Oleksandra Stefanyuk

Axel, who stepped in for Oleksandra, was also amazing! Their attention to details and their excellent communication were very much appreciated.

Hotel Reviews

Hotel Director Vitacura

Santiago, Vitacura, Región Metropolitana

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Altiplanico Puerto Natales

Natales

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Calafate Parque Hotel

El Calafate

Authenticity & Character

Location

Loved the location. Easy walk to El Calfate!

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Rendez-Vous Hotel Buenos Aires

Buenos Aires

From the moment I walked in, I didn’t care for it. I didn’t like the dreariness of the lobby. The location was not good either. I never saw the room because we opted to find another hotel before check-in. This was not at all on par with our other hotels.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Reviews

Full day Torres del Paine with Milodon Cave

Puerto Natales

Beautiful although cloudy weather precluded seeing the beauty of the area. We only saw lakes!

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Arrival in Santiago

Santiago

I loved Santiago. I booked a private tour and Angelika was a great guide! I also did a hop on hop off which I thoroughly enjoyed.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Perito Moreno Full-Day Tour

El Calafate

Gorgeous scenery!

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Boat hovered by glaciers to give us ample time for photos.

Dinner & Tango Show

Buenos Aires

This was a great experience. The show was excellent and we had great seats.

Quality of Experience

Food

I was looking forward to the steak but it was very tough.

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Driver was very friendly and pick up and drop off was timely. Staff at tango show was quite attentive.

Transport

Trekking in El Chalten from El Calafate

El Calafate

This would have been a lot better if our tour guide had provided us with (1) an option for the day and (2) if she had provided a map of our trail. According to the tour description we were to choose from 4 options for the day. Didn’t happened - the option was selected for us. Secondly, the tour guid got off at option one and we were left with only the bus driver who dropped us off at a hostel, procured our lunch then provided no direction as to where to go from there. We ended up not even seeing the sight we were supposed to see. Also, the guide spent 3/4 of the time speaking Spanish and very little time with English even though many if not most of the people in our tour were English-speaking. The only saving grace was that it was a beautiful day for a hike and the scenery was amazing!

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Thanks to Axel and Oleksandra for helping to create a very memorable experience for my friend and I. We planned an amazing trip through Patagonia, beginning in Santiago, and ending in Buenos Aires. Calafate and El Chaten were definitely highlights. Axel checked in with us throughout our journey. I will absolutely use KimKim again, and I’ve been recommending it to everyone.

Positives of the trip: some of the local tour groups we used were incredible, particularly Senda Andina in Bolivia and W Circuit in Patagonia. Overall we saw a lot in a short period of time and the itinerary was excellent.

Negatives: Just extreme disorganization at all times from Tangol, the travel agency we were connected to on Kim Kim. Some of our issues were more minor than others but overall added up to an unpleasant experience and at the end we were left with the impression that we could have organized the trip better ourselves.
1. Understood that there were certain fees not included in our booking but these should have been clearly communicated to us ahead of time. We had no idea that one of our hikes in Patagonia required a very expensive fare for a catamaran, cash only, $30USD each way per person. We were not carrying $120 of cash on our person so we were incredibly lucky to run into a friend from back home along the trail who happened to be carrying enough spare cash to get us back home otherwise I’m not sure what would have happened.
2. All communication was very last minute. At 5:30pm the night before we were to go to Bolivia and a half hour before Tangol closed their offices for the day they messaged us asking if we had a tourist visa for Bolivia. Definitely not a question which should have waited for the last minute. We didn’t receive any information on visa requirements from Tangol ahead of time so we did our own research and figured based on information from the US Embassy website we can get our visas on arrival. Tangol then told us in order to do this we would need a lot of additional paperwork including a bank statement! Turns out they were referencing the incorrect requirements and we got into the country without a problem without any of the requirements they were telling us we needed. We were just very disappointed by how last minute this was and how it wasn’t even the right information. It made for a very stressful experience which could have been easily avoided with clear communication far in advance.
3. We clearly communicated our vegetarian meal requests ahead of time but this was not relayed to the tour groups during booking. When we brought this to Tangol’s attention they ended up only reserving 1 vegetarian meal for the remaining tours even though we were clear that we were both vegetarian. This should have been the easiest thing to get right the first time.
4. Another item which we thought should have been very straightforward was pickup from the airports. When we landed in Calama there was nobody there to pick us up. We waited for a while and called Tangol several times and finally got a hold of them. After around an hour of waiting Tangol finally arranged us with a group shuttle service even though we had bought a private transfer.
5. Our stargazing tour was cancelled due to weather which is understandable but we were given no option to reschedule and did not get a refund. What was also frustrating was knowing we probably wouldn’t have been able to go on the scheduled tour anyway since the timing overlapped with another tour we had scheduled earlier in the day.

Hotel Reviews

Remota Patagonia Lodge

Puerto Natales

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Luciano K Hotel

Barrio Lastarria, Santiago

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Our Habitas Atacama

San Pedro de Atacama

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Hotel Boutique Andina

Uyuni

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Los Flamencos Eco Hotel

Uyuni, Potosi

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Reviews

San Pedro de Atacama - Villa Mar - Uyuni. (Day 1)

San Pedro de Atacama

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Salar de Uyuni (Day 2)

Uyuni

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Uyuni - Authentic Villages - Flamenco (Day 3)

Chile

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Flamencos - Lagunas de Colores - San Pedro de atacama (Day 4)

Uyuni

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

As we travelled to both Chile and Argentina, we have broke our comments into two sections.

CHILE:
All told we are quite happy with our Chilean road trip, but if you are open to some points going forward,
here are my Chile notes and recommendations for future bookings.

-Santiago: quite happy with this our arrival and starting off point;
- Temuco: I would personally scratch the hotel stay here,as for the one night stay, it was constant 1 hr. traffic fight to go into the City and then the next day go back out the same way, once again passing the airport where we came in to then drive to Pucon, where I would recommend a two day stay there instead of one night in Temuco and only one in Pucon

- Pucon: beautiful spot;again saying two days here would have been better, as that way you could have the Guide there be able to do the tour to the Volcano, without the rush and having to pack the rental cars with the luggage, do the hike and then leave for Huilo-Huilo. As far the organized hike with Juan Paublo, you already got my report on using a rental car to go up the rugged mountain trail only suitable for 4 wheel drive jeeps and the problems that created.
- Hate to take business away from Juan Paublo, (JP) but I would suggest that hopefully JP or if not him or her another English speaking guide could pick up the customers in his or her 4 wheel drive Jeep to do the drive and hike, because we we’re very disappointed to miss that hike, due to the car unable to get up there.
- Huilo-Huilo: Magic Mountain: great experience,unique place.
-
- Valdivia: Sorry again to take possible business away from JP, as he is very nice and speaks very good English,but again a little rushed, as it is a 3 hr drive to get there and then JP was waiting for us upon arrival and immediately we had to go on a drive and hike, with barely catching our breath and then again with an unsuitable car to do the proposed hike , we had to change locations and did a simple short hike, not the one planned
- Suggest: giving the first day of arriving in Valdivia after the 3 hr drive, just a chance to do a Self day to look around as we didn’t get much of chance to see Valdivia, as you also had a full day excursion planned for the next day with JP.
- Speaking of the next day, again JP was not really needed as we drove out with him to cross the ferry to Corral and then had to go to the National Ranger office, to pick up their guide and go in his Jeep on a very rugged trail to see the ancient larch trees. We could have driven there ourselves and met the guide without having to use and pay for JP’s services, as the local guide ( Edmundo) could have been booked and expected us at a given time frame. JP wasn’t even aware he couldn’t go up there himself and we had to use their guide. We couldn’t have gone up anyway, as there is no way our car would haven’t made it.
- Puerto Varas: everything good
- Ancud: as this was over the day before New Year’s Eve, New Years Eve and New Year’s Day, hardly anything open. Understandable and no way around that.
- However suggest add the trip out to the Penguin colony in Punihuil as the day trip, as this we found on our own and it was less than an hour away from Ancud and the highlight of the area.

Thank you for the Chilean experience;

Mike and Pat Chatwin
Comox, BC
CANADA

Argentina

I had previously sent a recap of our journey and travel through Chile , to Oleksandra. The following is our time through Argentina.

First though, we would like to congratulate and applaud the fine work that mainly Oleksandra and then Axel and the Tour Company Tangol put into our package. It was definitely not easy to come up with a 40+ day travel package that included both Chile and Argentina, that we would be happy with , including a large portion of it been a self- drive holiday, trying to cover the main attraction spots in each country and to make it even harder; over the summer and Christmas/New Year holidays. So, thank you so much for arranging this.

Argentina

- We first travelled into Argentina by the experience of “Crossing the Lakes” . A series of : 3 Catamarans and 3 buses from Puerto Varas in Chile to Bariloche in Argentina. A very long 14 hr day , but definitely worth the experience.
- Bariloche: only down side to the Very touristy city of Bariloche was, we we’re there during the very peak summer season, so the population of the area triples during that time, which may have been the reason for some of the delays and hotel availability selections. In saying that, wouldn’t have chosen the Carlos V Hotel there, as it wasn’t on the drop off route for the buses and where we we’re dropped off, was a 4 block, uphill climb over uneven cobblestone roads, plus with a car rental arranged , the hotel has no parking spaces and it was near impossible to get parking anywhere near the hotel (3 blocks away for parking and extra 4,000 pesos for overnight, secure parking). Which , speaking of car rental there; as we didn’t arrive until 21:30, the arranged car rental office was closed, so would suggest not having the rental pickup arranged until the next day.
- **Both the El Chalten and El Calafate portions we’re wonderful . Great experience. Great hikes and extraordinary scenery. All transfers went well, no problems.
-
- Ushuaia: : A definite highlight portion. Hotel in walking distance to the town and the tours arranged we’re very interesting. Points to note though: as mentioned for the hike out at the National Park, credit card was not accepted and had to borrow money from the guide for entrance. Should tell future clients to expect this and have 5,500 pesos per person ready for the entry fee.
- Hike was very nice, as well as the lunch and rafting.
- Penguin Island cruise was a good day, but again as mentioned; good thing we checked the new vouchers with the old ones, as the two excursions we’re flipped on each day.
- ** As mentioned: When your contact company makes changes to the original vouchers, they should send a * Change note to both us and you, as the excursion dates we’re flipped for each day and almost missed it. That goes for Hotel changes as well, from the original vouchers .
-
- Mendoza : 3 days, there was plenty, as it was over a weekend,so a lot of places we’re closed; wineries, etc. But managed to get some driving sightseeing in and even a round of golf. Nice hotel.

- Salta: This was where it was too bad our original hotel (Marquis De Tojo) out in the country got changed to the one in the city of Salta ( The Inkai) , as we we’re to return here 3 different times and again very limited, to no parking and very busy area, with a lot of street construction going on. Thank you for changing the hotel on the last day.

- Purmamarca: Fantastic Mountain Village. Great hikesand dazzling coloured canyons. A ver interesting old western style town . Thoroughly enjoyed.

- Cachi: The Drive from Cachi was a sensational,long twisty road , with huge elevation changes that definitely kept you focused. The drive was the highlight , as by the time you got there, your pretty tired, and with only one night booked, not really enough time to look around ( two nights here would have been better).
-
- Cafayate: Again, same as above; the Drive was the highlight, as only one night , would have preferred two), as a nice hotel at the Wine Resort. Be warned: The drive from Cachi to Cafayate,along Route 40 is a long washboard track that you are constantly driving at approximately only 20-25 km’s an hour as you are being bounced around.BUT; the scenery through the canyons was spectacular. If at all possible the car rental in Argentina should be a SUV or something similar.
-
- Cafayate back to Salta: What could have been a spectacular , easy drive along the Canyon filled Route 68 , ended up due to a huge rainstorm and flooding the night before , being anything but relaxing. A 2.5 hr drive ended up taking 7.5 hrs and we we’re just lucky to even get through at all, with constant stops, flooded out roads and heavy eqpt working just to try to keep a small one lane mud path opened to let cars go through. Just back luck on our part, that the rains came when they did.

- Iguazu Falls: This is where once again where our hotel vouchers we’re changed from the original hotel to the Mercure Hotel. However, a nice change , as we we’re spoiled to be upgraded to this fabulous 5 star hotel.
- For the Excursions to the Falls; First the Argentina Side:
- Group tour with a guide that really a guide was not needed, nor the large group. As we had to leave early in the a.m. and got there at the same time as ALLLL the other large bus tours, which unfortunately put us ALL, on the same walkways, at the same time, causing turtle like walking and very limited opportunities to enjoy the view points. The guide doesn’t give any information of interest, just helps herd everyone.
- We would have rather gone out on our own for a 3,500 pesos taxi ride, later in the afternoon,when all the tour buses have departed and walked our own route, with far less people. Again credit cards did not go through, so ensure you have the 5,500 pesos per person for entry.
-
- Brazilian Side: Obviously guide needed to coordinate the border crossing . Credit cards did work here for entry.
- Spectacular views from this side and although still crowded due to the Summer Season, did not feel as congested. Fantastic views.

- Buenos Aires: final stop and as not city folk and really not liking the concrete jungle of big cities, but we had to come here to be able to fly back home through the International Airport. Just our bias opinion, some would probably love it. We did visit a few historic sites and had some nice meals and of course the highlight of the city having you arrange the most spectacular Tango Show and Dinner for us.

Leave to go back to Canada on Monday, and want to once again; thanks to all for putting this South America package together for us.
Mucho Gracias;

Michael and Patricia Chatwin
Comox, British Columbia
Canada
🇨🇦

Oleksandra did an amazing job of planning our trip. Everything she planned was perfect and just what we wanted and needed. The shows she arranged for us were a lot of fun. All of the transportation she arranged was on time and easy to use. The hotels were perfect for our family and were clean and well located. The tours and tour guides were very informative, friendly, and interesting.

Hotel Review

Yvy Hotel de Selva

Puerto Iguazú

It was well located and a lot of fun!

Authenticity & Character

Great character

Location

Being in the forest was fun!

Staff

Very friendly

Cleanliness & Comfort

Comfortable and clean

Activity Reviews

Dinner at one of the Restaurants

Buenos Aires

Great dinner!

Explore the Argentine Falls

Puerto Iguazú

Our guide, Regi, was very friendly, knowledgeable, and made it an amazing visit!

Dinner & Tango Show

Buenos Aires

This was a great show and an excellent dinner

Oleksandra helped us to plan our 2 week honeymoon trip to Buenos Aires, Calafate, and Ushuaia. It made planning so much easier to have her available for questions & recommendations. Communication leading up to and during our trip was responsive. All of the airport transfers and excursions were smooth. We even made some very last minute changes to our itinerary (while on the trip!) which Oleksandra helped us to make happen. Thank you for everything, Oleksandra!

Hotel Reviews

Hotel Patagonia Queen

El Calafate

This was our favorite hotel of the trip! Most comfortable bed, hot shower with great water pressure, perfect location on the edge of town so still easily walkable everywhere, delicious breakfast including freshly made eggs upon request, and the owner was so hospitable. We would definitely recommend and would stay here again ourselves should we have the opportunity to return.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Hosteria Senderos

El Chalten

Great location on the edge of town and super friendly staff. Comfortable beds and great breakfast. Offer boxed lunches for a fee for the hikes. Very conveniently located near the bus station if you're taking the bus in/out of El Chalten.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Los Acebos Ushuaia Hotel

Ushuaia

Stay here for the views. It's designed so that every room has a great view. While the shuttle to/from the city is a nice option, we only ever used it to go into the city in the morning (never a problem regarding it being too crowded), otherwise just easier to get a taxi. Not the most convenient location from a walkability perspective (to restaurants, etc.) but the views were great. The lobby felt new but the rooms felt a bit old/outdated. Front desk staff was available via Whatsapp which we found extremely helpful for random questions about the hotel and town.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Review

Walk with Penguins on Martillo Island

Ushuaia

Totally worth it! While it is a long drive, it's scenic and the guide shared lots of history on the way out (in both Spanish & English). So cool to see wild penguins up close. Felt like the guides were very respectful of the penguins' and their environment, prioritizing the penguins over tourist enthusiasm. When we were there in early Nov, it was their nesting season.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Oleksandra did a great job organising our 12 days in Argentina with brief stops in Brazil and Chile. She packed in as much in as she could without it feeling too rushed, though we did move about a lot and everything went very smoothly, pickups, flights and excursions. The excursions were well chosen and well run. Often we were on our own with a guide just for 4 of us which was fantastic, though we weren’t expecting it and I guess it was just how it worked out on the day.

The guides were very good especially Lorena, a local guide in Iguazu who was charming and knowledgeable. Dante in Puerto Madryn was also excellent - very keen to please and knowledgeable.

Alongside Iguazu, Mendoza was lovely with a highlight being a delightful lunch/ wine pairing in a spectacular location (Ojo de Agua) where we were given plenty of time to relax and enjoy it. Patagonia was a change and we did get to see some wonderful flora and fauna including whales and sea lions as well as penguins very close up.

We had a few minor a questions on the way which were dealt with promptly. Hotel choices were good and we specially liked Ivy de Selva in Iguazu. Some were a little more quirky than I had desired, but I think that goes with the territory here not the operators and nothing impacted the enjoyment of our trip.

I would use Kimkim again and plan to do so in the future.

Hotel Reviews

L'Hôtel Palermo

Buenos Aires

Sweet little hotel, fantastic location in a delightful area with many lovely bars, coffee shops, utterly charming staff, quirky plumbing (but very manageable).

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Yvy Hotel de Selva

Puerto Iguazú

Huge rooms, very clean, set in amongst the forest

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Casa La Galeana

Lujan de Cuyo

One of our more quirky stays. The rooms were huge and unique, decorated with local artefacts. The beds were very comfortable. The air conditioning struggled to cope, but we mentioned it as we were going out and the staff said they would open the windows while the outside was cool , but shut them later and we returned to find fans had been put in the room as well. So 10/10 for doing what they could to help. Layout is curious and one of the pools was out of use, but the other was fine. Again, the shower took some working out, but we got the technique. Sweet, attentive staff and a small, homely feel.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Quiet, but rather far from the main town

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Reviews

Explore the Argentine Falls

Puerto Iguazú

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Clean, on time, comfortable

Punta Tombo Penguin Colony

Puerto Madryn

The penguin part of this trip was really good, but because of weather the boat element to see the dolphins we were really looking forwards to was cancelled. We weren’t told and it was only after rather further in the car than expected that we realised we were on a different trip than we thought. There was some confusion and we only then came to know that we had embarked on a different trip which replaced the boat trip with a cultural experience to another town. Given the choice up front we wouldn’t have done it and would have opted to do something else, so this was rather frustrating, but having set off and driven quite far at that stage we went with it. Somewhere along the line the communications had missed us out as obviously the cancellation due to weather couldn’t be helped.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

The guide, Dante

Transport

Whale Watching tour

Puerto Madryn

I had great difficulty with the first local specialist assigned to book my trip. I did complain and KimKim Travel assigned Oleksandra to take her place. Once Oleksandra took over, everything was perfect. She went way out of her way to be helpful. She has a lot of experience and this was apparent in the ease of working with her. She anticipating what I would need before I even asked. I wanted to rent a car to drive in both Argentina and Chile. She arranged this and everything with the car went as planned. You need to have quite the array of paperwork in order to cross the borders. I saw other foreigners at the border crossings who did not have the required paperwork and they were not successful in crossing the border. Oleksandra continued to work with me during my trip. She was amazing to work with.

The planning went fine. Oleksandra was helpful with her suggestions. The trip itself did not go smoothly. And communication with KimKim during the trip was extremely difficult. KimKim expected me to communicate in a WhatsApp that made no sense. Even my kids don’t know what that is. The emergency number didnt always answer and no one ever returned our calls. and Oleksandra told me she doesn’t respond to emails when she isn’t working. We were not informed of the difficulties exchanging currency and the hotels were not always as described. The hotel in Santiago was in a terrible and dangerous neighborhood, and the bar and restaurant were closed for the season so we had to venture out at night to find an open restaurant. It was very scary. It would have also been nice to know we were crossing the border on a dirt road in the middle of nowhere and had to pass a Covid test to get into Chile! What if we failed the test??? Also, our driver didn’t have National Park tickets we needed (they were delivered the next day) the hotel in Puerto Natale didn’t provide a box lunch for our day long glacier tour so we had to ask for food from other travelers. The hotel in Buenos Aires was nice but located in a bad area. Finally, it took 3 tries to get Oleksandra to respond about a refund for Tango tickets we could not use because of a cancelled flight. I am grateful she got a 50% refund but she could have been more responsive.

We used KimKim because of local knowledge and we paid a lot of money to KimKim for that. Patagonia was a marvel but would have been much more enjoyable without the stress of dealing with KimKim.

My daughter and I enjoyed a great trip to Argentina and Brazil that we booked through KimKim. It was easy to work with their pre-set itineraries and customize as necessary. We had an outstanding trip and saw a great deal of Argentina in only 12 days and then enjoyed 3 days in Rio. On balance, we were pleased with the service and support we got from KimKim and their local agent in Buenos Aires. Patagonia was amazing!! This was the second trip I booked through KimKim (Morocco - highly recommend!). The reason for the 4 star rating versus 5 star is two-fold. If I contrast the speed and specificity of responses I received from Oleksandra vs. my other trip it was not as good. The second point is it would have been good to have a heads up on the economic challenges in Argentina. We would have brought more US cash as trying to get local currency from bank machines was a continuing challenge and the government fee on withdrawals was up to 35% of the value of the transaction. There were also a lot of places that would not accept credit cards. Knowing this would have made a big difference in how we would have prepared for the trip.