Solo Travel Guides by Country

Thailand is the country that turns nervous first-timers into lifelong solo travellers. It's cheap, ridiculously easy to get around, packed with other solo travellers, and genuinely welcoming — you can land in Bangkok knowing no one and be sharing a table with new friends by dinner. Beaches in the south, mountains and temples in the north, street food everywhere, and a backpacker infrastructure so smooth you rarely have to plan more than a day ahead.

5 cities covered · Safety · Budget · Visa →

Mexico is a brilliant first country for solo travellers who want food, culture and beaches without a huge budget. It's close to North America, easy on visas, and endlessly varied: colonial cities, ancient ruins, mezcal towns in the mountains, surf villages on the Pacific and cenotes on the Caribbean side. The hostel and coworking scene is well developed, so meeting people is easy, and the food alone justifies the flight.

6 cities covered · Safety · Budget · Visa →

Colombia has shed its old reputation and become one of South America's most rewarding countries for solo travellers. Cartagena's walled old town, Medellín's spring-like climate and cable-car neighbourhoods, coffee-region hikes, Caribbean beaches near Santa Marta and mountain towns like San Gil all sit within a country that's cheap, friendly and full of other travellers. It's a country where a conversation with a stranger in a café often ends with a dinner invitation.

6 cities covered · Safety · Budget · Visa →

Portugal is one of the easiest countries in Europe for a first solo trip. It's safe, compact, affordable by Western European standards, sunny for much of the year, and easy to get around by train and bus. Lisbon's hills and viewpoints, Porto's riverside and port cellars, the Algarve's cliffs and beaches, and countless small towns in between add up to a country where eating alone at a counter feels completely normal and English is widely spoken.

3 cities covered · Safety · Budget · Visa →

Japan is a dream for solo travellers. It's one of the safest and most efficient countries on earth, eating and sightseeing alone is completely normal (there are ramen counters and karaoke rooms designed for one), and the contrast between neon Tokyo, temple-filled Kyoto, deer-strolling Nara and food-obsessed Osaka is endlessly rewarding. Nothing is quite like arriving somewhere entirely unfamiliar and finding that everything simply works.

4 cities covered · Safety · Budget · Visa →

South Africa packs an astonishing amount into one country: a dramatic mountain-and-ocean city in Cape Town, world-class vineyards, the coastal Garden Route, the Drakensberg's hiking trails, and the Big Five on safari in and around Kruger National Park. For a solo traveller it's one of the most rewarding places in Africa: good infrastructure, English widely spoken, excellent value for visitors from Europe and North America, and an established backpacker network. It also asks for more street smarts than many destinations, so this guide is candid about the risks as well as the highlights.

5 cities covered · Safety · Budget · Visa →

Indonesia is an enormous archipelago, but for most first-time solo travellers it starts with Bali — a small island with rice terraces, temples, surf breaks, yoga studios, cafés and one of the largest solo-traveller and digital-nomad communities in the world. This guide focuses on Bali and Ubud, where SouloSpotter covers specific spots; the same practical advice applies to much of the country, though prices, infrastructure and customs change a lot as you move to less-visited islands.

2 cities covered · Safety · Budget · Visa →