First solo holiday

Sorry Aggy, never used one myself, but who knows when you might need to? Hope some grans can help.

Have you looked at Saga holidays? I went with them when I was first widowed - ages 60 and up, local reps were very helpful and everything is taken care of.

Don't know what they are like yet but Leger advertise single holidays across Europe. It may be worth looking into. My brother travels that way and enjoys it. We have one booked from two years ago to southern Ireland.

I suppose it depends if you want company. I usually travel alone, book hotels and flights direct, and make my own arrangements for travel to and from airports etc. I spend time away in museums, art galleries and churches, read a lot of books, and eat in local restaurants. I can’t think of anything worse than having to travel round sights with a bunch of lonely singles of any age. But if it’s company you want, what about a cruise or a bus tour?

Are you a Walker? HF holidays are good for singles.

Riviera do just that.

Holidays for solo people.

Lots of choice.

I had a short holiday last year with One Traveller and thoroughly enjoyed it. There were around 30 in the group, ages from mid 50s to 80s.
Admittedly, it wasn't the cheapest holiday I've ever been on but the standard of food, accommodation, excursion, etc were high and the tour manager was skilled in the art of getting people to relax and mingle.
My trip was in England but they offer all sorts of holidays overseas, long and short haul. I'd travel with them again.
one traveller.co.uk

Riviera have holidays for solo travellers. You will also find that people on their standard holidays are very friendly and the tour managers are very caring of solo travellers. They are a very good company to travel with.

I am 2 years widowed and have booked with Friendship Travel for this summer.Looking at website photos it seems to be 50 plus.Hoping for the best.

I can thoroughly recommend “Explore” they have a very wide range of trips and around 2/3 of travellers female, some couples and a few single men. I have been on 6 trips as a single, many others have done 20+, they look after you very well

HF, Travel Editions or Riveira. Fred Olsen if you fancy a cruise (easy and friendly and they often have no or low solo supplement offers). Hope you have a lovely time!

I have not taken the plunge yet either Aggy Could we go together?
Seriously though, I am terrified of being stuck in a bus or sharing a hotel room with people with whom I have nothing in common.
Like a party you can't escape from.
Surely an interest group holiday would be better?
www.field-studies-council.org/about-us/
dekleischool.com/

I've been holidaying alone for a long time I love it. Usually now I just book things separately and travel independently but with Covid I'm looking at packages this year.
Coach holidays are OK there are usually other singles and you can wander away from the others if you need time out.
Mercury holidays have some places and dates with no single supplements
Some of the other companies have very expensive supplements.

My friend went on a Gulet holiday when first widowed. A small vessel touring the greek islands. It was not a singles holiday but because there were only about 25 people on board she was able to find a place where she was comfortable. Not as impersonal as a cruise and not like a tour group she said.

My mother In law went on art/garden tours with plenty of "down time". She said there were plenty of other singles but no pressure.

Go with Just You - went to Italy with them pre-pandemic and had a brilliant time! Met some lovely travellers of all ages, made friends quickly. Well looked after by our tour guide and really was one of the best holidays I’ve had. Maybe a bit expensive, but well worth it ?

www.solosholidays.co.uk/

I went on one of their tennis holidays to Corfu and had a marvellous time and would have gone again but pandemic happened. 2 of my friends have also been and loved it. They do all sorts of holidays. Thoroughly recommend.

Thanks everyone for all the great suggestions! Maybe I’m being unrealistic re pricing and will need to fork out more.
Interest type holidays might be good eg yoga…
Maybe once I’m more used to being on my own I could book flights and hotels and travel independently but I just think I’d be desperately sad to see a beautiful view, sit on a beach, explore a town and have no one with me to turn to and say, ‘Isn’t this wonderful?’
After 45 years of marriage it takes a lot of adjusting and courage to do things solo…
My sil books cottages in UK and goes with her dog, explores towns, has pub lunches and seems to be perfectly happy. Maybe one day I would fancy that but at the moment if I’m on my own I’d just rather be in my own house!

I know how you feel Aggy it's just over a year since I lost my DH after 51 years of marriage and holidays always together, I can't imagine going by myself.
Last year I joined my DS &co for a long weekend in a caravan in the Lakes and then a week with DD & co for a week on a Scottish Island. This year DS2 has booked for me to go to France with them.
I'm a scaredy cat.

My friends are much braver and have taken the plunge.
If you do hit on something which works please let us know how you get on.

Ive twice been on holiday to Paris with other singles. Never again. As I speak fluent French I found myself doing all the translating and organizing. I felt like an unpaid tour guide. And they made me feel sooo guilty that I "abandoned" them and went off shopping on my own. I hate shopping in groups.

I think the good thing about singles holidays is that you have someone to eat with in the evening, which can be a lonely experience if you are on your own. During the day you can always ditch the group and go off on your own.

I travelled all over the Middle East and North Africa on my own. To begin with I used cheap packages and bargained hard to get them to reduce or abandon the single suppliment. Later I had the confidence to arrange trips to Egypt, Syria, Nepal and the UAE just using the internet and my own organizational abilities. Many of the flights arrived at unsocial hours but most hotels will arrange a pickup for you at the airport so you dont have to queue for a taxi.

Another plus of booking a hotel independently is that once you arrive you can usually bargain a room upgrade because they dont want you walking off somewhere else! You dont have that leverage when you use a package.

Onelittle item I do recommend for solo female travellers is a door wedge - available on Amazon and Ebay for a few pounds. Just in case someone gets the "wrong" idea. And dont forget a travel kettle or one of those neat little devices to clip on to the side of a mug and heat your water. Not all hotels do hospitality trays.

Aggie21, I wondered have you taken the plunge. I’ve been toying with the idea of going alone and understand fully all your reservations. I don’t know where you live in the country, where I do, there’s a pick up point for coach holidays and short breaks, say 4/5 days might be a good start. Try to go somewhere you didn’t with your other half, that helps. You have to be prepared, look the area before hand and decide where you would like to visit, get a plan just in case you are alone, odds are you will find lovely people, just like you, on their own to after years in a relationship.
If you go abroad, make sure there is a rep in the hotel just in case. There are brave soles that do it all independently but I couldn’t.It would have to be a package.
I still have lots of moments when I see or hear something I would like to share with my husband, I do it in my head.
The trouble is after Covid these holiday for solo traveller have almost doubled in price, it’s out of reach for many. If so I would say start with a few day trips in these longer days.
Let us know how you are.

I sort of agree with Geekesse .However there are some "lonely singles" I'd like to meet. But they'd not be the sort of lonely singles who would go on organised singles' holidays. I wonder if there is a fast dating sort of thing for platonic meetings.

I also travel independently, but stay in hostels quite often. Contrary to the image many have of them, many are not party central (and it’s easy to filter out those that are), have private rooms and even en-suites, generally have a very mixed age range, and are a great way to meet people with whom you can share as much or as little of your time as you choose.

Zonee, I admire what you do but think when you are faced with going alone and your in your late sixties or seventy it's a daunting task, I would have to to have a rep to go to and others in the same position in case I had a problem. I would love to go away, unfortunately going with the family not on the cards, I have had two with my family, but as their children are older they want a busy on the go break which I encourage, they have to give that time together now the kids have grown. The trouble is the cost is very high for these accompanied holidays. So I watch this thread with interest.