As the world's leading youth travel operator, Contiki has been fulfilling the travel dreams of young people since 1962. With over 56 years' experience, parents can be confident that Contiki delivers hassle-free travel. Our travellers never have to worry about the detail – they can focus on making epic memories. 

Our teams of professional Trip Managers and Drivers complete comprehensive training, and we have well-established relationships with our accommodation and transport suppliers, as well as a global network of contacts to ensure that our travellers are safe at all times. You can rest assured that your children are travelling with a family-run business which genuinely cares about its travellers.

Our Contiki coaches in Europe come equipped with free WiFi so our travellers can check in and connect with their family and friends during their travels.

We give each traveller 100MB of free data before their trip starts. They can simply log in and top up online using a credit card.

 We also have free WiFi at all of our Contiki accommodation providers throughout Europe, to ensure our travellers are connected throughout their trip.

On average, our travellers board the coach at 8am.

The amount of spending money will depend on the duration of the trip, the region to which your child is travelling (for instance Europe and Australia will be significantly more expensive than Asia, or Latin America), and how much you anticipate they will spend on personal expenses like alcohol or shopping. Before you travel, it’s also a good idea to research the Free Time Add-Ons you think your child will want to do on the trip, as these will form part of your overall budget. We’d advise doing some research on your chosen destinations beforehand, looking at things like: 

• Cost of a local lunch
• Cost of a local dinner
• Cost of a bottle of water
• Cost of a beer
• Cost of an ice cream
• Cost of entry to a sightseeing spot

We also suggest bringing some cash in the local currency and then using a debit or credit card to withdraw money along the way (don’t forget to let your bank know they will be travelling, otherwise they may freeze the account due to foreign currency expenditure). Cash cards like Travelex are also a good option if you want to reduce conversion fees.

Our people are what makes us, us. Highly trained, professional, always up for a good time and with a knowledge of Europe so vast it will make your eyes water, they're the secret sauce to our already winning formula.

 In 2017, we received over 900 applicants in 2017, and after training, only 35 trip managers graduate. They spend 67 days of the full training trip, learn about 25 countries, write over 41 essays during the training process, learn 60 major destinations in-depth, write a 30,000 word final essay and attend 20-minute speciality talks every day on pop culture, local life, food, art and architecture. They really are the best in the business.

From the Trip Manager, Driver, Chefs, On-site Teams, and boat skippers, our crew ensures that our travellers have the best experience possible and are available to help in the unlikely event of an emergency. Remember, we also offer Gold Seal protection, so if your child has to leave the trip early for personal reasons, Gold Seal will refund you R750 for each day that your child misses and also covers their air ticket costs. For more information, call us on 011 280 8481.

For each trip, our Trip Manager will assign each member of the group to a room, and this will be the rooming formation for the duration of the trip. If for any reason your child wants to switch rooms, they'll need to put this request to their Trip Manager. If you are 2 children or a group of friends, they will be roomed together.

You can view our most frequently asked questions from travellers here.

You can either book online, or call us at 011 280 8481.