Italy and Spain Tours & Trips

Really, the only downside was the hotels. The trip advertised all hotels would be 4-star, but I’d say only the hotel in Barcelona qualified. The Praga in Madrid was dreadful! The rest were 3-star, at best. The guides were great, the buses were comfy - although a bathroom should be included on buses that go inter-city. We walked a lot, learned a lot, and definitely enjoyed ourselves!

This was the most amazing week of my life! A year on and I’m still thinking about it and catching up with the friends I made. I had no idea anyone could experience so much in such a short time but wow, it felt like a months long holiday in the best way possible. Our tour manager Rianna (AKA RiRi) was phenomenal!!! The amount of work she put in to making our trip so fantastic was insane, she went above and beyond, never stopping, but still making sure we were all having the times of our lives! On top of all the planning and organising RiRi worked so hard to bring us all together and really make us a Contiki family and kept the spirits high, even when we were all severely hungover or unexpected delays like a helicopter landing on the motorway right in front of our coach delays us for hours!!! Not only did RiRi handle all that but made sure we were still having fun with bus karaoke and our feel good tune everyday! The itenerary was so perfect! We got to see so much and get such great experiences that brought us all together, I made friends for life in some of the coolest and most beautiful places in the world! The boat tour around Capri was a major highlight!!! With a bonus party at the hostel that night, which was such a great surprise! The places we visited were amazing but the people took it to the next level, and RiRi seriously out did herself! I CANNOT believe that was her first trip!!!! The professionalism she had and how well everything was handled had me believing RiRi had done it for years! Oh, and shoutout to Tomasz, the best coach driver going! If you’re thinking about doing a contiki, DO IT! You won’t regret it! You meet the best people and make core memories for life!

Tour guide Sergi was great, really patient, helped where he could and really genuinely tried to ensure everyone was having an amazing time. However, I felt the tour itself was way overpriced for what it was. I’m used to group tours having extras/experiences and felt this was just travel (all public), accommodation and the guide. I’ve paid have the price for group tours in Europe with same duration but multiple extras/activities. I also felt the accommodations were average, some above some below so it wasn’t as if that made up for it. I really do not know where the $7k went which is disappointing. I’m on my 7th group tour now and all others have made me feel I got real value for money.