suggestions for a single female traveller?
 

Anyone have suggestions for a single woman who's hesitant to travel through continental Europe on her own? So far I've done it with a tour group, but tours often don't go to the places I really want to see. I have no problem whatsoever traveling the U.S. on my own. I guess the scary factor for me is the language barrier and just being by myself in unknown regions.

Susan,

I too am a single female traveler. You have very little to be concerned about. How much of a "language barrier" you find will depend mainly on what countries you visit.

I had never been to France and do not speak French. I flew in, trained to Chartres, picked up a rental car and drove around the Loire Valley solo for 4 days. Basically no problems aside from a few extra u turns.

My last trip to Italy was solo for 3 weeks. I had a great time, but had been to Italy twice before. If you do a search for Dayle's Solo Trip to Italy, you should get some good ideas and encouragement from other Fodorites who also travel solo.

You'll love solo travel far more the a tour group.
Happy planning!

Hi S,

>I have no problem whatsoever traveling the U.S. on my own. I guess the scary factor for me is the language barrier and just being by myself in unknown regions. <

I take it, then, that you are familiar with every square inch of the 6,000,000 sq. miles of the US? :)

If you can go on your own in the States, you can surely do it in Europe.

((I))

Where would you like to travel? Do you mind saying how old you are? That might help people advise you on how easy and comfortable it would be for a single female traveler.

For starters, there is no language barrier in the UK, Ireland (if you can understand them), or most of Scandinavia.

Nora

I've taken multiple solo trips to France and Italy, as well as one each to Spain, London, and Scotland.

I speak enough French and Italian to get by, but my Spanish is quite limited. I try to brush up as best I can on the language of the country I'll be visiting before I go there, and have managed just fine.

Every one of my solo trips has been wonderful, and I encourage you to give it a try!

Susan, you'll be fine traveling solo in Europe. I've been to Paris 3 times and London once and never had a problem. My next trip is to Rome, Florence, Venice and Paris so I am going to try and hunt up Dayle's solo trip to Italy thread.

Go and enjoy yourself

Thank you, Dayle and Lesli, for the encouragement. To answer Nora's question, I'm a youthful 55. I guess I've been concerned about flat tires and such in the middle of the French countryside. (Are AAA cards good there? -- Just kidding) But I agree with what most of you have said. I'm sure I would manage just fine. I've taken buses and trains in the UK by myself (in my 30s) and handled it just fine; so I guess it's the language barrier, more than anything else, that worries me.

I think it's natural to feel that way, I did myself when I first started traveling -- because I had never been outside the country before, although I thought I was fairly capable. Still, it's not the same as when you are many thousands of miles from home, alone, and can't communicate.

You don't say where your tour group went, that's what I did to start so I learned a little about traveling abroad and how to handle some things. I'd just suggest you start out in an easy place -- at the easiest, you could go to places where English is the native language, of course (but I guess you don't want that, as you said continental Europe). The Netherlands was real easy in that regard (language differences), you could try that. I did have some problems in France when I didn't know French so won't say things like everyone speaks French, no problem, you won't even notice they are French, etc. However, I can give you tips not to do some things I did which caused me problems, and then it should be fairly easy if you stick to major cities (like Paris), and stay in the central area.

Major tip -- don't go without hotel reservations. This was the most important thing that would have made my trip easier, if I had reservations.

Also, to reduce anxiety, don't plan a lot of train travel involving a lot of transfers in places where you don't know the language (you will not be able to understand the announcements -- I missed my train once because it had changed tracks at the last minute). I also had never been on a train before, so just kind of didn't know how that worked. That was one place I found in France where everyone, including in Paris, did NOT speak English, even though people will say that.

Thanks, Madison. I forgot to mention, I walked all over Paris on my own, visiting three museums, two cathedrals and cafes(I was on a tour of France and Italy, but free time was built into the tour). That certainly gave me confidence. I guess getting from city to city (or to the airport) on my own is a concern. Is it much of a hassle?

I didn't see your post -- well, I wouldn't have suggested starting out by planning solo trips in the country in a car rental in a strange country where you don't know the language.

Hi S,

>I guess getting from city to city (or to the airport) on my own is a concern. Is it much of a hassle? <

Not really.

You arrive at the airport, go throough passport control and Customs. Follow the signs that look like taxis.

Same is true for railroad stations.

If you want to save money, that takes a little more preparation.

What's your itinerary?

((I))

Another of Nora's questions I forgot to answer: My first priority is to see the alpine region, paricularly Hallstatt, Salzburg, Lake Como, lovely Swiss towns, and maybe Munich. I would eventually like to see Venice and the Cinque Terre.

And thank you, Christina. Great suggestions.

Susan,

You could have a wonderful time traveling to the places you mentioned in Austria and all over Switzerland by train. That would be much easier than trying to cope with car rental by yourself. I think many of us here would be only too happy to come up with recommendations for "lovely Swiss towns" you could visit, plus lodging and hiking recommendations. You'll have trouble shutting us up! Just start a new thread asking for recommendations for "Hallstadt, Salzburg, and Switzerland".

I travel there with my family, but several times have done parts of the trip on my own, and I can assure you that this part of Europe is very easy and comfortable for a woman traveling alone.

Ira,
As mentioned, the alps. Can one get to Hallstatt without renting a car?

Why not start with an easy first trip? You could fly into Geneva, see the small towns along the lake, continue by train to Venice, fly home from Venice. I've done that solo. It's lovely and not complicated. I have done 5 trips, 4 of them solo (I do stay with friends part-time then go off on my own). I have never had even a hint of a problem (Amsterdam, Paris, Geneva, Venice).

To take down the 'scary factor' don't rent a car. Travel by public transportation. Trains in Switzerland couldn't be easier.

As far as the language barrier, I firmly believe that is a state-of-mind. Depending on how you plan ahead, it's not like you need to be chatting in the street with folks. In train stations, banks, hotels, at least one clerk will speak English. In restaurants you can simply point to the menu item and smile.

I have taken numerous classes in basic travelers French and Spanish and carry a phrase book and dictionary.

As far as being by yourself in unknown regions, that's not something any of us can judge for you. Me, I LOVE the feeling. I find it absolutely and totally exhilarating. Will you enjoy it? There's only one way to find out -LOL.

To ease the aloneness, if you find the need, you can always sign up for day tours in various cities, take guided tours for museums, like that. There's a poster here who did some hiking tour in Switzerland recently, hopefully P_M will see you post and chime in.

For myself I love nothing more than wandering around a city where I have never been before, far from home, where I don't speak the language. It's exciting (puts it mildly).

To get to the airport... well in Switzerland the train takes you right there. In other cities, Amsterdam or Paris, for example, I simply spring for the price of a taxi (arriving you just stand at the line up at the taxi stand, leaving I have my hotel call one for me).

Susan,

Yes, you can get to Hallstatt by train. It is about 2 hours from Salzburg. You can get to Salzburg from Zürich in about 6 hours on a train with no changes. A good place for you to start if you are thinking about this is to look at the Deutschebahn (German railway) website, www.bahn.de
Click on "international guests" at the top and you will get everything in English. Just put in made up dates, for next month for example, and different starting and ending points in Switzerland and then Salzburg. It will show you lots of options. There are other websites for train travel, but I find the German one easiest to use.

You can catch a train right in the airport in either Geneva or Zurich. I find traveling by train in Switzerland to be just about the easiest and most enjoyable travel in the world. And you can get to some wonderful car-free villages high in the Swiss Alps---as well as to Hallstatt.

I've traveled solo as well as with family and the solo travel can be wonderful.

I used to avoid continental Europe because my language skills other than Spanish are minimal. I was sorry I waited so long. However, it can work out fine. Some tips:

1. I agree about reserving ahead; what I do is print out the name and address of the hotel on an index card and then show it to the taxi driver (as noted above not hard to find the taxi stands at airports or train stations).

2. I also agree about reserving ahead or at least identifying the train trips you want to take in order to select the journey with the least transfers and to get a sense of how to read the train info -- knowing how to read the departures, track numbers, etc. really helps. And as noted above, there's going to be someone at the train station who knows enough English to help.

Have traveled alone in europe many times (usually several days before or after a business trip when the beau couldn't get away from the office).

My recos for a first lone trip:

Go somewhere where you can either manage a little of the language (you can easily learn enough in 2/3 weeks) or english is widely spoken (I wouldn;t do someplace with a different alphabet)

Stay at a large full service hotel that's in a good neighborhood - the concierge will be very helpful and you have the option of a meal in the hotel if you want. Also - many opportunities to meet other single travelers - many on business. (I have usually ended up meeting people to have a meal or go somewhere with.)

Make sure you're fully prepared before you go - with maps, guidebooks and solid ideas of what you want to see and do

Seek out casuale restaurants - dining alone in expensive places is less fun

Take advantage of local tours - city walking tours are great experiences and also good for meeting other single travelers - and day trips from major cities can make life simpler


And don't be overfaced - it's not brain surgery. Considering the number of people that do it how hard can it be?

Thanks so much, Enzian and Suze, and to everyone else who posted suggestions here. I believe I will plan a trip which includes Salzburg, Hallstatt, and maybe the Berner Oberland. I'll have to checkout a map of the train routes to consider the logistics of such a trip. But this is a good start. Thanks for the valuable tips!! (Should I skip Lucerne and/or Innsbruck?)

Lucerne is beautiful, and very accessible culturally and language-wise, though expensive.

I've only travelled to two countries alone, so far, other that that i''ve always been with someone, but I fully understand your concerns. I agree the language barrier is what would most concern me, but you know what, life is short, just take the bull by the horns, and to it... You will end up having a blast and wondered why you waited so long..
Good luck
L

I wish I could help more, but unfortunately don't know those particular destinations. I say anywhere you can get to on a train, you can't go too far wrong nor can it possibly be too difficult.

As far as the lack of language skills, I think many people tend to freak out needlessly. Usually if you stay calm and step back you can see how things are done. Not always tho...

I've had funny moments, like when I couldn't figure out how to get the grocery cart unhooked from the rack in Vevey (you had to insert a coin which you got back at the end), or using the scale to self-serve weigh grapes in Venice (there were illustrations of types of fruit), or the time I was nearly locked in a health food store at closing in Amsterdam because I didn't understand the announcement in Dutch...

funny not scary stuff :-)

Hi Susan,

You could do a very nice trip inlcuding Lucerne, the Berner Oberland, and your choices in Austria. Here is a possible itinerary: fly into Zürich, then travel in the following order: Lucerne, Wengen (a lovely car-free village in the Jungfrau area), then to Innsbruck ( a long day), Hallstatt, Salzburg, and back to Zürich for your flight home. Or you fly back from Münich if you want to visit there too.

You can get to Lucerne directly from the Zürich airport in about an hour on a train with no changes---they leave every hour at 47 minutes past. Other trains take you into the main station where you would catch a train to your destination. Just type in "Zurich airport" into the Bahn.de website as your starting point. And be sure to spell your destination as "Luzern", not Lucerne---otherwise you get a confusing array of choices. Both Luzern and Wengen are popular places for British tourists, and many people speak English there.

This sounds very much like a "Rick Steves" itinerary, except that he would suggest you stay in Gimmelwald instead of Wengen. That's a fine choice too, as well as Mürren, where you could stay at Chalet Fontana, owned by Englishwoman Denise Fussell.

You can get all of the information you need for planning this trip and reserving hotels with a combination of Rick Steve's books (Austria and Switzerland), the Bahn.de website, and the internet website for each town, which will show you lodging choices. Rick's books are very useful for first-time planners, because they explain how to do everything---buy train tickets or passes, use the telephones, how to get from place to place, etc. I planned my first independent trip, six years ago, in just this way. Like you, I wanted to visit the Alps. I actually signed up for a hiking tour with my college alumni association, but the tour was cancelled because not enough people signed up. So I decided to go anyway, and found all the information I needed to plan the trip from the sources I just mentioned (I did not know about this forum then). It was a wonderful trip---everything went smoothly, and the places I went were even more beautiful than I ever dreamed. And the people were warm, welcoming, and very helpful (I admit I speak some German, but I'm sure all would have gone just as well had I not). I've been back every year since, taking whomever will go with me, and like most everyone here, I love the planning process. Hopefully you will too!

Enzian,

Thank you for taking the time to offer these helpful recommendations and resources. Yes, I have a few Rick Steves books, but not the Switz/Aust ones, which I will get. Thanks so much for the suggested itenerary. It looks great. The Berner Oberland in particular looks like a "must see."