Solo Female Travel: 13 Years, 20+ Solo Trips and What You Need To Know

Solo female travel is an incredible thing, and I will always be an advocate of it (no matter your circumstance!). I’ve spent the last 13 years travelling solo, across 6 continents, and on over 20 trips varying in length from a weekend break to five months backpacking. It has been one of the most life-changing and incredible skills I have taught myself. So with this in mind, I wanted to share my tips and lessons that I have picked up along the way!

I was 24 when I first embarked on solo female travel, taking a 10-week sabbatical from my then job and backpacking through Southeast Asia on group travel tours. I am now in my 30s, and since then my trips have ranged from long weekends in Europe, solo safaris and taking a career break and travelling solo through Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific.

Why Go On A Solo Female Travel Trip?

There are so many benefits to solo female travel, which is why I believe anyone should do it at least once! These include, but are not limited to:

• Finding out more about yourself. What you are capable of, how strong you are, and what you like and dislike!
• Improves your communication and organistational skills. Nothing like doing something like this alone to flex those skills.
• Most importantly increase your self-confidence.

The big one for me, is that solo female has meant I have removed the ‘if only’ from my life. I want to see the world, and so I go, rather than wishing circumstances allowed me to go. The biggest reason to solo female travel? To see the world on your own terms.

How to Start Solo Travelling as a Woman

It is often a big misconception that solo travel needs to involve heading off for months on an epic trip. However, this definitely isn’t, and shouldn’t be, the case. If you want to embark on solo female travel, and perhaps feel a little nervous, there are steps you can take. Here are my top tips for starting your solo female travel journey.

Start with a day trip or a European city break

If you are feeling daunted at the prospect of solo female travel, and haven’t done it before, start small to figure out what works and what doesn’t for you. The first trip doesn’t have to be about throwing yourself in the deep end. Start with a city break, or even a day trip in your own country.

Use this smaller trips to discover how you like to travel when you are solo. Things like how busy you want to be, how you feel about public transport or eating alone, or navigating language barriers. And most importantly, handle being alone for periods of time and making all the decisions for yourself.

With each trip you do, you learn more and more about yourself and can build up to bigger trips, if that is what you want.

If you are flying alone for the first time, this guide has lots of helpful tips to make your journey smooth:
Flying Alone for the First Time? 24 Insider Secrets from Over 100 Confident Solo Flights

Choose accommodation you’re comfortable with

Accommodation is a massively important part of solo travelling. Where you are staying can really affect how you feel about a trip. Some important things to consider:

• Is the neighbourhood a safe one?
• Are you happy to use public transport to get to sights each day?
• Do you want to stay in hostels to socialise, or do you want your own hotel room?
• If staying in hostels, private or dorm? How many beds? And mixed or female-only?
• Are there any facilities in your accommodation that are a must-have?

Various factors influence my decision when I solo travel. If I am going for a shorter period of time, I tend to prefer a hotel room to relax in the evening. If I am travelling for longer, I stay in hostels, both for social and budget reasons. But I do balance this out by treating myself to a private room every two to three weeks for a reset. I also choose dorms that are female-only, no more than 6 people and have curtains around the bed so I can have some privacy.

Book one thing each day for structure

Having at least one activity booked, particularly at the start of the trip, gives you structure for the day. I am often quite a nervous traveller, and can sometimes struggle to force myself out, especially at the beginning of a trip. But having something confirmed, it ensures I do go out. Most often this is a free walking tour. These are the ideal way to get to know a new city, get local tips on where to go and what to eat and often meet people.

Consider a group tour

Group travel tours are a fantastic way to travel for any traveller, but particularly solo travellers. And are perfect as an intro into solo travel. When researching, just double-check it isn’t a tour that charges a single person supplement. I travel with G Adventures, who are fantastic for solo travellers.

Given the nature of a tour, you are guaranteed to meet like-minded people, and (unless you choose to upgrade to your own room), will be sharing with someone. They add extra ease to travelling, as the itinerary and logistics are all sorted for you. These are perfect if you want to visit somewhere that is perhaps a little more logistically challenging, if you are worried about not meeting people or if you want to take the planning out of solo travel.

Not sure which is the right travel style for you? This guide will talk you through it:
Solo travel vs group travel: Which is right for you? 

How I Went From Group Tours to Travelling Alone

First and foremost, I don’t think solo travel needs to be divided into whether you join a group travel tour or go solo. There is a time and a place for each, and I still incorporate both into my travel life.

I began my solo travel life by joining back-to-back group travel tours. At 24, I had been working for the same company for 8 years and had never really travelled. So I decided to take a sabbatical and travelled to Southeast Asia for 9 weeks. It was the first time I had been abroad alone, the first time I had any experience of long-term travel and my first time in Asia. So I decided the best thing for me was to join a group travel tour. I booked three tours, with some gaps in the middle. This gave me the perfect mix of having some time alone to explore during the breaks in the middle, but also the security of the group travel tours and people to travel with.

Since then, I have grown in confidence with my solo travel. Starting with city breaks alone to places such as Venice and Ljubljana. Before heading to Chile solo for a week. Most recently, I took a career break in my mid-30s and solo travelled for 5 months through Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific. Something I would never have had the confidence to do at the beginning of my journey. I took lessons I learned from each shorter solo trip to build my confidence.

Solo Travel or Group Tour? How I Decide

Even now, I feel very confident travelling solo, but I still join (and love) group travel tours. Deciding whether to join a group travel tour or go solo comes down to various factors.

Primarily the destination. I tend to book group travel tours if I think somewhere is logistically more challenging. Some destinations are harder to travel through, often due to a lack of public transport systems or infrastructure that might mean you don’t want to hire your own car. I joined group travel tours in Mongolia, East and Southern Africa and Nepal for these reasons. Group travel tours offer a logistically beneficial way of travelling by having local drivers. Hiring a local driver and a car independently would be a high financial cost.

My career break in my mid-30s was split into two halves. The first involved travelling through Australia, New Zealand, and the Pacific for five months. I did this solo, as I wanted to travel more slowly, particularly in Australia and New Zealand. I wanted the freedom to choose my own itinerary and pace, and logistically I knew it was very easy to travel to these destinations. The Pacific Islands were more challenging, especially Kiribati, which is the least visited country in the world. I travelled solo to these as very few group travel tours to these locations exist.

Is Solo Female Travel Safe?

How I Plan A Solo Trip

What Solo Travel Is Really Like

Best Places for Solo Female Travel

Solo Female Travel FAQs

• Where is the best place to travel solo as a woman?
• How do I start solo travelling as a woman?
• Which countries are safe for solo female travel?
• Is it weird to eat alone?
• Do I need to book a group tour?

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“Travelling solo means getting to know the real you”

“I wondered why it was that places are so much lovelier when one is alone”

“To awaken alone in a strange town is one of the pleasantest sensations in the world”

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Read more about my South East Asia travels:

My first solo travel – China

Vietnam – A 12 day trip

Cambodia – Phnom Penh and Siem Reap

Beginners guide to Malaysia

Thailand – Bangkok and Islands

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How to plan your solo travel

Researching your trip

I guess this is an extension of the above. But I spend a lot of time researching what I want to see and where I want to go. I use other bloggers guides, and also extensively peruse the Lonely Planet website. Before I go I have a list of the places I want to see, broken down into days.

When you’re on your own, I find you tend to see sights a lot quicker. I guess it’s the not stopping to chat about what you are seeing. By having a rough guide of what I want to see in a day, it means I’m not wandering around at a complete lose end.

Find some restaurants you want to eat in as well. It helps frame the day! And finally, it’s totally fine to eat on your own. I really enjoy it!

Safety

I think this is a concern of a lot of people when they embark on a solo trip. All I can say here, is use your common sense. Which is necessarily exclusive to solo travel. I, again, always trust my own instincts. I stick to well lit places, I don’t flash my belongings around and I judge all the situations.

If you are considering somewhere a little less statistically safe, this is when I would consider day trips or a group travel tour.

Finally, I always carry a second purse, with a little bit of cash in it. If anyone then demands I had my purse over, I can give them this rather than my actual one!

Reality of solo travel

I am actually very positive about solo travel. It can be tough, but I am so proud of myself for going on the trips I have on my own.

There have been times when I have had to give myself a serious talking to. I vividly remember this only my recent trip to Brussels. I was exhausted, had injured my ankle and just couldn’t seem to muster the energy to leave the hostel and face the city alone. But it was Brussels! It was Europe, and I realised I was being pathetic.

There are of course the low points. I had my entire savings skimmed from my card in Vietnam. I absolutely felt like giving up. But after multiple phone calls to the bank, and also to my mum, I got my money back. Now it’s a story to tell.

I think the biggest thing for me, is how I proud I feel of myself. And how I know I can take on any challenge now. I have become so much more confident through travelling. I know I said I was a nervous traveller, but honestly you should see how far I have come!

Suggestions on destinations for solo travel

If you are looking for some first destinations to consider for solo travel, I recommend having a look at:

• Iceland
• Slovenia
• Vietnam
• London
• New Zealand
• Greece

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So, my thoughts on what solo travel means for me. Have you solo travelled? Would you? How do you feel about it?

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