Comments on: Would You Contiki?

By: NomadicMatt

NomadicMatt — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 04:59:55 +0000

People do have fun on Contiki. We’re just saying there’s better tours. I would have recommended Gap Adventures for what you want but let us know how it goes with Contiki!

By: NomadicMatt

NomadicMatt — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 04:57:31 +0000

If you want to party and be shuffled from tourist site to tourist site, Contiki is perfect for you! If all you want is a safety net, there’s a million other better tour operators out there.

By: Nikki

Nikki — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 08:32:14 +0000

Hi all,

This has been interesting. I have never been abroad alone before – only on girly holidays to party towns. Therefore I have chosen Contiki as it offers a big safety blanket for people like myself.

Why not go somewhere where it is all organised for you? I don’t call myself a ‘traveller’ or ‘backpacker’ however i do want to see the world.

Am i right in thinking Contiki is perfect for this?

Thanks, Nikki

PS Lisa I am doing the Croatian tour too in June hopefully – maybe see you there!

By: Lisa

Lisa — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 14:59:16 +0000

These posts have got me a little bit scared as I have booked and paid for a Contiki Cruise of Croatia for June. I have travelled quite a bit before and have often done so on my own, which I admit has it’s benefits. The Croatia Cruise appealed to me as I have always wanted to see Croatia, don’t know much about it, and for once do not want to travel on my own. I like the idea of travelling with a bunch of young people from across the globe. I also don’t think I could have done it cheaper myself, especially since this particular trip is a cruise. I am looking forward to a combination of days lazing with a drink on the deck working on my tan, and days exploring the old towns and islands of Croatia. I hope to prove you all wrong and have an amazing time.

By: Fredo

Fredo — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 00:36:23 +0000

Your not forced to drink, it’s your choice. I’ve been on Contiki tours where people chose to do there own thing while the group continued with the itineary. You can choose to go to sleep early or see the area, wake up early on your own, just be there when it’s time to depart.
I did Vietnam with Contiki and had an amazing time. I highly recommend it! It’s very dificult to get around Vietnam, not to mention people are trying to scam you as soon as you get out of the Airport..no while your leaving the airport actually. I wish I would have done Cambodia and Laos.

Now i’m on my way to plan my next trip with contiki, I’m thinking Egypt. Yes it’s fun, and I’m traveling alone, I’m not ashamed to admit I enjoy the security of knowing my bags aren’t going be missing because I chose the wrong neighborhood or hotel because I was trying to save a few bucks. Yes chauffer me to my next desitnation while I laugh with new friends or take a nap, nice and relaxed, instead of getting ripped off by a cab driver, or getting lost on a bus or train. Part of traveling is not only knowing the history but enjoying your trip and meeting people along the way. For a initally shy person as myself Contiki is a homerun. I get the best of both worlds

By: rupal

rupal — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 00:17:15 +0000

I am glad I stumbled upon this page. I was almost set on booking a tour to Thailand, laos and cambodia with contiki. I had looked into GAP and Itrepid also but the dates and itinerary with Contiki fit my needs better. But I do not want to be stuck with people only interested in drinking and partying for 14 days. Will look into GAP and Intrepid more and try to book my trip with them. I love travelling and doing all my homework on my own and have travelled with a friend or two. Not confident yet to travel solo and wanted to start off with a tour comapany. Thanks Matt.

By: Rosanna

Rosanna — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 09:27:32 +0000

Hey Matt,
I agree with pretty much all of the above comments.
My boyfriend and I went on a 2 week Contiki tour of the East Coast of Australia a couple of months ago. I have to say we found the whole experience brilliant. We got to stay in lovely accomodation most of the time (mainly a resort called Daydream Island – incredible) That we could no way have afforded if we had been booknig all of our accomodation separately. We met some fantastic people – one of which, we are going to stay with, in Auckland, in a few weeks. Our tour guide was fantastic and knew the East Coast like the back of his hand and everything ran like clockwork without us having to put any thought into times or excursions. In my opnion – we couldn’t have ‘done the east coast’ cheaper ourselves as we dont have credit cards to hire cars with, my bf is not a fan of ‘jumping into cars with strangers’ and buying a car was not an option for us.I agree Contiki’s are best for first time travellers, solo travellers or ‘party people’, however I fit somewhere in the middle of these and I still had a blast. Would I do it again? Well, me and my boyfriend have a 6 day tour of the North Island and Bay Of Islands booked in two and a half weeks and I cant wait

By: Sasha

Sasha — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 09:18:48 +0000

My first OS trip was a Contiki tour, 37 days of madness, that cost me over $5300(AUD) that still didn’t include alot of the activities and the accommodation standard was often much lower then you would find at cheap hostels!!! Now having studied tourism and done the whole packaging tours thing i’ve learnt that travelling independently is certainly much cheaper in most cases. I think one of the big downfalls price wise with large tours is above and beyond the daily cost breakdown, what doesn’t get factored in is the fact that the accommodation is often so far away from anything, getting transport particularly taxis back is half your days spending budget. So you either take the plunge go out for the night and taxi back or stay in and drink yourself silly on overpriced drinks that you are going to pay for anyway bcos the next best option is too far away. Not only that, the optional excursions seem to be great value but then you realise after talking to people who did it independently you could of got it much cheaper with room to negotiate.

I don’t think these tour operators should be advertising themselves as the cheapest most budget conscious option as they often do. They should be advertising exactly what they are, a budget option if you want the whole thing organised for you and don’t want to deal with the finer details of independent travel.

By: Jo C

Jo C — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 16:56:46 +0000

I’ve done Contiki twice. First time was European Magic and then Italian Espresso.

Contiki really does cater to a certain group of people. Is it cheaper than backpacking or solo trips 100% of the time, no. However it can be.

Would I do it again? Probably not. When I first a Contiki tour I never traveled before, was going alone and was so shy everything scared the crap out of me. I thought it was the greatest thing at the time, but looking back 3.5 years later the only thing I could remember of Paris was that I peed on top of the Eiffel tower.

The second time I just used it a lazy way of finding travel arrangements, and did my own thing the rest of the time.

By: Dave

Dave — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 17:12:55 +0000

So disappointed… I was expecting a post on sailing the Pacific on a balsa-wood raft…