Shanti Travel

We had a very memorable trip exploring the east half of Bali with our driver, Essa. He was always punctual and navigated his way around Denpasar, Ubud, and the north the mountains effortlessly.

Our travel specialist, Ana, was great to work with and always replied very quickly. She is knowledgeable about Bali and helped us build a magical itinerary for the trip. We are so happy we booked this service through Kimkim!

Yuqqa organized this trip, and she allowed us to have our input on where to go. She did an excellent job selecting the events, hotels, travel etc. And she did this in a record time of a few weeks. During the journey she followed us on a daily basis. She is pleasant, very accurate, knows her stuff. She made this an unforgettable amazing journey. She is the best!

The drivers were Yadi and Very. Both were very nice, pleasant and excellent drivers. They took us to the most interesting places.

We enjoyed learning about the Indonesian culture, their religion, how they live, what they like to eat, how they travel. We learned about the Indonesian history, we saw their rice-, tea- and coffee plantations. We learned about Batik, the Wayang culture. We spent time in the big cities, like Jakarta, Bandoeng, Yogyakarta and Semarang.
Of special Interest:
Jakarta: Old Batavia, the National Museum of Indonesia, Pasar Baru
Bogor: The Botanical Gardens
Bandoeng: Wayang Golek, Malabar tea plantation
Yogyakarta: Kraton, Making of Wayang puppets, Making of Batik, Prambanan Temple, Gunung Marapi
Semarang: Kota Lama, Ambarawa with train museum

Hotel Reviews

Hotel Des Indes Menteng

Jakarta

Friendly staff, great breakfast. Exellent located in city of Jakarta

Authenticity & Character

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Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

THE 1O1 Bandung Dago

Bandung

Old hotel Breakfast was great

Authenticity & Character

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Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

The Phoenix Hotel Yogyakarta - MGallery Collection

YOGYAKARTA

Great Hotel, friendly and very helpful staff, great breakfast

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

FM7 Resort Hotel Jakarta

Tangerang, Banten

Great shuttle service from and to the Jakarta airport. Modern hotel. We had a great dinner at the roof-top restaurant. Service great, staff very pleasant

Authenticity & Character

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Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Novus Giri Puncak Resort & Spa

Bogor

Great Hotel, excellent breakfast

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Metro Park View Hotel Kota Lama Semarang

Semarang

Great Hotel, excellent breakfast. Liked the coffee and ice-cream bar. Service at the dinner room was awkward, staff barely spoke English, kept on asking questions, very pushy and insisting us taking wine.

Authenticity & Character

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Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Reviews

Explore Tea Plantations in Bandung

Bandung

We first went to see Wayang Golek. This is a must-see for everybody going to Bandung! Then to the Malabar Tea Plantation, see comments below: The guide did not discuss the process of the tea production, but instead showed us the kampung. This could have been an attractive part of the trip but has to be adjusted: more explanation of the tea process, no tour through the kampung.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

needs to discuss more of tea process. To much of the kampung

Transport

Lively discussion with guide about people of Indonesia

Visit Botanical Bogor

Bogor

Excellent. Botanical garden were very interested.Had a great trip over the Puncuk

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Jakarta City Tour

Jakarta

Very interesting old Batavia, Sunda Kelapa. Unfortunately the museum at the Old town was closed and the Wayang museum was being rebuild. The visit to the National Museum of Indonesia is exceptional. It reviews the 78 different ethnic groups of Indonesia. It is a must-see for everybody visiting Jakarta Visited Pasar Baru, interesting

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Kota Gede District, Plaosan and Sewon Temples, Prambanan Temple and Ramayana Show

Yogyakarta

We visited Krotan, the Sultan palace and had a great guide. She spoke perfectly English and knew everything about the sultanate and the Islam religion. Visit to Prambanan Temple was great. Had an excellent guide. Saw the inpressive Gunung Marapi vulcano. We loved the performance of the Ramayana Show.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Semarang City Tour

Semarang

Went to Kota Lama Semarang, impressive. Great walking tour. We went to places where they make wayang puppets and to a place where they make batik fabrics.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Explore Nature in Outback Semarang

Semarang

We went to the Train Museum in Ambarawa. We had a great tour-guide. We learned about the steam locomotives and how the train system was build between Semarang, Jakarta and Yogyakarta.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Visit Borobudur Temple, Pawon Temple, Mendut Temple, and Yogyakarta Market

Yogyakarta

We went to the Yogyakarta Pasar and saw all the different spices and fruits that were sold. Quite an experience! We were not able to make it to the Borodudar Temple, unfortunately

Quality of Experience

Quality of Experience

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Transport

Transport

Ana proposed right away a plan on this platform, which is a big plus that for most of the country tour guides don’t do. We had already the chance to review a practical proposal and we could change things very fast. The vacation overall was the best of our lives. Beside Bali being a paradise by itself, we squeezed in our two weeks trip everything we could, from workshops to treks, to beaches and cultural visits. Ana was always available and helped us with a last minute change of plan due to our sickness. At the next Asia trip I will definitely hope to have her agency (if not her directly) organise our trip.

Hotel Reviews

De Moksha Eco Friendly Boutique Resort

Tabanan

This place is a paradise, we hoped to spend more time there

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Staff

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Artini 2 cottage

Authenticity & Character

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Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Puri Pandawa Resort

Uluwatu, Bali

Authenticity & Character

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Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Private cruise trip in Komodo National Park

Labuan Bajo, Indonesia

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Reviews

Komodo Cruise Day 1

Indonesia

Quality of Experience

Food

The cook on the boat, even though very young, was incredible

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Both the guide and the crew on the boat were EXCELLENT

Transport

Experience Balinese Cooking Class

Ubud, Bali

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Our trip to Ubud, Uluwatu, Kuta Lombok, and Gili Air was amazing. Ana curated a fun and interesting family trip to two adults and two teenagers. Having the friendly drivers booked and activities organised meant no hassles or decisions while there. It made the whole trip easier and everything worked! It was a good mix of temples, snorkelling, cooking, waterfalls, cycling and nice small hotels with great pools. Dengung on Bali and Suallii on Lombok were excellent drivers/guides. We would highly recommended Ana organises your holiday too.

Activity Reviews

Experience Balinese Cooking Class

Ubud, Bali

A personal cooking class with our teenagers was a surprising hit! Lots of fun and the setting and food were wonderful.

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Ride around Ubud with an e-bike

Ubud, Bali

Loads of fun. Beautiful scenery. An absolute must to get a feel for inland Bali and the rice terraces.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Ana made a last-minute trip to Indonesia easy, comfortable, and incredible. She paired me with great drivers (Satria and Oka) and local guides (Like Duy at Prambanan and Bayu at Bromo) and was always just a WhatsApp message away when I had questions on the trip! I would definitely book with Ana again!

Our main guide, Omreg, was extremely knowledgeable and very nice.

The guides for elephant washing/tubing and orangutan trekking really knew their stuff and were fun.

The local specialist, Yuqqa, did a great job on very short notice putting this trip together. She is an excellent communicator and is very responsive.

Hotel Review

Mega Inn Lodge

North Sumatra

Authenticity & Character

Location

right on the river that a monkey troop crosses several times per day

Staff

super helpful

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Review

Trek in Gunung Leuser National Park

Bukit Lawang, North Sumatra

We saw 6 orangutans in 3 hours!

Quality of Experience

Food

The hotel restaurant is very good.

Guides, Drivers and Staff

We had an amazing experience in Indonesia with Yuqqa from Kimkim!
From the very beginning we discussed plans that worked for my whole family and for different reasons we had to change them a few times, Yuqqa patiently helped us until we could finally get a very detailed full itinerary.
From then and until we came back home we felt accompanied by Yuqqa, sending her questions of any kind at any time of the day that were responded promptly. If any issues arouse she would quickly find a way to work around it and listened to our feedback.
All the activities she booked for us were of quality, the drivers and guides were super professional and lovely people, they would give the extra mile to help us and make us feel comfortable.
We learnt a lot from the Indonesian culture, we visited many interesting places like the Brahmavihara Monastery and the floating temple, staying on a boat in Komodo was a great idea and this let us enjoy amazing sunrises and sunsets on the boat, fantastic snorkeling plus swimming with manta rays and visiting the pink beach. Some activities like rafting and quads were great adventures and again of quality, trekking up Mount Batur to enjoy the sunrise is something we'll never forget. I can continue describing the amount of things that we did and we enjoyed them all!
So the only thing remaining is to thank Yuqqa for her extensive help during our trip. We will never forget it!

Activity Reviews

Visit to Brahmavihara Monastery

Indonesia

This monastery is really beautiful and has an amazing energy. I had to sit and meditate, it gives you peace. I will go back.

Quality of Experience

Sunrise trek to Mount Batur

Indonesia

It's an amazing experience! getting to the top and wait for the sunrise was somehting we'll never forget. It was a challenging trek and also very cold on top but definitely worth it. You even get a small breakfast on top.

Quality of Experience

Experience Rafting in Ayung River

Ubud, Bali

All those many stairs going down to the river, just that was beautiful. The guide was fantastic and the experience was really lovely. Not challenging at all but enjoyable views everywhere.

Quality of Experience

Komodo Cruise Day 3

Indonesia

Swimming with the manta rays was a real highlight in our boat trip. And the crew made sure that we enjoyed it all.

Quality of Experience

Komodo Cruise Day 1

Indonesia

Our guide Shony was fantastic! He was with us all the time helping with anything that we needed and making sure we had fun. The crew in boat was very friendly as well. We loved our experience.

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

ATV Ride Ubud

Indonesia

Fun, fun!! all the way. Yes, we enjoyed it a lot

Komodo Cruise Day 2

Indonesia

The komodos are impressive and the good thing is that we got a private guide but there is a lot of people and I felt a bit that the poor animals and chased by us humans.

Canoe & Trekking at Bratan Lake

Indonesia

It was a good idea to canoe to see the floating temple and then get to the other side where we went across a jungle and learnt a lot about it.

Experience VW Safari Car Tour - Ubud

Ubud, Bali

We loved our guides and going in those open cars was fun. We had fun and learnt a lot. It's a bit sad that some places became a bit instagramable like the ricefields but we loved the nature part.

I could never have made these arrangements at these prices, and I would have been flying blind if I tried. I’ve put together big family trips without agents, and it does not feel like vacation when you have to worry about all the logistics. I’m a worrier, but Kim Kim made Indonesia nearly care-free! Transfers, accommodations, tour bookings… plus they provided a SIM card, a pre-trip briefing, and were always available on WhatsApp if questions arose. I’ll be using them again and worrying even less!

Proposed Kimkim review Big thanks to Ana from Shanti Travel for an excellent itinerary, which perfectly captured our request to focus on beaches and nature of Bali & Sumba. The selected accommodation were also great choices aligned with those themes. Really took the hassle out of planning a holiday. Ana & Theresa were also available for support during the trip. Thank you to Putra for providing comfortable & reliable transportation in Bali. And we were very lucky to have Jhon as our very experienced & knowledgeable guide in Sumba, who helped us to appreciate the island’s beautiful scenery & interesting culture & history.