It’s the question every solo traveller gets asked — usually by someone who can’t quite imagine doing it themselves.
“But isn’t it lonely?”
It’s a fair question. And it deserves an honest answer — not the relentlessly cheerful “solo travel is AMAZING and you’ll LOVE every second of it!” version you’ll find on most travel blogs, but a genuine, nuanced response from people who have been doing this for a long time.
So here it is.
The Honest Answer: It Can Be. Sometimes.
Yes, solo travel can be lonely. Anyone who tells you otherwise is either remarkably extroverted or hasn’t been entirely truthful with you.
There are moments — usually quiet ones — when the absence of a familiar companion is felt acutely. The extraordinary sunset with no one to nudge. The hilarious moment that would have been funnier shared. The dinner table for one in a restaurant full of couples and families.
These moments are real. They happen. And pretending they don’t would be dishonest.
But here’s what’s equally true, and what many people discover only after they actually do it: these moments are far rarer than you expect, far shorter than you fear, and far outweighed by everything else.
Why Solo Travel is Less Lonely Than You Think
You become more open. When you travel with a companion, you exist in a self-contained unit. You talk to each other. You navigate together. You process experiences between yourselves. Other people — local people, fellow travellers, chance encounters — remain largely on the outside.
When you travel alone, that dynamic completely changes. You talk to the person next to you on the train. You ask the café owner for a recommendation. You strike up a conversation with the couple at the next table who turn out to be fascinating. Solo travel makes you genuinely more open to the world — and the world, remarkably, opens back.
The loneliness of travelling with the wrong person is far worse. Many experienced solo travellers will tell you that their loneliest travel experiences weren’t when they were alone — they were when they were travelling with someone whose travel style was completely different from their own. Negotiating every meal, every activity, every wake-up time with someone who wants something different is exhausting and isolating in a way that genuine solitude simply isn’t.
Solitude and loneliness are not the same thing. This is perhaps the most important distinction in the whole conversation. Solitude — chosen, enjoyed aloneness — is genuinely pleasurable. Sitting in a café in a beautiful city with a coffee and a book and nowhere to be. Walking through a market at your own pace, stopping wherever you like, moving on when you’re ready. These are not lonely experiences. They are some of the most contented experiences travel offers.
Loneliness is unwanted isolation. Solitude is chosen peace. Solo travel gives you an extraordinary amount of the second — and far less of the first than you might fear.
When Solo Travel Gets Hard
It’s worth being honest about when solo travel is genuinely more challenging.
Long journeys — a 14-hour flight or a long train journey is easier with company. Audiobooks, podcasts, and a good novel help. So does getting comfortable with your own thoughts.
Illness — being unwell far from home without a companion to help is genuinely harder. This is one area where the support structure of a good group tour makes a meaningful difference.
Special occasions — birthdays, anniversaries, significant personal moments can feel sharper when experienced alone. Planning something meaningful for yourself on those days — a special dinner, a particular experience — makes a real difference.
Dinner — this is the one most solo travellers mention. Lunch alone is fine. Breakfast alone is peaceful. But dinner — particularly in romantic or family-oriented restaurants — can feel conspicuous. The solution many solo travellers swear by: sit at the bar, eat early, or choose casual restaurants where solo dining is completely unremarkable.
The Solution Most Solo Travellers Eventually Find
Here’s what happens with most people who travel solo seriously: they go through a phase of pure independent travel — doing everything alone, proud of the self-sufficiency, loving the freedom — and then they discover small group tours designed specifically for solo travellers.
And they realise it’s the best of both worlds.
You still have your own private room. You still have free time to explore independently. You still have the freedom and flexibility that makes solo travel so appealing. But you also have a group of like-minded people to share meals with, explore alongside, and experience those extraordinary moments with.
The sunset has someone to nudge. The hilarious moment gets laughed at together. The dinner table is full.
And because every single person in the group made the same decision you did — to travel without a traditional companion — the connections that form are genuinely different from the ones you make in mixed groups. There’s a shared understanding, a mutual respect, and a warmth that past travellers consistently describe as one of the unexpected highlights of the journey.
What Our Travellers Say About Loneliness
“It’s the first time I have travelled solo and I was pleasantly surprised to find a bunch of people that all got on so well.” — Wendy
“I found the trip interesting and eye opening. The other travellers on the trip were fabulous and we had a great time together.” Jean, first solo tour
“I had the opportunity to experience things I would never have done by myself. Solo travellers is a fantastic concept.” — Judi
“I need not have worried. It was great and I was very well looked after.” — Maureen, on her first solo tour
“A great bunch of people and I can’t believe how we all had such a fabulous rapport filled with much humour!”
These aren’t people who were extroverts who would have been fine anywhere. Many of them were nervous first-timers who weren’t sure what to expect. What they found was genuine human connection — the kind that makes you book the next tour before you’ve even unpacked from this one.
So — Is Solo Travel Lonely?
Sometimes, briefly, yes. But far less often than you fear. And far less often than the alternative — staying home, waiting for the perfect travel companion who may never materialise, while the world you want to see keeps turning without you.
The people who travel with Two’s a Crowd aren’t people who don’t feel lonely sometimes. They’re people who decided that the occasional quiet moment was a price worth paying for everything else — the freedom, the adventure, the extraordinary destinations, and the remarkable friendships formed along the way.
They travel solo. But never alone.
Ready to Find Your People?
Two’s a Crowd has been creating exclusively solo traveller tours since 2012 — small groups of 10 to 15 like-minded adventurers, your own private room every night, and a dedicated Tour Host with you throughout.
If solo travel loneliness has been holding you back, this is the answer.
👉 Browse our current solo travel tours →
By Ken Morgan, Founder of Two’s a Crowd — Australia’s leading solo travel company since 2012.
