Top Four Female Only Trips

FEMALE ONLY TRIPS TOP 4 by Joanna Neve

I’ve been incredibly lucky to travel solo to some of the most amazing places, including a month in Thailand and nearly two months in Nepal, as well as many shorter trips in European cities. But travelling alone can be scary, especially as a woman. In recent years tour companies have spotted this problem and a few now offer women only tour groups – allowing solo and single women to still travel and see the world! As there are quite a few around, we’ve taken the time to sift through them and here are our top picks. Maybe International Women’s Day will inspire you to try one out?

1. THE WEEKEND TRAVELLER (Girls on Travel, girlsontravel.co.uk)

Since Egypt is very close to Europe, this company might be a good choice for women fancying a little weekend away at some point, but not a long trip. They offer short city breaks across Europe, so book two days off work around the weekend and you’ll be able to fit a decent break in. In April they have two tours running, one to Istanbul and another to the Jersey Channel Islands – exciting! 48 March 2020

2. THE BEACH GAL (Goddess Retreats, goddessretreats.com)

This company was founded by a woman frustrated with how Asian travel was centred exclusively on men. She wanted a safe space for women to get introduced to surfing, so she went out and made it herself! If you like the coast, the sea-breeze and surfing - then this is the tour for you! Think drinks on the beach, sunrise yoga and female surf instructors. What’s not to love?

4. FOR FREE-SPIRITS (The Solo Female Traveller Net-work,thesolofemalet ravelernetwork.com)

This one is a little unofficial but I think it’s definitely worth including. Add this group on Facebook and you’ll see thousands of female travellers from all over the world sharing tips, ideas and advice. It was actually this page which motivated me to backpack Asia two years ago – and I’ve not stopped travelling since! As the group is so large (200,000+), women often step in to help out in their home countries if another traveller is in trouble and it’s a great security network. They also offer a few ‘global meet ups’ which are quite expensive but definitely worth it. Their website is an amazing resource for female travel advice, and have even posted a solo-female guide for travelling in Egypt to encourage single women to travel here – their last meet up was actually in Cairo!

3. PERFECT FOR HIJABI WOMEN (Intrepid’s Women Only Expeditions, intrepidtravel. com) This tour company offers female only tours to a huge variety of places, from India to Nepal and Turkey. They’ve carefully thought out travel as a Muslim woman, and offer tours catered for hijabi women who can otherwise feel quite left out by tour groups:

“We believe travel is for everyone. But in some countries, there are things mixed-gender groups just can’t do. What if, as a female traveller in Iran, you could head down to the beauty salon with your female leader and get your hair done? The hijab comes off and there’s a real chance to connect. Or you might prefer to lace up your hiking boots and head off on a trek in Nepal, led by an all-female mountaineering crew. This limitededition series of expeditions is all about breaking down barriers, fostering discussion and creating immersive local experiences for women that are ordinarily off limits on our regular group departures”.