Kimkim Trip Reviews

Ingrid did an amazing job planning our trip and with our hike in Bergen. The hotels she picked were great - nice rooms, friendly service, and close to activities so that we could walk every where. She truly did a marvelous job. The companies she booked for the hike in Stavanger and the fjord tour and snow shoeing hike in Flam were great as well - professional, good equipment and full of information about the area.

I was set up with a very good schedule. Got to see some of what others do not get to see. This was a once-in-a-lifetime trip for me and it was important to get as many of the importantant sites seen before heading home. Kimkim did that.

Guides were fairly proficient in English. They may not have pronounced all the words correctly but I knew what they were saying. And all of them were very helpful. They tried to answer all my questions, provided extra services like gem and jewellry shopping, and were able to explain some of the quirkiness that is Myanmar.

Myanmar is a must see.

Randall has been very responsible in tailoring our tour according to my request, with many back and forth. It’s been a great pleasure to work with him on putting the tour together.

My Guide in Bogota, Tatiana, my guide in the coffee region, Alejandro, my guide in Medellin,Joachim, were all fantastic. The guides in Cartagena,were Old School, Boring and not cool.-dont remember their names. All hotels were excellent Opera,Diez,Bantu, except the Hacienda in the coffee region.Bosques del Saman-the food was really mediocre and the front desk guy didnt speak English well and didnt communicate well. I was freezing at night and had to walk thru a big field to get to my room. The swimming pool area was not great. It was really a 3-31/2 star place- not 4-41/2 as requested. Setting was pretty.

All the drivers were great.
The cooking class and salsa classes were fun.
I went on a trip on my own -with a group to Guatape- from Medellin- that should be a must do-which was fantastic.
I hired a guide to take me out at night in Medellin to dance clubs - that was really fun.

I probably travelled a bit too much-for the period of time- next time I would cut out one place- but that was my request.

You need to emphasis to bring clothing for cold and rain- it rained everywhere except Cartagena.

On the whole I loved Colombia- the people, the country side and the cities so well organized and beautiful. I will definitely be back!!

We booked with kimkim for our week in Vietnam, mainly for travel (car transport, mid-week airfare, lodging, etc.), as well as one full-day tour of the Mekong Delta. After a small hiccup in the communication during the trip planning, I have to say that everything went smoothly. Transport was on time, the lodging was excellent and had great locale, and our Mekong Delra tour guide, Lucy, was very good. It became clear that we were actually experiencing a local travel agency (that we gave a review for, too), and that kimkim is actually more of a middle-man service, but that's no bother. I would book with kimkim again for their choice of agency and talented guides.

We had a fantastic holiday in Sri Lanka. It is such a diverse country that it is hard to identify a single highlight, but the safari at Wilpattu, the luxury of Tea Trails at Hatton, and Galle were certainly memorable. Sigiriya, Kandy, and Trincomalee were also very enjoyable and interesting.

Our driver, Rukan, was very good. Nothing was too much trouble and he got us where we needed to be safely and in good order. He was knowledgeable about everywhere we went and if he ever didn’t know where he was going we didn’t notice.

The accommodation we booked was always close to what we expected and in some cases much better. Jungle Beach at Trincomalee was very comfortable and restful, Heritance Kandalama was fascinating architecturally, and Tea Trails at Hatton was wonderfully indulgent. We also enjoyed Fort Printers in Galle; it was centrally located and very comfortable.

Elina and Gareth were so much fun and really did everything they could to make sure we had an enjoyable trip. Elina always answered all my questions in a very timely manner- so much that I wondered if she ever slept! I wouldn’t hesitate to book a trip with them again.

Bob and I had an incredible and very varied trip to Chile for our honeymoon. We spent the first 5 days of it in Patagonia, where we did the "W" route. Our guide, Camilla, was the perfect person to take me, and inexperienced hiker, from place to place. She took such good care of us, and her pacing was perfect to get us where we needed to go without making me totally work out. Her cheerfulness and enthusiasm were such a treat.

After that we spent a day in Santiago and three days in Cochagua Valley doing wine tours and eating unbelievably good food. Our guides for the wine tour, Jose and Fransisco, were a lot of fun and really knowledgeable. We enjoyed all of the tours and tastings we did and were grateful to meet everyone there.

The two highlights of the wine-touring part of our trip were lunch at Fuegos de Alpata, the restaurant at Montes vineyard. Both the food and views were unbelievable, and it took us several hours afterwards to be able to recover and for the haze to wear off. The second was our accommodation - Hotel Quinta Maria. The massive and colorful room in the middle of a gorgeous garden was pretty great, but the best part of the stay was the hospitality of the hotel's owner, Eduardo, who took great care of us and made us a multi-course breakfast, including home-grown fruit and eggs from his own chickens, each morning.

Overall, we couldn't have asked for a better experience and are very grateful for James and Mayra's planning and decision-making. They captured exactly what we wanted.

Our trip to India was amazing! Everyone was very happy about everything, from accommodation, to transportation, guides, and activities.
Prashant was a really good guide in Goa and easy to get along with. Especially when everyone loves nature, as we hiked for a bit. The 2 others guides in goa were great as well (I unfortunately can’t remember their exact names.. :/ )
In Kerala, our driver Dileep was really great. He drove (frankly!) but carefully. And brought us to any places we wanted to go to, from temples sightseeing to shopping and eating in local places. He was very flexible with schedule and always was trying to please us. Thumbs up!
There was just a little confusion and misunderstanding in some part of the itinerary for the Kerala houseboat. But it all turned out well at the end.

Overall, it was a great trip and it seems impossible to choose a favorite place.

Thanks!

We had a fantastic time on our trip to Iguazu Falls. Jacquie’s organization was perfect. Our guide at the Falls Solange was excellent as was our accomodation organized by Jacquie. A fabulous time. Thank you!!

We've just returned from a wonderful four week trip to Colombia, and were extremely pleased with our local specialist, Marine, who was helpful during our detailed planning process and who was always in touch with us during our trip to make certain that everything went smoothly.

All of our guides, Remy, Guillermo, et al, were excellent - well informed and a pleasure to have on our adventure. We covered a great range of places in Colombia, from the beginning of the Amazon region in the south to the mountain town of Minca in the north. All of our drivers were excellent and always right on time, and we felt confident and comfortable throughout the trip.

In planning our trip, we emphasized that we were interested in archeological sites like San Agustín and Tierradentro, as well as doing some hiking and visiting some of the culturally important cities of Colombia, like Cartagena and Medellin. From swimming/floating down the Sarabando River to the hike in Las Nubes (the clouds), each day was filled with very pleasurable activities. Because we spoke Spanish, it was also fun to have Spanish speaking guides and go to less visited areas of Colombia.

Thanks, Marine, for helping us to organize such a terrific experience.

Bernard and Ann Rubenstein, Santa Fe, New Mexico

The trip was well organised and according to our specific requests. Our guide was a good and careful driver and responded well however we experienced some communication problems due to his limited English. Sandun (who took over from Ida) was great - very responsive and also flexible when we asked for an addition to our itinerary to see Geoffrey Bawa's Heritage Kandala hotel near Sigirya.

We had the best time on our honeymoon to Nepal, completely planned by Raj at his team at Socialtours. From our first interaction on KimKim, we knew we had found something special in Raj--he listened to us regarding our budget, activity level and timing. We loved that once we arrived in Nepal, everything was taken care of for us. They booked all our ground transportation, in-country flights and tour guides. All we had to do was show up with our passports. Raj and Socialtours were excellent with communication via KimKim and I could not thank them more for taking away all the stress of planning a vacation to an unfamiliar country and making it so fun! Highlights included a 4-day trek in the Himalaya with our wonderful guides Kancha and Badal, "Cook Like a Local" class at Socialtours, mountain flight to see the Himalaya, Jeep safari ride in Chitwan, tours of Bhaktupur and Kathmandu. Thank you Raj and Socialtours for a trip of a lifetime!

Accomodation at Montechiari was very nice and the people were friendly with one exception. Management handled the exception very well.
The hike into the Hule Lagoon was great, Andre was an excellent guide.
He did at times seem to be in a bit of a rush. It was scheduled to be a four hour hike and we completed in just over three hours.
The pace was manageable but not leisurely. It was just the two of us, great.
The host family at the farm were wonderful and the food was awesome.
The mountain biking was fun but we didn't get to see much and was not at the Volcano as expected. We rode out 16Km and stopped at the lake and were offered to ride back over the same route. We declined. Home by 10:20. It was a private tour with just the two of us, nice.
The guides were very nice , especially Brian who was in training.
The Tabacon Hotsprings was nice. The meal was buffet style but the food was excellent.
The guided tour at Manuel Antonio was a great experience overall and the guide was very knowledgeable. He also managed to get us out for lunch (I am diabetic) and back infor a swim on the same ticket .This was a large group of around 16 people so a bit unwieldy.
We had a private tour of Quepos and the Kids Saving the Rainforest with our guide William.
William was an excellent guide, very knowledgeable. Overall Iguana tours was excellent.
The accomodation at Tabulia Tree Hotel was quite nice and we were treated well.
The kayaking and snorkling was fun with an excellent guide and nice lunch afterward.
Monteverde was beautiful and the Fonda Vella Hotel was excellent. I believe we received a room upgrade as it was a very nice separate cabin.
The hanging bridges tour was very pretty views with a knowledgeable naturalist guide and some interesting sightings.
The coffee, cacao and sugar tour was enjoyable and informative.
Bosque del Mar at Playa Hermosa was very relaxing and the staff were very friendly and helpful.
A relaxing and enjoyable wind down.
The evening cruise was fun with a nice group of people. The snorkelling was a disappointment as we saw very little.
The trip was on a sailboat (OK but a catamaran was advertised.

Just back from a 5 day visit to Marrakech and Essaouira which was largely organised by the Kimkim team. We had a tremendous time; everyone was very helpful and the guides, drivers, riad staff, etc that we encountered were so friendly and professional, really knowledgeable. In many years of travelling, I had never previously used a company to arrange trips and transport in advance but i'm very glad I did. Kimkim removed the stress factor so that we could really relax and just enjoy the activities.

Other than the weather interrupting our plans, which is not in anyone's control ... All of the activities were great and we really enjoyed them all from Ice Cave to Lava Tunnels to Icelandic Horse back riding and all of the scenic locations. We will return to see some of these sites in the summer at some point for additional breathe taking views. Thanks for all the support from Preeti, even while on vacation, it was a nice touch of excellent service.

We had a wonderful time on our 1 1/2 Medellin tour last week. Our guide couldn't have been more friendly and informative. It was abundantly clear he loved his city and his job! Despite the mix up with the itinerary at the start, everything was smooth and fun, especially the fabulous hike to Angel Waterfalls. Definitely recommend Kimkim Tour for any sort of tour and adventure! They are so responsive and professional from all the emails to their vehicles, thank you!!
Octavia Jones

Chris picked perfect activities for our trip. He understood our needs and customized our tour to our liking on the first try! Our guides were young and fun and made sure we got to our destinations. They were early/ontime and provided insightful stories into the Mayan culture in Guatemala. We loved each tour and the local connections each guide had which made our trip more special.

Ingrid was quick at responding, understood what we wanted out of our trip and made the whole booking process very easy. I would definitely use Kim Kim again and would recommend it to others.

Chris, our local specialist did a phenomenal job at creating a customized itinerary on a very short turnaround when our travel plans changed right before our trip started. Chris was also really helpful in changing around our plans when there was an unexpected sickness on the trip. All of our guides were amazing. Manuel took us on a walking tour of Antigua which was a great way to start off our trip. In Monterrico, we had a really fun and relaxing afternoon kayaking with Alex. Alex was also able to help us when our transportation fell through last minute which was invaluable. My favorite day was our tour around Lake Atitlan. Edgar is really knowledgeable and was able to answer all of our questions. He showed us the beautiful town of San Juan where we explored the women's textile co-op and did some shopping. Our last day, we took a cooking class at Guatemala Food where we made a yummy and traditional dish of Pepian with Fernando, Joaquin, Carolina, and her family. The class was a really great way to end our trip and the group was really funny.

I'm so happy we chose to use KimKim and were partnered with Old Town Outfitters to assist with our trip! Our trip to Guatemala wouldn't have been the same without them.