Considering we are, apparently, in the middle of a loneliness epidemic, it seems counterintuitive to go on holidays alone. But many of us do, whether that’s due to annual leave not aligning with that of friends or loved ones, or because you want an Arctic adventure, while your other half wants to read murder mysteries on a beach for two weeks.
Unless you are very fond of your own company, and not at all of other people’s, you’ll more than likely be hoping for some human interaction to liven up a solo trip. How you go about planning it can ensure you get just the right amount of both togetherness and alone time. From a full-on group tour, to booking some classes, or an Airbnb experience with a local, there are lots of ways to dial up or down your opportunities for socialising.
Matt Browne is the owner of Juice for Thought juice bar in Dingle. After the craziness of the tourist season, he loves to shut up shop and get away for a well-deserved break. He’s always been a fan of backpacking and the hostel experience, and still dreams of opening his own one day.
At the time of writing, Browne was adventuring abroad on a solo trip in Morocco, and at “the ripe auld age of 40” was mixing his accommodation between hostel stays and more high-end options.
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While more mature tourists might baulk at the idea of staying in a “youth” hostel, accessing shared spaces with opportunities to strike up conversations can make a big difference to the solo travel experience.
“It’s all about what I want from a holiday,” Browne says. “If I wanted plenty of sleep and an overindulgence of relaxation, I’d splash the cash and stay in a resort.”
However, in more elevated, fancier surrounds, he notes there is a downside for the solo traveller – “a much higher chance of spending time alone”.
It takes a strong personality and buckets of confidence to strike out and make new friends by the pool; for introverts, however, that sounds more exhausting than relaxing.
“So, on my two weeks in Morocco, I have found a balance of private rooms in sociable hostels,” Matt says. This approach means you can enjoy the sociability that comes with hostel life but also retreat to the comfort of a decent double bed (no thank you to the top bunk) and a private en suite.
Another great getaway option for the solo traveller is to take an educational course, where you are guaranteed to meet like-minded people who you can socialise with as much or as little as you like.
Up the Conor Pass Road on your way out of Dingle, Dúinín House B&B is also shut for the season, and Anne-Marie Neligan, who runs it, has been making the most of her time off. While her partner, who works in the film sector, wasn’t free to holiday due to shoot schedules, she signed up to a clay wheel throwing course in the mountains of Sicily with Salemi Ceramics (salemiceramics.com). Although she admits to being nervous beforehand about her first foray into solo travel, now she says, “I’d happily go back!”
The course not only offered the opportunity to improve her pottery skills, but also to meet people with a common interest, and see a part of Sicily off the beaten track. Salemi is one of Italy’s forgotten towns famed for offering houses for sale for €1, and the ceramics centre plays a huge part in locals’ efforts to revitalise it.
“The days were jam-packed,” says Neligan, with optional yoga and hiking before classes started. “We usually didn’t get home until late at night. Our group of eight beginner potters spent nearly all our waking hours together. We ate three meals a day together in a mix of local restaurants, coffee shops, and even had local families cook for us. The hospitality of these people was amazing.”
There are plenty of getaway options for yoga lovers – breaks combining yoga and surfing in Portugal, art schools in Italy (Florence is a popular destination for sculpture) and France, while Artform in Dunmore East, Co Waterford offers a closer-to-home alternative for a tentative try-out.
Niamh Foran, brand and communications specialist with Travel Department, says 2026 is the year for solo travellers. “With more solo-specific group tours being curated, there really is something for every type of holiday lover.”
Some of their far-flung destinations include Vietnam, Japan, and the epic Cape Town and Garden Route safari in South Africa. “Our customers tend to be kindred spirits, with lifelong friendships formed (and even a marriage) over the years in some of the world’s most wondrous locations.
“Solo travel doesn’t mean travelling alone,” she adds. “Travel Department allows you to join a group of like-minded travellers on a unique guided group tour to your dream destination, to give you that all important sense of security.”
While the demographic for group tours used to be older, she says this is changing now. “We are seeing a trend of younger travellers joining group tours. They are looking to discover the world, guided by the locals, and to be a part of something really great.”
And if all else fails, and you find yourself alone in a foreign land, there’s always an Irish bar…
