Hungary and Sweden Tours and Trips

I can’t even put into words how amazing this trip and experience was! First of all, this specific Contiki trip is fantastic for so many reasons: 1) The travel by train – It’s easy, convenient, and truly maximizes your time in each city. Before booking, I did tons of research and looked through all the other trip options and itineraries. I knew most Contiki trips are fast-paced, but what really worried me was not having enough time in each city to see the highlights and get a feel for the place. I didn’t want to spend more time traveling than actually exploring (which a lot of coach bus trips can end up being). Although this trip is fast-paced, like most Contiki’s, the train is a HUGE benefit of this specific trip & truly the most time-efficient way to travel through Europe. 2) The cities themselves – Each one was absolutely stunning and filled with history. I loved every place for its own special reasons. 3) The balance of structure and free time – This trip offers the perfect amount of free time in each city, so you never feel like you’re constantly “on a tour” or doing things you don’t want to. At the same time, there’s plenty of structure through the planned walking tours, group activities, and recommendations provided by your Trip Manager. So, if you don’t want to do any research or plan out your free time, you’ll still have more than enough guidance to make the most of each city. Because of this, I still highly recommend doing a bit of research beforehand and having a short list of must-see sites or spots to make your free time even more rewarding. 4) The group size – Ours was wonderful! We started with 14 people, and since this trip is “modular,” a few people left and new ones joined halfway through in Berlin, bringing our group up to 25. It was the perfect size to connect with everyone, make group dinners work, and truly feel like you had a second family. If you’re traveling solo (like I did) and are worried about making friends—don’t be! There’s always someone who’ll want to hang out, explore, or grab food with you. Everyone’s on the same page: wanting to see as much as possible, make friends, and have fun! 5) The add-ons – Every optional activity on this trip was incredible. They were all worth doing, so I highly recommend budgeting for as many as you can, plus a lot of your new friends will likely be doing them as well, so it’s a great way to connect with the group. 6) Getting around – In each city, your Trip Manager gives you a transit card (covering buses, trams, trains, and subways), which gives you unlimited access for the two days you’re there. It makes it super easy to get around and see everything you want without having to walk long distances all the time. My biggest piece of advice: backpack if you can! Luggage is doable, but it’s so much easier with a backpack - especially since you sometimes walk 25–35 minutes to the train station or hotel. You can easily store your bag above or at your feet on trains or public transport, rather than worrying about where to stash a suitcase. Overall, this trip had the perfect balance: enough structure that you won’t feel lost if you don’t plan anything, but also enough free time to create your own little itinerary or explore with your new friends. I want to give a HUGE shoutout to the most amazing human being and our Trip Manager, Ella Purser. She played such a big part in making this trip one of the best experiences of my life. She’s kind, helpful, fun, and genuinely cares about everyone. She was super organized - sending us daily itineraries that broke down the day’s timeline (when we had free time, when to meet up, add-ons she recommended, must-see sites, cultural highlights, and even local foods and drinks to try). She also made little podcasts for us; each time we boarded a train to a new destination, she’d send us an audio clip she recorded about the history and background of the next city. It was such a fun and engaging way to learn a bit before arriving. She truly was our “trip mummy” (as we all called her) - caring for each of us, keeping things organized, but always joining in on the fun and keeping the vibes high. She also even helped me navigate the process of seeing a doctor when I needed to get medicine for my cold (proving her well-deserved “trip mummy” title)!🤣 If you’re on the fence about booking this trip (or a Contiki in general), this is your sign to do it. As cliché as it sounds, this trip was truly life-changing for me. I’ve been to Europe many times before, but I’d always wanted to do a fast-paced trip like this to see my bucket list cities. I didn’t have friends or a boyfriend to travel with, and I was tired of waiting for the “right” time or person, so I just booked it alone! I spent 15 days with the most amazing people from all over the world. I’m so thankful I had the opportunity to meet them and travel together through 7 incredible countries and cities, creating lifelong memories on a once-in-a-lifetime trip. Stop waiting, life’s too short. Book the trip. Thank you, @Contiki. I’m forever grateful I stumbled upon this one. ❤️

I had the best time! My trip manager was amazing. The activities were fun, the locations were close to train stations, and the accomodation was suitable. Would book again!

Even though. we didn’t see the Northern Lights because of cloudiness, we were not dissapointed at all. The sights we saw were amazing! And so varied! The reindeer farm, arctic zoo, Sami museum, hikes, Stockholm (the most beautiful city we’ve ever seen) and many other sites were fascinating. I’d highly reccomend this tour, especially with our tour guide, Mike Volpini, a very knowledgable and friendly person.

It was great! I feel like we really got a taste of life in Finland and Sweden. We saw big cities and remote towns. We tasted cultural foods and saw animals native to the areas we visited. Our guide was very helpful and successful at finding some views of the Aurora. You provided lots of time for the group to get to know each other and we had fun meeting each other.

Pacing of the tour is just right. Hotels were curated well. However, sites visited and activities need much improvement. Maybe the Vienna tour would be nice to have visited places like Hallstatt or Salzburg instead of Bratislava. Local food offered during dinners would have been great if there was more variety. The three countries being under Austro Hungarian Empire for more than 600 years, the food were the same or similar. Furhtermore, our tour was pleasant and so enjoyable as we had a great Tour Director, Anne-Elyse. She's so attentive, caring, thoughtful, sensitive to our needs, kind, and considerate. We, with my family, would be very glad to have her again in our future tours with Insight vacations. Cheers!

Visiting 3 great cities on my bucket list! I liked that we were at each hotel for 3 days. Director Anne-Elyse was excellent also our drivers were great. We did all the optional excursions which added 2 more countries. The length of the tour was perfect.