Anyone been on a Contiki Tour??? (1 Viewer)

cla

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i want to go on a Contiki Tour, but im unsure whether its the right thing for me.
Can anyone whos been on one. let me know whats its like.
I've heard its all drinking, is it really?
do you still see places, or is it just a big beer-a-thon.
thanks heaps
 

Raiks

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Yeah, there is a lot of drinking on tour, and you see the majority of the major attractions plus some of the small 'hidden' places which every tour manages to see... but don't get me wrong, it's a great thing to do if you've never travelled before and great to experience a safe journey with sociable people.

Don't just look at Contiki, look at other providers such as Intrepid, I did South America with them and it was brilliant because it's smaller groups which makes the tour a lot more personalised as you can decide with your guide about what you want to do.
 

otay

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I highly recommend it. You do get to see all the sites at ur own discresion usually. There is an awesome guy to girl ratio (like 3 chicks per dude it's a rootfest) and there's lots and lots of partyin. I recommend afterwards goin to the greek islands and island hopping, which can be just as crazy. If u go with a few mates, it'll be better than schoolies and schoolies was awesome(go in europe's summer tho). But like Raiks said, check out sum other companies too coz i know lots of mates livin in england that do this stuff alot and many have said the other companies are excellent also.
 

beccabum

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i did a contiki tour in july this year - "european vista" - for 21 days in france, italy, austria, switzerland, germany and the netherlands. contiki has a few types of tours, camping, hotels or hostels. it is expensive when you add on everything like lunches, extra sightseeing, beer money.. but it is soooooo worth it!!!

For the party aspect, it is what you make it. If you want to go drinking every night, there will always be people to go with. But if you don't want to, nobody forces you. eventually you get tired so you need to take a few nights off. i think i went out late for about half the time, for just one or two for a few nights and didn't go out about 5 times. its up to your stamina, i guess.

yes, you do heaps of sightseeing. by the end i thought if i saw another church i would be sick! but mostly it is just the highlights of whereever you are. but you also spend a lot of time travelling. you just have to pack it in to get the most out of where you are. like we only had a night and morning in florence, by far my favourite city. i went back there after contiki by myself and saw so much more than what contiki could have shown.

you can tell there is a well worn contiki path - they always go to the same shops where the same bored person dressed in national costume will tell you how they make something from that country. then you will be pushed into a gift shop where you can buy it for double everywhere else.

but definately go on optional excursion and dinners..... good times!

there were 46 in my group. if you go with another company they probably won't have as many. the gender mix was even, i suppose it depends on who books when. i made lots of friends from contiki, but i only keep in touch with 3 now.

other companies that do similar things in europe are budget expeditions, topdeck, intrepid and haggis/shamrocker for uk/ireland only.

hope this helps. :)
 

gerhard

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like everything it has pros and cons.

generally contiki tours arent that different from other tours. it just depends on whether yuor interested in a tour or in doing it yourself.

a very general remark would be that doing it yourself is much harder/challenging but also possibly more rewarding.
 

Scantily_fox6

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Got back last week. It was awesome. Ive got about 600 pics. Paris, Rome and Ireland were easily the best locations.
We got lost countless times, but soon enough you learn how to deal with the locals in this instance. Nothing prepared us for the swedish cold.
 

MiuMiu

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yep you have to be between 18-35

Im going on one soon I'll let you know how it goes!
 

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