Michele Bardasi

Michele did an incredible job organizing a jammed pack itinerary (at my request) for our 8 day first visit to Iceland. He asked for my input, stuck within my budget, offered suggestions I never knew were possible. He replied to me very quickly when I reached out during my trip with a question. We had an amazing time because of his guidance. I cannot begin to thank Michele anc KIMKIM enough. What a wonderful experience and I will use KK again for another trip, no question. Highly recommend the company and Michele!!

Hotel Reviews

Fosshotel Baron

Reykjavík

Room was basic but slept 5 people and had a private bathroom. The breakfast buffet was decent. The staff were super friendly. The location is awesome.

Authenticity & Character

The rooms were nothing special.

Location

Perfect location in Reykjavik, within walking distance to all the inner city things we wanted to check out.

Staff

Super pleasant, friendly and helpful.

Cleanliness & Comfort

Clean for sure. Room was lacklustre but slept 5 and had a private bath so bonus for that.

Hotel Kanslarinn

Hella

Overall nothing to look twice at. More verging on hostel territory than hotel but the staff were great. Restaurant on site looks like a complete dive, but it was probably one of our best dinners. We tried the horse steak and it was pretty good! The included breakfast was just okay.

Authenticity & Character

clean with private washrooms but that’s about it.

Location

It was on our route around the country so the location fit that requirement.

Staff

Food in the restaurant was great. All staff we crossed paths with were super friendly.

Cleanliness & Comfort

Hotel Laki

Kirkjubæjarklaustur

Nice enough hotel. We got to see the northern lights here. Dinner buffet was not good, and cost us about $60 CAD per person because there was no other option for food. The dinner was a huge disappointment. They had the rooftop area closed because there were too many Filipinos staying at the hotel. Yes, that was the exact comment to us. We were told we could go up on the roof by one staff member and then another staff member was so rude and ignorant when we asked for directions to the roof top viewing area. The same staff member was a complete witch the next day as well when we crossed paths with her. When I mentioned her behaviour to some awesome staff members it was confirmed she was the owner so ya…wouldn’t recommend this hotel.

Authenticity & Character

Location

How about letting your customers have access to the things you advertise instead of closing stuff off to punish other customers.

Staff

Everyone with the exception of the tall skinny European looking Olive Oyl were great. She was rude and ignorant.

Cleanliness & Comfort

Árnanes Country Hotel

Höfn

We loved this hotel! It was clean, fresh, updated and had good personality. Pinny (?), the owner (?) was so fun to talk with. Great man. It was a great location on our road trip. He offered restaurant suggestions as the restaurant onsite was seasonal, not opening until May.

Authenticity & Character

fresh, Clean updated little cottage line rooms.

Location

Perfect out on road trip route. Dark enough around to help see northern lights.

Staff

Pinny, I hope I spelled that right, was AWESOME!

Cleanliness & Comfort

Berjaya Hotel Herad

Egilsstadir

Beautiful, modern hotel. Very helpful and friendly staff. Good location, good views from our room.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Modern and clean hotel. Good location with beautiful views.

Staff

SO helpful and informative. Really liked those we interacted with.

Cleanliness & Comfort

Hotel Laugarbakki

Hvammstangi

Friendly staff, decent rooms (ours slept 5 people, clean, and they had 3 hot tubs for guests to use outside which was a nice bonus. The restaurant didn’t have many good options for our family so we had to venture offsite for food.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Hotel Langaholt

Stadarstadur

Newer building and older building combined. Incredible location with views of mountains and the ocean. Front desk lady was helpful and pleasant. We were in the new part with a mixed view of mountains and ocean as well as a balcony do that was lovely. But it seems they shouldn’t be renting out those rooms as they aren’t done yet. We had no TV, no hairdryer, 1 towel and bath mat for two people and no wash cloths. The barbaric “art” of decapitated cow/pig’s heads was questionable. The breakfast buffet was by far the worst we had all week.

Authenticity & Character

Three stars only for the view. 1 star for everything else.

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Clean yes, comfortable? Not with a bunch of missing comforts.

Berjaya Hotel Myvatn

Myvatn

BEAUTIFUL hotel. Modern and up to date. Amazing decor and ambiance. Outdoor hot tub for guests to use. Good restaurant. Such super friendly staff across the board. Offered norther lights wake up calls as well.

Authenticity & Character

Gorgeous building throughout.

Location

Easy to get to/find.

Staff

So kind and helpful. Our front desk gentleman was lovely! Sven in the restaurant was accommodating and hilarious. We really liked both of them!

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Reviews

Blue Lagoon

Iceland

Very beautiful place. Had high hopes for this and I wasn’t disappointed but it wasn’t as jaw dropping as I thought it’d be. We went early in the morning so it was less busy. Started to get busy around 10:30 am. The one staff we mainly interacted with seemed to have zero personality. The change rooms, showers, etc. were clean. The springs themselves were beautiful and lived taking that all in.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Langjokull glacier snowmobiling

Golden Circle

Amazing, amazing, AMAZING! Highly recommend. Our tour guide and all the staff we dealt with were incredible. It’s unfortunate we didn’t get our main guides name because he was hilarious and kind. I truly loved this excursion; genuinely every single thing about it. I would do it again.

Quality of Experience

A+. I can’t rave enough!

Guides, Drivers and Staff

They were all incredible. Seriously.

Transport

A cool bud on the biggest wheels I’ve ever seen. Harrowing roads up the mountain but I had full confidence in our guide’s abilities.

Solheimasandur Plane Wreck shuttle

Iceland

This was a fun jaunt off the beaten path. Our driver was fun and efficient. This was a cool stop for photo ops.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Myvatn Nature Baths

Lake Mývatn

Beautiful, less busy natural spa. They had natural hot tub, hot pool, cooler pool and natural saunas.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Skaftafell Ice Cave Tour & Glacier Walk

Iceland

Beautiful but strenuous. This is quite the hike up a mountain so be prepared for a work out for sure. Stunningly beautiful. Our guide Caroline was incredible and hilarious. The ice caves were humbling and beautiful. Our driver was hilarious as well.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Vatnshellir Lava Cave Tour

Snæfellsnes Peninsula

This was another awesome tour! So breathtaking and awe inspiring once inside. Our guide was awesome! I think his name was Andre.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

The trip was very well planned out. The itinerary was easy to follow and the WiFi device in the car was excellent. It not only helped us follow the planned routes but gave us the ability to fine other attractions and restaurants. All the excursions we booked went smoothly and were exactly what we expected. The tour guides were excellent. All the hotels were nice. Most were remote and suggestions of restaurants within 20 miles would have been helpful.

I would highly recommend kimkim to other travelers.

Joe Ditta

We had a truly amazing trip. The itinerary was excellent - we felt we had a great experience of Iceland and had time to really enjoy its wonders. All the bookings were hassle-free, we loved the locations, the hosts and guides were great. Even our weather karma was pretty good!

Michele, our local specialist was fabulous! He went out of the way for us when we were called home early due to some issues at home. He made all the last minute changes we needed and they were perfect. The hotel accommodations we had during the entire week were very nice, but we especially enjoyed the Hotel Laki and Hotel Selja, both of which were newer facilities with more spacious bathrooms. The others were nice, too, but these were nicer. All the tips for things to see along the route were excellent and much appreciated.

Overall, we absolutely enjoyed our Iceland vacation. Iceland is so unique and special; it was definitely worth our effort. We enjoyed hiking to various waterfalls, such as Grundarfoss, Kirkjufellfoss, Gullfoss, Seljalandsfoss, Skogafoss, and those higher up on the hike to Skogafoss – Hestavaðsfoss and Fostorfufoss. We attempted to hike to the Glymur falls, but were turned away when we thought the log bridge crossing over the river Botnsá was beyond our capability – the river was flowing rapidly! We enjoyed driving around the Snæfellsnes Peninsula and hiking off of Road F575 and hiking to Klukkufoss and Snekkjufoss. Taking in the sights of Djúpalónssandur beach on the west coast of the Peninsula was a unique experience. Our adventure to the Secret Lagoon for a dip in the oldest swimming pool in Iceland – located in a geothermal area near Flúðir was warm and relaxing. We also thought the sights of Fjaðrárgljúfur Canyon were exceptional as was hiking in the area of the Svinafellsjokull Glacier near Vtnajökull National Park. But our absolute favorite activity was the Jokulsarlon Glacier Lagoon excursion! It was a magnificently beautiful and warm day and the sights were once-in-a-lifetime views. How special - we will remember it for the rest of our lives.

Great itinerary! Suggest the counter-clockwise direction for circumnavigating the island.

My wife and I travelled with our son and daughter-in-law and their 4 boys, 3 of whom are big, 6 foot teen-agers. Car was a big 9 passenger diesel van and accommodated all of us nicely. My son did all the driving and he plugged in his phone and used google maps to get us from place to place. First day in Reykjavik was to get oriented - drove to a few sites, restaurants, but we were all jet lagged so we really didn't do all that much. Hotel was nice and conveniently located. Next day we did the golden circle and saw all the famous sites - waterfalls, geysirs, icebergs, etc - spectacular scenery. In addition to Micheles input, we took a Rick Steve guide book with us which gave us some great insights on how to best use our time, where to park, etc. On our last day in Reykjavic, we did whale watching with Elding and we saw
plenty of whales and dolphins jumping out of the water - good weather and very calm sea made this really enjoyable. Next day we headed south, did the waterfall you can walk behind, and stayed at the Glacier View Hotel which was just wonderful - our hosts there were so very pleasant and the scenery was wonderful. We drove to the lagoon with icebergs and the black diamond beach - so glad we did this western part of iceland with it's truly spectacular scenery. Finally, did our dip into the Blue Lagoon on our day of departure, which refreshed us for the flight home. Thanks Michele and Preeti for mapping out such a great trip - this was our second trip to Iceland but the first was a short one on a tour that just did the circle. Doing it on our own was so much better and the sites in the western region were amazing. Our son's family had an amazing time and I'm sure will be talking about it for years to come.

Michele planned such a perfect trip around Iceland! He really helped us find the "off the beaten path" gems. He selected great activities and hotels and really listened to what we were looking for! We even have the good fortune of an incredible northern lights display. We especially enjoyed the time we spent in eastern and northern parts of Iceland; away from some of the "crowds" of the golden circle and Reykjavik. Iceland was our favorite trip we have taken! We highly recommend Michele!

My husband and I felt very taken care of in planning ring road trip. Essentially Michele did everything for us, booked the car, hotels, created maps and driving routes, and stops for us to see. We are both busy professionals and the fact that we didn't really have to think about this trip until we landed in Iceland was absolutely perfect and we enjoyed exploring the itinerary on a day to day basis. The hotels were also really nice and comfortable. Thank you Michele!

My husband and I had a wonderful 8 day tour of Iceland's Snaefellsnes peninsula and the Golden circle. We had high expectations for the trip, but the actual sights exceeded them! We had excellent communication with our local specialist Michele both before and during the trip. He was extremely helpful in providing various trip options and helping us customize the trip to our liking.

Everyday was a highlight and memorable part of our trip. We especially loved Snaefellsnes, hiking up to Glymur falls, natural hot spring river in Rejkjadalur, black sand beach in Reynisfjara, and visiting the live volcanic eruption at Geldingalir. The Kimkim specialists Michele, Preeti, and Halldor helped us through some changes in our plans due to weather and quickly changed our hotel reservations and guided us on obtaining a covid test prior to leaving.

Overall, we would highly recommend both Iceland and the Kimkim team! We are definitely planning to come back!

Michele and his team did a wonderful job. My expectations were high for this trip; and, my expectations were left in the dust for what my experiences actually were on this trip. The accommodations were top notch. The itinerary that was made for me, was spot on, perfect. Michele and his team were able to notify me immediately of an issue with one of the excursions I was going to take, avoiding me driving out of my way to find out it had been cancelled. The few questions I had, their response was nearly immediate. I would highly recommend using them if you know nothing about the wonderful place of Iceland.