How I Stay Safe As A Female Solo Traveller

Whenever I tell people I’m going on a solo trip, I get the same reaction every single time, without fail. “Aren’t you scared?” “Oh, I could never solo travel.” “Is it even safe?”

Don’t get me wrong, I get it. Kinda. To an extent. The idea of doing something alone is immediately seen as dangerous or scary because what if something goes wrong? Who’s gonna protect you? Who’s gonna be there to help? And, I mean, yeah, valid concerns actually.

So, Is Solo Travel Safe For Women?

This is the age-old question. One that I fear we’ll never have a straight answer to. It’s not entirely a yes, but it’s also not entirely a no. Like, yeah there are some very real safety concerns you need to think about as a woman travelling alone. At the same time, that doesn’t mean there aren’t things that you can do before and during your trip to help you (and everyone back home) sleep easy when you’re travelling.

Since I’ve already answered the first two most commonly asked questions when I dare to breathe the words solo travel (refer back to paragraph one) here, here, and a bonus one here, I thought, why not share a lil advice, girl to girl, on how you can stay safe when you travel alone as a woman. Gather in girlies.

Safest Places To Solo Travel To As A Woman

Before you even leave the country, you’re gonna need to know where you’re going. You might have a place in mind. You might be open to where an internet search takes you. Either way, before you start planning any solo trip as a woman, you need to know if a country is actually safe for you to go to alone.

Finding the answer to that is actually pretty simple: you let everyone else do the work for you. There are brave people, like myself, who will be willing to go to a country and come back to report their findings so you, the people, can learn from them. All you have to do is find those people. Whether it’s looking at blogs (I know a great one called Caira’s Life, you should check it out), watching YouTube videos, or looking on TikTok. Someone, somewhere will have shared their experience for any city, town, village, or country you’re looking to go to as a female solo traveller.

If, for some rare and unexplainable reason, you can’t find a single other woman who’s gone to the place you’re looking to go to, I guess the burden falls onto your shoulders. Sorry. Unfortunately for you, this is where you have to whip out your preferred search engine and start looking into the country yourself. You can look at things like the general safety rating, the crime rating (not too much though, you’re not tryna scare yourself into not going), or even just the experiences of the women actually living there. Anything you can think of that will help you determine if that’s a place you should actually be going to alone as a woman.

Where To Stay As A Female Solo Traveller?

This one’s more for our first timers in the group. Do we have any first time solo travellers here? Rah, we’ve got a few of you! Welcome, friends. So, my advice to you is you’re probably gonna want to book somewhere with other guests around like a hotel, rather than a single stay place like an Airbnb. Unless, like me, you’re already comfortable staying at Airbnbs (and you just really love having a home away from home type vibe where you can end your day passed out on the sofa, in front of the tv, with your hand still deep in a bag of crisps).

My reasoning for this is that sometimes it can feel safer to be in a secure building, like a hotel, with staff on hand to help out with anything and everything your heart desires. Rather than being in a building or home where everyone else around you legitimately lives there and is just going on about their lives. That’s not to say things like Airbnbs and hostels aren’t safe. It really just depends on where you’re going and who you’re staying with. If you do decide to book them, make sure you do enough research into the hosts, the environment, the other types of people who stay there to the point where you’re confident you’d feel comfortable being there on your own.

No matter what type of place you’re booking, my favourite hack is looking at exactly where it is so I can get an idea of the area. Introducing: Google Street View. Yep. I love grabbing that lil yellow (potentially orange, depending on your eyesight) man and dropping him outside exactly where I’m planning to stay to see what what the fuck is up. I’m ngl this has actually stopped me from booking certain places because, although on the booking site it’s the most beautiful, perfect, magical place I’ve ever seen, when I’ve gone to see where it’s located, it’s literally in the middle of Gotham. Yeah, no thanks.

As an addition to visually seeing the area, go old skul (shout out Rauw Alejandro – La Old Skul, great song if you haven’t heard it) and look at a map to see if it’s actually close to where you wanna be. If it’s too remote, it’s gonna be hard to get to and from the things you’re planning to do. Trust me, you don’t want that, I learnt that the hard way.

How To Plan A Solo Trip

A major part of staying safe while travelling alone as a woman is people being able to check in with you and know exactly what you’re doing and when you’re doing it. If you’ve read any of my other solo travel stuff (if you haven’t, why the fuck not? 😡), you know that I always recommend making an itinerary before you go that you can share with one, or more, people so they can see the exact plan you have for the time you’re gonna be away. 

My personal favourite is to do it on something that can be updated live like a Google Doc (I’ve mentioned them a lot, but I promise Google do not sponsor me. Unfortunately. But maybe they will? Let’s manifest) or the notes app. That way, if you change your plans while you’re out there, you don’t have to resend anything and people can see it as soon as it’s done. We’ll come back to this later, but this one’s super important if you end up meeting other people and doing things with them. Make sure somewhere knows where you’re going and with who. Just in case. You never know.

On the topic of “just in case” things that it’s very unlikely that you’ll have to use, but again, you never know – I’ve recently started adding any and every local emergency number I might need into my itineraries. Local police, fire brigade, medical assistance, the British embassy, even local dentists sometimes. I don’t know, what if I wake up and, God forbid, all my teeth have fallen out? I need to know who to call!

Since we’re packing up our itinerary, on the logistical side of things, you can also use it to give people any access codes or contact information for where you’re staying. Lowkey, it’s also helpful for me to do that so whenever I come back after a long day, I don’t have to strain my last two brain cells tryna figure out what the 10 digit codes for the 3000 doors to enter the building were. Instead, I can tap my thumb approximately two times and past Caira has already written it down for me. See how easy that is?

What To Pack For A Solo Trip

Now, we talk about a few solo travel essentials that I always bring with me. Whether I use them or not is another question, but it’s the thought that counts, innit? The first one, especially if you’re staying in a hosted stay (a.k.a somewhere that isn’t an establishment like a hotel), is a safety lock for the door. The one I have basically just slots in between the door frame and the door, right where the door handle is, and attaches to a chain on the inside. Bad description, but I’ve very kindly included a picture. Everyone say “thank you Caira”. You’re so welcome, my dears. This lock basically stops anyone from being able to open the door, even when the actual lock itself is unlocked. The only way they can get in is if you were to take the chain off.

The next thing which, admittedly, I’m very bad at using (I mean no shit, the safety pin is still in it) is a safety alarm. But, hey, maybe that’s a good sign because it means I’ve never had to use it. But, it’s basically a small alarm that can fit in my bag that I can whip out and use if I feel unsafe. From what I’ve been told by my sister, who has a similar one, it’s loud as FUCK and should scare any sane person off. Then again, I wouldn’t be using it if the person was sane, would I? You get the idea.

The last one that’s kinda a general solo travel essential, but even more so an essential when you’re travelling alone as a woman, is a portable charger. The literal worst thing that could happen while you’re travelling is for your phone to be on 2% and you can’t find your way home or call for help. That’s why you always gotta keep that thang on you, “that thang” being a charger. Mine’s great because it’s cabin safe AND it has a flashlight. Which may not be the brightest, but it did save me the one time me and my friend got trapped in a park at night and we had to navigate our way out because, apparently, parks have a closing time and they decided to turn off the lights and lock all the exits. Anyway, get you a portable charger, if only for the flashlight. And make sure you remember to charge it.

How To Stay Safe While Travelling Alone As A Woman

Okay, this last one is for when you get there. If you’ve followed everything else, you should be good up until now. This is the point where you start interacting with other people. Now, normally, when they see you alone, especially in a place where people usually come together, they’re gonna ask if you’re alone. Rule number one of being a female solo traveller: never tell anyone you’re travelling alone. Again, I’ll admit, there have been many times where I haven’t followed this one. But it’s because I’ve felt safe enough to tell people the truth. So, the rule can be flexible, I guess, but make sure you sus people out before telling them anything.

This leads nicely onto our next point – lie your fucking ass off. My favourite thing about travelling alone to a new country is that literally no one there knows you, so you can be whoever you want to be. Create a fake persona, have a fake job, a fake name, some fake lore. Pretend you’re the main character in your own movie. No one needs to know a single thing about you until you feel like they can be trusted with such top secret information. This one really comes in handy when you want to get out of a situation. You can just say “oh, my so and so is waiting for me. We’re going for dinner”. And who can prove that you’re not?

Piggy backing and backflipping off that again, trust your gut when meeting people. Not everyone is your friend. You don’t have to talk to people for the sake of it. Hell, you don’t even have to be nice to people if you get weird vibes from them. Trust your instincts and know when to walk away. On the topic, although it’s fun and exciting to meet new people and hang out with them, you don’t have to say yes to every invite. Me? I happily declined an invite to go out clubbing for 3 days in a row because what do I look like as a lone woman going out with 4 guys I met on a beach, just to say I went clubbing? Like, sure they were nice people (shout out Calum, I hope you’re good, if by some miracle you read this) and it would’ve probably been fun, but safety first. The clubs will still be there tomorrow when my friends come into town and, because I said no, I definitely still will be too.

Lastly, I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again as a very gentle reminder, stay in contact with people at home. Send a text, send a TikTok, send a selfie. Send some form of proof of life so they know it’s you and not a 47 year old man who’s stolen your phone so he can sell it for some new shoes.

FAQs: Solo Travel As A Woman

Question 1: Is It Safe?

Certain countries are going to be safer than others, and some countries might be complete no go zones. Do a bit of research before you go to understand the general safety of the country and, more importantly, how safe it is for women.

Question 2: Where Should I Stay If I’m Travelling Alone?

The choice is yours. If you’re a first time female solo traveller, I would personally recommend a hotel. If you’ve travelled a lot already and feel comfortable staying alone, I’d suggest Airbnb. If you want to be alone, but with other people, I know people who swear by hostels.

Question 3: Should I Tell People I’m Travelling Alone As A Woman?

When you’re there? Tell absolutely no one. Until you know it’s safe. Before you go? Tell absolutely everyone. The more people who know you that know your plans, the better. Better yet, give them access to everything you plan to do.

Question 4: What Should I Bring On A Solo Trip?

Three main things: a safety lock (to keep you safe at ‘home’), a safety alarm (to keep you safe outside), and a portable charger. Plus a phone. A phone is important. How else are you gonna get your pictures?

Again, Is Solo Travel Safe As A Woman?

With the right amount of planning and preparation, the answer will most definitely be more of a yes than a no. The only hard part is actually doing that planning. I mean, to be fair, it’s not that hard, just a bit time consuming.

Look into any country you’re thinking of going to before you go and see what other female solo travellers have said about it and their experiences there. When you’re set on a country, look at exactly where you’re planning on staying and make sure you’ll be able to get around safely and conveniently. Before you go, make sure you give friends, family, pets, whoever, all the information they need to know exactly how to sneak up on you and throw you a surprise party in your hotel room, if they so desire. Pack some safety essentials with you for when you’re out and about and under absolutely no circumstances tell anyone you’re travelling alone, without a five stage interrogation to see if they can be trusted.

Ah, nice and simple. Happy safe solo travels, girlies!

Byeee, bestie

Caira