Australia’s favourite city for single travellers: what’s your guess?
Sydney with all the glitz and glamour? Or sophisticated Melbourne, where the singleton can take in the arts and maybe a show?
No, take a bow way out west, it’s Perth.
Travel company Explore Worldwide analysed search engine data and found a whopping 408 per cent increase in searches for solo travel to Perth from the previous year.
Explore divided its research into seven search areas and Australia was folded into the Oceania area.
Next most popular was Sydney, followed by Fiji and Melbourne, with Brisbane rounding out the top five.
So it’s popular with solo tourists, but what can you do there?
Go your own way
Well, there’s always the Perth Mint. You can do a tour or buy some bling with gold, silver and platinum bullion, coins and some seriously expensive jewellery.
Margaret River is known for its food and wine, but you don’t want to drive yourself and enjoy all that booze, so there are plenty of day tours to choose from.
If you enjoy a walk with water views, there’s always a lap around Lake Monger with a coffee afterwards. Try Modus Coffee for a pick-me-up.
If you prefer a guided tour, Two Feet and a Heartbeat is Perth’s No. 1 walking tour company. They offer a range of tours including food and drink, art and history in Perth and Freemantle.
Foodies should try Eat the Street walking tours where you simply walk from one hidden culinary gem to the other. I want to go now.
If you do get down to Fremantle, check out the prison or stroll through the markets for crafts, food, wine and gifts. I mean, who doesn’t love a giant sausage?
Why not try the Scarborough Sunset Markets on Scarborough Beach on Thursday nights? There’s plenty of food, music, entertainment, arts and crafts, plants, vintage clothing and even a psychic. Fingers crossed she predicts that you are coming back for another visit.
Asia for the win
Worldwide, the top seven most popular searches for solo travel were all in Asia.
Most popular was Hanoi, up 946 per cent, followed by Bangkok, (up 816 per cent), Taipei (up 692 per cent), Seoul (up 533 per cent) and Phnom Penh (up 500 per cent).
Perth came in at No. 8 on the worldwide list, with Sydney at No. 10.
Europe’s favourite destination for searches was Zurich followed by Nice.
South America’s most popular search destination were Buenos Aires followed by Cartegena.
In North America, solo travellers searched most for Toronto followed by Montreal. The US finally made it into the list in fourth after Quebec with New York.
Africa’s gains were modest. Most popular was Mauritius up 147 per cent, Cape Town up 144 per cent and Cairo, up 108 per cent.
Do you travel alone? What was your favourite destination? Why not share your experience in the comments section below?
Also read: Lessons learned by two grey nomads taking off the L-plates
