Trip of a Lifetime
Norway
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Jun 24 - Jul 5, 2022
From experience planning family vacations to different countries comes with the usual stresses - much about the destination is unknown, weather, activites, places of interest, hotels! Typically, Costco Travel is our first choice. Norway is a destination that is not served by Costco, which led me to KimKim. The name was weird to take it seriously initially. However, recommendations from the New York Times, BBC, The National Geographic, etc. sealed the deal.
The KimKim portal is very easy to use and has a lot of features that makes exploring and research easy. The chat, call, and collaboration features make it easy for all family members to be view, contribute and be informed about the planning.
Christina, our travel planner was top notch. She was experienced, patient and was ever willing to adjust and refine the trip plan, which we developed over 2 months. She was readily available for phone calls during US daytime, and made recommendations based on our preferences. She planned the entire trip for us, start to finish, and added relevant activities through the entire vacation. Most importantly, she responded very fast and thoroughly, explaining exactly what our different options were throughout our trip. KimKim and Christina made this vacation planning easy and were key to making this as stress free as possible. Based on this experience, I have no doubts that I will be using KimKim for all our future family vacations.
Why Norway? It's not a popular destination like Italy or France! After our visit to Switzerland in 2016, we started researching if there were any countries that matched it's beauty. Started reading about the fjords and the pictures seemed to indicate that Norway would be gorgeous. Subsequent trips to Italy, London, Scottland and Ireland seemed to confirm my family's bias towards Switzerland. We felt that no place could be more beautiful than Switzerland. How wrong were we? Every single part of Norway was absolutely breathtaking, and our entire family was in awe the entire time.
We started our vacation in Bergen, a cute and beautiful, tourist-filled city with amazing food. Christina arranged a 3-hour walking tour with John, who was very pleasant, patient and extremely helpful. He extended the tour to accomodate a brief visit to the musuem, a short coffee break and a visit to the electronics store to buy adapters. John gave us many insights about Bergen and its history that we would have missed if we were on our own.
The ferry ride to Gudvangen via the Sognefjord was absolutely breathtaking. My teenager sons were intially reluctant to ride in a ferry for 5 1/2 hours! By the end of the ride, the family didn't realize how time went by.
Gudvangen: Gudvangen was an amazing place to visit. It almost felt like it was out of a movie. As soon as we got there, we realized we were surrounded by a circular wall of waterfalls, with a singular opening to the Sognefjord. My sons especially loved this place since they got to zipline off a mountain and then subsequently got on mountain bikes and biked down the Nordic mountains. They both said that it was the best experience of their lives. Also make sure you check out the Flam Railway, branded as one of the most beautiful railways in the world. Christina was kind enough to include a visit to the viking village based on my son's request.
Stryn: Stryn was the highlight of our trip. We had a wonderful view of a river flowing to Lake Lovatnet from our hotel room and we even rode on the steepest cable car in the world in Loen!
Christana added a break from activities in Geiranger that the family appreciated. It was easy going and the family had to opportunity to go kayaking in the fjords.
The hotels were all clean and upscale, though the rooms were small by American standards.
Thank you, Christina, and KimKim for helping us make this a memorable vacation. Norway is now our family's favorite place, edging out Switzerland :).
Hotel Reviews
Very good lobby, and great/modern rooms, located in central Bergen so you're a walking distance from most attractions and restaurants.
Was a historic hotel and therefore the kids thought it was dated. The garden view was so-so. The fjord view was great, but with the sun up past midnight, the room was hot. The restaurant was upscale, and the staff were friendly and helpful.
Easily the best hotel in our trip. We had a 2-bedroom cottage that was clean, modern and had amazing views.
Very modern hotel with beautiful rooms. Balconies overlooking the river was awesome.
Conveniently located near the station and modern. Single room for the family was cramped - especially the second bed!
Activity Reviews
John was very pleasant, patient and extremely helpful. He extended the tour to accommodate a brief visit to the musuem, a short coffee break and a visit to the electronics store to buy adapters. John gave us many insights about Bergen and its history that we would have missed if we were on our own.
We have had our share of scenic train rides in Switzerland and didn't have much expectations from this ride. Boy, how wrong were we! Breathtaking scenery! The Flam train ride is a must when visiting Norway.
It rained the day of our trip. We had seen much of the fjords when we took the ferry to get to Geiranger. Therefore, this seemed a little redundant, though I understand why people take this ride. We chose to exclude the Fjord Farm Hike because of the rain.
Thank you so much for taking the time to write this detailed review, Raj.
It gives such a good insight to the destinations and activities from a travellers perspective.
I am really happy that you had a great time and that Norway as a destination is now on the top of your list, edging out Switzerland ;)
I hope we get the chance to one day welcome you a gain,
if your family decides to visit another part of the country.
Thank you for choosing us, it was a pleasure working with you!
Best,
Christina