There are lots of reasons to take a solo trip. Maybe you need a break from the stresses or even the loved ones in your life. Maybe you want to challenge yourself and see who you meet along the way. Maybe you find yourself seeking a deeper connection with the natural world. Whatever has you thinking about flying solo, we’ve got you. Here are a few places to visit to rejuvenate yourself this year.
If you want to be alone, surrounded trees and temples
Hike the Kumano Kodo. The Japanese trekking system is one of only two UNESCO World Heritage Pilgrimage routes—the other being the St. James Way (also known as the Camino de Santiago) through Spain and France. There are six main roads in the network—writer Peggy Orenstein tackled the Nakahechi route in 2017—across the mountainous Kii Peninsula, south of Kyoto, and Japanese pilgrims have been walking them for more than a millennium. You can make the trek a little easier than it was for medieval peasants by booking Oku Japan’s six-day, self-guided tour (from $1,595), which includes the option of luggage transfers for an additional fee. You’ll enjoy the temples, shrines, and 436-foot-tall Nachi Falls a lot more with that weight off your shoulders.
Among Explorer X’s destinations is Mongolia, where you can stay in a traditional ger dwelling.
Photo by Vince GX/Unsplash
If you want to explore your interests in a surprise destination
Since 2017, Explorer X has been helping people navigate life’s biggest questions by crafting customized individual and small group trips for mindful travelers. The process involves one-on-one sessions with a designated travel coach, who will help you use your travel experiences to deepen your self-understanding before, during, and after your trip. Perhaps the company’s wildest offering is its “Destination Unknown” trips: The company’s experts design an itinerary based on your interests, but they don’t tell you where you’re going or what you’re doing until a day or two before you leave. Considering that Explorer X’s destinations include places like Botswana, Mongolia, and Greenland, it’s safe to say you’ll likely see something new.
If you want to slow your aging
From its tidy green campus on the shores of Switzerland’s Lake Geneva, Clinique La Prairie is doing its best to resist Father Time. The “most progressive longevity clinic in the world” offers guests advanced health diagnostics—everything from MRIs and DXA scans to testing for heavy metals, minerals, and other toxins—from more than 50 specialists, as well as five different one-week longevity retreats. The signature “Revitalisation” program promises a stronger immune system, regenerated cells, and improved sleep.
Esalen’s hot spring baths look out over the Pacific Ocean from the cliffs of Big Sur.
Courtesy of Esalen
If you want to deepen your interactions with others—or the natural world
Founded in 1962, the Esalen Institute offers guests the opportunity to try to make their interior lives as beautiful as the exterior surroundings of the Big Sur property. (An ambitious goal.) The center offers a variety of workshops that allow you to focus on your relationships with others (“Role Mate to Soul Mate”) or with the broader world (“Nature and Contemplation: Cultivating Wild Mindfulness”). No matter what you choose, get ready to meditate, soak in Esalen’s mineral springs, and allow the Big Sur coastline to spark a change.
The beach at Sen Wellness Sanctuary is home to both meditation practitioners and nesting sea turtles.
Courtesy of Sen Wellness Sanctuary
If you want nonstop zen
Head to Sri Lanka for a stay at Sen Wellness Sanctuary, a yoga retreat rooted in Ayurvedic medicine. Founded in 2014 by Sam Kankanamge, who had for years prior run a holistic healthcare clinic in London, the center offers 10-day retreats featuring twice-daily yoga, meetings with Ayurvedic doctors, gong baths, and fire ceremonies. All of it takes place in ecofriendly buildings just steps from the beach and the Indian Ocean.
This article was originally published in January 2021 and was most recently updated in July 2025 with current information.
