Eight no-fly trips perfect for solo travellers, with Interrailing and sleeper pods

Holidays by train, boat, bus and tram are increasingly popular with those of us who want to travel alone. Single-person bookings with the flight-free specialist Byway rose by 131 per cent between the first half of 2024 and the same period this year. “We are seeing more and more solo travellers choosing flight-free holidays because they offer a sense of freedom and connection,” says Holly Clark, Byway’s chief marketing officer. “Travelling solo by train is a rewarding way to experience the world at your own pace – whether stopping off in a new town on a whim, or soaking up the atmosphere of a local café.”

Other travel companies are seeing a similar trend. Solo holiday specialist One Traveller has introduced no-fly options for popular continental itineraries in response to customer demand, for example.

Flight-free trips offer flexibility and allow you to swap out-of-town airports for journeys between city centres. Slower routes can even offer time to get to know fellow passengers. Here are eight of Europe’s best no-fly solo trips.

Rail and sail to Ireland

The English Market in Cork (Photo: HildaWeges/Getty/iStock Editorial/INTREEGUE)

There are great-value RailSail deals (from £46 each way with Irish Ferries) for passengers heading to Dublin and beginning at any UK railway station. The train to Holyhead ferry port runs along the north Wales coast, with long sandy beaches on the right and bracken-skirted mountains on the left.

From there, board the ferry and head to the top deck to spot dolphins and yellow-headed gannets. The £18 on-board upgrade for Club Class offers picture windows and help-yourself food and drink. Once you arrive, Dublin has dozens of museums, and a Leap visitor card covers three days of public transport for £15.50.

See paintings by Monet, Vermeer and Picasso at the free National Gallery, or tour the Guinness Storehouse, which has a seventh-floor bar with views across Dublin. Rest for the night at Ruby Molly Hotel, where the compact “Nest” rooms are perfect for a cost-effective solo stay, from £123 (£20 extra for a buffet breakfast, with soda bread and Irish sausages among the spread).

The colourful city of Cork is just 2.5 hours away by train. Stroll by the River Lee to sample food stalls at the Marina Market, and rent a bike for the traffic-free Cork Harbour Greenway.

Back in Cork, book a table at the Farmgate café on a balcony over the English Market, where people shop for soda bread and goats’ cheese, fresh oysters and butter-yellow chanterelle mushrooms.

Stay at The Dean, next to the main Cork’s Kent railway station. It has a rooftop restaurant and a spa. From £120 a night, room only.

Scotland in comfort

The picturesque Crail Harbour (Photo: Matthew Perry/Getty/iStockphoto)

It’s just over four hours by train from London King’s Cross to Edinburgh, and half as long from York. A cross-section of landscapes flashes past the window, with Cambridgeshire fields turning to dune-swathed Northumberland coast.

For the most comfortable journey, featuring hot bacon rolls or rhubarb-custard pastries, book a first-class seat (advance tickets from £63/£109 from York/London). The London and North Eastern Railway (LNER) website lets you choose your seat; an individual chair and table on the right of the carriage is best for views and personal space.

For more luxury when you arrive, the Scottish capital’s Kimpton Charlotte Square hotel has 17 single rooms and a spa (from £136 per night).

Rabbie’s tours are an easy way to see more of Scotland in a minibus for up to 16 people, often mostly solo travellers, and a local driver-guide. Day-long tours from Edinburgh head up to Loch Ness and the Highlands or to Fife’s atmospheric fishing villages. Whisky-lovers could opt for glens, lochs and distilleries, while fans of the historical fantasy TV series Outlander can tour filming locations. Tours from £51pp.

Border-hopping from Berlin

Sanssouci Palace in historical Potsdam (Photo: Reinhard Krull/Getty/iStock Unreleased/krull.images)

London to Berlin by train, with a change in Amsterdam or Brussels, can take less than nine hours thanks to high-speed links (advance tickets from around £71 each way). Offering eclectic nightlife and a museum-packed island in the River Spree, Berlin is a magnet for solo travellers. The city also makes an ideal hub for exploring Brandenburg.

Catch the hourly No 218 bus from Messe Nord S-Bahn into the Grunewald forest to walk the six-mile, cliff-top Havel Heights Trail through pines and bronzed beeches. Look out for wild boar running in the dappled shade and order strudel in a riverside café. An hour eastwards by train is Frankfurt (Oder) on the Polish-German border.

Stroll over the bridge to the little town of Słubice to pick up smoked fish and Bison Grass vodka. The palaces of Potsdam are a half-hour train ride west through the woods. Head through the old town from Charlottenhof and past acres of vines to the baroque Schloss Sanssouci, built by the Prussian monarch Frederick the Great as his summer residence.

Back in Berlin, Hüttenpalast is a former factory among the bars and boutiques of the hip Neukölln district. Stay in pristine hotel rooms or upcycled caravans or cabins from £60 a night. Super Sparpreis train tickets start from £6 for short journeys on inter-city express services.

Three countries in one

A three-in-one inter-rail pass is an affordable way to explore Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands. There are direct trains from London to Brussels, Amsterdam and Rotterdam and a choice of hostels good for meeting other travellers. In Amsterdam, for example, try the Elephant Hotel, where sleeping pods start from £45 a night (two nights minimum).

The Benelux nations have great public transport, including free ferry trips over the River Ij from Amsterdam’s Central Station. Riding a bus or tram makes for cheap solo sightseeing. Use Amsterdam’s No 2 tram for the museums or Brussels’s No 44 tram for autumn colour.

Apart from cross-border trains, Luxembourg’s public transport is all free, including the funicular and glass lift with panoramic views. Ride through wooded valleys on the railway to Troisvierges, sitting on the left for views of the Luxembourg fortress.

Trains back to Brussels take three hours. Set off early and arrive for brunch and a morning stroll through geometric Parc de Bruxelles, with its yellow autumn limes and crimson maples. From £90 for three days’ travel (not including seat reservation fees).

Sleeper train to Lake Como

The village of San Giovanni, near Bellagio, on Lake Como (Photo: Daniele Mezzadri/Getty/iStockphoto)

The Nightjet Mini Cabin is a cocoon-style pod for solo travellers from about £70. Nightjet, operated by Austrian Federal Railways, is turning some seated carriages into modern couchette cars. A direct train, operated by Austrian Federal Railways, leaves Salzburg’s main station each evening and arrives in Milan at 9.30am the next day.

station each evening and arrives in Milan at 9.30am the next day.

One way to Salzburg is to take the Eurostar to Brussels, change for a train to Cologne, followed by a service to Munich, then a final leg to Salzburg (see interrail.eu for options).

Rest for the night at Cocoon Salzburg (from £120), a two-minute walk from the station.

The next day, stroll round Salzburg’s old city, just over the river. Stepping off the train in Milan the next morning, it’s a three-minute walk from Porta Garibaldi to Café Zaini, which is attached to a chocolate factory.

Heading onwards, the train to Como San Giovanni takes an hour, and the tree-lined waterfront is a 10-minute stroll away. Pick up a gelato and hop on a ferry across Lake Como. The boats run a summer timetable through to late September, when the lakeside hills start turning gold and early autumn mists drift gently over the water.

Ostello Bello, close to both the ferry and railway station in Como, has dormitory rooms from about £35, or private rooms from around £145, and live music in the garden.

Slow sailing in Normandy

Honfleur Harbour in Normandy (Photo: Neil Farrin/Getty Images)

Ambassador Cruise Line sets aside dozens of its cabins for solos on certain sailings. A cheaper-than-usual single supplement makes these cruises popular, so book ahead. Ocean view cabins were available at the time of writing for an eight-night cruise from Belfast to Normandy, departing 29 October (from £1,549). Or look ahead to its 2026 schedule for deals. While three days are spent at sea, there are bars and restaurants, a theatre, library, craft studio, pools and events to meet like-minded travellers.

Near Cherbourg’s huge, palm-fringed port and maritime museum, you can tour an umbrella factory or relax in the Parc Emmanuel Liais. In the port of Honfleur, visit the cobbled sailors’ suburb, home to France’s biggest wooden church – with its roof in the style of an upturned boat – and head to a harbourside restaurant for seafood and cider.

No-fuss northern Spain

The Guggenheim museum with Maman, by Louise Bourgeois (Photo: Shaun Egan/Gettymage Bank Unreleased/Shaun Egan)

Several popular trips head by land and sea to Bilbao in northern Spain, home to the spectacular Guggenheim Museum. One tasty option is Byway’s eight-day Basque Country Flavours tour. Clark says: “We take the stress out of solo travel by handling all of the logistics, providing 24/7 WhatsApp support, and offering a disruption rerouting service.”

Racing from Paris, through fruitful vineyards, you will stay in Bordeaux, one of Unesco’s largest urban sites. Once in Bilbao, make sure to try pintxos – bar snacks, including olive-anchovy-pickled-pepper skewers.

The Guggenheim is open late and early evenings are a peaceful time to grab an audio-guide and wander past the huge bronze spider by Louise Bourgeois, curving walls of abstract art and sunrise-bright Rothkos. Heading back, there are two nights in San Sebastián, a foodie city where you can sip rioja by the bay. Prices start from £1,273pp, including stays in three-star accommodation.

Harvest season in Slovenia

Interrail passes for Slovenia start from £44 for three days of in-country travel. Plan to take about a day to get there by train from London, beginning with the Eurostar and including an overnight stop along the way to rest – use interrail.eu to help with mapping your route.

With the Slovenian town of Nova Gorica serving as this year’s joint European Capital of Culture, there is plenty going on, and September’s grape harvest is a season to celebrate.

You could book the Wine Train, a five-hour trip from Nova Gorica through the region’s vineyards offering walking tours, wine-tastings and tapas (£70, vinskivlak.si).

In Rafut Park, filled with cork oak, Japanese cedars, evergreen redwoods and rustling groves of bamboo, you can wander while listening to a forest-themed music. Head up to the Kostanjevica Monastery at sunset for views across red-tiled rooftops. Madonca hotel, a six-minute walk from the railway station, has rooms from £52 a night.