I went on a European Horizons tour in mid-May, and thought I'd provide some notes for others thinking of doing the same/similar thing. Contiki is definitely not for everyone, and I found that 10 days of travel on a coach of 40 people was more than enough. The tours tend to have a lot of binge-drinking, I'd heard, and this one was no exception. Because of the slap-dash nature of the trip, a lot of the time was spent in transit (i.e, stuck on the coach), with our arrival each night at a hotel of camp-ground announced with the words 'the bar's open!'. Quite a few people on the tour drank themselves silly each night, then nursed hangovers the following day. I wanted to travel and experience a taste of Europe, not to get drunk for 10 nights in a row.

Here's a brief itinerary with some highlights I remember, not particularly in order, but the main memories that come to mind:

Amsterdam: Unfortunately, the weather was bad when we arrived, but the sight of more people riding bicycles than driving cars was pretty amazing. In this part of the world, they have bicycle multi-level 'car-parks', where all you can see is thousands of World War 2 vintage bicycles stacked together en masse. The line outside the front of 'Anne Frank's house' stretched around the corner of the building and way down the next street, I would've loved to have seen this, but again, lack of time meant we had no chance. The diamond exhibition was okay, nothing spectacular, definitely more of interest to the girls than the blokes. Everyone in the group explored the red light district and then went to see a sex show, which was hardly what I'd put in the list of 'memorable experiences' - I'd much rather have spent that two hours sight-seeing in other locations rather than watching locals have unprotected sex on stage, but again, it's "the thing to do when you're there".

Munich: A really nice city, good atmosphere, friendly people, clean, and fantastic beer hall atmosphere! The glockenspiel is over-rated, as other people on the tour agreed, it's just a large clock with tiny figures that spin in circular motions, again, and again... much more interesting was the crowd down the lane watching a musician play different songs on a double-xylophone, and to watch them warmly applaud him when he'd finished. My highlight was walking into a cafe and asking for 'ein coca cola, danke schon!', with my knowledge of 'ein, zwei, drei' from the movie 'Cool Runnings' coming in particularly handy! The dinner at the beer hall was fantastic, the pork knuckle was excellent, and the beer was cold! There were 2 contiki groups sharing the hotel that night, with lots of banging of doors and shouting through the night - there was a soccer camp of young children also staying at the hotel that night, half terrified by the drunken behaviour of some of the Contiki crowd (absolutely no joke). 'Sprechen zi english' came in very handy more than once for asking about food prices, ticket costs, and for chatting to locals.

Switzerland: Beautiful scenery, gorgeous valley where the Contiki campsite is located, and awesome sights at the top of Jungfraujoch. Jungfrau was amazing, minus 4c at the top, but seeing the peaks of the nearby mountains above the cloud cover was spectacular. It took something like 16 years for the train tunnel to be bored through the mountain and for the cog-railway to be built leading up to the top station. One of the best highlights of the tour, it was well worth the 125 francs.

Venice: An absolutely gorgeous city - beautiful architecture, not a car in sight in the city itself. The gondola ride was great, just a really nice way to travel down different city 'streets' accompanied with friendly people and a cheap, but absolutely tasty, bottle of Moscato. If you have dinner in a restaurant, the food will most likely be excellent, but the service may be very slow - we spent about 15 minutes waiting for our bowls of gelati (ice-cream) after the main course, and then were overcharged for the main meals. The atmosphere of sitting at a water-front cafeteria at dusk/night-time with the lights on the different buildings being reflected in the water, watching gondolas glide past, and while enjoying an ice-cream, is absolutely fantastic - it was my second favourite experience next to Jungfrau, and I'd love to go back there in the future.

Paris: the itinerary on tour gave the impression that we'd be spending a day and a half in Paris, but we basically ended up arriving at night the first day, followed by a short bus tour, and then having 6 hours the following day to see as much as you could. Paris was fantastic - you would need at least a couple of days to enjoy the city. The metro is fairly easy to use, even though all the station names are in french (funnily enough), and the map provided by the tour guide was very large (every-time I unfolded it in public, there was a sign above me shouting 'TOURIST!'), but well detailed. The places I managed to visit were the Louvre, to see some artwork but also to catch sight of the Mona Lisa and the Venus de Milo. Next up was Notre Dame, the biggest cathedral I have ever ('ever') seen - the architecture is gothic, the people inside are dwarfed by the gigantic soaring columns and arched vaults on the ceiling. It's a 'working' church, they carry out mass each day, but tourists can walk through and around the building, and also purchase small medallion souvenir coins for 2 euro, very handy for backpackers! Next up was the Paris Opera House, home of Le Fant�me de l'Op�ra! The Opera House is amazing, marble staircases and columns, the sense of grandeur hits you the second you walk in through the main doors. You can take 1.5 hour tours, which covers a lot more of the history, but unfortunately I didn't have the time to try this (this tends to happen a lot on Contiki tours). You can gain heaps of photos and an insight into the building by just walking around and enjoying wandering through the different rooms and corridors.

These are just a couple of memories that stick out from the overall tour. I wouldn't do a Contiki tour again, I'd much prefer to travel independently.

The cons of the tour were:
-Travelling with the same group day after day, and being stuck on a bus for most of the travel time. You'll meet some great people on the tour that you'll become friends with, no matter how shy you are, but then you'll also meet people you wouldn't give the time of day to afterwards, and others whose name's you'll have no idea!
-Feeling that to socialize each night, you need to join in with the binge-drinking that happens downstairs in the bar - otherwise, you're pretty much on your own in the shared room. If you go to bed at 10pm (hey, I'm 30 and old!), you're almost guaranteed to be woken at 1 or 2pm by other room-mates coming back from the bar.
-Set schedules and leaving times. If you're not at the pick-up/departure point for the bus on time, it 'will' leave without you. If this happens, you have to hope that you have your wallet and passport with you, and also your 'catch-up itinery guide', and then make your way as best you can to the next point. Either you catch up, or you're on your own in a foreign country.
-You'll get very, very tired of boiled eggs and toast for breakfast. Fresh fruit and vegetables weren't really provided at the Contiki stop-offs.
-Expense and interest of excursions. Quite a few of the places were of no interest, but Contiki works on commission. I missed the lace display in Italy, the perfume factory in Paris, and didn't really think much of the diamond factory tour or the glockenspiel - these places are included with the overall tour cost, but when I thought about it, I wasn't going to waste a couple of hours in Paris finding out how to make perfume, or to see how lace is made in Italy - I was there to see the sights. Some people loved the extra tours, but they weren't my cup of tea.

Pros:
-Beautiful sights, amazing scenery, fantastic architecture - it sounds like I'm repeating myself, but so many of the places you'll visit on this tour will have you reaching for the camera.
-Delicious local food served in cafes and restaurants, crepes and baguettes in Paris, waffles in Germany, pasta in Venice.
-The chance to meet other travellers and develop some close, if short-lived, friendships with others from different countries and backgrounds. There will be people that you'll clash with, but after the tour is over you have the luxury of never seeing them again. For the ones you've clicked with, you're provided with an email list to keep in contact.

Hoping this advice helps if you're thinking of going on a Contiki tour. If you're young, love visiting bars, and enjoy meeting new people and gaining a taste of the main cultural attractions in different countries, then you'll love the tours. If you're a bit older, prefer to travel independently and spend more time enjoying different locations rather than experiencing a lightning-quick blur of a tour, then you might be best to consider another option.

Regards,

David W.

ok, just to let you guys all know, i've just been on this same trip, the european horizons and i thought it was amazing!! clearly this dude wasnt up for drinking, making lifelong friends,seeing sites briefly etc (he should have read the itinerary beforehand!!) and if he knew he prefered travelling alone, then he should have done so instead! it was the most amazing tour ivve ever done, i cant wait to go on another contiki tour, im saving up to do one in australia next. if you're up for fun, this trip is AWESOME!!!!

Thanks for the info.

Thanks for your comments Kari, sounds like you had a much better time than I did It's not that I wasn't up for making new friends, having a few drinks, and travelling in a group (I had a much better time on a group tour of Scotland), it was more that I didn't buy into the whole we're-on-holidays-let's-get-drunk-off-our-gourds approach to things. Hearing stories on the coach from a mate about a girl who shared her room the night before, got pissed drunk, vomited all over the carpet, and then left the hotel laughing the following morning without saying anything to the hotel staff is pretty juvenile. For what it was, the trip covered a heck of a lot of ground in 10 days, and the sights were amazing - I saw what I wanted to see in Paris, Venice, Munich, and Switzerland, the only downside was that half the time was spent dozing on the coach, and a quarter of the remaining time in hotel bars watching other people getting drunk (every night of the tour). There's not an awful lot you can do in places like Interlaken at night-time except hang out in the hotel bar. I loved travelling, but I wouldn't do a Contiki tour again.

hey guys, Im doin this tour in sept 07, what would you recommend bringin as far as clothing and travel items and such? I heard someone say we needed a sleeping bag? is that true?

hiya, we are thinking of going on this contiki, we are on a pretty tight budget and unsure when in the year to go, any suggestions?
i wondered if it may be too rushed and we might be better off arranging our own travel for a few less places, but it would probably work out the same in cost so why not eh?
you get to socialise, but it is really all that fun socialising with the people on your tour all the time or do you get a better chance to mix it up with the locals? are the places you stay at full of other contikians or are they among the locals? im not after a 'same old same old' scenario or i'd just hit the pub in town here!

i am booked for this trip but is it really true that we need to bring our own towels and a sleeping bag? And why a sleeping bag is there camping lol..

oh my word i read that 1st post and it depressed the hell out of me!
Kari i am so glad u replied that is great fun!

okay so this guy was actually ON my tour and ur right... not only does is SOUND depressing, HE WAS DEPRESSING!!!
he wanted to leave half way threw because 'he wasnt enjoying himself', like honestly, 3/4 of our coach fell in love with each other (almost all still talk to this day!!) he was NOT contiki material... plan and simple.... never once do they clame to not be about partying... he should have been on one of those tours with people above the age of 65+... this guy was dull as hellllllllllllllll
EUROPEAN HORIZONS WAS THE TIME OF MY LIFE!!!!!!
doing another contiki in 3 months GREEK ISLAND HOPPING!!! and i also did New Zealand and Aussie... but horizons will be near and dear to me because it was just my first for everything that had to do with travelling... which is what i live for now ROCK ON CONTIKI!!!

CanuckChick, instead of knocking someone for writing their thoughts, why not stretch your limited brain cells and write your own review? So what if the guy wanted to enjoy the scenery without partying every day. Plenty of people think Contiki is sh*it for all the 2am to bed, 6am wake-up party-party-partying that goes on.

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

+1

let him write his own review. canuckchick. Not everyone needs to love contiki and it's good if there are some reviews such as this for ppl whose idea of a tour is not the contiki ideal.