Europe Cultural, religious historic sites Trips

My husband and I had the most amazing honeymoon on the Simply Italy Contiki tour. Our guide and driver were amazing! With it being off-peak season in January we had a smaller group size and major tourist attractions were much quieter. This tour had a full itinerary and was a beautiful way to discover all of Italy. I recommend adding the “Free-Time Add Ons”. These were reasonable in price, and provided us with opportunities to do unique activities. Even though it was our honeymoon, we made so many friends and enjoyed hanging out with the entire group. We are so excited to book another Contiki tour in the near future!

Avoid the hustle and bustle of Western Europe and take a trip to Central Europe (Imperial Europe). Avoid the crowd during winter and experience a different vibe and atmosphere.

Excellent but challenging hiking tour of Gran Canaria. Never expected such beauty. We were lucky to have excellent weather throughout the trip and the island had heavy rain in the fall making for an unusually green landscape. The six hikes were each a bit different as far as terrain and environment and all were wonderful. Our tour leader was very knowledgeable and experienced and always attentive. David was very organized and clear. As per the itinerary, we covered a lot of ground, averaging over 8 miles each day. Elevation gains and losses were significant so could be a struggle if one isn’t in good shape. The paths frequently had loose cobble, rough surfaces and slippery spots so one had to pay attention at all times. We had a great group and everyone seemed to get along very well making this one of my favorite Explore trips. I look forward to going to others of the Canary Islands.

Having really enjoyed the Explore hiking trip on La Gomera in January 2025, we came back for more on Gran Canaria in January 2026. The hotel in the casco historico of sleepy Aguimes was charming, albeit the breakfasts were rather basic and the double beds only 1.40m wide (we are used to 2m at home!). In contrast, the hotel in Altea lacked a certain charm, but had a super bed and a terrific breakfast. Our very affable and multi-lingual Explore leader, Brian, ensured some good extra activities (eg making goat’s cheese) and gave the group plenty of options for the free day. We rested our knees on this free day and went to the excellent Bodega Los Berrazales, a wine and coffee finca, in the Agaete valley as well as visiting, briefly before it had really woken up, Puerto de las Nieves; Brian’s information on the punctual but not very frequent public buses was spot on for this non hiking jaunt). The astronomy talk over one of the dinners at a farm outside Aguimes was a bit comical with half the slides in Spanish and an astronomer with shaky English. Dinners were not included in the tour but Brian always arranged dinners at interesting restaurants. He was at pains to describe aspects of Canarian history, culture and geology throughout the tour. The Museo Guayadque in the Guayadque Ravine (Gorge?) was fascinating. For me, also as a keen student of the Spanish language and all things Hispanic, these were just as important as purely the hiking. The hiking, and the views the hikes offered, were indeed pretty spectacular. We may have been lucky with the weather with a lot of sun at a very pleasant temperature. Apparently it had rained quite a bit the week before, so a number of areas were quite verdant. Described as moderate, the terrain, both in terms of sharp volcanic rockiness as well as steepness, both up and down, was quite tough for non-regular hikers, such as me, a 64 year old (albeit twice a week gym goer).

Joao was an excellent; he was great with answering all questions. Armindo, our bus driver, was great, also; he was always very courteous. Please tell them both thank you for an outstanding travel experience.

The Best of Italy tour is terrific and covers the important parts of the country if you want a good overview of Italy. The itinerary is well paced and the activity level is very balanced. The hotels were very good and we were taken care of very well by both our Travel Director and our Driver.