Christina Wang

I do not usually write reviews, but this is a truly-deserved exception! We had a fabulous trip to Norway, thanks to Christina. She arranged an unforgettable itinerary that included seamless travel, fabulous hotels, and private guided tours of Bergen and Oslo. One of our best memories was the floating fjord in Flam. We also want to give a shout-out to our two guides - John and Stig (Bergen and Oslo) - who provided awesome tours of their cities. They gave us a much better understanding of Norwegian history, culture, and people than if we had done the research ourselves. I have already recommended KimKim to two friends, one of whom is hoping to travel to Norway next year. My husband and I definitely plan to go back and spend some more time in this beautiful country.

The trip was just ok. The hike at Besseggen was a disaster because Christina failed to mention the necessary ferry. She only offered a guide (which you totally do not need and was $800, just needed info on the ferry - trust me you don’t need a guide, just the knowledge to catch the ferry). This ruined several days of our trip and almost ended up with physical harm. When questioned the next day I was told only by Christina had she mentioned it (when, I have no idea). But it was not anywhere in the final itinerary. Riddergarten was a lame town with little food choices. Like really bad food choices. Bestebakken in Hafslo was nice but definitely didn’t need 3 nights there. 2 would have been sufficient. Food here was quite good and we liked this place a lot. Loften Ullensvang had good bike ride but absolutely nothing to do second day. Did not need 3 nights here. 2 nights would have been more than enough. The food here was horrendous. Literally only the (very) overpriced mediocre hotel buffet or a pizza shop. I had wanted to go to Bergen and Lofoten but was told Bergen was boring and not enough time to go to Lofoten. I’m used to planning my own trips but ran out of time. I’m sworn off travel agents. I was not impressed with the final itinerary.

Hotel Reviews

Hotel Ullensvang

Lofthus Hardanger

Food was very expensive (about $60 per person without drinks for a mediocre buffet), and only other open restaurant was a pizza shop. We ate here two nights but kind of sad to have to do that on vacation

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Hotell Bondeheimen

Oslo

Authenticity & Character

Location

Noisy at night with bar across the street open very late otherwise this hotel was fine

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Bestebakken

Hafslo

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Riddergården

Beitostølen

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Reviews

Kayaking Adventure in Gudvangen

Gudvangen

Basic kayaking trip, was nice but spent most of the trip just sitting there waiting for 2 people who couldn’t keep up with the other 10 people in the group. Not that the rest of the group was fast.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Tailor-Made Activity on Lustrafjorden

Hafslo

E-bike ride was very nice

Quality of Experience

Every aspect from planning to the trip itself was incredible! Our trip planner, Christina, asked questions and got to know our family and what was important to us before planning. She then prepared an initial plan and asked for comments. She worked with us to meet our price point and then made many revisions and offered advice throughout the whole planning period. She planned so perfectly that our trip went amazingly smooth. It was such a nice convenience to have all of the accommodations and transportation booked in advance, and Christina put a lot of thought into our accommodations and their proximity to our modes of transportation, making our travel very easy. This trip was done solely on planes, trains, ferries, buses and a couple taxis. The tours she booked for us allowed us to see everything we wanted. Everyone from our tour guides to taxi drivers were so nice, accommodating and very knowledgeable. Our itinerary included Oslo, Aurland, Bergin, Alesund, Andalsnes and Trondheim as the main hubs, with cruises on the UNESCO fjords, trips on the Flam and Rauma railroads, and private tours to other destinations with many waterfall stops along the way. Although it was all wonderful, one highlight was the gondola ride in Andalsnes and dinner at Eggen restaurant at the top. Norway is a very beautiful country with diverse areas, awesome hikes, excellent art installations, living history museums, excellent restaurants, wonderful fjords and really nice people. We are very thankful to Christina for making this trip so amazing, comfortable and perfect for our family. We highly recommend using Christina and KimKim as a trip planner.

This was our first trip planned with Kimkim. I was a bit hesitant at first, but I am so glad we had them help us! Christina was very knowledgeable and listened to what we were looking for and made recommendations based on this - it felt personalized. We customized our week and ended up spending more time in Balestrand (highly recommend if it's not raining) rather than Bergen in order to enjoy more hiking. All of the hotels were exactly or better than expected. The detailed itinerary included tickets, and when we weren't able to open them during our trip, Christina very quickly sent us the PDF attachments. 10/10 recommend and will use Kimkim for future travel.

Activity Review

Explore Oslo's Hidden Gems with a Local Expert

Oslo

Stig was so fun! We found that we had a lot of interests in common, so it was really great to hear his insights on food, music and architecture, along with all the historical aspects of Oslo that we wouldn't have known just from reading and walking by ourselves.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

It was so nice to have hotels and experiences booked before our travel.
Everything went smoothly. When there was a glitch in our schedule Christina was very helpful in finding a solution. She had great suggestions for additional sightseeing and activities.
Would definitely use KimKim travel again!

Hotel Review

Kviknes Hotel

Balestrand

Beautiful hotel! Close to the ferry. Loved that breakfast and dinner were included!

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Review

Scenic Boat Trip to Fjærland

Norway

Loved our guide Tor! Geared trip to 4 year old. Made it so fun for her!

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Our guide Christina was amazing! She made sure we knew what to do every step of the way and answered all of our questions in a timely fashion. We loved our hotels that were chosen, and all of our modes of travel. This was definitely a trip we will talk about for the rest of our lives. We have recommended KimKim to our friends and family, and shared which hotels we stayed in. We are looking into planning another trip in 2025 with KimKim.

Hotel Reviews

Bergen Børs Hotel

Bergen

The Bergen Bors Hotel was the old Bergen Stock Exchange. It has been tastefully updated, and the restaurant has kept some of the exchange's charm. The hotel also has beautiful murals depicting the way of life in Bergen.

Authenticity & Character

It was the old stock exchange and lots of history

Location

Right off the main port, quick walking access to everything

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Flåmsbrygga Hotel

Flåm

It's a very cute lodge-style hotel. Right on the edge of the fjord, a quick walk to the tourist shopping area and the boat in the morning. The Viking brewery that is owned by the same as the hotel was quite the experience and felt authentic

Authenticity & Character

Old world lodge style, but updated; looks like a Viking lodge on the outside

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Amerikalinjen

Oslo

What an amazing hotel that is historically significant yet very refined. Its location is convenient to the train station, mall, and basically anything else in Oslo. We literally only walked around Oslo and the Amerikalinjen was the perfect base camp.

Authenticity & Character

One of the oldest in the city, yet perfectly restored and updated.

Location

Centrally located

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

The showers were amazing

Activity Review

Viking Dinner at Ægir BryggeriPub

Norway

We did the Viking tasting dinner, and brews. It was very interesting food and it tasted good. However, our favorite was the focaccia bread and the mashed potatoes; we liked them so much that we got a larger portion for dessert than we had on our tasting meal. Would definitely eat here again and order off the full menu.

Quality of Experience

Food

The hot dogs in Bergen were my favorite!

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Great service and a brilliant holiday. It was self guided but useful to have Christina and the team on hand to clarify any doubts during the trip. Highlights were dog sledding in Røros, being in Bergen and Flåm, but all of it worked well for me and my family (7 and 8yo daughters).