Solo travel: staying safe, dodging the single supplement and meeting people

Solo travel after 50 is not a niche. AARP’s guide to it cites a 2023 Road Scholar study finding that 60 per cent of that company’s solo travellers each year are married — they simply have a partner who does not want to go — and that 85 per cent of that group are women. A March 2026 survey quoted in the same guide found that half of Americans have taken trips without companions. If you are thinking about going alone, you are in a very large crowd.

This article is part of our complete guide to travel after 50. It is general information; if you have a health condition, check with your GP (family doctor) before a long trip.

Safety: the habits that do most of the work

The FCDO — the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office — publishes advice for solo and independent travellers, and it is refreshingly unfussy.

• Book your first night before you leave. You are most vulnerable on arrival, tired and disoriented. Know the address, and have a backup in case the place is not what you expected.
• Leave an itinerary with someone at home and agree how regularly you will be in contact.
• Use only official, licensed taxis. Do not hitch-hike.
• Have appropriate travel insurance, even if you are visiting friends and family.
• “Being safe is more important than being polite.” If a situation feels wrong, leave it. Contact the local police if you fear for your safety.

The US State Department’s advice for travellers over 65 adds the paperwork layer: leave a copy of your passport’s data page and emergency contact details with family or a trusted friend, know how to reach the nearest US embassy, tell your bank you are travelling so it does not freeze your card, and enrol in the free Smart Traveler Enrollment Program (STEP) for alerts from the local embassy. UK travellers can sign up for FCDO email alerts for any country from its foreign travel advice pages.

AARP’s practical list is worth adopting too: arrange transport from the airport or station in advance, carry a door stop for the hotel room, keep valuables in the room safe, and use a location-sharing app with one person at home so your check-in is automatic.

Group tours: structure without losing your independence

A guided walking week, a small-group rail tour or a course abroad gives a solo trip a spine: company at dinner, someone who knows where the bus goes, and days that are planned so you do not have to plan them. You still have your own room and your own free afternoons.

The catch is the single supplement — the extra charge for a room that would otherwise hold two people. It can add a large fraction to the price of a tour. AARP’s solo guide names several operators that reduce or waive single supplements, and notes services that match solo travellers to group discounts. Rather than recommend any of them, our advice is simpler: before you book, ask in writing what the supplement is, whether the operator will waive it on certain departures, whether they will pair you with another solo traveller to share, and whether apartments (where supplements rarely apply) are an option. Off-season departures and long stays are where operators are most flexible.

Meeting people, on a slow trip

The fear is loneliness. The reality, on a trip of a week or more in one place, is usually the opposite: routine breeds acquaintance. The person at the café on the third morning is a nod; by the tenth they know how you take your coffee.

A few things that help:

• Book something structured for the first few days: a class, a guided walk, a market tour. It puts you in a room with people who share an interest.
• Eat lunch out rather than dinner if evenings alone feel long. Lunch is cheaper, brighter and more sociable in most of Europe anyway.
• Walk with a group. The Ramblers run over 500 groups and some 50,000 group walks a year in Britain, and many welcome visitors. Abroad, look for the local equivalent.
• Take the train. AARP’s solo train guide points out that dining cars seat people at communal tables, “which makes it easy to meet new people”, and that the café car is where the talking happens.
• Say yes to invitations and no to pressure. You are old enough to know the difference and to say so plainly.

Accommodation with a human in it

For a first solo trip, choose somewhere with someone on the desk: an aparthotel, a guesthouse, a homestay attached to a language school. It is reassuring, and the person on the desk is also the person who knows where the pharmacy is. You can go fully independent next time.

Insurance, briefly

MoneyHelper’s advice is to buy travel insurance as soon as you book, so that cancellation cover starts straight away, and it suggests medical cover of at least £1 million in Europe and £2 million elsewhere. Solo travellers should also check the policy covers being brought home, because there is no companion to organise it. Our travel insurance after 50 article has the full picture on declaring conditions.

If you want the solo-travel checklist, the check-in plan and the twelve-week countdown on paper, our Slow Travel After 50 workbook has a section written specifically for going alone.

This week

• Choose your check-in person and agree the rhythm.
• Book the rehearsal trip: two nights, somewhere you can get to by train.
• Write the three questions you will ask an operator about single supplements.
• Save the relevant official advice page — gov.uk or travel.state.gov — for your first destination.