Iceland Offbeat

Othman was extremely responsive to any and all questions. The excursions were planned well and timed out really nicely. We had plenty of time to explore but plenty of time to do some relaxing too.

Very easy to book. Our whale watching got canceled and I received a refund with a week of returning. Had a great experience. Our travel agent was very responsive when we had questions. We loved Iceland and can’t wait to travel there again.

We were very happy with Eric throughout the planning process. He was very responsive and sensitive to our technical challenges.
The itinerary met our required wishes. The 'Golden Circle' stay was a great way to begin our introduction to Iceland and the proximity to the airport of our first lodging helped us deal with the jetlag. The geothermal activity was a real attraction. Unfortunately I missed the planned activity at that location.
Our stay in Kirkjubaejarklaustur gave us exposure to the desolation and rawness of the country. The Diamond Beach day trip was a pleasant surprise. We loved the icebergs.
After the relative sparseness of humanity of the first two stays, Reykjavik was anything but. Unfortunately, Penny caught a virus of some sort two days before we were to fly to Iceland, and she couldn't partake of the Sky Lagoon pass. I, however, very much enjoyed the venue. It was splendid and I wish Penny had felt better and been able to accompany me. It was quite breathtaking.

Where to begin? KimKim helped us plan an 11-day ring road trip and we hardly scratched the surface of this beautiful place.

Lodgings: Eric and his team did a great job finding us off the beaten path places to stay within our budget. We especially loved Frost & Fire in Hveragerdi - cute room, great view, nice restaurant and their own hot springs tubs on the side of the hill. We also loved Gistihsid Lake Hotel in Eglisstadir - really nice rooms, views, great restaurant too. They had an indoor spa/hot tub too. Also of note were the Stracata apartments near Kirkjubæjarklaustur - it was an adventure arriving in the dark to discover the next morning that we were in a lava field filled with pools of water. It was raining that night so hard to tell where we were. Would be fantastic for Northern Lights! Also, the Mork Cottage in Hvammstangi was so cute, only 1.7 km from town but felt like it was in the middle of nowhere. We wished we could have stayed there a few days - the Northern Lights over the fjord were amazing. We would have liked to explore this part of Iceland more. The other lodgings fit our budget but were more standard hotels, met our needs, and had comfortable beds.

Excursions: We did 3 guided excursions. Horse back riding at Eldhestar stables outside of Hveragerdi, Glacier hike with Arctic Adventures on Sólheimajökull, and a crystal blue ice cave super keep/hike with Blue Iceland. Riding 2 hours in the rain was an experience in itself. We are glad we went - the horses are wonderful and the scenery beautiful even in the rain. The glacier hike was great too. We learned a lot about glaciers and climate change from our guide, Tin. Finally, the Ice Cave tour was beautiful. We went late in the day and had the cave to ourselves. It wan’t a sunny day but the blue in the cave was gorgeous. We would recommend spacing excursions out (we had one each of our first 3 days) - this felt rushed to us, but they did fit within the schedule.

Maps, Sites, Options - the maps were fantastic and linked right to google. The hardest part was letting go of all the things we could see but didn’t have time. The final trip plan contained 50-60 pages of site descriptions, recommended sites, and optional activities. Some of the most memorable - the South Coast Lighthouse trail on our first day, Hveralaug wild hot springs afterward. Skaftafoll Nature Reserve and Svartifoss waterfall (2.5 m hike). All of the East Fjords drive & Stokkanes beach (we missed the South black sand beach because the wind was crazy when we arrived). We also loved Húsavík and Akureyri.

Hot Springs - we asked Eric & team for a hot spring almost everyday. We had hot tubs at many of our lodgings. We visited Fontana Nature baths near Gullfoss, Geosea in Husavik, Lake Mývatn Nature Lagoon, and Forest Lagoon. All were wonderful - Forest lagoon was probably our favorite.

Food - Amazing! We tried it all. 3-4 different tasting menus including ending with Michelin Guide restaurant Matur of Drykkar in the Saga Museum. Also, hot dogs, burgers, tomato, mushroom and Icelandic soup. Most days we made sandwiches for lunch because they gave us flexibility to eat in the middle of nowhere.

Our car was great. Enough 4x4 to get us over gravel roads, puddles, pits, and snow.

Fortunately, we did not need to flex schedule because of weather. We just did everything in whatever weather we got. We saw the Northern Lights twice! The biggest gift of Iceland to us.

Thank you Eric & team!

Activity Reviews

Horse Riding

Iceland

I’m only giving it a 4 because it poured rain. Horses were great, scenery was wonderful and they waited for us when we took a wrong turn and ended up 15 minutes late

Quality of Experience

Nice facilities, great location, beautiful horses.

Guides, Drivers and Staff

GeoSea Geothermal Baths

Iceland

Again, super windy. Great view.

Quality of Experience

So windy no one stayed long.

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Fontana Geothermal Baths

Iceland

Lovely. We were there late 7:30 pm, so didn’t get to really see the lake, but the pools and facilities were top notch.

Quality of Experience

Solheimajokull Glacier Hike

Iceland

Perfect for what we wanted (easier hike). Great guide.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Crystal Blue Ice Cave

Iceland

So beautiful!

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Crazy driving the super jeep where we did!

Transport

Crowded

Myvatn Nature Baths

Lake Mývatn

Super windy. These pools are heated through rocks and gravel under foot - warmer/cooler depending on where you stood. They are also expanding so view wan’t quite as good as it could be.

Quality of Experience

Great facilities. Construction so not as pretty/wild. Got a free drink for Women’s Day!

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Forest Lagoon

Iceland

Gorgeous, new, and very quiet at 2 pm.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Our trip to Iceland was absolutely amazing! We would have never been able to design a roadtrip like the one Eric did for us on our own. His expertise was invaluable when it came to seeing as many sights as we could within our 9 day window. His itinerary gave us the confidence to venture out on our own with a rented car, eliminating the need to go on any large group tour buses. The tours that he did book for us, like the glacier hike, ice cave tour, and walking tour of Reykjavik were small and the guides were engaging, accommodating, and knowledgable.

It was a seamless experience. We started at the blue lagoon right after picking up our rental car and then headed straight to the Snaefellsness Peninsula where we were able to see a spectacular glacier volcano, Snaefellsjokull, explore lava caves and endless lava fields, and walk on cliffs and black sand beaches. From there we spent a couple days in the Golden Circle seeing all the major sights like Thingvellar National Park, Geysir, Kerid Crater, and Gullfoss. We had a few days exploring the waterfalls, beaches, gorges, lava fields, and glaciers to be seen on the south coast before ending our trip in Reykjavik. All of the sights and driving instructions were in a logical order that kept us moving forwards, never wasting time backtracking.

We appreciate the time and care it took to design an itinerary specially made for us. We had told Eric that our main priorities were seeing the northern lights, soaking in hot springs, seeing nature, and learning some history. He booked us rooms at hotels with excellent views in case we might catch a glimpse of the northern lights; he fit 3 different lagoons into our itinerary (Sky Lagoon was the best); and we had a good balance of experiencing nature as well as making time for museums and history. We also tried some of the restaurants he recommended all of which were delicious! Thank you Eric for designing a trip we will never forget!

Eric did an amazing job planning and timing everything. All our tours were small groups, so to get the most of every experience, we work with tourists in our everyday lives also, so we know how important that is. . We liked the Troll expedition company that was chosen for our tours on the glacier. Beda was amazing hiking on the glacier, Bearney at the ice caves. Bearney was especially patient since the weather was so extreme and uncooperative with blowing gravel and pouring down rain. We also appreciated that our companies vehicles did not break down, while we watched many that did.
Horse back riding with Julia was a fantastic experience and learning about the Icelandic horses and getting to experience their Tolt (walk trot). And finally meeting Paul for our local walking culinary tour, you can see he truely lived Icelandic culture. As a fisherman his whole life, his tour gave us a true view of what it was like to grow up in Iceland.
Our first hotel at Fire and frost was amazing and such a perfect way to ease into our vacation. It helped us adjust to the time change while appreciating the beauty around us. I really liked staying in each location two nights so there wasn’t too much chaos packing and unpacking.
I will use KimKim to plan my vacations anytime I can. Even with all the info online, there would have been no way to plan things so smoothly, no way to know which tour companies to use, and no way to know how much time we would want to spend in each site.

Activity Reviews

Solheimajokull Glacier Hike

Iceland

Better with Beda!!! What a great time! Once in a lifetime experience! Nice small group attention while we watched some guides with 35+ on the glacier. Lucky with the weather.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Better with Beda!!

Crystal Blue Ice Cave

Iceland

Bearney was great with our small group, the weather was so miserable that day, but we all made it. We watched so many vehicles break down returning to base. It was comforting to know we chose the right company.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Horse riding tour

Iceland

Julia was knowledgeable and our small group made it a quality experience. Truely enjoyed learning and experiencing the Icelandic horse Troit. Having the horse riding suits available to us made the cold windy weather experience enjoyable.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Julia was knowledgeable and made sure everyone felt comfortable as we proceeded.

Reykjavik Food Walk

Reykjavík

Paul was a fisherman his whole life, he showed us a tour from a true local and not just someone working in Iceland for a few months. I appreciated the small group interaction so we could really get a feel for Reykjavík.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Rinolda was great with helping us book the trip. It was on short notice and part way through we added a day to the trip and she didn't falter at all. We got to see lots of Iceland without feeling rushed along with lots of tips. The places we stayed at were fantastic and despite the shorter sunlight days we still were able to fit it all in (and Rinolda knew which places we could visit while still slightly dark and get great photos). We all really enjoyed the trip

Kimkim made choosing my travel plan so much easier. When I first started planning my trip to Iceland, I had a vague idea of what I wanted to do. The to-do list quickly begins piling up when you book a multi-city trip, so having all of your bookings in one place makes a huge difference.
On our way to Iceland we were delayed 24h, meaning we were missing 1 night at our first hotel, 1 day of our rental car usage, and one of our planned/paid for tours. Rather than having to contact each place I simply contacted Othman with the details of my delay, and he connected me with the local tour operator and they took it from there. Because of the hectic weather we had to make several adjustments to our itinerary and having it booked through Kimkim was a big stress reliever since they did all of the rebooking.
Othman was very kind and checked in with me before, during, and after our trip and was always there to answer questions when needed.
I look forward to booking with kimkim again in the future!

Activity Reviews

Vatnshellir lava cave tour

Iceland

This was an activity that I underestimated and had booked for something to do, not necessarily because I really wanted to do it. We had visited The Lava Show in Reykjavik which gave us some education regarding lava tunnels and it was actually a really cool experience.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Our guide was very friendly and cracked a few jokes with us and made the experience more enjoyable.

Crystal Blue Ice Cave

Iceland

The ice cave was very crowded and was a lot of stopping for prolonged periods of time before moving to the next area, where you waited for a very long time. Our group was small, which was nice, however we had a few individuals who were always lagging behind to take photos and it really slowed us down. What could've taken 30 minutes took more than over an hour. I feel like there were too many people inside the cave and that it would've been better if the tours were more staggered so you weren't constantly waiting around. Another tour that we did had a nice idea of bringing us to the end fairly quickly while still being informative and not rushing, and then gave us all the option of exploring and making our way back at our own pace. This way people could take photos and take their time if they wanted to while others could make their way back quicker. This doesn't exactly work with the ice cave tour as they transport tour-goers to and from base, however maybe there could be a couple of options for departure from the cave.

Quality of Experience

Less tours happening at the same time, or having an option for a longer tour for those who want to stay longer/take more photos

Guides, Drivers and Staff

This was the best trip ever!

I found KimKim through a search engine. Reviews were good and so I sent a message asking for information. From the beginning Adam was amazing. He put together a trip and then changed it multiple times as we added and subtracted. Although we never spoke, his good nature was visible throughout the entire process and much appreciated. Even during the trip itself, Adam and others answered emails quickly and humored our endless need to make adjustments.

The first day was rough but we pushed through and we were glad that we did. We saw the Northern Lights our first night in Budir and the trip got better from there. Other high points? Snowmobiling, eating at the Tomato Farm, hiking a glacier (thank you Sara!), soaking in the sky lagoon, dinner at Dill and so many frozen waterfalls. It was cold and dark but we had a magical trip. What made the trip a success besides the fabulous country? The trip was seamless. KimKim provided a travel plan that was perfect. Each day the driving route was provided with stops posted along the way with descriptions that added to the magic. We never felt lost because travel plan was perfect! Okay, one day a road was closed because of snow but it was Iceland in winter and to be expected. Every hotel and activity was set and went off without a hitch.

Cannot wait to use them again!

Eric our trip specialist was great to work with. We described what we wanted, and he tailored the itinerary to us and made changes happen very quickly and easily. The hotel rooms were fantastic and exactly what I would have picked, he nailed it! We will definitely be using Kimkim again in the future.

Activity Reviews

Langjokull Glacier Snowmobiling

Iceland

Huge group, lots of waiting, pretty lame trip overall. We went in a single line at no more than 10km/hr out to a spot and then back.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Katla Ice Cave Superjeep tour

Iceland

Small group, wonderful and laid back guide. Our favorite guided activity of the trip!

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Sky Lagoon

Iceland

Relaxing and located conveniently close. It was clean and a neat experience. Very easy to access.

Quality of Experience

Blue Lagoon

Iceland

Iconic and really neat to see the lagoon. The facilities aren't great here though, very few chairs to relax or sit on, so you basically need to be in the lagoon or sitting on a hard bench or plastic chair inside when it's cold out.

Quality of Experience