Tiernan O'Rourke Araujo

Helpful service. Personally I found it a bit frustrating, though, as preferences on rooms and payment terms were not set clearly upfront.

The Libson Winery tasting event was WONDERFUL! We also loved the Lagos grotto kayaking tour. I would have changed some of the other events had I known it was going to take 1 & 2 hours to get to the event. One of our tours was cancelled d/t weather and rescheduled to the next day, but WE could not cancel the tour Kim Kim had already scheduled for us the next day. I think I should have been notified of the driving situation in Evora. Part of the reason I chose to try Kim Kim was so I would not have to do so much leg work. Ultimately, I still had to do a lot of leg work...and a the last minute because vouchers were not provided until 2 weeks before the trip.

Hotel Reviews

The Noble House

Evora

Very limited parking and literally NO parking within the walls so you had to go a LONG way with luggage on cobblestone.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Location was within medieval walls w/o parking. Parking, if available, was not included in the package price.

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Marina Club Lagos Resort

Lagos

Authenticity & Character

Location

Would have preferred something on the ocean

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Reviews

Essential Sintra: Quinta da Regaleira, Pena Palace and Cascais - Full Day

Lisbon

The voucher provided little details regarding meeting place. When I called the tour providers number on our voucher, I was told we did not have a tour that day. Very frustrating. Then Kim Kim offered us a half day tour to Sintra, which we took. We still had to pay the full day tour price and did NOT get to go to Pena Palace. The tour itself sucked. Didn't care for the guide. All we saw was Sintra palace and then we had 20 minutes to 'explore' before we had to get back on the bus. At Cascais, we had 40 minutes to explore. We were extremely disappointed and wish we had NEVER agreed to accept this tour.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Explore Grottoes While Kayaking from Lagos

Lagos (Algarve)

We loved this activity

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Premium Portuguese Wine & Tapas Tasting at a Wine Bar

Lisbon

This was one of the highlights of our trip! And since it as our first event, I was very excited to experience the remainder of our events.

Quality of Experience

Private Wine Tour to Arrábida and Comporta with Horseback Riding

Lisbon

We enjoyed the horseback ride very much but had no idea it was going to take almost 2 hours to get there and back.

Quality of Experience

Lisbon Walking Tour

Lisbon

Loved our guide. Very enthusiastic and provided just the right amount of history and humor to hold our interest throughout the tour.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Divers with experience Algarve

Albufeira

We had to cancel this tour because the Kayaking tour was rescheduled for the same day. My husband was not able to kayak and dive on the same day due to rotator cuff injuries. Kim Kim would not reimburse us.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

I think main problem was selection of hotels. Their locations were right in the busy place with no access by car. On Saturday Drivr left us to block away from Moon sun hotel Loan. We had to log our luggage. We had the similar problem when we came back in Lisbon to Behotelisboa hotel.where hotel was more than half kilometer away from parking spot. Cars were not permitted in front of the hotel.
For Tuk ride, we could not find the driver. We called number on the seat and was told this is a porto branch number and they could not find our reservation. We arrived at the location at 4.05. We even talk to other Tuk driver. They tried to help and call the local number as was mentioned on the voucher with no success. It was really disappointing.

The Good, The Bad and The Just Right
The Good
The initial leg: Air France-Our home airport to Paris. We will definately do a 3 day layover in Paris. If an airport tells you something about a city, Paris will be..well Paris. Incredible people watching and shops, whatnot. Another level.
The beaches of the Silver Coast are amazing. Can't say enough good things. Comporta is the Hamptons on the come up. We visited so many places.. Nazare, Peniche, and Ericeria are all special. Sintra and Cascais are as advertised. Sintra has some incredible castles.

The food and the culture of the towns really stand out. I thought KimKim (Tiernan) provided us with a top notch A level service. Our experience was wonderful. We booked too many tours, so we revised the schedule on the fly. At least a 10 day trip is a must. The travel will cost you a day or day and a half of time including the jet lag effects.

The Bad & The Learnings
Layover in Boston, because of the flight cancellations and overnight layover. Learning: Avoid connecting in a U.S. City on the departure. Look to fly direct to Paris, London or Amsterdam..then catch your connecting flight to your final destination.
*Avoid the hotels near Martin Moniz square if you have a young family. It is very touristy so it draws a certain element. Great for people watching over a vinho verde with the wife while the kid sleep, but not a must see.

The "Just Right"
The travel experience: Lodging by City/Town: I thought all the lodging we stayed in were excellent. Each had their different vibes, charm and appeal. We are a family of 3 with a young daughter. I thought the prep work done to have experiences specifically for her worked out well.

This was our favorite tour: In Lisboa Tuk-Tuk: Tomas-(Our driver/guide) (College student, mid to late 20s, he did a great job)

We highly recommend KimKim (Tiernan) for your vacation planning needs. Be specific, it will help you shape your experience. Lots of communication upfront before you travel, helps you hone in the experience you want. Oh, get an automatic vehicle for Lisboa. Unless you drive in San Francisco often..the Hills of Lisboa driving a stickshift, you need to be very experienced. The restaurants are wonderful. The food is amazing in PT. Next time..we will go north to Porto, Braga and the like..along with the two places we love the most in the country..so far :) : Ericeria & Cascais.

Dear Kim Kim team.
Thank you very much for your arrangments during our trip and being immadiately reachable at every moment when we have needed your assistance.
We are very much delighted with our trip and arranging this trip over Kim Kim. Thank you.

Fantastic trip! Very easy process. A little pricey for the content but an overall great experience.

Guides:
- Marta in Porto was amazing. Incredibly knowledgeable and great interaction. Definitely our favorite!
- Pedro on the Duoro Valley tour was also fantastic. Appreciated his insights throughout the day. (Side note, the tour and tour guide at the second winery were not impressive. Although the meal was good.)
- Fabio was a wonderful driver. Really appreciated him accommodating the lunch stop at Nazare. (Side note, we had lunch at Maria do Mar in Nazare. Recommended by the hotel. Great seafood and great staff down a side laneway.)
- Last trip was with Roi. He probably had the most stress to deal with the timing and the crowds at the palace. But the best part of the tour was when he seemed to go 'off script' and walked with us down through the trees/vegetation and ponds. Really appreciated his willingness to show us that part of the area.

Activity Reviews

Historic Porto and Port wine lodges

Porto

Amazing! Great port and amazing lunch. Also appreciated the tour, as our first introduction to porto.

Day Trip to the Douro Valley & Rabelo Boat Ride

Porto

Great experience to see the valley via car and the short boat ride. Port and the tour were best at the first winery. Tour guide, wine and port were not great at the second.

Great trip. Everything worked well and having a driver for pick up and between cities was wonderful. Tours were excellent with Anabel and Paula as our tour guides. Take a tour!

Hotel Reviews

Vila Gale Ericeira

Mafra

Great hotel on the beach and close to town. Super staff.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Casual Belle Epoque Lisboa

Lisbon

Great location!

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Older hotel.

Eurostars Porto Douro

Porto

Great hotel! Rooftop bar overlooking the river. It is off to the side of downtown, but the location was terrific. A funicular is close by and it is right next to the double pedestrian bridge.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Sintra Boutique Hotel

Sintra

Wonderful hotel and staff! Hotel is super nice!

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Reviews

Lisbon Jeronimos Monastery, Castle of San Jorge, Torre de Belem and Panoramic City Tour

Lisbon

Wonderful tour! Anabel was great! Very helpful to tour with a local who can navigate lines and point out the richness of the city!

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Monumental Porto Walking Tour

Porto

Paula was wonderful. Tour was great and wear sneakers! You will navigate windy, granite streets from hilltop to the river.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Tiernan did a great service to Susan and I during our visit to Portugal on our 30th wedding anniversary .

Great experience with the KimKim team. Everything went off without a hitch. All of the accommodations were nice. The tours and tour guides were particularly fantastic. Rui, Ricardo and Joana were the best. Very satisfied with our entire trip and will happily book through KimKim again. No ten day tour would go off perfectly and there were a couple of hiccups that weren’t a big deal but I would likely change if I had to do things over: 1. We had a rental car while we were in Lisbon. I understand why it was arranged but it really wasn’t necessary while we were there. 2. The room that was booked for our first three days was nice but it was called a family suite on the hotel’s website. It was really just one room with a pull out couch. It was spacious and the room and hotel were nice but we would have preferred two rooms. It wasn’t really a big deal but if I was staying at this hotel again I would be sure there were two separate rooms. 3. Our second hotel had two rooms and was wonderful but there was no pull out couch in the separate room. Luckily the hotel brought in a roll away bed and our youngest could fit on the smallish love seat. Problem solved. I would consider these issues minor inconveniences. Overall the trip was something that our family will never forget. Thanks so much to Tiernan for all of his hard work and a special thanks to our tour guides who took great care of us. Also NuNu was the best at driving us and taking care of us while we were traveling.

Hotel Reviews

Casual Belle Epoque Lisboa

Lisbon

Very nice and people were super nice. Nice accommodations. The only hiccup was expecting the family suite would in fact have two rooms as might be the custom in the US. While this one appears to have two rooms on the website, it is only one room with a pull out couch. Otherwise the hotel was nice.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

M'ar de Ar Aqueduto

Évora

Everything was terrific. Only issue was that the couch in the living area was not a pull out.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Staff was so good.

Cleanliness & Comfort

The Pine Cliffs Resort

Albufeira

So nice!! Would stay here again any time. Lovely hotel.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Villa Baixa - Lisbon Luxury Apartments

Lisboa

The best. Such a great place. Would likely have preferred staying here for all of our nights in Lisbon. Glad we got to experience this place.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Super cool place and super clean.

Activity Reviews

Lisbon Jeronimos Monastery, Castle of San Jorge, Torre de Belem and Panoramic City Tour

Lisbon

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

NuNu and Rui were terrific. The best people which made the tour that much better

Transport

NuNu was awesome.

Private Fado & Dinner Walk

Lisbon

Ricardo was great. Enjoyed spending time with him.

Quality of Experience

Food

Food was great. Fado was wonderful.

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Ricardo was great.

Transport

Walking.

Sintra Palace, Cascais and Estoril Coast from Lisbon

Lisbon

Great day with Rui and NuNu.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

As mentioned, NuNu and Rui were fantastic.

Transport

Morning Cork Farm Tour + Lunch

Évora

Joana was awesome. We would have stayed with her the entire day. We were disappointed when we had to leave the farm. So beautiful.

Quality of Experience

Food

Great authentic restaurant.

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Joana was so good.

Transport

Caves of Benagil & Dolphins Cruise

Albufeira

Fun time. Great boat guides.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport