Solo city break in Europe: 8 cities

Travelling to a city on your own has one big advantage: you decide everything. When you get up, how long you stay in a museum, whether you lie in the park at lunchtime or look for a bar in the evening. For that to work well, the city should bring a few things: short distances, public transport that still runs in the evening, and places where you easily get talking to other people. We rated eight European cities on exactly these points – and explain what to keep in mind when you travel solo.

What makes a city good for solo travel

• Walkable: if the main neighbourhoods are close together, you don't have to cross half the city at night. A compact old town gives you orientation and a sense of security.
• Good public transport: metro, tram or bus that runs late – ideally all night at weekends.
• Easy to meet people: hostels with common rooms, small-group walking tours, markets and food halls with long tables, a lively bar and café culture. And people who are happy to speak English.

The 8 cities compared

Each city gets 1 to 5 points for each of the three criteria. This is our editorial assessment, not a statistic – it is meant to help you place the cities against each other.

Flight times: typical direct flights from London, rounded. From London, Amsterdam is also reachable by Eurostar, and Edinburgh by train.

Base map: Natural Earth

Amsterdam and Copenhagen: flat, compact, open

Amsterdam is hard to beat for a first solo trip: you can explore the whole centre inside the canal ring on foot, almost everyone speaks fluent English, and in hostels, food halls and the traditional brown cafés conversations start quickly. Trains run from Schiphol airport straight to Centraal station; if you land late and would rather be taken to the door, book a transfer from Schiphol^* in advance, for example with Welcome Pickups. For several museums and a canal cruise, a city pass such as the Go City Amsterdam Pass^* can pay off – do the maths first to see whether you will use enough of it.

Amsterdam trip planDay by day, with map and tips

Copenhagen is just as flat and has a metro that runs around the clock. By the harbour and in the street-food halls you naturally sit with others at long tables. The city is expensive but very relaxed, and many people explore it on a rental bike.

Copenhagen trip planDay by day, with map and tips

Berlin and Vienna: big transport networks, lots of culture

Berlin is spread out, and the distances between Mitte, Kreuzberg and Prenzlauer Berg are long – but U-Bahn and S-Bahn run all night at weekends. For solo travellers the city is ideal because there is so much to do: Museum Island, the Berlin Wall Memorial, markets, concerts. Nobody looks twice if you sit at the bar alone.

Vienna is calmer. Its public transport is among the best in Europe, and the U-Bahn runs through the night before Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays. The coffee houses are made for solo travellers: you sit for hours with a newspaper and a melange and nobody hurries you. Here you are more likely to meet people on a guided tour than at the bar.

Vienna trip planDay by day, with map and tips

Lisbon, Porto and Edinburgh: lively, with a few hills

Lisbon has one of Europe's liveliest hostel scenes, and in the evening half of Bairro Alto meets in the street. The city is hilly, though, and the cobbles get slippery in the rain. Porto is smaller and quieter, with a manageable old town on the Douro. Edinburgh is compact – you walk everywhere between the Old Town and New Town. In August, during the festival, the city is packed – good for meeting people, bad for finding a room.

Lisbon trip planDay by day, with map and tips

Ljubljana: small, green, relaxed

Ljubljana is the smallest city on the list and perhaps the most pleasant place to start. The old town along the Ljubljanica river is largely car-free, cafés line the riverbank, and everything is within a fifteen-minute walk. There are buses but no metro – and you hardly need one. Day trips to Lake Bled or the coast are easy to organise from here.

Travelling alone as a woman: sober safety habits

The cities on this list are visited by many women travelling alone. A few habits still make the trip more relaxed – whether it is your first solo trip or your twentieth:

• Arrive in daylight: plan your journey so you arrive while it is light and can find your accommodation calmly. After a late landing, a pre-booked transfer is the simplest solution.
• Stay central: accommodation in a lively neighbourhood with short distances, ideally a hotel or hostel with a 24-hour reception. Read reviews by other solo travellers.
• Someone knows your plans: share your itinerary and the address of your accommodation with someone at home.
• Battery and map: a power bank and an offline map on your phone mean you won't get lost when the battery is low or there is no signal.
• Pickpockets: on crowded trams and busy squares, your phone does not belong in your back pocket. Don't carry all your cards and cash in one place.
• Emergency number 112: it works free of charge in every EU country, even without credit on your phone.
• Official advice: before each trip, check your government's travel advice for the country, such as the UK Foreign Office pages.

And most importantly: if a situation feels wrong, leave. You don't owe anyone an explanation for changing bars.

You need mobile data for maps, translation and messaging. A travel eSIM is often cheaper than roaming; for the continent you can get an Airalo travel eSIM^* before you leave. Visitors to Edinburgh from the EU and many other countries need an Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA) for the UK in advance.

How YesTrip helps

When you travel alone, you plan everything yourself – YesTrip takes care of the legwork. Choose a city and your dates and you get a day-by-day plan with a map that groups the stops by neighbourhood. On the trip, the Today view shows your next stop, the way there on foot or by public transport, and the day's weather. With the offline package you download the maps of your destinations to your device beforehand, so you can find your way without a connection.

Travelling alone, there is no one to watch your bag on departure day – our guide to hotel luggage storage, station lockers and storage in shops shows where to leave it.

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