Thinking about travelling alone for the first time but not sure where to start? You’re in the right place.
I know exactly how you feel, because I was once in your shoes. I’ve now been a solo traveller for over three decades, and I’ve travelled alone to most of the 70+ countries I’ve visited.
Stepping outside my comfort zone has let me do things I never would have dreamed of. Those solo trips have created memories and have transformed my life.
Over the years I’ve worked out the steps that help me plan a solo trip properly and keep the risk low while I’m away. This guide walks through all seven, in order, so you can follow it start to finish or jump straight to the step you’re stuck on.
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How to Travel Alone for the First Time in a Nutshell
In a rush? Here’s the checklist:
- Choose a solo-friendly destination and sketch a loose itinerary
- Decide whether you would like to travel independently or join a group tour
- Book your flights or trains
- Book some or all of your accommodation, particularly for the first night
- Reserve anything that needs advance booking, such as museum or event tickets
- Put a few safety basics in place
- Go and have the time of your life
1. Choose Your Destination and Sketch an Itinerary
Choosing where to go is the most time-consuming part of planning your first solo trip, and the most important. Get this right and everything else falls into place.
There’s no perfect destination and no magic formula. I weigh up:
- Amount of time
- Affordability
- Convenience
- Tourist infrastructure
- Safety
- Preferred activities
- Preferred climate
For your first trip, look for somewhere safe with good tourist infrastructure and an easy way to get around. Do a little homework on how straightforward it is to navigate, whether that’s public transport, signage in English, or simply how used the place is to independent travellers.
Europe is a great place to start. If you’re deciding on a country, Italy has something for every traveller, and Spain is another terrific choice
Asia comes a close second, and it’s a great destination for luxury travel on a budget. If you’re based in North America, there are plenty of great solo destinations in the US.
And don’t rule out Africa, even if it’s not the obvious first-timer pick. Mauritius is a lovely, easy solo destination, and Morocco was one of my early solo trips.
Once you’ve picked a destination, draft a loose itinerary based on what you actually want to see and do. Don’t over-schedule. I always leave a few days free for spontaneous plans, and some of my best travel memories have come from those unplanned days rather than the ones I mapped out in advance.
2. Decide on Independent Travel or a Group Tour
You’ve got your destination. You have a rough idea of what you would like to do. Now you have a second decision to make: travel independently, or join an organised tour.
I usually go it alone, but I’ve joined an organised tour on more than a dozen occasions. It’s a good option if you want to try solo travel but with some structure and support built in.
My first was a Bales Worldwide trip to India in 2004, all air-conditioned coaches and 5-star hotels. Since then I’ve mostly travelled with Explore Worldwide and Exodus Travels. For the most part, these have been rich and enjoyable experiences.
There’s a huge number of group travel companies out there, so it pays to do your homework before you book. Learn how to choose the best small group tour operator first.
So what are the pros and cons of a group tour?
On the plus side, a tour takes the organisation off your plate entirely. Someone else has already worked out the logistics and the itinerary, so you can be reasonably confident of hitting the highlights.
If you’re short on annual leave, the time efficiency is a real bonus too, since your transport and transfers are sorted and you can cover more ground in less time. For some countries, an escorted tour is the only realistic way in because of visa requirements. That’s why I visited Iran and Libya this way.
There are softer advantages too: ready-made travel companions and safety in numbers. And perhaps surprisingly, a small-group tour can save you money. Most budget and mid-range operators let you share a twin room with someone of the same gender, which sidesteps the dreaded single supplement, and some high-end operators waive it altogether. Where a supplement does apply, it’s often more modest than you’d expect.
The trade-off is losing some independence and the freedom to change your mind, which is one of the biggest benefits of solo travel in the first place. You’ve also no control over who else is on the trip.
A friend who’s done dozens of tours put it well: “I dread getting the runt of the litter.” Just make sure that’s not you.
My own approach these days is mix and match. I book a group tour to anchor a trip, then travel independently on either side of it.
This gives me the structure where I want it and the freedom where I don’t. For me it’s genuinely the best of both worlds.
3. Book Your Transport
Now you know where you are going and how you are going to travel, , it’s time to book how you’ll get there.
If you’re on a flight-inclusive group tour, you can skip this step. Otherwise, most flights and rail tickets are non-refundable or expensive to change, so it pays to firm up your plans at this stage.
Where you can, try to arrive during daylight.
I once made the mistake of arriving in a city after dark and having to find my hotel in the pitch black. It felt intimidating at best, and at worst genuinely unnerving. Arriving in daylight makes the same walk far less daunting.
If a late arrival is unavoidable, pre-book a taxi or transfer. It’s a small cost for real peace of mind.
Flying
Bagging a good airline fare can take a fair bit of head-scratching, especially if you’re buying a business-class ticket. My advice is not to overthink it and just book it.
Before you click buy, double-check your travel dates, airport (some cities have more than one), whether the fare includes hold baggage, and your carry-on allowance.
These are my go-to online resources for air travel:
- To explore flight routings, schedules and fares: Skyscanner or Google Flights
- For the best airlines and cabins: Skytrax’s Awards
- To pick the best seat in your cabin: aeroLOPA
- To check how safe an airline is: AirlineRatings
Rail travel
Travelling by train is a wonderful way to see the world. Riding the rails can be excellent value too, whether that’s a JR Pass on your Japan itinerary or a European rail pass for exploring further afield.
The king of rail resources is The Man in Seat 61, an incredibly thorough and up-to-date guide to global rail travel. For booking European tickets and passes, and for planning routes and checking timetables, I use Rail Europe.
4. Book Your Accommodation
If you’re on a group tour, you may be able to skip this step. Otherwise, where you stay shapes your trip more than people expect. It’s not usually a deal-breaker, but a really good or really bad stay can colour your whole impression of a place.
Your style of travel decides where you land on the spectrum, from hostels in true backpacker style through to high-end hotels.
If you’re worried about meeting people on your first solo trip, mix in a few hostels along the way. Most now offer private rooms, so you get the social scene without having to sleep in a dorm if you’d rather not
I do like a nice bed for the night. Although not a deal-breaker, really good or really bad accommodation can impact your travel experience.
My go-to booking sites: Booking.com for a wide range of hotels and apartments, often with flexible rates and returning-customer deals. Airbnb for renting a room, apartment, house or villa. TripAdvisor for reviews, where plugging in your destination and dates brings up options with ratings and prices pulled from booking engines and the hotel itself.
As I like to know where I’m laying my head at night, and want to bag a room in a great location, I usually book most of my accommodation ahead of my arrival. The trade-off for that peace of mind is flexibility, which I claw back by choosing rates with no cancellation penalties wherever I can.
Even if you can’t book everything in advance, take a few minutes to check availability for your travel dates. Not every place has a wealth of options, and there’s always a chance an event in town has left rooms in short supply.
When choosing where to stay as a solo traveller, and especially as a solo female traveller, location matters most. Look for somewhere in a good part of town, close to transport and restaurants where possible.
Read reviews on Booking.com and TripAdvisor. Booking.com lets you filter location reviews for solo travellers specifically, and gives a separate score for location.
Be wary of prices that look too good to be true. In my experience, if a hotel is unusually cheap, there’s usually a reason.
Whatever else you leave loose, book your first night’s accommodation, and work out how you’ll get there from the airport or station.
5. Pre-Book Anything That Sells Out
There are all sorts of reasons for visiting a destination.
You might have a lifelong ambition to see a particular painting in Florence’s Uffizi Galleries, catch a blockbuster show at Tate Modern, or see an opera at Milan’s La Scala. How disappointed would you be to arrive and find it’s returns only?
The lesson is simple: book ahead.
Sadly, I don’t always follow my own advice. It took my many trips to Amsterdam before I managed to visit the Anne Frank House. When visiting Vienna at Christmas, I was gutted to discover the opera was sold out.
The same goes for restaurants.
Spend a few minutes searching for places that suit your style of travel before you go. If there’s somewhere you’d really like to try that gets booked up quickly, reserve a table for a night you expect to be free.
Even if your plans change and you cancel, it’s cost you nothing but a little bit of your time.
Also think about any day tours you fancy. These often make travelling alone easier, since all the arrangements are taken care of, and you get the benefit of a local guide.
They’re also an excellent way to meet other travellers. My go-to platform is GetYourGuide, which typically offers free cancellation up to 24 hours before your activity.
6. Stay Safe
Safety matters for every traveller, and more so when you’re alone. Solo travel surveys consistently show it’s the top worry for solo female travellers in particular.
The good news is there are concrete steps you can take to stay safe travelling alone, and most take only minutes to put in place before you leave.
Share your itinerary with someone at home. Photocopy or scan your key documents, such as your passport and any visas, and keep a copy separate from the originals.
Once you’re on the road, don’t make yourself an easy target. Keep valuables out of sight and out of reach. Try to blend in and ooze confidence, even if you are quivering underneath.
7. Have the Time of Your Life
Saving the best for last.
Solo travel can change how you see yourself, so make the most of it. In my experience, even the bad moments tend to be character-forming, and they usually make the best pub stories once you’re home.
Check in with yourself along the way. Most solo travellers hit a patch of loneliness at some point. Expect it, have a plan for it, and move on. If you’re craving company, look for it in bars, cafés, hotels or hostels, or book a day tour and meet other travellers that way.
And don’t feel bound to tick off every ‘must-see’ on a list. A guidebook’s top ten is a starting point, not an obligation.
If you’d rather spend an afternoon by the pool with a cold drink, that’s a perfectly good use of a solo trip. You’ve no one to answer to but yourself.
First-Time Solo Travel: Final Thoughts
Travelling solo for the first time can feel daunting, but it’s also a chance to build a trip entirely around what you want. You’ll learn more about yourself along the way than you could have imagined.
And you won’t spend the whole trip talking to no one. In all my years of solo travel, that’s never happened to me, and I’m an introvert.
If you’re nervous about that first trip, a group tour or a cruise is a gentle way in. I’ve taken a few cruises solo, including a Western Caribbean cruise, Norway’s fjords, a Baltic Sea cruise to St Petersburg and surviving the choppy waters of the Bay of Biscay. Just book your cabin wisely, and don’t assume a single cabin is automatically the best deal.
Solo travellers span every age, from Gen Z to travellers in their 40s and 50s through to retirees. There’s no cut-off.
Take this guide one step at a time and you’ll get there. The biggest obstacle is usually self-doubt, so believe in yourself and go and have a blast.
I’VE WRITTEN THIS ITALY SOLO TRAVEL GUIDE!
A 100+ page ebook to inspire and equip solo travellers with the confidence and knowledge to explore Italy independently
- Plan Your Trip – with curated itineraries, budgeting and how to get around
- Explore Awesome Destinations – guides to the must-see cities of Rome, Florence, Venice and Naples
- Stay Safe as a Solo Traveller – practical safety advice, empowering you to confidently navigate Italy and avoid common pitfalls
- Enjoy Eating Out in Italy – essential tried-and-tested solo dining tips
About Bridget
Bridget Coleman has been a passionate traveller for more than 30 years. She has visited 70+ countries, most as a solo traveller.
Articles on this site reflect her first-hand experiences.
To get in touch, email her at hello@theflashpacker.net or follow her on social media.