Marina Courtaut

Overall, our trip to Italy was wonderful! The information Marina gave us was for the most part very clear and timely and correct. We did experience a few glitches in communication which I will detail in a moment. But, again, overall, the drivers, guides, accommodations, and tours were really very good. The drivers were friendly and spoke English well enough for us to be able to communicate, and in many instances very well! The guides for the tours were well informed and passionate about what they were telling us. I am not good with names and was going to get back on the Trip Plans App to retrieve some of those names, but it won't let me. The Trip Plans App was also very helpful in keeping directions, train tickets, guide names etc all at our fingertips! I liked that very much!
Back to our drivers & guides: Coliseum tour: wonderful guide!! Very engaging! We saw her the next day at the Vatican and she came up to us and spoke for a while. Lovely woman! AnnaMarie may have been her name?
The food tour: Delightful young woman, who conveyed the different vibes of the different areas well!
The cooking class: This was a blast! The chef was a lot of fun even though he didn't speak English! He made himself known, and our translator was fun and engaging with the whole group! I may get a pasta maker because of this class!
Pompeii tour: She was so knowledgeable and interesting to talk with! She really knew the history, and conveyed it well to us. Again I'm so sorry I don't have any names!
Trip to Capri Island: She was wonderful as well! Knowledgeable and fun to chat with about life style and cultural things. I enjoyed her very much!
Florence tour with David: Very good as well. She was personable and informative. There was quite a bit of standing while she spoke and that was a little hard. She knew her stuff about Michelangelo and David though and that showed in the way she spoke about the statue!
Our driver and guide for the 3 Tuscan towns were good too. Friendly and informative! The driver was very accommodating. His name was Johnny! We were ready earlier and he was there and we just started out before the time and changed the order of the towns to be seen. It was a lovely day!
Wine tasting day! Fabulous! I think Matthew was our driver/guides name. Funny, informative, (a little opinionated, but that was ok! We understood where he was coming from even tho we may not have agreed on all his points!) He was a lot of fun and we learned A LOT from him!
Jacob was our driver/guide for what should have been our day to Cinque Terre. The rain kept us away from there which was a great disappointment for me as that was the place I was most looking forward to. We went instead to Lucca and Pisa. The day was sunny but I was sad about not being able to spend the day by the sea. Jacob was excellent as well. He was very knowledgeable about all kinds of things and funny too. Seeing the Marble mountains driving by Carrara was a treat we didn't expect. Very cool!
I think our guide in Venice was "Henry" or the Italian equivalent of Henry! He was delightful as well! Really knew the subject of St Marks Basilica and the Doges palace well. There again, we stood quite a bit and that made us tired. That wasn't his fault tho!
Accommodations were very nice! Capo d/Africa hotel: Lovely, friendly staff. Positano Art hotel: very nice! Concierge there was very helpful and personable! Olympia Hotel in Venice: Super friendly staff!! Very helpful! Mamo apartment was very nice as well. I did call for them to come and fix something in our closet, but they couldn't make that happen. We called for additional toilet paper & trash bags and someone decided that it would be good to deliver them at 22:30! We were all in bed! At first I thought it would be far from the Florence sites but the location grew on me! There were several good restaurants we enjoyed very close to the apartment! Good job! :)
Now the down side of the trip were the following: Communication while in Italy. For the most part it was fine but there were several times that the drivers or guides had my sister-in-law, Julie's number. Julie began the process of planning the trip but had to back out in April, so I took over planning. I don't think Marina communicated with Julie anytime past June, so her number should not have been part of the itinerary. When we booked and had to give all our final information I took Julie's name off the list so it wouldn't be confusing, but it was still in Marina's files. Julie ended up getting several calls from Italy (mainly in the middle of the night!). That was annoying for Julie and frustrating for me as I couldn't get to our guides in a timely fashion. This happened most notably on the Vatican tour. Our guide was late, I believe, to begin with, and didn't use a sign with our name on it. She looked up Julie on facebook to see what she looked like to be able to find us. That obviously didn't work. I don't look like my SIL! :)
The Vatican tour was disappointing too as I had requested going to the Rafael Rooms specifically, and that got overlooked.
The other disappointment was the final day in Rome. We didn't get to go on the Appian Way bike tour because of traffic to the airport hotel. And we didn't get any type of refund for this either.
I think this stemmed from the fact that I had no idea about drive times to and from places. I wish that Marina would have explained drive times to me better. It didn't affect too much of the trip, but this last day we may have changed things around had we know about how long it took to get from the train station to the airport and back to town to take the tour. All we did that day was travel, but it wore us out! Plus day light savings time had just ended so it was getting dark sooner than it had up until that point. That threw us off as well. If Marina had explained to us that, since we wanted to stay at the A/P hotel, that we may be taking on too much, we could have cancelled that activity and saved a little bit of money. We did have a nice relaxing evening together at the hotel on that last night!
Oh! One other suggestion! It would have been helpful to have the name of the tour companies for the tours we were on. We would have then been able to be proactive in finding our guides a little quicker. As it was we were completely dependent on them finding us. Just a thought!
So as you can see we had a "Fantastico" trip to Italy! There were some rough spots, but nothing that would dampen my memories of this trip! I have already recommended KimKim to others planning trips to Europe and Italy in particular! Thank you for listening to me!

Hotel Reviews

Hotel Capo d'Africa—Colosseo

Rome

Good location, friendly staff and the breakfasts included in the stay were very tasty!

Authenticity & Character

rooftop breakfast and bar in the evenings!

Location

walkable to historic attractions

Staff

Very friendly and helpful

Cleanliness & Comfort

No problems!

Art Hotel Pasitea

Positano

Lovely hotel! Concierge was super helpful in restaurant selection! He really seemed to enjoy seeing us when we'd come by the front desk!

Authenticity & Character

Fun artwork all over the place here!

Location

Beautiful views! Gorgeous

Staff

Very friendly staff and helpful. Spoke English well for us, which we appreciated!

Cleanliness & Comfort

Lovely rooms. Could have had a few more hooks, shelves & storage cabinets. A mini frig would have been nice too!

Mamo Florence Apartment

Firenze

Not as far from the Florence attractions as I initially thought but we did have to do a good bit of walking, which isn't bad! The staff was mostly accommodating to some of our needs. They couldn't come fix a closet issue, and brought us extra toilet paper and trash bags at 22:30! That was late for us Americans! We were in bed already! I would suggest having instructions for things like the coffee maker, washer/dryer & dishwasher. Letting us know what the checkout process was, and what to do with the trash would have been helpful too. Maybe having an information sheet with restaurants, markets, pharmacies etc would have been nice too. The lock for the door was something none of us had ever seen so that was a challenge initially but we got used to it! Overall a nice place to stay!

Authenticity & Character

City feel

Location

Good . Maybe could have been a little closer to town.

Staff

22:30 for delivery? not the best.

Cleanliness & Comfort

It was fine and clean and comfortable!

Activity Reviews

Colosseum & Roman Forum Visit: Arena Access, Gladiators Gate & Ancient City

Rome

Learned a lot! Lovely guide

Quality of Experience

learned a lot

Guides, Drivers and Staff

she was very engaging

Transport

we walked there!

La Dolce Vita: Private Golf Cart in Rome

Rome

Loads of fun! Guide was great and drove us all over the place! He was very knowledgeable and explained a lot of history & culture to us! He was losing his voice and we felt bad about that. a microphone would have help us and him out a bunch!

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

so fun and a little scary on the streets of Rome! We had a lot of fun!

Day Excursion to Capri Island and Anacapri

Italy

Started out rainy but turned into a lovely sunny day! Really enjoyed the Funicular and the chair lift to the top of Anacapri!

Quality of Experience

Our guide was very personable and helpful

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Enjoyed our guide very much

Transport

I thought we would get to ride a hover craft out but we didn't get to That was the only downside. Funicular, Chairlift,ride over the MamaMia bridge! Very memorable

Day Excursion to Pompeii & Hercolanum

Italy

Fascinating to learn all the details of these ancient cities!

Quality of Experience

very informative.

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Excellent! She knew her stuff and could convey it well to us!

Transport

Our driver to and from Pompeii/Positano was very conversational!

Guided Visit: Vatican Museums & Sistine Chapel

Rome

Interesting place. Lots of people. Didn't find our guide for about half an hour. It was beautiful but felt herded like cattle through the Sistine Chapel. Didn't get to see the Rafael Room which was on my list.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

She was passionate about the artwork she was telling us about

Transport

The driver to the Vatican was fine.

Italian Cooking Class with a Local

Rome

So fun! Loved this event! Made pasta and an appetizer and were served plenty of wine in the process! Friendly Chef, translator and staff too!

Quality of Experience

Engaging staff! Wine! Yummy food! Fun Chef!

Food

Great food! So fun!

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Enthusiasm, outgoing personality!

Transport

the driver got us there! It was fine!

Guided Visit of Florence Including David and Duomo

Florence

Good tour. Lots of information. Lots of standing which is hard sometimes! We did walk a lot though too!

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

We walked and met her at the designated point.

Chianti Wine Half-Day Experience

Florence

So fun! Really enjoyed the wine, luncheon an both wineries! The guide was very friendly and talkative as well (I talked about him in my overall review

Quality of Experience

Food

Delicious! Italian lunch and olive oil and wine! Who could ask for anything more!

Guides, Drivers and Staff

friendly funny knowledgeable

Transport

driver was our guide! Good!

Day Trip to Siena, San Gimignano & Monteriggioni

Florence

Fun day driving through the Tuscan countryside!

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Our driver was super friendly and helpful! He told all sorts of things about the area. Our guide in Sienna was good too! She enjoyed her town and liked telling people about it!

Transport

Driver was great!

Day Excursion to Cinque Terre

Florence

Did not go to Cinque Terre because of rain. Very disappointing to me! We did go to Lucca and Pisa. It was sunny but didn't make up for not being able to see the sea!

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Our driver Jacob made the best of a bad situation. He was super friendly and explained a lot of things to us driving down the highways to our destinations!

Transport

Driver was excellent!

We started with a rough itinerary and Marina really helped us fine tune the details. The local guides were fantastic and provided much more context to the sights and areas than we would have gotten just from the guide books. We will definitely rely on kimkim in the future and highly recommend them.

Hotel Reviews

Hotel Spa Adealba

Mérida

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Hotel Meninas

Madrid

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Hotel Alcázar

Seville

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Hotel YIT Casa Grande

Jerez de la Frontera

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Anahita Boutique Hotel

Málaga

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Hotel Montelirio

Ronda

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Hotel Viento10

Córdoba

Authenticity & Character

Location

973-384-0265

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Hotel Reina Cristina

Granada

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Reviews

Hiking Excursion in the Andalusia Countryside

Spain

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Privately Guided Visit of Mérida

Mérida

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Flamenco Experience

Spain

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Visit an Andalusian Olive Oil Estate

Seville

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Guided Visit: Alhambra & Generalife Gardens

Granada

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Private Guided Visit of Córdoba

Córdoba

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Guided Visit of Madrid: History, Culture & Architecture of the Capital of Spain

Madrid

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Train Madrid to Toledo, Guided Visit of Toledo, Train Toledo to Madrid

Madrid

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Private Guided Visit of Seville

Seville

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Privately Guided Visit of Málaga

Málaga

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Great vacation and Marina did a great job planning it for us. She was very receptive to requested changes and was always available to answer any questions I had. Our tour covered Lisbon, Evora, Coimbra & Porto. She gave us ideas of things to see, places to eat and general information of each city. Loved it all.

Our Pintxos tour in Bilbao was a great start to our Spanish adventure , then we went off to Rioja for a winery tour with Itziar - she really knew the local wineries! Reza was an amazing guide to the Prado museum in Madrid - very knowedgeable! Train tickets were ready at hand for our train trips - amazing trains in Spain. Tour of Alhambra in Grenada was very special - amazing mashup of cultures. In Seville, the market tour and cooking class were both a treat to experience. The trip planning app was very easy to use - great to have all the info and tickets in one place.

Hotel Reviews

Hotel Ercilla de Bilbao

Bilbao, Bizkaia

great location - easy walk to the Guggenheim.

Authenticity & Character

Location

location to the Guggenheim

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Hotel Viura

Villabuena de Alava

lovely hotel - interesting artwork. .

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

7 Islas Hotel

Madrid

nice location in a nice part of Madrid - right next to a pedestrian street with shopping and tapas bars.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Hotel U-Sense Granada Centro

Granada

located on a square - with an artisan craft market! nice surprise. Terrace on 5th floor was a quiet retreat with a lovely view of Alhambra.

Authenticity & Character

Location

artisan market in the square, nice resto's around the square

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Sacristia de Santa Ana

Seville

interesting interior design

Authenticity & Character

Location

a bit far from the places we were going to - had to taxi over walking. but located on nice pedestrian street with restos. Breakfast was at a resto a few doors away rather than in the hotel.

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Hotel Meninas

Madrid

ANother great location for us. Best rooms of the trip - our room had a small lounge room.

Authenticity & Character

Location

just steps from the Opera Metro station

Staff

Helpful and made us a resto reservation.

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Reviews

The Best of Pintxos Gastronomy Experience

Bilbao

Tour was fab - went to about 5 Pinxtos bars in a few different areas - had cidre and wine with a variety of types of pinxtos. So interesting to see the city at night with lots of families playing in the square (it was a Saturday night).

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Private La Rioja Wine Day Trip

Spain

Our guide picked us up at our hotel - and led us on a fascinating tour of local vineyards, tossing in bits of history about the vintners, the families, and the grapes used. Also had lunch in a local resto with local food ( and wine!).

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Guided Visit of Museo del Prado with Art Historian

Madrid

OUr guide, Reza, was exceptionally knowledgeable about the art and the artists in the Prado. He led us on a tour where we saw a sampling of Spanish ( and other) art in the Prado - we went all over the different areas!

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Train Madrid to Toledo, Guided Visit of Toledo, Train Toledo to Madrid

Madrid

Train ride was very pleasant. Our guide met us at the station, grabbed a taxi (eventually) and we went off for a drive around the city before doing a walking tour.

Quality of Experience

Guide did not have all of the info about what was expected to be seen during the walking tour. e.g. we were to visit a sword making workshop - it wasn't in his list. However he did contact someone and arranged for us to see the workshop (the last one in Toledo) and we enjoyed that very much.

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

When we arrived, there wasn't a car waiting - it took about 20 minutes for one to be arranged.

Flamenco Show in a Sacromonte Cave

Granada

Flamenco show in a cave - fabulous! Dancers, singers and a guitarist were all very talented.

Quality of Experience

very classic traditional style of Flamenco

Guided Visit: Alhambra & Generalife Gardens

Granada

Small group tour of Alhambra ( about 12 in group) - guide provided insight and history into the tour that we wouldn't have received if on our own.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Private Transfer {{start_location}} to {{end_location}} via Ronda & the White Villages

Spain

Private driver took us through a part of Spain that I didn't know much about. Scenery was magnificent - the mountains, the valleys, and the olive groves. Spent a hour in Ronda, and then 2 hours in Grazalema, and then stopped at a lookout in the mountains. Bonus: Blood and Love Festival was in Grazalema - a re-enactment of a historical event from 1832.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Driver didn't speak much English, so wasn't able to tell us much about the countryside we went thru, or what to see/do in either Ronda or Grazalema. He wasn't aware of the stop to see the lookout for the vultures, but we were able to direct him to it.

Transport

Van was comfortable.

Traditional Andalusian Market Visit & Cooking Class

Seville

Market tour took us to a selection of vendors selling traditional products - jamon, cheese, spices. Cooking class was the star of the event!

Quality of Experience

Chef was very personable and provided insights into everyday Spanish cuisine. Market tour : would have been good to have some samples ready for tasting at the different vendors.

Food

Chef showed tips for food prep, and made it seem easy to do. Definitely will try the recipes.

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Private Guided Visit of Seville

Seville

Walking tour of main highlights of Seville, covered a lot of areas.

Quality of Experience

Marina was wonderful to work with, she listened and really captured all the best adventures for our first trip to Portugal. When we had to make adjustments - we really appreciated her understanding and patience. Marina and her team were very accessible leading up to and during our trip. The entire trip was great! The best parts were our private boat trip on the Douro River in the Douro Valley and our private day trip to Sintra and the Atlantic Coast of Lisbon with tour guide "Nuno". I can't wait to plan our next trip and I will highly recommend KimKim to my friends.

We had a wonderful trip around Spain from Madrid through Rioja region to San Sebastian and Barcelona. We really enjoyed the recommendations made by our Kimkim guide Marina in each city, the restaurant recommendations came in especially handy! Each of our guides for various tours were wonderful. Manuel gave us a unique tour of Toledo that allowed us to see old hidden caves. In Rioja, Itziar provided us with a wealth of knowledge about wine and we loved the ability to have more private tastings at smaller vineyards. Jaime gave us a wonderful tour of some smaller towns along the Basque coast.

Activity Reviews

Tapas Culinary Experience

Madrid

This was a very fun activity and we thought the guide was fun and engaging! It is a good activity to meet other travelers as well.

Quality of Experience

Food

Good variety of food and good amount of food and drinks!

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Private La Rioja Wine Day Trip

Spain

We loved getting to do wine tastings in an intimate setting. It was also nice to tour smaller production wines and try some unique wines in addition to the traditional Rioja varietals. We also enjoyed getting to learn about the grapes and vines during harvest season!

Quality of Experience

Food

Our guide took us to a great local restaurant for lunch

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

San Sebastian Pintxo Experience

San Sebastián

This was one of our favorite activities because we had a great guide and fun small group. Additionally, each of the pintxos we tried were delicious. Our guide Sarah was very sweet and prepared a further paper guide with recommendations for pintxos and things to do in San Sebastian

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Gastronomy & Wine Tour with a Sommelier

Barcelona

Our guide in Barcelona was fun to walk around with and learn about different wines from all around Spain. She took us to lovely, less touristy part of Barcelona for samplings of a variety of different wine and food pairings.

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Train Madrid to Toledo, Guided Visit of Toledo, Train Toledo to Madrid

Madrid

We had a lovely day being shown around Toledo. From driving around town for panoramic views to walking through various parts of town to tour old underground caves and churches, we really enjoyed the entire day with our guide.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

We had an amazing time on our trip the Barcelona and the island of Mallorca. Marina took all of our likes and planned it all. Hiking, biking a Catalan and beaches. I have to say the Trips Plan app was great. It provided loads of directions, suggestions and a chat in case of any questions or complications. Both of our hotels were very nice. In Mallorca in was nestled in a nice small bay that was simply beautiful. Highly recommend Marina.

Hotel Review

Hoposa Niu

C/ Cala Barques 5

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Reviews

Hiking the Tramuntana Mountains - Village Tour

Mallorca

Quality of Experience

Beautiful sites and visit a small town up in the mountain

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Guided Visit of Barcelona by Bike

Barcelona

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Tapas Walk in Barcelona

Barcelona

Fun evening walking around Barcelona and eating Tapas at local establishment’s

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Day Excursion to Montserrat & Scenic Hike

Barcelona

Nice visit to Montserrat and the hike around it

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

We had some amazing top notch guides. Natasha. Paulo Emmanuelle and others. Everything was well planned All guides showed up on time. Courteous. Knowledgeable. Helpful.

We weren’t thrilled with hotel in Lisbon. Location was superb. Hotel was ok. All other hotels were perfect

Marina planned the perfect family trip. Ending in the azores was brilliant. Any concerns I had were answered promptly.

I will recommend kimkim to everyone