EcoChile Travel

Guides and activities were outstanding! Hotel in Puerto Varas was fine, but not exceptional -- very much enjoyed the hotel in Pucon. We had to defer the trip for a year after a preceding trip to Antarctica was deferred -- Oxana was extremely helpful in working with us on those changes. We did have some confusion with internal Chile airline reservations -- caused by different requests within the travel group -- also some confusion with final payments (likely caused by the fact that we had to defer). Overall, it was a very positive experience.

Overall the trip to the Lake District was enjoyable with several hickups. We wrote to you about the discrepancy on Day 2 between what was originally quoted about lunch being included and still have not received any answer or verification of that. The original quote on which we paid stated lunch was included and then we found out it was not. The stay at Casa Karfu in Punta Arenas was not enjoyable. The hotel is very noisy, ALL the floor boards squeak, the walls are thin, and you can hear people walking above you. If you don't have ear plugs you won't get any sleep. The staff was not particularly friendly except for one young lady at the desk who was helpful. It was a 15 min walk to town, which after a long day was not something we felt enthusiastic about. Thankfully there are 2 options down the street. Breakfast did not start promptly at 0700. Ronaldo, our guide in PA, was very good. He was professional and answered all our questions. All the activities were enjoyable.
Casa Estado in Pucon was very nice. The only complaint, if any, is it is far from town and costs about $12 each way in a taxi. You are pretty much stuck there without a car. Stefanie from Amity Tours was very nice. She was not good at keeping pace with the whole group on the hikes. One person was a fast pacer and she kept her pace with him. The 2 of them walked far ahead of the 3 of us. The 3 of us felt we could have just taken a walk together without paying for a guide. She should have considered the "pace of the whole group" and set that pace so all of us would have had the benefit of walking with the guide. This happened both days. Otherwise, the hikes in both national parks were beautiful. The thermal pools were enjoyable.

My two trips within Chile which were organised by Oxana were fantastic.The first was a full day outing from Santiago , where our fantastic guide Paolo led a very memorable and stunning day hike in the El Morado national monument and then we had a soak in the hot springs topped offwith a picnic watching the land changing colours in the sunset. Then I had 3nights in San Pedro de Atacama, an amazing place. Oxana organised my transfers from Calama , a great hotel and two full days of experiencing that wondrous region. I found Kimkim to be very helpful, responsive and flexible when I had an issue I unexpectedly needed to resolve which required their understanding. I highly recommend Kimkim.

Really fantastic experience booking my trip to Chile with KimKim. Oxana was very knowledgeable and helped me plan the perfect trip and every detail seemed to be taken care of. The transportation services were excellent and I was able to experience all the parts of Chile I had hoped to visit. I was even automatically checked in for domestic flights I had while in Chile, which was super convenient. The accommodations were also superb. My only quibble would be that some of the tours I was on were with people that were about twice my age (I’m 29 and the median age of a lot of my fellow tourists seemed to be about 60). I would have enjoyed being around those more my own age, but also realize that as a solo traveler, I am being accommodated by tour groups that are able to take me and it’s not necessarily within KimKim’s control as to what age group I end up touring with, and it didn’t negatively impact my experience- just something for others to bear in mind. And in some instances I was the only person signed up for a tour and the tours still went, which was really appreciated as I know some tours won’t go if they don’t get enough participants. Overall excellent experience and service and I will definitely consider traveling with KimKim again in the future!

Marina was very tentative from the very beginning. She’s very responsive and explained very details to us. At first I was a bit nervous using online travel agent since we didn’t have any in person interaction but after a while Marina made us feel very comfortable. I would recommend Kimkim to my friends and our future adventures.

Overall we had a great holiday. Chile is a diverse, amazing and civilised place. Everywhere we went people were friendly and we didn't feel threatened at all. Highlights were the Atacama Desert and the trips run by Rutas Andinas (especially Andreas); they were very laid back and informative. We also loved Torres Del Paine and had the bonus of being on all inclusive, which we didn't realise until we were on the transfer from Punta Arenas. We did a number of trips from the hotel - Grey Glacier, Base of the Tower, Patagon and Laguna Azul, and all of the guides were excellent. If we were to go again I would probably give the Lake District a miss - Puerto Varas is really nice but the Chiloe Island trip, although there is nothing wrong with it, is a long way (400 km round trip) for not that much return. Osorno Volcano trip was good.
We spent 5 nights (in 3 blocks in Santiago) and the Ismael Hotel is in a great position. Lots of positives about the hotel - staff, atmosphere, breakfast, comfortable bed and pillow but be aware there is not much sound proofing in the glazing, so if you are in a room that is low down and either on the noisy side (back of hotel is on a busy street) or in room 413 (next to apartment that has all night parties on a Saturday - till 0700), try to get moved higher. Walking tour of Santiago was good and the Valpariso/Wine Tour was great. Felipe is a good guy. We also went on a Colchagua Wine Tour, which was the only one where we felt we were pushed along by the guide (Vivi). The vineyards were excellent and we had plenty of wine and a good lunch but we kept being told 'we need to move on in 8 minutes; 5 minutes etc', which isn't great considering how expensive it is.
Oxana (supported by Marina) was excellent and planned the whole thing around our wishes. Also, when we had a couple of scheduling issues with transfers they were resolved immediately. One other thing to mention, throughout the tour, regardless of operator, all of the drivers were good and we both felt safe on all trips (bus drivers in Cambodia please note!!).
An excellent trip and I would use KimKim and EcoChile again.

We had a great trip to the Santa Rita Wine Estate - thoroughly recommended for a two night stay - the Atacama Desert, Lake District and Patagonia (Punta Arenas and Torres del Paine).
The Atacama was just after their first heavy rainfall in years, which added extra beauty as the salts emerging from the ground gave the effect of a light sprinkling of snow. The mountains around were also topped with snow. The NOI Casa Atacama was good, apart from some oddities like the worst faucets of the trip but the best shower. Despite a small mosquito and fly problem in the room, the staff couldn't supply any fly spray, which we thought was unhelpful.
The Cumbres hotel in Puerto Varas was good, but I wouldn't recommend spending the extra cost of a room with full mountain view, as the clouds were down over the mountains most of the time! It's a great area for hiring a car and exploring yourself.
Punta Arenas and Torres del Paine were amazing, and fantastic weather most of the time too. I'd recommend booking at least the Full Paine tour well before you arrive, rather than at the last minute.
Avoid connections at Santiago airport with less than a couple of hours. A delayed arrival on one flight meant that we were stranded overnight in a cheap airport hotel, which lost us most of one day.
Oxana was very helpful in the plannning stage, with good suggestions and good choices of hotels, and in monitoring our progress through the trip, and gave us all the help we needed in rebooking flights after disprutions, and making changes to the programme.
I can't remember all the names of the guides and drivers, but they were excellent throughout, and everyone turned up preceisely when and where they were needed!

Would be very happy to come to Chile with Eco Chile again, or to use Kim Kim for other trips.

Andrew Dakin

We went to Chile as a honeymooning couple and had an amzing time... Oxana was incredibly helpful and reactive as we changed the plan a few times to incorporate a lot of things we wanted to do. The hotels chosen were brilliant, the lovely Matildas in Santiago and fabulous Altiplanico in San Pedro were comfortable, well equipped and had great levels of service, something we would later appreciate when we stayed elsewhere. We started in Santiago and went on a brilliant day trip with Javiera who showed us around the pretty and historic town of Valparaiso. Her wonderful knowledge of the history, the hotspots and where to find a good cup of coffee were what made it fun. We then went onto the Emiliana vineyard which was definitely the highlight of the day, learning how an organic vineyard works, the lack of pesticides and chemicals and the use of chikcens instead... The wine of course was very decent ! We chose to drive to Calama but were pleased with the pickup and accomodation once there. We had 3 fantastic day trips to the Tatio Geysers, Salt flats and the atacama salt lakes to see the flamingos. Our tour guide Michaelangelo, once again made the difference. Knowledgeable, smart and with a great sense of humour helped us understand where we were and the significance. He was always on the lookout to show us soemthing different, from the wild Chinchillas to Vicuna's and the Condors circling the carcass of an Alpaca. Many thanks to Oxana and the team for helping us map this out and the recommendations.

We had a great trip and everything Oxana recommended and organised for us was fantastic. I would highly recommend both Kimkim and Oxana.

I cannot recall any disappointment during the five weeks I was in Chile.
The only comment I would make is this. Twice my transfer rides were thirty minutes late which caused me worry and, in one instance, an email to Oxana to confirm there was someone on the way. It turned out that the transfer company had scheduled the pickup at a different time from EcoChile but I wasn't informed of the discrepancy. It worked out in the end, but it caused some anxiety. There was another mix up at the airport on my arrival but the owners of EcoChile, much to their credit, made amends and the remainder of my tour of Chile was sensational.
I would absolutely recommend EcoChile to any visitor looking for someone local to organize their vacation. I'm impressed. Considering the number of flights, hotels, venue changes I experienced, things went very well.