Home : Travel Destinations

Choosing Travel Destinations:
Art or Science?

As a solo backpacker, choosing the best travel destinations is both the easiest - and the hardest - thing you'll have to face on your trip!

Easy if you know where you're going - difficult if you don't, because there are so many choices.

Destinations can mean different things:

A place - a country or city or region
An adventure - great railway journeys or Cape to Cairo
A mood - dangerous places or places of peace
A wish - finding serenity or a year of freedom
A desire tobe of service - by becoming a volunteer
A challenge - earning money on the road or seeing if you can make it on your own

The trick to know where you're going is to first figure out why you're going!

My favorite travel destination: my home town!
Photo: malias via Flickr

Once you've done that, you've narrowed the field. But you still need meticulous plans. Not just because of world climate and plane tickets and visas, but because if you're anything like me you might also want to do some reading and research before hitting the road.

Time to Decide!

Let me share some of my favorite solo backpacking trips with you (some that I've taken myself, and others that I still dream of):

Cape to Cairo (long but still one of my favorites)
Trekking around Southeast Asia (a great first-time destination to ease gently into life on the road)
Cuba (quickly before it becomes just another Caribbean playground!)
The Karakoram Highway
Down the Panamericana
Round the World
The Silk Route
and in terms of specific places, here are my own top 10 travel destinations!

The original Silk Road
Photo: Umair Mohsin via Flickr

But there are so many others!

This isn't about individual travel destinations - there are a zillion sites that do that better than I ever could.

What I would like to do is to help you ask the right questions so you can decide where to go.

Do you dream of tropical rainforests and exotic birds?
Try Costa Rica, Brazil or Borneo

Or sites of amazing natural beauty?
Try the Karakoram Himalayas, the Grand Canyon, Alaska or in Australia, dive the Great Barrier Reef or drive Gibb River Road

Are you seeking spiritual solace? Then travel to sacred sites -
Try Tibet, Bagan (Myanmar) or Varanasi

Are you the more into culture than adventure?
Try Italy, Egypt, Greece, Cambodia, India, Peru or Mali

You're a city girl... but think you can't afford city travel?
Cheap Paris travel still exists - at under US$ 15 a day. Honest!

Maybe you're a festival junkie...
Then it's Rio for the Carneval, Hong Kong for the Dragon Boat races, or the Oktoberfest in Munich

Do you want to see some unforgettable building sites?
Try central Rome, or the Pyramids of Egypt or Mexico

First timer? What are the safest destinations for women?
Try Canada, the US, Australia or New Zealand - or why not Southeast Asia or backpacking Europe?

Are you looking for rock bottom prices?
Try India or Indonesia

Do you dream of sun and sea?
Try Turkey, Thailand, Malaysia, Brazil, Zanzibar or Fiji

Maybe you're a mountain girl...
You could follow in Birgit's footsteps and climb Kilimanjaro!

Would you prefer going off the beaten track?
Try Syria, Eritrea, the Philippines, Mozambique or travel to Burma

What about something on the beaten track?
You could visit World Heritage Sites, or the Wonders of the World

If you like to follow the tracks of history...
Trace the footsteps of Lewis and Clarke, Livingstone or Marco Polo

If you're a voracious reader, follow in the footsteps of great women travel writers - read some of their best travel books

Are you the really adventurous type?
Your travel destinations could be Central Asia, Iran, Libya, Inner Mongolia

And if adventure isn't enough, what about dangerous places?
Darfur, Somalia or Beirut could be for you

Perhaps you're a lover of nature and the environment?
The best African safaris, a trek in the Amazon, or sailing to Antartica

Would you like to explore a specific region?
Try Southeast Asia, Southern Africa, Central America, the Andes, North Africa, the Baltics

Would you rather travel across continents to many countries?
Try Cape to Nairobi, Bangkok to Hanoi, London to Istanbul, Beijing to Moscow, LA to Panama

These travel destinations are only suggestions - there are many other alternatives and excellent guidebooks to show you the way!