I am seeing a lot of tour companies listing Camping Tours (such as Contiki) for students. What exactly do they mean by camping? Am I in a tent every night? Im just having a hard time wrapping my head around that idea. Someone please explain.

-Justin

Camping means sleeping in tents, at least on Contiki tours.

Contiki explains it all for you:

http://contiki.com/contikipedia/articles/camping-tours

Well tents technically but they're called Contiki Villages and they have permanent installations in many camps that are veritable tiny resorts

sturdy big tents so not really like camping in a tent as you may think

plush camping

If you want to go to Europe, you don't want to go camping because you can go camping anywhere. Its really the cities you should look at, because it is so full of culture. Try EF College Break. Its actually way cheaper. I also have a discount code for them, its hesseln1188. Have fun in Europe!

-Helicia

Nope - PQ, not plush by any means. If you look at contiki's site, accommodations are in small 2-person tents

<<Camping tours stay in 2-person tents (provided by Contiki) that are easy to put up and if you don’t have someone to share with you road crew can help arrange for you to share with someone. Air mattresses are also provided but you must bring your own sleeping bag and towel.>>

I seriously wouldn't even consider these camping tours. The camp sites that Contiki and Top Deck stays in are WAY outside of the city you are visiting (some as far as an hour away).

Often, for the same price, you can plan your own trip and stay in decent hostels that MUCH more comfortable than tents right in the centre of the city. Check out HostelWorld.com and BackpackEurope.com for tips.

Get a Let's Go Europe on a Budget or a Lonely Planet Europe on a Shoestring guidebook, and start reading. Seriously. It's not rocket science.

Why would anyone want to go camping on another continent when one could camp anywhere and not pay the airfare? Also, a camping tour?

Then again, I don't understand the allure of camping.


* I guess I could see the allure in SA, but still camping?

Lots of people love camping. So it makes sense to me they'd like to do the same thing in Europe. From what I've read, campgrounds in Europe can be quite luxurious, although I'm sure that's relative.

For some people, it's probably also a choice of camping in Europe vs. not traveling to Europe at all.