Thomson Treks

When choosing a company to climb Kilimanjaro, we kept the following questions in mind:

Which route did we want to do
How many days we had for trekking

Some thoughts about the other routes (there are 6 total) and the ones below are ones we considered doing:

Machame: This can be done in 6-7 days. But the most crowded of all trails.
Lemosho: If we were to do a 7 day, we would pick this one. It is less tress traveled than Machame and affords great views.
The Western Approach: It is scenic but a much longer route (8+ days).

Finally, we had to narrow down which companies to choose. The following became our most important priorities:

Which company offered our chosen route, Umbwe
Which company was the most ethical and treated/payed their guides and porters well
Which company had reputable guides that were properly trained and had reliable equipment on the mountain

Ultimately, we narrowed it down to the following three companies:

Thomson Treks (which we chose and highly recommend!!) They started the Porter Assistance Project to ensure porters are treated and payed fairly and transparently. In fact a few of our guides used to work for the other more reputable companies and felt this one treated them the best. They also provided client reference list if we had questions about their experience. They were well-organized, provided pack list, recommendation for training, and was overall a top notch service.
Serengeti Pride (the only reason we didn't go with this company was because Umbwe would have been a private trek and they didn't seem confident in getting us up this route since it was not the routine one they offer). But this was our second choice and definitely cheaper than the other options we were considering.
Tusker. This company only offered Umbwe as a 7 day itinerary and their departure didn't fit our schedule.

How much does trekking cost? Well, you get what you pay for and companies are graded based on the quality of the company:

Superior ($4000-5000 + per person)
Moderate to superior ($2500-$4000)
Average ($2000-$3000)
Below average ($1500-2000)

Ultimately, we were very happy with our Thomson Treks. From booking our trip, getting trip insurance, training advice, organized welcome package with journals, tips on tipping, etc. Our tents, sleeping bags and inflatable mattress pads were all great quality. The food was so great. John is gluten free, dairy free and no red meat or pork and they were able to accomodate his dietery restrictions. They had warm water every morning and night and warm water to wash our hands before each meal. We had a standup tent so we never had to use the public bathrooms. And most of all, our guides were all amazing.

Some other things and costs to think about when planning a trip to Kili:

Our international flights cost $2650. We connected in Amsterdam and flew into Arusha. We flew out of Dar el Salaam because we were returning from Zanzibar.
Other cost to think about is tips. We generally add 10-20% of the cost of the trip.. so for the hike, we made sure we added $1000 to be divided between porters and guides.
You're gonna want to give more if you can. Think about what gear you may want to leave behind. It's nice to think that your gear has a home that appreciates it.
We had to send in our passport to the Tanzania embassy in the US (I think located in Chicago) to get our visas. So definitely plan for this in advance (with plenty of time to get it back).
What time of the year you want to go. We went in July and had great weather. It did not rain on us but we have had friends who did the same hike and they had a couple of days of rain and it sounded miserable.
Gear... What did we pack? Maybe a separate blog post on this. Or email us and we will send you our packing list!
Training... we are pretty active here in Colorado and live at elevation. We snowboarded all winter at elevation. We also did 2-3 fourteeners right prior to going and I also did 100 flight of stairs 2-3 times a week, just in case.