Solo travel, demystified

As soon as I left school, I started travelling. I couldn’t wait to explore the world. We never travelled abroad as a family, so growing up I longed for exotic climates and cultural immersion. In my twenties I made up for lost time, travelling from India to Australia, New Zealand and Malaysia - a lot of it on my own, much to my parents’ worry. Nothing felt too frightening or daunting. I’d haul myself onto a plane and fly off to the Bahamas looking for work on superyachts, with nothing more than a short skirt and a slightly optimistic CV.

One of the biggest stretches of that time was six months teaching on a retreat in Sri Lanka. And I mean tricky - this was thirty years ago, long before mobile phones, and most places had no internet at all. If you wanted to reach home, you found a payphone or you waited. Travelling solo as a woman in the East back then meant getting stared at, a lot, and learning to cope with that while still keeping yourself safe. I lost my wallet. I lost my bags. There was no app to track anything down, no message home to say “I’m fine, just delayed” - you simply worked it out and carried on. It was a different kind of solo travel to the one we know now, and it taught me an awful lot about resourcefulness.

Fast forward twenty-five years, with a husband and children, and solo travel can start to feel like a luxury rather than a habit. Don’t get me wrong, I love travelling with others. With my husband it’s romantic city breaks and active holidays - and with the children it’s the good old British beach holidays, buckets and spades and sandy sandwiches. That’s a different kind of joy entirely. But then there’s me. What does my travel choice look like, left to my own devices? Right now, it’s a yoga and adventure retreat in Norway. In a couple of days I’ll be making my way there to teach and host, and I’m so very excited. But excitement doesn’t come without a flicker of trepidation. I am wrapping the whole experience with gratitude. I wonder what would your solo travel choice be?

There are so many things that can talk a woman out of travelling alone - so I wanted to share my thoughts on solo travel, demystified.

Six reasons solo female travel is having a moment

1. It’s the one trip nobody else’s plans dictate. No compromising on where to go, what to do, or when to leave. After years of building holidays around everyone else’s needs, that alone is a reason to say yes.
2. It rebuilds decision-making muscle. When you’re the only one choosing, you get quicker and more confident at trusting your own judgement - a skill that has a habit of following you home.
3. It’s no longer the leap it once was. Solo female travel searches have hit a fifteen-year high, and women now make up the majority of solo travellers worldwide. Better transport links, women-only trips, and small-group retreats built specifically for solo guests mean there’s more support around you than there ever was when I was losing wallets in Sri Lanka.
4. Wellness travel is having its own summer moment. Sauna culture, cold water, digital detox, slow mornings - the things wellness travel is trending towards right now are, conveniently, exactly what a lot of women are craving after a stretch of always being switched on. A solo wellness retreat gives you permission to actually do it.
5. Midlife is prompting a rethink. Many women reach forty, fifty, sixty with children more independent, careers established, and a quiet pull to reconnect with the parts of themselves that got put on hold. Solo travel - and solo wellness retreats in particular - answer that pull directly.
6. Confidence, once found, doesn’t leave. Every solo trip - big or small - proves you can navigate somewhere unfamiliar, meet people, solve problems, and come home in one piece. That’s not a small thing to know about yourself.

Summer is a good time to stop circling and book something - a solo trip, a women-only retreat, a week where the only plans are yours. Go on your own terms, at your own pace, and see what you find. Take the leap - solo travel might just give you back more of yourself than you expect.

Browse and explore our yoga retreats, the perfect way to enjoy a solo trip away. Where will 2027 take you?

Laura Bell is the founder of Zest Life and has been leading yoga and wellness retreats in the UK and abroad for over a decade. A qualified yoga teacher and experienced retreat leader, she designs and hosts small group retreats rooted in nature, movement and genuine care. Laura also works with organisations to design and deliver bespoke corporate wellness programmes and retreats - bringing the same standards of quality and thoughtful facilitation to workplace wellbeing.