Chaska Tours Colombia

Michael did a great job. He paid attention to details. He used the airlines we wanted when available, got our seat assignments the way we wanted them and also entered our frequent flyer numbers into the reservation. He had every detail set up and everything went perfectly. His suggestions on where to go was very good. Any time we had a question he answered immediately. It was a great trip with great support.

Hotel Reviews

BH Bicentenario

Bogotá

Authenticity & Character

Nice hotel.

Location

Staff

Staff was helpful.

Cleanliness & Comfort

Salento Plaza

Nice hotel very clean and great location.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Finca Hotel del Cafe

Santa Rosa de Cabal

Very nice hotel located at a coffee farm.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Located at a coffee farm, but not close to much else. the restaurant was about a 10-minute walk.

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Sites

Medellin

Nice spacious hotel located in a nice and safe neighborhood. Convenience store across the street. Two restaurants in the hotel and others very close.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Reviews

Tour Peñol & Guatapé

Medellín

Good trip but long. The traffic going back and forth was frustrating.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

No problem with driver vehicle just bad traffic.

Coffee Tour

Santa Rosa de Cabal

It was a very nice stay and a very nice coffee tour. Learned a lot about the coffee process and types.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Filandia, Salento and Valle del Cocora

Colombia

It was an amazing tour. Seeing the area was a highlight of the trip.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Santa Rosa Hot Springs

Colombia

A really pretty area and a fun place to relax. There is a cold waterfall and hot Springs. The combination is unique and beautiful. It was a fun stop.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Bogota's Essentials (City Tour & Monserrate)

Bogotá

Very nice tour. Guide with exceptional.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

It was a walking tour. Very interesting.

Drivers were very good; I was happy to have Martin drive us again from Medellin to Jardin.
Carlos was excellent too, he drove us from Jardin to Salamina and then from Salamina to Armenia.
The hotels were great except for Hotel Sites in Medellin. There was no hot water in the sinks.

Our trip was fabulous. The planning was fast and efficient and the execution of the plan was almost flawless (perfection is boring so this is a good thing). We had wonderful drivers and guides. Our experiences were very well thought out, fun and educational. We learned a great deal about the people and culture of different parts of Colombia.

Michael and his team were available and responsive when we had questions and/or concerns that needed to be addressed. Usually, I do the majority of planning and logistics for myself and anyone that I travel with. It usually turns out well, but it is a lot of work. This is my first time using a service like this and I am now spoiled by having the professionals do it for me. I highly recommend KimKim and Michael and his team.

Activity Reviews

Traditional Dinner - Top Chef Private Dining

Bogotá

Maria arranged for a wonderful dinner in her home. The chef and her team allowed us to try our first Colombian food and we loved it. We also had a great educational discussion with Maria about sustainability and her company's mission to educate travelers about it.

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Fruits of Colombia Food Tour

Bogotá

This is a must do when in Bogota. We tasted so many amazing fruits and learned so much from our guide. There are 433 types of fruit in Colombia and even through we only tried 20 or so, we learned how important diversity is to the overall health and sustainability of our food. After this tour, my travel companion and I said that we would have been completely satisfied with the trip if it had to end right then. It would have been worth the time and effort to get there to experience just this.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Rosario Islands Day Trip

Cartagena

My travel companion and I are not great at just sitting on a beach and relaxing. We did kayak for a while, but it just was not to our taste. We were ready to leave about two hours before the boat was ready to take us back. If you can relax, this would be a great experience.

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Hike Tayrona National Park

Tayrona National Park

This was a full day of hiking with a wonderful beach and dip in the sea in the middle. We saw sloths and howler monkeys and capuchin monkeys and snakes (non poisonous) and birds of all sorts. Our guide was very knowledgeable and fun. Eating at the beachside restaurant was lovely and the food was delicious!

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Sunset Drum & Dance Safari at the Beach of La Boquilla

Colombia

It was just us on the evening we attended so we had a private experience at the beach. The beautiful young people taught us how to use three different drums and to dance. They were fabulous. A great experience for sure.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Market Visit & Cooking Class

Cartagena

The market was a bit rough (took off one star for that-but my travel companion LOVED the market part) but Gloria (our chef) was no nonsense and knew exactly what she wanted and helped us to select wonderful ingredients with which she helped us make a feast. The food she taught us to prepare was one of the best meals of the trip.

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Walking Tour & Street Food

Cartagena

Great tour of the city with a fun and knowledgeable guide. Eddie brought the walled city to life for us and tried to educate us about the wonderful street food. Unfortunately, both of us were off of food at the moment so could not partake in too much of it.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Our trip to Colombia was put together by Michael and it was an amazing adventure. We enjoyed all the places we visited and the experiences we had. We took in many historical and cultural activities as well as many nature excursions and hikes. It was tailored to what we like to do and our tour guides were very knowledgeable and helpful. The trip went very smoothly with all the details looked after. We loved visiting Solento and the Corcora Valley with a hike to the top to see the hummingbirds. San Augustin and the Archeological Park was excellent. Purace National Park was amazing and we were able to see the condor birds up close. The Tayrona National Park is beautiful and well worth visiting. All the cities we visited were very interesting and the Gold Museum in Bogata is definitely worth taking in. The trip was fantastic and we didn't want it to end. Thank you Michael and Chaska Tours.

From initial planning to ultimately finishing the trek in the beautiful Cocora Valley, we couldn’t have been more pleased with every aspect of this journey. The attention to detail and our needs were amazing and the care and knowledge of our outstanding new friend, our guide Benjamin, was simply the best.

We would recommend KimKim and this specific trek to our journeyman friends in search of truly diving into the culture and natural diversity of Colombia’s Los Nevados National Park.

Michael and Chaksa tours planned a fabulous tour of Colombia for my family including two adult kids in their 20s. Medellin was fascinating and our tour guide Liliana was awesome - very knowledgeable, patient, caring and flexible. Our hotel Sites was very nice and in a lovely, safe neighborhood. Our trip to a local flower finca (farm) was wonderful and we loved shopping in the charming town of Guatape. Senda Watapuy hotel right outside Tyrona National Park was a jungle paradise. Our kids loved the hike to a pretty beach and kayaking a river all the way to the ocean. Then in Cartagena, our guide Isaac was amazing. We loved the old town, making empanadas in our cooking class, and the boat ride in the mangroves was not to be missed.

KimKim provided the drivers to meet me at the airports/hotels/preserves. All were on time. A couple of drivers could speak no English, (and I can speak no Spanish) so that made for interesting rides.

The major problem here was my cell service provider. After getting back home, I contacted them and, hopefully, this problem has been corrected. I had a translator app on my phone but it was useless when not connected to Wi-Fi.

I also had a couple of guides who were just awesome. They were knowledgeable of the areas, bird identification and willing to help/answer all questions. Could not have been a more pleasant interaction with them and their English was very good.

Destinations:
Paramuno Birding-Trail in Monserrate
La Minga Ecolodge
Tinamu Natural Reserve
El Dorado Nature Reserve

The birding at Paramuno Birding-Trail was absolutely amazing. After spending hours here, I’m hoping the other places are as good as this is. They were! It just kept getting better.

At La Minga Ecolodge, after two days here, I was convinced this is the best place for birding. Lina, (Host?) although could speak no English, was just great. (I had Wi-Fi here) The food/preparation was excellent.

The downside here is your shower water is lukewarm at best. They have one of those “Tankless Water Heaters.”

Tinamu
No English spoken here either and Wi-Fi saved the day. The birding is just amazing here and even better if you’re willing to hike.

Sandra, the host, fed us very well and the food/preparation was outstanding. Some of the best soup I’ve ever had.

They do have hot showers here. Definitely my favorite place.

El Dorado
Excellent birding here if you’re into hummingbirds. This is rugged country and not an easy place to get to from Santa Marta. The 4-wheel drive road is long and brutal.

Once in El Dorado, my room to the restaurant (the only two places I could get Wi-Fi) are far apart and all uphill. You either walk a steep trail or catch a ride on a three wheeled contraption provided that you called the restaurant ahead of time. So, a couple of times, I had to walk the trail.

This place also has HOT water.

Once again, the food/preparation was outstanding. I had hot chocolate at other locations but chocolate at this place was the best.

I could not give two locations the top spot so I would rank Tinamu 5 stars for birds AND personnel and El Dorado 4.75 stars for birds. Because of the remoteness of El Dorado, they did not have the personnel but what they did have, they were great also. (Fred, in the restaurant)

Conclusion
I could and will visit these places again but will also be looking for new places to explore.

I don’t know why hot water seems to be a luxury in some locations in Colombia, but each place tells you to use as little hot water as possible.

KimKim did an outstanding job putting an itinerary together for me and I would not hesitate to use their services again. Well done, KimKim, (Michael Gold) well done!

We went to Columbia in the first half of February and visited Bogota, Medellin, Tyrona National Park and Categena. The trip was organized by Michael from Kimkim. Michael did an outstanding job in planning and booking us with enjoyable and interesting tours. Michael was available and responsive via whatsapp for any questions regarding our Itinerary. Most of the tours were private, or small group where we had the same guides and drivers in each location. Columbia is a very diverse country with a rich, interesting and conflicted past and breathtaking scenery. Each place was a like a new vacation. We worked with Michael to customize some aspects of the trip to suit our interests(including bucket list paragliding adventure in the mountains above Medellin) Can't say enough about the guides we had, shout out to Maria, Ciello, and Wlson and the drivers who were always there to keep us on time(kudos to Emerson who also spoke great english and was a wealth of information). Our accommodations were all in strategic locations, clean and comfortable. There is much said in North America about the safety of Columbia, As seasoned travelers, we exercise caution where ever we go. We never felt any sort of danger in the areas we travelled in Columbia and other than a flip the bill taxi scam when we were on our own(recommended to use Uber) we found the people of Columbia warm and friendly. This was a fantastic vacation, thank you Michael, and KimKim

Michael Gold with KimKim organized a very personalized itinerary for us. He was always available on Whats App when we had questions. We experienced a nice variety of experiences in Columbia and had quick and easy transfers between the activities. We felt very safe and welcome in the country. The guides all spoke English and were knowledgeable and helpful at all times.

Hotel Reviews

Hotel De La Opera

Bogotá

Great location! Nice rooms in historical building. Friendly and helpful staff.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Finca El Maco

San Agustin

We stayed in the Tiki hut which was fun. Outdoor shower with tropical flowers and bird sounds was fun. Restaurant on sight was good. Not close to town though.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Movich Casa del Alferez

Cali

Modern hotel with nice restaurant. It was a nice retreat in the middle of our trip.

Authenticity & Character

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Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Hotel Camino Real

The staff was helpful in moving us to an inside courtyard room which was quieter. Great old building right next to the downtown plaza.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Homestay in Silvia

An interesting stay with a local couple in their home. Clean and comfortable room. Hostess Vivi was super kind and friendly.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Senda Koguiwa

Santa Marta

A beautiful hotel with very nice landscaping and swim pool. Big clean room. Nice restaurant next to the pool.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Chiniuu

When we arrived we didn't like our room and the staff upgraded us to nice room on the second story with a beautiful room with a view of the beach and two swim pools. The hotel was advertised as 4 star but we felt it was more like a 3 star. The wifi didn't work unless we walked over to the restaurant. At one point we were locked in the room for over an hour because of old locks. The staff was kind and did their best and actually changed out the lock that same day and even provided us with a free dinner which was one of the best dinners we had on the whole trip. The restaurant was slow but the food was amazing.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

GHL Hotel Armería Real

Cartagena

Nice location where we could walk through the Getsemani area and also the old historical district. The staff was very helpful. Pool on roof was refreshing and had a great view.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Reviews

Visit the Salt Cathedral at Zipaquira

Colombia

We wished we had skipped this activity because it took so much time to drive their and back.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Social Dinner-Experience: Colombian Food

Bogotá

A highlight of the trip. We were a little concerned about what was going on the drive and the arrival at an apartment building. Once we got into the apartment we were treated to a very special dinner made by two cooks and a kind hostess. It was fun getting to see a modern apartment in Bogota suburbs. The hostess was very helpful and told us about the local fruit and vegetable market which we visited the next day on our own.

Quality of Experience

Food

Excellent!

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Bogotá Walking Tour

Bogotá

There was confusion and miscommunication several times on the tour where we didn't understand what was included and what we really wanted and expected. At the end we felt disappointed we didn't get more history of Bogota and Columbia.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport