Traveling alone overseas can be a much-needed break from day-to-day social obligations, a chance to explore independently and engage in local communities on no one’s time frame but your own.
“One of the huge benefits of traveling alone is that you do have the opportunity to get more in touch with yourself and have a deeper experience in whatever culture you’re visiting,” said Sasha Landauer, 27, who works in publishing in New York. Her first solo — during a gap year before college — was to Nepal. She has since gone to Tanzania and Kenya on her own.
Traveling alone as a woman, however, does have certain considerations, particularly in a country where the language and culture may be unfamiliar.
Here are some tips for women on how to stay safe and enjoy their travels while going it alone.
Choosing a destination
Inspiration, guides and other online resources abound for solo women travelers.
Wanderful is a membership-based network ($9 a month) with 50 hubs, including in London, San Francisco and Brussels, and an online community. Unearth Women offers online “feminist city guides,” with hotel and dining recommendations.
It’s best to choose a destination that is established but not overcrowded, advises Elise Fitzsimmons, a co-author of Wanderess, a women’s guide for “smart, safe, and solo” traveling. “I always have a better time in the countries where the tourism industry exists, but it’s not to the point of overtourism,” she said.
Overall, smaller, walkable towns or cities are friendly to solo travelers, as are destinations with reliable train systems. “Cartagena is an incredibly walkable city. It has a lot of culture, so it’s a great solo traveling destination. It’s affordable,” said Nikki Vargas, a co-founder of Unearth Women and co-author of Wanderess, who also recommends Madrid, Barcelona, Paris and Burgundy in France.
Sites like HoodMaps provide insight into where to stay, which neighborhoods are fun to explore and zones that are potentially safer to avoid.
“I like to stay close to the city center, to stay close to the beaten path when it comes to my accommodations,” said Ms. Vargas, who also recommends searching for reviews written by solo women.
When traveling abroad, sign up for the U.S. State Department’s Smart Traveler Enrollment Program for emergency travel alerts from nearby U.S. embassies.
For people who love hiking or trail running, the Dolomite Mountains in Italy and the Tour du Mont Blanc loop in France are great for solo travelers. The trails are well-populated — including with other solo women — and many of the huts have communal meals.
Before you leave
It’s best to have the first few days planned out, including accommodations, having a rough itinerary and knowing in detail how to get from the airport or train station to your first stop. (Remember, taxis can be expensive when you’re alone.)
Before the trip, provide your itinerary to friends and family and send updates if anything changes. You can also share your phone location with family or friends via apps like Apple’s Find My Friends or Life 360 for Android devices. Consider purchasing an international phone plan with data. Or you can download an eSIM — a digital SIM card that activates a phone plan without a physical SIM card — before leaving home so that you will have service as soon as you land. Also, download Google Maps for your destination so you aren’t dependent on device connectivity to navigate.
Be aware of local customs, including those pertaining to modesty and clothing choices. Reddit, Facebook groups specifically for women traveling solo, and guides such as Lonely Planet are useful starting points. Ms. Fitzsimmons recommends imagining yourself as “an observer.”
“Notice if there’s a gender difference, if there’s an age difference, if there’s a tonality difference, and ask. People are happy to talk to you about what’s going on in their country,” she said.
Try to pack as light as possible. It’s important to be self-reliant, and you can feel more vulnerable when hauling a lot of luggage around.
When you arrive
“Talk to locals, and talk to the people who run your hotel or hostel and see what their experience is once you’re on the ground,” Ms. Fitzsimmons said.
In public places, be street smart — maintain awareness of your surroundings of all times, and avoid looking at your phone or using headphones. There are some cities and neighborhoods that feel quite safe, even after dark, but always know exactly where you are going. Many women also refrain from consuming alcohol when traveling alone.
If you have multiple bank accounts, Ms. Fitzsimmons recommends only taking one card with you when you leave your accommodations and keeping the rest in your room. Split any cash into separate pockets.
Apple Pay might be an option, too: If you have an iPhone, paying with your phone keeps you from sorting through different cards. Ms. Fitzsimmons also suggests using a lanyard that attaches to your phone.
“You can have it on as a crossbody and in your pocket, and then you can whip it out, and it stays much safer, closer to your person, so someone can’t snatch it out of your hand,” she said.
Having an emergency credit card or cash on hand is helpful in case you need to change plans or move to a different hotel. Store your emergency funds in a separate pocket or bag than your wallet and other documents.
It can be smart to avoid posting anything on social media until returning from a trip to avoid broadcasting your location.
Meeting people
Traveling solo does not mean being alone the whole time. NomadHer is a free app specifically designed for solo female travelers to help them find travel partners, welcoming accommodations and travel tips.
Sarah Radzihovsky, 28, who works for a tech company, recommends Selina hostels, either to stay or to work remotely at. “It’s a super social co-working and co-living hostel all over the world,” she said. “Even if I don’t stay at the Selina, I know that I could go hang out with people there,” she said.
Sara Callon, 34, a Paris-based chief of staff for an energy company, recommends taking a guided walking tour on the first day of a solo trip. In Rome, Ms. Callon met two other solo women travelers through Rome Free Walking Tour, and the three of them met for drinks every night.
“It made it fun to have some social time when it got dark after exploring solo all day,” she said.
Group tours, online forums and local events can be easy ways to meet people with similar interests. In Hawaii, Vietnam and Mexico, Ms. Radzihovsky has used Facebook groups to find hiking groups and pick-up games that met weekly.
“Playing pickup soccer, beach volleyball, surfing are really good ways to meet people because one, a language barrier is not an impediment, and two, it’s a really wholesome connector,” Ms. Radzihovsky said.
