Turismo Milodon

The KimKim Team's planning was spot on.

Lorena and her on the ground team in Chile were communicative, clear, and patient with our questions and needs. The trip delivered on every planned meeting, excursion, driver, and connection. The team on the ground was helpful with airline check-ins, local recommendations, and thoughtful check-ins. Tours, hotels, and excursions were exactly as described and were well done. The Stargazing tours in the Atacama desert were a once in a life time experience. Lorena did a very nice job taking into account the ages and ability level of my traveling party which made the trip more doable and memorable.

Thank you for a wonderful experience.

Trekking Torres del Paine with W Circuit on day 1 was a good introduction to the sights of Patagonia, however the mini bus was poor with cramped seating on rough roads.
Boat tour to Balmaceda & Serrano Glaciers was a highlight as the fiords were spectacular, however the boat had poor worn seats and was best viewed from the upper deck. Also ranch lunch was poor as meat full of crissle and salad only lettuce.
Full day tour of Torres del Paine Park partly doubled up on the first day trekking, however while overcast and raining on first day the Full Day vehicle tour was better with clear skies and superior comfortable vehicle from Patagonia Planet which is highly recommended.
Last day trekking and Condor watching was the highlight as the guide Patagonia Adventure Jorge was brilliant and spoke fluent English. He went out of his way to find condors and we were treated to clear skies and a condor aerial display.
Hotel accommodation at Puerto Natalie's Hotel Vendaval offered small modern rooms which were ok however very noisy as sound travels through the floor and walls.

Hotel Review

Hotel Vendaval

Puerto Natales

Small modern rooms which were ok however no sound proofing and very noisy.

Authenticity & Character

Distinctive red multi storey building and modern by Puerto Natalie's standard.

Location

The hotel is located between the waterfront and the town square and good facilities nearby.

Staff

No problem with English communication

Cleanliness & Comfort

Good modern facilities and large king bed.

Activity Reviews

Trekking Torres del Paine Active

Patagonia

Good tour guide, however poor mini bus.

Quality of Experience

Food

The food served at the Rio Pingo restaurant is expensive and terrible.

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Full-Day Tour of Torres del Paine National Park & Surroundings

Chile

Good driver and guide and comfortable vehicle.

Quality of Experience

Food

The lunch provided at the Rio Pingo restaurant was expensive and terrible.

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Trekking and Condor Watching

Puerto Natales

Beautiful scenery and expert guide.

Quality of Experience

The guide was excellent at finding resting condors.

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Great information, very personable and fluent English.

Transport

Private car for 4 people.

Boat Tour to Balmaceda & Serrano Glaciers

Chile

Great scenery on the fiords.

Quality of Experience

Food

Lunch at the ranch poor.

Had a really great time on my trip to Patagonia! In particular, I enjoyed my time in Puerto Natales, Torres del Paine National Park, El Chalten, and Tierra del Fuego National Park. It was also a lot of fun to see some huge glaciers and beautiful wildlife (especially penguins in Beagle Channel). My hike to Cuernos del Paine with Daniel and Sebastian as guides was amazing, as was my kayaking experience with Jorge in Eberhard Fjord. Weskar Lodge in Puerto Natales and Los Acebos Hotel in Ushuaia were amazing places to stay, in particular. Overall I think the trip was quite expensive, and would have been a lot cheaper if I had taken care of the arrangements on my own - I would've appreciated more transparency into what items in particular were driving the price of the experiences and had more of this in my past Kimkim trips. That being said, I really appreciated very much having the help from Marcela and Kimkim overall in arranging things so I didn't have to think about logistics. Would highly recommend Patagonia to anyone who enjoys outdoor trekking and adventures, one of my favorite trips.

Activity Reviews

Kayaking in Eberhard Fjord

Puerto Natales

Fantastic experience with Jorge. He's a great guide, and the private kayaking tour and hike were amazing.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Base Torres Hike

Chile

Amazing hike. Very intense, over a period of 10 hours with lots of ups and downs and temperature changes, but really lovely.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Trekking Torres del Paine Active

Chile

Had a really fantastic experience with Daniel and Sebastian, being taken around Torres del Paine national park, with the Cuernos del Paine hike in particular

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Day of Leisure in El Chalten

El Chaltén

El Chalten was perhaps my favorite location on the entire trip - doing the hikes solo of Laguna Torre and Laguna de los Tres was amazing.

Quality of Experience

Perito Moreno Glacier Mini-trekking

El Calafate

Hiking on the glaciers was surreal - really wonderful.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Jesse did a fabulous job organizing our trip. She always seemed to me one step ahead of me with drivers and guides. We were so thankful we used KimKim to help us plan and schedule everything for our family to have stress-free trip in a country where we barely spoke the language. All the hotels, activities and guides she picked were just right for our family (parents plus 2 teenagers).

Hotel Reviews

Hotel Eco Boutique Bidasoa

Santiago

Bidasoa was in a great safe location. Hotel was very clean and nice. Breakfast was fabulous. Everyone was very nice and helpful. They let us sit in the lobby and store our stuff for hours when our flight got cancelled.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Hotel Cabo De Hornos

Punta Arenas

We were actually only in the hotel for 4 hours because our rescheduled flight was very late, but they were nice when we arrived at 2am local time and kind to store our bags the next day.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Hotel Costaustralis

Puerto Natales

Everyone was very helpful and the hotel was in a great location-easy walking distance to town right on the water. Only negative was that the rooms were hot. No A/C and you had to shut the window at night to block the light.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Appelgren House Hotel Boutique

PUERTO NATALES

The owners were very nice and helpful. Always asking if we needed anything. We stayed in a multi-room suite with a kitchen so it was nice for all 4 of us to be together. Only negative was that it was further out of town, but the view was great! And it was only 5000 pesos to take a taxi to town.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Activity Reviews

Santiago City Tour - Private

Santiago

Felipe was a great guide. Told us a lot about the city and kept it interesting which is saying something since we had just arrived that morning and hadn't slept on our flight.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Day Trip to Viña del Mar & Valparaíso

Chile

Hernan spoke great English and clearly knew a lot about the area. It was a really interesting trip. We would have liked to explore on foot a little more if possible. There was a lot of riding in the van.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Driver seemed very sleepy on the way home.

Penguin Colony on Magdalena Island

Chile

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Base Torres Hike

Chile

This is a hard hike. Guests need to be aware that this hike is 13+ miles and very challenging both directions. We would have preferred a private hike for our family so we didn't have to wait for the whole group at each stop. I didn't realize that was an option.

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Boat Tour to Balmaceda & Serrano Glaciers

Chile

It was fun to see the glacier but it is a LONG day on a boat. The lunch at the ranch took 2.5 hours and the food was only okay. By the time we got there we were very hungry and just wanted to be served immediately rather than everything slowly served. Also, it was weird that some people got a cheese board snack on the boat and we didn't-I guess their hotel sent the snack.

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Trekking Torres del Paine Active

Chile

Abi was a great guide. We enjoyed both shorter hikes we did in the park.

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Many things were not made clear during this trip. While everything was perfect from the local company Route360 in St Pedro de Atacama, arriving there and leaving from there to go back to Santiago was not very well organized.
First, no one explained us what to do in the morning we left Santiago. The driver came to pick us up from the hotel, but he knew nothing. We arrived at the airport to fly to Calama, but without any instructions and no one speaks English to explain where to go, what line to take, what register. Anyway, we were left by ourselves.
Same, even worst happen on the morning from the hotel in St Pedro to the airport. It was not clear who will pick us up from the hotel, what time and where. The hotel knew nothing. The itinerary says that the pick up will be confirmed one day in advance, but no one confirmed anything until 2 am, 3 hours before. So we had to stay whole night and wonder what will happen and will we be picked up.
The worst of all is the WhatsUp notification. The company uses Whatsup, but for every useful message from them we receive 100 spam messages, and who knows which is good and which is not. Searching through the spam to see whether we received any message became a day-long activity for both my wife and me. No serious company communicates with its clients through Whatsup. In fact, we deleted Whatsup from our phones 4 years ago for the same reason: the huge amount of spam we get from the USA
In overall, we are dissatisfied with how Kimkim organizes their trips

Our trip to Chile was a bucket list trip that lived up to our expectations, and exceeded several times! We particularly loved our time in the Patagonia region, the hiking in Torres del Paine & our trip to the Murrano glacier was unbelievable. All our local guides in those regions were exceptional! So knowledgeable! We learned a lot & had very memorable experiences.
Our visit to Easter Island was also unforgettable. Totally different culture & weather, it felt more like Tahiti or Hawaii. Worth the long flight if time allows.

Marcela organized a very fun itinerary for me - I had a great time on every day, really enjoyed seeing the different regions of Chile and especially the mountain biking private outings were amazing and unique experiences I could not have found on my own. The hotels I stayed in were lovely also and I am looking forward to coming back and doing more!

Hotel Reviews

Hotel Pucon Indomito

Pucón

Lovely new hotel, very modern, good breakfast in the morning and tea making facilities available throughout the day. Very central and clean

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Hotel Weisserhaus

Puerto Varas

Quaint hotel with a lot of character located very centrally downtown. Good breakfast and very clean.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Reviews

Full-Day Huerquehue Hiking

Pucón

Very personal hike just me and the lovely guide Juan. Beautiful area - I just wished we could have gone further!

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Rafting Adventure on the Trancura River in Pucon

Pucón

Really fun group nice white water and lots of photos after

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Bike Tour Adventure descending the Villarrica Volcano

Pucón

This was amazing - lots of fun trails on the mountain and unlike North shore where I live we had them all to ourselves! William was a great guide and I really enjoyed this

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Trekking in Alerce Andino National Park

Puerto Varas

Great guide, nice walk although it was from my perspective quite easy and low key. Nice group of people and some beautiful water falls to see. Louis the guide was hilarious. I just wish I could have done a more challenging hike with him.

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Mountain bike Osorno Volcano

Puerto Varas

My favourite experience of the trip. A proper challenge and well worth it for stunning views and fun descent over the side of the volcano to the lake. Jorge was a fabulous guide and the food we had for lunch was so delicious and beautifully laid out. I wish I had done this twice!

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Rafting on the Petrohué River

Chile

Super fun white water experience - lots of big rapids and fun guides.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Kayaking on Reloncaví Fjord

Puerto Varas

This was something I would not have chosen for myself but I’m so glad I did it. Stunning day out with so many sights - sea lions up close, birds nearby, a lovely little lamb gamboling up to us at the lunch stop and an (optional) cold plunge at the end

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Our local specialist, Jesse, did a wonderful job throughout! She was receptive to our ideas, chose locations and excursions that matched our interests, and was flexible and patient as we worked out the details for two couples--one pair of native Chilenos and one pair of English-speaking US citizens. She was available for last minute questions late at night and early in the morning. We felt well-taken care of the whole time. In terms of our experiences, our stay at Hotel Las Torres Patagonia was a splurge but was well worth it. The location inside the park was extraordinary, the rooms and food were exceptional, and the folks who worked there could not have been more welcoming. Two excursions stand out in our minds as experiences we will never forget. The first was the boat trip to Isla Magdalena to see the penguin colony there. Jesse reserved VIP tickets for us, which gave us an opportunity for good views, a nice snack, and personalized information from Guillermo, a guide from Fiordos del Sur. Another memorable tour was the day we spent hiking from Sarmiento to Amarga Lagoon in Torres del Paine National Park. Our guide, Pedro, with Patagonia Planet was fantastic! We appreciated his ability to speak both Spanish and English, the tour van with big windows that offered all of us a great view, and his patience and knowledge in answering the million questions we asked about the flora, fauna, geological features, and cultural history of the park. This trip really was the adventure of a lifetime, and we could not be more appreciative of the services Kimkim offered!

Hotel Reviews

Hotel Costanera

Puerto Natales

New and modern accommodations, a nice breakfast, and a friendly, helpful staff. The hotel was a little off the beaten path, but we were able to walk to the center of town, though getting an Uber was often more convenient. The location on the water was nice!

Authenticity & Character

The women who worked the front desk were welcoming and helped us to make dining reservations each evening.

Location

Not in the center of town.

Staff

The women who cooked and served breakfast could not have been friendlier.

Cleanliness & Comfort

Everything was clean and comfortable.

Hotel Las Torres Patagonia

Torres del Paine

The hotel is certainly pricey, but its location in the park was well worth the money. We could walk out the front door and immediately start trekking. It was also a warm and welcoming place to rest after a long day of adventures! Our reservation was "half-board," and the breakfasts and dinners were exceptional. Every staff member we encountered went out of their way to be helpful.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Right in the park! We could hike to the base of the towers.

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Great showers!

Activity Reviews

Penguin Colony on Magdalena Island

Chile

Seeing penguins up close was amazing! Although all visitors to the island are required to stay on the paved path, we never felt herded or rushed. The walk was self-paced, and a number of guides were spread out during the walk to answer questions and give more information.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

The guide, Guillermo, who was assigned to the upper deck, set up a big map that helped us to visualize where we were and what made that route on the Straits of Magellan so special.

Transport

Safety was a primary concern of the staff, which we appreciated. The seating was comfortable, and the big windows allowed us to have clear views as we travelled.

Full-Day Tour of Torres del Paine National Park & Surroundings

Chile

This trip was disappointing. Our tour was for just the four of us, but the small SUV we rode in required that one of us sit up front with the driver, while the other three sat in the back, with someone in the middle seat. Not ideal for looking out the windows, which was a big part of this driving tour. Two of us were native Spanish speakers with good English, and two of us were native English speakers who know a little Spanish. Our guide was fluent in Spanish, but his English was definitely not fluent. The result was that he spent 90% of the time conversing with the Chileans, and much less time talking with the English speakers. It was frustrating when we had questions. That being said, we visited some beautiful parts of the park, places we never would have seen if we had been driving on our own.

Quality of Experience

Food

We had box lunches which were very good.

Guides, Drivers and Staff

A guide for English speakers who is truly fluent in English.

Transport

A larger vehicle with bigger windows.

Hike from Sarmiento Lake to Amarga Lagoon

Chile

The route was amazing and so was Pedro, our guide!

Quality of Experience

The route offered us extraordinary view of both Los Cuernos and Los Torres. Seeing guanacos and native birds was a thrill, as was seeing the cave paintings and imagining those who traveled this route before us.

Food

Box lunch was convenient and delicious.

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Pedro was SO knowledgeable and shared his knowledge generously in both English and Spanish. He was also extremely responsive to our needs and abilities.

Transport

Nice big van with big, clean windows.

Boat Tour to Balmaceda & Serrano Glaciers

Chile

Full disclosure: The day we took this tour could not have been wetter. It poured rain the whole time, and everyone on the boat was soaking wet before we were finished. It limited the views of this incredibly scenic place. The windows were steamed up, and most people never went out on the decks because it was raining so hard.

Quality of Experience

Food

Everything. We stopped at an "estancia" for lunch. It seemed more like an event venue, a giant room filled with tables. The wait staff was insufficient for the number of people they were trying to serve. We waited forever to be served, making the lunch take hours. The food was poor. The specialty of the house--lamb--was dry and overcooked. What a disappointment! We would have preferred to have skipped this part of the experience altogether.

Guides, Drivers and Staff

There was little in terms of a guide. The narration came over a loud speaker, and because of the noise level of conversation on our deck, we could hardly hear what was being said.

Transport

Toda la organización, respuesta rápida, información, calidad de los hoteles, muy buena y muy recomendable.
Lo único que falló, fue el auto que nos fue a buscar a Pta. Arenas, no era para 4 pasajeros, viajamos apretados y algo incomodos. El guía aunque muy amable y servicial no tenía dominio del inglés lo que dificultó conocer los lugares visitados. Esto se hizo más evidente cuando nos tocó un guía muy instruido y con dominio de inglés en el último día de en Pto. Natales.