Contiki Italian Espresso Tour 2013 Review

10 months after my first Contiki Tour I was back in Europe, this time Italy. With the sir name Fontana it was especially important for me to see this awesome country. The Tour started as they all do, meet your tour in the hotel lobby followed by dinner and bonding over way to many drinks and dancing in Rome. Our flight arrived at 9am putting us at the hotel early enough to nap and shower before the 5pm meeting with the tour. This was especially cool considering the hotel check in time wasn't until 3pm. Every hotel on this tour had the smallest bathroom with smallest shower I have ever seen. Welcome to European living Foxy! Non of the public bathrooms had toilet seats and you had to pay 1 euro to use them. This is a common practice in Europe as well as a sitting fee and bread fee when having dinner. Not a big deal considering most of your dinners are with the contiki group and that's all covered. The Italian coffee is espresso and when ordering one finish it in one shot and leave to avoid the "sitting fee." More than once a few of us had lunch in the alley on the ground. These differences are all part of the experience. The tour was mid October making it the perfect time of year, light jacket in the mornings is all you needed. The tour wound up being 80% Americans, Australians, Canadians, and South Africans (just a guess). We also had about 10 couples honeymooning. I would not recommend Contiki for every honeymoon couple considering the hotels are not that great and you don't get a lot of free time or privacy. All of our couples were super cool so I doubt they cared. Two of the couples are now pregnant so apparently there was free time...lol The tour guide "Christina Contiki" was #fantastico. She was so knowledgeable, and pleasant. She truly loves her job and it shows. She went out of her way to recommend and even put tickets on her personal credit card for the free time activities. When leaving one of the clubs all you had to say was " Christina Contiki" to the bouncer and he would get you a cab and even tell the driver what hotel to take you to. She went out of her way to make sure we were safe. After the cab drama in Paris on my previous trip it was reassuring and allowed me to enjoy the night. We did everything the brochure promised and more. Christina had optional activities we could do as a group and dinners arranged for a set price. This was especially awesome for me because I prefer to stay in a group and meet people. Every night at dinner I would sit at a different table to mingle. The group dinners were good but could have been better. People who went off on their own had better food experiences, sure they also paid a lot more as well. If you are adventurous and love Italian food I recommend venturing off on your own. The walking tours of Florence and Venice were nice but I could have done the same "walking tour" in a small group for free. Melissa's must dos: Coliseum Roman Forum Sistine Chapel Vatican City THE DAVID!!! in Florence (on free day) Group photo in Florence Gondola ride in Venice Bellini in Venice preferably at Harry's bar St Marks square Venice Murano Glass factory Venice Leaning tower od Pisa My favorite city on the tour was Florence. I loved everything about this city. Venice was my least favorite I felt it was to touristy. people who have spent more time in Venice had better experiences. I recommend staying an extra day in Venice if possible. Just to wonder around and explore the culture. This tour really only spends one good day in Venice. When the tour ended in venice I took the free transfer back to Rome. The free transfer is the contiki bus all the way back, takes about 6 hrs. Guess the bus has to go back to Rome anyway. About 10 out of the 50 of us took the free transfer to catch our flights the next morning. This gave us an extra night to explore Rome in a smaller group. we all went to dinner and walked around the city. Contiki arranged the extra night in the same hotel for $80. I still recommend staying in Venice if possible. Cons The only cons are that some of the activities seemed to be more of sales pitches to get you to spend money at that particular place. Leather making demo was just an excuse to get you in the store to spend money, same as the glass blowing demo and wine tour. Not sure if the tour guide or contiki makes commission but it sure seems so. Europe has strict driving rules so you take stops at old towns that seem pretty pointless. Think its a chance for the driver to take a break and eat. Sitting fees at restaurants paying to use the public bathroom no toilet seats anywhere Can only fit half your American body in the hotel showers at a time Best Pro of them all: Meeting 50 new friends from all over the world. We are all still in contact and have plans on meeting soon. As a general rule Contiki travelers are the coolest, craziest people you will ever meet.