Mount Rushmore.
Taking a holiday by yourself has become increasingly popular, and Jo Knowsley has some great ideas for where to indulge your wanderlust.Find your inner cowgirl
On this thrilling 17-day holiday with Trailfinders you'll explore vast national parks, hear tales of the Wild West and take in the Grand Canyon. And there's no single supplement for solo travellers.
After flying to Denver you'll head to South Dakota's impressive Black Hills, on to Cheyenne and Fort Hays. You'll visit the imposing Mount Rushmore, continue to the strange and beautiful Badlands National Park - an eerie world carved by wind and water erosion - and tour the Little Bighorn Battlefield, where General Custer and the 7th Cavalry were defeated by Crazy Horse. You'll also travel through the Black Hills territory to the Wild West city of Deadwood, home to Wild Bill Hickok and Calamity Jane.
The trip includes a visit to the world's oldest national park, Yellowstone, the Grand Teton National Park, famed for its beautiful landscapes, and Arches National Park, home to the world's greatest concentration of red sandstone arches.
You'll continue on to Monument Valley, instantly recognisable as the setting for dozens of movies thanks to its spectacular rock formations. An optional guided four-wheel drive tour is available before continuing on to the Grand Canyon National Park. There's also a night in the bizarre world of Las Vegas before you fly home.
It's a lot to take in, but the comfort of the upmarket hotels at every destination will ensure you're ready for the next day's adventure.
◆ 17 days guided tour from £5,699 per person (single room, no supplement) and international flights; trailfinders.com
The pretty village of Valldemossa
The sound of music in MallorcaOn the spectacular and dramatic north coast of Mallorca, far from the mass tourism of the south-east, is the pretty village of Estellencs, in the dramatic Tramuntana Mountains.
It's rural and remote, but every September it comes alive with the week-long Kirker Music Festival, which has been delighting locals and tourists alike for years.
Mallorca is often associated with Chopin, who stayed on the island with his lover George Sand during the winter of 1838-39. Their presence scandalised the locals, but Chopin composed some of his finest music during their sojourn.
On this six-night trip, organised by Kirker Holidays, you'll have tickets to five concerts and the services of a Kirker tour leader.
This year pianist Melvyn Tan will play works by Chopin, while other performers include the Alkyona Quartet and the classical guitarist Morgan Szymanski.
There is more to do besides. One day includes a visit to the port of Sóller, on the famous Ferrocarril de Sóller railway, which crosses the mountains that link Palma with the sea. In Valldemossa you'll visit the monastery where Chopin stayed and also Deia, a village made famous by the poet and writer Robert Graves.
The trip continues to Son Marroig, once the residence of the Hapsburg Archduke Ludwig Salvator. You can also use the local bus service to visit Palma or explore the various walking routes which start in the village. Flights, accommodation, six dinners and a lunch are included in the trip.
A spokesman for Kirker says solo travellers now make up around 40% of their guests on some tours. 'We find they are particularly drawn to our cultural tours,' he says. 'They are designed to cater for many interests, and there is time for independent exploration. Mallorca is particularly popular. Guests have the chance to listen to private concerts and to enjoy drinks and dinner with the musicians between performances.'
◆ The Mallorca Festival is on from 24-30 September. Six nights from £2,998 per person; kirkerholidays.com
Balloons over the ruins of Teotihuacan
A Mexican odysseyI hadn't expected to fall in love with Mexico City - a bustling, vibrant metropolis bursting with life and colour and which was the ancient Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan. It's the start of a Mexican Adventure with Just You, a travel company that was one of the first dedicated to solo travellers and which now leads the field. A big plus is that there is no single supplement.
We began with a tour of the historic centre, taking in the lively central square, known as Zocalo, along with the Metropolitan Cathedral and the National Palace - home to Diego Rivera's renowned murals. You can also travel out to Coyoacan, now one of the city's sprawling suburbs, to visit the childhood home of his equally famous wife, Frida Kahlo, which is now a museum.
Back in the city you can meander along the picturesque Paseo de la Reforma boulevard, leading to Chapultepec Park, home to the castle once inhabited by the ill-fated Emperor Maximilian. Then it's on to the National Anthropology Museum, a fabulous architectural triumph crammed with relics and memories of Mexico's ancient past.
The people are warm and friendly, the smells of street food enticing, but it was the sheer lushness of the landscaping which I found so unexpected and alluring. I would return in a heartbeat.
A grand highlight - which comes on day three of this extensive 15-day tour - is the drive out to Teotihuacan: the ruins of a 2,000-year-old city considered the most important in the country from the years 200-500, when it was home to over 200,000 people.
It's dominated by the powerful pyramids of the Sun and the Moon, which you can climb, though the steps are so steep I had to come down more gingerly on my bottom!
There's the atmospheric Avenue of the Dead, with unique stone sculptures of plumed serpents at the Temple of Quetzalcoatl and the Temple of the Butterflies.
I had visited Mexico before, when my partner and I explored the regions north of the capital. But on this trip you head south to Puebla, Mexico's fourth- largest city and a Unesco World Heritage Site, before continuing on to Oaxaca, one of the country's most picturesque colonial towns and another World Heritage Site.
The trip includes visiting a project set up by local women who create folk-art sculptures called alebrijes, which are said to bring good fortune. The cooperative was set up to foster growth and employment and combat the sale of unofficial replicas. Each piece is laboriously crafted by hand.
The trip takes in the Sumidero Canyon in Chiapas, and Merida, the capital of Yucatan state, before concluding in Cancun, one of the best known beach playgrounds in the country.
As with all its itineraries, Just You guarantees a room of your own, and provides an expert holiday director to cater for your every need and bring the destinations to life. Flights, breakfast and most meals are included and there are welcome get-togethers to help you break the ice with fellow travellers.
But there is freedom and flexibility built in here too - you can join optional excursions, extend your tour or even add on a destination at the end. An additional perk is that on all holidays outside Europe and Jordan you have access to an airport lounge.
'The most common feedback we have from our customers is the sense of security and confidence it gives them to travel solo,' says Charlotte Field of Just You. 'As a dedicated solo operator for over 20 years we understand the apprehension travellers may feel and do our utmost to create a calm and friendly environment that puts everyone at ease.'
Just You has won the Best Singles Holiday Company at the British Travel Awards for several years in a row.
◆ Tours from £4,599pp; justyou.co.uk
Belfast in the morning and the Titanic Museum
A Titanic adventure in BelfastYou don't need to book a tour to enjoy a long weekend by yourself in Belfast - just grab a cheap flight and go. For decades the city was haunted by division and violence, but today it's one of the friendliest destinations you'll find (though making new friends will inevitably involve going to a few bars - try The Spaniard in the Cathedral Quarter).
One of the city's smartest hotels is the five-star Merchant, but there are a number of affordable niche and boutique hotels scattered around. The food is almost uniformly excellent - lots of fabulous seafood, not to mention the ubiquitous Guinness.
I love the Titanic Quarter, which has an amazing museum to commemorate the doomed liner. RMS Titanic was launched here in 1911, and the museum evokes the atmosphere of the period's luxury cruising - together with the vessel's tragic fate in the Atlantic. Unmissable.
A more contemporary attraction is the Game of Thrones Studio Tour (£40), a round-trip that covers key elements of the fantasy drama and includes transfers from central Belfast. You'll have the chance to see the Great Hall of Winterfell and discover many of the real locations where the cult series was filmed.
This article first appeared in the July 2024 issue of The Lady magazine.
Pictures: Adobe Stock
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