30 of the Best Women’s Solo Travel Tips From Our Readers (August 2024)

Expert Advice from Our Community: Safety, Packing, and Practical Tips

Curated from our Facebook Group and Email Tips 

This month, we’re highlighting reader tips centred on safety, light packing, and practical travel strategies—ideal for avoiding those costly checked bag fees. Gathered from incoming emails and our private Solo Travel Wisdom Facebook group, we’re thrilled to present these firsthand solo travel tips. These recommendations aim to help you travel securely and efficiently. Have your own solo travel tip? We’d love to hear from you! (You can do that here!)

Tip: You can download these tips as a PDF or print them using the icons above!

August’s best solo travel tips

1. If you are travelling to Windsor in England go to the Ivy restaurant. It’s amazing. I booked a day return train fare so that I could go to Windsor Castle. I discovered the Ivy restaurant on my way there so I stopped for breakfast. The decor is out of this world. — Ann B.

2. Travel tip for Edinburgh, Scotland: instead of trying to find affordable nice accommodation in Edinburgh, take the train 25 minutes west to Dunbar, where the lovely independent hostel The Dolphin Inn sits close to the train station. Dunbar is a coastal village, has a few restaurants and shops, and is very nice and calm. Perfect if you’re travelling on an interrail card, or any other train card, but you could also go by car. Great place to stay! — Lotta A.

3. I wear leakproof undies, especially if it’s going to be a long day with unknown access to bathrooms. Knix is a good brand. Bring a spare pair, just in case. It is a pretty common issue, so we are fortunate now to have a wide variety of options for incontinence undergarments. HuHa is a good brand of undies, not leakproof, but UTI preventative (and Canadian). — Pia F.

4. Many airlines offer great opportunities to visit a city with long layovers. I’ve had long stopovers in Iceland, Dubai, and Japan, on several airlines that include city tours, hotels, and dinner. A great way to get a little extra vacation in. — Jenna B.

5. When travel planning, I use YouTube to visualize and get familiar with modes of transport in new-to-me countries. I am very thankful to the travel vloggers who record and explain routes from A to B, pit stops on bus trips, where to grab a snack before shuttles to new borders, and in particular, how to go through customs and immigration from Cambodia to Vietnam, when entering via a tourist boat on the Mekong. They may not take away all the surprises, but having had a video walk-through can make these transits a lot easier. — Maria F.