Mary

I did the 21 day hotel only tour with Contiki, 15 years ago. It was great. We started in London. Went to Paris, France, Italy, Austria, Switzerland Germany then Holland. The bus tour then returned to England but my girlfriend and I left the tour in Amsterdam. We then took the train down to Munich for 1 week. This was a great move to do if you want to stay in Euope longer. On the Contiki tour, we Met alot of great people, still keep in touch with some of them- I even married one of the guys from the tour. We now have a family and are planning our first trip with them back to Germany/Switzerland/Ausria this summer. We are now too old for Contiki, but at the time they had 2 types of tours, camping or hotelling. We crossed paths with some of the camping groups, and found that they we alot younger and less mature than our group. We also found that of the 2 week tour group. In Our group everyone was in the mid to late twenties. Many of us were professionals. THere were some married couples on the tours, but we were mostly singles. Since we enjoyed Contiki so much we did do a Globus tour of England a few years later. We were the very, very youngest on the trip, at age 30. Contiki was much my fun. They took you to sites, resturants, bars that were of interest to the 20-30 age group. Anyless they have changed, I would do Contiki if I was young enough.

Freecia

I've been on two tours of Europe, 1 Globus (good if you have the cash) and Cosmos (for the cash strapped). On my recent Cosmos tour, we stayed at a hotel that had a Contiki group there. I think it was an all female tour. They didn't look happy at all. I wasn't to happy either, though the locale was a nice little resort town, the actual hotel was a little run down.<BR>Having done two tours of Europe, I would say go with something that is a little more relaxed. 1 day free here and there is guaranteed to make you very unhappy. Don't forget, you'll have to do some laundry, recoup from "pajama touring" (you get in at midnight, leaving at 6, why ever change out of your pajamas when you'll spend the next 10 hours on the bus!?) and go on their not included city tours. They markup for everything! A trip to the louvre was $35 per person. We could have done it ourselves on the underground for $12.<BR>You'll be paying a lot more for the non-included tour options. <BR>Contiki seems pretty party hardy and you'll have a nice bar tab to pay for, too.<BR>I'd say go on a different kind of tour. I'm only 21 but went on my first tour of Europe when I was 17 and my second at 20. I never had a problem having fun with some of the other people twice my age. They like to go to nice places, see museums, buy a couple watermelons/fruit in some small town along with the local vino and hold a late night laugh session.<BR>Personally, I feel it is much more relaxing when you go with a mixed group of people. You can get drunk at home, you don't need to go to Europe for it. However, if you want to remember seeing David without hangover grogginess, go with some other tour company than Contiki.<BR>You'll get more for your money and have more fun by going on a slower tour and not with Contiki. Plus, if the Contiki lovers are right about the "fun"-ness, you won't have to recover from your vacation.<BR>If you really miss the contiki style all that much, hit some bars yourself. Perhaps you'll meet a local instead of a Contiki Bus.<BR>

tara

I'm in my early 30's and have done two Contiki tours. I can highly recommend the tours. I didn't do the specific tour you are talking about, but I know others that did and they loved it. There were several married couples on both of my trips and we all got along great. I'm still in contact with many of them...and it's been 5 years! I'd say go for it!

Kristen

I've done 2 Contiki tours (Ireland and Spain/Portugal) and thoroughly enjoyed both of them. Sleep deprivation and the lack of experiencing a city "in depth" are the biggest problems, but I enjoyed all other aspects (aside from hotel food) of the trips. Sleep deprivation came from the need to wake up at the crack of dawn to get to the next city, and as far as partying is concerned - you're free to party as much or as little as possible. You also are not required to hang out with the group at all - there will be some group things that you will do, but other than that you can be free to explore on your own. Both of my tours had very few Americans on them and quite a bit of Australians - some of the nicest people I've met! The tours are a good "introductory" to cities, but you should definitely make an effort to go back to Europe on your own to get a more complete impression of a city.

m

another thing to keep in mind if you do choose a tour, you mentioned eating in quaint restaurants, etc. many tours include meals and they rarely are in 'quaint' restaurants. much is hotel restaurants or larger touristy places. i'm not much of a 'tour' person but believe there are tours that transport you between places and take you to the major sites, but also leave you time to wander and dine as you please. personally i think 10 countries in 16 days is way too much. i think it would be overwhelming and much would be lost with such a overloaded itinerary.