I love traveling solo and I meet so many people when I do, but sometimes it can be nerve racking as a solo female traveler. Here are 5 tips that I use when I travel solo to safely and easily meet people.

1. Stay at a hostels

There is no doubt that hostels are one of the easiest and safest ways to meet other travelers. Everyone is in the same boat and everyone wants to meet people. I found hostels in Asia particularly social and have traveled with several people that I have meet at hostels. Not all hostel are created equal and personally when I travel I prefer to splurge a little on a hostel that I think will provide a more social atmosphere.

Things to Look for in a Social Hostel

• Communal space – essential for any social hostel, if there is no communal space there is likely very little socializing.
• Smallish dorms – I find approximately 10 people a dorm a good amount of people. If there are too little there may not be enough people to socialize with, but if there are too many it is more likely that there are large groups of friends traveling together. In general I find huge hostel less social than smaller ones.
• Hostel bar – it is always easier to meet people with a little liquid courage, even if you don’t drink a bar tends to create a more social environment.
• Communal meals – I LOVE communal meals, wether or not its a free breakfast or a hostel BBQ they are almost guaranteed to get people talking.
• Hostel activities – hostels that organize walking tours, bar crawls, events or any other activities tend to be more social and the activities are generally really fun.

One tip that I like to give everyone whose a little shy sometimes (me!) is to bring a book if you are nervous about meeting people in the communal space or bar. Books can be an easy conversation starter (hey, what you reading?), and don’t put up as much of a figurative wall as a laptop or phone does. Plus it gives you something to do instead of awkwardly hanging around in the corner.

2. Join walking tours

There are walking tours in pretty much every major city, particularly in Europe, and most of them are free. Tons of solo trailers go on these and they are a great way to see the city and meet people. They tend to be pretty relaxed and provide a good mixture of listening to the tour guide and free time to talk to other traveler. Often people on the tour will go out for a meal or drink afterwards.

3. Bar crawls

Alcohol makes meeting people easier, there is no way around it. However going out to the bar alone takes a decent amount of courage and is not always safe as a solo female traveler. Fortunately many hostel and most cities will have some sort of bar crawl that easy to join and easy to meet people at.

4. Ask your existing network

You may not know someone who lives in your chosen destination, but your cousin or your sister in law might know someone there. Its a good idea to keep family and friends updated about where you are traveling and continuously ask if they know anyone there. Chances are every once and a while someone will. I love when people ask me to show them around my home town, Toronto, and I jump at the chance to do it. If someone if your network kn owns someone in your destination it could provide a unique experience to see it in a different light.

5. Check online forums, groups or apps

We live in a digital world and there are tons of places to meet people online, sometimes even before you’ve reached a destination. I’ve used both Couchsurfer to meet fellow road trip buddies in Iceland and TrekkingPartners to meet hiking buddies in Nepal. Another good idea would be to use dating apps to meet people abroad. As always you have to be cautious with meeting people online, especially as a solo female traveler. I’ve never had any issues, but I think it is very important to take some basic safety measures.

• Always share the contact information or profile of the person with family or friends.
• Try to meet in a neutral location (hostel, bar, etc)
• Make sure you have a back up plan or a way to get out of there if you are uncomfortable. You don’t want to have to stay in a situation that doesn’t feel right just because you don’t have any other options.

I love traveling solo, but it does take some time to get use to meeting people everywhere you go. In generally I find it incredibly easy to meet people traveling as a solo female and I hope these tips will help you do the same.