The Solo-Readiness Score (SRS): How We Rate Cities for Solo Travelers

What the SRS is

The Solo-Readiness Score (SRS) is our 100-point rating of how well a city works for someone traveling alone. Not how pretty it is, not how famous it is, but how it actually performs when there is one of you: whether you can walk home at night, whether you will pay double for a room built for two, whether you can eat dinner alone without feeling like an exhibit, and whether you can meet people when you want to.

Most “best solo travel destinations” lists are recycled opinion. The SRS is a scored framework with a published rubric, fixed weightings, named data sources, and an annual review cycle. You can disagree with a score, but you can always see exactly how we arrived at it.

How scoring works

Each city is assessed across six pillars. Every pillar is scored 0 to 10 by our reviewers using the criteria below, then multiplied by its weight. The weighted results are summed to a final score out of 100.

Pillar 1: Safety after dark (25%)

The heaviest weight, because it is the pillar solo travelers cannot compensate for. We assess:

• Reported crime rates against tourists, from official national and city statistics where published
• Perceived night-time safety indices (Numbeo Safety Index and similar crowd-sourced measures, used as a signal, never as the sole source)
• Street lighting, foot traffic and licensed transport availability between nightlife districts and typical accommodation areas
• Prevalence of common tourist-targeting scams and how aggressive they are
• Reviewer field notes from defined evening routes

Scoring anchors: 9 to 10 means locals and visitors routinely walk alone at midnight without a second thought. 5 to 6 means fine with normal precautions but with districts to avoid. 0 to 2 means licensed transport door to door after dark, no exceptions.

Pillar 2: Value for one (15%)

Traveling alone often costs more per person than traveling as a pair. We measure how badly each city punishes you for it:

• Median price gap between a private single room and half of a standard double
• Whether group tours charge solo supplements, and how large they are
• Solo dining friction: counter seating, casual food culture, whether a table for one is normal
• Overall daily budget for one person at a mid-range comfort level, benchmarked against regional peers

Scoring anchors: 9 to 10 means abundant single rooms, no solo supplements, strong casual food scene. 0 to 2 means pair-priced everything.

Pillar 3: Getting around (15%)

• Public transport coverage, frequency, night service and how legible it is to a first-time visitor
• Airport or main station connection: cost, speed, and whether it is safe and simple alone with luggage
• Walkability of the main visitor zones
• Availability and reliability of licensed ride-hailing as a late-night fallback

Pillar 4: Social infrastructure (15%)

Solo travel is only lonely in cities that make it lonely. We count what actually exists:

• Inventory of free walking tours, day trips and small-group activities bookable for one person without a supplement (we count live listings on major booking platforms at review time)
• Regular traveler and expat meetups, language exchanges and hobby groups
• Hostel bar and common-room culture, including for travelers not staying in hostels
• How receptive the city is to travelers joining in: communal tables, pub culture, public events

Pillar 5: Solo accommodation supply (15%)

• Number and quality of hostels with private rooms and female-only dorm options
• Supply of genuine single rooms and studio-style stays in safe, central districts
• Price stability: whether solo-friendly stock sells out or triples in price in peak season
• Guest review sentiment from solo travelers specifically

Pillar 6: Everyday ease (15%)

• English prevalence, or how far you get with phrasebook basics and a translation app
• Card and contactless acceptance, so you are not carrying large amounts of cash alone
• eSIM and connectivity ease
• Bureaucratic and street-level hassle: touts, aggressive vendors, overcharging culture
• Opening hours that suit an independent schedule

Score bands

The SRS-F: solo female travel overlay

Alongside every base score we publish an SRS-F, the same six pillars re-scored with criteria specific to women traveling alone: street harassment prevalence, availability of female-only dorms and transport options, night-time transport reliability, and first-hand reports from women contributors and our reader community. The SRS-F is never derived mathematically from the base score. It is scored independently, and in some cities it diverges sharply. Where it does, we say so and explain why.

Where the data comes from

Every score blends four source types, in this priority order:

1. First-hand review. Our contributors visit, stay, and walk the evening routes. No city receives a score from desk research alone.
2. Official statistics. National and municipal crime data, transport authority data, tourism board figures.
3. Platform data. Live inventory counts and pricing pulled from major accommodation and activity booking platforms at review time.
4. Community reports. Structured feedback from our readers, weighted toward reports from the last 12 months.

Where sources conflict, first-hand review and official statistics outrank platform data and community sentiment, and we footnote the conflict on the city page.

Update cycle and corrections

• Every scored city is re-reviewed annually. The review month is shown on each city page.
• Scores can change mid-cycle after major events such as natural disasters, security incidents or currency collapse. Mid-cycle changes are logged in a visible changelog on the city page.
• Spot an error or have on-the-ground information that contradicts a score? Use our contact page. Substantiated corrections are credited.

What the SRS is not

• It is not a general safety index. A city can be very safe and still score poorly because it is expensive, isolating, or hard to navigate alone.
• It is not sponsored. Tourism boards, hotels and tour operators cannot pay to influence a score, and pages containing scores carry no paid placements from the destinations being scored. See our affiliate disclosure for how we earn from booking links.
• It is not a verdict on whether you should go. It is a measure of how much the city helps or hinders you once you decide to.

For how we research, write and review everything on this site, read our editorial standards.

Last updated: October 2026