Holland America Line will open up grand voyages and pole-to-pole sailings to travelers hoping to book just a segment, making it easier to explore some of the coolest regions on Earth.
27.08.2024 - 20:18 / lonelyplanet.com
Aug 26, 2024 • 8 min read
Europe, with its compact size, captivating cities and endless outdoor pursuits, has long been a top solo travel destination for people of all ages. But with so much continent to explore, narrowing down exactly where to take your solo sojourn can be tough. Luckily, the benefit of traveling alone is not compromising on the destination, so you can follow your heart to some of Europe’s most unique and intriguing places.
To find those spots, we asked our expert writers to share their recommendations for the best places to fly solo in Europe. Here's where to go.
Recommended by Nicola Williams
On an island where kaleidoscopic cultural and historical riches are all-consuming, travel companions can risk becoming a tiresome distraction. Solo Sicily is unfettered joy. Its sparky combo of seaside, mountains, sassy food, sun-filled wine and spitting volcanoes means you never "get bored". Indeed, there is a deeply moving aura to this sun-scorched island lapped by three seas that inspires quiet contemplation and a reassuring ease with one’s own company.
Start your journey on the Ionian Coast in Sicily’s hypnotic east: join a guide up the explosive slopes of Mt Etna and locals at Catania ’s chaotic fish market . Savor vino bursting with sunshine in volcanic vineyards. If you’re a drama queen, star-lit performances at ancient Greek theaters in Syracuse and Taormina will leave you spellbound for days – as will the paradise-on-earth Aeolian archipelago , with cobalt-blue waters and clandestine coves to match every mood and moment. In the west , capital city Palermo weaves captivating stories in glittering gold mosaics in the Cappella Palatina at Palazzo dei Normanni , while Stanze al Genio – the unusual palazzo home and majolica tile museum of an art collector – is one of Italy’s loveliest solo B&B stays. Ditto for the oddly romantic, evocative quarry garden Giardino dell’Impossible with enchanting rooms on butterfly-shaped Favignana.
Recommended by Helen Iatro
With its white sand beaches and shallow seas, you’d be forgiven for thinking Naxos is exclusively for families. But the Cyclades’ largest isle has set its sights on drawing solo travelers to experience its myriad attractions, from a fortified capital and farm-to-table cuisine to dopamine-spiking watersports. Start with a walk through medieval main town Hora and admire the Venetian-era Glezos and Della Rocca Barozzi towers . Next, try your hand at wind surfing with an expert instructor at Flisvos Sport Club on Agios Georgios beach. If two wheels are more your style, join a Naxos Bikes e-bike and hike tour through olive groves to Mt Zeus, the island’s highest point at 1,003m (3,290 ft).
Afterwards, you’ll make a stop at Halki
Holland America Line will open up grand voyages and pole-to-pole sailings to travelers hoping to book just a segment, making it easier to explore some of the coolest regions on Earth.
A residential cruise ship that was supposed to travel around the world has been stuck in Northern Ireland for the past three months.
Clarksville, a historic district of Austin, Texas, has lately emerged as a stylish dining and shopping enclave. Among the area’s most compelling new businesses is La Embajada, a design shop housed in a 1923 Craftsman bungalow. Combining the hospitality and interiors expertise of its founder, Raul Cabra — who has designed tableware for some of Mexico City’s most celebrated restaurants, including Rosetta and Pujol — La Embajada presents a refined, regionally diverse selection of Mexico’s artisanal offerings. A series of small rooms display vintage and contemporary furniture, from stately midcentury armchairs and 1970s glass sconces to a minimalist agave fiber rug by the Oaxaca-based textile artist Trine Ellitsgaard. The house is also an actual residence. Cabra often stays in the bedroom up the creaky stairs, and he’s recently made it available for short-term stays (bookings include a daily basket of baked goods from Austin’s Swedish Hill). Guests can purchase the room’s handmade décor, such as a pair of sleek bedside lamps in milky white onyx, a 1960s La Malinche dresser and a bedspread from a Michoacan manufacturer that once supplied Herman Miller. Downstairs, glassware, candles and gifts fill a section modeled after a typical general store in a small Mexican town. But La Embajada’s heart is its inviting kitchen, where visiting chefs cook elaborate meals and staff prepare ice cream and coffee. In another twist, every bespoke detail — including a hammered copper sink, caramel-colored tiles and waxed pine cabinets — can be custom-ordered for one’s own home.
Strikes are a regular occurrence in Europe, as employees withhold their labour to fight for better pay and conditions.
Concerns are growing over the rise of West Nile virus after it killed two more people in Seville, Spain, raising the country's total to five deaths this year.
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has issued a warning about the rise in Oropouche virus disease cases in the Americas, with cases also reported in Europe.
“An unexplored territory….Untouched. Uncharted.” That’s the message in Saudi Arabia’s new global tourism campaign to attract overseas travelers to the kingdom.
When newcomers to Canada, the Italian couple had discovered along Quebec’s country roads the joys of the casse-croûtes, the food shacks that lie dormant in the frozen landscape during winter and then burst to life during the all-too-short warm months.
The reasons tourists travel to Venice, Italy, are obvious. The city known for its canals and historic architecture feels like a fairytale.
I've been invited to more bachelorette parties than I can count.
With rising temperatures in southern Europe, more and more tourists are flocking to cooler destinations in the north.
With rising temperatures in southern Europe, more and more tourists are flocking to cooler destinations in the north.