How to travel solo on a budget

SINGAPORE - It was a Saturday morning in Rome. There was no window, and thus no sunlight streaming into the room. I turned to my mobile phone to tell me the time.

The eight-bed room in the hostel I stayed in left much to be desired, such as a softer mattress and a private bathroom, but it gave me a place to sleep for €30 (S$43) a night. A single room at the hotel a short walk away would have cost me seven times more, and was well beyond my budget.

That summer day in 2022 was full of possibilities: Should I head to a coffee shop for a hot cup of joe? (Italians turn their noses up at the idea of an iced coffee, even in the summer.) Should I visit the weekend market? Or perhaps toss a coin into the Trevi Fountain to start the day?

I decided to take a 30-minute walk to the Roman Forum, saving on a €1.50 bus ride. Before hopping on, I refilled my water bottle at a nasone (literally “large nose”), a type of drinking fountain scattered around the city. Since discovering one, I hadn’t spent a single cent on bottled water. 

Solo travel, if planned well, does not have to be exorbitant. Since my first lone venture abroad, I’ve picked up tips on getting a bang for my buck. Here are some of them.

Plan and book early

It was soon made clear to me that I wasn’t the only one who had envisioned enjoying an Italian summer. My flight from London – the first port of call in my European sojourn – to Rome, booked just two months before departure in June, set me back over $300 – more than triple the usual off-peak season price.

And that is why one should book their flights and accommodation early, said Ms Jaclynn Seah, who owns travel blog The Occasional Traveller. “Things are likely to be cheaper and there will be more options,” she said. 

Websites, such as Skyscanner and Kiwi – which allow you to compare airfares across different airlines – are good ways to find the lowest-priced option, said Mr Basanth Sadasivan, 27, who travels solo often and has visited every country in the world. 

“These websites also combine one-way tickets from different airlines and help you find the cheapest combinations and bring down the price,” he said. 

He suggested using websites such as Booking.com or Agoda to find options for accommodation that are within your budget and located in the city centre. “By doing a comparison over four or five websites, you should be able to get a good deal.”

Do your research 

Travel is all about spontaneity and adventure: Ditch the travel guides, itineraries and pre-bookables, and make decisions at every turn.

I shed this romantic ideal as I faced the snaking line outside the Uffizi Gallery in Florence in May 2023. Getting into the museum was difficult without a time-slot reservation, I learnt, and almost impossible in the summer, which is the height of Italy’s tourist season.

One should do a quick scan through blogs or articles before embarking on a trip to a foreign country, said Mr Sadasivan. “It gives you a sense of the cost of living in the destination and also lets you explore cheaper options for local transport and meals.”

Mr Sadasivan recalled his trip to Argentina, where he discovered local taxi services that offered round-trip transport to a national park. These cost about US$30 (S$40), while guided tours cost about US$150.

“A little bit of research goes a really long way if you’re looking to save costs,” he said.

Try hostels

A night in a female-only, six-bed dormitory room in a hostel in Langkawi, Malaysia, cost me only $8 in August 2023. 

Upon entering my room, an Australian tourist who had settled in the bunk above mine asked if I wanted to head to a night market for dinner. I agreed and whipped out my phone to book a Grab ride for us.

But she had rented a scooter for the duration of her trip, and off we went on the two-wheeler. At the night market, we split costs for satay, a box of fried jackfruit and a Nutella-stuffed doughnut.

For Ms Jaedyn Choo, 20, staying at a hostel makes travelling solo cheaper than with friends. 

“When I travel with friends, sometimes they want to stay in hotels, or eat at nice cafes,” said the third-year student at Singapore Polytechnic. “But most of the time everyone staying in a hostel is on a budget too, so it’s okay if you say $5 for a meal is too steep for you.”

If sharing a room and a toilet is not up your alley, many hostels offer private rooms at a higher price. If you wish to mingle, the communal area, typically furnished with board games, books and couches, are typically a stone’s throw away.

In places where the cost of living is high, hostels’ kitchens, where you can cook your own meals, can help you save lots of money.

While in Lucerne, Switzerland, in 2023, a display menu outside an eatery – which informed me that a bowl of salad cost $35 – stared at me unflinchingly, and I averted my eyes.

The same night, I made pasta for dinner with groceries from a discount supermarket, using the hostel’s frying pan. It cost me $9. 

Join a group tour for solo travellers

For those who prefer having their travel itinerary handled by someone else, group tours that cater to solo travellers provide a fuss-free option without compromising on the freedom of solo travel.

“In most cases, it could be cheaper going on a social trip than planning one for yourself especially when transport is involved, such as hiring a car in Mongolia,” said Sotravel agency co-founder Nicholas Teo. Sotravel links up solo travellers to go through planned itineraries together. 

Sharing rooms and doing activities in a group are also some ways the agency keeps its tour prices low. For instance, it costs about $600 a day to hire a ski instructor in Japan, but if you share the service with three other people, it would cost only $150 per person, said Mr Teo. 

Free walking tours are also a good way to get an introduction to a city and meet other solo travellers, said Ms Seah. These tours, which can be found with a simple search on Google, are tips-based and tourists pay as much or as little as they deem fit. 

Travel light 

After three days in the mountainous Wulong county in Chongqing, China, in January, I found myself dragging my feet and hefty luggage through snow. I looked enviously at a fellow traveller who walked with a spring in his step and only a shell-shaped backpack to carry around.

Other than the ease it brings, travelling light saves a lot of money in the form of additional baggage charges. 

The cheapest flight option on budget airlines typically excludes check-in baggage, which could cost about $50 for 20kg of luggage. These costs can add up fast, especially if you have multiple flights in a single holiday.

“It also makes things easier when you have only a small backpack – if you’re on a bus or a train, it’s easier to keep track of your belongings,” said Ms Seah. 

Credit cards

I use multi-currency cards such as YouTrip or Revolut for most payments abroad. 

There is a hack to using these cards, revealed Mr Aaron Wong, founder of travel-based website The MileLion – they allow you to lock in good exchange rates in advance. 

“If you feel like the exchange rate from the Singapore dollar to Japanese yen is very good today, and you’re going to Japan in a few months, you can choose to convert your money now and keep the yen in your wallet, and use it four months down the road,” he said. 

For those who use credit cards for their spending, you can make your trip worth it by either racking up miles or minimising foreign currency transaction fees. 

Most banks charge a 3.25 per cent fee for overseas spending, said Mr Wong. 

For miles chasers, credit cards such as the Maybank World Mastercard or the Maybank Horizon Visa Signature Card are good options for overseas spending, he said. The cards earn points equivalent to up to 3.2 miles and 2.8 miles per dollar spent in foreign currency, respectively. 

While making bookings in local currency before the trip, using the DBS Woman’s World Card – which rewards users with four miles per dollar for online spending – is a good option.

For those who simply want to cut costs, using cards with low to no foreign currency conversion fees, such as those from digital bank Trust Bank, is the way to go, he added. 

Trust Bank’s Cashback credit card and Link credit card have no such fees. 

Stay connected cheaply

Mobile data is an essential for solo travel. I find directions, look up cheap places to shop or buy essentials like groceries, and send selfies to my parents over WhatsApp using cellular data.

Many telcos offer data roaming plans at affordable rates, and travellers are greeted by dozens of stalls selling SIM cards at the arrival halls of airports.

I opt for e-SIMs, which I find fuss-free and cost effective. I purchase the cards on e-commerce platform Shopee a day before departure, and a QR code for installation arrives in my e-mail almost immediately. Unlimited data for 15 days in China cost me $16.

Be street smart

At the taxi bay at the airport in Paris in June 2024, I heard a shriek. I turned to see a woman desperately clinging on to the strap of a bag, which was flapping from a car door. The car sped off and she ran alongside it for a few metres, before letting go of the strap in resignation. I held my bag to my chest tightly. 

Snatch theft and pickpocketing are relatively common occurrences abroad, I learnt from the internet and my peers. When travelling, I attach my phone to a cross-body strap and never carry my bag on the shoulder. I also make sure I’m covered by travel insurance – purchasing an annual plan might be cheaper than buying one for each trip if you travel frequently.

But while I’m aware that danger lurks in the streets, I try not to let distrust get in the way of good conversations and new experiences that solo travel can bring.

When I asked Ms Seah how she senses danger, especially as a woman, she replied simply: “Gut instinct.” I agreed.

So when an elderly man in a slightly beat-up hatchback pulled over beside me as I was trudging down a mountain in Kazakhstan in September 2024, I didn’t make a break for it.

The sound of the radio filled the car during the ride back into the city, and although the language barrier barred us from conversation for the entire hour, there was a sense of lightness to the journey. When we arrived, the man dismissed my offer to pay him as he dropped me off.

And as my guard rose as the sun went down, I found myself marvelling at the rich experiences and kindness of strangers that solo travel can shine a light on.