Solo travelers have a lot of advantages over those traveling as a couple or a group. They can be more spontaneous, make more social connections, and have more control over what they see and do, for a start.
When you look at pricing in the travel industry though, it feels like nearly every tour company and lodging company expects a Noah’s Ark of tourists, everyone coming in two by two. The standard prices are double occupancy rates for everything, with a big single supplement penalizing those who can’t take up two spots in a room. You rarely see singles resorts for everyone else.
If you can find a way around this, however, you’ll combat one of the biggest solo traveling myths: that your trip is going to be twice as expensive. Just like the myths about loneliness and safety are often overblown, this one too can be countered with a bit of knowledge and adjustment.
While it can be cheaper to travel as a couple who can share the costs of everything, solo travelers have more options every year that negate some of the industry’s bias toward couples. Savvy lodging companies are waking up to this large subset of vacationers, long-term travelers, and remote workers. So you’re no longer limited to one choice in town in most of the world.
Singles Resorts and All-inclusives for Solo Travelers
Let’s start with the most difficult lodging situations: big hotels in beach vacation areas. As a travel writer who is often reviewing these places solo, I know what it’s like to feel like a square peg looking for a round hole. I often feel like I’m sticking out constantly because I’ll be the one person eating alone in a resort full of hand-holding couples. Or even worse, a resort full of those plus full families.
While that’s true more often than not, there are singles resorts that are more inclusive and even all-inclusive resorts for solo travelers. These will be more set up for mingling, with yoga classes, excursions, beach parties, and night activities designed to help you meet others and have a great time. Maybe themed nights, karaoke nights, or dance lessons.
Be sure to find one that’s a good match for what you’re looking for though. There are plenty of singles at the Hedonism II in Negril, Jamaica, but it’s a clothing-optional resort where many are looking for more than friendship. The same goes for Temptation Resort near Cancun. At the other end of the spectrum perhaps is BodyHoliday in Saint Lucia, which focuses on relaxation and wellness for health-conscious travelers. They have an annual solo travelers retreat.
Club Med also provides engaging options, with resorts in exotic locations like Thailand, the Caribbean, and Spain. It has a dedicated section about all-inclusive resorts for singles, so you know they’re welcoming. That’s a good sign: most of the resorts listed in AI-produced articles about resorts for solo travelers don’t actually dig into the pricing for singles and certain places are just called out because they have a lot of activities for mingling, which kind of misses the point on the single supplement penalty.
The best way to find these solo-friendly resorts is to use a filter on a site like Expedia to just focus on the ones that cater to single travelers in their practices. If you change the search from two travelers to one and pick other filters like “adults only” and “all-inclusive,” you’ll probably end up with plenty of reasonable options where you’re not being dinged with a single supplement. When I did a sample search for the Riviera Maya, I got results from Hyatt brands, Margaritaville, and more.
Single Rooms for Single Travelers
While it’s tough to find a room priced at different levels for singles and couples in much of the Americas, you do often pay a lower rate on independent hotels on sites like Booking.com. In Europe, however, this offering is very common. The room you’re in may not be as large as the double ones—this one above was mine at a place in Sweden—but at least the option is there for you.
You’ll also find “pod hotels” in many areas around the world, but especially in where they originated — Japan — and Western European cities where lodging prices are the highest. They usually make up for the tight sleeping quarters with nice public areas for working, eating, and socializing.
Again, you can use the filtering system on whatever hotel booking site you’re trying and if you don’t like the results there, try another one. Most European cities and resort areas have multiple properties with single rooms since, after all, hotel rooms in Europe are smaller anyway overall and sometimes they’re in older buildings where you can’t just knock down walls to turn everything into a suite.
Hostels: Best Bet for Solo Travelers Who Want to Be Social
There are plenty of cons that come with staying in hostels. You may be in a room full of bunk beds that seldom gets quiet. There’s not much privacy and you’ll be sharing a bathroom. You may be locked out at certain hours and your valuables are in a locker or on you instead of being in your own room with a safe.
Hostels create a great environment for socialization though. That was true in the pre-internet days and it’s still true today, even if half the residents are on their phone too much. Hostels have gotten steadily nicer over the years, especially in European capitals, so they now often have bars, co-working areas, rooftop lounges, or even a pool. A bed in a hostel is often less than half the price of a double room in the same city, but you can upgrade to a private room in a hostel if you’re a light sleeper.
Sometimes you get lucky too. When I stayed in a ski hostel in Switzerland, the public areas included lounges, a communal kitchen, pool tables, foosball, and work tables. Half the nights the place wasn’t very full, so I had a four-bed room to myself and I was the only one snoring.
Apartment Rentals and Shares for Solo Travelers
When Airbnb first started, the idea was that people would open up a spare room for travelers passing through or in some cases, even toss an air mattress on the floor. The founders soon discovered that there was far more demand for full apartments without another person already in them, so that’s most of the inventory now.
The rented-out extra room is still an option for almost every location you look, however, so this can be a good option for solo travelers looking to save some money. These extra rooms will usually cost far less than an empty apartment and you’ve got the added bonus of having a local source to provide information. The kitchen will be better stocked with essentials if you need to cook.
Depending on the market though, sometimes a full apartment you have to yourself will be less money than a private room in a hostel or the cheapest hotel room in the market. You’ll usually have a kitchen, your own bathroom, and a location that’s in a neighborhood instead of in the tourist zone. Airbnb and Vrbo are the main players, but Booking also lists a lot of apartments too and has the best filtering system.
Other Solo Travel Lodging to Consider
If you think creatively, you may have other options to think about when you’re looking for reasonably priced lodging for single travelers. Couchsurfing is still a thing, as is asking to crash with friends of friends.
Many solo travelers who are nomadic are members of Trusted Housesitters, which sets you up for free in peoples’ homes in exchange for you taking care of their pets. There are also other players in that space and less formal ways to connect through expat Facebook groups and message boards.
If you own your own home or have permission to sublet the one you rent, you may want to look into a home swap service such as HomeExchange.com. There is also one for remote workers called Noad Exchange where hosts have to guarantee fast internet and a good work space.
How about you? Where have you managed to bust the “solo travel is more expensive” myth and how did you do it? Have you found any good singles resorts for solo travelers? Leave it in the comments.
I will often try to pair up with a fellow traveler who is heading the same way and get a double room with twin beds together. I’ve even done this with someone at a hostel, just moving to a hotel nearby after we became friendly. In a whole lot of countries, a double room in a cheap hotel is less than a bunk bed in a hostel, so it’s a much better deal. A single room, unfortunately, is seldom half what a double one is. Usually more like 2/3.