DISCOVERY DMC

France was stunning! The Eiffel Tower at night is an absolute must! Going to Normandy and having a private tour with John to take us back into such a historic day was unreal! Bayeux was such a cute little town with everything nearby! Saint Malo and the boardwalk to get to the center was stunning! We had so much fun walking around! There was the most stunning church inside Saint malo with all amazing statues of the virgin mother and the most beautiful stain glass windows you will ever see!

Hotel Reviews

Hotel de Turin

Paris

Paris is a very very large city with all different little nooks! We were about 20min Uber ride from the Eiffel Tower! The room was nothing special but it worked for sleeping! The girls working at the front desk were soooo nice! Helped recommend food nearby for us to go eat! The only thing I thought was weird is we stayed there two separate times on the trip and the second time we went to leave the room for the day and they asked us for the key until we got back even though all our things were in the room! I didn’t like this, nothing happened but it was not mentioned and only one man working there ever gave us this issue!

Authenticity & Character

Location

Would have liked to be a little closer to the Eiffel Tower!

Staff

The girls at the front were great!!!!

Cleanliness & Comfort

Bathrooms are nothing special but no issues with the beds! Room rather small but was what we needed for the time!

Hôtel Les Charmettes

Saint-Malo

Stunning view!!!! The back of the hotel was on the boardwalk and it was so peaceful! Only negative was no lift so we had to carry all our bags up multiple stairs!!! Location was stunning though and worth it!

Authenticity & Character

The room had a giant window to open and listen to the ocean with the perfect breeze!

Location

We walked into the center of Saint malo and it took roughly 15min!

Staff

So nice!

Cleanliness & Comfort

Bed was good and bathroom clean!

Le Bayeux

Bayeux

Perfect location! The staff was SO helpful we had our rental car die and the man at the front desk helped with speaking French where I couldn’t! Our room was huge! So much room for our luggage and bunk beds which my daughter loved!! Right around the corner from all restaurants and there was even a market open one of the days that was awesome!

Authenticity & Character

It wasn’t wicked fancy but the staff made it feel very welcoming

Location

Close to everything we needed!

Staff

10/10 staff!!! So helpful! Spoke great English and weren’t rude!

Cleanliness & Comfort

Beds weren’t the most comfortable or the pillows!

Activity Reviews

Commented Cruise on the Seine River (Group Boat/1Hour)

Paris

Wicked cool! Very relaxing! A nice way to see the most without being overwhelmed!

Quality of Experience

We had been traveling for awhile now so I nice boat tour was perfect!

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Weren’t very helpful! Barely saw staff!

Transport

It was raining so we kept going in and out of the boat but it was nice to have the option! Very relaxed! Learned a lot!

Evening Eiffel Tower Tour

Paris

An evening Eiffel Tower tour is a MUST! I just wouldn’t use a private tour like we did! Just go and buy the tickets and do it yourself! Seeing the tower at night is a must and having the experience of going all the way up was incredible! Our guide was an hour and a half late and it just seemed very unorganized! She was so nice but didn’t seem worth the wait!

Quality of Experience

Going up for the tour was unreal! Self-guided would have been better!

Guides, Drivers and Staff

I was traveling with a 3 year old and the guide was 1 1/2 late and then very unorganized. Felt like just a friend was with us because she was so nice but not very informative especially for the wait!

Transport

The Eiffel Tower elevator is very crammed so travel light! But the experience was so cool!

From Bayeux to Normandy D-Day U.S Sector & Omaha Beach (Private/4Hours)

Bayeux

MUST DO! If history is even remotely interesting to you this is an absolute! One of the best days in my entire trip! John our guide was unbelievable! So knowledgeable and took us to the places that he knew the big tour buses wouldn’t be starting at to get us some quiet time! Gave us so much information and it was just truly chilling being there and reminiscing on history!

Quality of Experience

Unreal! Definitely do the private tour with John! Totally worth being private to have this experience!

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Cannot say enough amazing things about John! Answered all our questions and really brought us back in time with things we would have never known!

Transport

John picked us right up at the hotel and even had a car seat for my daughter! Great driver and made the day amazing! Also on the way back he drove us down an area to show us great food! So nice and highly highly recommend!

My daughter and three year old granddaughter arrived in France on 9/5/24 and were picked up and brought to our Hotel in Paris. We stayed at the Grand Hotel DeTurin, triple room with breakfast included. The staff were very kind and spoke English which was very helpful. We arrived quite early and changed into new outfits and checked our bags so we could go out and about in the City. It was nice not having to drive, we took taxi’s and UBER’s to get around. We started at the foot of the Eiffel Tower at Port De La Bourdonnais to take a pontoon down the Seine River on the Bateaux Parisiens. The one hour cruise took us past the mini Statue of Liberty, Notre Dame and many other sites on the River . Notre Dame was spectacular, you can see the scaffolding where they are repairing it after the devastating fire. It was a little rainy but we had our rain gear. We then strolled the area near the Eiffel Tower and had lunch in a lovely Cafe’. The chocolate with crème fouettés (whipped cream) was to die for! I felt like I was in a movie.
We visited shops and made our way back to the Eiffel Tower for a private night tour. Ayla woke up a half hour before the tour and had chips and a drink to hold her until dinner. We took the lift to the second story and could see all of the city quarters, the Special Olympics was still going on and we could see the stadium. Our guide gave us the history of the city and the building of the Eiffel tower. Then up to the top on a second lift. I would not recommend a private tour guide for the Eiffel Tower. She was one and half hours late to meet us and that interfered with feeding my granddaughter, you can only go so long without feeding a three year old. The guide seemed annoyed when I rushed the tour so we could go eat. If she arrived on time that evening may have been different.
Took some great photo’s of the Tower at night. Taxi to our hotel and off to bed. magnifique journée.
The
Great night sleep, the Hotel was fine, breakfast was average. We took a taxi to get our car rental to drive to Saint Malo, Long ride, 4 hours, my daughter did the driving in France.... Thankfully they drive on the same side as we do! We stopped in the small town of Combray half way through our ride for lunch; Sadly they were not very welcoming, the restaurant we had planned told us “take away” when we asked if they spoke English! So we left and found a little pizza shop. Pizza shop was welcoming, we ordered pizza from the pictures on the menu…. big mistake the one that looked like a white pizza was in fact all cheese but it had goat cheese and not ricotta as expected. My daughter hates goat cheese so we immediately found the word in French for goat cheese so we don’t make that mistake again! Du fromage de chèvre.
Back on the road for 2 more hours and we arrived at our Hotel Les Charmottes in St. Malo, lovely property right on the ocean. No lift to the second floor made it difficult with our luggage but once we up there the room was great . We settled into our room then went for dinner at the Hotel’s restaurant which was right on the board walk with the ocean view. I enjoyed the meal very much…spectaculaire. . We all showered and went off to bed.
I woke early and went to breakfast, beautiful view of the ocean with my coffee and croissant, great breakfast. The girls sleep in until 10am, the little one had her breakfast in the room, something new…banana and peanut butter! LOL! We then packed up the stroller and headed down the board walk to the center of town, St. Vincent Gate, about 2.5 miles. The weather was perfect and we stopped for for my daughter to have breakfast. The little one and I sang and danced on our journey. Beautiful Villa’s , Cafe’s and Hotels along the boardwalk. When we arrived to La porte Saint-Vincent (Saint-Vincent gate) there were beautiful gardens and a Carousal. We had a ride before entering the interior of the old town. Inside has been renovated with up scale shopping and all sorts of food and sweets. We walked and window shopped until lunch. Sunny and beautiful, great strolling. Inside the walls of the old town is the CATHÉDRALE SAINT VINCENT; it is known for their stain glass windows and since it was so sunny the interior was magnificent. The main theme was “The Blessed Mother and Child” it brought both my daughter and I a feeling of great peace and joy. The little one lit candles at each Blessed Mother statue. We sat and took in the beauty and thanked God for the blessings he has bestowed upon us. Wonderful end to our visit to the old town. We did take one additional ride on the Carousel before our walk home. The dark clouds were approaching from behind us but we made it back with just a few sprinkles. McDonald’s for dinner because it was raining and the easiest option and they had a drive thru ….the little one was very happy with our choice! On our ride back there was a double rainbow and the sun setting behind a building that was awesome. We ate in the room and relaxed until bed time.
Breakfast then we drove to Dinan pouring rain! we hoped to have lunch but all cafe’s close from 2pm and reopen at 7pm… heading back to Malo and going to the Aquarium. Then McDonalds for Ayla and a nice Cafe for Bailey and I to have lunch. Not bad that we have gotten to day 21 and only had to cancel our plans due to rain once. We found that on Sunday’s most places are closed so no Aquarium, we found a bakery on our ride back to the hotel and had decadent pastries and a latte’. Yum…. We all took a nap and went to dinner. We depart St. Malo and head towards Normandy tomorrow.
St. Malo to St. Michel, Sadly another rainy windy day here in France. We packed up after breakfast and are heading to La Mont-Saint-Michel Abbey, hoping the rain will have stopped by the time we arrive! Forty minute ride and it is a steady drizzle, 30 minute walk out to the best viewing area. We decided not to go out to the Abbey due to weather and the little princess napping.
Back on the highway to head to Bayeux another 50 minutes to our hotel. Ahhh! Low tire pressure comes on in the car, oh no! Thankful it is not a flat, time to find a Petrol Station!!!
We fill the tires and figure out how to reset the pressure and back on the road. Lovely ride into Bayeux, gateway to the D-day beaches. We are doing a private tour tomorrow of Normandy and the beaches….so excited, I have been waiting for this experience since we got to France. 🇺🇸
Unpacked and settled into the room at Hotel Le Bayeux. The staff were friendly and accommodating; the little one loved the room it had bunk beds. She picked the top bunk of course and invited me to stay in the bottom!
Still raining so we are rested while we wait to go to dinner at 7pm. Most shops and restaurants are closed on Sunday and Monday’s here, plan ahead and make your dinner reservations the day before you arrive. The rain has stopped and we see some blue sky, right on time to walk to dinner.
Breakfast was average at Hotel Le Bayeux. The CATHÉDRALE DE BAYEUX is one block from our hotel. The cathedral - which was consecrated in 1077 by Bishop Odo de Conteville, the half-brother of William the Conqueror - was the original showcase for the Bayeux Tapestry. Revealing the Romanesque and Gothic splendour of the church, which includes access to the Treasury and Chapter Room. We plan to visit tomorrow morning after breakfast.
Breakfast and off to the CATHÉDRALE DE BAYEUX, beautiful architecture and Chapel’s throughout. I did my morning prayer and meditation in the Cathedral, so peaceful, great start to my day. I then visited a few shops and went back to the hotel to go to lunch with the girls. We tried a Galettes, which is buck wheat crepe. We chose the ham, cheese and eggs. Très délicieux!
Back to the Hotel to get ready for our tour of Normandy and the D-Day Beaches. No sun and very windy so we layer and wear our rain gear! Our guide John, who was so great, met us at the Hotel….we started our tour at Pointe Du Hoc-Pointe du Hoc was a strategic site in the German fortifications on the Normandy coast that was attacked by Colonel Rudder's 2º Ranger Battalion on the morning of 6 June 1944. The site stands 98 feet above the sea with remnants of the German artillery battery. It is a seven mile span between Omaha and Utah beach, this was the mid point between the two. Fascinating to see the holes in the landscape from the American bombing.
Then off to Omaha Beach! The sea side has been rebuilt with summer homes. Prior to D-Day the Germans destroyed all but one home below the 60-80 foot natural barge of the land scape. The one house that remained was for the German Officers to sleep. The American Soldiers were being fired on from above once they entered the beach, the amphibious tanks that were deployed to protect them prior to hitting the beach all sank due to the 6 feet swells. They were made to sustain 1 foot or maximum 2 foot waves, they all sank. It took most of the morning to identify a plan to get the soldiers off the beach. Very sad to think about how afraid they must have been with no cover from the German’s. Now stands the Monument for Freedom, Fraternity and Hope. Our final stop was Normandy, for 12 years our soldiers were buried at La Cambre, In 1956 all American bodies were moved to Normandy. La Cambre is now the burial site of the 21,300 German Soldiers who died during the D-Day invasion.
The Cemetery overlooks Omaha Beach, 9387 soldiers who fell during the Normandy campaign rest in peace here. The Chapel Memorial and wall of the Missing honor their memory. (4 woman are buried here, three died when their jeep went off the road while delivering mail to the soldiers and one was an American Red Cross Worker one of three "girls" who were assigned to a Clubmobile that provided coffee, freshly made doughnuts, chewing gum, cigarettes, magazines, newspapers, and records to GIs while they were in the field. But perhaps more importantly, the girls' primary responsibilities were to bolster the spirits and the morale of the battle weary soldiers by chatting with them. For as Elizabeth wrote to her parents, "If you only knew what combat does to these boys--not in the physical sense, although that's bad enough--but mentally.") She died in a Plane Crash going from La Havre to Paris.
Quite an emotional day but well worth the visit. 🇺🇸🙏🏻
Touring the Tapestry, Street Markets and Bayeux D-Day Museum.
Sun was shining that morning, breakfast in the room. Visiting two museums in Bayeux today. LA TAPISSERIE OF BAYEUX -THE BAYEUX TAPESTRY OR THE STORY OF A CONQUEST
is a masterpiece of 11th century Romanesque art, which was probably commissioned by Bishop Odo, William the Conqueror’s half-brother, to embellish his newly-built cathedral in Bayeux in 1077. The Tapestry tells the story of the events surrounding the conquest of England by the Duke of Normandy. The story told by the Bayeux Tapestry begins in 1064, when Edward the Confessor, King of England, instructs his brother-in-law Harold Godwinson to travel to Normandy in order to offer his cousin William the succession to the English throne. Although the end of the embroidery is missing, the story ends with the Anglo-Saxons fleeing at the end of the Battle of Hastings in October 1066…. Interesting but not a favorite!
We then strolled the open Markets and bought fresh kiwi and supplies for the little one’s PBJ’s…. Lunch in a Cafe’ and back to the Hotel for rest time. later in the afternoon we went to the Museum of the battle of Normandy, this was a great visit that explained the entire invasion and ended with a 20 minute video of the entire Battle of Normandy. Bayeux was never bombed so their town remains as it was back in 1944. They were very grateful to the British and American troops for their freedom from the Germans. Highly recommend Bayeux.
Left Bayeux headed back to Paris.
Up early to head back to Paris. 8am…Car is packed we depart onto the street and the Car dies, battery alert message! Ahhhh! The entire car shuts down! Thankfully we were right across the street from the Hotel. We got in touch with our KimKim representative and he contacts the car rental for road side assistance….40 minutes until they arrive. The Hotel clerk was kind enough to type up a sign to put in the vehicle window and we went back in for breakfast while waiting. Got a new vehicle for our ride back to Paris but sadly we did not make our reservation at the Louvre! sorry Mona Lisa !!
Did not arrive in Paris until 6:30pm, checked back into Grand Hotel DeTyrin and ventured off to dinner. Long Day!
Off to The Palace of Versailles then back to the City.
Up early for our visit to the Palace of Versailles, about 40 minutes outside of Paris. 8:15 am departure! The Palace was extraordinary and the Gardens magnificent, we had 2 hours to tour and could have spent the entire day. The Palace: Soon after taking the throne in July 1830, King Louis-Philippe I decided to restore the Palace of Versailles, transforming it into a museum of French history known as the "Historic Galleries of Versailles".
He called on architect Frédéric Nepeu to convert the apartments on the upper floors of the South Wing into a vast gallery chronicling the main military battles that shaped the history of France.
Drawing inspiration from the Grande Galerie of the Louvre Museum designed by Charles Percier and Pierre Fontaine under the imperial regime, the Gallery of Battles features a metallic framework concealed by wood panelling and stucco, with glass ceilings providing natural light. The battles, ranging from Tolbiac in 496 to Wagram in 1809, are depicted in thirty-three monumental paintings, while eighty busts celebrate heroic officers killed in combat over the centuries.
Works began in 1833 and was completed shortly before the inauguration of the museum, dedicated "to all the glories of France", on 10 June 1837.
The Musical Gardens: Has 600 water features, 55 pools & fountains with a team of 13 fountain engineers. The Groves: 15 groves open, 77 acres of formal French gardens in an 850 acre park. 700 topiaries and 300,000 flowers planted each year, 155 statues and 235 vases. Magnificent art and gardens.
Back to Paris to go to a fabulous Cafe’ Carette known for its fresh berries and Crème fouettée (whipped cream) as well as their hot chocolate. That gave us the energy we needed to head to the Louvre, we could not get tickets but walked the grounds on the beautiful sunny day.
We then visited the Officine Universelle Buly founded in 1803 by Jean Vincent Buly and it is still open today. They are known for brushes and combs made especially for curly hair, and we all have natural curly hair. My daughter wantef to get one engraved with her name to remember her trip to Paris. There was a que to get in to the store, once we got in we found they did not have the comb or brush she wanted! ☹️ She purchased a lip balm case with her initials.
Back to the hotel, ordering Japanese take out so we could eat in the room.

The little one’s day - Disney in Paris! The Tinker Bell brigade.
First time in Disney we arrived at 11am and departed at 8:30pm, long but wonderful day with our little Tinker Bell 🧚
Her favorite ride: Walt Disney Studios Park - Worlds of Pixar “Cars Quatre Roues Rallye” like a teacup ride but with “Cars” it spun great and Ayla loved it
Favorite moment: Toy Story Playland where she met Woody: Woody was so impressed with her that he brought her over to meet Jesse! Jesse and Woody thought she was the real Tinker Bell 🧚 Highly recommend if traveling with children.
We departed early the next morning 9/15/24 for Sicily.
Trip of a lifetime being able to have 3 generations travel together…from 63 to 3.
Thank you to the KimKim Team, your hotel selections and destination suggestions were fabulous.

Hotel Reviews

Hotel de Turin

Paris

Staff were great, a little far from where all the sites we visited were. Room was tight with two queen beds and our luggage. Neighborhood was great to stroll around. Breakfast was not the best.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Far from most visited attractions.

Staff

Friendly

Cleanliness & Comfort

Very clean but a little tight walking around in the room.

Hôtel Les Charmettes

Saint-Malo

Great location and views.

Authenticity & Character

The views were great and the room was very comfortable. No lift to the second floor but once we got all our luggage up the stairs it was great.

Location

Right on the boardwalk.

Staff

Breakfast staff were fabulous, dinner staff not so friendly.

Cleanliness & Comfort

Le Bayeux

Bayeux

Great size room and we were on the ground level. The staff were friendly.

Authenticity & Character

Cute pictures of American Soldiers on the windows.

Location

Righ near the Cathedral and center of town.

Staff

So helpful and friendly. Best staff of all the hotels we were in.

Cleanliness & Comfort

Clean and plenty of room.

Activity Reviews

Evening Eiffel Tower Tour

Paris

Enjoyed the Eiffel Tower but the tour guide was 1.5 hours late.

Quality of Experience

Great experience, seeing sites I have only seen on TV.

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Guide was late.

Transport

From Bayeux to Normandy D-Day U.S Sector & Omaha Beach (Private/4Hours)

Bayeux

This had always been on my bucket list. Unforgettable and John our tour guide was fabulous.

Quality of Experience

Very touching.

Guides, Drivers and Staff

John was amazing, knowledgeable and spoke perfect English.

Transport

On time and drove safely.

Commented Cruise on the Seine River (Group Boat/1Hour)

Paris

Perfect Amount of time, one hour, and saw fabulous sites from the river. Head phones to describe all the sites as you passed.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Good Morning/Afternoon,
Julie and I have returned from our trip and we had an amazing time. Everything was set up pretty much as we had planned. Our only glitch I'd say was our Eiffel tower adventure. We had trouble connecting with our guide but did eventually get connected. Neither Julie or I realized that we had needed to pre-purchase our own Eiffel tower tickets so when we met up with our guide, he asked "So what are we doing". "Do you have tickets?" And he would have needed a ticket as well. So we didn't go up into the Eiffel tower. If we paid anything into this tour we probably didn't get our money's worth. We did walk around with the guide (I can't remember his name) for about an hour just talking about different sites and landmarks. I guess I would suggest for further clients a better way to communicate when to pre-purchase tickets. It just wasn't completely clear to Julie or I. The rest of the trip went very smooth. We made all our connections, met up easily with all our tour guides and had so much fun. I highly recommend the cooking class that we participated in with Rosa Jackson in Aix en Provence. This was a delightful class and may have been one of the highlights of the trip. I don't have any other trips planned but I will use and or recommend KimKim when I plan my next trip.
Best regards,
Jennifer Shoemaker
Happy Traveler

Aline was terrific. She was able to plan a trip for my wife and I that was just wonderful. We saw a lot of south of France, our hotels were small boutique, hotels that were closer to town than a larger hotel might’ve been. The travel was all arranged for us, with only a tiny glitch or two, which were easily resolved.

The Eiffel Tower tour was really wonderful and learned a lot and had fun simultaneously. The activities were just right. Not too much not too little and we were able to relax and have a great time seeing new places and meeting some new people.

We also really enjoyed the cooking class and a free day in Antibes. Overall a really great trip. Thanks to Aline.

Kim Kim Travel Guide Service Review:
Beginning in February we started planning our September tour of Europe by contacting The Kim Kim Travel Team.
We were assigned a specialist, Bastien, who we found to be very knowledgeable, helpful, and flexible in designing a series of meetups with professional local tour guides in places we designated. Our agenda covered parts of five Northern European principal countries and points of interest during our three and a half weeks of travel by rental car.

We had plenty of time to explore on our own, plus our meetings with guides gave us targeted points of emphasis that enhanced our understanding of current local and historical culture.
Our mantra was: “We know where we wish to go, but we don’t know what to do once we get there.”

That’s where Bastien and his team shined. The coordination of these moments is not an easy task, but with excellent communication and follow up we together achieved our goal of achieving a most satisfying experience. The care and professionalism we received was well worth the expense because we set the pace, the places, and the timing while Bastien and the Kim Kim Team delivered the color, richness, and vibrancy of the places we visited. Bravo!
John and Judith Owens
Boulder, Colorado

Activity Reviews

Treasures of Salzburg: Sound of Music Tour (Private/2.5Hours)

Salzburg

Quality of Experience

Superior communication

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Trained professionals

Transport

Continuous communication

Amsterdam 100% Personalized City Tour (Private/3Hours)

Amsterdam

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Our group of four had interactions with our knowledgable guide are impossible for large groups who follow a walking tour guide carrying a flag and marching around following the leader.

Transport

The flexibility of visiting places along the way is what makes Kim Kim guides superior.

City Discovery: Volendam & Marken Day Trip (Private/5Hours)

Amsterdam

To see working windmills of various types and to speak with operators of these magnificent mechanical machines was an unexpected delight. The Dutch advanced ahead of other pre-industrial cultures due to ingenuity and cohesion as a society. This was quite an unexpected educational insight.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Salzburg: Palace Concert at the Marble Hall of Mirabell Palace (2Hours)

Salzburg

To experience an evening ensemble Mozart classical music performance in the town hall Palace is the way to get started in Salzburg. There is no other way to begin, especially when upon arrival there is taking place a wine tasting event that welcomes you to join in.

Quality of Experience

EAGLE´S NEST Half Day Tour (Private/6Hours)

Salzburg

Quality of Experience

Lunch at the far end of the lake at the restaurant overlooking the lake is an unforgettable experience.

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Lunching with our guides added exceptional insights that otherwise would have been unavailable to us.

Transport

Our guides often picked us up at our residences.

It was a pleasure to work with Bastien and Ailene on our road-trip from Avignon to St. Remy, Aix en Provence, St. Tropez, and Cap D’Antibes. They were responsive, helpful and provided great guidance on structuring and scheduling our itinerary. We enjoyed the charming hotels suggested; and their help with train tickets, transfers and car rental made our journey seamless.

Activity Review

A Day Trip from Aix en Provence to Cassis Village, Calanques Boat Ride & Provence Wines (Small Group Tour/8Hours)

Aix-en-Provence

Our guide, Alex, we knowledgeable and entertaining. He relied on our group to determine the trajectory of our tour - within the general parameters set by the tour company - and made our day fee “custom-designed”.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Aline and Bastien planned a wonderful trip for us to Paris and Normandy! This is our second trip utilizing KimKim and we find their model very good for our needs. I appreciated how accessible they were for questions on the What's App when we arrived and throughout our visit. We began trip by flying to Paris, then "trained" to Bayeux for several days in the French countryside visiting Mt. St. Michelle one day and then Normandy. The local tour guides they arranged for us were ALL terrific! Charles gave us a wonderful experience at Mt. St. Michelle and we appreciated all his shared knowledge, sense of humor and even his singing:-). Jonathan (Normandy) gave us a very enlightening and enjoyable D-Day experience despite the pouring rain! He was energetic and so fascinatingly full of history about this important place. Aline and Bastien had arranged lovely chateau accommodations near Bayeux that were so gorgeous and restful. Excellent restaurant and bar on site, even a sweet set of donkeys grazing peacefully in field. The staff at our chateau were all delightful! Our final day we returned to Paris by smooth, quiet train. We then packed two days worth of touring into one as our airline had canceled our flight at beginning of our trip (after we waited 7 hours through repeated delays in Boston). Thus, since we lost our first day in Paris, we strove to pack everything in on our last day. Remarkably it all worked! Trained 2.5 hrs early AM, brought bags to hotel near Notre Dame, walked to Louvre, toured there (Mona Lisa! I had just read The Davinci Code which begins in the Louvre and discusses some fascinating details about the Mona Lisa...as well as The Divine Feminine...) taxied to Montmartre where we enjoyed a Gastronomy tour with Aude, a delightful and very informative young lady tour guide sharing about the amazing delicacies and history of the area, taxied to Eiffel Tower to meet Anna for our graciously rescheduled tour from Monday She was remarkably prepared with much to share and good visual aids to emphasize our learning as we traveled up to the top and visited stops on way down. Fully enjoyed Anna and her thorough tour! We added our Siene commented cruise back on to close our touring which was very fun and finally had a late Italian meal back near our hotel. A comfortable sleep, a surprisingly efficient and delicious breakfast at cafe nearby and then the transfer service Bastien arranged arrived in timely manner to return us to Charles DeGaulle Airport. If only our air travel had gone more smoothly on both ends, but this was the airlines and not a KimKim responsibility. We look forward to arranging future travel with KimKim. Thank you again Aline and Bastien!

We had an amazing 9 days travelling in Paris and Tours as well as the countryside in the Loire Valley. Aline was such a huge help to me to create a trip my whole family was willing to get on a plane for. Biking through the forests to find castles to tour was just incredible and something we will never forget!
Using Kimkim let us balance my desire for all the details to be worked out ahead of time and my husbands idea to just show up and wander. Aline was able to find solutions to the (maybe odd?) requests my two teenagers had and she was always available to help us out when we got stuck. Overall great trip, Thank you!

Hotel Reviews

Hôtel de Venise**

Paris

overall good location, helpful staff

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Appart'City Tours

Tours

This place was ultimately a great home base for us, with a couch, tv laundry and lots of dinner options nearby. There was some trouble at check in because they had booked the room under the travel agents name instead of my name.

Authenticity & Character

Location

its at a shopping mall, but is on the tram line

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

We had two bedrooms, two showers and a couch ~ it was really a small apartment and perfect for our needs

Activity Reviews

French Cooking Class (Group Tour/4.5Hours)

Paris

Definitely a trip highlight!

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

We took the metro!

Full Day E-Bike guided tour, Loire Valley Chateaux : CHAMBORD (Small Group/8Hours)

Tours

This bike trip was so much more magical than I could have ever expected.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

St-Germain Pastry & Chocolate Tour (Group Tour/3Hours)

Paris

Our guide kept us moving and was an excellent storyteller, we sampled chocolates and along the way learned the whole human history of chocolate preparation leading right into the french tradition

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport