Last weekend, I spent my final travel weekend by myself in the south of France. It was my first time traveling solo, and although I was a bit nervous at first, I’m glad I decided to go. I ended up having a great time, and I think it was the perfect way to wrap up my semester abroad. If you’re curious about traveling solo, I have a few tips below to help things go more smoothly.
Choosing Your Location
Part of the reason I enjoyed solo traveling so much was simply because of Nice itself. It’s a beautiful city right on the coast, with gorgeous architecture and amazing food. Even more importantly, it’s extremely walkable. Throughout the semester, I’ve learned that this is a must for me, especially while traveling solo. When thinking back on all of the places I’ve visited in the past three months, it’s clear that I don’t enjoy the larger, more spread-out cities as much as the walkable ones. If I have to uber or use public transportation to get between locations, it quickly becomes expensive and time consuming. Also, I miss out on the fun of wandering around the place I’m visiting.
So, with that in mind, I recommend choosing a smaller city known for being walkable. It’ll help save on costs (Ubers are expensive, especially if you aren’t splitting them), and it’ll save you from constantly worrying about out how to get from point A to point B. If you’re wondering about other cities for solo traveling, I also found that Florence, Seville, and Basel were perfectly walkable and felt very safe, especially when staying in the right part of town.
Planning Your Trip
My absolute favorite part of solo traveling was having full control over how I spent my time in Nice. Although I always have fun traveling with a group, it does require quite a bit of flexibility on everyone’s part. Even when traveling with people who have similar interests, budgets, and preferences, everyone still has something different that they want to check out in each city. Although it’s always possible to fit each person’s specific “thing” – whether it’s a certain souvenir shop, restaurant, bar, or activity – into a weekend trip, it definitely requires compromise.
In Nice, I got to be a bit selfish for a weekend. Before arriving in France, I made a rough itinerary outlining a few attractions and restaurants that looked interesting to me, and I made sure to block off plenty of time for the beach. Although I don’t think it’s necessary to stick to your itinerary perfectly, it’s helpful just to have one when traveling alone. I chose to plan out my first activity of each day, whether it was visiting the market or hitting the beach, so I never woke up and wondered what to do with myself. Then, I pinned a few spots around Nice that looked interesting to me, and I spent the rest of my day wandering between them. I felt having a few places picked out in advance gave me a bit of direction, which definitely saved me from having large chunks of unfilled time and feeling bored.
Taking Time to Wander
Although I think everyone should make a loose itinerary to give them some direction, arguably the best part of traveling solo was being able to get sidetracked from my plans if I found something else more appealing. There were a few times I had a restaurant picked out and ended up walking past something that smelled good, so I ate there instead (this is how I stumbled across a chocolate chip cookie-croissant, which I highly recommend). I also spent a lot more time at the beach than I think I would’ve with a group. Arguably, I might’ve spent a little too much time at the beach, according to my sunburn.
On my first day, I walked along the ocean for about an hour until I decided to grab a towel from my Airbnb and spend the day on the beach. I packed a book and some sunscreen, grabbed a few snacks from a grocery store, and downloaded a podcast before heading back to the beach. Although the water was too cold for swimming, the weather was warm enough to lay out for a few hours. That afternoon, I puttered around and did some shopping before heading back to the beach for the sunset that night. And then again the next night, too. It was absolutely beautiful, and I had the most amazing time in Nice. I’d definitely recommend taking a trip there, whether it’s solo or with your friends.
Until next time,
Sydney