The place to Solo Travel Based mostly on Your Age and Generation

As I write this, my mother is on her first solo journey overseas—at age 73. She spent two weeks in Dublin and Edinburgh, with a number of day journeys constructed round every metropolis. Turns out she’s a part of a much bigger wave.

Google searches for “solo travel” hit an all-time excessive in early 2026 and “women solo travel” reached a 15-year excessive. More than one in 4 vacationers plan to go solo this 12 months, in response to a 2026 Hilton trends report, and 48 % have began tacking solo days onto household journeys. Virgin Hotels has additionally seen an uptick in solo vacationers, rolling out packages that embrace a tasting menu constructed for a desk of 1.

“The joke going around for years has been: oh, the trip made it out of the group chat,” says Heather Odell, space director of public relations for Virgin Hotels. Now, individuals are forgetting the group chat. “We found that recently people have been opting to do solo travel and just take it upon themselves to do these quick weekend trips or long weekend trips by themselves.”

So the place is everybody going? It relies upon loads on whenever you have been born.

Boomers (born between 1946 and 1964)

“When it comes to picking destinations, I would say safety, for the Boomers, is probably one of the most important,” Odell says.

Safety is strictly what drew my mother to Ireland and Scotland by herself, with the most important perk being that the native language is English. Both locations had additionally been on her bucket listing for many years, and he or she wished to go whereas she’s nonetheless bodily ready.

With security a major concern, some Boomers could also be afraid to journey solo. In that case, journey advisor Casey Carr recommends a gaggle tour or river cruise. “It’s easy to make friends, and everything is taken care of,” she says.

Gen X (born between 1965 and 1979)

Photo by Michelle Heimerman

With careers in full swing, in addition to presumably youngsters at residence and older dad and mom to care for, getting away by yourself could be a problem for Gen X. “We might have a little more disposable income than we used to, but our time is limited. So we really want the trip to count,” says Carr, a Gen Xer herself.

Her answer: an African safari. “It’s a life-changing experience that can be done in seven or eight days,” she says.

Travel Advisor Jonathan Adler has discovered that Gen X isn’t trying to break the mould with the restricted time they get to solo journey. He’s seeing requests for Western Europe, Greece, and Türkiye, in addition to seaside holidays within the Caribbean or Mexico. “Gen X is a little more mainstream at the moment,” he says.

Millennials (born between 1980 and 1994)

Photo by Miltiadis Fragkidis/Unsplash

Millennials are chasing wellness, and above all, meals, in response to Daniela Harrison, a journey advisor in Flagstaff, Arizona. “This group tends to have a good income, is childless, can work remotely, and understands that far-away destinations carry an impact on your body and wallet,” she says.

Europe and the Caribbean won’t be so thrilling for solo Millennials—they go there typically sufficient for associates’ weddings and household reunions. Instead, Harrison says Millennials are going to locations which can be more durable to achieve whereas they nonetheless can, and the place they didn’t go to with their dad and mom as youngsters. Popular locations for this age group embrace Egypt, Morocco, and Central Asia.

Gen Z (born between 1995 and 2009)

Gen Z is the more than likely technology to journey solo. A Kantar report of 10,000 vacationers discovered that one in 5 named a solo journey as their most up-to-date trip.

Carr says Gen Zers are particularly into “gig-tripping,” which includes touring to see a favourite band at a dream venue just like the Sphere in Las Vegas, or a sporting occasion like subsequent 12 months’s FIFA Women’s World Cup in Brazil. “You get to mingle with other fans and have a great experience that you could build a larger trip around.”

Adler provides that Gen Zers are searching for locations the place they will socialize and celebration, and naturally, take a great TikTok video. “Many who have been scrolling through social media are really looking for those incredibly beautiful places in the world that they think will be the most photo friendly,” he mentioned.

That means Gen Z’s present listing contains locations like Bali, Japan, Morocco, and French Polynesia.