Single senior travel

Most tour groups have lots of solo travelers. For example, if you go to the Rick Steves travel tours forum here - https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/tours - you will find plenty of threads about traveling solo on a tour. And there are many other tours as well that welcome solo travelers. The only drawback will be that most of them charge a single supplement fee, but that's pretty par for the course.

What kind of travel services are you looking for? If would help if you could mention what tour companies you have used in the past with your wife.

If you are looking for a tour company, you won't find any that cater only to single people. It's not a viable financial option. However, almost all tour companies have single people traveling with them.

Can recommend Rick Steves tours - have done three, all to Italy. My favourite was the week in Rome, feel very comfortable going back it Italy as an independent traveller after that.

If you have a specific interest there are all sorts of places to look. My interest has been in history and archaeology, for example there is Andante, a British company but I think they have an office in New York, Road Scholar, Archaeology Magazine’s travel programme and so on.

Google is your best friend when planning a trip and for getting ideas. Try googling senior tours or retiree tours.

Good luck and have fun planning. I don’t travel overseas anymore but I still enjoy the process of planning!

Disclaimer, I do not use tour companies, but I often look, and I stayed in a Holiday Inn last night.

But it appears many of the tour companies have at least some tours aimed at solo travelers. Road Scholar, attracting more of a senior demographic, has more than a dozen itineraries, 4 or 5 in Europe, for example. Eldertreks as well focuses on older travelers and solos.

So it is worth checking out the bigger name companies, they may offer sessions of their regular tours, aimed at solos, and of course any company will accept solos, and there likely will be a number of solo travelers in the group.

The big things to watch for are additional charges for solo travelers, common, but not all charge more, and then group demographics. You probably don't want something aimed at 20 year olds, and yeah, some tours seem to be difficult for solos (many solos talk poorly of their experiences on Viking and other cruises). A bit hard to get the pulse of the type of people that use a specific tour company, but by going through reviews you can get a sense.

The tour companies we used in the past were, Target Sports Tours= White Water rafting Canada, Collette Tours= Mayan ruins Cancun, Globus Travel= Great Britain bus tour, Disney Vacation Club= Carribean Islands Cruise, Viking Cruises= Danube & Rhine river cruises. We also did a couple of self directed trips to Italy and Spain.
The mainly thing is that all of these trips were done as a couple so I am finding that the pricing seem to require an extra surcharge anywhere from 100 to 150% extra. Plus where we would head off as a couple, safety.in numbers, I'm not sure how safe solo adventures are.

Sorry for your loss.

OP, 99% of my travels since the 70’s have been solo.

Over the years I’ve taken 2 RS Tours, Florence and Istanbul. Both excellent and yes, paid the single travel supplement.

Born when Truman was in office I throughly enjoy the freedom of traveling solo. I’m in no rush and if I want to sleep in, I sleep in. If I want to take a pre dawn walk I do. If I choose to see theatre I do so.
If I choose not to do anything and rest, I do that as well.

There are countless travel tour operators that you can research to see their itineraries, costs, reviews.

Since you’ve posted on the Rick Steves Forum it would be worth your time to review his tour offerings.

Would you consider. a cruise?

I am old and travel solo.

I sail Norwegian Cruise lInes because thwy are so solo passenger friendly. They have studio cabins for one but now offer other cabins for just one.

They have a lounge for solo passengers. There are meetings just for the solo passenger where activities are formed and dinner plans are made.

But I have never participated because I meet so many people just by going on excursions and walking around the ship. I may be alone but not lonely.

As a senior single woman, I travel with a few companies, and don't hesitate to go out on my own in free time.

2 ideas, from companies I use:
RoadScholar has some tours without single supplements
https://www.roadscholar.org/find-an-adventure?specialoffers=Singles%20at%20no%20Extra%20Cost

For 2026, Rick Steves has changed their single supplement to an extra $50 per night for all tours.

Overseas Adventure Travel (https://www.oattravel.com/) has no single supplement on all their land tours. I've traveled with them 10 times. Small groups (max 16) and interesting itineraries all over the world. They do have limited space for singles on each tour (I think the normal maximum is 4), so it's a good idea to book early with them.

Also, check out Solo Traveler (https://solotravelerworld.com/) for other good options. You can subscribe to their newsletter for up-to-date deals and specials.

One thing I find about traveling around Europe is that being single I can tailor the trips the way i want to without doing a lot of stuff I don't care about. It's kind of selfish, but I don't do many tours for just this reason. I just have a standing list of places and things to see and when I have free time I just go. And I hate being held to a time schedule; if I'm in a museum I find interesting I can kill the whole ay there, not just a couple hours. And I go places a lot of tours don't; places I hear about from locals, or even this forum.

I challenge you to think about changing the way you travel. Go see what you want to see, and stay a little longer in those locals and see what else is around them. You'll find you can meet a lot of strangers, have interesting conversations, see things you never heard of, and get to know places better than the average tourist. Don't be afraid to walk down side streets, drive down secondary roads, get off the train someplace that looks interesting, or just sit for an hour or two over a drink and watch the world go bye. If you've ever been on a tour, looked out the window at a place going by, and wondered what it would be like to stop and take a look, now's your chance.

I’ve done Gate 1 tours, Rick Steves Tours, and Inspiring Vacation Tours. There always some solo travelers in the mix and it is a positive experience.

I am also very sorry for your loss. Tours are actually a great way to transition to solo travel. Pick a company and go.

Thank you for all the great suggestions I've already checked out the Road Scholar website. It looks very interesting and covers a lot of areas of interest. Next is Rick's own site as I have always enjoyed his PBS shows and he did convince me to donate.
Last but not least I did catch the Marx Brothers' reference to Freedonia. Duck Soup anyone?

I reread a lot of the responses and I wanted to add a few thoughts. Traveling after losing a spouse isn’t simply solo travel or solo travel skills. It is also entangled with grief. You miss the person you used to share experiences with throughout your life. Triggers often pop up unexpectedly. I completely fell apart on a mountain in Switzerland because I knew how much my husband would have enjoyed being there.

I’m afraid my first response was a bit offhand. I just suggested some tour companies. What I want to add is give yourself permission to adapt to new ways of travel over time. Expect grief to blindside you from time to time. Expect to pay solo supplements. Expect to find joy in travel again. It may not happen immediately, but it will happen.

There are so many new things to learn when you lose your spouse. Travel is just one of them. Remember to just keep moving forward.

God Bless!

It seems like a few years ago tour companies realized that there were plenty of singles who would like to take their tours, so you can probably pick just about any tour from any company and pay the supplement. Which is odd if you think about it, one person in a room uses less resources than two and eats and drinks less as well.

A hotel room for one person is rarely if ever half the price of a room for 2.
That is the main reason for single supplements.
This article explains the single supplement change for 2026:
https://www.ricksteves.com/tours/policy-updates

Hello NE Travler, I am a widow - just passed the 1-year date. I am glad you are thinking about traveling - something with some happiness to think about in your future as you are grieving.

I have traveled twice to Europe since my husband died. One in southern Spain was something we had planned as a return trip from the previous year. The other was Italy where I enjoyed three weeks in the Puglia region last month.

Everyone is different, but I hope some things I’ve learned during these trips might help you, too. I am constantly analyzing things in my head to try to learn from them for my next trips.

• I returned to a couple of the same cities we had stayed in Spain the previous year. I knew one in particular was going to make me sob, and I wanted to face it head on - the sweet memories & now being there alone. I am SO glad I went there while the memories were fresh! But, I also limited the number of return cities to not be a complete return itinerary of the other trip. Emotionally, it was very draining, and I found myself much more tired than normal trips.

• When picking the next itinerary- Italy, I wanted something that would set me up to be the happiest. I had been to the Puglia region the previous year, but my husband was home playing golf. So, he had not physically been at these cities. Although some of our FaceTime nightly chats memories came back during the trip, this was a much easier trip on me emotionally, and I felt much better during the trip. I wasn’t going to bump into places we ate lunch, etc. on this trip, and that helped.

The first trip in February taught me that I could travel again, and the second trip in May let me know I could enjoy traveling again. So, my advice would be to decide what type of experience feels right for this trip. Do you want a brand new location or new activities or some return cities? Either way, I would arrive 3 days pre-tour. Give yourself some time to acclimate but also some unrushed time to be back in Europe while grieving. I have enjoyed traveling as a couple & also solo on some RS tours, and I felt like they were always a good choice!

It looks like some of your trips were with larger groups. I’ll just add as a solo traveler I’ve done a number of Rick’s tours (12) as well as Road Scholar tours (13) which are in the 24-28 person size but the last couple of years have started traveling with Seymour Travels which limits size to no more than 10. Mark is a former Rick Steves guide and does not charge a single supplement.

I hope you find something that feels like it will fit. You’ve gotten some excellent advice from those who have experienced loss.

I'm also a solo senior and have travelled by myself for many years, both on tours and by myself. I agree with the others that you might want to have a look at the Rick Steves tours, as they're excellent. They have smaller groups, excellent guides and they take care of all the details. If you're "reasonably" mobile and able to carry your own bags, that might be a good fit for you. I've taken eight of them and all were exceptional.

As I recall, the rule with RS tours used to be that if you were willing to share a room, you wouldn't have to pay a single supplement. If you'd rather have your own room, then the supplement is very reasonable.

“As I recall, the rule with RS tours used to be that if you were willing to share a room, you wouldn't have to pay a single supplement. If you'd rather have your own room, then the supplement is very reasonable.”

@Ken - There has been a policy change for 2026.

“Starting with 2026 tours, a solo traveler will always need to book a private single room — and pay a single supplement — rather than having the option to save money by being paired off with a fellow solo traveler in a shared room. We’re calculating the Single Supplement fee at a flat $50 per day and subsidizing the actual cost to make it more affordable. This means the cost of single supplements is going down in 2026.”

https://www.ricksteves.com/tours/policy-updates

I would like to say Thank You to all who gave kind thoughts and excellent travel advice. I'm thinking more and more of considering a Rick Steve tour as I feel I own him a return favor after he put me on the radio with a previous travel question regarding a trip to Scotland plus I like his travel guides.

As a general statement, the cruise industry is brutal with its pricing for solo travelers. I have never priced Norwegian, mentioned above, but most cruise lines, certainly Cunard and Holland America, charge solo travelers 90 or 95 percent of what they charge couples.

I understand that Gateway 1, which I have never traveled with, does perhaps twice a year have sales when the single supplement is waived. And the separate-room supplement charged by Rick Steves with its tours is reasonable. In fact, I find the RS tours offer better value for solo travelers than for couples.

I’m an older (mid-60’s) solo traveler and I’ve had good luck with a company called Globus. They offer “escape“ tours that run off-season usually from November-March and they waive the single supplement on five people per tour so the price is good and as a result there are always other solo travelers. I’ve done tours to Spain in November, Northern Ireland in March and Sicily in March. I prefer the milder temperatures. If you are at all interested in river cruising, their sister company is called Avalon and they also offer single supplement waivers on some of their departures. I got one for the Danube this September. Happy travels!

There can be brutal single supplements on cruises and there can also be bargains. cruiseplum.com has an entire search engine for low to no single supplement cruises. I realize this isn't directly tied to the question, but is more in response to a post above.

Hello, I’m sorry for your loss. Having been on RS tours, I echo others in that I recommend giving one of his tours a try.

I have not taken one of these trips, but when I retire and have the time, the Smithsonian cultural stays look very interesting to me. Perhaps an option to consider depending on your price point. https://www.smithsonianjourneys.org/tours/tripfinder/?travel_styles=00005:Cultural%20Stays

@Pam,

Thanks for the update on the single supplement.

I've always booked single rooms on tours as I prefer to have my own space, and didn't mind paying the extra charge.