Solo travel is the best way to see Europe. It’s also the most anxiety-inducing, logistically demanding, and lonely if you do it wrong. The gap between a transformative solo trip and a miserable one is almost entirely about preparation and mindset — not budget, not language skills, not experience.
These 12 tips come from a combined 40+ years of solo travel experience across the team, and from the mistakes we watch first-time travelers make repeatedly.
1. Book Less Than You Think You Should
The most common first-timer mistake is over-scheduling. You book every night in advance, map every hour of every day, and then discover on day three that you love the city you’re in and want to stay another day — but can’t, because you’ve pre-paid for accommodation in the next city.
A good rule: book the first 2-3 nights, have a rough plan for the rest, and keep everything else flexible. Trains in Europe (especially the fast intercity ones) can usually be booked the day before. The uncertainty is part of the adventure.
2. Night Trains Are Your Secret Weapon
Night trains across Europe have made a major comeback in 2024-2026 after decades of decline. The Vienna-to-Paris Nightjet, the overnight services between Amsterdam and Berlin, the Rome-to-Vienna sleeper — they save you a night of accommodation while covering enormous distances. Book the cheapest couchette for budget travel; the private sleeper compartments for a slightly more comfortable experience.
Nightjet trains are operated by Austrian Rail (OBB). Their website has the fullest coverage of night train routes across Europe. Book 2-3 months in advance for the cheapest couchettes; they sell out quickly on popular routes.
3. Get a Local SIM Card on Arrival
Your home carrier’s international roaming plan is almost always worse value than a local SIM card. In virtually every European country, you can buy a tourist SIM at the airport or a phone shop for €10-20 that gives you 10-30GB of data for a week or two. This matters more than most travelers realize — offline maps, AI travel guides, and emergency services all depend on connectivity.
4. Master the ATM, Not Currency Exchange Booths
Airport currency exchange booths charge 5-15% commission. ATMs charge 1-3% (through your bank’s foreign transaction fee). The difference on a 2-week trip can easily be €60-80. Use ATMs attached to major banks; avoid standalone ATMs in tourist areas that offer to convert the currency for you (this is a scam called Dynamic Currency Conversion — always choose to be charged in the local currency).
5. The Hostel Common Room Changes Your Trip
Solo travel’s biggest practical challenge is loneliness. The antidote, especially for your first European solo trip, is the hostel common room. Even if you prefer private rooms (most good hostels offer them), choosing a hostel over a hotel connects you to a community of travelers in the same position as you. The friendships made in hostel common rooms, over cheap beers and shared maps, are often the best memories of the trip.
6. Understand the Schengen Zone
For non-EU travelers, the Schengen Area is crucial: it covers 29 European countries and allows you 90 days within any 180-day period across all of them combined. Cross into Switzerland from France, and you’re still using your Schengen allowance. Run out of your 90 days and you face fines and potential entry bans.
Note that some popular destinations — UK, Ireland, Croatia, Bulgaria, Romania — are not in Schengen and have separate entry rules. Don’t assume all of Europe is the same.
Wandora’s Visa Checker tool shows entry requirements, Schengen status, and passport requirements for every country in its database — searchable by your nationality.
7. Walk. Always Walk.
The best version of any European city is found on foot, in neighborhoods that aren’t on the tourist map, after you’ve made a wrong turn. Public transport is excellent and useful, but the day you decide to walk somewhere instead of taking the metro is usually the day you accidentally discover the best restaurant of your trip, or end up in a square that isn’t in any guidebook.
A practical rule: if the destination is under 40 minutes on foot, walk.
8. Learn 10 Words in the Local Language
Hello, please, thank you, excuse me, do you speak English, I don’t understand, how much, where is, yes, no. That’s it. That’s the entire vocabulary you need. Native speakers respond extraordinarily warmly to any attempt at their language, no matter how broken. The transformation in attitude when you begin with “Bonjour” instead of immediately asking “Do you speak English?” is remarkable.
9. The Museum Strategy: One Per Day
Museum fatigue is real. After 90 minutes in a large museum, most visitors’ retention and enjoyment drops sharply — you’re walking through the galleries but not actually absorbing anything. The one-museum-per-day rule maximizes both your experience and your energy for everything else. Choose the one museum you most want to see in each city, go in the morning, and leave when you’ve had enough.
10. Your Backpack Is Too Heavy
Every experienced solo traveler will tell you this: you are packing too much. The weight you carry becomes your daily enemy — on train platforms, cobblestoned streets, hostel stairs, and budget airline boarding gates. Target 7kg for carry-on, 10kg absolute maximum for checked bag if you’re moving every 2-3 days. You can do laundry. You don’t need backup backup outfits.
Pack clothes you can layer. European weather — even in summer — can vary by 15 degrees in a day. Three layers always beat six separate outfits.
11. Have an Emergency Plan Before You Need One
Before you leave for each new city: identify the nearest hospital, save the local emergency number (EU-wide: 112, but local numbers vary), know your travel insurance claim process, and have a backup card from a different account in a separate part of your bag from your wallet. None of this takes more than 10 minutes and eliminates the majority of catastrophic travel scenarios.
12. Say Yes More Often Than Feels Comfortable
Solo travel’s greatest advantage is optionality. You have no one else’s preferences to accommodate, no negotiated compromises. The invitation from the people you met at the hostel to join them for an unplanned excursion, the local at the bar who offers to show you the neighborhood they grew up in, the detour from your original plan because something looked interesting — these are the experiences that define the best solo trips.
Safety matters, common sense matters, but the biggest regret most solo travelers have is saying no too often to experiences they were uncertain about.
The Tools That Make Solo Travel Easier
Technology has dramatically reduced the friction of solo travel. Wandora handles city exploration, AI travel advice, offline navigation, emergency information, visa requirements, and cultural etiquette — replacing a stack of separate apps that, individually, each do one thing. Join the waitlist to get early access when we launch.