You yearn for a solo trip, and you begin to scour the internet for a destination that intrigues you. There are just so many attractions to choose from, you think to yourself, how could I possibly narrow the entire world down? With seemingly endless possibilities, your desired trip can feel overwhelming before you even take off. You may put off booking a trip, you may put off your dreams. To aid you in such a dilemma, I’ve curated a guide. This guide will help steer you toward a destination that matches what you’re looking for in a trip and one that resonates with your soul. You will leave this post with the vital insight needed for taking the first step in booking your trip, along with certitude in your destination choice.
You most likely have a few destinations already swirling in your mind, but it is essential that you do some research and inner reflection, to find a destination that aligns best for you. Especially as a solo traveller, the location you choose will aid the self reliance, confidence, and your overall enjoyment on the trip. There are three overarching questions I ask myself before choosing a destination: “What type of experience am I wanting?”, “What do I currently have the capacity for?”, and “Who do I envision myself becoming there?”
What Kind of Experiences Are You Craving?
What type of trip do you want? Are you searching for adventure, exploration, nature, sightseeing, or daring sports and activities? Are you in the mood for a calm, slow, grounded experience? Does a bustling city, vibrant nightlife, a busy itinerary with restaurants, museums, and monuments call to you? Do rural, isolated, more off the grid places, potentially teaming with wildlife pull you more? Do you wish to have a more educational, cultural, or spiritual experience? Perhaps you wish to combine these attributes and pick a region that allows for many possibilities.
Do you consider yourself to be more “Type A” or “Type B”? Are you spontaneous or are you more comfortable with logistics being pre planned? Some countries, for example in Western Europe may require transport, accommodation, and tours booked ahead of time. Some regions require this pre planning, otherwise bookings will most likely be full and costly. However in regions such as Central America, it’s often easier and expected to go with the flow. It is normal in many regions to show up and buy a transport ticket at a station, and certain locations provide the flexibility on booking accommodations, if you wanted to pivot your plans. Aligning this style of planning with your desired destination will help your travels feel smooth and natural.
Weather is also a factor to consider, as well as peak vs. low travel periods. I find if you are more introverted, a “loop hole” you can take if you wish to visit a popular tourist destination is to go during the off season, this also immensely helps when travelling on a tighter budget (which we go over in the next overarching question). If you wish to get that full tourist experience somewhere, meet others everywhere and anywhere, don’t mind the peak hustle, and wish to pre plan your itinerary, peak season could definitely be more of your jam. You can also go between off and peak season, for a more balanced experience, where you can kind of pick and chose what to pre book and what to go with the flow with.
Other factors to consider are seasonal changes, and rainy or dry periods, depending on the region. I recommend once you’ve narrowed down a country/region, to look into that region’s seasonal changes specifically. For example, Thailand has a “ burning season”, particularly in the northern/central regions between mid January - mid April, with its peak happening in March. It can be easy to jump over these elements of a destination, out of stress or excitement, but you will feel more prepared for what to expect in a location after assessing such details.
What Do You Currently Have the Capacity For?
Whether you’re more introverted, extroverted, or ambiverted influences what type of destination that is best for you. If you normally require more solitude, staying in busy cities or popular tourist destinations could take a large and unexpected toll on your nervous system. You may enjoy your trip more by following your inner self rather than forcing yourself to act unnaturally. If you crave social interaction and group settings, nightlife, or organically meeting people, larger cities may be a better fit. Travelling, especially solo backpacking, has a large social and party culture. Inevitably, popular destinations make it easy to meet people, especially in hostels or group tours. However, two things can be true at once, you can want social stimulation while still preserving your peace. Personally, I’m more introverted but I do enjoy bigger cities, I just watch how long I spend there, how packed my days are, and the type of accommodation I book. There are many off the beaten path areas where quieter, culturally rich experiences are possible. Before a trip, it is vital to remember that solo travel requires full self sufficiency, decision fatigue and burn out can catch up faster than you may anticipate.
Feeling burnt out while in a new place you’ve wanted to go to for a long time, have spent your money on, and are excited to experience is an awful feeling. It feels shameful and feels las if you’re being ungrateful, when in reality you just haven't spent the time and consideration to take care and provide yourself the required comfort specific to you. On the other hand, if you lean more extroverted, your trip can feel quite lonely, and experiences can feel hollow. Placing yourself in locations where meeting other travellers naturally, or interacting with the locals is essential for you to feel that your trip is fulfilling. A beautiful thing about our world, is that there is various places for everyone, if you take a more balanced social approach, there are so many destinations that allow for sufficient connection, alongside recharge and solitude periods.
Travelling, especially international travel, certainly brings about concerns regarding to safety. This is most definitely amplified when it comes to travelling solo. This fear alone prevents many from taking the trip. The thing is, fear and unpredictability is inevitable when travelling. You are taking a risk, you are jumping into the unknown, but that is also one of the most beautiful parts of travelling. Taking the leap.
The mainstream media can portray many places as 'dangerous', perpetuating fear upon us about foreign places. It's important to remember that the media predominately broadcasts negativity, we almost never see all the positivity, joy and peace that enriches our world. Furthermore when you're at home, you're in your comfort zone, anything outside of that will automatically signal to your brain that you are unsafe. In reality, it isn't that you are actually unsafe, rather you have entered unfamiliarity. This is your brains way of protecting you, it wants to keep you in familiarity as a survival mechanism. This is built into our brain, but once you step out into the world, and actually see and experience far away places on your own, your mind realizes that its a lot safer than you ever imagined, and tends to settle that feeling of fear. There are kind and helpful people everywhere, so much so that the 'unsafe' people are like finding a needle in a haystack. The world is so big, and no one is after you. It is rare for something terribly bad to happen to you when you are taking the right safety precautions.
However, we still must be realistic, in life many external factors are out of our control, so we must be on top of what we can control. We can manage these safety concerns, and fears by shifting our focus on what we can oversee, being the statistical and experiential information about a location. Here, researching is crucial and fortunately, we live in the age of technology. We are able to look at quantitative safety measures, along with people's lived experiences pertaining to safety.
I find social media such as TikTok, or Instagram of great value to hear people’s personal experiences in certain places, I actually find researching through lived experience more helpful than looking at just your government website for example (which of course is still important to look at). But I do believe that they can fear monger there as well. We can research common scams, certain areas in a country/city to avoid, whether it is safe to walk out at night, cat calling and harassment risk as a woman and just overall crime.
We have access to an abundance of information regarding customs, laws, what is appropriate to wear or do, apps to help with language barriers, emergency contact information etc. Do not skimp out researching on these seemingly minor details. If you are looking at a popular tourist destination you see everywhere online, and are just taking the surface level content there and basing your decision solely on that, I think that can be very misleading and you may experience some unexpected encounters from the lack of information. I actually find that oftentimes those destinations are the places to be even more vigilant about. Safety seems like a no brainer, but discernment can be easily clouded in the process of booking, the more research here, the comfortable and secure you will feel.
We also should take our own travel experiences into account when choosing a destination, based on how comfortable we feel considering the differences of a certain place. Do you feel energized or drained by the thought of navigating language barriers, geographic and cultural differences (culture shock is real), asking strangers for guidance, or variation in cuisine and weather. Essentially, how much external stimuli we can take in, and still thoroughly explore and enjoy our time.
How comfortable do you feel doing things alone, sometimes solo travel can look very empowering on social media or in your head, but really try and envision yourself going out alone to eat, taking transport on your own, doing experiences. If you are feeling anxious at the thought of these nuances, and doing things alone, choosing a destination that is more similar to your home environment might make you feel more secure on the trip. However, if these variables excite you, then choosing a location that contrasts with your home can provide such expansion, and excitement on your trip.
When travelling, learning as you go just happens, despite the location, if you have travel experience being adaptable and perserving, choosing a destination that you know will be more challenging for you is like choosing a era of growth for yourself. If you feel as if you will hold the energetic, mental and physical space to positively absorb your surroundings, and the beautiful experiences that come with travelling, rather than being in “survival mode”, or constantly in a state of hypervigilance, than that destination holds the capacity for true enjoyment and evolution. You will most likely feel overwhelmed regardless, however if you know that you can tackle such differences, then go for it. Having trust in yourself is key, and only grows with time when solo travelling.
Budget is always a large topic of discussion when it comes to solo travel. Travelling alone is often more expensive, but depending on your financial strategy here, and also your country of origin (which of course is not a choice, but it does make a difference with strength of currency) Despite what anyone tries to tell you, travelling on a budget can feel indulgent, and even luxurious. Budget travel doesn't have to feel rigid or restrictive, the key is in your chosen destination.
Make a plan, a rough estimate of what you will spend per day and/or per month, and how much cushion that leaves you for unforeseen circumstances, generous giving, shopping, extra activities/tours you want to do, and splurges if you wish. I would say to have at least $500 - 1k extra for such factors, but the rest of your finances predominately depend on the what type of trip you want (section 1). You definitely don’t have to be exact with numbers, I say if you’re on a tighter budget just watch your spending, keep it low, and you will be just fine. I find finances when travelling cause a great deal of stress, and it simply does not need to be this way. Pick a destination that fits, take what you have set aside for your trip, take estimates of what you will spend, watch your spending, have a cushion, and just enjoy.
Expenses on flights, visas, internal transport, accommodation, food, shopping, tours, and a buffer is all that needs consideration. Even on a tighter budget, you can make adjustments, such as hostels, cooking meals, being selective with tours, walking instead of transport, and spending less time in major cities and more time in rural areas. Money stress will pull you out of the present, which is unfortunate because remaining present is one of the most enriching parts of travelling. Personally, I try my best to take more flexible approach to my budget, while still having it well thought out and aligned with my preferred destination.
When searching for an aligned destination, it can be easy to fall into the “instagram trap”. Meaning, a place online may be portrayed as tranquil, worthwhile and as if it is the best place that you could ever go too. However, the downside to most of those places is that, those things probably were true before it started getting online hype. Especially if you’re solo, these places can be extremely overcrowded, expensive, and just overall taxing on your body, mind and energy. Instead of blindly following the hype, I suggest choosing a place that aligns with all the sections above, aka your current self. But, also a destination that you see yourself growing in, allowing for the exploration of new versions of yourself.
Who Do You Envision Yourself Stepping Into?
Travelling brings massive shifts in perspective, of the self, others, and the world at large. You will meet different parts of yourself that don’t normally show up in your ordinary life back at home, and even sides that you’ve never met before. Your identity inevitably shifts, and the destination sort of paints what the shift looks like. Walking the streets, navigating its unfamiliarity, interacting with the particular culture and locals that live there, every encounter will shape the future you.
What do you envision for yourself day to day in that particular destination, really picture it in your mind, and notice what comes up and how you feel. How do you imagine your routines, habits, thoughts, values, and overall perspective changing? How does that reflect what will change or grow after such experiences? More independence, self/worldly awareness, empathy, generosity, courageousness? Most importantly, what type of place feels exciting, realistic, and has the capacity and opportunities for you to evolve.
Travelling is such a privilege, and it provides the possibilities to learn through experience, and decisiveness. It provides consciousness expansion like nothing else can in this world. How you will grow is priceless, and will aid you in all other areas of your life. Picking an aligned destination promotes confidence, trust (in others and yourself), patience, resilience, curiosity, compassion, and will help you keep in touch with the inner child that typically lays dormant inside of us. The destination is the capsule, pick one you feel is best, based on the explanations above, and surely you will meet a version of yourself you never knew existed. You may finally feel as if the world is working with you, not against you. Take these considerations, then take the leap. Thank you for reading, I wish you the journey of a lifetime.
Destination List
Q1: What Type of Experience Do You Want?
Adventure and Nature Oriented:
- South and Central America
- The Carribean
- Oceania, Southeast Asia
- Western regions of North America
- North & Sub Saharan Africa
- Scandinavia
- The Balkans
Slower and More Grounded:
- Southern Europe
- Parts of Southeast Asia
- Central America
- Coastal Latin America
- Australia & New Zealand
- Scandinavia
- The Balkans
Lively and Social:
- Southeast Asia
- West and South Europe
- Central and South America
Cultural and More Immersive:
- South & East Asia
- North Africa
- Middle East
- Eastern Europe
- Parts of Central and South America
Q2: Current capacity - Lower Adaptability ( good infrastructure, english is widely spoken, tourist systems are reliable)
- West and South Europe
- North America
- Australia & New Zealand
- Parts of Eastern Asia
Moderate Adaptability (some language barriers, cultural differences, still strong tourism services)
- Southeast Asia
- Central and South America
- Eastern Europe
- The Balkans
- Popular parts of South America
- The Middle East
Higher Adaptability Required (more challenging and growth oriented)
- South Asia
- North and Sub Saharan africa
- More remote areas of South America
More Costly and Type A:
- Western and some countries in Southern Europe
- North America
- Oceania
- Some countries in South America
- The Carribean
- Most of the Middle East
More Budget and Type B:
- Central America
- Some countries in South America
- Eastern Europe
- The Balkans
- Southeast Asia
- North Africa
- Sub Sharan Africa