Solo Female Travel Is Booming: Here's Why

Ten years ago, telling people you were travelling alone as a woman got you a worried look and a lot of questions. "Is it safe?" "Aren't you lonely?" "Where is your boyfriend?". Today, i'm happy to report that solo female travel is one of the biggest trends in the industry, and the numbers back it up. GO GIRLS.

I have been travelling solo for over ten years, so I read these reports with a very personal interest. Some of the findings match what I see on the road every week. What i see in my DM's but then some of them surprised me. Here is what's happening.

What the numbers say about solo female travel

Start with who is travelling. Hostelworld's 2025 State of Solo Travel report surveyed 3,334 solo travellers in July 2025 and found that women make up 60% of them. That is more than half of everyone out there travelling alone.

Other sources point the same way. A Future Partners survey, reported by NBC News, found that 40% of women were interested in taking a solo trip in 2025, 8 percentage points up from the year before. Tour operators see it too. Road Scholar, which runs trips for travellers aged 50 and over, told NBC that 85% of its solo travellers are women.

One thing to know if you go looking for these figures yourself: they vary a lot. I have seen claims anywhere from 60% to 84% of solo travellers being women, depending on who ran the survey and who they asked. But of course a hostel booking site and a luxury tour company reach very different crowds. The direction is the same everywhere, though. More women are going alone, and they are not slowing down.

Why more women are travelling alone

The old excuse was "I'm waiting for someone to come with me." That excuse has faded. Friends have kids, mortgages, different holiday days and different budgets. If you wait for everyone's life to line up, you wait for years.

The Hostelworld report gives a clear picture of what solo travellers want. The top reasons are connecting with other cultures (59%), finding unique experiences and adventure (54%), challenging themselves (52%) and reconnecting with themselves (52%). Notice what is missing from that list: running away. People are travelling towards something.

The benefits show up too. Around 78% of the solo travellers surveyed said it boosted their confidence, their mental health, or both. And women were more likely than men to say it helped them with self-discovery, at 55% compared to 39%.

That matches my experience. You make every decision yourself, from where to sleep to what to eat to when to leave a place that is not working. Do that for a few weeks and you start trusting your own judgement. You don't get that from staying in the same city all your life.

Is solo female travel lonely?

This is the question I get asked most, so let me give you the honest answer. Loneliness is real. I wrote a whole post about the digital nomad loneliness paradox because it hits even people who love their lifestyle. Me included.

But the data on short solo trips is more encouraging than most people expect. In the Hostelworld survey, 71% of solo travellers were actively looking to meet people, and only 3.7% of those who looked said they met no one. Almost everyone who tried, found someone.

The worry tends to be bigger before the trip than during it. Once you arrive, you sit down in a hostel common room or join a walking tour, and you are talking to someone within an hour. If you want a full game plan, I put one together in my guide on how to make friends as a digital nomad.

The honest part: staying a long time in one place is a different game from a two-week trip. Friendships take more effort when everyone is passing through. Good days feel great, and slow days can feel very quiet. Both are normal.

What safety looks like when you travel alone

Safety is the other big question, and yes, this is the hardest thing women have to deal with. Now first, most solo female travellers travel for years without a serious problem. I'm lucky to say that i've never had any serious issues. But you do need to make more decisions to do with safety than any man ever will and that's just the sad reality.

My recommendation: book your first night before you arrive, and arrive in daylight when you can. Choose accommodation in walkable areas with good reviews from other solo women. Share your location with someone you trust. Trust your gut when a situation feels off, and leave without needing to explain yourself.

And finally LIE. Lie to anyone who ask you a personal question for no reason. My fav questions that get a lie from me when a random man asks me these:

• "Do you have a boyfriend/husband?" YES

• "Where are you staying?" AROUND (be as vague as possible, or straight up say a random hotel name if they keep pushing)

• "Are you alone?" NO I'm meeting a friend

I put all of this in one place in my post on staying safe while travelling solo. The short version is that preparation lets you relax, and a relaxed traveller has a better time and is safer.

Travelling solo after 40 and beyond

The solo travel crowd is not all twenty-somethings. In the Hostelworld report, 66% of solo travellers are between 18 and 30, which leaves about a third who are older. The NBC piece points to women travelling alone after losing a partner, and married women taking trips without their spouse. Beth Whitman, CEO of WanderTours, told NBC News it has become more acceptable for women to leave their families, partners or spouses behind and travel with a group of like-minded women. When her company surveyed its single-booking customers, 60% were married but travelling without their spouses.

I love this part of the trend. Nobody should wait for a life stage to start exploring. If you are 45 and thinking about your first solo trip, you will be in good company. And no, you're never too old to start doing something, learning a new skill, or discovering the world; stop with that nonsense.

How to start your first solo trip

Pick somewhere that makes it easy. Walkable cities, good public transport and a strong traveller scene take away most of the stress. Portugal, Japan and Spain are good starting points for those reasons.

Keep the first trip short. Four to seven days is enough to learn how you travel without feeling stuck if it is not for you. Stay somewhere you can meet people, like a hostel with private rooms or a small guesthouse.

Then go slowly. Say yes to the walking tour. Eat at the bar instead of a table in the corner. Talk to the person next to you. These small things add up quickly.

If you want to take this further and live this way full time, I put together a free starter pack and quiz inside my newsletter. And if you want to hear real stories from people who made the leap, check out the Out Of Office Club podcast!💕

The bottom line

Girls love to travel, explore and see the world as we should. The numbers show a clear, steady shift: more women are going alone, they are going for good reasons, and most of them come home happier and more confident. YAY! You do not need a partner, a perfect plan or permission. You need a ticket and a bit of courage, and the courage grows once you are on the road. So goooo!

Want to hear the real stories?

The Out Of Office Club podcast shares honest conversations about living and working from anywhere, the good days and the hard ones. Listen at stellasentiero.com/podcast, and grab the free digital nomad starter pack and quiz at stellasentiero.com/newsletter.