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7 Things to Know Before Booking Your First Contiki Tour

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Taking part in a Contiki tour will be one of the best travel decisions that you ever make. I went on my first Contiki in 2014 and it was essentially what inspired me to start a travel blog! In 2015, I went on my second Contiki tour and now, I’m getting ready to embark on my third tour in just a few weeks!

As I’m preparing and planning for my third Contiki tour, I’ve found myself reflecting on all the things I’ve learned from completing two tours already and all the things I wish I had known before embarking on my first one.

I wanted to write a post today to talk about some of the things I wish I had known before I hopped on my first Contiki tour, to hopefully give you aspiring Contiki-ers a little taste of what to expect and how to better prepare!

Some activities have added costs

While Contiki includes a lot of different excursions, meals, and activities in the base price of their tours, called “No Regrets Inclusions” there are some experiences that aren’t included in the base price of your trip. These are known as “Free Time Add-Ons”. You can’t prepay for these, so you need to budget for them ahead of time and plan to have enough cash to cover them while you’re on the tour. However, with that being said…

You don’t have to do everything with the group

I know that on a group tour it can be easy to experience FOMO (fear of missing out) if you decide to skip one of the group’s “Free Time Add-On” activities. I’ll be honest, on Contiki tours, most people opt to participate in all of the “Free Time Add-Ons” – but you definitely do not have to. Just because you’re on a group tour doesn’t mean you’re obligated to spend every moment with the group. If there’s something that you’ve been dying to see or do in a particular destination, don’t be scared to break off from the group to have your own experiences!

You will drink A LOT more than you expected

This was probably the thing that caught me the most off guard on my first Contiki trip. Almost every night on a Contiki tour ends at a local bar or pub – remember you’re on a tour with a bunch of 18-35-year-olds, there is a heavy party culture present. Be sure to plan a bar budget and pack some hangover cures because regardless of how late you get in from the bar, the coach waits for nobody in the morning.

You will spend a lot of time on the coach

Depending on which tour you do, you can expect to spend anywhere from a few hours to half a day on the coach during days you’re traveling between cities. My advice is to pack a neck pillow and lots of entertainment that doesn’t depend on an internet connection. i.e.) a good book!

The Contiki Cough is real

You’re going to get sick, be prepared. There is really not avoiding it when you squish a bunch of people together on a coach bus and close living quarters for a couple of weeks. It’s bound to happen, so just be prepared and bring some cold medicine from home to save yourself the trouble of having to ask for some in Italian.

Bring portable chargers

You’re going to be sharing a room with at least one other person, but it could be up to three other people depending on the trip style. There is never going to be enough outlets for all of you. If you can find a multi-outlet plug, that’s going to be your best bet, but another alternative is to bring portable chargers for your devices and recharge them during the day when you’re out exploring.

Save cash to tip at the end of the trip

Contiki is really weird about explaining their tipping process. I didn’t know until two days before the end of my first Contiki tour that my trip manager and bus driver were expecting tips in cash at the end of the trip. I was much more prepared on my second trip, setting aside the recommend $3 a day for both my trip manager and bus driver before my tour even started. Tipping is always at your own discretion, but your trip manager and bus driver do work hard, so try to save some of your bar cash to thank them at the end of your trip.

Have you been on a Contiki tour? What do you wish you knew before you went?

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