Guest Ari Gold Report post Posted October 20, 2009 Any one been on one? I'd like to hear some experiences / stories about them, considering doing: London, Paris, Beaujolais, Saint Tropez, Cannes, Nice, Monaco, Tuscany, Florence, Rome, Vatican, Corfu, Venice, Vienna, Cesky Krumlov, Prague, Munich, Lichtenstein, Lucerne, Heidelberg, Rhine Valley, Amsterdam, Belgium, next year. I've not been to Europe since I was 16, so this will be a srs bznz trip. Heaps of touristy stuff to do in all those towns, that is obvious, but if you've got some insider information on out of the way cool things to do / see, or local knowledge, that would be much appreciated too! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Simon* Report post Posted October 20, 2009 One hyphenated word to sum up .... "ROOT-FEST" Enjoy! See you in Italia Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Ari Gold Report post Posted October 20, 2009 We should totally time this correctly and make that happen Planning on being there for Oktoberfest, it IS the 200th anniversary after-all. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
martyyn 2 Report post Posted October 20, 2009 Do you want to booze and shag your way round Europe only seeing the inside of a coach ? Or do you want to actually see the cities and spend some time in each one ? I wouldnt do a Contiki if you paid me. Get yourself to one of the main cities in Germany, buy a left-hooker e32 off ebay for peanuts and cruise the continent at your leisure. Or just get a rail card and do it that way. When you get to where your going, bowl into the local tourist information centre and get them to sort out some accomodation, they know most of the hotel owners and will sort you out for decent price. We did it in Paris, Barca, Hamburg, Luxembourg, Venice, Rome, Copenhagen, Maastricht, Den Haag etc and never had a problem. But then we werent aiming to be there for Octoberfest, you might need to book something for that ! I know lots of people who have been on tiki tours....kiwi's obviously....and theyve loved them. But ask them were they went to and what they actually saw when they got there and they saw nothing other than the usual tourist crap where they had a couple of hours to leg it round before getting back on the coach and back on the lager. Driving is easy around Europe, you can easily get between the main cities in a day or less (8 hours from London to Amsterdam including lots of stops for the kids for example) and you can stay where you want for aslong as you want. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
steve R 0 Report post Posted October 20, 2009 I have a friend who did one about 2 years ago, and another friend who got back from one about 2 weeks ago. both did the 19 day trips and said easily the most fun they have ever had, got heaps of phots and saw heaps of sights etc, just need to be able to handle your liquor and not get hangovers! got another mate doing one at the end of november. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
elmarco 56 Report post Posted October 20, 2009 Never done the Contiki thing, but some suggestions (might be stating the bleeding obvious): London - London Dungeon, Tower of London (very good), Natural History Museum, Circle Line pub crawl Paris - Versailles, Fontainebleau, fresh baguette, croissants & pain au chocolat (they are not the same anywhere else in the world), Champs Elysees, Arc de Triomphe, Sacre Coeur (better than Notre Dame) Venice - nothing to write home about unless you manage to get laid on a gondola Vienna - schnitzel, schnitzel, schnitzel (http://www.figlmueller.at/) Prague - Charles bridge, the castle, wenceslas square etc. More importantly quality beer on the cheap (seen locals having a pint with breakfast), ordering a vodka coke and getting a half pint of straight vodka and a small coke (don't ask...), smoking hot looking women & bars that turn into strip clubs after midnight. Munich - HB tent obviously (and half a chicken and tennis racquet sized pretzels). Oh the sights I saw in that place! Heidelberg - big beer barrel up in the monastery, roasted pork knuckle & sauerkraut with a local pilsner Amsterdam - well you could see the sights like Ann Franks house, or you could end up ripped off your tits in the red light district watching a "show" in the Banana Bar. Just saying.... Hmmm, I never did make it to the Heineken museum or the flower markets in 4 trips. Wow now that's a misspent youth for you. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
3 SERIES 92 Report post Posted October 20, 2009 (edited) Yip, I did the Contiki Euro Adventurer (37 days) 2 years ago. I really dont know where to start as ill be sitting here typing for the next week On our bus of 50, there were 3 Kiwis, 1 SA, 1 Canadian and 45 bloody Australians! 50/50 male, female split. The average age was about 18-21 which after a while got to me as they're were a bit immature and catty (I was 26 at the time) I hit the booze every night of the trip and hangovers were down to zip by half way. I timed my trip so that our tour passed thru Munich during Oktoberfest which is a must! My favourite place was Dubrovnik, Croatia. If you can, try do a trip that has a stop off there. Fantastic place! Montenegro, Albania were very interesting places. Exteremly cheap. A fly ridden pizza was about 70c and a pack of ciggis were 30c. I almost starting smoking for that price! Im glad i managed to go there thou. All Contiki's are very rushed but you do get to see all the main sights as the tour guides are very knowledgeable and know their way round. It gives you a good taste of whats out there and I now know where I will and wont be visiting in the future. Money wise, I went thru about 80 Euro (160 NZD) a day! Some days were more, some less. I wasnt going all the way over the other side of the world to be a tight ass. I think the total cost for the contiki & spending was about 14k all up. A lot of money but a lot of fun. As far as friends go, I made a couple of really good mates from oz who are actually coming over on Friday for a holiday. Ill be out of action on a one week bender with them to relive the dream! If you want to know any more specifics im only happy to answer your questions. Cheers Edit: http://contiki.co.nz/tours/107-european-adventurer Edited October 20, 2009 by 3 SERIES Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Mike 1 Report post Posted October 20, 2009 just got back on monday from 1 month over there. I was with 4 other mates and we got a car for 23 days. I really cant remember all the places we went, we'd just see somewhere that looked cool and turn off. 37 days is a pretty long time, specially if you only in cities. After 2.5 weeks of full on sight seeing, and tourist masses we were ready to spend some time chilling out in the Mediterranean. I agree with a lot of what elmarco said on Venice, prague, munich and amsterdam. I wouldn't be too worries about rushing around, we didnt spend that long in some of the places we went but I know where I want to go back too. How long do you get in Munich? We did three days which was decent-ish. could maybe have done more but a break in the middle to check out Munich and BMW stuff (which was my plan but oktoberfest was too much fun). We only did one night in Amsterdam, definately needed more. I guess it depends what your into, our pace would have been similar to a contiki which was fine for us but we didn't really go to museums or artsy stuff. Money wise I also spent average of 70 Euro per day (food, accom, booze) but we did it on the cheap sometimes. ie, camping on beaches, food n booze from supermarkets. Also had nights where we ate at nice place and were drinking in pubs all night long so sort of evened out. 100 Euro per day should be fine for booze, food and accom if you dont go too silly. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Driftit 1956 Report post Posted October 20, 2009 Did the same tour as Brett in 2005. What I found great was that your on a Bus with 50 other people who are all in the same mind set as yourself. The friends I made on my tour I still talk to on a regular basis. And after the tour we all gathered up and did some more traveling back to the places we liked. Don't take a short tour. They are rushed. The longer tours give you more time in each place. WARNING!! Don't hook up with a chick the first night!!!! Ended up being stuck with the same one the whole tour. Haha. All good though. WARNING!! 2!!! Over half the people on your tour will be Aussies. Learn to live with them. WARNING!! 3!! Don't go overboard in Amsterdam. Everyone does. I was there on Orange day which is a nation wide party. I pretty much teleported from the back alleys of the Red Light district to London. Don't remember Belgium at all. Apparently I spent around 120 euros on Chocolate. Then had to get a hotel room in London for 2 days as I couldn't figure out where to go to get back to my mates flat. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
togate 0 Report post Posted October 20, 2009 I spent around 120 euros on Chocolate. Munchies huh? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
elmarco 56 Report post Posted October 21, 2009 WARNING!! 3!! Don't go overboard in Amsterdam. Everyone does. I was there on Orange day which is a nation wide party. I pretty much teleported from the back alleys of the Red Light district to London. Wow - I must have found the same teleporter as you then! Those canals with no fences are a bit sketchy when looking for the teleporter though. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Driftit 1956 Report post Posted October 21, 2009 Wow - I must have found the same teleporter as you then! Those canals with no fences are a bit sketchy when looking for the teleporter though. Yeah don't mistake those Urinals next to the canals that dump straight into the canals for the teleporters ether. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
DRTDVL 0 Report post Posted October 21, 2009 my friend wicks was a driver for ages on these... he loved it! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
