Artsy Traveler

Solo Travel Tips for Women: How to Explore Art & Culture on Your Own Terms

I'm Carol Cram, arts travel writer, award-winning novelist, and founder of Art In Fiction, a curated database of 2500+ novels inspired by the arts. On Artsy Traveler I share practical guidance for independent travelers who plan trips around museums, galleries, and cultural experiences. Artsy Traveler contains affiliate links for products and services I personally use and can happily recommend. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. Please read the Disclosure for more information. If you make a purchase through these links, at no additional cost to you, Artsy Traveler earns a small commission.

Last updated on April 30th, 2026 at 01:18 am

Do you enjoy solo travel? I love traveling on my own and have done so ever since my first solo trip to Amsterdam at age 18 when I made a beeline for the newly opened Van Gogh Museum.

That trip started me on a lifelong love of traveling solo, especially in Europe and England.

While I also enjoy traveling with my husband, daughter, and friends, there’s something about solo travel that feeds my love of independent travel.

When you travel alone, you get to go where you want to go when you want to go there. You can spend all day rushing from site to site or take the afternoon off for a nap.

And after a long day of sightseeing, you can dine at restaurants that serve food your usual travel companions may not enjoy (Gregg doesn’t like sushi; I do).

Whether you’re thinking of embarking on your first solo travel adventure, or you’re already a seasoned independent and solo traveler, these solo travel tips will help you travel with confidence and ease. They are especially helpful for women, first-timers, and anyone planning a solo trip in Europe, the UK, or North America.

For more trip planning advice, read my how to plan a European trip step by step guide to learn how to build a realistic itinerary that works well for solo travelers.

---

Best Solo Travel Tips at a Glance

These are my best solo travel tips for staying safe, comfortable, and confident while traveling alone:

1. Visit museums solo for the freedom to linger as long as you want
2. Book small group cultural tours to combine social connection with arts-focused experiences
3. Make dining alone enjoyable by choosing quieter restaurants or opting for takeout.
4. Upgrade to first class on longer train journeys for comfort and personal space.
5. Choose a double room for better value and comfort when traveling solo.
6. Connect with others on your own terms through tours or shared activities.
7. Put safety first by prioritizing convenience over saving money.

---

---

Plan Ahead for Solo Travel

When you’re traveling solo, you don’t want to risk getting into difficult situations, such as not having a place to stay or not having a backup plan.

What if your train is canceled? 

That happened to me twice during one recent trip to the UK. The first time, I only had to wait a few hours for the next train. But the second time required me to get a hotel for the night.

I had to be open to zigging when I should have been zagging. I also had to suck up the extra cost.

Sometimes, a budget is only a guideline. You never want to put saving money ahead of safety and convenience.

Careful planning becomes even more important on longer trips, especially when you’re moving between countries, so I recommend starting with a clear European travel planning framework before booking anything.

Make sure you have good Internet connectivity so you’re never more than a Google search away from help. An Airalo eSIM keeps you connected without roaming charges, which matters more when you’re navigating solo

Have a Detailed Travel Itinerary

Get all your ducks in a row ahead of your trip. Have a detailed itinerary stored on your phone and on paper that includes hotel addresses, places to visit, opening times, schedules, and any other important information you need to access quickly.

While you don’t need to overplan, you do want to have a good sense of where you’re going and when you’re doing things.

The peace of mind will add to your enjoyment of solo travel.

Always Know Where You’re Going

Hurrah for Google Maps. Thanks to smartphones, you can tackle a new city with confidence and always know where you are.

I still shudder when I remember a time in Holland back in the 1990s when I went for a walk at the crack of dawn without a map, got lost, and couldn’t find anyone who spoke English to direct me. I eventually found my way back to the hotel (which I’d forgotten the name of), but for longer than I care to admit, it was touch and go if I’d ever see my family again.

Before you go anywhere on your own, program in your route on your smartphone. I share more practical advice about staying healthy, rested, and alert on the road in my guide to traveling and staying healthy in Europe.

Also make sure you have a few taxi and rideshare apps installed for quick access.

And don’t go out with a phone that’s running out of battery unless you’re carrying a reliable backup battery. I speak from painful experience.

Take photos of your hotel that include the street number, your parking space if you’re driving, and any other landmarks you might need.

Before you leave your hotel for a day’s sightseeing, pick up a card from reception that includes the name and address of the hotel. If your taxi driver doesn’t speak English, you can show him the card.

When you’re traveling solo, you only have yourself to rely on so make sure you’re prepared.

---

Solo Travel and the Arts: Why It’s the Perfect Combination

If you love art and culture, solo travel isn’t just a way to get somewhere, it’s the ideal way to experience museums, galleries, and cultural sites on your own terms.

I’ve visited hundreds of museums over the years, both solo and with companions, and I can say without hesitation that some of my best museum experiences have been alone.

Nobody is checking their watch. Nobody is getting tired before you’re ready to leave. Nobody is steering you toward the gift shop before you’ve finished sighing over the Vermeers. Nobody is suggesting lunch just as you’ve found the painting you came specifically to see.

Linger as Long as You Want

The single greatest gift of solo museum-going is time. You can spend forty-five minutes in front of one painting if you want to. You can skip entire wings that don’t interest you. You can double back, sit on a bench, read the wall text properly, or simply stand and stare.

On a recent visit to London’s National Gallery, I swooned in solitary joy before my favorite masterpieces and could thoroughly indulge my love for pre-Renaissance art.

It was glorious.

Plan Your Museum Days Around Your Energy

Solo travel also means you control the pace. I often enjoy ganging up my museum visits (even three in a day in a city like London), but my usual travel companion (bless him) is not quite so energetic.

When you’re traveling with others, compromise is inevitable. When you’re traveling solo, you can give a single museum your full attention or choose a few museums to blitz.

You set the pace. You manage the expectations.

When you’re on your own, you can also spend more time browsing in the museum gift shop or lingering over a coffee in the museum cafe. The only energy level you need to worry about is your own, which I find tremendously liberating.

Book Guided Museum Tours

Just because you’re traveling solo doesn’t mean you have to experience everything alone. Many museums offer guided tours led by curators or specialists, often free with admission.

These are some of the best cultural experiences available to any traveler and are especially rewarding when you’re traveling solo. You can focus entirely on what the guide is saying without worrying about whether your companion is getting bored.

In my experience, guided museum tours consistently reveal things I would never have noticed on my own.

Use Audioguides Shamelessly

Audioguides are an inherently solitary pleasure. When you’re traveling with someone who finds them slow or distracting, you often skip them.

Solo, you can plug in and follow at your own pace without apology. Some of the best museum audioguides — the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam comes to mind — are outstanding and transform the experience entirely.

Lunch at the Museum Café

Museum cafés deserve more credit than they get as solo dining destinations. They are among the most comfortable places in any city to eat alone.

The atmosphere is already contemplative, solo visitors are the norm rather than the exception, and nobody is going to make you feel self-conscious about sitting by yourself with a good book or a notebook.

Some museum cafés are worth visiting in their own right. The café at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London is housed in stunning Victorian rooms that are themselves worth seeing.

The café at the Musée d’Orsay in Paris looks out over one of the great ornate clocks of the old railway station. A solo lunch in either of these places becomes one of the pleasures of your sightseeing day.

The Art-Lover’s Solo Travel Sweet Spot

The ideal solo arts trip, in my experience, combines two or three days in a city with strong museum offerings, a mix of major institutions and smaller gems, and enough unscheduled time to wander and discover things you didn’t plan for.

Copenhagen, Amsterdam, Paris, and Florence are all perfect for this kind of trip. These cities are compact enough to navigate easily alone, and rich enough to keep an arts lover busy for days.

---

Find Ways to Make Dining Alone Fun

Dining alone can feel rather awkward. But it doesn’t have to. When you’re traveling solo, look for ways to make dining alone enjoyable.

My preference is to choose restaurants that aren’t too busy. I like a quiet atmosphere in which I can concentrate on reading or writing, and I always bring along a notebook and pen so I can jot down deep thoughts.

I also like to appreciate my surroundings and chat with servers when they aren’t too busy. If I’m the only solo diner in a sea of boisterous tables, I feel out of place.

If a restaurant looks too crowded for comfort, consider going elsewhere. But always, always, check restaurant reviews and pay close attention to reviews written by solo travelers.

If you’re traveling in Europe, my dining tips explain how to eat well without stress or awkwardness.

As a solo traveler, you may be shown to a table by the kitchen or another undesirable location more often than when you’re traveling with a companion. Don’t be shy. Ask to be moved if you don’t like the table you’re offered.

Usually, you’ll be accommodated and if you’re not, well then, move on. As my granny used to say, they won’t see you again.

Engaging with Others

Enhance your experience by engaging with the servers, who are often friendly and happy to ask you where you’re from. These days, at least in Europe, most servers speak English.

Recently, at a hotel in Bristol, I got to chatting with three young servers who were all students at the university. One wanted to be a writer, so we had a great old talk when she wasn’t busy serving other customers, and she was also interested to hear about my novels.

Dining solo can lead to great interactions both with servers and fellow diners.

Choose Takeout Dinners

If you can’t find a well-rated restaurant that’s quiet, then it’s takeout to the rescue. I’ve had some of my best meals sitting comfortably in my hotel room.

On a solo trip to Kauai, I had takeout pretty much every night because the restaurants were very crowded. Also, by getting takeout just before sunset, I avoided having to drive my rental car home along very dark roads.

---

Travel Light When Traveling Solo

When you’re traveling solo, easy-to-manage luggage makes for a far more pleasant experience. You won’t need to ask for help getting a small carry-on and backpack on and off trains. You’ll also be able to store them easily.

Choosing the right luggage and personal items makes a huge difference, so I’ve put together my best travel gear recommendations for Europe, based on years of solo travel.

Also, not all trains have sufficient storage space for large bags, unless you travel first class (see next point).

When I travel solo, I make an exception to my usual midsize rule and travel with a carry-on because managing heavy luggage alone on trains and stairs is considerably less fun than it sounds.

---

Upgrade to First Class on Trains

Traveling first class if your train journey is longer than three hours is well worth the extra expense. You get more comfort and more privacy.

Most first-class carriages have single-seat rows, whereas most second-class carriages have only double-seat rows.

You might end up seated next to someone whom you may not want to interact with, and those second-class seats are not roomy.

Often, the difference in price between first and second class is not as high as you might expect, particularly if you book in advance. Use RailEurope to find the best deals.

---

Stock Up on Audiobooks

Since you want to travel light, don’t weigh yourself down with reading material. While eBooks are a great option, consider listening to audiobooks instead. Rather than focusing on a screen, you can watch the world go by while staying aware of your surroundings, which makes for a safer journey.

Take along two or three sets of earphones, at least one of which doesn’t need charging. When you’re riding or waiting for transit, standing in line at a museum, or just wanting to tune out the busy world around you, pop in your earphones and enjoy a few chapters of an audiobook.

I recommend listening to books set in the region you’re traveling through.

While riding a bus from Delphi to Athens on a recent trip to Greece, I listened to Glorious Exploits by Ferdia Lennon, which is about Greek theater in the ancient world. Seeing a landscape go by that was very similar to what was described really brought the novel to life.

Intrigued? Check out my interview with Ferdia Lennon about Glorious Exploits on The Art In Fiction Podcast.

Audiobook Suggestions

Audiobooks are one of my favorite solo travel companions. I usually download several before a trip so I’m never dependent on Wi-Fi. Here are some great audiobooks to enjoy while traveling in Italy, France, and Spain.

---

Take Walking and Small-Group Tours 

Walking tours are one of my go-to activities when traveling solo. They’re informative, social when you want them to be, and easy to leave if you’re tired.

You are quite likely to meet other solo travelers when you take a walking or small-group tour. And if you’d rather not engage, you can enjoy simply listening to the tour guide as opposed to worrying that your companion is getting bored or tired.

If you get bored or tired, that’s okay because you only have yourself to please.

Walking Tours

A great place to find walking tours led by enthusiastic locals is GuruWalk. Many of the guides specialize in specific interests. In Bath, the guide was enthusiastic about architecture, while in Athens, the guide loved sharing his extensive knowledge of ancient history.

Here are some GuruWalks to check out in Paris.

You can also sign up for guided tours in museums. Led by curators and usually free, these tours are almost always very informative and provide a more in-depth understanding of the exhibits than you may get touring on your own.

Guided Day Tours

I typically don’t rent a car when I’m traveling solo. Even with GPS, navigating can be a challenge, especially in Europe and the UK where the traffic, not to mention parking, is frequently horrendous.

The easiest and safest way to see the local countryside is to take small-group day tours. When I’m traveling solo, I prefer booking tours through established platforms such as GetYourGuide so I know exactly what to expect in terms of group size, safety, and logistics.

Read about my tour of the Cotswolds and the two day tours I took to explore Yorkshire during a solo trip to England.

Choose tours that don’t involve long commutes to get to the destination. For example, instead of taking a tour of the Cotswolds that embarks from London, spend a night or two in Oxford, Bath or Stratford-upon-Avon and then pick up a tour from there.

You’ll spend most of your day joyriding around the Cotswolds rather than spending two hours each way on the motorway.

If you’re looking to meet new people while traveling, a day tour may be just the ticket.

Multi-Day Tours

You may also wish to take the occasional multi-day tour when you’re traveling solo. Recently, I took a four-day tour around Southwest England with Rabbie’s Tours. Only four other people were on the 16-seat bus so there was lots of room to stretch out.

While these tours can be a bit exhausting, they can also be a great way to meet people if you’re so inclined. You also cover a lot of ground efficiently and see hidden corners you might miss if traveling by train.

To find good tours, check GetYourGuide and Tiqets.com. Here are a few options in Germany, France, and Italy from GetYourGuide.

div data-gyg-href=”https://widget.getyourguide.com/default/activities.frame” data-gyg-locale-code=”en-US” data-gyg-widget=”activities” data-gyg-number-of-items=”3″ data-gyg-partner-id=”3Y73BHZ” data-gyg-tour-ids=”1753,10763,255157″>Powered by GetYourGuide