Sam Lister

This trip began in Nov 2019 just before Covid hit so unfortunately we had to postpone until Sep 2022. Sam was incredibly helpful with planning and tweaking to accommodate our changes.
We were amazed by the level of detail Sam provided and we actually spoke to him by phone from Spain which left us feeling very comfortable with the itinerary and that everything was above board.
We absolutely got value for money. Accommodation was 95% very good with just a couple of little glitches but these were compensated with other items. Drivers, guides and transport were above what we anticipated.
I would have no hesitation in recommending Kimkim in general but Sam in particular.
In fact, we are currently trying to organise a trip to the UK with Kimkim and do so very confidently

After a two year delay we finally got to start our trip from Australia to Spain & Portugal.
From the moment we landed in Spain everything that we planned with Sam and his team were in place.
From being collected at the airport, drivers, guides, hotels and updates along the way, everything was well organised. He even booked restaurants in each town for us.
Sam and Chaima kept in contact with us during our tour, making sure everything was going OK.
The details this team put together was excellent from the length of time of tours, pickup times, guides names, recommendations in each place we stayed as to where to eat, shopping and sightseeing in free time.
All the drivers and guides were excellent with their care for our wellbeing and local knowledge.
All the accommodation was excellent and central to all attractions.
We would highly recommend Sam and his team for your travel needs in Spain and Portugal.
Sam thank you and your team for a wonderful experience we had a great time.

Hotel Reviews

H10 Duque de Loule

Lisboa

Great hotel with spacious rooms and very clean. The hotel had a great select for breakfast and all the staff were very helpful. It is in a very good location, short walk to the hop on hop off bus station starting point and close to a metro.

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H10 Casa de la Plata

Sevilla

This is a beautiful hotel centrally located in Seville. The staff were very friendly and helpful even helping to suggest restaurants and shopping. The rooms are comfortable and very clean. Can highly recommend this hotel.

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Hotel Casa 1800 Granada

Granada

This is a very charming hotel in a good location. The rooms were very spacious and clean and the bed was comfortable. Staff were friendly and helpful. Breakfast was a let down but this may be due to Covid impact. Overall this is a lovely hotel and I would recommend it.

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Las Casas de la Juderia Hotel

Córdoba

This is a really beautiful charming hotel. The staff were very helpful and friendly. It is centrally located but still quiet. The rooms were spacious and very clean. Even though we only stayed one night we would of loved to stay more we would highly recommend this hotel.

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Iberostar Las Letras Gran Via

Madrid

We had a great room at the front of the hotel overlooking the main street. The room was very spacious and with a large bathroom. It was in a great location and the staff were very helpful.

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L'and Hotel & Vineyards

Montemor-o-Novo

This hotel is in a very beautiful spot for relaxing. The hotel and rooms are very clean, rooms are very spacious and the bed was very comfortable. Good size pool and lovely vineyards to walk around. It is a little out of town so you do need transport of some kind. The breakfast here is great with lots of choices and the restaurant was great. The staff were very helpful and friendly.

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Hotel One Shot Goldsmith Aliados

Porto

Lovely hotel in Porto. The rooms were very clean and large enough and the bed was very comfortable. Our rooms had great views of the town square. The staff were very helpful and friendly.

Authenticity & Character

Location

very central in town

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Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Reviews

Private Tour of Barcelona & La Sagrada Familia

Barcelona

This tour was amazing, and the La Sagrada Familia is just something else. Having our guide Olga to explain this history was also very helpful. Highly recommend this tour.

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Enjoy a Private Walking Tour of Porto

Porto

This is a great tour taking in a lot of the city of Porto. Walking the streets gives you a great insight into Porto. Our guide was very helpful and answered all our questions.

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Private Walking Tour of Madrid & the Prado Museum

Madrid

This was a great tour learning about Madrid's history and the museum was very interesting. Having a local guide who knows the history helps bring the town to life. Great tour.

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Guided Walk of the Gothic Quarter with Tapas Dinner

Barcelona

This was a great tour and our guide Olga was very informative. We learnt about the history and culture and enjoyed the walk around the city and enjoyed some tapas. Would definitely recommend this tour!

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Day Trip to Toledo

Madrid

This tour was excellent. This city is beautiful and its history is very interesting. Our guide was informative and help answer our many questions. Great day.

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Explore Lisbon with a Private Walking Tour

Lisbon

Margarida was a wonderful guide for our walking tour in Lisbon. She provided so much information along the way and answered all our questions. We loved all the different parts of this tour. Great tour.

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Day Trip All About Dali

Spain

The trip to the home of Dali was a great day. Dali 's home is very quirky and interesting from the inside to the gardens to the beautiful seaside position it is located. The Dali museum again very interesting and worth seeing. Our guide Craig did a great job bringing its history to life for us and was very informative and helpful.

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Day Trip to the Douro Valley for a Wine Tour & River Cruise

Porto

Our guide Catarina helped make this a great day out for us. This day trip from Porto to the Douro Wine Region was great. The drive is very beautiful through the wine regions and the history of wine making is interesting. Sitting in the beautiful mountains sipping wine is a great day out.

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Take a Day Trip to Magical Sintra & Cascais

Lisbon

This tour was a great day out. Our guide provided so much information along the way and the Palace was worth seeing. Stopping along the way at the Natural park and driving along the coast was great.

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Private Flamenco & Tapas Tour

Seville

Our local guide Sam took us on a tour through Seville giving us information about this beautiful city. The tour included a local flamenco venue where we had the pleasure of watching a beautiful show with local artists. Sam explained the history behind a Flamenco performance. We then went on to enjoy a few tapas bars with excellent choices of food.

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Food

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Private City Tour of Seville

Seville

Our guide Estela provided us with a great insight to this city. From the beautiful palace and its gardens to the Jew quarters and the Cathedral. She was very knowledgeable and answered all our questions. Seville is a lovely place.

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Day Trip from {{start_location}} to {{end_location}}, via Ronda

Spain

The town of Rhonda is a must see. Our guide made this day very memorable proving us with information about the old and new town and the beautiful Rhonda bridge that joins them together. We enjoyed our walk through the streets and the Plaza De Toro's bullring and its history is interesting. This was a great day.

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Private Tour of the Alhambra and Generalife Gardens

Granada

This was a great tour of the Alhambra. Our guide provided us with information along the way and answered our many questions. The building and gardens are amazing and the view over Granada was worth seeing. This is a really lovely town.

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Private Tour of Córdoba

Córdoba

This tour was great. Our guide was very knowledge and answered many questions from us. The history behind the Mezquita mosque-Catholic church is interesting and our guide helped bring it to life. Exploring the winding streets and hearing the history was great.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Sam and his team were second to none. This trip was literally the trip of a lifetime!! From urban, to rural and private tours this trip had it all. It was well crafted to our personal wants and needs. There were several times we had a couple hiccups in plans and his team came through for us with flying colors!! We did hiking, village visits, wineries- you name it. Everything was organized, punctual, and perfect. I can’t recommend Sam enough. Just a wonderful host who knows the best of the best in Spain. I could write so much but just know, you are in safe hands! I would book a trip with this team numerous times over. Simply superb!!! Thanks Sam!

Hi Sam. I know Judy has already sent her review. We had a marvellous trip and very much appreciated having KimKim work with Tailormade Andalucia to make our wonderful itinerary. We also appreciated all the planning and organizing done by you with regards to all the details of the trip. On a scale of 1-10 I would give our KimKim experience a 10+++ and on that scale I would give our experience with you and Tailormade Andalucia a 10+++ too. The trip was a perfect blend of sightseeing and free time. All of the stresses of planning such a trip were assumed by KimKim and by you which reflected the benefits of working with someone who lives in the region and has the benefit of planning trips for tourists. Rocia from KimKim was in contact with us regularly during the trip to make sure everything was going well and she responded quickly any time we had a question. We thoroughly enjoyed all of our tours and found the guides to be exceptionally knowledgeable ( Ana, Filippo, Diego, Maria, Jose, Joaquin and Teresa). It was great to meet you and we loved the tapas tour with you in Sevilla. All of the hotels were fabulous and each unique in their own way. The Hotel H10s were great (centrally located and spacious) and we really enjoyed our stay in Ronda at the Hotel La Fuente de la Higuera and at the Hotel Fuerte Conil in Conil de la Frontera. The hike with Filippo in Costa Brava was a highlight as was the gorge walkway in Caminito Del Rey. Touring the Alhambra in Granada and the Alcazar in Cordoba were definitely take-away memories. If you ever took a big trip as a kid and your parents did all the planning and organizing and you got to go and have fun and just enjoy the trip, that would be how working with you and KimKim worked for us. I know we will plan future trips with KimKim and I have certainly recommended them to friends who are thinking about travelling. I would definitely recommend Tailormade Andalucia to anyone planning a trip to southern Spain. You will not be disappointed. Thank you Sam for planning our amazing trip.

The tours, guides, chefs and places were beyond amazing!

As mentioned in a text earlier, all the guides, places, chefs, bus drivers were outstanding. They were kind and did their best to please us with recommendations. The hotels were excellent especially the Convent & the hotel at Algarve.
The wine tours, boat ride to Douro Valley was wonderful.
The cooking class outstanding, loved the place we learned and Hugo. Fatima was super, it was also nice to spend a day of leisure where we saw the beautiful coastline of Portugal, the caves etc. The tiny Villiage on top of the mountain (Monsaraz)was just gorgeous and amazing along with the cork harvesting farm/ tour .
The boat trip was special as it was so thoughtful of Sam to think of one of our passengers birthday, went on the secluded beach as well. Lisbon just wonderful and amazing sights am to see, love all the castle tours as well. Loved being near the water. All hotels provided outstanding breakfasts and dinners were wonderful! Unexpectedly to me we’re 4 of my group with physical challenges, and everyone went out if their way to accommodate. So thank you for such a fantastic itinerary & people, the kindness of everyone was outstanding.

We are a well-traveled family of 4. I usually plan our trip itineraries but just couldn’t this time due to work/life. KimKim and Sam to the rescue. I was a bit hesitant but Google Reviews were all good, so I took a chance in reaching out. After the first interaction with Sam, I knew I’d happily let him take care of our 9 day trip.
Prior to the trip, he was great at keeping me informed on ideas and planning progress. He asked questions (and made recommendations) re preferences on hotels and excursions/tours, and then just took care of all of it. From the private transfers to/from airport, COVID tests, train tickets, and tours, it was all done seamlessly for us. When the cloudy/rainy weather caused us to cancel a bike tour in Barcelona and our Costa Brava excursions on a boat and e-bikes, Sam and the tour guides were able to shift to make sure we still had a fun and full day.
The on the ground tour guides were excellent. Teresa, an art historian, was so knowledgeable at the Prado and walking us around Madrid; Samuel had great stories at Montserrat and was a pleasure to talk with; Craig was excellent showing us around the medieval towns in Costa Brava and giving us so many little tidbits at the Dali museum that we’d never have seen or experienced without his info; and Maribel was informative and interesting during our day in Madrid experiencing Park Guell and Sagrada Familia. All of them interacted with our 11& 12 year old boys and made sure to keep them engaged. I even appreciated that our drive to and from the airport (Walter) was the same person to book end our trip with a safe and friendly drive.
The hotels were all 5* with excellent family room setups. I was very impressed.
I can’t recommend KimKim, Sam or the various tour guides enough. We can’t wait to go back to Spain!

I found kimkim with a Google search, and was impressed with the positive feedback given by former travelers. Now, I am the one giving the positive review without any hesitation! Our trip to Spain was planned excellently and with attention to detail by Sam. We certainly had some anxiety due to COVID restrictions, but decided to go ahead with the trip and had a wonderful experience. In addition, my wife had a fracture in her foot that limited her ability to walk distances, but wheelchair assistance was arranged for her when possible. Transportation between sites was always on-time and each driver was very polite and helpful. Each guide was well-prepared and extremely informative and friendly and welcoming: Teresa in Madrid, Joaquin in Cordoba, Maria in Seville, Roberto and Paco in Granada, and Maria and Craig in Barcelona. We experienced so many wonderful sites, too many to mention, but the highlights were: Prado and Royal Palace in Madrid, Mosque-Cathedral and Alcazar in Cordoba, Cathedral and Alcazar in Seville, Alhambra and Albaicin in Granada, and Sagrada Familia and Parc Guell in Barcelona followed by a day trip to Montserrat and a winery near Barcelona. Our trip also included several meals and a Flamenco show, and we thoroughly enjoyed these as well as the sight-seeing planned in each city. Also, Sam and his colleague Fran checked in with us during the trip to make sure everything was going smoothly--and, of course, everything did go very smoothly thanks to the attention to detail by our travel agent! The accommodations were very nice and always in a convenient location in each city. Overall, we had an amazing experience, and would highly recommend Sam and kimkim to anyone. We have no regrets and only wish we had more than ten days to spend in Spain.

Hotel Reviews

H10 Casa de la Plata

Sevilla

Hotel is in a great location close to historical sites and shopping. However, if your room has an outside view, it can be noisy during the night. The staff were friendly and hotel was new and clean and nicely decorated.

Tips for future travelers

While the view of the street was nice, choose an interior room for less noise during the night.

Authenticity & Character

New and nicely decorated.

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Hotel NH Califa

Córdoba

Hotel was good--clean and convenient. However, it could use some updating. Staff was friendly.

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Hotel Casa 1800 Granada

Granada

Hotel was in a quiet, secluded street. Building was old with lots of character. Staff was extremely friendly.

Tips for future travelers

Highly recommend.

Authenticity & Character

Beautiful building and rooms.

Location

Close to shopping and sites in center of city,

Staff

So friendly and helpful

Cleanliness & Comfort

Beds weren't the most comfortable on our trip.

Gallery

Barcelona

Great location, very helpful staff, comfortable beds and climate control.

Authenticity & Character

A modern hotel. Nicely decorated.

Location

A little farther from tourist sites, but easily reached by taxi or walking.

Staff

Very helpful as this was our last hotel of the trip and we had documents that we needed printed out.

Cleanliness & Comfort

H10 Puerta de Alcalá

Madrid

Nice location, great breakfast, helpful staff. Hallway noise could be heard in rooms.

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Activity Reviews

Private City Tour of Seville

Seville

We toured the Cathedral, Alcazar and explored a neighborhood with our guide, Maria. She was very informative and made the experience so much fun and informative.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Guide was fun, informative, and well-prepared.

Transport

Private Tour of Park Güell & Sagrada Família

Barcelona

Parc Guell is fun and whimsical place to visit. Sagrada Familia is just too amazing for words. If you only have time for one place, go to Sagrada Familia. Also, our guide, Sandra, made the place come to life.

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Guides, Drivers and Staff

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Took taxis, but had no issues.

Private Flamenco & Tapas Tour

Seville

Flamenco show was so much fun and interesting. Tapas tour was also informative and our guide explained the traditions and food choices to us. Delicious!

Quality of Experience

Food

Restaurant choices were excellent.

Private Tour of Córdoba

Córdoba

Mosque-Cathedral and Alcazar were fascinating and came to life with our guide.

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Day Trip to Montserrat & Wine Tour

Barcelona

A great day trip from Barcelona. Nice to see the countryside and experience more culture away from the city.

Quality of Experience

Food

Stopped at a restaurant in a small town and thoroughly enjoyed the experience.

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Craig transported us and was a great guide for our day.

Transport

Sam and his team did a wonderful job from start to finish. They were able to understand what we were looking for in our trip and did everything possible to accommodate us. Communication was clear, thoughtful and timely throughout the process. The guides he found to show us around the Costa Brava and Barcelona were awesome! During the trip itself, Sam's team made us feel taken care of and looked after. Each activity from kayaking to museum tours was amazing!

I would highly recommend using Sam. He brings the exactly what you are looking for to plan your next trip!

Sam was a dream to work with when planning my trip of a lifetime to Spain! I was able to provide Sam with my goals and interests, and he tailor-made the perfect trip for me. It was packed with traditional Spanish culture, art, food and drinks. I was able to see the vast landscape that Spain offers through adventure filled day trips. Every details was taken into consideration. The accommodations, drivers, tour guides, and food was phenomenal! While I was in Spain, Fran was always a text away if I had a question or just need a recommendation on a place to visit! They truly are the dream team! I can't wait to someday share the special country with my family. I will be sure to use kimkim in the future! I could not recommend them enough.