Kimkim Trip Reviews for Sri Lanka

We are particularly grateful to our guide, Aruna, for his professionalism and his kindness. By leading us on this journey, he helped us discover a magnificent and endearing country, making this experience a memorable one. A perfectly organized and easy stay with unique hotels.
Our best visits/activities: Dambulla cave temples. treks in nature, breathtaking landscapes, flying Ravana, cooking a curry in a village garden, train journey between Kandy and Ella, elephant orphanage, crossing paths with wild elephants in different places.

Hotel Reviews

Jetwing Lake

Dambulla

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Kandyan Manor Homestay

Kandy

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Hide Ella

Ella

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Ginganga Lodge

Bope

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Centara Ras Fushi

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Review

Explore the Dambulla Cave Temples

Sri Lanka

Dhanushka and the Koon Holiday team created a great personalised experience for our holiday in Sri Lanka.

The initial consultation on what we wanted identified the type of experience we were after. Nothing was too much to ask.

Our local guide and driver, Kapıla Kaluarachichi was a great travel companion, in addition to being a great local guide, and provided great cultural and historical background for all of the sites visited.

Special mention goes to Mr Goonie in Polonnaruwa for his second to none knowledge of the local archeological sites and to Mr Jimmy Heyn, the manager at Sambar Hills resort in Nuwara Eliya for his attention to detail and his personalised service.

We would definitely use KimKim again.

Activity Reviews

Enjoy a Refreshing Snack at a Roadside Food Stall

Sri Lanka

A nice introduction to the roadside stalls, which are the heartbeat of the local economy..

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Explore the Dambulla Cave Temple Complex

Sri Lanka

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Discover Ancient Polonnaruwa

Sri Lanka

The guide selected by Koon Holidays and KimKim was a retired archeologist from the area whose knowledge was first rate.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Being an archaeologist

Transport

Elephant Safari in Minneriya National Park

Sri Lanka

Seeing these great beasts in the wild was amazing.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Ancient Sites of Anuradhapura

Sri Lanka

The history behind what are some of the most sacred sites in Sri Lanka was very illuminating.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Visit Sigiriya Rock Fortress

Sri Lanka

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Visit ancient Trincomalee fort (Fort Fredrick)

Trincomalee

Go to the fort at about 4:00 pm in the afternoon. This will allow you plenty of time to wander through the fort and arrive at the Hindu temple for the afternoon ceremony.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Temples & Beaches in Trincomalee

Trincomalee

A great area to relax or go scuba diving

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Discover Kandy: Temple of the Sacred Tooth visit

Kandy

One the best and most important temples in Sri Lanka and definitely a must do.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Discover Three temples loop in Kandy

Kandy

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Need to go via private car. Some place a bus cannot get to.

Visit Spice gardens, wood carving centers & gem museums in Kandy

Kandy

A really amazing guide at the spice gardens, Gem centre and Batik crafts. These people are passionate about what they do.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Explore Nuwara Eliya

Sri Lanka

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Galle Dutch Fort Visit

Sri Lanka

A great place to simply have a wander and marvel at the historical architecture.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Explore Lively Colombo

Sri Lanka

Some great sites combining the original culture and modern day architecture.

Quality of Experience

The museums, temples , Lotus Tower the food and markets.

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

My wife and I spent a wonderful six days on tour across Sri Lanka with Dami (Daminda Bandara). I think we drove a little under 700 miles. Everything went very well: we saw lots of magical sites, ate delicious food, and engaged in exciting activities. The tour was very well planned.

Dami was a fantastic tour guide and driver. He is outgoing and friendly, and a very enjoyable travel companion. A proud Sri Lankan, Dami provided us a good history of his native country and of the various sites we visited including Sigiriya Rock, various temples, and a game drive. He is also an expert on native birds and could identify even the smallest birds from a distance. Impressive!

Throughout our tour Dami was an attentive guide and a good listener. On his advice we switched things up on the tour agenda so that we could climb Sigiriya in the cooler morning rather than the heat of the day. Dami learned we liked various foods, e.g., beetroot and chocolate, and he made sure we got to try some Sri Lankan beetroot curry and chocolate. Dami also pulled over on our drive to show us various sites and locals at work. For example, we stopped to see how coconut oil is made.

During our climb and descent of Sigiriya Rock Dami was very helpful to my wife who was leery of the uneven and gravel-covered steps.

Dami ensured we were well fed with high-quality food throughout the trip. All the lunch sites at which we stopped were delicious. One lunch might well be the best meal we will have had this year, at the Old Palm House in Galle.

Importantly, Dami is a careful driver and ensured that we were safe throughout the trip.

Overall, we give Dami the highest rating and would whole heartedly recommend him to others as a top-notch tour guide.

My 3-weeks trip in Sri Lanka was very well designed by Dhanushka. It was highly comprehensive, full nature excursions and cultural activities that gave me a strong understanding of Sri Lanka’s rich history and appreciation for its diverse natural resources. Some of my favorite activities included the elephant safaris, Sigyria, village tours in Dambulla, tea plantation visits in Nuwara Eliya and hikes and waterfalls in Ella. My driver and guide Malinda was also extremely helpful with coming up with optional activities that met my interests and needs. Having a private driver and guide gave me a lot of flexibility and personalized attention and care as a single traveler. Every day of my trip was filled with wonderful surprises of new things to learn and enjoy about Sri Lanka. I loved my trip so much that I hope to come back again and explore parts I haven’t seen with Koon Holidays / Kim Kim.

Activity Review

Explore Nuwara Eliya

Sri Lanka

This region is less mentioned by other tourists from itineraries I have seen online so I am really glad Dhanushka included in my itinerary. The natural beauty of this place is breathtaking with rolling hills of lush tea plantations, majestic mountains and lakes, and peaceful village life. I loved my tea plantation visits, learning the tea picking and making process, sampling a variety of tea and having high tea at Grand Hotel. Gregory Park area is absolutely gorgeous and the Horton Plains hike was amazing!

Quality of Experience

Well designed itinerary with special consideration of my interests and needs.

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Wonderful driver and guide that provided knowledgeable information about places visited and offered optional activities based on my interests.

Transport

Always on time, professionalism and flexibility.

Our Guide was very good but his English was difficult to understand.
I asked for an SUV but we didn't get one. The car we had needs servicing. No suspension.
The distance between accommodations on some days was far to long. the last day we were 3.5 hours away from the airport for a morning departure. I changed the plan and paid extra.
Accommodation on the whole was good except the first night. The hotel was terrible and well below luxury. I had to ask for a change. This was the first impression we had of Sri Lanka and it was not very good.
Wild Grass accommodation was not good and again way off the main track of places we were visiting

Activity Reviews

Arrive in Negombo

Negombo

The Hotel we were booked into was terrible and I had to ask for a change which we got. It left a very bad first impression.

Quality of Experience

Accommodation and better managed itinerary

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Improved English speaking

Transport

Check the car before travel. Our car had bald tyres and no suspension. It was not an SUV which I had booked

Enjoy a Refreshing Snack at a Roadside Food Stall

Sri Lanka

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Explore the Dambulla Cave Temple Complex

Sri Lanka

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Visit Sigiriya Rock Fortress

Sri Lanka

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Explore the Rock Temple of Pidurangala

Sri Lanka

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Elephant Safari in Minneriya National Park

Sri Lanka

We got to see elephants in the wild

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Discover Kandy: Temple of the Sacred Tooth visit

Kandy

Did not do this as we were very tired from so much driving

Visit Lipton's Seat & Tea Estate

Sri Lanka

Did not do this as again there was too much on the itinerary. In stead our driver added a visit to a tea plantation and factory on the way to our final destination. This was excellent as no crowds

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Discover Ella

Sri Lanka

Nothing here except busy town in the hills

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Hike to Diyaluma Waterfall

Sri Lanka

Very ordinary and not worth the walk. Again too crowded at the place picked for lunch

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Sinharaja rain forest, The biodiversity hot spot in Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka

enjoyed the walk in the Rainforest

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Galle Dutch Fort Visit

Sri Lanka

Poor experience. Drove around only.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Free Day at the Beach

Sri Lanka

We were glad of a free day ( there should have been more in the itinerary ) However the day was filled with a drive for 3.5 hours to a hotel closer to Colombo Airport for early morning departure. We paid extra for this but were so glad we did it

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

My wife and I had a great time on the 13-day trip Rozanne and team organized for us. Sri Lanka is a beautiful country and every day had something new to see and experience. Thoroughly enjoyed the wide variety of activities, visiting temples, historical sites, safaris, village tours, fantastic views, cultural and craft demonstrations, etc. Accommodations were all top notch and our guide Roshan was excellent, very knowledgeable about all the places we visited, came up with good ideas to enhance our itinerary, introduced us to local foods on drives, rearranged daily itineraries to optimize time usage, and was a wonderful travel companion. Highly recommended!

A trip to remember covering all the highlights of culture and natural beauty Sri Lanka has to offer . We managed to cram two weeks worth of sightseeing into 10 days with the help of Rozannes planning and our wonderful driver Aruna . There was plenty to do and see for an active group of four with plenty of time for relaxation in between . Our preferences and requests were taken into consideration and the trip ran smoothly so all were satisfied.

An unforgettable trip!

Justyna and her team put together a fabulous trip that met all of our needs and wants. Our tour guide was the greatest guide bar none. He was not only incredibly knowledgable about a range of topics (culture, agriculture, history, etc.) but very personable and went above and beyond to "make all our dreams come true" while in Sri Lanka. All of our accommodations were stunning and incredibly hospitable. As someone with a gluten allergy I felt very well taken care (the guide would talk with the hotel staff upon arrival to communicate this on my behalf to ensure there was nothing lost in translation).

We could not have planned a trip such as this on our own and are very thankful to have found KimKim and to be connected with Justyna and team!

We have an absolutely incredible adventure!!! Suranga was an amazing driver and guide. I am a single mom and traveled from the US to Sri Lanka with my 4 year old daughter. I felt completely safe traveling with Suranga which was the most important to me, but besides that he was friendly, fun, knowledgeable and passionate about what he does!! Highly recommend!!
Kim Kim set is up with an incredible guide and I’m very thankful for that. As a mom with a young daughter I felt the itinerary was a bit ambitious on some days, but other than that it was wonderful!

Hotel Reviews

Kumbukgaha Villa

Sigiriya

Very nice place. I much appreciated our guide telling us to expect lizards in the room, because there were a couple!:) Good was good and the staff was friendly.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Taru Villas Kandy

Kandy

Beautiful and clean hotel, maybe not the most kid friendly, so just to be mindful if you are traveling with young children.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Mountain Heavens

Ella

Incredible views and friendly staff!

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Lankavatara Ocean Retreat

Kalametiya

Loved this beach side hotel!! Right on the beach!! Fun, great food and restaurant and wonderful spa!! Even my young daughter got a 20 minute massage which was a fun experience for her!!

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Koragaha Lodge

Tissamaharama

Location was amazing. Elephants on property two nights in a row but not a disturbance to guests. Food was really great and staff incredibly friendly!

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Reviews

Tour a Tea Plantation & Factory

Sri Lanka

The tea factory was great!! It was just a little long for a 4 year old when doing all other activities that day!

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Afternoon Safari at Minneriya National Park (F)

Sri Lanka

So many elephants!!!!

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Explore the Ancient City of Polonnaruwa

Sri Lanka

Beautiful history that came to life here!!

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Suranga has a ton of knowledge on the history and passionate about sharing it!

Transport

Village Tour at Hiriwadunna (F)

Sri Lanka

Wonderful village tour!! The people were incredible, friendly, hospitable, kind and overall just wonderful!

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Afternoon Safari at Yala National Park

Sri Lanka

Wonderful Safari!! There is so much diversity in this National Park!! Fun and exciting!!

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Visit Sea Turtle Hatchery

Sri Lanka

Phenomenal!!! Once in a lifetime activity, not incredibly thankful our guide Suranga was willing to carry my daughter!!! It was late at night and my daughter was too tired to walk the distances this activity required and Suranga carried her so we could witness a sea turtle laying eggs! Incredible!

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Leisure Day!

Sri Lanka

Absolutely beautiful beaches!!!!!

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

When choosing someone you don’t know personally there is always a danger. Will they do the planning correctly will the person be there to pick us up will the hotels and trips be booked. We changed our minds many times and Dhanuska was also very accommodating and fast to respond to our requests.

As promised our driver Malinda was waiting for us at 11:30pm to pick us up and drive us for 3 hours to our first hotel.

Everything that we had been promised was delivered. The food was amazing the hotels great and our driver Malinda just a joy. He drove us with care and professionalism and knew his country so well.

Would I recommend Dhanushka to anyone else. In a heart beat. During the tour we had messages from him as well as phone calls. He exuded professionalism.

We had such a wonderful time that we are already planning when we might go to Sri Lanka again and we will definitely use Dhanushka to plan our itinerary and request Malinda as our driver.

A big thank you to kimkim site for bringing together professional travel agents. I will certainly use the site again when travelling to any country in the world.

Activity Reviews

Visit Sigiriya Rock Fortress

Sri Lanka

We enjoyed the experience make sure you take a guide and a guided assistant it will be very helpful. This climb is not for the faint here but it gives the most amazing views during the climb and when you reach the top. Make sure you include a trip to the elephant national park

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Helped us climb and were very knowledgeable about the site.

Transport

We booked our own driver who was amazing

Explore Nuwara Eliya

Sri Lanka

Unfortunately the weather conspired against us on the day but it was still a wonderful hike even though the last 1km was really hard work.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Tour a Sri Lankan Tea Plantation

Sri Lanka

We were taken to a small plantation and factory. It was fascinating and we got to try about 15 different types of tea. We also purchased a lot of great quality tea.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

We made many changes to our planning but Danushka accommodated and was flexible with our planning and gave us good advise on whether what we were wanted was a good idea or not. He coordinated our trip. Malinda was our driver and guide during our whole trip in Sri Langka. He gave us good information about the places we were visiting. He is a good driver and very flexible with our plans. Thank you Malinda for making our trip very memorable. He made sure we were safe and always taken care of.

Activity Reviews

Tour a Sri Lankan Tea Plantation

Sri Lanka

Our driver took us to a smaller tea factory. They gave us a private tour of the factory and the machines were incredible. There was so much history to the factory. They let us try the whole range of teas. We bought a whole lot of teas to for ourselves and as gifts for friends. Loved the experience!

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Our driver was safe and drove very well.

Explore Nuwara Eliya

Sri Lanka

The scenery is beautiful. The weather really cool! Horton Plains are only for the people who are fit. It is a long hike and one part needs quite a lot of stamina.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Help for the older folks to walk up the stairs.

Transport

Driver could explain the history before you get there.

Visit Sigiriya Rock Fortress

Sri Lanka

A very historic and beautiful site. However, you need to climb loads of steps. There are guides to help you and it is always advisable to have a guide. Take the help. Pay a little tip to the helpers who are working there and they can help you climb the steps. Especially for older folks. Worth the climb but hard work.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Guide Aruna was outstanding went out of his way a couple of the hotels were a bit iffy while a couple were absolutely delightful so a bit hit and miss there

Fabulous trip to Sri Lanka!

Dhanushka worked with us to design an ideal trip and listened carefully to our preferences regarding hotels, meals, and specific sites we wished to visit. Kapila, our driver, was very careful and attentive and was a great source of information about the country and the sites. The country offers so much to see and exceeds our expectations. Thanks to all the people of Sri Lanka who were so friendly and welcoming!

Activity Reviews

Visit Kalaniya ancient Royal Buddhist temple

Colombo

Morning visit was very beautiful!

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Explore the Dambulla Cave Temple Complex

Sri Lanka

The cave temples were stunning!

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Ancient Sites of Anuradhapura

Sri Lanka

The complex at Anuradhapura is so interesting and the whole part is very well maintained.

Dhanushka helped us plan the perfect trip and was there for us every step of the way. Our local guide Nishada (Koon Holidays) was absolutely amazing as well. I will 100% use both again when I return!

Sri Lanka is a fantastic holiday destination…. E we saw so much wildlife (elephants, leopard, blue whale, sea turtle, sloth bear, etc), the food was delicious and the people so nice. I recommend this trip to anyone!

We had an absolutely incredible time in Sri Lanka! The hotels that Dhanushka suggested were really lovely, and we had some super memorable experiences including whale watching, staying in a tree house accomodation, staying in a beehive-like accomodation and picking our own tea! Dhanushka was always extremely quick to respond and answered all of our questions. Our guide and driver Mahendra was really helpful and accommodating—considering how much time you spend with the guide it’s really important to get someone great and we definitely did! Would definitely recommend booking this trip. There is so much incredible nature to see in Sri Lanka, with so much diversity! Coming from the United States, it was a bit of an adjustment that planning and time are viewed a bit differently (ie very common for trains to be late, certain smaller aspects of the trip are planned on the go rather than in advance) so for a western traveler it’s important to have a bit of a flexible mindset..but the experiences you will get in return are all very worth it!

I want to thank Dhanushka from KimKim for putting together a very memorable trip to Sri Lanka. My brother and I were looking for an opportunity to experience the culture, history, cuisine and people of Sri Lanka. The itinerary gave us the great opportunities to explore historical cultural sites, experience some exciting local activities and interact with local Sri Lankans. In addition, we explored the natural biotas of their mountains, National parks and ocean beaches. They gave us a very personalized itinerary and with our personal driver, Athula, extended that to accommodate my personal desires to bike Sri Lanka. He continuously gave us surprise interactions of little things that were truly Sri Lanka. I highly recommend their services. John (1/2024).

First and foremost, we are a returning kimkim customers, done about 3-5 trips with them. The local specialist delivered a terrible experience after paying a large amount of 1000's of dollars for this trip. This agency cant seem to retain employees as they seem to leave quick. The local specialist who built our tour itinerary left the company leaving it a rookie, who consistently kept on debating that it is all our fault (customer). We also felt, none of this local tour specialists themselves ever toured/traveled within Sri Lanka, thereby creating a paper itinerary with no actual experience of visiting the locations they are proposing nor seem to understand how long it takes to go from one location to another. This led us to change in itinerary in the last minute as the proposed paper itinerary led to situation where we would not have had the opportunity to see and experience the location they proposed we would spend 2 hours. Also they committed to delivering a 4 star hotels for the payment made, to a surprise we ended booking us at 3 star experience at a tented camp. This tented camp calls itself resort and spa, actually there is no spa. Kimkim operator suggested I schedule it with neighboring hotel for the spa experience. They absolutely have no clue what they are proposing, so beware what ever itinerary they propose to examine it multiple times, read the fine print. They also ended up booking a train journey on a 3rd class compartment after paying large sums of dollars. We strongly feel like bait and switch scheme here. All we received was a sympathy call from a kimkim customer service as our 2 voicemail left to our kimkim contact went not answered to return the call. We cannot believe kimkim has this kind of poor performing local tour operators. Another learning experience is just because we pay what they ask expecting them to deliver a stellar experience is not true. In summary both kimkim & the local operator delivered a 1 star experience. Only saving grace and shining star is the driver - Pathum, who went way beyond to make us happy. Rest of the staff, no care attitude and cannot be trusted.

Hotel Reviews

98 Acres Resort & Spa

Ella

Very commercial and business attitude to customers.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Santani Wellness Resort & Spa

Kandy

Best place to stay, excellent experience, staff went beyond to make customer happy.

Authenticity & Character

experience,

Location

Serene, quiet, zen

Staff

Went beyond

Cleanliness & Comfort

Flameback Eco Lodge

Weerawila

Authenticity & Character

Flexibility, accomodative

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Review

Nuwara Eliya to Ella train ride

Sri Lanka

Terrible experience, beware of the tour operator, they will book you into a 3rd class compartment after taking large sum of money.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Dhanushka has been a really great support and help to plan our perfect trip in Sri Lanka. He listened to our request and always made changes according to our new wishes. Communication with him was simple and he always replied really fast.
Our local guide in Sri Lanka, Mahee, was amazing! Always smiling, giving us good explanations and listening to our questions and queries. We loved our trip and we definelty recommend working with KimKim. We'll for sure use their services again in the future.

Amazed throughout the tour on how rich the country's history is. Tour was very lovely and worry free.

The trip was great and a wonderful way to see some of the country. Our driver, loxley, was great. Incredibly knowledgeable and nice!
The leopards nest was a great experience - we were the only ones in the resort so we had a private experience!
Next stop was Mahoora Tented Safari - for those needing AC, it was a little warm in the tents but the staff at the camp were absolutely wonderful! And the food was incredibly good.

Thank you again!