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The first time I went off to travel, I did it alone. If you read my About me page you’ll know that traveling was never a big plan of mine and after heading off to France for an exchange, traveling ended up just falling in my lap.

At that time the only choices were to travel alone or to not travel at all. After nights of nightmares and anxiety, I finally did it and went off traveling alone for 6 months.

It was the best decision of my life.

Along the way, I met some of the most amazing people and got to experience the most amazing opportunities.

Though, there were definitely some countries and places where I found it was a little more difficult to meet people. Thus, here I have made a list of the top 10 countries/places where I found it the most fun to travel alone.

1. Koh Phangan, Thailand
   Thailand, in general, is such an amazing place to travel alone because it’s filled with so many backpackers and amazing hostels, that you’re just bound to meet an amazing group of people.

   Koh Phangan is famously known for it’s full moon parties and awesome night life. It is in the middle of the famous three islands (Koh Toa, Koh Phangan and Koh Samui) in south eastern Thailand.

   The hostels in Koh Phangan seem to be made for lonesome backpackers (especially around the full moon party) as they constantly have events and organizations set up for you to go out and meet people.

   Now that being said, when it’s off season (non- full moon time) it can be pretty quiet. It’s still quite easy to meet people but their flow of people is a lot slower. Nonetheless, if you’re traveling solo this is definitely somewhere you must check out.

2. Australia 
   Backpacking Australia was amazing (hence, I decided to live here for a year!).

   The majority of hostels are super welcoming and really embrace event planning to the fullest.

   Oz(Short form for Australia) is really known for their wild party atmosphere along with their beautiful landscapes and beaches.

   When I was off going from city to city up the east coast, I found it so easy to meet people and travel off with them. The hostels here are also just as great as in Thailand, where there are great common area’s for you to easily meet people as well lots of pub crawls and other activities to get to know each other.

   Australia is really known for it’s backpacking and if you’re ever taking a plane or greyhound, the chances of meeting people from place to place are quite high. There are countless amounts of times where I met back up with people that I had met waiting in line for planes or that I had sat beside on the greyhound.

   The backpacker atmosphere here is young and open. People are looking to meet new people and it is done so, so easily here.

   If you’re a first time solo backpacker and looking for somewhere westernized to travel to, this is an amazing place to start!

3. Malta
   The only reason why I went to Malta is because I had met some random people in France who told me it is one of the worlds most beautiful treasures and that I had to go. Once I did a little bit more research on the place I saw that it was a gorgeous European country/island (same size as a town though..) and consisted of great partying and beautiful oceans.

   When I arrived I had met so many people and we ended up renting a car out for cheap (Highly recommend!) and driving around the island and checking out all of the beauty it had to offer.

   To my surprise, Malta is probably still to date one of the best countries I have ever been to.

   It is one of the worlds hidden gems. Between the blue lagoon and the historic buildings, it is a dream.

   I highly recommend traveling here and checking out what it has to offer. It also has a really great club strip where the partying is unreal. It’s practically one long road with a ton of clubs, bars and food vendors.

   I had so much fun in Malta and met so many great people, I have to say it is definitely one of the highlights of my travels and is on my list of places to return to.

   Malta just had that relaxed island vibe but had so much more to offer than I had ever expected. It was amazing.

4. Barcelona, Spain
   Barcelona was one of my first stops on my trip and I had a crazy great time but I owe it all to Sant Jordi Rock Palace Hostel.

   This is by far one of the best and most fun hostels I have ever been to.

   There was always something going on, every single night. Between fajita night, pub crawls and drinking games in the hostel I had an unreal time!

   There are so many tourists in Barcelona, I found everyone was speaking to each other on the streets and I actually met Canadian friends at a fountain that I ended up hanging out with!

   Out of all of Europe I really found Barcelona to be one of the best places to meet people.

5. Ubud, Bali
   I find Bali a very similar atmosphere to Thailand but probably more relaxed.

   Though you see on instagram all of these model couples together in Bali, I swear it is not only a couple retreat place and it is easy to meet a lot of people.

   When I was there I met an awesome group of girls that I ended up going off and traveling the island with.

   The island itself has a very ‘boho’ feel to it and everyone seems to be in this permanent state of zen. I would go out in the morning to some vegans cafe’s and start talking to the locals and meet people from all over the world there.

   There are some countries that you go to where everyone seems to be very closed off and exclusive and countries where everyone is saying hello in the streets and overly welcoming – Bali is exactly this.

   I have never felt so safe and so welcomed. If you are traveling alone, Bali is a must-do!

As much as I love traveling with people, backpacking solo is so great because you meet people from different parts of the world and it really provides you with a unique experience. These are some of my top 5 places to travel solo but I really owe it to the hostels I went to as they really provided me with a base to meet people.

Of course, in Australia for example, I met people on the plane to Cairns and in lines of the greyhound which made it so easy to meet people. It really is important to be open to talk to new people when you’re traveling alone as it opens up so many new opportunities.

If you’re planning a trip to Greece, make sure to check out my Ultimate Guide to Mykonos. The best party island in Greece!

How did you like this post? Let me know if you’ve ever gone backpacking before and the things you learned along the way.

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