The Safest Countries For Women To Travel Alone Were Ranked & These Are Great For A Solo Trip

When it comes to planning a solo international trip as a woman, not all countries are created equal.

There are a few factors that can easily sway you toward or away from certain destinations, and unfortunately, some of those factors weigh more heavily when you’re on your own.

Can I walk home safely at night? Is there a lot of crime? And do local laws protect women just as much as they do men?

New research by the luggage company Bounce has revealed the safest countries in the world for women to travel solo, and their list is a great place to start if you’ve got some questions to ask before you strike out on a one-woman adventure.

Bounce used publicly available data to put together the list, and they looked at everything from crime and homicide rates to local attitudes toward violence against women.

The No. 1 country on the list was Ireland, although many of the safest countries were on continental Europe.

In fact, you could string together a nice little backpacking trip through three of the top five countries, because Switzerland (5), Austria (2) and Slovenia (4) are all lined up next to each other in southeastern Europe.

There are 11 countries in the top 10 thanks to a tie, and only two of them are actually outside of Europe. Those two countries are Canada at No. 8 and Japan, which tied Poland for No. 10.

Canada actually scored at the top of the list for the percentage of women who have experienced violence, with just 1.9% saying that they've had to deal with that issue.

Here's the full ranking of the top 15 safest countries on the list.

1. Ireland
2. Austria
3. Norway
4. Slovenia
5. Switzerland
6. Spain
7. Portugal
8. Canada
9. Netherlands
10. Japan
11. Poland (tie with Japan)
12. Czech Republic/Czechia
13. Estonia
14. France
15. Sweden

Before you get going, check out our Responsible Travel Guide so you can be informed, be safe, be smart, and most of all, be respectful on your adventure.