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  3. Rome, Sorrento, Florence, Venice and Milan

Italy First Timers
Italy | Sep 26 - Oct 12, 2026

Richard
Richard H.
Amalfi, SA, Italy | Reviewed on Oct 24, 2026

My wife and I decided to go to Italy as a "Big Trip." We found we were quickly overwhelmed by all the seemingly amazing places; we didn't want to do a bus tour, and we also didn't want our first time in Italy to be a cruise. Enter Kimkim: we were paired up with Melanie, and she was a fountain of information and extremely helpful. She worked with us through a number of different itinerary iterations; we even ended up revamping the trip because of some flight changes and date adjustments. She was always there to help. At booking, there were some additional pivots due to availability changes, and it worked out great.

The trip itself was overall amazing, 17 days total. We stayed in Sorrento, Florence, Venice, and Rome, and had numerous other tours to visit nearby attractions. We got to see everything we wanted to. Melanie and Agota were there every step of the way with daily reminders and check-ins over WhatsApp. We had trains and cars and boats on this trip, and it all worked out great.

The tour guides and drivers we had were great, happy to answer questions or talk about things in the area. The private food tours were one of the highlights, for certain. The small group tours were also intimate and educational. I wish I could remember all our guides' names.

If I had one tip for others, it's make sure you are specific with the tour outlines and your desires. We mistook a couple of tours as "small group" on the itinerary; turns out the "small group" was the two of us on a coach with 40+ others. The tours were done well, we just were expecting something different.

It's not just about when things are going well that matters, it's also how it's handled when they don't. The one hotel still had Agota's name on the reservation, and we had some confusion with driver pickup locations due to a hotel change. But it was all quickly rectified and didn't hold up our trip at all. A couple of tours were early starts, and the hotels couldn't supply the included breakfast, so we were issued compensation. One of the tours ended up being quite different than the agreed itinerary, and they quickly worked with us to find a happy resolution.

Any time we're considering complicated itineraries in a place where we don't know where to even begin, I would happily use Kimkim again.

Local specialist: Melanie Rapuano
Melanie
Melanie Rapuano
Local specialist in Italy | Replied on Oct 27, 2026
Hi Richard, thank you so much for your lovely and honest review. As you rightly say, when everything goes well those little extras are not required, but it's when there are hiccups along the way (we are humans dealing with humans after all) when we have to step up and make sure things get resolved in the quickest and best possible way. This is when the level of customer service and problem solving skills can make all the difference, so thank you so much for understanding. This is one of the... Read more

Hi Richard,

thank you so much for your lovely and honest review. As you rightly say, when everything goes well those little extras are not required, but it's when there are hiccups along the way (we are humans dealing with humans after all) when we have to step up and make sure things get resolved in the quickest and best possible way. This is when the level of customer service and problem solving skills can make all the difference, so thank you so much for understanding.

This is one of the main reasons why we suggest using whatsapp as well as the kimkim app; I'm always present in the concierge chats for back up to my colleagues and to make sure everything is running smoothly!

Regarding the ''small groups'' every supplier is different; we differentiate tours with semi private when there are max 8 guests in a group or small group meaning it is usually anything from 12 to usually 45/50 people max. We always try for the smallest possible groups but when the season is coming to an end and the smaller tours are not filled up like in the summer, they tend to merge them together to make a sligtly larger group. We have no way of knowing this until the very last minute. Sorry if this wasn't completely clear for some tours, but I'm so pleased you enjoyed everything we put together for you :)

Again thank you both for trusting me and the team with your special trip, we look forward to planning your next trip!

All the best for the festive season which is just around the corner and alla prossima!

Melanie, Agota and all the team at ItalyCharme and kimkim!

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