Solo holiday over xmas & new years 2022

LilMissSunshine

So its my big 40th just after xmas day and I'm looking to go away for 7nights min preferabbly to an island. I prefer a mixture of chilling on the beach and having places to go and see or things to do like kayaking. If I could do some cycling that would be great but not a must have.

I'm thinking Hawaii or St Lucia maybe Thailand but open to ideas esp as I'm a single female so safety is important and I understand usually going outside of the resort is not safe.

zagfles

IMO you should look at minimum of 2 weeks preferably 3+ if going that far, particularly to places with a big time difference. It's not worth travelling all that way and having to recover from jet lag if you're only staying a week, plus the flights will be the big expense so staying a short time means the cost per day is much greater. If you can't get 2 weeks off I'd suggest someone more local eg Canaries.

Check the tripadvisor forums for the places you're interested in. There are loads of solo travellers on there, and a good proportion are female, maybe not half but prob not far off. Risks are often vastly exaggerated by hysterical media articles, yes bad stuff happens but generally happens more to men than women. But you can get destination specific advice on safety as well as everything else on tripadvisor

LilMissSunshine

No problem in going for 2 weeks+  I just hadn't appreciated the distance perhaps. Then again I do fly to LA for 4 days for a festival so that might be why I went for 7 nights

Doshwaster

For Thailand you'd want an absolute minimum of 10 days, preferably 14 especially if you want to travel around a bit rather than stop in one place. I always like to do a couple of nights in Bangkok, one of my favourite cities in the world, before heading to the beaches.

It's hard to predict what Thailand will be like next winter but I would hope that it would be back to being fully opened and on the way to recovery. Many of the popular tourist destinations have been virtual ghost towns over the last 2 years. I'd look at somewhere like Krabi, Ao Nang or Ko Lanta areas which are more laid back but are still good bases for exploring the nearby islands such as Phi Phi.

Thailand is generally very safe for solo female travellers, especially once you are out of the 18-25 age group and avoid the full moon parties.

Lots of Thailand regulars on these pages (at least we were regulars before COVID) so ask away.

daveyjp

Malaysian islands are worth a look.  Pangkor, Penang or Langkawi, top and tailed with nights in KL and Singapore.

Doshwaster

daveyjp said:

Malaysian islands are worth a look.  Pangkor, Penang or Langkawi, top and tailed with nights in KL and Singapore.

I did KL + Penang and Langkawi a few years ago and had good trip.  Not so keen on KL (not as much fun as Bangkok but not as well organised as Singapore) but it's fine for a layover in a nice hotel. Penang and Langkawi are both great but in different ways - Penang for the food and history and Langkawi for laid back beachlife. Both can be done on the same trip as they are just a short ferry ride apart.  

Voyager2002

If you are unwilliing to leave the resort then you might consider the all-inclusive places in the Caribbean. The flight is not as long as Thailand so might almost make sense for just a week. Jamaica is probably unsafe off-resort but has has some great all-inclusive holidays with activities laid on; Dominican Republic is actually reasonably safe but again specialises in all-inclusive resorts; Cuba is very safe and again offers all-inclusive resorts with plenty of water-based activities organised (and in terms of natural beauty is far superior to the Dominican Republic: don' t know about Jamaica).

Thailand has an enormous amount to offer, from islands and beach resorts to mountain trekking and camping with elephants.

You mentioned cycling, and none of these countries would be good for a solo cyclist. You might consider a specialist cycling holiday.

wort

A lot of the all inc resorts we’ve been to in Mexico , Cuba , Dominican even a bigger island in the Maldives had resort bikes just for riding either round the resort or local with a guide. The hotel info will state if they have them ,usually in the cost of the holiday too. 

I agree with 7 days not long enough after a flight of 10 hours or more . I’m not one for big cities, so can’t comment on those.