European tour companies?

[knicknut]

Hi. I'm planning a trip to Europe and want to go on a guided tour in one of those young adult tour groups, like Contiki. Unfortunately Contiki is booked for the time periods I want to go in the trips I want to do. Any similar ideas?

Yes, I know people like doing it on their own, but I want to consider my touring options.

[busguy]

Well I'd start with this one:

http://www.radicaltravel.com/

It's a collection of companies that cover most of the UK and Europe. Hop-on-hop off backpacker buses. Many many people (read young single travellers) use companies like this all over the world (NZ, Aus, Canada, Turkey, South Africa etc).

[scratchy1]

Does anyone have experience with contiki? How was it?

[knicknut]

I loved going to New Zealand with Contiki. Great group of people (I got lucky), but the hotels we stayed at and included food was much nicer than most tours I went on in Australia.