12 Easy Ways to Make Friends While Traveling Alone

Picture this: You’ve been putting off traveling because you have no one to travel with. Does that sound familiar? Next to money, the most common reason I hear as to why people don’t travel more is “I have no one to go with me”.

Now, that is a completely justifiable answer, but I’m here to point out, you don’t have to wait! You can travel alone and have an amazing time, and there are plenty of easy ways to make friends while traveling alone!

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Is Solo Travel Lonely?

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If solo travel equates to loneliness to you, you’re thinking too narrowly. For one, hopefully you enjoy your own company and see some of the benefits of traveling alone. For another, there are all kinds of possibilities for making friends as a solo traveler. These interactions will enrich your experience and possibly make traveling alone your go to travel style!

I can not lie, there can certainly be times where solo travel can be lonely, but it is not how I would describe traveling alone. In fact, you are more likely to make friends abroad if you are traveling alone than if you are traveling with friends. This comes from the fact that people are far more approachable when they are solo, and there are a lot of other solo travelers who are also looking to connect and share experiences.

To help avoid lonely solo travel, there are some easy ways to make friends while traveling. This includes all kinds of places to go and things to do that will increase your odds of sharing experiences and making friends along the way.

Once you start traveling alone and getting the feel for it, you’ll be more comfortable with where to find other travelers and how to start breaking the ice. From there on, you’re unstoppable as a solo traveler!

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Where to Meet Other Travelers

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The wonderful thing about traveling alone is that there are a lot of other solo travelers out there, and you’re all in the same boat. Not to mention, many people are open and willing to making new friends while traveling alone. You just have to know where to find them.

Stay in a Social Setting

If you want to ensure some interaction, you can book someplace to stay that has some kind of social included.

• Hostels: Sharing a room and common spaces with others is a natural way to meet other people. Learn more about hostels.

• Couchsurfing: Look for reviews on who wants to hang out with their surfers versus those that don’t. Learn more about Couchsurfing.

• Airbnbs: Rent a room instead of the full house/accommodation. While you won’t have someone to explore with, you may have company in the morning or evening. Typically the listing and reviews will tell you if the host is around and social.

I personally recommend hostels for younger travelers as you meet other travelers who will want to go and do the same things you want to do. They also generally offer some additional perks that make them more social, like common areas to hang out in and a bar area. There are also all kinds of group activities, such as yoga classes and bar crawls.

Staying local and meeting locals also has its perks. You’ll get to see a completely different side of a city. That being said, locals have their own everyday lives actively happening, and likely don’t have the free time to spend all day exploring their own city with you.

Eat Breakfast at Your Accommodations

While I think of this mostly at hostels, as they frequently have shared tables, hotels work very similarly. It’s a great time to sit down and chat with others. Ask about their day, what they’re doing while they’re in town, where else they’ve been. There are endless opportunities to strike up conversation, and at low risk!

Join Free Walking Tours

One of the key spots to find other travelers is on Free Walking Tours in a city. You’ll get a great overview of the city and history, which is ideal when you’ve just arrived someplace new, and perhaps more importantly, they are mostly attended by other travelers. You will Fhave a couple of hours to see who is traveling solo, with a companion, or with a group.

Start up those side conversations while you walk – it’s only natural. Then grab a meal, coffee, or a beer after the tour and go from there!

Take a Day Tour or Sign Up for a Class

I ultimately support planning your own trips, but there are times that you need to take tours to hard to reach places or for a special activity. There are also plenty of classes that you can take, like cooking classes, yoga classes, dance classes, etc. These are all bonding experiences and door openers to share a meal or a drink afterwards and see if you hit it off!

I personally find scuba diving to be one place I’ve met tons of people. For one, you have to be buddied up with someone for safety reasons. For another, you’re literally trapped on a boat with people. Whatever your interests are, any group activity gives great access to other travelers and potential friends.

Work at a Co-working Location

Many people working in the local co-working spots are just visiting, whether it be for a few days or months at a time. This is especially true in typical tourist destinations. If you have work to do, check out the co-working locations where you’re at.

Chances are you’ll find other people at the co-working spot who are visiting or using the city as their current base as a digital nomad. And, many of the co-working spots try to make the locations social!

Stop at a Coffee Shop or Bar for a Drink

Another great option for meeting digital nomads, and other travelers, is to stop in at a coffee shop to have a drink. They are a big hangout for people and often offer more “social seating” like bars, communal tables, or couches. This helps open the door for conversation. Select your seat wisely!

If coffee isn’t your speed, meeting people in a bar is typically not too difficult either. Just sit at the bar and order a drink and strike up conversation. Of course, this comes with a few more precautions, like not drinking too much, but it’s not a bad way to meet a few people and maybe make plans for the next day or so. Besides, many people are a bit more extraverted while having a drink.

Try Your Luck with the Internet

Meeting people online comes with some additional safety concerns, but take a few precautions, and it can be a safe way to meet other travelers.

• Take a look at Facebook groups. There are many groups of solo travelers out there where you can put feelers out for travelers, or locals, to meet up with.

• Try out Meetup.com to find local groups with events that interest you. It’s a low risk opportunity to meet a group of people.

• Download an app like Bumble BFF to find people in the area who are also looking to make friends. Just be up front about just visiting the area.

• Check out the popular accommodation website Couchsurfing to see if they are offering any meet-ups in the city you’re in. They tend to be geared specifically towards travelers.

Just be sure to get a feel for anyone new you meet before going someplace a bit more remote with them, like hiking or to an off the beaten path beach.

Read more: 35 Critical Safety Tips for Solo Travelers

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Other Tips to Make Your Solo Travels More Social

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Knowing where to meet other travelers is definitely part of the challenge, but there is more to it. If you truly want to meet people while traveling, you need to strategize. Does that sound like too much effort? I promise, it’s not. Most of the time you will make friends while traveling alone without any problem, but we are just ensuring the highest likelihood of success here.

Do the Most Social Activities First

Your first day or two in a city are your time to meet people. Take the free walking tour, eat breakfast at your accommodations, sign-up for that tour or class, stop by that co-working space for the day…

The sooner you get out there and meet people, the longer you’ll have friends to do things with – even if it’s just someone to eat dinner with at the end of the day!

Meet More People to Find a Better Fit

Don’t force friendships or companionship. People travel differently. People have different interests and personalities. Not every traveler will be your cup of tea, nor you theirs. Don’t take it personal.

The worst someone can say is no, and you’ll probably never see them again anyway. If you attend a free walking tour, you will probably naturally click with one or two people in the group.

Learn Easy Conversation Starters or Icebreakers

Speaking to strangers can be really intimidating, but when you’re traveling, you already have something in common with other travelers: You’re both tourists in the same location! This makes it easy to break the ice.

• Have you been to (insert famous landmark or museum here) yet?

• I’m trying to determine what to do with the rest of the day… What’s your favorite thing that you’ve done in your time here?

• Have you taken a day trip to (insert location)? Was it worth it?

• Where are you from?

• How long are you traveling for?

These conversation starters are go-tos for most travelers, which is why long term travelers may eventually get tired of hearing them and long for deeper conversations. Get the niceties out of the way, and then you’re in for real conversation and experiences!

Don’t Wait to Be Invited, Invite People

If you’ve started a conversation with someone and it has flowed well, open the door to spend more time together.

• I was thinking of grabbing lunch after the tour, do you want to join?

• I was planning to head to X location tomorrow, have you been? Would you want to join?

It doesn’t have to be a big commitment. In fact, that’s one of the great things about traveling alone, you can choose when you want to be with other people and when to be alone.

Its easy to invite people when you want company, or decline invites if you want your space. Just don’t always wait to be invited, sometimes you need to take the initiative and do the inviting!

Have Flexible Travel Plans

If you meet people in town and are really hitting it off, you may want to stick around a bit longer. Or, if you’ve made a great friend, you may want to continue onto the next city together. This gets exponentially harder if you have your travel plans set in stone.

If you leave some wiggle room and plan as you go, you can adapt as needed. This could mean continuing on to another city with a new friend or even meeting back up in a month or two depending what both of your plans are.

Remember, other solo travelers are just like you, and likely open to making friends. It’s possible they just didn’t have someone to travel with or that they like traveling solo and are simply making friends along the way.

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Hedge Your Bets and Take a Guided Trip

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Still just can’t imagine solo travel and trying to make friends while traveling alone? Don’t worry, there are ways around it. Join a travel group or group tour.

There are endless opportunities from the youth focused ones, like G Adventures and Intrepid Travel, to those targeting older age groups, or people who like to hike, etc. Find the tour provider that’s right for you and select your trip.

Some providers have solo supplements and some don’t. Often times you might be paired up with a random roommate if you don’t want to pay the single supplement. This can go really well, or really badly, but you won’t know until you’re there!

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The Reality of Making Friends on the Road

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Now that you know how easy it can be to make friends while traveling alone, it’s time to discuss the reality of those friendships. Some of these new friends may be just a single conversation or meal, others may be your best friend for a couple of weeks, and then there are those that will become life long friends that you meet up with again around the world. The friendships will really run the gambit.

If you are constantly in search of a travel companion, you may even find your go-to travel partner! Creating friendships all over the world based on truly rich shared experiences is part of the wonderful world of travel.

You might also be interested in:

• 9 Essential Things to Do Before Traveling Abroad
• Top 6 Considerations for Picking a Travel Destination
• Is Travel Insurance Worth It? An Inside Look from an Avid Traveler

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