Contiki tour?

[Jbo]

Hey CP,

Looking at doing some travel. I do not have a ton of experience with seeing the world though. After talking to a few people, a Contiki tour has been suggested. People see to be pretty polarized with it either being great or meh.

Just curious if anyone has taken a tour with them, and what your experience was like. I am looking at both Europe or Aussie.

[FlameOn]

I've taken a tour with a Contiki competitor, topdeck I think it was. They were pretty decent experience and price wise. But this was 4 years ago when I went.

I went to Europe for a three week tour back then. Tours were run by Aussies and we got bussed pretty much everywhere, we got to cut lines on most the major tourist destinations as well.

[Fobulous]

i have never been on a contiki tour, but it sounds like a great way to travel if you are looking to do the following:

1. party
2. get a quick tour of all the major sites
3. party

with that being said, i have never heard any negative comments from people that have come back from a contiki tour so i imagine it is a great time.

-fob.

[nomad]

Take a look at Gap Adventures. Excellent trip itineraries. Likely less of a party scene though.

[Jbo]

Thanks for all the input so far!

[FlameOn]

Originally Posted by Fobulous

with that being said, i have never heard any negative comments from people that have come back from a contiki tour so i imagine it is a great time.

-fob.

I had one friend who complained that he didn't remember all that much from his Contiki Eurotrip cuz he was hung over the entire month.

[getbak]

I've done three: SW States, Europe, Australia.

I had a great time on all of them (obviously, or I wouldn't have done more than one).

The one I did in the States, I was young, wanted to take a trip somewhere, and wasn't sure if I'd be comfortable traveling alone, so that was my choice. Met a hot Aussie, had lots of fun.

Then, the European one, I again was traveling alone and didn't want to be lost somewhere in Germany knowing no one, so I figured it was a decent safety net.

Then, I chose them again in Australia because I priced out going to all the places I wanted to see separately, and the package price was a lot cheaper, all the places were pre-booked, and I didn't have to worry about driving on the wrong side of the road.


It's definitely a big-ass drunken party, but there were also people who didn't drink too much that seemed to enjoy themselves.


Because of the age group, there can be a lot of "high school" type drama between the boys and girls, which can be a bit annoying if you're older. I think you'll minimize that if you travel during the school year and do the "hotel" tours rather than the "camping" tours in Europe because you'll get a slightly older group who likely paid their own way rather than being on their parents' tab.

In Australia, they don't have the different levels of tours that they have in Europe, but they also generally stay in much nicer hotels in Australia than Europe. There were a couple of dodgy places in the Outback, but there wasn't a lot of choice there either.

In Europe, the hotels are either nice and far away from the main city, or crappy and close to the city...but I think that's probably typical of most hotels in Europe.


One good thing that they offer is if you're traveling solo, you can pay the "double occupancy" price and they'll pair you up with another solo traveler to share a room. In Australia, it's often 3 or 4 to a room, which is a little less comfortable. On my US tour, I got lucky and they had an odd number of guys, so I got a single room for the trip. I liked it so much, that I paid extra to have my own room in both Europe and Australia.

I think most of the solos who got paired up got along well, but there were a couple of people on my Euro trip who had problems not getting along with their room mates.

On the Aussie trip, because there were 3 or 4 to a room, a lot of them got put into small rooms with bunk beds. Because I paid extra, I usually had a Queen or King bed every night to myself (or, not to myself if it was a good night).


You definitely get into a rhythm on the trips...very little sleep in your room, but lots of sleep on the bus. Plenty of late nights drinking and dancing at the local clubs.

From my observation, the people who were solo travelers generally had a better time because you were able to break off into groups and find people who wanted to do whatever it was you wanted to do for the day. There were a few groups of girls traveling together and they seemed to have more tension because they weren't willing to go their separate ways, so if one member of the group wasn't having fun, none of them were.


There are a lot of Australians on the European tours, and a lot of Germans on the Australian tours, but everything is done in English, and most of the people on the trip can speak passable English (although, drunken Aussies can be hard to understand).

There were always a few Canadians on the trips I did, so you will meet people you have something in common with.

You also discover that the "ugly American" tourist stereotype is often very true.


If you're young and single and looking to hook-up, it shouldn't be a problem -- you don't even need to be particularly good looking. I believe my Euro trip had 6 or 7 couples by the end of it, and there were a few secret hook-ups that people didn't really know about too...and that was just among people on the trip.

[Jbo]

Awesome getbak..really helpful post! Thanks!

[Hemi-Cuda]

i never heard of Contiki before, but i think i may have to end up doing one of these trips. i've always wanted to do more traveling abroad but never had anyone to go with, and i'm not much of the solo backpacking type. these tours sound like exactly what i'm looking for

[Kipper3256]

Originally Posted by getbak

I've done three: SW States, Europe, Australia.

I had a great time on all of them (obviously, or I wouldn't have done more than one).

The one I did in the States, I was young, wanted to take a trip somewhere, and wasn't sure if I'd be comfortable traveling alone, so that was my choice. Met a hot Aussie, had lots of fun.

Then, the European one, I again was traveling alone and didn't want to be lost somewhere in Germany knowing no one, so I figured it was a decent safety net.

Then, I chose them again in Australia because I priced out going to all the places I wanted to see separately, and the package price was a lot cheaper, all the places were pre-booked, and I didn't have to worry about driving on the wrong side of the road.


It's definitely a big-ass drunken party, but there were also people who didn't drink too much that seemed to enjoy themselves.


Because of the age group, there can be a lot of "high school" type drama between the boys and girls, which can be a bit annoying if you're older. I think you'll minimize that if you travel during the school year and do the "hotel" tours rather than the "camping" tours in Europe because you'll get a slightly older group who likely paid their own way rather than being on their parents' tab.

In Australia, they don't have the different levels of tours that they have in Europe, but they also generally stay in much nicer hotels in Australia than Europe. There were a couple of dodgy places in the Outback, but there wasn't a lot of choice there either.

In Europe, the hotels are either nice and far away from the main city, or crappy and close to the city...but I think that's probably typical of most hotels in Europe.


One good thing that they offer is if you're traveling solo, you can pay the "double occupancy" price and they'll pair you up with another solo traveler to share a room. In Australia, it's often 3 or 4 to a room, which is a little less comfortable. On my US tour, I got lucky and they had an odd number of guys, so I got a single room for the trip. I liked it so much, that I paid extra to have my own room in both Europe and Australia.

I think most of the solos who got paired up got along well, but there were a couple of people on my Euro trip who had problems not getting along with their room mates.

On the Aussie trip, because there were 3 or 4 to a room, a lot of them got put into small rooms with bunk beds. Because I paid extra, I usually had a Queen or King bed every night to myself (or, not to myself if it was a good night).


You definitely get into a rhythm on the trips...very little sleep in your room, but lots of sleep on the bus. Plenty of late nights drinking and dancing at the local clubs.

From my observation, the people who were solo travelers generally had a better time because you were able to break off into groups and find people who wanted to do whatever it was you wanted to do for the day. There were a few groups of girls traveling together and they seemed to have more tension because they weren't willing to go their separate ways, so if one member of the group wasn't having fun, none of them were.


There are a lot of Australians on the European tours, and a lot of Germans on the Australian tours, but everything is done in English, and most of the people on the trip can speak passable English (although, drunken Aussies can be hard to understand).

There were always a few Canadians on the trips I did, so you will meet people you have something in common with.

You also discover that the "ugly American" tourist stereotype is often very true.


If you're young and single and looking to hook-up, it shouldn't be a problem -- you don't even need to be particularly good looking. I believe my Euro trip had 6 or 7 couples by the end of it, and there were a few secret hook-ups that people didn't really know about too...and that was just among people on the trip.

Couple of questions for you:

1. How long did you go for on each of the trips?
2. Is their any way to tell which of the trips will have more younger people / more partying?

[Jbo]

Originally Posted by Hemi-Cuda

i never heard of Contiki before, but i think i may have to end up doing one of these trips. i've always wanted to do more traveling abroad but never had anyone to go with, and i'm not much of the solo backpacking type. these tours sound like exactly what i'm looking for

Same scenario as me hedi

[Champion]

My wife and her sister did it. Said it was great.

[MelBridgeman]

It's a great way to get







somewhere

[MelBridgeman]

Originally Posted by fotze

I bet it was. giggity

nom nom nom nom

[THE SCUD]

Originally Posted by Champion

My wife and her sister did it. Said it was great.

These tours, in my experience, are basically a sex romp. Hopefully they went on the tour pre-you guys dating, or else you're likely putting on someone else's green.

[getbak]

Originally Posted by Hemi-Cuda

i never heard of Contiki before, but i think i may have to end up doing one of these trips. i've always wanted to do more traveling abroad but never had anyone to go with, and i'm not much of the solo backpacking type. these tours sound like exactly what i'm looking for

That pretty much sounds like me.

Originally Posted by Kipper3256

Couple of questions for you:

1. How long did you go for on each of the trips?
2. Is their any way to tell which of the trips will have more younger people / more partying?

The way their tours are structured in Europe and the rest of the world are different. In Europe, there's enough demand that each tour group is the same from beginning to end. In the other parts of the world, they basically have a general loop and the tours are packaged to join and leave that loop depending on what you want.

In Australia, they have one bus leave Sydney traveling north to Cairns, which takes about two weeks. Then, it turns around and goes back to Sydney. Then, they have another bus in the Outback, going from Alice Springs to Uluru, then all the way up to Darwin, which is about a week and a half.

I did the full tour from Sydney to Cairns, then flew to Alice Springs and did the tour down to Uluru and up to Darwin. I believe it was 24 nights in total.

However, there were a lot of people who just did the east coast trip and a lot who just did the Outback, plus there were a bunch of smaller trips that did things like Sydney to Surfer's Paradise or Whitsundays to Cairns. No matter which trip you do there, everyone is on the same bus.


In Europe, you do the full trip with the same group of people. The one I did was 10 cities in 19 nights, starting with one night in London (you can book additional nights before your tour), then 2 nights in every other city, which was good because you were only on the bus every other day.


Their whole thing is that they're tours for ages 18-35, so, your group is always pretty young. All the ones I did were mostly people in the 25-30 range, with a few on either side of that. They're all structured with a lot of nightlife, so the party aspect is something you would have to go out of your way to avoid.

[Yasa]

Originally Posted by THE SCUD

These tours, in my experience, are basically a sex romp. <rest of post irrelevent>

Sold.

[Jbo]

I like partying as much as anyone, but any recommendations for a tour that strikes a good balance? Ie Organized but still time to do your own thing? I don't really think I can keep up with a 3 week bender.

However, the prices and places visited are so tempting....

[getbak]

Originally Posted by J-bo09

I like partying as much as anyone, but any recommendations for a tour that strikes a good balance? Ie Organized but still time to do your own thing? I don't really think I can keep up with a 3 week bender.

However, the prices and places visited are so tempting....

I'd say Contiki strikes a good balance.

You can pretty much do whatever you want on the tour. The only thing they care about is if you're on the bus when it's time to leave. There are included and optional tours available in each city, but it's entirely up to you if you want to participate.

Also, while you can be drunk 24/7 if you want (and some people will be), you certainly don't need to be, nor will anyone care if you're not. I don't think anyone could go hard for the full three weeks without crashing, you have to balance the wild nights with some calmer ones.

One good thing about being on a tour with 35-50 people is that there will usually be someone who wants to spend the day doing what you want to do.

The only thing that might be a concern with regards to the constant party is if you get put in a room with someone who isn't on the same wavelength with you, but you'll usually be able to find someone you do sync with and they won't care if you end up switching room mates a couple days into the tour.


Another comment on the price: Keep in mind that while your hotel, transportation, and a good percentage of your meals are included in the price, there are still a lot of optional excursions and non-included meals to budget for. A few people on my trips didn't take these things into account, and they had to skip some things that everyone else was doing because they didn't have the money. It's better to budget to do every possible excursion and then decide not to, than it is to not budget and wish you had.

[username]

I went on one back in 07 with Trafalgar and it wasn't a party at all. The reason being is they have 3 seperate types of tours

- The young party tours
- The 25 - 40 year old group that's basically couples
- Retired tours

I did the tour through Italy and loved it. It was for my honey moon so we went with the 25 - 40 year group and it was great but definately not what you're looking for if you're looking to party and tour at the same time.