Solo trip at 60. Too old or too young for the options?!

[Lumpycat]

Thinking about booking a solo holiday. I am a divorced 59 year old woman. Very active and sociable and am confident in travelling and life in general. I work full time. Live in London.
I live with my adult children and have zero interest in a new relationship.

Want to book a trip to ‘somewhere’ in September to celebrate my 60th. Thinking culture and history and beautiful landscapes and great food. So have decided Italy might work. Tuscany/Florence area.

As I want to explore the area and only have a week it might be useful to go on an organised tour. So the logistics and travel are handled and the itinerary organised in a logical way.

Might be nice to have some company for some of the trip such as mealtimes and then have my own room to retreat to and free time to fill how I want.
Am a bit unsure about the organised aspect of it though. I have always travelled independently before or with friend or family. I have visions of being herded by a tour guide and the time being over controlled.

Was almost ready to book when I saw on a review that a guide might meet me at Heathrow to help with the journey. Really don’t need that level of support! I know people are all different and it might just be an option for more anxious or disabled people.

I would also need to pick from a very limited range of options as the tour groups obviously have a few departure dates. In fact I can only find one option for the date and region I want. It’s around £2300 for one week Heathrow to Pisa. That is fine but I could obviously do it more cheaply and flexibly myself.

Anyway. Thoughts on how to travel solo as an independent person but with some elements of an organised tour? There will be local companies offering day trips and excursions but less likely to have company at mealtimes and get to know people.

The G adventure type places seem to run much younger and I don’t want to be 40 years older than everyone else!

I did one to Egypt once. I was very busy with work at the time and didn't want to spend too much time organising it. You could choose what level of accomodation you wanted and what you wanted to see/how busy you wanted to be. They then sent you an itinerary and you could book the flights or they could. The other people on the trip were various ages, some older, some younger, some solo, some couples and a family with teenage children. We weren't necessarily in the same hotels or always on the same excursions. It was quite sociable as we all ate together at lunch if we were on the same excursion. However, you weren't stuck with the group the whole time and you were left to your own devices in the evenings. You could choose to chat with the others if you were in the same hotel. I think the destination and style of trip dictates the type of people you get on a tour. I was in my 20s at the time. I always organise my own trips now but I would happily do an organised one again based off that experience.

Friendship travel.
Exodus puglia
Intrepid
All good
Go for it

Skyros for up to september

Cruises definitely have solo travellers in your age bracket but it’s hard to predict in advance of course. My boss is your age and takes train holidays with a guide they meet at St Pancras, they did Italy one year, she wasn’t solo but plenty were.

if you are interested in cruises there’s a facebook solo cruising group that is very good (or was when i was a member) and they get access to specific offers directly from the companies especially shorter notice under 3 months.

This is a great central hotel with fab views of the Duomo. https://maps.app.goo.gl/XXyYr63EJp2dtBSa8?g_st=ic

I am 60 and have done a few trips by myself with Intrepid. I highly recommend them - supportive if you need it but they are not all over you. You get free time to do whatever you want - but the travel and accommodation is sorted. I loved the first holiday with them I came home and booked the second. I lived the second I came home and immediately booked a third!

Look at Wild Hearted Adventures for woman .
Also Mercury holidays . Sole rooms and very reasonable and great reviews . I’m booked on two of their solo tours . I’m happy to travel on my own aswell but some places with lots to see are easier all booked and arranged by someone else .

This thread has amazing ideas. Enjoy Tuscany Op!

I did my first solo trip at 70. It was to Antarctica via South America. I was very daunted, but had an absolute ball and made some new friends.

It was so good, that I booked another solo 2 month trip to New Zealand and Australia via Canada. No group travel, just a very good travel agent who organised everything. I got to go where I wanted, when I wanted and chatted to everyone along the way.

Should have read the thread better first...lots of these options already mentioned, sorry!

If you want to do other destinations that might be seen as more challenging or if you fancy a bit of company then Explore, (already mentioned on the thread) Exodus, Intrepid, Wild Frontiers (brilliant but expensive) and Ramble Worldwide (if you like walking) are all good options for groups with an age span that tends to be older, often 40s -70s. You can check when you book as well. I'm sure there are lots of other options too.

But independent travel is great too. I've done both. India for six months independently when I was in my forties and several group tours to interesting and less accessible places.

Back in the 90s I wanted to go to Iran but they were only doing organized group visas at that time. I am not a group person so I soon dumped the others after we had arrived and only rejoined for the trip back. Whenever I have been on package type tours I have never travelled around with a guided group unless it suited me. You can always duck out and say that you "need your own space today." The main advantage of going with a group is to have someone to eat and chat with in the evening. You don't have to be joined at the hip.

If you are interested in a group tour in the future I would consider Riviera Travel, they do solo tours although a solo traveller can of course join any of their tours. The meet & greet at the airport isn't as it sounds, it's just a tour leader will be on the same flight so is there for those who are nervous about travelling alone, but not pushy if you don't need extra support. They also do river cruises which are less "cruisey" with much smaller boats. In fact they have just launched the first ever boat to exclusively run solo tours. No sharing a room on any of their singles tours either.

I've done guided trips with Exodus and Explore and the age ranges varied loads and skewed upwards e.g 35+ and the groups are generally smaller than G adventures and the like (I'm your age).

If you do decide to go it alone, unless you've not been to Florence before and really want to see all the artistic sites, I'd not use that as your base. It's expensive and heaving with people and just not very pleasant (and I've been a few times at different times of the year). Smaller towns with a train station or a decent coach service are better. Even Siena would be a good option as the day trippers tend to leave late afternoon and it's quieter after that. You can then book day trips to towns that are harder to get to by public transport. I did a minibus trip from Sienna to San Gimignano which also took us to some nice wineries and an off the beaten track village for lunch in a lovely restaurant. Doing it yourself does usually work out cheaper than the whole week guided but does mean more organisation and navigating of course. A few recommendations are Pienza, Cortona, Siena, any of the old Tuscan hill towns really! Arezzo is bigger but the Duomo & Basilica are well worth the visit and its easily reached by train from Florence. Lucca is a nice day trip or overnighter from Florence and once of my favourite Italian towns.

I'm thinking of going to Sicily later in the year and will use a guided group as getting to all the historical sites I want to see via public transport will just be too much of a logistical nightmare. But I've also done my own thing using public transport and enjoyed that too.

@Gerwurtztraminer thanks very much for the local tips. Sadly too late as I have booked now and just went for a good central hotel in Florence. Have never been before and I know it’s going to be crazy touristy but I suppose it won’t get any better in my lifetime!

Did think about doing two centres but want to just unpack and relax there. There’s a pool and bar and AI tells me it’s top rated by solo travellers so that’ll do.

Was looking at 2300 for a week organised tour with accommodation based in some small town. The hotel and flights were 1400 and 260 so definitely seems better value doing it this way.

If you like running look at Airey Airways too. They do trips to do parkruns overseas (and I think in the UK too). In fact if you are in Florence you might be able to get to Lucca to do the parkrun on the city walls!

Edited: there's a parkrun in Florence too.

I've used Get your Guide the last couple of years in Turkey and Cambodia - planning on using them again this year in Marrakech

I’ve done lots of holidays in groups (with a single room option where I can). It’s been a huge success. Mostly people of a like mind and of similar fitness levels, and big enough groups to mix well (exodus will also tell you what the group make up is). And I’ve seen things I would not have seen on my own, gone to places I would not have been to solo.

Sounds like you’ve found a way and are going for it?! Good on you, enjoy it!

I just wanted to comment a tip that my mum has used for generations. It’s an organisation called Women Welcome Women WorldWide (5W)… you stay at others houses worldwide for up to 2 nights… I think the basic is, you sign up for a small annual fee and every member has a tick list of what they will/wont accept (pets/husbands companions etc) when hosting. You’re not obliged to host anyone, only if you want to, or are available. From my mums experience (she’s in her 80s now) she traveled top to bottom in Japan, mixing hotels with 5W with my dad, China, Vietnam, Cambodian too. As well as closer Eupoean countries. She’s made life long friends along the way and got to see a lot of the countries she’s visited and experience things only locals would know. A few years ago when dad died, she took a round the world trip (Brazil, Australia, NZ and others) again mixing booked places and 5W.

She swears by it for solo travelling, and as a host there’s no expectation to be tour guide, some just provide bed & breakfast and leave you to it, others want to help guests experience more of the area they’re proud of.

Good luck and happy travels!!

Please come back and let us know how it went. Enjoy 🇮🇹 ❤️

I think a Tuscany trip is one you could easily organise yourself. You could join walking tours etc to explore the cities or hire a car and drive around yourself (or take trains/buses). Hotels will be used to lone travellers and you could eat a bit earlier or have your main meal at lunch if you feel self conscious eating out.

OP, I travel solo all the time and I'm 71.

It's brilliant because I can do what I want, if I want and when I want.

You have to be sociable though so you can chat to people that you meet, even just to a next door cafe table. Or the friendly waiter or receptionist.
We all have something in common in life.

Had a fab time in Florence on my balcony overlooking one of the church domes.

Feel the fear and do it anyway. (Brilliant book by the way).

I don’t know if you read books but if you do, ot don’t mind giving it a go ‘Books in Places’ will give you just what you’re looking for.

Hello!

I'm approaching 40 and have similarly looked at going away on my own. I also would love company for meals but time to myself. I've also really struggled to find something suitable age wise.

My sister has also struggled with this, and actually ended up making friends with a few women online. She has met them for holidays a couple of times and they split time between time together and solo activities.

I assume there are quite a few people out there in similar positions and I'm thinking of taking a leaf out of her book (although she's far more extroverted than me!).

Could you perhaps post on social media or a site like this and see if you can find someone to holiday with?

Perhaps you could stay in the same hotel, maybe hire a car for day trips together on a couple of days, and solo explore on others.

My parents use TrailFinders to do an itinerary and organised tours (they usually go for a week and do 2 days of tours with the rest independent but trailfinders does the booking and transfer organisation for them)

i travel alone for work a lot & often stay on for a couple of days. I’m 52. Airbnb experiences are also great for finding truly local people - often quite quirky. I made pasta in a lady’s kitchen in Italy & did a pizza tour in Lugano. All backed with Airbnbs insurance so low risk.