Safest European Cities for Solo Travel in 2026

The short answer

Quick answer: Salzburg, Austria is the safest of Europe's most-visited cities for solo travellers, with a safety score of 79.5 out of 100, ahead of Tallinn (78.5) and Munich (78.4). For solo travel overall, which also weighs cost, hostels and things to do, Prague comes first (7.75 out of 10), followed by Kraków and Istanbul. Both rankings come from Radical Storage's Solo Travel Index, published in October 2026 and reported by Euronews on 2 November 2026.

The 10 safest cities for solo travel (safety score out of 100)

Austria is the only country with two cities in the safety top 10.

Prague and Kraków are the only cities that make both the safety top 10 and the overall top 10.

On whoin you can explore Prague and Santorini.

• 1 — Salzburg — Austria — 79.5
• 2 — Tallinn — Estonia — 78.5
• 3 — Munich — Germany — 78.4
• 4 — Santorini — Greece — 78.1
• 5= — Aarhus — Denmark — 75.7
• 5= — Zurich — Switzerland — 75.7
• 7 — Innsbruck — Austria — 75.6
• 8 — Prague — Czech Republic — 75.4
• 9 — Reykjavik — Iceland — 75.2
• 10 — Kraków — Poland — 75.0

The 10 best cities for solo travel overall

Prague wins on balance. A mid-range day costs €134.33, it has the eighth-highest safety score of the 48 cities, and nearly 30 hostels average 8.7 out of 10. Kraków is the second-cheapest city at about €87 a day. Istanbul has the cheapest dorm beds in the study, around €16 a night, and more than 10,000 restaurants.

Explore Prague, Istanbul, Lisbon, Berlin and Barcelona on whoin.

• 1 — Prague — Czech Republic — 7.75
• 2 — Kraków — Poland — 7.64
• 3 — Istanbul — Türkiye — 7.49
• 4 — Lisbon — Portugal — 7.38
• 5 — Gdańsk — Poland — 7.03
• 6 — Berlin — Germany — 6.92
• 7 — Porto — Portugal — 6.88
• 8 — Seville — Spain — 6.85
• 9 — Barcelona — Spain — 6.77
• 10 — Riga — Latvia — 6.74

Cities with the lowest safety scores

France has four cities in this list.

Barcelona is ninth-lowest for safety but still reaches the overall top 10 because it scores well on hostels, restaurants and things to do. A low score is a reason for normal city precautions, not a reason to skip Paris, London or Athens.

• 1 — Marseille — France — 33.0
• 2 — Paris — France — 42.0
• 3 — Dubrovnik — Croatia — 44.1
• 4 — Brussels — Belgium — 44.3
• 5= — London — United Kingdom — 44.9
• 5= — Athens — Greece — 44.9
• 5= — Nice — France — 44.9
• 8 — Dublin — Ireland — 45.9
• 9 — Barcelona — Spain — 47.9
• 10 — Bordeaux — France — 50.4

Safety versus cost

Feeling safe and spending little rarely come as a pair. Zurich ties for fifth on safety but ranks last overall (4.42 out of 10) because its accommodation alone costs €168.13 a day, the highest in the study. For total daily cost (accommodation, food, transport and entertainment), Gdańsk is the cheapest at €74.53 and Venice the most expensive at €362.27.

How the index works

Euronews' article "Prague, Kraków and Istanbul: These are the best European cities for solo travellers" is based on the Solo Travel Index by Radical Storage, a luggage storage company. We went to the primary source to see how it was built.

Radical Storage took Online Travel Partners' list of Europe's 50 most-visited cities, removed St Petersburg and a duplicate Dubrovnik entry, and scored the remaining 48 cities on 11 equally weighted factors:

Each factor was converted to a 1–10 score, and the scores were averaged. Data was collected in September 2026, with prices converted to euros at 14 September 2026 rates.

One caveat matters most: the safety score measures perceived safety from crowd-sourced surveys, not police statistics. Treat it as a guide to how a city feels, not a guarantee.

• Cost: average mid-range daily spend per person on accommodation, food, local transport and entertainment (from BudgetYourTrip)
• Safety: each city's Numbeo Safety Index, based on surveys of how safe residents feel walking alone by day and at night, and how worried they are about crime
• Accommodation: number of hostels, average rating, and dorm and private-room prices on Hostelworld
• Leisure: number of restaurants and of bookable experiences

Country-level view: Squaremouth's ranking

As reported by Euronews (23 July 2026), there is also a country ranking by US travel insurance comparison site Squaremouth, which compared more than 100 countries using the Global Peace Index, Numbeo safety perception, mobile internet speed and access to medical care; lower scores mean lower risk. San Marino came first with a risk index of 0.78 out of 10, then Andorra (1.33) and Singapore (1.56). The rest of the top 10 were Austria, Czechia, Qatar, Estonia, Brunei, Denmark and Slovenia, so seven of the 10 are European.

Practical tips for solo travellers

Last checked: 4 November 2026.

• As reported by Radical Storage, Hostelworld's 2026 State of Solo Travel report found 41% of solo travellers worry about safety and 25% avoid walking alone late at night. Plan late returns by public transport or a booked ride.
• Book your first night before you arrive, ideally somewhere with a staffed reception.
• Group tours and classes are an easy way to meet people: Rome alone lists 8,000 bookable experiences in the index.
• Share your plans with someone at home, and use whoin to see who is in town before you go.
• Check official travel advice for your nationality (for example your foreign ministry's travel advisories) before you go; perception scores are no substitute.