Then, soak up some of the architecture that makes Paris, well, Paris. The Rodin Museum, for instance, sits on the grounds of a grand, 18th-century mansion that the artist himself took over in 1911. Across the street, the Museum of the Army is housed in a palace Louis XIV built for his wounded vets. You’ve got dozens—if not hundreds—of similar spots to hit. The best part? No one is here to rush you off to the next spot, so sit and stay a while. – Sam Eifling
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# Here’s Where to Take the Solo Trip of a Lifetime

## From Paris to Bangkok, these 15 stellar vacation spots are all the company you need.

Updated on Jan 17, 2024 at 11:15 AM

Whether you're communing with nature on an epic trek or realizing your wildest big city dreams, Flying Solo explores what it's like to travel the world as a party of one.

Taking your first big solo trip is incredibly intimidating, but once you take the plunge there’s truly no better way to get to know yourself. Free of other people’s travel ticks and the need to compromise, it’s a chance to explore the world at your own pace—and to be whoever you truly want to be.

There’s no need to go all Eat, Pray, Love or adopt a strong love for backwoods camping to scratch this itch. Solo travel can be as simple as a cushy staycation, as complicated as hiking through a far-off country, or as lavish as a catching flight to the Maldives. This is the time when you should be selfish. Want to sleep in at the swanky hotel you booked in Paris? Prefer to spend the day cycling to beer gardens in Belgium? Want to change destinations and itineraries altogether? You’re the one calling the shots, and as long as you’re doing it safely, the sky’s the limit.

To help you choose your own adventure, we’ve tapped a roster of globetrotters who have embraced going it alone. From small-town gems to bustling capital cities where getting lost is all part of the adventure, here are the places to travel on your own—and a hint at what you might find when you get there.

## Seville, Spain

When I moved to Spain nearly ten years ago without knowing a soul, Spain is famously social, so much so that the entire tapas culture is built around sharing with friends. So how would I get by? Luckily, I landed in Seville.

The south lives up to its stereotype as Spain’s more fun-loving, open, and hospitable region. Social life here is a public affair—in the streets, in the plazas, spilling onto cobblestones outside the bars. One friend told me he lived in Seville for years and never saw the inside of his best friend’s house. This makes it easy to strike up a conversation with locals (if you can hold your own with the tricky Andaluz accent) or some friendly study-abroad types (if you can’t).

You don’t even need a plan: Just go outside and something will find you, whether it be a religious procession (there are so. many. religious. processions.), an impromptu flamenco show, or a crowd of strangers watching the Betis game in one of the bars on La Alameda or Plaza del Salvador. For a real challenge, visit during the Feria de Abril, when the entire city dresses up like it’s 1899 and spends a whole week dancing sevillanas and day drinking in brightly colored canvas tents called casetas. A few of the casetas are public and open to all, but most are reserved for specific families and their close friends. Score an invite and you’ll instantly be considered one of the locals. – Maya Kroth

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## Scandinavia three ways

Safety, beauty, and a fluent population eager to speak English make visiting Scandinavia solo extra appealing. But perhaps even more enticing is the ease and affordability of travel between countries: Hop on a comfy commuter train, grab a can of Carlsberg, and watch the lush scenery go by as you Copenhagen, Denmark, Gothenburg, Sweden, and Olso, Norway in rapid succession. Getting from the lively Danish capital to the metropolitan center of Norway only takes about seven hours... but doing it right means experiencing a bit of western Sweden along the way.

Start in Copenhagen to immerse yourself in the Danish metropolis’s vibrant museums, unparalleled food, iconic bars, and rich history ( here’s a handy guide). Then make your way across the water to Sweden: It’s a quick ride to Malmö, whose quirky art, vibrant food halls, and killer music scene are about to get the spotlight as it hosts Eurovision 2024. From there, you’ll chug across Sweden’s ruggedly beautiful west coast, where a stop-off in the medieval university town of Lund offers a chance to stretch your legs on a campus that makes US Ivy League colleges feel modern. Then spend a couple days in Gothenburg, whose ultra-hip, post-industrial charms are often overshadowed by Stockholm. Get to know this surprisingly walkable, ultra-green city whose fantastic seafood and wildly overlooked underground music scene live in harmony with the idyllic and old-school island villages reachable by ferry from the city center.

Then it’s off to Oslo, Norway’s biggest city, where world-class museums are dedicated to everything from Edvard Munch to the Nobel Prize, and vikings (obviously). Massive food halls offer a chance to sample Norwegian cuisine (ever had whale burgers?), while bars are overflowing with aquavit. Oslo is a friendly, walkable seaside city full of saunas, boutique shops, and funky galleries surrounded by lush islands and spectacular outdoor art, and it’s nothing but warm vibes even in the cold, dark winter. And if you want to keep the trip going, fairytale Bergen is reachable by one of the most sweeping train/ferry trips on the planet. You’ll cruise through massive fjords—and maybe even see the northern lights if you skip the endless summer sun—en route to the town that inspired Frozen. –Andy Kryza

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## Bangkok, Thailand

Bangkok is a “one size fits all” kind of place, a concrete jungle teeming with divergent personalities and crisscrossing travelers getting on in mellow symbiosis. Even for those who are socially shy or take a minute to get out of their comfort zone, it’s pretty effortless to meet people here. Friendly Thais will take you under their wing, and you’ll befriend foreigners you might not usually gel with, united simply by shared experiences—those WTF moments of navigating a chaotic hub that swings between electrifying and claustrophobic.

Show up to a bar opening or expat mixer, and a few beers or vodka sodas later you'll be crammed in a tuk-tuk with a motley crew rattling off to a nightclub or afterparty. Years ago, as a tenderfoot tourist in Bangkok, I found myself adopted by a Thai celeb couple and their crew at a Lady Gaga concert, treated afterward to a night of VIP bottle service at what was then Bangkok’s best club. It was a colorful chance encounter, one that Bangkok creates like nowhere else. It was so great that I jetted back to Canada, packed up all my things, and moved there. – Barbara Woolsey

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## Paris, France

Book a trip to Paris and friends will invariably ask, “Who are you going with?” Your perfectly acceptable response: No one. You’re about to binge on some of the world’s best museums, and catering to a travel companion can quickly spoil a wool-gathering stroll or long meditative sit in front of centuries-old paintings. Paris’ Museum Pass costs just 92 euros for six days of entry to more than 50 different sites in and around the city. I only managed to hit maybe a dozen, including the Louvre, which alone would require all six of those days to see the entire thing. The city feeds you culture and beauty the way foie gras farmers feed their geese corn mash.

When you go, post up somewhere central and walkable. I booked a quiet apartment through a rental site called Paris Perfect, but if your tastes run more bière than Champagne, a no-frills one-room apartment can run a mere $40 a night on Airbnb (or you can go the hostel route, if you’re really on a budget).

Then, soak up some of the architecture that makes Paris, well, Paris. The Rodin Museum, for instance, sits on the grounds of a grand, 18th-century mansion that the artist himself took over in 1911. Across the street, the Museum of the Army is housed in a palace Louis XIV built for his wounded vets. You’ve got dozens—if not hundreds—of similar spots to hit. The best part? No one is here to rush you off to the next spot, so sit and stay a while. – Sam Eifling

## Wales, UK

If you’re seeking a setting for your next short story, jet across the pond to the Welsh coastline. It’s home to some of the most beautiful beaches in the world: Barafundle Bay’s emerald fields, the colorful architecture lining the waters in Tenby, jagged rock cliffs at Presipe. Double down on the charm by staying at a bed-and-breakfast, or one of Wales’s many medieval castles like Bath Tower, on the northern coast. Some beach towns (like Shell Island) double as campgrounds, so you can pitch a tent and fall asleep to sounds of waves in the countryside.

Wales is a safe country overall, which is obviously a plus for solo escapades. The Welsh are also friendly and hospitable folk (just don’t call them British), so when you inevitably tuck into a local pub for a pint, making a new drinking buddy won’t be difficult—especially since English is their most-recognized language. Native Welsh is spoken in more rural areas, but good luck asking for directions to Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch (yes, that’s a real place). – Brooke Sager

## Athens, Greece

Greece is often reserved as a spot for a honeymoon or engagement, and don’t get me wrong, Santorini’s sunsets really are worth proposing over. But it’s not somewhere I’d want to spend a week doing solo yoga or fighting the crowds in Oia to get that postcard-worthy photo of the blue domed churches melting into the even bluer sea beyond. I’ve always had a soft spot for stopover cities, those jumping-off points you pass through to get somewhere fabulous like a safari or, in this case, Santorini. Athens is often an afterthought. But given the disconnect between flights and ferries into and around Greece, you’re bound to spend at least one night in Athens, no matter where your final destination may be.

On a recent trip to Crete, I found myself alone in Athens for two whole days (a long, COVID-related story). I stayed in the former artisan area of Psiri, which is now considered one of the more up-and-coming neighborhoods. I strolled the cobbled, winding streets of Plaka, the historical center that’s home to the Acropolis, sidewalk cafes, and traditional (albeit touristy) Greek tavernas. I had lunch on a makeshift terrace at a Japanese gastropub called Birdman, whose inventive yakitori-esque cuisine was some of the best I’d ever tasted. I bought artisanal olive oil and mountain tea from a deli-sized gourmet grocery store and treated myself to natural wine and a cheese plate for dinner at Heteroclito, the Greek version of a Parisian wine bar.

The server there was friendlier than my neighborhood bar back in actual Paris, and quickly found me a table despite it being a busy Saturday evening. He didn’t care that I was alone; he didn’t ask if I was waiting for someone to join. He was more interested in why I was in Athens and wanted to tell me how great his city is. The same thing happened on my way to the ferry port to meet my friend the following day. “There are a lot of new hotels opening soon in Athens,” the taxi driver said in near-perfect English. “We hope people will stay longer before going to the islands and see our city.” I’m glad I did. And doing it alone gave me a different insight into the gritty but gorgeous Greek capital that’s all too often overlooked. – Lane Nieset

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## Glacier National Park, Montana

Halfway through a three-mile hike up a steep incline to a remote mountaintop where one twisted ankle could spill you into a crevasse, you’ll start taking stock. Quads screaming. Lungs burning. Subconsciously you’ll touch the bear spray on your belt, the same way you’d feel your pocket for your phone. Football coach Vince Lombardi used to say fatigue makes cowards of us all—but this is where you determine that you’ll go down fighting if a critter decides to step.

That fight-or-flight moment will find you in any of America’s National Parks. For the full experience, I recommend Glacier, in Montana. Spanning more than a million acres, with 175 mountains and an epic 745 miles of maintained hiking trails, it’s a vast, beautiful obstacle course. You will see chipmunks and rabbits and marmots, as well as bears and moose. The park encourages hikers to wear jingling bells to scare away bears and always carry bear spray—especially if walking alone. But when you’re alone, that’s when you’ll feel the towering, snow-capped mountains surrounding you. Getting to the end of a trail, or coming upon a peak and taking in an otherworldly view, shrinks you down to size, and reminds you that nature really runs this bitch. – Nicole Schuman

person pouring a blonde ale with old town Bouillon, Belgium in the backgroundbarmalini/Shutterstock

## Belgium

A year after grad school, I bought a used bike and made my way around Belgium. I practiced my high school French to ask for directions and got very lost. I met a friendly little granny who convinced me, a vegetarian, to eat her homemade sausage. I met a man named Pol who'd named his microbrewery Inter-Pol. (He thought this was very funny.)

Two things make Belgium a great place for a bike trip: First, it’s the density of great breweries. The entire country is smaller than the state of Maryland and so crammed with world-famous breweries (over 150 of them) that you can stop at a different one each day. Biking between these breweries is dangerously easy; go on the tour, sample the world-renowned beer, then hop on and ride off to your next pint. Second, the country is completely bonkers for bikes. Some of its biggest celebrities are professional cyclists. There’s a bike shop on every corner, which saved me on two separate occasions, and a surprising number of dedicated bike paths parallel to highways. Drivers are much less threatening than in the States, an important consideration when you’re riding with a belly full of monk-brewed Trappist. – Lewis Kelly

## Ireland

Dublin is easy to get to from New York. And exploring the idyllic, shockingly green countryside dotted with loads of fluffy white sheep is an easy day or overnight trip from Dublin. Ireland isn’t very large, which means you can see a lot of it in a short amount of time. And there are a few ways to do it: by public transport, by bike, or by renting a car. If efficiency is your goal, scooting down to historic Cork or over to the traditional harbor city of Galway and the inconceivable Cliffs of Moher for a day or two is incredibly easy on a tour bus of the Wild Atlantic Way. Is it a little touristy? Yes, but it will also give you an easy opening with other solo travelers who probably also want to get a pint in a cozy bar with live Irish folk music and then buy a fisherman sweater.

Sometimes, a solo trip doesn’t have to be a grand transcendent adventure or a challenging journey of self-discovery. Sometimes, you only have a week between quitting a job and starting a new one and you want to go somewhere accessible and fun where you don’t have to use too much of your brain to communicate. Ireland is the perfect place to get away from the everyday grind, be anonymous for a little while, eat comforting food, and pet the sweet noses of curious donkeys who peek over the fence of their pasture when your ride pulls to the side of the road. Folks here are friendly and the air is crisp and fresh—except, of course, the one night I stayed in a poorly ventilated, six-person hostel room in Dublin with five roommates who had been out drinking beer all night at The Temple Bar. I don’t recommend that last bit. But I'll never forget it, either. – Carrie Dennis

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## Morocco

Nearly everywhere you turn in Morocco there’s something to be photographed. “The colors of the aged architecture suck you in,” says NYC-based photographer Eian Kantor, who recently took nothing but a backpack and two cameras to the North African country. “The landscapes are paintings. The medinas are chaotic, yet beautiful mazes.”

From city to city, Morocco offers something different. Chefchaouen, with its characteristic blue-washed buildings and the vast Rif Mountain region surrounding them, practically begs to be put on film. Three hours south in Fez, you’ll find an 11th-century leather tannery where animal hides are soaked in limestone vats of cow urine, pigeon feces, quicklime, salt, and water; then, they’re dried and dyed naturally with spices like saffron. If you can forget where the colors are coming from and hold a sprig of mint up to your nose, the sight—dozens of vibrant vats—are seriously something to behold. Locals will ask if you want to see it from a balcony and charge you $5 (a.k.a. 60 dirham) to do so—which Kantor says was well worth it for the shot. Friendly Moroccans genuinely just want to show off what the country has to offer, a mission a photographer instantly shares. – Rebecca Strassberg

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## Utah

When we think of getaways to national and state parks, we mostly think of trips taken in the summertime. Summer, however, means crowds. To get some quality solo time during the off-season—the kind where you can actually hear yourself think without an ambient chorus of hungry schoolchildren in the background—you need to go to an outdoors destination that is best visited in the wintertime. Utah is your place.

February is an ideal time to take a solo trip to Zion National Park; only 13% of visitors go in the winter months, meaning the usually crowded trails are 87 % more peaceful to explore. It’s also prime time to wander the echoey washes of Goblin Valley State Park, where you can enjoy the otherworldly hoodoos that Bryce Canyon National Park is famous for without the crowds that Bryce is also famous for. If you’re aiming farther north, try Vermilion Cliffs National Monument along the border of Utah and Arizona. Wherever you are, don’t head back to your hotel too early—you’re in the right place for some of the most incredible stargazing you won’t want to miss. – Kastalia Medrano

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friends enjoying a boatride in berlinPhoto by Dagmar Schwelle, courtesy of visitBerlin

## Berlin, Germany

Here’s a tip: Start with a guided walking tour. Germany’s history is visible on almost every corner of Berlin, and getting quickly acquainted with its darker realities gives you a strong geographical and cultural foundation for the rest of your trip. Explore the Jewish District, see the site of the former SS & Gestapo Headquarters at the Topography of Terror Museum, and visit the Holocaust Memorial. It’s all very sobering, but you’re alone, so don’t sweat getting emotional. Walk along the East Side Gallery—the spectacularly painted remains of the Berlin Wall—and see the Brandenburg Gate at sunset. Berlin is where events you’ve read about in textbooks since you were 14 years old actually happened, and connecting dots will never be this compelling.

Berlin is a veritable feast of museums and historical hotspots, which makes it an excellent city for entry-level solo travel. Too shy to strike up a conversation with a stranger? Spend your days seeking the city's best currywurst while wandering between points of interest: Go to Bauhaus-Archiv to see items from Walter Gropius's iconic design school, and then head to Kulturforum, a complex of cultural buildings that includes the Neue Nationalgalerie, which houses 20th-century paintings. Climb to the top of the Berlin Cathedral for the view. Then, maybe on your third or fourth night in town, make a weird friend who’s just as alone as you are. Invite them to eat a doner kebab for dinner and then see if you can get past the bouncer at Berghain, a club with one of the strictest door policies around. You probably won’t, so move on and dance to trance music until 7 am at a club you can’t remember the name of instead. That’s what I did, at least. – Carrie Dennis

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city of Yukon along the riverPhoto courtesy of Destination Canada

## Whitehorse, Yukon, Canada

Whitehorse is cold, isolated, and small. Like, 25,000 people small. It’s the capital of a vast, majestic region of Northwest Canada the size of California, yet with approximately 1/1,000th of the population. In fact there are almost two moose for every human being living in the Yukon. (This is the best Yukon fact there is.)

To make life there tolerable, the locals have become alarmingly good at making friends. I stayed in Whitehorse for two weeks; by the time I left, it felt like I was abandoning my hometown. Within 24 hours of arriving, I experienced the following: First, a friend-of-a-friend-of-a-friend heard I needed to borrow a Wi-Fi router, came over, and installed it. Then, he invited me to dinner at his house. Not long after, he offered to lend me his car to pick up groceries.

Whitehorse is also surrounded by scads of great opportunities to hike, mountain bike, kayak, or ski and dogsled in the winter months. It offers honest-to-goodness untamed wilderness, with all the associated rewards—and risks. This is where your new friends will come in handy. When you’re one twisted ankle away from a seven-hour limp back to civilization, having someone to lean on is priceless. Plus, most locals carry bear spray with them almost everywhere—with good reason. – Lewis Kelly

## Croatia

Dubrovnik can get a little pricey. It is, after all, one of Croatia's most touristy cities. But drive up Croatia’s Dalmatian coastline and you’ll find all the wine, cheese, seafood, and sunbathing spots you could ask for. This is a place where you can indulge without putting too deep of a hole in your wallet. It turns out that traveling solo to a gorgeous destination doesn’t mean you have to rough it if you pick the right spot.

Sample the oysters in the ancient village of Ston, and take a dip in front of the Sea Organ in the town of Zadar, where the waves make a musical instrument out of the strategically hollowed-out marble steps descending into the water. Stop in Pag for a wheel of what many consider the best sheep’s cheese in the world. And no matter where along this dazzling aqua-green coastline you end your night, tuck yourself into a bar with a glass of the local red and ask your bartender for their recommendations for swimming holes to hit the next day. ( Might not hurt to smoke a little weed while you’re in Croatia, either.) – Kastalia Medrano

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## Tokyo, Japan

With nearly 40 million people scrambling under the skyline of the Tokyo metro area, it’s pretty easy to feel like a mere speck. That’s part of the charm of wandering around the world’s biggest city. It’s a place where ancient architecture and futurism live in harmony, showstopping food can be found at fine-dining tables and subway stalls alike, and a sense or orderliness belies an anything-goes attitude where buttoned-up business folks unbutton into wholly different people once the sun goes down and the neon lights up the sky.

For non-Japanese visitors, few places will make you feel more foreign than Tokyo. This is a feature, not a bug. Roam the streets of Harajuku, Shinjuku, and Shibuya and you’ll find a wide array of bar and dining experiences catering to solo travelers, from vending machine-style ramen booths to the tiny bars stacked upon another in cramped alleys, where shouts of “kanpai” with each highball are as omnipresent and inviting as the smell of sizzling yakitori. Taking a solo morning omakase sushi set at the famous Tsukiji fish market is a mind-altering experience that lets you commune with your food and its makers in understood silence, while the millennia-old shrines and forests around the city are prime spots for quiet introspection. Whether you’re here for the food, sightseeing, Ghibli, shopping, sumo, or a chance to let your freak flag fly until dawn with like-minded cosplayers, you’ll find what you’re looking for… and probably a lot more.

Even better, the Shinkasen bullet train makes seeing more of the country a cinch—the ancient shrines and temples of Kyoto, the seafood-intensive delights of Osaka, and the serene nature of Hakone all within a comfortable high-speed ride from Tokyo station (the Mt. Fuji views are a huge bonus). Sweetening the deal? Post-Olympics Tokyo has a huge surplus of affordable hotel rooms, and the city’s famous hospitality has never been more fine-tuned to welcome foreigners. –Andy Kryza

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