Does anyone travel with Contiki who doesn't necessarily care for party/drinking aspect of it? In other words, if you're not a drinker would you still enjoy and recommend a Contiki tour?

In looking into the European Discovery I have found that a lot of the focus is on drinking, but I'm assuming there would be people in every group that would opt for some other adventure. Am I assuming correctly?

Hi, I am going on a contiki in a couple of months and I dont drink much. I like to have two or three drinks but I also love getting enough sleep! and i cant drink lots of nights in a row or i will be a wreck! hopefully there will be some other people who like to have a couple of quiet nights too

I just got back from a contiki in the States so it might be different, but I found there was quite a mixture of both. If you wanted a quiet or early night it was easy to do it, and if you wanted to stay out late and party there were loads that wanted to aswell.
The only problem i found on my tour was that there was no half/half, and that either people went to be early (10/11) or stayed out late (3ish) where as i sometimes wanted a couple of drinks then head back, but didn't wanna taxi it alone.

I did the Euro Highlights. You dont have to drink and party every night. It just depends who you hang out with. Some will go to bed early 10-11 and some will go to bed 2-3 in the morning. And do it night after night. Even if you dont drink I still recommend Contiki. The main reason why I chose it was because I can see alot in a short time, and the most important. Travelling with people my age.

Hello Everyone I am going on my second ever Contiki Tour in just over three months from now and I am a non drinker but like parties and having a good time.I am coming from having done a couple of South Pacific Cruises on both the Pacific Dawn and Pacific Sun in the last two years.Hopefully there will be some other people who like the party style holiday too.

There are a BUCKET-LOAD of threads about this same topic...perhaps do a "find" and have a read through.

My personal opinion (from experience) is that it doesn't matter if you don't party of drink but it definitely helps if you're open-minded, friendly and willing to get to know people after a big sight-seeing day out, regardless of where that is (ie: in a bar, restaurant, club or the hotel lobby)!

There is a TON of drinking.

I don't much drink.

I had a wonderful, awesome, amazing time, even though I didn't get blasted.

Times that I REALLY, REALLY didn't want to hang out with the drinking people, I left to do something else. On this trip you won't be forced to go to a club or bar. You may be taken there, but can leave any time.

quote:

Originally posted by anna:
Does anyone travel with Contiki who doesn't necessarily care for party/drinking aspect of it? In other words, if you're not a drinker would you still enjoy and recommend a Contiki tour?

In looking into the European Discovery I have found that a lot of the focus is on drinking, but I'm assuming there would be people in every group that would opt for some other adventure. Am I assuming correctly?

This is one of the biggest myths about Contiki, at least based on the two tours I have done. I did not meet one person, on either tour, who was in Europe and on a Contiki tour to only drink and party. Both were superior tours so maybe that had something to do with it. Perhaps more people on the camping tours, which tend to draw the much younger crowds, are there to just drink and party?

I did the European Discovery twice, once alone and once with a friend. On my first tour(alone) there was definitely people that were ready to party and drink every night but all 50 people were there to see Europe in the daytime too and everyone was ready to see the sights by the time we arrived in each city. We saved all the partying and drinking for the nights.

On the second tour, 95% of the people were there just to see the sights. There was little to no activity with the group after 8 PM most nights. They were pretty much the exact opposite of my first tour, which honestly took a little bit away from the tour. My friend and I still had an awesome time but for me it was a little bit of a letdown in comparison to my first tour.

It could really go either way but it is not something that you should be worrying about at all. Besides, if there are people who are going all the way to Europe just to drink and party then they are wasting their trip, not yours.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: travelguy,

Well I stopped drinking eight years ago due to the natures of my job but can still have a wonderful amazing time on holidays.
I am willing to meet new people and make new friends plus I am friendly in all situations and also get to know them.
I should ring Contiki and ask them to put that into my booking

I have just finished a Contiki tour and I can assure you that there is no pressure to party or drink if you don't want to. To each their own. I'm not much of a drinker (although in at the beer halls in Munich I was), but I very rarely got drunk. Trust me, you'll get drunk off all excitement and craziness of heading out on the town.