You’re ready for the trip of a lifetime but you aren’t sure who can make it happen – Contiki or G Adventures. You love the look and sound of both operators but how do you know which one is right for you? Time for a quick compare and contrast!
Group size, age requirements and travel styles
Both operators offer a variety of trips that adhere to different travel styles.
Contiki caters to young adults, so most tours are action-packed with sightseeing, local dinners and nightlife options. They each allow you to move at a nonstop pace or take it easier, depending on the experience you’re looking for.
G Adventures offers a larger variety of tours when you consider that they accept travellers of all ages. Contiki offers tours to independent travellers aged 18 to 35. They have hard upper age limits on their tours and will not allow travellers older or younger than their age bracket to book a trip.
Contiki divides their trips into different classifications that help indecisive travellers determine the right trip for them based on their interests. Contiki’s Europe tours usually have 50 travellers in a group while their USA, Canada, New Zealand and Australia tours have an average group size of 30. Their Latin and South America tours offer the most intimate experiences when it comes to group size.
G Adventures offers tours to independent travellers aged 18 and up. There are no upper age limits on most tours, but they do have a YOLO tour that is restricted to 18 to 39-year-olds based on the nature of activities appropriate for that demographic.
Their Family Adventure travel style has tours available to families with children aged 5 to 17. All other trips (with the exception of YOLO) are open to kids aged 12 and older when accompanied by a parent.
The average G Adventure tour has 10 people on a tour but allows a maximum of 15. G Adventures also has a partnership with National Geographic (called National Geographic Journeys) that offers trips that can be considered premium excursions. These trips offer more inclusions, interactions with local experts, comfortable accommodations and transportation options as well as smaller group sizes.
Physical Requirements
With Contiki, there typically are no strenuous activities that must be completed, although some optional excursions, if you decide to do them, may involve swimming, bike riding or small hikes.
This should be checked on a per itinerary basis as there may be times throughout specialty tours (hiking for example) where a certain level of fitness will be required. This will be outlined in the itinerary of each tour.
G Adventures offers many tours under the umbrella of their Active travel style. These trips vary from trekking to the top of Kilimanjaro, rock-climbing, dog sledding, cycling through China’s countryside and more. You’ll absolutely need to be in good shape to have the best time possible on these types of tours.
Accommodation
G Adventures rarely have a mandatory single supplement. For solo travellers, both companies will typically match you with a traveller of the same gender to share your room with.
Contiki never has a single supplement, unless you specifically request it – in which case an extra fee will need to be paid. The standard of accommodation will vary with both companies depending on the type of trip you decide to take.
For example, nearly all tours will include air-conditioning and heating but if you’re travelling to a rural destination or a homestay you should adjust your expectations for the facilities.
Transportation
Both operators provide a variety of transportation options based on the trips. Contiki and G Adventures use a combination of private buses and public transit to get you where you need to go.
In most cases with Contiki, you’ll be relying on chartered buses but both operators offer very similar transportation options.
Destinations
Contiki offers tours to the following locations: Europe, Asia, North America, Australia, New Zealand, and Latin America.
G Adventures offer tours to the following locations: North America, South America, Polar Regions, Central America & the Caribbean, Europe, North Africa, the Middle East, Africa, Asia, Australia and New Zealand.
Cost
Contiki is slightly more affordable for budget travellers with their average price per day sitting at USD $140. This cost is determined by the number of scheduled activities per day in the itinerary, of which there are many.
G Adventures is slightly more expensive for budget travellers with their average price per day sitting at USD $208. While their trips always include the highlights of a destination, they also leave out some activities you’d consider “can’t miss.”
You’ll pay for that separately in addition to the listed tour price. There are many factors that affect the price when travelling with either company, things like accommodations and the number of included activities that can either increase or decrease the price of the overall trip.
Looking for more info? Find reviews for Contiki tours here and reviews for G Adventures tours here.
