Kimkim Trip Reviews

Samir was a fantastic driver. We could not have asked for anything more. He was accommodating and professional at every turn. He provided great insight about his beautiful country and answered all of our questions. He definitely elevated our trip and our experience.

Overall happy with our Travel Agency experience. Average rating.
Agent: Some confusion over transfers (was a transfer arranged or not). Initial documents stated transfers included between hotels and airport/train station when changing locations. The train between Bologna and Verona we expected a high speed train with assigned seats, unfortunately our outbound trip was on a local/regional, not high speed.
Our agent, Francesco, did a good job in recommending Verona as a second city to visit. Unexpectedly, he was unavailable just before we left. Luckily a co-worker, Luca stepped in to figure out the last minute details. The recommended hotel in Verona was nice, however our room overlooked an alley with garbage bins just below our window. We heard people getting rid of trash and garbage trucks all night, especially Saturday, which made it a bit hard to get a good sleep. It would have been nice for our agent to ensure we had a room with less noise. The last time we used KimKim (Slovenia 2019) our hotels and room views were amazing, so we were a bit disappointed. The restaurant recommendations were very generic. We had better luck asking in the hotels.
We had several tours arranged. Private 2 hour tour Bologna highlights and tastes. - disappointing overall. Didn’t get a true feel for the city and got a couple nibbles of cheese, balsamic, etc. and inferior pasta from a fast food type restaurant. Guide nice, but not highly knowledgeable. Very generic, same tour as a group of 10-20 no doubt. Day trip to Parma for cheese and ham - Excellent tour, although I would not term it small group as we had 15-20 of us. Ravenna day trip - not small group, but good tour, was the official tourist office tour.
Verona 2-3 hour overview private tour - excellent guide (Priscilla) with a background in art history and music. She was truly awesome. the tour was well organized in the route and information. She even had charts and maps to help us understand the different periods of history. She was a gifted teacher and a very lovely person. Our private wine tour was different than other tours we have been on in that we had a driver to 2 wineries at which we had tours with winery staff. We enjoyed both stops very much and had a very enjoyable afternoon. Our driver was very kind and professional.
We ended up back in Bologna for a day before flying out. Good suggestion from Francisco to take the trolley to San Luca.
The morning of our flight the transfer was set up an hour too early (at 6am). We were not allowed to check in to our flight until 7:20 so had an hour to kill with all our luggage.

Hotel Reviews

Hotel Colomba D'Oro

Verona

Nice, small hotel in an excellent location. Just a couple blocks from the main Piazza, which is lovely. Unfortunately our room looked out on an alley with big garbage bins under our window. It was very noisy all night with trash being thrown and garbage trucks stopping (especially Sat night). Made a bit hard to get a good sleep. Hotel breakfast ok, nothing special. The breakfast staff and coffee at the table were very nice. Front desk staff were friendly and professional. The room was spacious and clean.

Authenticity & Character

Quaint, old building, lots of character

Location

Near Piazza Bra

Staff

Professional and kind

Cleanliness & Comfort

Very clean. Our particular room heard noise from garbage bins below window all night.

Royal Hotel Carlton

Bologna

Nice, medium large hotel. Spacious, comfortable rooms. Breakfast large but quality only medium for price of hotel rooms. Nice common spaces to relax. Friendly, professional staff. Loved the courtyard to get fresh air and enjoy a drink before supper. Meeting rooms well appointed.

Authenticity & Character

Rooms clean, furnishings a bit worn, but comfortable. Common areas very comfortable for lounging, lovely outdoor courtyard.

Location

Close to train station. Not too far to walk to center, restaurants, attractions.

Staff

All kind, helpful and professional.

Cleanliness & Comfort

Clean. Furnishings and carpet could use an update soon, but still very comfortable.

Activity Reviews

Private Verona Highlights Walking Tour an Arena Skip-The-line

Verona

Excellent tour. Our guide, Priscilla, made all the difference. She has a background in art history and music and is able to bring the beauty and history of Verona alive. The tour was well planned out, Priscilla even had maps and charts to help us understand Verona through the centuries. A++

Quality of Experience

A highlight of our time in Verona.

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Excellent guide. Knowledgeable, personable, kind, interesting and educational content.

Parma Cheese & Ham Factory tour

Italy

Very interesting and tasty day trip.

Quality of Experience

Very interesting and unique to the Parma area.

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Knowledgeable, professional, courteous.

Transport

Large van from Parma to factories.

PRIVATE AMARONE WINE & FOOD ROUTE IN A SMALL GROUP

Verona

Private transport to 2 wineries. Private tour with winery staff at each location, plus wine tastings. Went to very small and a medium-sized winery. Both have a very interesting history and excellent wines. Enjoyed seeing differences.

Quality of Experience

Both very special wineries. Love the family connection/history and the staff’s love of the area and it’s wines.

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Winery staff well versed in both wine knowledge plus the history and workings of the winery.

Transport

Comfy.

The trip to Portugal was extremely well planned and coordinated by Raquel…. The hotels were terrific and the guides were nothing less than excellent. Totally enjoyed the trip

Hotel Reviews

H10 Duque de Loule

Lisboa

Beautiful hotel…excellent location and great breakfast

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Cascade Wellness

Lagos

Cascade Wellness in Algarve was truly a special place. It stood out among the accommodations for its exceptional atmosphere and amenities.

Pestana Porto - A Brasileira

Porto

Pestana Porto - A Brasileira had a fantastic location, allowing easy exploration of Porto. The rooms were a bit small, but overall it was a nice and convenient place to stay.

Activity Reviews

Private Day Excursion: Sintra, Cascais & Estoril

Portugal

The Private Day Excursion to Sintra, Cascais, and Estoril was absolutely fantastic. Our guide, Paulo, was outstanding - one of the best I've ever had. He was knowledgeable, fun, and made the long day an enjoyable experience. I highly recommend this tour and Paulo as a guide!

Private Transfer {{start_location}} to {{end_location}} via Coimbra

Portugal

The drive from Lisbon to Porto via Coimbra was a bit disappointing. We arrived and found that we couldn't enter the famous library as all tickets were sold out for the day due to other tour groups. It would've been helpful to know in advance or have prebooked tickets. Nonetheless, we enjoyed visiting the castle in the area.

This is our second time booking through Kimkim. We had an absolutely amazing time with the process and experience on our first trip to Italy last year. So, we were excited to plan the second trip this year. Mathilde jumped in to plan fairly late in the game so we were thankful for that. I will say., in comparison to our first planner, Mathilde seemed to be less available / communicative and/or slower to respond than our first experience. I also was a bit concerned about her knowledge of the areas we were traveling since she is from France and we were not traveling there. That said, everything got booked and we were looking forward to it.

When we arrived in Munich, we had to call our driver when no one was present when we arrived. So, that was a little frustrating and different than we experienced previously. But, the ride was fine. When we arrived at the hotel Jederman in Munich we were very surprised and disappointed in the location, but tried to shake it off. We were there early, and the room was not ready. We knew this was a likely possibility, so that was not a big deal. We were very under-impressed as a first impression of the hotel. We were given a space to put our luggage and a map of the city. When we asked for some suggestions on where to go, the staff was fairly non-responsive. So, we did our best to find the city center for lunch. When we returned to check in, we were given our keys to adjoining rooms, and we retrieved our luggage ourselves. There was just no interest in assisting in any manner from the hotel staff. I guess we’re just not used to that at all. When we got to the rooms, we were again disappointed. They were minimal, semi-clean and definitely not welcoming or comfortable. When we entered my daughter’s room, it was filled with the smell of heavy smoking, even though it was supposed to be a non- smoking room. It was so bad, we all started coughing and sneezing and I started to get a headache immediately. I went down to the front desk and the initial response was - sorry - we can’t control if people smoke in the rooms. That’s when I called Mathilde to see what options she could help with. I was honestly uncomfortable staying there. In the meantime, my daughter found mucus wiped all over the wall next to her bed and some kind of pink substance on the wall next to the door. Additionally, there was black mold in each bathroom. We have pictures of it all. They offered Mathilde to clean my daughter’s room, but I knew that wouldn’t mitigate the smell. They were able to find a room down the hall for my daughter, but, it made me very uncomfortable given the overall state of the hotel. That said, every answer I got was that there were just no other options.

By this time, because we had to wait to check in, and then deal with the room debacle, I was not comfortable leaving in the middle of that mess to go on a tour of the city. And, apparently the guide had been told a different location to meet (we were told she’d come to the hotel, she was at a different location by “the fish pond”). I felt it was such a mess. I couldn’t just drop everything to go meet her. I felt like there was just very limited help to resolve the issue from Mathilde or the staff. I actually resorted to looking for other hotels that I was willing to pay for myself. Ultimately, because we had no idea where anything was in the city, and becausexwe we’re going on a full day tour the next day, we decided to suck it up and stay.

The breakfast buffet at Jederman was just okay and, again, we found the staff unfriendly and unhelpful. It was honestly one of the worst hotel experiences I’ve ever had. Based on our prior experience with Kimkim, we were just very surprised at this choice, it’s poor location and poor presentation. Definitely did not meet expectations and we felt like we had no options but to suck it up and make the best of it. We definitely felt it was well below the standard we had come to expect from Kimkim.

The tour to the castle in Germany from Munich was a lovely day and definitely the highlight of Munich.. It was great to be out of the hotel and somewhere beautiful for the day. The tour guides were very nice and knowledgeable. Well worth it.

The trains to Stuttgart were coordinated well and that travel was easy, as always. So, we appreciated that. The Maritime Hotel in Stuttgart was much more in line with our expectations and was in a lovely, convenient area of the city.

Travel to Bruges was also simple and well planned, so we appreciated that.

Hotel Aragon in Bruges was amazing and fully in line with our expectations. Great staff, warm welcome, assistance with questions and suggestions, and a fabulous location. Just a great experience. Hotel Aragon was in line with what we experienced with our Italy Kimkim trip and we were very thankful for that. The rooms were beautiful, clean and comfortable and the breakfast was very good.

There was a snag with my son’s arrival and transport. We don’t really know what happened, but when he arrived he, too, had to reach out to the driver to see location. Apparently the driver was still an hour away. As a result, and to not waste a full hour waiting, my son took a cab from the airport to the train station. Again, for us, we weren’t used to that inefficiency. That said, he did arrive safely.

The tour of Bruges was great and our local tour guide was super nice and knowledgeable. A great tour. Also, the transfer to the airport on our final day went well and our driver was very nice.

Overall, the trip started in a very disappointing manner. Those first two nights were very uncomfortable and we would never stay somewhere like that again. I was surprised Kimkim would select that hotel as something acceptable for guests. It made me wonder if anyone from Kimkim had ever stayed there.

Thankfully, the trip ended on a much better note in Bruges with hotel Aragon. Much more in line with our previously established expectations.

The tour guides and drivers were fantastic. They accommodated our requests and were flexible to our needs.
Some issues I had was with the tour company. During the trip I wasn't sure who or which company I was dealing with. It was Christine, who had put our trip together but it seemed like the actual person/company coordinating our day to day was not Christine but someone else who was actually located in Korea. We do not mind this but it seemed like there were way too many cooks in the kitchen.

One of our issue was with our KTX ticket from Seoul to Busan. No one delivered or sent the tickets manually or electronically to us, even with me asking the agent for them. It got resolved quickly enough but it was during our car ride to the train station. I was not happy. Also, some of the recommended activities were not something I wanted to do nor requested, such as going to Spa land in Busan. Luckily the guide was able to accommodate and find something else for us to do. Also in Jeju Island, the company had put seaweed museum on our itinerary but when we asked the locals, they indicated it was not that interesting and it would be waste of our time since it was located on the opposite end of the island.

Our guide, Alexis, looked after us really well. He found us some great places to visit that weren't on our itinerary but thought we would enjoy.

Hotel Review

Sheraton Taitung Hotel

Taidong

super hotel. great choice at breakfast

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Review

Blue Sky and Beach - Kenting

Pingtung

The snorkelling was well organised and there were many fish to see. The visit to the Kenting National Park was very good, we could have spent more time there as there was lots to see.

My trip to Italy was beyond words. I was in awe of the magnificent churches, statues and works of art ( the Vatican, Sistine Chapel, Colosseum etc.) that were created many centuries ago and are still magnificent today.
The scenery in Florence, Tuscany and Rome was breathtaking. (Rolling hills, olive trees, vineyards , towers, villas and castles) The food and wine were out of this world.
My sister, daughter and I would not have gotten around without the wonderful and professional drivers - Yuri and Stefano and also the knowledgeable tour guides - Sabrina, Magdalena and Mauricio. They all went above and beyond. So I thank you!
A special thank you to Fabio for helping my daughter plan this amazing trip. I hope I have a chance to visit Italy again!

It was a 19 day trip through Croatia; lots of moving parts, everything went well.
People showed up when they were supposed to and it was very smooth. Borna
was our guide/driver for a week and we loved him It was actually hard to say goodbye
in Split. Excellent English. Goran (sp?) took us from Korcula to Dubrovnik and was
also great. Excellent English and lots of local and historical knowledge. The only
thing missing was more time but that's on us - we set the schedule. And it was good to
meet Robi in Dubrovnik, our interactions w him were smooth; he followed through.
And gave us a nice bottle of olive oil.So we would recommend him to anyone and be happy
to use him again. Many thanks Jim & Kathy

Morocco is an amazing place of landscape beauty-the Atlas mountains, the Sahara and the Atlantic ocean, interesting, caring and warm people and a Country with a long history well told by the guides provided and our wonderful driver Karim. The trip was 16 days with highlights that included hiking the canyon of the Atlas mountains and then a private lunch in he home of our guides sister, the Sahara-the camel ride and luxury tents with the energy of the sand and the amazing sky, and the knowing of Berbers, their history and their status as the native Moroccans. The Berber motto of Free people served as the basis for the warmth and wonder of this trip. Having Karim as our driver that seemed to know every Berber everywhere we went enriched the stories and history we learned. The food diversity with the Moroccan fare and the French influence created wonderful dining experience on rooftops with great sunsets. Ahhh, cannot close without mentioning the music-Gnawa music, Amazigh folk music and sufi trance music at the evenings close. Can't wait to go back!!

Hotel Review

Dar Rihana Dades

Douar Aït Ouffi

Hotel was lovely, large rooms but the best is the owner and his brother the chef!! Food and hospitality was 5 stars!!

Authenticity & Character

The Brothers that own his Riad and many of their cousins make this a warm welcoming place

Location

close to the mountains

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Food was marvelous

Activity Reviews

Transfer to Dades Valley via Todra Gorge: Enchanting Valleys, Kasbahs, and Villages

Morocco

Didn't know about these mountains and their formation but the gorge hike was fantastic with a wonderful guide that allowed two older women to experience the shear magnitude of the canyon.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Got to have lunch with the guide, our driver and his sister at her home. Atreat!

Transport

Wonders of Fes: Exploring the Medina in Half a Day

Fes

Our guide was incredibly well informed with both history, culture and knowledge of the Medina-Made for a great trip

Over the Middle Atlas to the Desert: Erfoud, Merzouga, Sahara

Morocco

The Sahara is magical with it's changing sand landscape, the colors of sand at different time of day and the night sky. The luxury tents were just that but it was the after dinner music that was played with dancing and chanting that gave more magic to the day.

We booked KimKim to go to Greece for our honeymoon and loved it! Our local specialist Chris was very flexible especially when we first started booking with KimKim. We had lots of questions as we tried to navigate the best flow for our trip, and each time he took our ideas and paired it with his recommendations to create a fantastic itinerary! Throughout our trip Chris was very reliable and always provided clarification to any of our questions in a timely manner. Our tour guide in Athens (Johanna) and our sommelier in Santorini (Nick) were fantastic additions to our honeymoon as they were friendly, personable, highly knowledgeable guides who clearly love what they do! We couldn’t have asked for a more special honeymoon… from the views in Santorini to the beautiful cruise along the caldera to its spectacular sunsets to the cooking and wine tasting experiences. Five days in Santorini was definitely a great recommendation as it allowed us to get to know the entire island personally. We were also very happy and comfortable with the transportation and living accommodations arranged by KimKim all throughout our stay. We would love to use KimKim for another travel adventure in the future!

Hotel Reviews

NLH Monastiraki

Athens

Authenticity & Character

Location

short walking distance to Monastiraki Square!

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Belvedere Suites Santorini

Santorini

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Reviews

Diamond Caldera Morning Cruise

Santorini

Quality of Experience

Very laidback experience allowing us to take in the views of the caldera, swim in the Aegean and have a yummy Greek lunch. It was also a beautiful day for our cruise

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Athens Orientation Tour

Athens

Amazing tour!! We loved Johanna our tour guide. Very engaging, knowledgeable and friendly. She made us feel very comfortable with asking questions!

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Cooking & Tasting Experience

Santorini

We love cooking so this was definitely a very meaningful highlight of our trip! Chef Chris was fantastic. He was very personable and passionate about Mediterranean cuisine. He gave us very clear instructions during the cooking process and even handed out recipe cards at the end of the tour which we appreciated! The opportunity to enjoy the whole lunch with gorgeous views atop the restaurant was an added bonus to the experience! Perfect group size too, allowed for a more personalized experience.

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Overall a great experience - our guides Javier, Manuel, Angel & Jenny were a lot of fun! We learned alot and were able to pack in a lot of great experiences in a short amount of time. Chile is a beautiful country!

We were a group of 6 adults on a private tour. Ivan and Sarah were very responsive to our needs and were able to accommodate changes to our itinerary at the last moments (due to weather forecasts). Their local tour guides, drivers and boat captains were topnotch. We had a great time and created long lasting memories.

Got back a week or so ago from a 'UK Highlights Trip.' Trip itself was 14 days, including 2 days for air travel. We were able to hit Ireland, Scotland, and England....overall, I would say every interaction I had with locals was pleasant, everyone was very friendly, and didnt feel unsafe....

Planning for the trip through KimKim took a lot of the guesswork out of the plannig the logistics for going city-to-city, offering suggestions on the top things to see and do in each city, based on our preferences, and they were able to set a lot of it up and manage for us (domestic flight, trains, tours, etc). Would like to thank Emily, Romane, Salome, and Stephen, who were all very helpful.

With taveling 14 days, we did understand and anticiapte the potential of a fewtravel hiccups, here and there (train delays / cancellations, for example). Any issues we did have, KimKim was very responsive in getting back to us and making sure the they were resolved in a reasonable time, and we were satisifed.

these are some highlights from each spot we hit:

-Dublin - really cool city. if you're going, definitely plan at least 2 days... would recommend getting a drink at the Brazen Head, one of Irelands oldest pubs (going back to 1100s). We also checked out the Viking Museum, Church of Christ Cathedral, and Guiness Factory... we closed one of the days out at the Church Bar and Restaurant

Day 2 was St Patricks Cathedral, Dublin Castle, Dublin Masonic Lodge, Trinity College Library / Book of Kells Experience, and the popular Temple Bar!

Day 3 - Galway Ireland - take a train from Dublin, to this cool, underrated city...some of the medieval fortifications are still standing, and one of the guides did mention that Christopher Columbus had visited it at one point.

Day 4 - we took a bus trip, which featured a short stop to Dunguaire Castle, and Cliffs of Mohr

Day 5 - we took a flight from Galway to Edinburgh, Scotland....would recommend taking a walk to Calton Hill, one of the highest view points of the city. we had dinner at The Dome, which featured wonderful ambiance, and if you're a fan of Harry Potter, would check out The Department of Magic, where you can make magic 'potions'

Day 6 - Edinburgh walking tour, and Edinburgh Castle - you can easily spend a whole day here...right next to it is St Giles Cathedral. Very underrated pizza place btw, check out Dough Pizza

Day 7 - Inverness, Scotland...we took a 3-4 hour train ride to Inverness, Scotland, where we took a tour of Clava Cairns, which were an important place for ritual activity, and thought to be older than Stonehenge, going back 5000 years...as well as Culloden Battlefield - now more well known, due to 'outlander,' it was the site of the last battle of the Jacobite uprising. Food and Drink, check out Aye Eat, and Scotch and Rye

Day 8 - Isle of Skye Bus tour - highly recommend booking this 2 day tour

Short hike to Rogie Falls, followed up by a trip to Dunvegan Castle, which dates back 800 years to clan MacLeod;
additionally saw other famous landmarks of Skye, including Kilt Rock, Lealt Falls, and the Old Man of Storr;
we wrapped it up with a Highland Cow encounter, and short walk around the small town of Portree

-Day 9 - York - -We visited York for a quick overnight stay - would have liked to check that city out further had we have had time, as i found it interesting some of the city's original medieval wall was still standing

Day 10 / 11 - London - Tower of London, Westminster Abbey, and Churchhill War Rooms

Hotel Reviews

Harbour Hotel

Galway

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Ashling Hotel Dublin

Dublin

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Tigerlily

Edinburgh

Service, rooms, and breakfast service were all superb - i did however have to do laundry here, and it may have been cheaper just to buy new clothes from one of the gift shops than pay them to do it, so just something to keep in mind when traveling with light luggage

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

River Ness Hotel, a member of Radisson Individuals

Inverness

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

No.1 York

York

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Park Plaza London Riverbank

London

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Reviews

Visit of Christ Church Cathedral

Dublin

Galway Private Walking tour

Galway

Cliffs of Moher Day Trip from Galway ( 15 pers max )

Galway

Secrets of Edinburgh’s Royal Mile - walking tour with castle tickets

Edinburgh

Tower of London timed entry tickets

London

Two-day tour of Skye from Inverness

United Kingdom

Churchill War Rooms Small-Group Walking (plus discovery of the area around Westminster) Tour

London

Tickets for St Patrick Cathedral, Dublin

Dublin

Trinity College Library : The Book of Kells Experience

Dublin

Culloden Battlefield private tour

Inverness

Tickets to Westminster Abbey

London

What an amazing two week trip to Naples, the Amalfi Coast and Sicily. Everything our trip specialist, Rita Pagano, booked was really wonderful. From the hotels to the guides, there were no missteps on this trip. This is the fourth trip that KimKim has planned for us and it won't be the last.

Hotel Reviews

Grand Hotel Parker’s Naples

Naples

Grand Hotel Parker's is a lovely hotel just outside the city center. The rooftop view is amazing and I highly recommend dinner at Georges restaurant - it was one of the best meals on this trip.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Just outside the city center but an easy walk into Naples.

Staff

Waitstaff in the restaurants were professional but friendly.

Cleanliness & Comfort

Hotel Lorelei Londres

Sorrento

Great view and we loved our room with the poo/jacuzzi on the terrace. We would definitely go back and take advantage of their "beach club" below the cliffs. We did have dinner at their restaurant and while it was good, the service was a bit standoffish.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Great view!

Staff

Dinner staff in the restaurant were not welcoming.

Cleanliness & Comfort

Everything was very clean but they need new mattresses on the bed! Our backs were killing us!

Hotel Politeama

Palermo

Great location but rooms were very sparse. Definitely not a 5 star hotel. Best feature was the rooftop bar/restaurant.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Very basic, sparse furnishings in the room.

Doric Boutique Hotel

Agrigento

This place was OFF THE CHARTS! Rooms, location, food, service. Downside was only being there for 1 night! We will definitely go back and stay longer! Also had a fantastic dinner at the restaurant!

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Hotel Taodomus

Taormina

Lovely hotel in the center of Taormina. Note that cars/taxis/Ubers cannot drive into the city, so you will be left off a few blocks away and have to haul your luggage into town. Not an issue for us but might be for some. Lovely rooftop bar for an evening cocktail and breakfast.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Great restaurant recommendations.

Cleanliness & Comfort

Spacious shower compared to some.

Palazzo Artemide

This one was a great way to end the trip! Beautifully appointed room in a fantastic location. Definitely 5 stars!

Authenticity & Character

Really in a Palazzo!

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Really plush room.

Hotel Matilde - Lifestyle Hotel

Naples

Fine for about a 5 hour stop over between flights. A little sketchy entrance and another location where cars can't drive to so we had to walk with luggage a few blocks at midnight.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Reviews

Privately Guided Visit of Naples & Underground Ruins

Naples

Luigi was a nice, knowledgeable guide. Definitely helped us understand the layout of the city. Gave us an excellent recommendation for a great pizza place and took us there to ensure we got a table.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Visit to Pompeii & Mt. Vesuvius with Wine Tasting

Italy

Danilo, our Pompeii guide was SO knowledgeable. Only regret was that it took longer to get there due to Naples traffic, so we only have 1 1/2 hours at Pompeii. Could have definitely used more time. The Winery trip was amazing - great wine with a fantastic lunch. I don't think I'd recommend doing that BEFORE climbing Vesuvius..... definitely made it a tough trek uphill! Fabio, our driver, was also excellent.

Quality of Experience

Food

Cantina Vel Vesuvio was amazing - food, wine, and experience along with a great view!

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Would definitely recommend Fabio and Danilo!

Transport

Limoncello & Lemon Marmalade Experience

Italy

Cannot recommend this experience more! Valentino was so much fun! Could have stayed there all day!

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Antonio was a great, knowledgeable driver. Highly recommend!

Day Excursion to Capri Island and Anacapri

Italy

Had a great day on Capri. Stephanie, our guide, was very nice, although I got the sense she was disappointed that I didn't want to shop! LOL! She kept pointing out shops and trying to get us to go in. Loved the chairlift, although it was covered in fog, so no view at the top. And the Blue Grotto was closed, but the trip around the island was lovely. Stephanie also recommended a great place for lunch which was fantastic.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Private Guided Visit of Palermo

Palermo

Concetta might be the one miss on the whole trip. While she was very nice and knowledgeable, she never stopped talking for a minute. Literally, we could not get a word or question in, or even talk to each other. And if we weren't looking in the direction of what she was talking about, she would reprimand us - LOL. I actually cut this one short at under two hours because we couldn't take anymore.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

See above.

Sicily Extra Virgin Olive Oil & Salt Pans Experience

Palermo

I think this day might be our favorite of the entire trip. Mostly due to our driver (and guide) Sergio! I would recommend him for every trip in this region that you book! The olive oil tasting experience was fantastic at Titoni and thanks for having Angela there to interpret. Going to the salt pans was something we never experienced and it was really amazing and educational. Then Sergio took us to his favorite family run restaurant for a late lunch - what a treat! It was like being back in my Nonna's kitchen with dish and dish coming out with great local wine! Even with two Michelin star dinners earlier in the trip, I think this might have been our best meal! Thank you Sergio!!

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Sergio was the best!

Transport

Valley of the Temples Private Guided Visit

Italy

Lorenzo is such an amazing guide! I can't imagine anyone else knowing as much as he does. Truly a great experience!

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Lorenzo!! Francesco was also an amazing driver and showed us the white cliffs that Tom wanted to see.

Transport

Cooking Class in Taormina

Taormina

This was fantastic! Paola and Mary were great fun and great teachers. Made pasta, eggplant, fish. Ate everything we made along with local wines, bread, and cheeses. Definitely recommend this one!

Quality of Experience

Food

Learned a lot and had fun at the same time!

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Syracuse & Noto Full Day Private Experience

Italy

Massimo was a fantastic guide. We really enjoyed the Archeological Park and Noto. He had a great recommendation for lunch in Noto that we enjoyed very much.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Etna Wine & Cable Car Experience

Italy

Everyone needs to see Mt. Etna and Federico was a really good guide. Took us to see the Lava Tube/Cave as well. The wine experience was not great. It wasn't a specific winery, but a wine cooperative where they sold different wines. We definitely would have liked to experience a true Etna Winery, since we had so much great Etna wine in Sicily. Food was okay. Wines were not good.

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

All of the guides were great. Not only were they knowledgeable, they were very aware of our adjustments to the altitude and had very good suggestions.

KimKim and Berat provided an outstanding vacation in Turkey for us. It was particularly helpful that whenever we had a question or needed a suggested activity, we could always contact Berat. She always promptly responded, often with specific suggestions such as excellent dining choices and places to go.

When there were huge lines for the mosques in Istanbul, KimKim's guide suggested an alternative, the cisterns, as a place to start. Not only did that provide an memorable sight, by the time we finished, the mosque lines were completely gone allowing us to walk right in.

All the travel logistics were in place -- people to pick up us and reservations in place.

For anyone considering a vacation in Turkey, we highly recommend booking it through KimKim. This was our second KimKim vacation. Now that we're back, time to start thinking about the next trip with them.

Hotel Reviews

Pera Palace

Istanbul

Charming, well located, hotel responsive to some plumbing issues.

Authenticity & Character

Oldest elevator in the country.

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Kayakapi Premium Caves

Urgup / Cappadocia

Restaurants were amazing, especially the vegetarian tasting meal. Friendly waitstaff.

Akra Antalya Hotel

Antalya

Hotel was fine. Blaring music in one of the restaurants but the next night it was quieter.

Doğa Thermal Hotel & Spa

Denizli

Weird environment; smell from thermal waters. Only buffet dinner available which was just adequate. Not up to the standards of the other hotels on the trip.

Nisanyan Houses

Selçuk

Huge accessibility issues for anyone over 30 years old. Very rocky road from the reception desk to the room making the walk to meals treacherous. Layout of the rooms not idea with bathroom on a different level from the bedroom -- again an issue for older travelers. On the other hand, the staff were over the top friendly and accommodating. Meals, once you got the the dining room were very good.

Swissôtel The Bosphorus Istanbul

ISTANBUL

Excellent location looking out over the Bosphorus, walking distance to many of the key sites, tasty Indian restaurant on site.

Activity Review

Hot Air Balloon Tour at Sunrise

Cappadocia

Beautiful views, magical scenery, felt perfectly safe

We loved Indonesia. It is such a diverse country. But the common denominator is that all the people are so friendly and they seem stress-free. Jessica and her team provided us with a lot of different experiences and were really on top of everything. The whole trip was super well organized and coordinated. All the local guides were fantastic, they all give a wealth of knowledge and each have their own personal flavour to add to the stories which we loved.

Booking the trip with Mieke was so easy and effective through the group chat function. Loved the flexibility to build itinerary as per our preferences.

Everything worked smoothly on the trip, no time was wasted. Our guide Tashi and driver Funso were so helpful, thoughtful and experienced.. They generously shared their knowledge..

Incredible experience, thank you.

Hotel Reviews

Druk Hotel

Thimphu

Love love love. Authentic and beautiful rooms, great dining room food and service. Small gym.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Zhingkham Resort

Punakha

Great views and rooms. Climb to the rooms get tiring. Dining experience poor.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Review

Paro - Hike to Tigernest Monastery aka Taktshang Goemba

Paro

We left early and beat the crowds. Incredible day that I will remember for ever.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Tashi and Funso were amazing

Transport

First the positives:
1. Guides: Friendly, punctual, accommodating.
2. Vehicles: Clean and very comfortable (except in Kanazawa which had cigarette smoke).
Most interesting places/activities:
1. Miho Museum
2. Hiroshima - tear-jerker.
3. Ina
4. Mt Fuji panoramic ropeway
5. Bullet train rides (made better by travelling in Green Car).
Room for improvement:
1. Guides: Often difficult to understand (except Wesley). This was a major issue.
2. Hotel Higashiyama in Kyoto: Very small, uncomfortable esp. since we stayed there for 5 nights, probably equivalent to a 2/3 star hotel in USA. Would definitely not recommend it.
3. Ina: would have liked to spend more time there by getting there early. Advise visitors to carry own food and drinks as the few eating places there close early.
4. Explore purchasing tickets for cable car, Skytree, etc in advance, if possible, as it will save a lot of time.
5. Itinerary:
a. Share the final itinerary with ALL changes a few days before the tourist's departure.
b. Include addresses of hotels, train stations, etc in JAPANESE so that we can show these to the taxi driver. We ended up at the wrong hotel in Kyoto because the 2 hotels had identical names.

The trip was great.

Highlight was the desert camp, but it was all fantastic. Driver was very helpful and thoughtful. Guide in Marrakech was the best.

Only suggestions I would give is better communication from the driver on the long days. It was sometime unclear when we would stop and what for. There were a couple of stops we probably would have skipped (movie studio) if we knew they were happening. Also there were a few times we had to pay admission or guides that we were not told about ahead of time. - including guide for Aït Benhaddou. That guide was particularly disappointing. It would have been good to know this so we were prepared or could have decided if we wanted to do that. Other trips I have booked included the cost of admission to places in them so I was surprised kimkim had not already included those in the prices we paid.

Hotel Reviews

Desert Luxury Camp Erg Chebbi

Merzouga

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Riad Braya

Fes Medina

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Riad Ksar Ighnda

Ait Benhaddou

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Elegancia Riad Boutique & SPA

Marrakech

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Reviews

Explore the Magic of Marrakesh: A Guided Tour

Marrakesh

Guide was best of all we had. She was respectful of what we wanted to see and took the time we needed. Did a great job explaining local culture and customs.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Harmonies of the Dunes: An Experiential Desert Odyssey in Erg Chebbi

Merzouga

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Valleys, Kasbahs, and Roses: A Scenic Drive to Aït Benhaddou

Morocco

Would have liked to have a better understanding of when and where we were stopping so could have decided if the stops were of interest. Would have skipped the movie studio if we had been asked. It was not worth the time spent.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

We had to pay for guide in Aït Benhaddou ourselves. It did not seem to be prearranged and driver just connected with a local there who was doing tours. He rushed us through and gave limited info. Did not allow us to stop when we wanted. It seemed like he wanted to get back early to take the next tourists. Pretty disappointing.

Transport

Ait Benhaddou to Marrakech: A Journey through Time and Nature

Morocco

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Wonders of Fes: Exploring the Medina in Half a Day

Fes

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Adrenaline-Pumping ATV Ride: Discovering the Dunes of Merzouga

Merzouga

The guides were fantistic. Very high energy and ensured we had a great time!

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Over the Middle Atlas to the Desert: Erfoud, Merzouga, Sahara

Morocco

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport