The Best Solo Female Travel Destinations of 2020
With almost 500,000 Instagram posts and over 16,000 searches relating to female solo travel this year, it’s no surprise more and more women are choosing to jet off alone! Hostel World recently reported that bookings for solo female travelers have gone up 88% over the past four years. So, in a bid to discover the best place to go as a female solo traveler in 2020, Taxi2Airport has analyzed a number of different factors to calculate the most female-friendly travel destinations.
The Most Female-Friendly Solo Travel Destinations of 2020
1. Prague, Czech Republic
Prague, the capital city of the Czech Republic, takes the top spot for the best female-friendly solo travel destination for 2020! They have the highest overall score for female safety, ranking above all other popular destinations as the most female-friendly, so when choosing whether to travel alone or with friends, this should be your first option.
Prague ranks highly due to 87% of the hostels having female-only dorms and a high number of people searching for ‘female solo travel Prague/Czech Republic’, meaning that it is likely you will see plenty of other female solo travelers too, although, despite this, it is worth noting that the general community safety perception is average among the list, at 65.2%.
2. Shanghai, China
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Overall, Shanghai ranks as the second most accommodating city for women on the list. Out of the hostels available in Shanghai, China, 89% of them provide the option for female-only dorms, which is a crucial safety aspect for a lot of female travelers.
Shanghai is also among the cities with the highest community safety perception for women, with 82.3% stating they feel safe walking alone at night.
3. New York, USA
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New York, USA, is the third-best location for female solo travelers. Despite the percentage being low (51%), they are among the highest scorers for female-only dorms.
The Sustainable Development Goals 2019 Gender Index score, from the 2030 Equal Measures Report, measures the USA as ‘fair’ (77.6), ranking them as an average for gender equality. Additionally, on Instagram, New York scores as the most Insta-worthy with over 97 million posts tagging the city in total!
4. Vienna, Austria
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Vienna ranks as the fourth most female-friendly city – an underrated destination for women travelers! Although only 52% of hostels cater to women, 81.4% of women living in the country stated that they feel safe walking alone at night, making it more secure for female solo travelers than people may think.
5. Hong Kong, China
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Hong Kong is the fifth most travel-friendly destination for female solo travelers in 2020. Women traveling to Hong Kong will be pleased with the options available, as 80% of all hostels accommodate women.
In addition, Hong Kong’s safety rating is one of the highest, with over 85% of women stating that they feel safe when walking alone at night, resulting in Hong Kong ranking a fifth of the list.
6. Delhi, India
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India is not often the top destination for female solo travelers, however, our research shows that it is far more popular than many people may think! In fact, Delhi is the sixth-best destination for female travelers this year. This is due to a large number of people searching for ‘female solo travel Delhi’ and ‘female solo travel India’ into Google, showing that many women are showing an interest in the country, and appealing to a large number of female tourists!
However, only 29% of available hostels in Delhi provide female-only dorms, but if the accommodation is chosen carefully, then it is guaranteed to be an exciting trip for female solo travelers.
7. Rome, Italy
(Shutterstock / Andrey Yurlov)
The capital city of Italy, Rome, is the seventh-best place for solo female travelers! Although the percentage of female-only dorms is disappointing (20%), the Equal Measures 2030 report ranks the country highly, with an SDG score of 81.8, which is among the highest on the list.
Google search volumes also show that there is a high number of female solo travelers looking to venture into the city, so there are many others likely to be in the same boat if you choose to visit alone.
8. Dublin, Ireland
(Shutterstock / Benoit Daoust)
Dublin is next on the list, in eighth place! Although it can be expensive, it is among the best destinations for female solo travelers in 2020. Ireland’s SDG score is among the highest (85.4) and classifies them as ‘good’, ranking them fourth on our list for the gender index score.
Additionally, 74.3% of women stated that they feel safe walking the streets alone at night in Ireland, proving that it is a secure country to visit for women. Although, Unfortunately, only 38% of available hostels in Dublin have female-only dorms.
9. London, United Kingdom
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The capital city of England, London, ranks as the ninth-best destination for female solo travelers in 2020. This is due to their average ranking of hostels that cater specifically for women (47%), their ‘good’ SDG score (82.2) and 76.9% of women stating they feel safe walking alone at night in the United Kingdom.
10. Istanbul, Turkey
(Shutterstock / Lizavetta)
The city of Istanbul, Turkey, is the tenth best destination for solo female travelers this year! Their general scoring was fairly average, but their high placing is due to the number of women interested in visiting the city, demonstrating that it is suitable for women traveling alone.
However, out of all 103 hostels in the city, only 14% of these included female-only dorms and only 44.6% of women surveyed stated that they feel safe walking alone at night, which may be the reason for some women being skeptical about visiting.
*Methodology:
- Used Euromonitor International’s top 100 city destinations from 2019 to compile our list, only taking the most visited city in each of the included destinations to make a top 30.
- Then used Hostel World to discover what percentage of hostels in each ranking city has the highest number of female dorms available.
- Looked at the 2019 Sustainable Development Goals Gender Index score from the Equal Measures 2030 report.
- Included the community safety perception among women from the Women Peace and Security Index. This percentage is the number of women aged 15 and above who report they “feel safe walking alone at night in the city or area where you live”.
- Analyzed the Google search volumes for the terms ‘female solo travel’ in each country and city to discover the number of people searching for it – this indicates the number of women who are considering visiting.