Solo female travel

Never before in history have women been allowed to be solo to such a degree. Not to be a mother, a partner, a piece of property – but to just be! It’s not a trend, but a lasting change, and one that we hope will become more commonplace across the world.

This wasn’t always the case. The concept of the ‘chaperone’ proliferated in the 18^th, 19^th and into the early 20^th century in Europe. The role – usually undertaken by a woman close to the family – entailed accompanying an unmarried woman in public when her mother could not.

Jenny, head of communications at Responsible Travel, lives near a woman in her 80s who has just returned from her first solo trip – to Antarctica. “She said she’d been on very few holidays in her life, because she was alone,” says Jenny. “And she’s not the first single person to express that to me.”

We are lucky that we live in a moment when going alone is increasingly common. Whatever residual stigma solo travel has is sloughing away, leaving us unencumbered by anything but a good rucksack.

We’ve found more and more female travellers are travelling solo.

“We had a wonderful group of six solo women travellers of varying ages and from all over the English-speaking world,” says Lucy Foley, who travelled to Cuba on one of our small group tours. “Six is the perfect number.”

An all-female group isn’t an unusual situation on one of our small group holidays. Our partner Intrepid Travel reported in the 2020s that a staggering 67 percent of their travellers were female, and half of all its guests were solo female travellers.

“Women are more likely to travel solo than men,” observes Meike van Krimpen, from our partner Wilderness Explorers. She also estimates that 60 percent of their travellers are travelling solo.

Age is no more a barrier than gender. We’re also happy to report that many solo female travellers are travelling in their 50s, 60s, 70s and 80s, sometimes for the first time.

Geraldine Westrupp, from our partner Wild Photography Holidays, tells us about three widows who have picked up photography later in life. “Each of them had independently picked up their late husbands’ cameras and started experimenting with them,” she says. “Now they’ve got to know each other through our holidays and bonded.” The women are now regular attendees on our photography trips.

Solo female travellers often look at Europe – a continent where a high proportion of people live alone, where culture is focused on the individual, and where solo travel is broadly very normal.

But you could go anywhere on a small group tour. Here, some of our reviewers pick out places they liked, or places that perhaps surprised with how safe they felt.

Peru: “A wonderful, friendly experience somewhere that I felt safe as a solo female traveller,” says Caroline Sawyer, who went to Peru on one of our small group tours.

Kruger, South Africa: “As a solo female traveller who had never been to Africa, I was not sure what to expect, but this trip exceeded my expectations. Very safe and relaxing trip,” says Eva Kristjansdottir, who went on one of our small group safaris in South Africa.

Tanzania, Kenya, Zanzibar: “The whole trip was seamless from the planning to the actual trip itself. As a solo female traveller, I felt peace of mind and safe,” Michelle Kunan, who went on an East Africa holiday.

Azerbaijan: “I felt very safe walking on my own in Baku in the evening,” says Faroz Nunhuck, who went on one of our small group Azerbaijan trips.

Atlas Mountains, Morocco: “I was travelling alone as a woman and felt very safe,” says Katharina Zittel, who went trekking on one of our Atlas Mountains trips.

Oman: “Oman in particular is really safe for female travellers,” says Zahra Niazi, back from one of our Oman holidays.