Take note: EF Ultimate Break, formally EF College Break, rebranded after my trip in October 2017 (to appeal more to non-college aged travelers), but Highlights of Eastern Europe is still available, including Berlin! Visit their website to see the itinerary and book.
EF Ultimate Break has been one my favorite discoveries. Basically Contiki’s less crazy cousin, EFUB offers travelers between the ages of 18 and 28 the chance to go on all-inclusive trips to Europe, Asia, South America, and Oceania (all-inclusive meaning airfare, accommodations, some meals, short tours of each destination, plus a few fun extras, all for a low, low price tag). You literally have to worry about nothing but making sure your passport is up to date and you’re at the airport in time to board your flight abroad. Talk about relieving the stresses of traveling!
There is a stigma against going on tours within the travel community, I have noticed, and I roll my eyes at that. Tours are certainly not always my favorite way to travel, and of course have their downfalls. But they have their perks, too! Speaking as someone who has always been interested in traveling, but often used to let fear and uncertainty dictate my decisions regarding going abroad, or going anywhere or doing anything really, a tour is a hugely appealing option to, let’s say, whet your travel appetite. By the way, just because you don’t feel like you’re massively adventurous or brave or cool doesn’t mean you can’t be a world-traveler. A kind-of-related anecdote: the summer before I started high school, the captain of the cross country team left me a message on my home phone’s answering machine (even writing that makes me feel old), inviting me to a little trail run slash picnic to get to know each other before the season started. I knew before the girl even said goodbye that I was not going to go. Are you kidding me, Cori?? Meet up with a bunch of older, intimidating 17-year-olds I’ve never even met to run and CHITCHAT?? I could think of about ten million things I would have rather spent my afternoon doing than that, including, but not limited to, flossing with barbed wire and pouring rubbing alcohol into my eyeballs. Seriously. I could not go. Come hell or high water, I would not go. Turns out, I did go, but only after tears were shed, harsh words were exchanged, and threats putting the future of my social life in danger were made, mainly by my mother. You would have thought I was being sent to walk the plank to my untimely death. It wasn’t so bad after all, but the point I am making here is that if someone is that afraid to go to a meet up of ten other girls for two hours, imagine how daunting the thought of traveling across the globe alone would be for that person. And it is daunting. But that’s okay. That’s why tour companies are so successful.
For the record, I am not so scared of things anymore. Solo traveling is fun. Meeting new friends is my favorite thing. But you know what? I still like going on tours every once in a while. You learn so much about the places you’re traveling to, you make friends, and you have plenty of free time to immerse yourself in the new culture.
Highlights of Eastern Europe was my second EFUB trip, and I was even more impressed with this one than my last. Here are some thoughts and details for anyone considering booking with EF.
Tour Director
Each EFUB tour comes with its own tour director, who makes sure that everyone gets on the bus before setting off to the next destination, shares some information about the culture of wherever you are, and coordinates extra activities for the group to do (e.g. river boat cruises, wine tastings, etc.). I’m not sure if EF is having to make budget cuts or what, but they actually had to change my dates from the ones I was originally planning on traveling due to there being an inadequate number of people signed up. A minor inconvenience in theory, but it didn’t really affect me too much because I had no problem moving my trip up two weeks, plus they gave me a $100 credit towards my trip to compensate. It seems they had to do that with a lot of travelers, because there ended up being FORTY PEOPLE on my trip! And I thought Csilla, our tour director, handled it gracefully, considering. That’s a lot of people under your one, tiny wing.
Csilla was one of my favorite people I’ve ever met. She is full of energy, made everything fun (even the tediously long stretches between countries aboard our coach bus), and put a smile on everyone’s face. She is Hungarian and Croatian but travels on a lot of Western European trips as well. I can not express my love for her enough and hope she reads this and knows.
Itinerary
Stop 1 – Budapest, Hungary
Read about the very best stuff to do in Budapest here!
We started by hopping on a shuttle that took us from the airport to our hostel, Wombat City Hostel, which was nice and offered free breakfast and was right in the middle of Jewish Quarter (i.e. a short walk to basically anything you could want). It did have a few rooms without air conditioning, which was a struggle in the ninety degree heat and suffocating humidity (though, if you think about how much the nightly cost for a bed is at that hostel, there’s not a whole lot of room to complain). This was on the Pest side of the city, right across the street from Gozsdu Udvar, a festive pedestrian street with tons of bars, restaurants, and nightlife.
Perks:
- Free breakfast every day, and free dinner and drinks on the first night.
- Free guided tour with a Budapest local, a chance to learn some history of the city.
- Free entry into Matthias Church and the Parliament building.
- As much free time as you like (all tours are optional, but I like to go on them because I love learning about the place I am in).
- Csilla organized a river boat cruise for us along the Danube River, including an hour long chance to see the twinkling city at night and several glasses of champagne (and a little buzz), for only 20€.
Stop 2 – Szentendre, Hungary
Read about how to make the most out of a quick pit stop in Szentendre here!
On our way out of Budapest, we made a stop for several hours in Szentendre, a smaller Hungarian town located about half an hour north of Budapest. EFUB does a good job of taking you to lesser-known places in between the larger cities — these are places you may never think to venture to on your own!
Stop 3 – Vienna
Read about the very best stuff to do in Vienna here!
Vienna, Austria, the city of music. After arriving via our coach bus, we checked into our hotel, Ibis Wien Mariahilf. This was an inexpensive budget hotel, but still 3-star and right near a metro station, so getting into center city was no problem. Another thing I appreciate about EFUB is that they always book accommodation that is cheap but comfortable and, even if not in the middle of the city, it is always extremely easy to get there.
My one complaint about both Budapest and Vienna: we didn’t get to spend a lot of time in each place. There were things I would have loved to do but couldn’t because of the time constraints. That is definitely a downside to tours like these, but EFUB listens to the feedback of its customers and adjusts trip itineraries accordingly.
Perks:
- Free guided tour on our second day with a local Venetian.
- Free breakfast every morning (and it was a FEAST).
- Free entry into Schloss Schönbrunn and its gardens.
- Csilla bought us all a Mozartkugel, a candy ball made of pistachio marzipan, nougat, and chocolate. Yum yum yum.
- We had the option to go to Prater, the amusement park right outside of the city, ride the ferris wheel, then go out for a traditional Austrian dinner with lots and lots of wine included. EFUB has lots of excursions per each trip you can add for a small extra cost if you so desire.
Stop 4 – Kutná Hora
Kind of a creepy little pit stop, but definitely a very cool town. This place has gotten more and more popular amongst tourists in recent years, and there is a lot to do here. I kind of wish we had gotten a little more time, because all we had time to do was go to the bone church and eat at this incredible Czech beer hall. If you go on an EFUB trip, you really have to be prepared to make the most of your pit stops, because you’ll only get a few hours at each one (again, this is unfortunate, but to be expected).
Stop 5 – Prague
Read about the very best stuff to do in Prague here!
Ah, Prague. The greatest of all the greats. My favorite city in the world. We stayed in a nice-ass hotel here, the Vienna House Diplomat Prague, a FOUR-STAR hotel 3 metro stops away from city center (and a short walk to the magnificent Prague Castle. I’ve heard people say that they were underwhelmed by the Prague Castle, and to that I say stfu). We had a little bit longer in this city, thankfully, so I did feel like I had a bit more time to get done what I most wanted (including seeing my friend from college for the first time in 2 years!)(don’t get me wrong though, I could have stayed in this city forever and never gotten bored).
Perks:
- Longer stay = more free time.
- Free breakfast buffet every day.
- Free tour with the extremely accomplished David Christof, who is hilarious and who I am obsessed with. Best tour guide ever. I learned SO much about Prague and the Czech Republic from his tour.
- Free entry into Prague Castle.
- Csilla bought us all trdelnik, a really tasty Czech dessert coated in cinnamon sugar and topped with ice cream.
- The opportunity to go on a beer tasting excursion (the Czech Republic is the biggest beer-drinking country in the world, after all) with MASSIVE tasting glasses, and an included traditional Czech meal afterwards (with a free drink; most people got wine to change it up, but I got another beer and added another few ounces to my rapidly growing muffin top).
Stop 6 – Wroclaw
Read about why Wroclaw is worth a visit, even just a short visit, here!
We actually could have stayed here for so much longer, considering it is actually one of Poland’s largest and most famous cities, but we only got a couple of hours. Sad. Still glad that I got to see it, but do wish that there had been more time, and also wish that a good bit of the time wasn’t spent waiting for people to get to the bus (this MOST frustrating aspect of tours. I don’t want to wait for those people. Leave them, honestly. I would have taken more time had I known we’d all just be sitting here waiting for them. Such a waste of precious, precious time).
Stop 6 – Kraków
Read about the very best stuff to do in Kraków here!
Kraków was another fantastic stop. I love Poland. We stayed in another Ibis Budget hotel, not as nice as the Vienna one, but still clean and a short walk to city center. The one complaint I had about this part of the trip (that everybody else also had) was that, due to World Youth Day that was taking place in the city at the same time we were there, many parts of Auschwitz-Birkneau were closed and we were not allowed inside any of the buildings. We were still able to walk around both camps, but it was, needless to say, a disappointment. I felt bummed about it, so I can’t imagine how so many of the people on the trip who come from Jewish and Polish backgrounds must have felt about it. We did make our grievances heard, and EFUB ended up reimbursing what we paid for the trip to the concentration camp, and also gave us a $100 travel credit to go towards another trip with EFUB . So they are an accommodating company, and I appreciate that.
Perks:
- Free tour of the city with a local on our second day.
- Entrance into parts of Wawel Palace.
- Csilla bought us zapiekanka, a Polish snack that’s made up of melted cheese and mushrooms on a baguette (and other toppings). This was the point in the trip where I realized that Csilla understood the key to our heart was buying us food in every country.
- She also brought Schindler’s List and played it on the bus ride on the way into the city. I’d never seen it before. Can you believe I’d never seen Schindler’s List??
- Having access to Auschwitz in any capacity was a perk of being with EFUB. Had you been in Poland during World Youth Day on your own, you would not have been able to go at all.
- Free hotel breakfast, though it mostly consisted of breads, meats, cheeses, cold cereal, and boiled hot dogs (?). There were also little pictures of hot dogs with faces on the walls of the dining area and hanging from the ceiling. Kind of disconcerting, and I am one of those people who actually like hot dogs.
Stop 7 – Warsaw
Our last stop on our trip (sob). We stayed at another Ibis Budget hotel, almost identical to the one in Kraków. Out of all the hotels we stayed in, this was probably the least convenient. It was located a bit out of the way; there was no metro, so we took a bus to and from the center of the city. But if that was the least convenient of all, then that is pretty good, because it could hardly even be classified as inconvenient. It was also walking distance to the BEACH BARS, so perfect for nightlife. The morning that we all left, the bus driver took us in groups to the airport to catch our flights. A very smooth ordeal. In general, the whole trip was a very smooth ordeal.
Perks:
- Free tour of the city with a local.
- Free entrance into St. John’s Cathedral.
- Csilla recommended and helped coordinate us going on a tasting tour, which took us around Warsaw, tasting different sorts of Polish foods and drinks with a Warsaw local. A lot of fun and only about $11. Thank you, Csilla. What would we do without you?
- A free dinner at a high-end restaurant on the last night with lots of wine. This is something EFUB does for all its trips to give everyone a chance to have a really nice meal with really nice new friends one last time (and the tour director will sometimes gift you all a little souvenir to take home, if you’re lucky!).
I thought this trip was great. A lot of the issues were either beyond the control of the company (World Youth Day and its hindrance on our experience at Auschwitz) or an unfortunate side effect of going on a tour (wasting time waiting for people and not having enough time in general in every city. Plus the lack of flexibility in terms of your itinerary. It is set from day one and you can’t stay an extra day in Prague no matter how badly you want to. And you will want to).
I think that these sorts of tours are excellent for someone who is just trying to break into traveling and doesn’t have anyone to do it with. Let’s face it, your friend or sibling or parent or cousin is unlikely to have vacation from work the same time as you, adequate travel funds the same time as you, or even necessarily the burning drive to see the world the same time as you. But traveling with other people is fun. You always have someone to accompany you on your excursions, and it gives you a better opportunity to experience the nightlife safely. And having your trip planned for you, especially if you’ve never traveled before, is a weight lifted off your shoulders. So don’t be afraid to sign up for a tour and meet new friends and see the world. And please look into EF Ultimate Break and Highlights of Eastern Europe in particular. They are the best company out there for travel in your 20s.
