Which are the safest countries for solo travellers?

What official guidance asks of solo travellers

The UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office keeps a page on solo and independent travel, last updated in June 2025. It says that travelling by yourself, outside a group or organised tour, can bring additional challenges and may raise the risk of becoming a victim of crime or facing other risks to personal safety, particularly somewhere unfamiliar. Its advice falls into planning and conduct.

On planning it suggests checking the country's travel advice and signing up for update emails, taking out insurance even for familiar destinations, leaving an itinerary with someone at home and agreeing how often to be in touch, knowing the address of where you are staying, having a back-up for accommodation, and making sure you can reach money quickly in an emergency. On conduct it points to pre-arranged airport transfers, licensed taxis, busy train carriages, keeping valuables close and avoiding poorly lit areas on foot at night. For accommodation it suggests booking at least the first night before travelling, because the first arrival is when people are tired and unsure of their surroundings, and checking fire safety and carbon monoxide risks.

The same page says that rape and sexual assault is a risk to people of all genders worldwide, that local services and attitudes towards helping victims can vary widely, and that people may face other risks because of identity, with separate FCDO pages for women, LGBT+ travellers and disabled travellers. It also tells readers that being safe matters more than being polite if they feel uncomfortable.

Health: a solo traveller has no companion to notice

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention asks travellers to see a health care provider or travel health specialist at least four to six weeks before leaving, and to share the destinations, accommodation type, timing and planned activities so that advice fits the trip. It also asks travellers to carry a copy of their immunisation record. The World Health Organization's travel pages similarly tell anyone planning travel to seek information about health risks before they go.

None of this is specific to solo travel, but the FCDO page makes the connection by asking solo travellers to plan for a situation in which nobody else is present to help. A shared itinerary and a known contact are the official answer.

How we made our selection, and what it leaves out

Our selection from the sources above applies five tests to the ten countries at the top of the Global Peace Index 2026: the country is in the top ten worldwide; the US rates it Level 1; Canada's page asks for normal security precautions; the UK page carries no warning against travel to any part; and we read an official or institutional visitor-assistance route, such as an emergency number or a tourist hotline. Seven of the ten passed. New Zealand, Switzerland and Singapore also met the first four tests, but we did not read a visitor-assistance page for them in this session, so they are left out for reasons of our own research, not because of any difference we found.

The index measures peacefulness at national level across 23 indicators, including militarisation, and the US, UK and Canada have different thresholds for their advice. A pass on all five tests is a reason to read further, not a verdict. We do not rank the seven; they appear in the table in the index's published order.

Iceland and Japan: two published visitor-assistance routes

Iceland is first in the world in the 2026 index with a score of 1.161. The US rated it Level 1 in an update of 4 May 2026, and its text mentions quickly changing weather, active volcanoes, earthquakes and opportunistic petty crime. The country's official safe-travel site, run by the Icelandic Association for Search and Rescue, says the app lets hikers send their GPS position to the 112 emergency number, and lists a backup number for when 112 does not connect. For a solo hiker, that is an institutional tool rather than an opinion. Our pages for Reykjavik cover the city.

Japan is tenth with 1.489. The US rated it Level 1 on 14 May 2025 and the UK page was updated on 28 August 2026 with information about flooding and heavy rain. The UK text also says that Tokyo's entertainment districts carry a higher risk of crime at night, around clubs and bars, with foreign nationals targeted for extortion, robbery, assault and sexual assault. The Japan National Tourism Organization runs the Japan Visitor Hotline, which it describes as a 24-hour, 365-day service in English, Chinese and Korean for emergencies such as illness or disaster, alongside the national police and fire numbers, 110 and 119. See also Tokyo.

Ireland, Austria, Portugal, Slovenia and Finland: one emergency number

These five EU members share a single published route: according to the European Union's travel pages, 112 can be dialled free of charge from fixed and mobile phones everywhere in the EU, though some countries also keep national numbers. They sit at fourth to ninth in the index, with scores of 1.369 for Slovenia, 1.371 for Ireland, 1.421 for Austria, 1.427 for Portugal and 1.478 for Finland. The US rated each of them Level 1.

The US texts name petty theft in tourist areas and on public transport for Portugal, pickpocketing and purse snatching for Ireland, and mention demonstrations that may disrupt transport in Ireland. The US text for Slovenia asks for caution in the Julian Alps and says never to hike alone, which is a direct point for solo visitors. The UK page for Slovenia adds practical legal notes: a fine if police ask for ID and you cannot show it, and heavy fines for crossing roads away from designated points. Such details matter more to a person alone in a city than the national level does. See Lisbon and Dublin for city listings.

The seven countries compared

The columns show where each country sits in the 2026 index, the advisories we read, and the assistance route we found. They are not scores to add up.

Where advisories are stricter, assistance may still exist

A country outside our selection is not necessarily closed to solo visitors. Guatemala is rated Level 3 by the US, yet the same US text describes ASISTUR, a Tourist Assistance Program that works with tourist police in popular areas such as Antigua, Lake Atitlan and Tikal, with a number to dial and a Spanish and English call centre. Governments also name areas inside the country where they advise against travel. The right reading is that risk is uneven and that official tools exist for visitors.

For solo travellers this means reading the regional section of an advisory, not just the headline, and checking whether the place you plan to sleep, walk and travel through is named. Our page on Central America shows how that works across seven countries.

Limits of this page

We did not use traveller reports, forum posts or surveys of solo travellers. They exist, but we cannot trace them to an official method, and the brief for this page was to rely on advisories, health bodies and national visitor-assistance pages. That makes the picture narrower than lived experience and probably less useful on points such as local attitudes or the feel of a neighbourhood at night.

Several of the seven countries are small, so one rate or one incident moves a statistic. Advisory levels also change, sometimes within days, and the update dates in our table are the dates we read them. Australia's Smartraveller site did not respond when we tried, so it is not included.

Checklist drawn from the sources

Before going: read the advisory pages of your own government for the full text and update note; arrange insurance; see a health provider several weeks ahead; leave an itinerary and agree check-in times with someone at home; and know where to find a second place to stay. On arrival: book the first night in advance, use licensed transport, keep valuables close, and be careful on poorly lit streets at night.

A self-contained apartment with a kitchen can help on a long stay when you want to cook, but the FCDO checks apply equally to every kind of lodging: working smoke alarms, fire exits, ventilation where there are gas appliances, and a door that locks. Our guide to long-stay accommodation covers those points, and entry rules are for the official immigration website of each country; we give no visa advice.