Kimkim Trip Reviews

Kimkim did a great job organizing an amazing Peru experience for my family of five and our extended family. We had children ranging from age 4 to 14 and they all had a great time seeing the classic Costa, Sierra, y Selva of Peru. All of our guides were knowledgeable and helpful. Alejandra in the Andean portion and Oscar in the Amazonian portion were especially fantastic! We had numerous family members joining and leaving at different times and the organizational team at Kimkim didn't miss a beat! Everyone made their connections and got to experience the portion they chose without having to stress over the details. Thank you all!

I recently had a 10 day adventure w a culinary flair trip in Croatia w 1 day in Bled, Slovenia. Our guide, Robert (Robi) Pincevic was awesome. I gave him a list of activities I wanted to do, ( hiking, biking, kayaking) , places I had to see like Plitvice NP and walk the walls in Dubrovnik. He sent a sample itenerary that seemed to have read my mind. A couple tweaks and the trip was a go. We( group of 4) started in Dubrovnik and ended in Zagreb. Lodging was mostly family run B and B's. 1st place waterfront outside of Dubrovnik w a kayak for early morning paddles and nice trail along the water. Ston wasn't on my list but was suggested by Robi and indeed it is not to be missed. We stayed right in town w the walls in site, the family run Inn even wash our clothes while we went to Mljet NP. Another place not to be missed. After taking the car ferry to the island it was biking, swimming in a seclude cove. Plitvice NP is the reason I planned my trip to Croatia. I wasn't disappointed, we stayed at a local B and B just outside the park do we could beat the crowds, the host Velinka showed us around then asked if we want a rakia tasting. Of course! Good sleep that nite! Then at breakfast, packed us up the leftover homemade bread for our lunch. Not prearranged but inquired about a day on the water, sailing of motorboat. Robi made a few calls and it happened. We went to kolocep in a private boat instead of being on the ferrys schedule, had grilled calamari a specialty of the island. Then was able to go snorkeling in the caves! Nice touch. It was so nice having a private guide/driver who knew the area, didn't need mapquest once. Also seemed to know somebody in every town and was excited to tell us about the areas history. I have been on 5 guided trips and when I get back home I always say that I could have done that trip myself...but not this trip. Robi made the difference, we were able to see and experience so much more than had we been driving ourselves or w a tour bus. One more special touch we had lunch prepared by a local family in their home one day. Oh so good!
Trip was early June, 2019. Weather perfect for everything including swimming in the Adriac sea. Word of advice pack a beach towel there were so many opportunities for quick dips.
Cindy

Our trip was to Barcelona and the Coasta Brava (staying in Calella de Palafrugell).
James planned a great itinerary for us! He asked the right questions to learn what we would enjoy and made great suggestions. Our favorite parts of the trip were things that we wouldn’t have done without his help in planning. (The more forgettable parts were the “must dos” that I found on lists and asked him to include!). In fact, it was James who suggested visiting the Coasta Brava and it was the perfect suggestion: we saw medieval towns, a vineyard that juxtaposed the old and new worlds (12th and 21st centuries), the world of Salvadore Dali, and the gorgeous coast.
We had great tour guides throughout (Gracia, Ariadna, Craig, Laia, Jose Luis, and Olga). They were all punctual and personable. They cared about our comfort (bringing water, etc.) and were willing to adjust the tours to our preferences. We loved having time to really talk to each guide and learn about the culture and people as well as the history. When we had meals included in our day, the restaurants selected were perfect: authentic, local, friendly, tasty.
Everything was seamless. Our transportation was arranged, tickets ready, etc. When there was a small error on our first day, James and our local assistant, Rocio, took care of it calmly and easily; they even apologized with a thoughtful surprise in our room despite the error not being theirs. Bad weather also required us to change plans as the last minute. After speaking with us, Rocio put together an itinerary that was better than we could have imagined! It turned out to be a highlight rather than a disappointment.
We got more out of our days by having guides. We had never done a vacation with private guides before and were pleasantly surprised by the small extras we enjoyed (learning to make tomato bread and tinto de verano at lunch (Jose Luis), eating fruit from the tree and fresh cheese from the cheese maker during a bike tour (Olga)).
This was easily one of the best, if not the best, vacation we’ve had. I’m so glad I took the gamble to work with kimkim and TailormadeAndalucia. I look forward to doing so again! Thanks, James and Rocio!

This was the trip of a lifetime! We are very grateful to Travel12 for putting together a very detail oriented and authentic tour of Greece, the whole team is so professional and absolutely fantastic.

Our first day landing in Athens we were met at the airport and transferred to our hotel in Athens without any issues. Our driver was very courteous and knowledgeable about Athens. On our way to the hotel we caught site of the Parthenon and that was it! We were awestruck and ready to take in all we could of Greece! Tasos booked a comfortable central lodging close to many restaurants, bars, nightlife and lots of people from all over the world. It was very easy to find a nice restaurant with live music and awesome food.
It was a short walk from the hotel to the Parthenon, where we went on our second day. Our tour guide Alex was very down to earth and it was very nice morning spent with him touring the Acropolis and making our way up to the Parthenon. We had the afternoon to explore Athens on our own and Alex quickly setup a plan to see the most of Athens in the time we had. We visited the Acropolis Museum, Hadrian's Arch, the National Gardens, and walked the beautiful streets of Plaka where we had the best pizza of our lives!
Next we were off with Key Tours to the Corinth Canal, Epidaurus, Mycenae and Nafplio where we had a nice seaside lunch before ending our day in the town of Olympia where we enjoyed spectacular views from our hotel.
The historical site of Olympia is a must see. Our half day tour of the historical site Olympia was made all the better by our tour guide Demetrius, who was an actual archaeologist! The grounds here are amazing and filled with enchantment. After our tour Demetrius also had some suggestions for us to explore the town of Olympia. We hopped over to the Archimedes Museum, which looks simple at first but has lots great information about the inventions of Archimedes, some inventions are even hands on! After that we checked out the shops and had some delicious fresh fish at Taverna Orestis. We decided to hike up the mountain back to our room at the Arty Grand. Good thing they have a nice spa because we were absolutely winded by the time we made it back! I don't regret it though because we earned the gorgeous views you can only enjoy walking. After some relaxation we headed back to Olympia for some shopping and gyros. We met a nice shop owner who explained that he also had a farm where he grew all kinds of chiles including habanero, anahiem and the carolina reaper!
The next day we were taken by private driver to the fantastic Temple of Apollo at Bassae. Nicolas was very friendly, he stopped a few times in some nice spots along the way to take photos. Little did we know Nikolas was not only very friendly and a family man but also a Greek national hero for saving a woman tourist from drowning! After the tour he took us to the bus station, made sure we were taken care of and also gave us some olive oil from his family farm.
Day 6 we took the train to Meteora which is absolutely amazing and one of my most cherished memories from the trip. It is so amazing what the Monks did there and the views are out of this world.
Day 7 On to Delphi where we had a traditional Greek lunch provided at a nice restaurant with the best view ever at the top of the mountain. Private tour of Delphi. Our tour guide was very nice and shared some extra secrets with us (hopefully soon she will make it to Mexico!). Next our driver Lampros, who was excellent (we wish him luck and a wonderful life with his soon to be bride!) took us to the port, and made sure everything was in order for our boarding of the ferry to Chania which was like a mini cruise ship.
Chania is a beautiful island where we traveled with GS tours to visit 7 local villages and got to try out local cheeses as well as see the process of how they make it, a delicious traditional lunch made by Maria, toured a family tskoudia distillery with the best tskoudia in Chania, our tour guide was the best and a local who had lived there his whole life, I cannot remember his name but I wish to give him the highest kudos I can in this review, he was great and knew so much of the history, was so friendly and down to earth, he climbed up this wall and picked us some blackberries off a tree at one point. We visited Gramvoussa beach as well as our favorite Balos Beach with crystal clear waters!
After that we transferred back to beautiful Athens and swiftly whisked away back to our home in Houston, Texas.
It's really hard to describe in words the goodness of all the Greek people we encountered and the beauty of their country, they have a word Philotimo though that I think describes them perfectly.
At one point my credit card came out of my pocket on the bus and a nice lady returned it to me, a taxi driver got us out of a jam, our tour guide helped us get into one of the monastaries when we didn't have any cash.
Thanks to KimKim and Travel12, especially Tasos we were able to go on an adventure and enjoy Greece for 11 days. Tasos and his team were always available to help with any questions or concerns we had. We will definitely be using their services when we return to Greece

This was the trip of a lifetime! It truly exceeded our expectations!
First time we worked with KimKim, and we definitely recommend them!

Yossef was fabulous to work with not only before our trip, but was in touch with us the entire trip making sure we were comfortable, cared for and enjoying our vacation.

We absolutely loved our driver, Ismail! Not only was he a very safe, cautious driver, but he was such a great companion to have with us. He pointed out various things along the way, made sure we were always comfortable, and on Friday afternoon, he kept his cool in all the crazy Casablanca traffic. He definitely made our driving time enjoyable. I feel like we were leaving a good friend when we said good-bye to him at the airport.

Our guide in Chefchaouen, Yosef, was equally as great. One of the high points of the entire week was sitting alongside the river at lunch with Yosef and Issmail. It was relaxing, super tasty and something we had no idea we would get to enjoy. We were able to engage, learn, and just enjoy the country, the culture and speak freely.

The Hammam! We didn't know what to expect and that made the adventure all the more fun! A definite must do!

The home visit was so much fun. Not only was it relaxing, very tasty, but it was great fun having Yousef and Issmail there with us. Super evening!

The two riads were beautiful, welcoming, relaxing and a comfortable, quiet respite after our days of touring. Hospitality at both was over the top! We felt like royalty.

The ENTIRE experience was more than we could have ever imagined.
Thank you for making our 25th wedding anniversary the trip of a lifetime!

I traveled with my two boys 10 and 12 years old, we visited Bogotá, Sta Marta, Tayrona, Cartagena, Isla Baru and Cali, everything was so smoth transportation always on time, accommodations, Tayrona trip with the guide, Wilson was excellent my boys learned so much, in regards of organizing our intynery? Laura was always patient, worked with our budget, and always very professional and understanding of our needs. I definitely recommended it.
Ligia
Louisiana, USA

The Kimkim team was amazing! The personal touch makes all the difference. We felt well cared-for and thoroughly enjoyed our adventure. Kudos to Christos, Dimitris and all the team. Thanks to my experience with Kimkim I will definitely visit Greece again!

This was the perfect travel experience and one that my wife and I will remember for a lifetime.

The accommodations that were booked for us in every town were in a beautiful setting, always very comfortable and with an extraordinary staff. We were especially impressed with our room in Sault maintained by Kevin. Not only was it in a beautiful valley each and every space was perfectly furnished. Dominique who was our host outside of Roussillon was very helpful and took great pains to make us feel welcome and comfortable. Our hotel in Vaison-la-Romaine “Hostellerie Le Befroi” had one of the greatest meals we ate in all of France.

The food was also of the highest quality. Each location that was booked was very accommodating and the meals were delicious.

The travel book provided to us was very accurate and provided a great guide to this long journey. We never once felt lost or out of place as the directions were so clear throughout.

The equipment was of the highest quality. The EBikes provided by Sun EBike and our specialist Estelle was fabulous. Estelle also gave us a great tip about a professional bike race that was happening so we could be prepared in our route. We were given panniers that were large enough to fit all of our gear and still have space. The GPS provided to us had pre loaded maps for every day and was very clear and kept us on route.

The greatest part of this trip was the journey itself. Every hill and valley we rolled through was more beautiful than the next and we could not imagine having had a better experience.

Thank you to Simon and So Provence So Alps for this vacation that will live with us always.

This is the first time I have worked with KimKim And have absolutely no regrets! They paired me with a company called Peruvian Soul who exceeded our expectations! Jesus and Carmen were exceptional with the planning and always available. We got to meet Carmen in Lima, she is so sweet and caring. She would check on us throughout our trip. The local guides were beyond amazing especially Julio in Cusco. He was always available and very knowledgeable. He wanted to make sure we were okay at all times and just such a wonderful person. I highly recommend Peruvian Soul to help plan the most amazing vacation to Peru. Santiago, our guide for the Inca trail was so patient with us during our trek and made it so worthwhile! Macchi Picchu is unbelievable! Truly a wonderful experience!

All of it was great. Each aspect was wonderful. The hike up Pacaya, the tour of Antigua, Atitlan and the lake was beautiful. The cooking class was exceptional. Thanks for a memorable trip.

Ken Farnham

Abdellah arranged an amazing few days for us - from the red city to the mountains to the ocean, giving us a little taste of everything.
The service was excellent from making the booking, the pickup at the airport, and the various tours. And Abdellah constantly checked in with the driver and tour guides to make sure we were having a good experience.
Karim, the driver is a thoughtful young man, who took really good care of us and answered all our questions. He is a really good driver.
Hassan, our guide in Marrakech is very knowledgeable and suggested small adjustments to the city tour based on our interests. He patiently answered all our questions.
Lahsen, our guide in Imlil deserves a medallion, as I am not sure how it got me up and down the mountain. The hike was tough for me, and he managed to make it fun and a memorable experience.
My husband thoroughly enjoyed the mountain bike trip Abdellah arranged with Hisham, who went above and beyond what was expected.
Our accommodations were very comfortable with caring hosts.
We had a great time. Thank you Abdellah and team!!!

I don’t even know where to begin. Everything about our experience was fantastic. Our friend was originally visiting Jordan solo when my husband and I decided to tag along. Carmen was so accommodating in switching everything from a single person itinerary to a party of three. Any questions I ever had were answered very quickly.

Our itinerary was well laid out allowing us amble time at each location. We had a rather short trip and while we did move a lot to fit everything in, it never felt rushed or overwhelming.

Our driver, Azzam was so kind. He was right there at the airport when we arrived. He’s a champ because after dropping off my husband and I at the hotel, he had to head back to the airport to pickup our friend who was arriving on a much later flight. It was a late night for him but there he was a few hours later ready to take us to our first location. He answered any questions we had and just seemed like a really nice person.

I enjoyed all of the hotels we stayed in. They weren’t chain hotels (i.e. Hyatt, Holiday Inn) so you felt like you were getting a more authentic experience.

Visiting Petra was incredible. We had one little hiccup where Petra at Night was on our itinerary but the tour was not offered the night we were there. Carmen contacted us the next day and we were immediately given a refund for the cost of those tickets. We were very appreciative of that.

Being at the Dead Sea, Petra, the Wadi Rum desert, a Bedouin camp, it was all a fantastic experience. I could have never put a trip like this together myself so I’m grateful to Carmen and her team for everything they did. Thank you!

Overall our trip to Greece was wonderful! Dimitris was very responsive during our planning phase and while we were there. He put together a good itinerary that included accommodations, travel to/from islands, tours based on what we like, car rental and a driver to pick us up during our travels. (The driver, Stavos made our trip particularly enjoyable as he drove us to various sites as part of our journey. He was very knowledgeable and so kind.) Dimitris recommended a smaller less inhabited island Tinos that turned out to be the highlight of our trip.
Thank you Dimitris for helping to create such a good memory!

We felt very lucky to have Preeti organize our trip because we wanted to join friends at the very last second. She managed to book us and find hotels close by and booked all the tours.

Every day we had something fun and special. The directions were clear and everything was planned to perfection.

All the tour operators were top knotch. I could write about our tour guides, all whom were knowledgeable and friendly and kind. Standouts were Steph at the Blue Ice Experience, David at Katlatrack, Adam and Luis at Adventure Vikings, and our guide at Vatnsheiller Cave Tours.

The hotels were all clean and comfortable. Hotel Tindastoll was like stepping back in time and very comfortable, Eidhus apartments were so pretty and comfortable with such a peaceful view, Hotel Grasteinn is a little gem by the airport but by far Hotel 1001 Nott made us wish we were staying a few more nights. Amazing hospitality, comfort and peacefulness. And the food and breakfast were delicious.

All in all it was an unforgettable vacation and will use Kimkim again. Preeti and her team did a fabulous job. Tak!!!

This was an amazing trip and it was entirely thanks to the team at Ukraine Culture Trip! Lena, Natalia, Rowan, Julia (Lviv), Alex, Iliana (I think that was her name... In Kiev), and the whole family that welcomed us for breakfast! I highly recommend using Ukraine Culture Trip for any travel you have planned in Ukraine. Thank you for making this suck an amazing experience for my family!

To begin Veselka Huljic was excellent to help us plan our vacation to Croatia. She was also available,
supportive and quick to assist us with minor problems. Dubrovnik was great. Hear was wonderful!
Mila Krcevinac was outstanding and made us feel like her family treating us to wine and food and discussions. Her accommodations were super and we didn't want to leave. In Split, the owner of our apartments was a great historian and taught us about his country. Sorry I have forgotten his name.
Our city tour guide was Nives and she was superb, very bright and very funny. Radar was fun and we enjoyed the city. Plitvice Lake National Park was beautiful. Our stay at Etno Gardens was delightful. Tim was absolutely amazing and very energetic. We had three meals there each of which were very good. Our final tour was in Zagreb. Viatka was so knowledgeable and interesting and showed her city with great pride. Our rental van was perfect and our entire trip was perfect. Thanks so much to Kimkim and Veselka for your organization. We loved our trip!

We enjoyed every place we visited in Greece for different reasons. We experienced beauty, history and culture. Most of our guides were excellent, but I did not write down their names so I can’t give specific input on certain ones. The one at Delphi seemed to be in a hurry so we felt a little rushed there. The experience our last night at the fish restaurant was especially nice. The people connected with the the farm tour and meal were very gracious and made a lasting impression. The worst experience was with Mykonian Mare. The people related to food service were very accommodating, but the reception staff was not, especially the night they left us in Mykonos and the lady I called would not give us a time that they would be there to get us. She hung up on me the second time and did not answer the third. Therefore, we had to stand and wait for 11/2 hours for the shuttle to arrive. When we told the manager, all we got was excuses. Other than that, we enjoyed our stay immensely. The last day of our trip there seemed to be a lapse in planning. We even had to pay to go to the Temple of Poseidon. This should have been included in the information given to us. Overall though, we were very satisfied with the trip and gave the trip and you 5 stars.

We enjoyed a wonderful Romanian experience thanks to Raluca’s excellent planning and organisational skills. She was always quick to reply to our questions and it was great to finally meet her in person when we picked up our road book, vouchers and itinerary in Bucharest. We enjoyed the variety in our itinerary which included a visit to the Bear sanctuary, visits to beautiful Medieval towns and castles and a steam train ride through the scenic Vaser valley. Our Romanian experience has left us with beautiful memories.
Thank you Raluca and the Kimkim team.

Sue & Kerry Walker
Melbourne Australia.

Overall our Greece trip and experience was great. Some highlights in my opinion:
On Crete: Tour to villages and particularly the distillery, Knossos Museum, Dinner in small town of Archanes
On Santorini: Hidden Gems and Wine Tasting tour (guide was very fun), sunset sailing
On Mykonos: Farm tour/dinner (very friendly hosts), hanging out at the Dublin pub
In Athens: Hotel roof top restaurant, every historic site/museum, farewell dinner arranged by Travel12
Overall: fact that almost all our tours and transfers were private to our group (a benefit from having 8 persons)

On hotels:
Ambassador's Residence - very good to excellent
Kalimera Archanes Village - our stay too short to appreciate, but excellent host and transfers on Crete
Kasimatas Suites - very good, met our expectations, older property with some quirks
Mykonian Mare - good and bad, large variation in rooms between the group, hotel was performing water system work while we were there which was unfortunate
Athens Gate - good, location great, but we were given rooms on low floors so no views from rooms and fair amount of traffic noise, great rooftop restaurant

Guides/tours/transfers in general were very good, on time, and informative of the area and its history.
Travel12 provided us very good itinerary information with all contacts etc and made sure we had their support when we were in Greece, although everything went so well we did not really need much help.

We all had a great time, the trip had excellent value for dollars spent.

This was my first time using KimKim and I will definitely use them for travel again. Every part of the experience was amazing - planning, accommodations/experiences, and our driver. The planning process was pleasant and efficient all thanks to Yassine. He was extremely responsive and patient. He worked with me to plan an amazing 5 year anniversary trip that my wife and I loved. I had a rough idea of all the things I wanted to do and he used his expertise of Morocco to help tailor a trip that would best accommodate it all. Thanks to Yassine, my wife and I traveled worry free as we went from one amazing experience to the next.
We arrived in Marrakesh and were picked up by our Riad (pre-arranged with the help of Yassine). We explored the markets in Marrakesh and the famous Jemaa el-Fnaa square. We had dinner in a restaurant that overlooked the square as we watched all the commotion below us. The next morning, we were picked up by our driver, Ishmael, to start our journey to the desert. It was a very long trip to the desert. I am so happy that Yassine recommended we break it up into two days. Day 1, our drive time was about 3-4 hours. Day 2, the drive time was about 5-6. The hotel we stayed in overnight in Ouarzazate was one of the highlights of our trip. It was called Caravane and it was amazing. It was a quaint, French inspired hotel with friendly staff and amazing food. In fact, the best food we had on our trip was at Caravane (their Chef lives in a local Kasbah close by). After Ouarzazate, Ishmael drove us to Merzouga where we started our desert stay with a 1 hr camel ride into the Sahara Desert to our tent in Luxury Camp Chebbi! The whole desert experience was the highlight of our trip. It was extremely romantic and the tents offered a "glamping" appeal as they had showers, toilets, running water, etc. The sunset & sunrise over the Sahara were spectacular and so was the stargazing at night. I can't say enough about our desert experience. After the desert, we returned to Marrakesh for a hot air balloon ride on our actual anniversary day. We then took a train to Casablanca and stayed in a hotel where, shortly after check-in, we were presented with a little surprise anniversary treat - courtesy of Yassine and the rest of the staff. Speaking of staff, I have to give our driver Ishmael a special shout out. He was an amazing travel companion to my wife and I. His driving was perfect. He would stop whenever and wherever we wanted along the way. He talked and conversed with us and let us sleep or played music when we just wanted to relax. He often stopped to get us bottled water and just always knew what we needed before we asked. He was always on time to pick us up in the morning and was extremely patient whenever we ventured off to different activities while he waited on us. Ishmael truly enhanced our experience and we're so glad he was our driver.
Overall, I was very pleased with the entire travel experience and highly recommend Yassine and the team to anyone interested in visiting Morocco. We have traveled a lot in the past 5 years and this trip was right at the top with the best of them. Thanks for a wonderful experience Yassine and team!