reviews

Versailles Bike Tour

Paris

Our guide was so caring, knowledgeable, and fun! We met him in Versailles and started the day with tasting and shopping in the market for our picnic lunch. After a quick stop at the bike rental shop, we set out for the gardens at a leisurely pace (most of the bikes lacked gears), stopping frequently to check in and explain about the area. After leading the group through the forest and around a pond, he took us through the Grand Trianon, and then let us explore the Petit Trianon and Marie’s Hamlet on our own.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Self-Guided Champs-Elysées Discovery Walk

Paris

Lots to see, ranging from gardens to shopping

Quality of Experience

Private Seine River Cruise

Paris

So relaxing! A great way to wind down the day

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Arc de Triomphe - Self-guided Tour (tickets only)

Paris

Amazing view from an iconic place

Private French Revolution Walking Tour For All Ages

Paris

Our guide gave us an excellent overview of the city, not just the Revolution.

Louvre Quest for Teens

Paris

Excellent way to see the highlights, as the Louvre is vast

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Private Notre-Dame & Sainte-Chapelle Visit

Paris

Our guide took a perfectly-paced slow tour through Saint Chapelle, pointing out details in the stained glass, the architecture, and changes through its history

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Liz and Greg and Diliana, were great to work with. I worked with Liz the most and she answered ALL of my questions, and addressed ALL my concerns. I told her exactly what I wanted, and she was able to come up with a plan and also changed it when needed. The guides we had were great as well, in addition to the lodging and wineries! Just as a heads up, chateau de pizay where we stayed was beautiful but it is, its on entity. Meaning you will need to take a cab into town if you want to eat at different restaurants. But the winery and vineyards there are lovely! And Paris was great too and a change of pace in our trip. Ending with a trip to Champagne, was great as well. This trip is best for wine lovers, unless you want to experience the calmness, of the countryside of France.

Hotel Reviews

Château de Pizay

Belleville-en-Beaujolais

The chateau was great! But if you want a variety of restaurants you will need to take a cab into town, which cost about 20euros. The chateau almost looks like like a storybook with the vineyards and garden. You can also wine taste at the winery, at the chateau which was nice! It’s calm and peaceful! And had it been a little warmer I would have taken advantage of the pool!

Authenticity & Character

To me it’s the epitome of a château.

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Hôtel A La Villa des Artistes

Paris

This is an authentic European hotel, the rooms are not big, but the location of the hotel is nice, and there was breakfast every morning. The hotel is away from the tourist area, but not far, therefore the restaurants around were good and not “touristy.” Locals were all around, which is nice! Also it is not a big hotel, very cozy!

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Reviews

Private Beaujolais Wine Route Experience

Lyon

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Free Day in Paris

Paris

Quality of Experience

Free time for Shopping: Best Shopping Areas in Paris 🛍️

Paris

Quality of Experience

Champagne Region Day Trip with Tastings

Paris

Just go and take it all in, it was great! And visiting the more family owned house versus the larger champagne houses, was nice as well.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

From the beginning of planning until the last day of the trip we were treated very well and given the experience we were looking for .
There were a couple of hiccups while in the trip that were dealt with very quickly. All of the hotels and tours were great .
The most surprising to me was the incredible small town of Les Baux des Provence . The hotel was amazing and the actual town like something out of a fairy tale .
Thanks to Greg , Dianne and Diliana for all the help and a trip we will never forget