Which singles holiday company is the best

Dragoman runs overland tours lasting from eight to an epic days in purpose-built trucks across Africa, Asia and the Americas. Passengers tend to be a mix of ages and nationalities, with plenty of people travelling solo. One of the newest trips is a day journey through Brazil from Salvador to Rio: highlights include hiking in the Chapada dos Veadeiros and Chapada Diamantina national parks, exploring the gold mines of Ouro Preto and touring Brasilia.

There are themed trips and tours as well as holidays based in one place. This is an annual special offer for bookings made between 1 June and 2 July — outside that period, solo travellers can share a twin room for no extra charge, or pay a single supplement.

One unusual trip among more than 60 on offer is a exploration of Belarus by bike, taking in the capital, Minsk, Unesco-listed castles and a self-sufficient eco-village. Your average retreat offers a couple of classes a day and lots of downtime, but this action-packed week at the Cala Blanca beach resort, eastern Ibiza, has almost yoga and fitness sessions to keep solo travellers extremely busy.

Lots of guests attend on their own and there are initiatives to get everyone chatting, from sharing tables in the restaurant to conversation benches and even cringe hug spots.

And Primal Beat , a new retreat just for men, starts this autumn October. Next retreats October and April , yogafitretreats. Swimmers stay in the four-star Hotel Jezero on the banks of Lake Bohinj. Its Morocco tour takes in Marrakech, Berber villages, the Altas mountains and an afternoon camel-trekking on a beach by the Atlantic. The company has also expanded its range of adult solo-only tours this year, adding Peru and Bali.

Plan Less. Escape more! All of our holidays have been created by us with the mature single traveller in mind. We do the hard work for you, so you can be sure that your holiday will be just right.

Sometimes, sometimes parting from the group at the end of the tour can be a wrench, contributing to post-travel blues when you get home. The coronavirus pandemic forced me to curtail a solo trip travelling across Japan by rail. With my return flight cancelled and few alternative options were available, finding a way home resulted in a few more grey hairs, whilst teaching me some valuable travel lessons!

Yes; they also had to curtail their holiday. However, Wendy Wu Tours, their group travel company, took care of all of the arrangements for them. This was party bus central. The place was India, the group tour operator was Bales Worldwide subsequently acquired by Virgin Holidays , the style was affordable luxury.

Not exactly getting down and dirty with local people, comfortable air-conditioned coaches whisked us from one 5-star hotel to the next. Subsequent group tours have been more modest, largely travelling with Explore and Exodus Travels and visiting destinations from Iran to Libya, China to Sri Lanka.

Group travel is a thriving market with multiple operators offering an enormous and evolving range of group tours that singles can book. How much do you want to spend? Try to figure out if the group tour represents good value for money.

Check if there are fees that you will need to pay on arrival. Is everything that you want to do included in the baseline tour price or are these subject to an additional fee?

You arrive at your hotel and, as a solo traveller, you grudgingly hand over a sizeable single supplement for the privilege of having a room to yourself. Inevitably, this is one of the worst rooms in the place; a poky space not much bigger than a broom cupboard overlooking the rubbish bins in the dank alley alongside the hotel. But you take it on the chin, accepting that this is the unfair price you pay to reap the benefits of solo travel.

Tour operators and hotels justify this extra charge on the grounds that the fixed cost of servicing a room — bed linen, cleaning, utilities, maintenance and so on — is the same, regardless of how many people are occupying it. On a group tour, to avoid paying a single supplement you can opt to share a room with a fellow traveller of the same sex. A close friend, who has been on multiple group tours, always takes a chance on it and has never had a bad experience.

However, on a group tour of Guatemala, a fellow traveller had the roomie from Hell. Caveat emptor. If you crave privacy, check that the group travel company will allow you to have a single room some of the budget to mid-range operators mandate room sharing. As there is a wide variation between operators, it is tricky to generalise. The high-end operators have been the most responsive at waiving the single supplement. However, the baseline cost of these group tours is more.

Keep an eye out for offers and flash sales. How many other people do you want to be travelling with? Group size is a huge consideration for me. As a traveller in her 50s, this is another important criterion for me.

When I used them for a few days in New Zealand and they were absolutely fine. But that was 25 years ago when I was much younger and wanted a different group travel experience. But group travel preferences go a little deeper than simply a desire for a quieter holiday.

Ensuring that the group demographics reflect your own gives you more of a fighting chance of finding common ground with your fellow travellers. There are a few quick ways that you can check if the group travel company will be a good match for you. Images from their tours are also a good indicator. If the tour uses budget accommodation — hostels or guesthouses — it is likely to be geared towards younger backpackers. Tours featuring fancy hotels are more likely to attract older travellers and families.

There are usually lots of social activities and get-togethers, too. Other cruise lines the single traveller might consider are: Hurtigruten hurtigruten. With more than one-fifth of clients travelling on their own, Saga saga. Departures on 11 January, 15 March and 26 April Other companies specialising in singles holidays include: Just You justyou.