25 Benefits of Solo Travel That Will Change Your Life

Have you ever wondered what it feels like to have complete freedom during your travels? You’ve probably had friends or family return from solo travels and gush about their amazing experience. It might even be to the point where you’re skeptical. Trust me, I was like that, too, until I went on my solo travels and experienced the benefits of solo travel.

You’re also probably interested in solo traveling and deciding if solo travel is worth it. From someone who’s solo-traveled for nearly two years now, there is a lot to say. So, here are 25 life-changing benefits of solo travel that convince you that traveling alone is a great idea.

You Put Yourself First

Have you ever traveled with someone and disagreed about where to go or eat? When you solo travel, you have the complete freedom to do whatever you want, when you want. You won’t have to ask for someone else’s opinion or worry about their energy levels.

By exploring on your terms, you’ll feel liberated to put your interests and self first. One might call it selfish, but it’s closer to self-love and prioritizing. Especially if you’re a people-pleaser, you’ll practice putting yourself first, and hopefully, it will translate when you return home.

You Discover Yourself

Have you ever thought about what you might learn about yourself if you were truly alone in a new place?

When you solo travel, you spend a lot of time with yourself. You explore new places, wake up, sleep, eat, and reflect with yourself. So, naturally, you spend a lot of time discovering new things about yourself.

You might find that you love connecting with strangers at a quiet cafe or taking your time walking through art museums. You’ll notice what makes you excited and what you might appreciate back home.

And sometimes, to discover ourselves, we need a little push.

Be Comfortable With the Uncomfortable

Anytime we travel, there are bound to be things that don’t go our way.

You might not know where you’re going, get stuck in traffic on the way to a time-sensitive booking, forget to pack an important item, etc. You might have to aproach a stranger and ask them to take your picture on a solo trip. Nothing is perfect, and solo travel especially teaches you to embrace discomfort.

Obviously, I’m not talking about situations where you might be harassed or harmed (please follow some solo travel safety tips). But situations that might be less than ideal and inconvenient. Accepting that is a great skill to have and be more resilient to challenging situations (more on resilience later).

Boost Self-Confidence

The thing about traveling alone is that all the decisions are your responsibility—there’s no one else to share the blame if something goes wrong. However, this is an excellent opportunity to test the waters of an unfamiliar experience and practice making decisions until you are confident.

You’ll find that you’re more capable than you think, especially when navigating a new public transit system, learning to order in a different language, and planning new trips.

Imagine the rush of navigating a bustling market in a foreign country, relying solely on your instincts and newfound language skills. There’s nothing quite confidence-boosting than making decisions and reaping the rewards on your own.

Feel Empowered

Going off of the previous point, once you have more confidence in yourself, you’ll feel empowered to be more ambitious. For example, if you have a great solo travel experience in a new town in your state or city, you’ll feel empowered to solo travel somewhere further away.

After that, you’ll feel empowered to go international, maybe do something scary like bungee jumping or immerse yourself in a whole different language.

It’s a great feeling knowing you can make big things happen. Feeling empowered is one of the great mental health benefits of solo travel!

Practice Taking Risks

Life is all about taking risks (calculated risks) and seeing what happens. Especially when risks involve changing something in your life for the better. A risk is all about uncertainty. Solo travel is a risk because you’re alone, and if it’s your first time, you’re uncertain how it will go or if you’ll enjoy it.

But once you take that solo trip, if it benefits you, you’ll grow more comfortable taking risks in the future. You’ll keep taking good risks that will improve your life.

Learn to be Independent

This is arguably the best benefit to solo travel. Without an older family member or friend to guide you, you learn to navigate and find places to eat alone. You know firsthand how to get places independently, research attractions, pay for things, and do other responsibilities.

Independence isn’t something someone can teach you; you have to learn it on your own. But it’s hard to be independent when you exist in a bubble of comfort (which isn’t bad). Solo travel forces you to rely on yourself and be independent when it matters.

It’s a skill you take home with you at the end of your solo travels, and it’s one of the most significant benefits of solo travel because it keeps on giving even after the trip is over.

Practice Social Skills

Even the most extroverted people need to practice social skills, which are practiced, not inherent. It might not seem beneficial, but there is an advantage in knowing how to talk to strangers, especially from different backgrounds.

For example, a good conversation opener I learned from my solo travels is “How long is your trip here?” It’s generic enough that the person you’re talking to isn’t compromising their safety and open-ended so they can share as little or as much as they want.

This is an even bigger benefit if you’re introverted or don’t like talking to strangers, which is valid. However, you’re guaranteed to converse with people if you travel solo, and it’s a nice way to practice having conversations and creating connections.

Experience Serendipity

You can experience serendipity anywhere, but there’s something magical about connecting with someone you would never have met if you hadn’t taken that solo trip.

You’ll also find yourself in serendipitous situations like people-watching at a restaurant, finding a new favorite ice cream, or stumbling upon a fantastic festival.

With solo travel, there are often no expectations, and some like to travel more spontaneously. And often, you’ll experience a lot of serendipity in places halfway across the world with people you might never see again.

Go at Your Own Pace

Similar to the first point of putting yourself first, when you solo travel, you get to explore at your own pace. If you find yourself in a museum you really love, you can stay longer! If you’re hungry earlier than usual, you can eat right then and there. If there are three different things you want to do, you can do them all without hesitation.

While this is great for sightseeing, you can also take your time resting. If your feet hurt and you’re tired early in the day, you can return to your accommodation and chill. You set the pace for your travels, which is rewarding and freeing.

It’s your trip, so can enjoy it however you want and at your own pace.

Get Better at Problem-Solving Under Pressure

When things go wrong during solo traveling, finding a solution is up to you. For example, taking the wrong bus to the airport, waking up late for a hard-to-get reservation, or losing your luggage or passport.

Of course, these situations are stressful, especially when traveling somewhere new; it can be even more stressful not having anyone to help you figure it out.

But once you get through it, the experience will better equip you the next time something happens. And you’ll learn a lesson at the same time. While it’s scary initially, you’ll learn how to overcome high-pressure situations better.

Become More Resilient

After experiencing high-stress situations when solo traveling, you’ll be more resilient, too!

You’re guaranteed to encounter a problem or unexpected situation during your solo travels, including not having cash when necessary, losing a wallet, hopping on the wrong train, etc. The first time something happens, it might be anxiety-inducing. You might even be hard on yourself.

But the thing about overcoming challenges is that you become more resilient. The next time you encounter something unexpected, you’ll bounce back much quicker or might even be unfazed. You’ll let go of expectations, be more go-with-the-flow, or adopt a growth mindset toward your abilities in response to problems coming your way.

Becoming more resilient is also one of the benefits of solo travel that keeps on giving. According to psychologist, Angela Duckworth, resilience helps maintain our mental and emotional health, so it’s important!

Become More Decisive

One of the best parts of solo travel is deciding where to go and how to spend your time. You get to choose where you go and don’t want to consider other people’s interests.

The downside is that it can be difficult to narrow down exciting activities if you’re indecisive.

The benefit, though, is that you exercise being decisive. Sometimes, it’s worse being indecisive than making the wrong decision because with the latter, at least you know whether it was good or bad. If you stay indecisive, you’ll be stuck!

Luckily, deciding where to go is fun, and over time, you’ll learn what you like and dislike and be more confident in making decisions.

You’ll Grow

With new experiences comes change.

Perhaps you’ll meet someone from a wildly different background and change your perspective about certain ideas or preconceptions. Maybe before your solo trip, you used to wait for people to explore, but after, you decide to go whether or not people are ready.

You’ll also grow in ways you didn’t expect. For example, I didn’t expect to grow into someone who loves spending time with myself. I used to be someone who would wait for others to explore new places or restaurants. I never thought that going by myself was a possibility! It was just a condition that I had all my life.

But it’s always away from family and friends that allow you to self-develop authentically and at your pace.

Improve Well Being

You might wonder if solo travel is good for mental health. Especially since being in isolation for long periods is not good for people mentally.

Luckily, solo travel doesn’t mean you don’t interact with people; it just means you do it alone. According to studies, solo travelling significantly impacts women’s wellness and helps them become independent and confident. (Wilson & Harris, 2006).

Another study in Indonesia also found that solo travelling induces many significant positive changes in women, including feeling free, happy, more creative, and connected to the outside world. (Hamid et. al, 2021).

Solo travel helps me stay in the present and ground my purpose in life. Solo travel has also made it easy to be happy and have a passion for life, as one of my hosts has described me.

There are many explanations as to why solo travel boosts mental health. It may allow us to grow, increase self-confidence, and create meaningful connections, all positive mental experiences.

Learn a New Language Easier

Learning a language is one of the benefits of solo travel, but it requires more intentionality, as it’s not saying that you immediately learn a foreign language just because you solo travel.

It requires the solo traveller to want to learn a new language and put in the effort to put themselves in awkward situations where they will be bad at speaking a language. But ultimately, you persevere to improve your language skills.

And it’s easier when you’re surrounded by people who speak the language you’re trying to learn, especially if locals do not speak your native language.

Being forced to use your language skills helps you improve faster. It’s one of the reasons I chose to study abroad in Taiwan—to improve my Mandarin!

Feeling Grateful

Gratefulness is all about mindset and perspective. When traveling, you’re guaranteed to recognize some privileges you have, whether financial, social, interpersonally, or national.

For example, I never knew passport privilege existed until I spoke with a tour guide in Vietnam about his visa difficulties in visiting countries where I do not need a visa.

It makes you feel grateful for what you have, which you might not realize is great until you gain a new perspective.

Meet People You Would Never Meet Otherwise

I would never have met a middle-aged architect from Saudi Arabia, an Argentinian college student, a retired Spanish hairdresser, or a Japanese model had I not solo travelled.

One of the greatest benefits of solo travel: is meeting new people you might not have met in your hometown or state. You’ll run into people from all backgrounds and nationalities and connect on similar interests or values.

You’ll meet people traveling alone in a variety of ways, from tours, classes, random encounters, mutual friends, etc.

It’s amazing how many different types of people you can share a cup of coffee with, and it makes you both feel connected to the world in a way.

Get Really Good at Packing

You’ll quickly learn that lugging around multiple bags or suitcases is not fun, especially if you need to roll a suitcase over uneven cobblestone streets or carry a heavy bag up numerous flights of stairs. It’s just not worth the hassle.

So, when you go solo, and if you go often, you’ll be packing and unpacking more and more. Then, you get really good at packing lightly and strategically.

You might even become a full-time carry-on traveller and get really good at packing a carry-on well.

Accidentally Get a Private Tour

This actually happened to me quite a bit!

I booked a tour for a group moped ride in Hoi An, and it ended up being literally me and my friend with our two tour guides. I also booked a wine tour in West Auckland, and it ended up being me and one other person with our tour guide.

So, I accidentally got a private tour for the price of a group tour! Which was not my intention, but it was a nice benefit of traveling alone.

Obviously, this is just getting lucky, but it happens more often than you think! This is one of the more practical benefits of solo travel.

No Wait at Busy Restaurants

This happens all the time, and it’s the best perk of eating alone when traveling alone.

Restaurants usually have bar seating that’s perfect for solo diners. So, if you show up to a busy restaurant with a queue, more likely than not, you’ll get seated immediately. I like to do this with trendy or hyped restaurants.

Dining has never been easier than eating by yourself, truly! And sometimes, the waitstaff will spark conversation with you because they’re curious why you’re alone or want to make sure you’re comfortable. This is one of my favorite advantages of traveling solo.

Appreciate Your Own Company

When you solo travel, you spend a lot of time with yourself.

At first, being alone may be awkward or nerve-wracking. You might not be used to having all this free time by yourself and want to fall back into the comforts of having a familiar face next to you. But I promise, the feeling goes away.

You’ll appreciate the quiet, maybe even some of your thoughts as you explore a new city. For example, I love walking around, sitting for a bit, and enjoying the peace of my company.

It’s easy to take yourself for granted, so it’s always nice when you’re forced to enjoy one-on-one time with yourself.

It doesn’t have to be as extreme as loving yourself (if you’re on a self-love journey), but as simple as enjoying your own company.

Gain New Perspectives

Like most travel, you see how people live differently, cultural differences, and different attitudes. You also get those new perspectives with solo travel and a new perspective about yourself and how you exist in your hometown.

You may realize that you prefer a particular lifestyle over another or appreciate the small things about your hometown.

The cultural exchange is one of the biggest perspective changers you’ll get during your solo travels, especially if you immerse yourself.

Realize Traveling Can Be Possible on a Budget

You might think travel is expensive. People often ask me, “How do you afford to travel so much?” But travel does not have to be expensive and is more attainable than people think. You don’t need to have a lot of money to travel.

For example, you can get cheap flights if you know where to look, get cheap accommodation through hostels, and eat good, affordable meals. The more comfortable travel is more expensive.

But if you have a budget, you’ll realize there are many ways to make it work. You just have to look.

Be Authentically You

One of my favorite benefits of solo travel is that you can be authentically you! If you travel somewhere you’ve never been, no one knows who you are, and you can reinvent yourself.

Living somewhere everyone knows you can be stifling, and you feel there is no room to act differently for fear of being judged. You can imagine a different personality, lean into specific interests, and live without anyone telling you what you should or should not do. It’s incredibly freeing.

Is Solo Travel All That Great?

Naturally, you’ll wonder what the downsides of solo travel are. Not everything about solo travel can be positive, and you’re absolutely right. There are several disadvantages of solo travel that people should talk about, but the biggest one is loneliness.

It’s natural and expected that you will feel lonely during your solo travels, especially if it’s your first time. You don’t know how to set up your solo trips to help combat the loneliness pangs just yet, and every solo traveler goes through it.

You’ll miss the familiarity of friends and family, get tired of doing everything alone, and look at friends and families longingly for your companions.

And this is all normal. Don’t fight the loneliness!

Acknowledge it, let it sit, and then figure out how you want to feel differently. Maybe connect with mutual friends on your trip, book some tours to meet new people, or look for social meet-ups to make friends while you travel solo.

Experiencing the downsides of solo travel is also a benefit! Overcoming loneliness can lead to greater resilience and self-discovery, often because it is a challenging experience.

Solo Travel Tips

Now that you’re interested in solo travel, here are some tips for your next solo trip:

• Let Your Friends and Family Know Your Plans: Share your itinerary, accommodation details, and essential contact information with someone you trust. Regular check-ins can also provide you and your loved ones peace of mind.
• Read Up On Solo Travel Safety Tips: Educate yourself on standard safety practices for solo travelers, such as being aware of your surroundings, avoiding unsafe areas, and keeping your valuables secure. Staying informed about local scams can also help you avoid potential risks.
• Plan Your First Day in Detail: Your first day in a new destination can be overwhelming, especially alone. Plan your arrival, including how to get from the airport to your accommodation, where to eat, and what to do first. This will help you feel more at ease and set a positive tone for the rest of your trip.
• Join Group Tours or Classes: Even if you’re traveling solo, joining group tours, workshops, or classes is a great way to meet new people and learn more about the local culture. It also gives you structured activities without the need to plan every detail yourself.
• Pack Light and Smart: When you’re solo, you’ll have to carry everything yourself, so packing light is essential. Stick to versatile clothing, and pack essentials like a portable charger, reusable water bottle, and a universal travel adapter. A lighter load means more effortless movement and less stress. It’s easiest to pack light when you have a vacation packing list for organization.

Interested in Solo Travel Now?

Are you excited about solo travel now? You should be! There’s a whole world full of new possibilities, experiences, and self-discovery. You may want to start local and explore a new city or state near you.

Then, maybe you’ll venture internationally, perhaps one of the best solo travel destinations in Europe or a place that’s great for solo female travellers.

If it’s your first time solo traveling, I recommend you solo travel to London. It has a low barrier to entry because everyone speaks English, it has great public transportation, and it’s a big city with loads to do. Another great option is Ireland.

Or, you could dive into the deep end and solo travel to Italy, where you’ll navigate a language barrier and a different culture.

Regardless of where you go, I hope you have an amazing time.

Reap the Benefits of Solo Travel!

Solo travel is more than just an adventure—a journey to self-discovery, empowerment, and endless possibilities. So, why wait? Your next solo adventure could be the start of something incredible. Now is the time to plan your first solo trip or reflect on what’s holding you back. Stop waiting for others to make your solo travel dreams come true. Like they say, “If you wait for someone, you won’t get anywhere.” So, experience the benefits of solo travel before it’s too late! Your life will change. Happy travels!