20 year old female, traveling alone.

Prague is one of the safest cities Ive ever been in--any part of town, any hour of the day or night. The ONE area that can be kind of sketchy is behind the National Museum at night, and you would only go there if you had some bad habits, if you know what I mean.

By and large Europe is as safe, if not safer, than the US. Meaning that you need to take the same precautions here as you would there. A quick search on Google should highlight any issue there may be with the area you are travelling in.

As to where to say, I'd suggest you consider youth hostels, in addition to being reasonably priced, you are bound to meet up with other people your age who are doing the same thing.

As a general rule, I feel safer traveling in Europe than the U.S. Of course every city (U.S. and Europe) has areas to avoid particularly at night. Just use the same common sense precautions you would in the U.S. and you should be fine. Repost your questions after your itinerary is set and perhaps some of us can give you specific areas to avoid.

We've lived in a number of European cities and travel there constantly and frankly, you are much more likely to get seriously injured, raped, or killed in the USA. Obviously you should dress like a local, avoid wearing flashy jewelry and carrying an expensive camera, you should wear a money belt and leave valuables in a hotel safe, and be alert for pickpockets and scammers (who can be little old ladies and cute little kids). If a neighborhood has hookers peddling themselves and drug dealers selling on the corner night or day that is a neighborhood you should not be in. Be aware of what is going on around you at tourist sites, transportation settings, and outside hotels. While the USA is known for gun violence, Europe has pickpockets. That said, I recommend an itinerary that includes the cities we've lived in- London, Paris, Berlin, Prague,Florence, Rome, Amsterdam, Vienna, and Salzburg for starters.

Rape is no less common in Europe. Cretinism knows no national boundaries.

The best advice I could probably offer to a young woman traveling alone is to keep yourself sober. Here's the brutally honest truth. Amongst young men in Europe, American women have a reputation for being a bit more... um, "loose", you might say. This is based on what they see in movies and TV, the story they probably heard of the one guy's friend's cousin's brother who met the girl who validated the stereotype, and the whole "exotic fruit" factor. So, yes, you probably will be subject to a little more attention than, let's say, a typical 55 year old Rick Steves fan will receive. The key, as mentioned before, is to not make yourself an easy target...enjoy meeting people, have fun, but watch your alcohol consumption.

Agree with all of the above about Europe being safe, particularly with regards to violent crime and I can't think of a place you should avoid. Use common sense, stay in well lit, well populated areas at night, watch your drink, don't go off alone with strangers, etc.

Many women on here have been traveling solo for years and I am sure have more advice than me. I just recently started with solo travel and I thought the UK (Bath/London/Edinburgh) was a great first experience. It was nice to not have a language barrier be an issue since it was the first time everything was up to me as far as navigating the new cities. People were very friendly. I purposely scheduled a few group tours and walking tours as a way to meet people and have some interaction.

Tom's advice about staying sober is key. So be very careful about pub crawls. It seems like a great place to meet people your age but anything where the goal is to binge drink will make you an easy target. In my earlier years, I went on a pub crawl where, at the last bar, a huge group of the organizer's male friends were there, hitting on all of the women in the group. I am not saying this particular group of men had intentions of trying to hurt or take advantage of anyone. But I am pointing out that in cities with pub crawls, the locals know where the inebriated tourists (or travelers ;) ) will be. But not all pub crawls are created equal- both London and Edinburgh had some themed pub crawls that were more about good story telling and famous pubs and not about drinking a lot.

I know how hard it is to narrow down where to go on a trip. Unfortunately, you can't do it based on safety, or on the possibility of meeting travel buddies. As you have been told, while there are unsavory parts of some cities, there is no place in Europe that you'd want to go that is a blanket "unsafe" place. And if you stay in youth hostels and take walking tours, you'll meet travel buddies, everywhere. That's in addition to using the Internet for this. There's a section of this Forum for that here: https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/travel-partners

In addition, the Thorn Tree forum on Lonely Planet has lots of young travelers on it: https://www.lonelyplanet.com/thorntree

Here are Rick's tips for traveling solo: http://www.ricksteves.com/travel-tips/trip-planning/tips-for-traveling-solo
And his extra tips for solo women travelers: http://www.ricksteves.com/travel-tips/trip-planning/tips-for-solo-women-travelers

My sister agrees with the tip above about being careful around bars and alcohol. But that doesn't mean you have to stay in your room once it gets dark. Dinner in many parts of Europe is later than in many parts of the US, and there are all kinds of other activities in the evening.

If you haven't narrowed down your options at all, a good way to start is reading travel books and watching videos. Rick's videos are here: http://www.ricksteves.com/watch-read-listen/video/tv-show

If you stay in hostels you will meet many others. I want to second the advice that you watch your alcohol intake. I'm not saying don't have a beer or a glass of wine, but don't over indulge. I traveled alone when I was 19. The first time it was by mistake, but I found out that I could do it and met people, so whe. No one else wanted to go to France on Spring break, I went solo. I had a great time. And, I put it all on my resume two years later. ;)

Pam

In addition to the links and advice above, see also this point-counterpoint from The Onion:
http://www.theonion.com/articles/european-men-are-so-much-more-romantic-than-americ,11552/.

Western Europe is generally a women-friendly area for women to travel. Regular precautions you'd take traveling in US will be more than sufficient in most of Europe.

Things might get a sketchy in Russia, Belarus, Turkey; and Ukraine is best avoided because it is a war zone anyway.

If you want to meet people while traveling, a good choice is to stay at hostels. Many hostels are now changing to a hybrid model with private rooms/en-suites and shared rooms, so you don't even need to put up with all the downsides of dorms to enjoy the other facilities and socialize with guests.

Fellow young single traveler, you will most likely be very safe. You will most likely be constantly harassed as well, just like you are at home. It's mild, but it's best just ignored, just like you usually do at home.

The worst offenders for street harrassment (in my opinion):
Paris
Lisbon
Madrid
Barcelona

I haven't been to Italy, but I imagine it's bad there too. Don't let it scare you. The wonderful thing about big cities is that you can duck into a cafe if you feel uncomfortable and the offender will back off. A firm "no" usually works but one time it didn't for me. I wandered into an open-late cafe and he continued down the street.
Watching your alcohol intake is good advice for life, not just in Europe. If you happen to overindulge at any point, don't panic or beat yourself up, though. Just call a cab. Just like you would at home!