An honest review of my first Contiki.

As an American about to embark on my first Contiki – I felt a mix of emotions… Nervousness, excitement, the allure of the unknown! I hadn’t really known anyone who’d been on a Contiki first-hand – so I had no one to tell me their thoughts or advice!

I actually only ever heard about it from some Kiwis I met on a study abroad trip YEARS before. But the name stuck with me in my mind and I knew I wanted to meet new people from around the world and have a stress-free time while traveling. This was the perfect thing to try!

Tour Company: Contiki
Tour Name: Italian Espresso
Travel Dates: March, 2022
Transportation: 5 out of 5
Tour Manager: 5 out of 5
Organization: 5 out of 5
Accommodation: 4 out of 5
COVID Measures: 1 out of 5
Social Aspect: 4 out of 5

Overall Score: 4 out of 5

Who Am I?

I thought it could be useful before I begin to give you a little bit of information about who I am 🙂 Just so you know where I am coming from in my review. I am a 27 year old girl from the Washington D.C. area. I’m recently single, an introverted extrovert who strangely loves the first 5 minutes of conversation with strangers. I love getting out of my comfort zone, because I know that when I’m in a healthy level of discomfort, it means I’m growing as a person 🙂 For this reason I had no issue (in fact it was my preference) to show up to this Contiki without knowing anybody.

 

Who Was on the Tour?

First off – there were A LOT of people. 50+!! Basically they fully booked the coach (bus) which seated that amount.

And yes – as you will hear, a lot of Contikis run high on the female side. I think we had about 80% girls and 20% guys. And about half of those guys were either gay or married. If you’re looking for your Australian Romeo, you might be a little disappointed. However I ended up being grateful the ratio was like this. I think the guys were happier because (first of all…of course they were) I heard many of them say that girls are easier to vibe and mingle with platonically.

The age distribution surprised me – it ran younger than I expected! It seemed that most people were still in College, and we had several people who were just 18 – the lowest end of the permitted age range. I felt like such an old person revealing that I was 27! Especially since I was mostly drawn to the 24 and unders for some reason haha. We had several people in their thirties, but most of them were married and I would say a bit more lowkey than the rest of the group.

Speaking of marriage, there were 4 married couples on the tour. Surprisingly, other than that, many others were completely solo. A few girls brought friends they already knew, but it wasn’t overwhelmingly that way. If you come with a friend, you’ll do great (just make sure to branch out early). If you come without a friend, you’ll do great too 🙂

For most people this was their first Contiki tour, but for some they were seasoned Contiki veterans, having been on 3, 4, or more tours before.

 

What was the level of quality on the tour?

Contikis are not cheap, but they’re not outrageously expensive either. You may be wondering – what level of comfort and quality am I going to get?

In all honesty, I was very impressed with the level of quality on the tour. My expectations were SUPER low compared to what we got.

Since it’s geared towards young adults, I was expecting something similar to what I got during my College study abroad – cheap hostel stays, bunking with 6 girls, grocery store dinners, rickety van rental. What I got instead was next level…

As I’ll explain in further detail below, the coach transportation is fantastic, better than any tour I’ve been on. And the hotels were truly 4-star quality, except for the few times when we weren’t in a big city. Still absolutely great though! The activities and tour guides? A+++

 

What is the transport like on a Contiki Tour?

Every Contiki tour transportation differs, but for my trip, it was 100% Coach transport, except for your flights/trains to and from Rome. Those you had to arrange on your own.

But let me tell you…I was not prepared for how nice the coach was. I think it was only like a year old, and it was super slick, inside and out!

It has one bathroom on board, plenty of storage space below (the driver loads and unloads your bag for you), a few TVs, Wifi, and charging outlets at every seat. The bus is clean, has huge crystal clear windows, and storage space above.

Best of all, the new coaches are sleek as hell on the outside! You roll up in style wherever you go. If you’re embarrassed by showing up in a coach that says “CONTIKI” huge on it, maybe this company isn’t for you lol. But I dug it!

 

What about the social aspect? Is Contiki all about partying and hooking up?

Honestly, no it’s not! Believe it or not, I could have actually done with a bit more partying!

Even on the bigger nights out most people made it back to the hotel by 1AM or sooner. I was like…ahem! We’re only hot and young in Italy once!! Just kidding :p

If there was “hooking up” going on, it definitely was on the sidelines. You could sense a little romance or tension between some of the travelers, but the public canoodling was kept to a minimum. And when people did it was a little ostracizing for them honestly!

How to make friends on a Contiki

I’m planning on writing a whole blog article about this one, because I do feel like it is such an important aspect of a Contiki tour. But to summarize:

• Connect with at least one person virtually before the trip.
• Put yourself out there early on.
• Find a core group, but don’t close yourself off from anybody on the trip.

 

Are the Contiki free-time add-on excursions worth it?

I’m going to have an unpopular opinion here and say…No! Not always!

If you’ve pored over the hundreds of reviews on the Contiki website, I know so many people harp on this issue and strongly encourage you to pay for all of the free-time add-ons or you’ll be missing out. You’ll also feel the pressure from your tour manager and peers on day 1 of the orientation.

At orientation listen up carefully, because this is the ONE time your tour manager will tell you in-detail about all of the free time add ons. Their descriptions here are invaluable, and go way beyond the detail that’s written in the PDF itinerary you got. They sprinkle in their own opinions (which were…sometimes overstated) which is helpful.

This is also the time when you’ll be putting your name down for the excursions. The tour manager will hand everyone a piece of paper with all of the excursions listed, and you will mark which ones you want to sign up for. Though you usually pay for your excursions all at once a few days later, this is pretty binding. There is some flexibility if you give your tour manager ample notice, like at least 48 hours, to join in or sit one out, but there’s no guarantee you’ll get your money back or have a spot!

These were the add-ons for my trip and my opinion of them:

Florence Tuscan Risotto Evening

This one came highly hyped up by the tour manager. I thought it would be my favorite, but it honestly wasn’t great. The food wasn’t amazing and the ambiance was like where old people go for a tourist trap. Such a dated room with fluorescent lights, like literally no vibes at all. It was all indoors and we would never know we’re in the Tuscan hills and not a strip mall.

Score: 1 out of 5

Lucca Winery Tour & Tasting

This one was much better, the food was really good and the wine was as well. It’s really worth the cost of 30 euro. Also the place is really cute and has amazing views – make sure to look cute for a photo op with the views outside! Only downside is the dining area itself is a bit dark and could use bigger windows to take advantage of the views.

Score: 4 out of 5

Lake Como Cruise

Now this one is almost necessary, as I would have no idea where you would spend your time without it? Bellagio was incredible, and the homes on Lake Como are gorgoues. It’s a must-see and I actually think it should be considered a required part of the tour. Also the boat is nice and completely reserved for just your group, so it’s like a private tour!

Score: 5 out of 5

Traditional Tastes of Venice

I am not so sure this one is worth the cost of 44 euro, you’ll definitely be left feeling peckish by the end of it. It’s also a tad awkward standing in alleyways attempting to eat and drink simultaneously. But the women who were tour guides were absolutely adorable and overall it was a great experience to see how “cicchetti” (Venetian style tapas) are done.

Score: 2 out of 5

Venice Gondola Ride

Since this is such an iconic bucketlist item for a lot of people, there is no problem with doing this add-on! You get the real thing with this 26 euro purchase, and believe me you’ll have plenty of time to explore Venice so why not? Scoring this a 4 since it really depends on if this is your thing or not.

Score: 4 out of 5

Venice Burano Island Cruise & Feast

Be warned – this one has a super long boat ride! By this point in the tour, I assure you you’ll be boated out. Be wary if you’re prone to seasickness. I felt sick on this one, and then the cramped seafood dinner just put me over the top.

If you pick the seafood option at the feast, be warned – literally EVERY course is seafood. I recommend sitting with a friend who orders the turf, you order the surf, and split it!

Burano was okay – many people loved the photo ops with the colorful walls, but it’s not a necessity in my opinion. If I could go back I would skip this tour.

Score 2 out of 5

Are Contiki trips COVID safe?

I’m going to be real with you, in March 2022 our trip was not at all COVID safe. The best chance we had was due to Italy’s mask requirements at the time in many public places such as public areas of the hotels, museums etc. However from morning till dark you’re in tight – mostly indoor – quarters with over 50 people!!

The tour manager didn’t enforce any kind of masking on the bus, though you could choose to, at some point you’ll probably give up. It would have been for the best if the tour manager at least recommended mask wearing, but the attitude was almost like – you don’t have to, we don’t want you to have to worry about COVID on your vacation! :/

And lo and behold – like 70% OF PEOPLE GOT SICK.

Like…really badly sick. I was one of them, and it was the crappiest I’ve felt in a long time. Also, I was in a single room the whole trip, and I still got sick! Oddly though, it wasn’t COVID. There’s a chance it was really Contiki Cough (Google it – apparently it’s real?!) even though I was hesitant to believe it…like where does one catch the Contiki Cough, the coach seats?!

The problem was that even when people were visibly feverish and coughing like nuts, the tour manager did nothing to ask those people to wear masks, stay at the hotel, or at the very least isolate to an area of the bus. Once I started feeling sick I wore an N-95 mask and sat out of further events, but no one else even did that! It was seriously awful. Especially when worrying about whether the strict Italian government would allow you on your flight home :/

So that part of the trip really made it a nightmare for me and I’m sure a lot of other people. No one wanted to be ostracized for wearing a mask when they weren’t feeling well, so they went about attending everything and riding the coach maskless to try to hide it. The tour manager didn’t ask anyone to do anything, so it spread like wildfire and was basically a total disaster.

 

So, what do you think? Would you do a Contiki trip? Let me know in the comments!

And as always if you have any questions or want to reach out, just DM me on Instagram @themonthlymigrant

Thanks for reading till the end! 🙂

 

For more articles about my Italy trip check these out!

What is it like traveling on a young adult tour trip? Read this!

Get the lo-down on traveling Cinque Terre, Italy here!

A short and sweet article highlighting the yellow moments of Italy <3

See how my Italy pics turned out on my Mirrorless Sony Camera vs. my iPhone 13!