13 Proven Tips on How to Make a Trip Memorable for Solo Travelers
How to make a trip memorable isn’t just about visiting popular landmarks over and over to the point that they start to blend in—it’s about creating meaningful and immersive experiences.
In this post, I’m sharing 13 tried-and-true tips that have consistently made my adventures stand out and left me with memories to last a lifetime in my 10+ years of travel, so you can also get some ideas to adopt and create lasting memories on your travels.
So read below to see what you can do to elevate your travels so they don’t all blend in.
Let’s dive in!
13 Proven Tips on How to Make a Trip Memorable for Solo Travelers
1. Try the local food
Trying the local food is not only fuel for your body to take on your busy itinerary, but it’s also important for your overall personal enrichment and experience of the local culture.
Food is strongly connected to traditions, landscapes, ingredients, weather, customs, and beliefs. Food is culture, which is what you’re traveling to enjoy.
Imagine visiting Naples and not trying the pizza or Valencia without trying paella. You’d be missing a whole important part of the culture.
I agree that It can be overwhelming when you visit a city, especially if it’s your first time there, to know what traditional dishes to try or which restaurants have the best ______.
That’s why something I do and recommend to others to learn (and sample) about local foods is to book a food tour and visit local markets.
When I visited Porto, I didn’t know what the local food scene was like, nor could I even come up with a single specialty, so I booked a food tour.
I did the same in Málaga, and I got to sample delicious regional food and get a bit of a history lesson and local insight from the guide, which was so interesting.
2. Book a tour
Whether it’s a guided museum tour or a free walking tour of the city, getting the insight of a local showing you their city and telling you its history truly deepens your appreciation of the city.
Let’s be real for a minute.
Churches and monuments may start to blend if you’ve been to a few European countries, for example.
But if you book a walking tour, you can understand their meaning, the story of how they came to be, the era in which certain things were constructed, why and what was happening during that time, etc.
Learning about the city enhances your experience, and you grow to appreciate it even more beyond just the attractive exterior.
💡Pro tip: Hop-on-Hop-off Buses get a bad reputation from everyone, especially travel gurus, for hundreds of reasons, but they’re a great way to see the city, especially if you have limited mobility or are tired of walking 10 miles a day. I got on one in Mexico City a little hesitantly but realized how great it can be to see a lot of the city comfortably while listening to a few historical tidbits. If that’s your jam, go for the hop-on-hop-off bus!
3. Wander around the neighborhoods
Walking is the best way to get to know any city.
There’s nothing like exploring a neighborhood on your own and stumbling upon a monument, a park with a beautiful view, a significant sight, or even a beautiful street or coffee shop to step into.
Though there are plenty of neighborhood-specific walking tours, getting to know an area on your own and observing how locals live, work, and interact with their surroundings makes travel memorable.
4. Go to a grocery store
Grocery store tourism is an actual thing, and I completely get it because I also love to explore grocery stores in foreign countries.
Many times, grocery stores are like mini museums that give you insight into what kind of food locals eat, how they shop, the availability of certain foods, prices, and so much more.
It’s truly fascinating! It’s a real look into local culture, away from something created specifically for tourists.
A piece of advice I’d share is that if you are browsing grocery stores abroad, be mindful of the locals and keep out of the way not to disrupt their normal to-do’s.
5. Experience a nighttime activity
No matter where you go, the city you visit will look different at night and feel different from the daytime, and you should experience that.
Whether going out on the town, attending a cultural activity, having dinner at a local hotspot, or taking a night tour, getting out to explore your destination at night makes the experience of traveling that much more memorable.
Even if you’re solo traveling, there are plenty of ways to participate in nighttime activities.
In Porto, I joined a night tour of the city that ended with drinks at a beautiful rooftop, and I loved it.
In Athens, I was solo and decided to do a bar crawl and met some pretty cool people while enjoying a bit of the lively nightlife, which was so much fun.
6. Use public transportation
If you can figure out how public transportation works in a foreign city, you can do anything.
Even if you mess up (which you will), you can always get off at the next stop and try again. It’s what makes the travel experience memorable and fun.
Learning how (and going on) public transportation is another way to immerse yourself in local culture, whether in a busy city like London or hopping around the sights in Rome.
Travel, as we know, expands us beyond our comfort zone, and hopping on public transport is a way to do that and gain the confidence that if you can figure out how to get from point A to point B, you can do this, and more, by yourself.
Tell me another more empowering feeling while traveling!
7. Walk your way around the city
There’s nothing quite like walking around a new city exploring, observing, and feeling awe-inspired by everything you see while learning a bit of the lay of the land.
That’s why I love walking around the city. It’s truly one of the best ways to navigate any foreign city because you can walk and explore it.
It’s the best way to make your memories by absorbing all the sights, smells, and spots to revisit later on that weren’t mentioned elsewhere.
8. Appreciate local handcrafts
Research beforehand, and learn about the local crafts and specialty items made in your city.
Maybe it’s pottery, textiles, jewelry, perfume, a specific dish, or leather your city is known for.
If you know that in advance, you can even check out a cool tour to show you how they’re crafted or what to look out for in markets to purchase and bring something back home.
Whatever it is, handcrafts also tell a story of the local culture, history, and other curiosities that will only enrich your travel experience and support locals when you invest meaningfully in what they have to offer.
9. Try to communicate in the local language
Knowing at least a few words in the local language is so important. It could make a difference between a memorable trip and one that feels a bit surface-level.
When you enter a shop or a restaurant, even if you can’t order or hold a full conversation in the native language, it’s respectful to the culture and people to at least say hello or introduce yourself in the local language.
Although not perfect, it shows respect and appreciation for the culture. Knowing a few words if you want to be a little more conversational can help you move around better.
It’s a win-win!
10. Jot down your travel experiences
Part of making a trip memorable is remembering details of the trip and what was going on through your mind by jotting down your experiences in a notebook.
Whether it’s writing down what you did, who you met, or what you tried for the first time – keeping a record of your travels is fun and can also remind you of the small details later that you may forget over time.
Plus, writing down any passing thoughts, new ideas, inspiring thoughts, or interesting questions is all part of the personal growth that happens when you travel.
What you write down may also come in handy to process reverse culture shock later.
Since traveling expands your mind and helps you see life from different perspectives, you’d be doing a huge disservice to yourself to let these moments slip by in your memory and come back home as if you didn’t have the time of your life.
That’s why I enjoy my mini ritual of writing pre and post-travel thoughts using my free Transformative Travel Pre and Post Journal Prompts.
I use this to document a before and after for each trip and then ease my way back into my home routine in an empowering way instead of frustrating or depressing – we’ve all been there!
📓 Download the FREE Transformative Travel Pre & Post Journal Prompts
11. Eat by yourself
Part of making travel memorable is trying things you maybe have never done or have been too scared to try, like eating by yourself.
I get it. It can be intimidating to step into a restaurant by yourself, be seated at a table for 1, be surrounded by other busy tables of friends and family, and ease into a different setting, often considered “embarrassing.
However, as someone who used to be self-conscious about doing this, eating by yourself offers a great opportunity to be more comfortable with your own company, feel independent and free to a new level, and enjoy your time your own way.
The more you do it, the more empowering it feels and less uncomfortable, just like with anything else.
As someone who used to find eating alone uncomfortable, it gets easier and more empowering the more you do it.
Just try it!
12. Listen To A Curated Playlist
You can make the playlist yourself or pick one from Spotify and listen while traveling around your destination.
Besides the pure joy that listening to music offers, science has found that connecting music and melodies to specific memories acts like “post-it notes” to recall specific memories and experiences you would otherwise forget.
It’s a beautiful and effortless way to collect and capture your travel memories that you can immediately access years ahead when you put that song or playlist again.
🎧 Listen to some of my favorite travel songs
13. Experience Transformative Travel
Sit at a coffee shop or a square and momentarily observe what’s around you.
Let your mind catch up with where your feet are without phone distractions.
Bring a notebook, or make mental notes of your surroundings, from the weather to the sounds, sights, and smells around you.
How do they make you feel?
Think about how you got there, where you were even a week ago, who you were with, and now where you are. Sit with it and settle into the moment that exists that you probably visualized so many times before, hoping it would happen.
Travel is transformative, and a way to make it memorable is to create space while traveling to take note of what’s around you, try new things, and observe the city not as some destination abroad but as a place where people live, where society functions in a certain way, and let your mind come up with thoughts and questions.
These thoughts and questions may ease your reverse culture shock in the future, which may reveal personal growth and personal transformation.
Read More: Transformative Travel – what is it 🤔 and why you should care about it 😄
The Wrap-Up: 13 Things To Do When You Travel For A Memorable Trip
Making a trip memorable isn’t about doing it all; it’s about doing what resonates with you deeply and connecting with the place you are.
These 13 tips, rooted in my travel experiences, have enriched my travels and shaped how I see the world, and I hope they serve and inspire you similarly.
As you plan your next adventure, try incorporating these tips, and you’ll likely find your trip becomes more than just a getaway and something more of a meaningful chapter in your life story.
To more travel moments like this,
