What makes a destination “solo-friendly”
The best solo travel destinations share four traits: they’re safe enough to walk around at night, easy enough to navigate without local help, social enough that you actually meet other travellers, and structured enough that single-traveller things to do exist (group tours, hostels with common areas, day trips). Some destinations have all four. Some only have three. We’ve rated them honestly below.
This guide groups our 15 picks by traveller type — first-timer, solo female, budget, adventure, and “I want a beach + a bar” — so you can jump to the section that matches your trip.
Best for first-time solo travellers
If this is your first trip alone, pick somewhere with safe streets, English signage, easy logistics and a strong backpacker / digital-nomad scene where you’ll bump into other travellers without trying:
- Portugal — easy in every way. Lisbon and Porto are walkable, English is widely spoken, hostels are world-class and the country is small enough that you can cover the highlights in 7-10 days. Hostel pub crawls, surf lessons, port tasting — solo-friendly to the core. Read our Portugal 7-day itinerary.
- Japan — clean, safe, structured. Possibly the safest country in the world (yes, really) and the entire transport and tourism system runs on rails. Eat alone without anyone caring, ride bullet trains, hostel-hop Tokyo → Kyoto → Osaka. The downside: Japanese culture is shy, so you’ll meet other foreign travellers more than locals.
- New Zealand — backpacker paradise. The InterCity bus pass and Kiwi Experience hop-on-hop-off mean you’re always with the same crew. Camper-van rentals, every-night campsites, and outrageous scenery from Aoraki/Mt Cook to Milford Sound.
- Iceland — safe + small + photogenic. Reykjavík’s hostels are buzzing, the Ring Road has clear signposting, and Icelanders are friendly and English-fluent. Splurge-y but worth it — see Iceland itinerary.
Best for solo female travellers
The best destinations for solo women combine low harassment levels with strong female-traveller scenes — places where you’ll see plenty of other solo women, not stand out. Year-round picks:
- Japan, Iceland, Slovenia, Portugal, New Zealand, Singapore, Taiwan — all consistently rank in the top tier for solo female safety. Low violent crime, low harassment, strong public transport at all hours.
- Vietnam, Thailand, Indonesia (Bali, Ubud) — high female-traveller volume, established hostels and yoga / surf / digital-nomad scenes. Some catcalling but rarely worse.
- Mexico (Oaxaca, San Cristóbal, Mexico City), Costa Rica, Colombia (Medellín, Cartagena) — Latin America works very well solo if you pick the right city. Use the usual precautions (rideshare apps at night, don’t flash valuables) and pick female-run guesthouses where possible.
- Albania, Georgia, Armenia — under-the-radar gems. Crime is low, locals are protective of women travellers, and you’ll get more attention as a foreigner than as a woman specifically.
Carry standard travel insurance. SafetyWing works internationally and you can buy it after you’ve already left.
Best for budget solo travellers
Solo travel is almost always pricier per day than couple travel — you pay full price for private rooms, taxis don’t split. These destinations make solo budget travel possible:
- Vietnam — $25-35/day. Best hostel scene in Asia, sleeper buses connect everything, group tours of Halong Bay and Sapa are easy to join. Read our Vietnam 2-week itinerary.
- Indonesia (Bali) — $30-45/day. Canggu and Ubud have the world’s densest digital-nomad coworking scenes. Surf lessons, yoga retreats, scooter day trips — everything works solo.
- Colombia — $30-45/day. Medellín’s Poblado neighbourhood is the Latin American answer to Bali — coworking spaces, language exchanges, hostel rooftop parties.
- Albania — $30-45/day. Hostels in Tirana, Berat and Sarandë; cheap minibuses to the Albanian Riviera; vibrant café culture in the capital.
- Georgia — $25-40/day. Tbilisi’s hostel scene mixes Russians, Europeans and the digital-nomad crowd. Three days of Caucasus hiking from Mestia for under $100.
For a full ranking by daily cost, see our best budget travel destinations 2026 guide.
Best for adventure-seeking solo travellers
If your trip is built around something physical — hiking, climbing, diving — the activity itself becomes the social glue. Pick a destination known for group adventures:
- Nepal — trekking. Hike the Annapurna Circuit or Everest Base Camp. You’ll arrive solo and leave with a crew from the first teahouse onwards.
- Peru — Andes + Amazon. The Inca Trail and Salkantay treks are permit-based group walks. Solo travellers are the norm, not the exception.
- Iceland — multi-day hiking. Walk the Laugavegur Trail with a guided group, or join a glacier-hike out of Skaftafell.
- New Zealand — every kind of adventure. Bungee in Queenstown, hike the Milford Track, dive Poor Knights Islands.
- Argentina — Patagonia. Trek the W in Torres del Paine, climb in El Chaltén, ride the steppe.
Browse all the world’s great hiking trails, mountains, national parks and volcanoes.
Best for beach + bar solo trips
Some solo trips are about lying on a beach by day and meeting people by night. Pick somewhere with a structured backpacker / party scene:
- Bali (Indonesia) — Gili Trawangan, Canggu. The original solo-friendly tropical scene — beach hostels, surf lessons, and “everyone’s a stranger when they arrive” energy.
- Thailand — Koh Phangan, Phi Phi. Full Moon Party island has built an entire economy around solo backpackers passing through.
- Mexico — Tulum, Playa del Carmen. A grown-up version — yoga retreats, beach bars, cenote dives. More affluent crowd than the Asia equivalents.
- Philippines — Siargao, El Nido. Smaller, slower-pace beach hubs with hostels that organise daily group trips.
- Croatia — Hvar, Split, Brač. Adriatic island hopping; bigger crowd in summer. Older / more couples than the Asia hubs.
For all the world’s top beaches see our beaches hub and islands hub.
How to meet people on the road
The number-one solo-travel anxiety is loneliness. It’s very easy to defeat:
- Stay in hostels with common areas — even if you book a private room, the lounge is where conversations happen.
- Take a free walking tour on Day 1 in every city. Tip-based, available everywhere, and you leave with two or three other travellers heading to the same places.
- Join a group activity — a half-day cooking class, dive certification, language exchange or guided hike. Shared experiences create instant friendships.
- Use Couchsurfing Hangouts or Bumble BFF — both are still active in big travel cities for meeting locals and other travellers.
- Sit at the bar, not at a table — easier to talk to whoever’s next to you.
- Travel slow. 3+ nights in each city lets you build a routine and let people find you, instead of always being the “new” person.
Solo safety basics
- Share your itinerary with one person at home, with check-in days agreed.
- Carry a backup credit card and a small amount of USD cash hidden separately from your wallet.
- Save your accommodation address in the local language as a screenshot on your phone.
- Use registered taxis or ride-hailing apps (Grab, Bolt, Uber) at night, never unmarked taxis.
- Trust your gut. If a situation feels wrong, leave — it costs nothing to be wrong.
- Buy travel insurance before you go — solo female travel safety covers this in more depth.
Plan your solo trip in 5 minutes
Use the AI Trip Planner to build a route, the Visa Checker to confirm you can enter, the Budget Calculator to estimate costs, and the Compare Countries tool when you’re stuck between two destinations. Browse all 197 country guides from the most-visited list, or jump straight into nature discovery by category.
