Contiki Reviews 143

Did the European Magic Trip (now European Horizon Plus) last December 2024. An amazing trip and had a great time! As a first time traveler in Europe, this trip provided the best itinerary and experience that you can experience with a lot of places and activities covered for 9-10 days only! Everyone if not most of our group were first time solo travelers which made everyone feel more connected and comfortable from the get go. Our Trip Manager and Driver made sure that everyone is accommodated even to the slightest detail. The most memorable experience I had on this trip was the German Christmas Markets, everybody was trying out the different food from the stalls, having a hot wine while snow was falling down, enjoying everybody's company while getting drunk :D Overall, I highly recommend this trip, especially for first time solo travelers or even with a group! You cannot beat this price with everything that is included rather than booking elsewhere or by yourself! Will definitely do another trip with Contiki in the near future! :D

I am celiac and lactose intolerant. Before booking my trip, I explicitly asked the Contiki team if this would be an issue (since meals were included in the experience and price). They assured me at all times that this would be accommodated and that I would have access to gluten-free food at all times, ensuring my trip would be the same as my fellow travelers'.

I HAD TO BUY MY OWN FOOD FROM EXTERNAL ESTABLISHMENTS BECAUSE I WAS NOT TAKEN INTO ACCOUNT. Everything was cross-contaminated, and the knowledge about the disease in food establishments was NON-EXISTENT.

Contiki is now telling me that my condition is merely a request and that they cannot guarantee accommodating it (despite telling me the opposite before booking). I will never book a trip with them again and strongly advise anyone with allergies or intolerances not to do so either.

I went on the Ireland in a week tour with Contiki in November 2024! I absolutely loved it and wouldn't have rather went any other time of year. Some highlights for me were of course visiting Blarney Castle, the cliffs of Moher, the Giants Causeway. But my favorite experience was the optional Sheepdog farm experience where we met a Jamese a farmer who taught us about how they work with the dogs and sheep on the farm! we even got to hold some puppies and baby sheep ❤️

Just come back from a week in Austria with Contiki and could not be more impressed. The trip had a great atmosphere and was well organised from start to finish. Communication was very clear and the staff at the Haus went above and beyond time and time again. I would recommend anyone looking to explore new places and meet a new group of friends to book.

This was my first time with Contiki and it was everything I hoped for! We had an amazing team look after us and made lots of new friends. I’ll definitely be doing another Contiki soon!

Just wanted to give Tori from customer service a shout out for helping me book my trip! It was like talking with a friend 😄 made the process easy and always answered my questions 👌🏼 again, thanks girl!

It looks like this may be the last contiki we’re going to end up doing. As a 32 and 31 year old married couple- contiki is just not for us. Just poor communication of itinerary. What could have been a three hour journey turned into an eleven hour one. This contiki should have been called, all the free time. I thought I was paying for sightseeing and experiences but we ended up seeing everything on our own with all of our free time. It was a complete disappointment.

This was my first contiki tour and it was a great experience with fun loving young group. I decided to do one of the best cities within my country South Africa and around the world…Cape Town. I enjoyed doing the cooking class, learned a lot as someone who doesn’t cook that much Lol.
I liked walking around the city and going up Cape of good hope to the top. This had a fantastic view! And the wine tasting is amazing especially if you are into wine or want to get into it at vineyards.

One of the best ways to visit your bucket list countries, my first solo trip and first time traveling Long haul I decided to do Phuket island hopper west. Thailand was always first Asian country on my list and I’ll tell ya what that was the best decision I’ve made! If you do the west trip you’ll get the best trip manager Jane, she was phenomenal (contiki she deserves a pay rise ;) ) she made the whole trip and meeting new people was all a bonus. I’m honestly crap at planning so this was perfect 8 days :D will be planning my next trip real soon. Highly recommend.

I used Contiki to travel across Europe and I loved every minute of my holiday over the 12 days. The trip Manager(Jamie) was really amazing and our driver as we moved through the countries was really great (Marcin). I met life long friends and on the trip too. Accomodation was up to standard, the food and added experiences were also great! I had a blast plus the pictures and memories live on to tell the story!

Italian Espresso 20/10-29/10 with Tayla & Roberto: Visited 11 different cities over the span of 10 days, the big 5 being Roma, Firenze, Cinque Terre, Milano, and Venezia; hidden gems in between each, e.g. Lucca and Treviso. Well-organized, great experiences, good group of people. Lots of family and friends asking about the Contiki experience. Highly recommended. I'm looking forward to another one!

Japan unrivalled October 2024. Two weeks of jumping about the country, mix between modern and traditional experiences which was what I was after. Despite the complaint from most other travellers in the group I loved the traditional stays, I know it’s not for everyone but I enjoyed experiences the accommodation for its pure form.
Lots of free time which is great when your a lone traveller who has their eyes site on other experience outside of the main group. Always you to creat your own adventure with the guidance of your trip leader to help point you in the right direction.

Great experiences, well planned, wish there was a little more time in between destinations but overall it was amazing

And what a week it was. I kept loosing track of the days in the best way possible. There were just enough activities planned and flowing into each other to keep you occupied for the whole day. I learned about the local indigenous cultural, met some new friends and climb a waterfall. The trip manager Esteban was very knowledgeable and helpful. Driver Pablo had some skills managing that giant bus in the tiny city streets. I can’t think of anything else that could have made it better.

I used their chat system and connected with a person and I sent a message and they took a whole 5 minutes to respond then I replied to their response with a moner question and they took another whole 7-8 minutes to respond.

I truly loved the places I visited and all the wonderful people I met along the way. There were great activities as well. However, my tour guide was not the best, honestly, and that's the reason I'm not giving 5 stars. She was very good at keeping the group under control and surely on time, which I really appreciated. However, she expressed annoyance many times, and her attitude made me feel uncomfortable several times.

I had a great time on the european highlights. From start to finish, everything was very organized and Katie and Adi (our trip manager and driver) went above and beyond to make sure we saw and did everything we wanted to when free time was given. The only negative thing I would say is that the itinerary moves quick!! You need to make the most of the time you have in each place because before you know it you’ll be on the bus again to the next destination. Wish we had another night in Munich since Oktoberfest was going on but nonetheless, still had an amazing time. Thank you so much Katie and Adi❤️

My trip manager Blake made this whole experience great. I was so nervous going on the trip by myself at such a young age, but his jokes, kindness, compassion and support. He made it all so comforting being there. He was there for us for whatever we needed and still had a blast with us. He was the bright smiling face in the morning and had so many interesting facts about the places we were visiting and made it fun to learn about them. He was more than any of us could ask for in a trip manager. Some of the people that were on my tour made it less enjoyable but there will always be drama. And those people didn’t make the tour itself any worse. I did every single activity I possibly could’ve and while it was expensive because I did a 23 day tour, there were only about 2 I wish I hadn’t done, but those ones weren’t more that 20 euros. I loved this trip and I am definitely missing being on it even though it’s only been a day. The people that were strangers to begin with ended up being family and I hope that we all stay in contact.

I did the Italian Escape Tour (5 days) but missed the initial meeting due to a doctor's visit. I met the group later and had a brief, casual conversation with the trip manager, who asked if I’d like to do all the optional activities, stating that “pretty much everyone is doing them.” I agreed without realizing my response was binding. I was not informed about any 48-hour cancellation policies or exclusions. That night, I reviewed the optional activities and saw they exceeded my budget. The next morning, I informed the trip manager of the activities I didn’t want to do, but was told it was too late as an email had been sent and I had to pay. Feeling pressured, I insisted on not attending the Napoli food tour, preferring the Capri ferry ride, Pompeii tour, and Colosseum tour. The trip manager then cited a hidden 48-hour cancellation policy. I reluctantly agreed to the food tour but asked to cancel the Colosseum tour. He agreed, as it was outside the 48-hour period.

During the tour, the trip manager pressured me, claiming I’d be stranded on the side of the road if I didn’t join certain activities, like the Lemon Tour on the Amalfi coast. Contrary to his claim, as I hopped of the ferry ride I saw the beautiful coast and spent the day swimming at the beach and had a great lunch. It was the most amazing side of the road. On the day of the Colosseum tour, the trip manager tried to charge me 180 euros, which included for the Colosseum tour, which I had canceled. He claimed the Colosseum was an exception to the 48-hour rule. I refused to pay 180 euros, but said I will pay 122 euros which was all the actives I attended and said I wanted to do. I contacted Contiki, speaking with Tasha Hayes the operations manager and sustainability director, who was extremely unhelpful and insisted on the payment. She was not willing to hear me out, and calling my handling of the situation ‘unfortunate’. Finally, on the last night, the trip manager eventually accepted my payment of 122 euros, excluding the Colosseum tour. However he claimed and Tasha Hayes informed me, that the trip manger would have to pay out of his own pocket now. I think that’s unfortunate as it’s a hidden policy i can’t even find on the contiki website, however it was the trip manager’s responsibility to tell me these policies on day one which he failed to do, so I hope he has now learnt his lesson to be transparent and honest. I refused to pay for his negligence.

This experience was extremely stressful. I had expected support from Contiki but instead faced constant pressure and felt wronged. The trip manager lied about informing me of the policies, and Contiki’s customer service, especially Tasha Hayes, was unhelpful. She threatened to exclude me from optional activities on my upcoming Croatia sail unless I paid for the Colosseum tour. I was not informed of the policies upfront and felt pressured throughout the trip. Ultimately, I didn't pay but was threatened with exclusion from future activities as my punishment due to their lack of transparency. I am disgusted with Contiki's handling of the situation and would never recommend this company ever again unless you want to be scammed and treated like sh**. There’s a lot more id like to say however unfortunately there’s a word limit.

Perfect travel company for young people wanting to travel without the hassle of booking everything themselves ! The trip managers and drivers make the whole experience and getting to travel with likeminded people is the best.