A Breakdown of the Contiki Special Stay Accommodations

Last updated on 31 January 2025

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If you’ve been checking out Contiki’s websites and looking at the various epic-looking trips they offer, you’ll notice that in the itinerary for many of the trips they have accommodation listed as Contiki Special Stay.

These are, as the name suggests, accommodations along the way that are a little bit more than your average hotel or hostel. They might be a Contiki-owned spot, or perhaps a resort. Some of them are floating houseboats or ski chalets in the mountains.

On the European Adventurer trip with Contiki, we had several Special Stays along the way, all of them were quite different but all of them were a lot of fun. Now, obviously, I can’t speak for all the Special Stays with Contiki, but I can definitely comment on the three that we went to.

Starting in London, the coach took us through France, Switzerland Spain, Italy, Greece, up through the Balkans, Slovenia, Bosnia & Herzegovina, into Austria and Germany, before finishing up in the Netherlands and taking those who were going back to England through Belgium and France back to London. That’s a lot of countries (even more if you throw in the Vatican when you’re in Rome!).

We went to three Contiki Special Stay accommodations:

1. Chateau de Cruix in the Beaujolais Wine Region, France
2. Paradise Beach on the island of Mykonos, Greece
3. Haus Schoneck in Hopfgarten, Austria

Of course, there are heaps around the world and if you’re taking a Contiki tour then you’re probably going to stay at one on your trip. You can find a long list of Contiki Special Stay places here.

But let’s go through the three I stayed at so you get a good feel for them.

Contiki Special Stay – European Adventurer

Chateau de Cruix

Set in the stunning Beaujolais Wine Region in France, the Chateau de Cruix was our first special stay of the trip.  This is probably one of the most famous or well-known Special Stays with Contiki, and it truly is beautiful. The Chateau is 17th-century made, with many rooms which have been refurbished to house multiple Contiki groups at the same time.

When we were there we had our group and another group staying at the same time, and there was plenty of time and opportunity for the groups to hang out together. Or you can keep to your own group.

There is a beautiful lawn and pool, with lounge chairs and beanbags (the lawn, not the pool 😉), and plenty of inside spots to hang out in, too. As part of the Special Stay here at the Chateau, dinner was included, and while the food wastage was a little disappointing, the food we were served was really delicious.

Just note there is no available laundry at the chateau.

Paradise Beach

You may stay at a different Special Stay on Mykonos if you’re headed there, but we were at Paradise Beach, which is a popular resort in Greece. Paradise Beach is known for its parties, too, so every night there were dance parties (see if you can find Tarzan when you’re there!) and drinks a plenty.

At Paradise Beach, there’s obviously the water, a lot of lounge chairs (which you do have to purchase, unfortunately), places to grab a meal and a drink, and a little shop. There are also a few other beaches you can wander to.

The rooms were comfortable, a few to a room, and near the entrance to the resort, there’s a shop, laundromat and a bus that will take you into the township. We were in Mykonos for three nights, which was actually the longest we were anywhere for. It felt like a holiday inside a holiday, and it was a stunning spot to just chill out for a few days.

Gasthof Schoneck in Hopfgarten, Austria

At the end of our trip, with only a handful of days to go, we went to Haus Schoneck in Hopfgarten, Austria. While there is space for multiple Contiki groups at the same time, it was just us while we were there, which was actually quite good because there was a storm whipping through the country and we ended up spending a lot of time all wrapped up in our duvets in the lounge watching movies.

But the ski lodge itself (as it’s described on the Contiki website) is really well put together. The aforementioned lounge is huge, with board games, a big TV hooked up to Netflix and the like, with sofas and tables, too. There’s a laundry, a great dining room, and also a bar where we had a white party one night.

The town of Hopfgarten is really sweet, even if we only got to see a little bit of it due to the storm. We also caught the gondola up the mountain, again to no view due to the blizzard we were suddenly in, but the food and hot chocolate at the top were delicious.

Overall thoughts on Contiki’s Special Stays

I really enjoyed all three Contiki Special Stay spots during our European Adventurer trip. I think that they were a good mix of styles or ‘vibes’ if you like, and they were all really well kept. Our time at Paradise Beach was especially needed, I think, as a bit of a reprieve from the go-go-go of Contiki coach life, but the other two were nice bookends (almost) to the very long 37-day trip.

If you’ve been on Contiki, which Special Stays did you visit? Let me know!