Hey Reader,

I hope you're well and enjoying summer so far - or winter if you're in the southern hemisphere!

I'm settling into life in Barcelona and am looking at what I can do to really feel part of the community here in my neighbourhood and it got me thinking about meeting people when I was travelling.

A lot of advice for how to make friends is the same whether you're at home or away, so if you're a solo traveller who wants to meet people - or you're worried about getting lonely on your first solo trip, here are my top tips for how to meet people when travelling!

Stay in Hostels

Hostels are a great place to meet other travellers who are also looking for new friends. Staying in a shared dorm room means you have potential travel buddies staying in the bed right next to you!

Even if you prefer to stay in a private room you can still socialise in the common areas or join group activities organised by the hostel. I love it when hostels arrange social events, it is a great excuse to talk to people and break the ice!

Attend Free Walking Tours

Lots of destinations offer free walking tours that are a great way to explore the city and meet other travellers at the same time. You can join a tour and strike up a conversation with other participants as you wander around. If you find someone you like, ask them to join you for lunch or share your plans for the afternoon and see if they’d like to come along.

Join a Group Tour or Excursion

Group tours are another great way to meet other travellers who are interested in the same activities as you. Whether that is a day tour to visit a certain place or a multi-day trip around a country, you can become firm friends with the people you meet.

Join Wanderful

​Wanderful is an amazing global travel community of women who are passionate about travel.

I've been a member of Wanderful's travel community since 2019 and I love being able to connect with thousands of other female travellers all around the world.

They have online events, trainings, social chats and in-person meetups too, so if you love travel and want to meet like-minded women it's a great option for you. You can get a free 1 week trial here.

Want more Female Solo Travel Tips?

Wanderful has created a Solo Travel Toolkit that you can get FOR FREE that is packed full of tips like how to plan your trip, where to stay, what to pack, a guide to women-owned travel companies, and much more!

Tours for Solo Travellers

Instead of finding a travel partner for your own trip, there are also several companies which arrange tours specifically for solo travellers.

These solo tour groups can be a great way to meet travel friends, especially if you find a company that is aimed at people just like you.

I've done several group trips to places that were hard to travel by myself, like the West Coast of Australia and Machu Picchu in Peru and I love having someone else plan everything for a change, as well as meeting people from all over the world.

Other ways to meet people while travelling are joining a gym or a club that you are interested in like a fitness group or sports team, or going to a language exchange and practising your skills.

I've recently joined a gym here but I've realised I'm not a great conversationalist when I'm out of breath on the treadmill! So I think I'll try a language exchange next as I'd like to learn Catalan.

I've got more ideas for you on this blog post about how to meet travel buddies - including a bunch of ways to meet people before you even leave home!

And if you have any more tips for meeting people hit reply and let me know!

Happy travels!

Love, Claire x

What Else I'm Loving This Week...