Every year I talk to someone who wants to book a solo holiday trip and immediately apologizes for it, as if traveling in December is something you only do when the other plan falls through. Nobody says that about a solo trip in March. But mention Christmas, and suddenly people feel like they have to explain themselves.
I don't think that reaction is really about the trip. It's about the story we've all absorbed that the holidays only count if you're surrounded by the right number of people at the right table. Once you let go of that story, a solo December trip stops looking like a backup plan and starts looking like exactly what it is: a choice.
Where the Guilt Actually Comes From
Nobody hands you a rule that says the holidays have to be spent with family, in one specific city, doing one specific set of things. But the pressure is everywhere, in every ad, every group text, every "what are your plans" question asked a little too casually. So when someone considers doing something different, the first feeling is usually guilt, not excitement, even when the trip is something they've wanted for years.
That guilt rarely has much to do with the actual people in a person's life. Most of the clients who've booked a solo December trip with me have families who are perfectly happy to see them at another point in the year, or who are traveling themselves, or who actively encouraged the trip. The story that the holidays are only "allowed" to look one way is doing more work than any actual person in their life ever asked it to.
What a Solo Holiday Trip Actually Looks Like
Picture a Christmas market river cruise down the Rhine. You're on the deck with a cup of Glühwein while the Rhine Gorge slides by in winter fog, at dinner with a table full of people who all came alone on purpose, and wandering a market in Cologne at whatever pace you want, with nowhere to be and no one to wait for.
That's not a diminished version of the holidays. It's a version with different rules, and for a lot of people, better ones. No negotiating whose house, no rationing your day between three separate gatherings, no small talk you didn't sign up for. Just the parts of the season you actually like.
Curious What a Solo Holiday Trip Could Look Like?
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This Isn't Only for People Without Somewhere Else to Be
There's an assumption baked into how people talk about solo holiday travel, that it's a fallback for people who don't have family nearby or don't get along with the ones they do. Sometimes that's true. Far more often, it isn't. Plenty of the people I've booked on these trips have plenty of family, and plenty of standing invitations. They're choosing the trip anyway, because they want to, and because they've decided that's allowed.
That distinction matters. A trip you take because you have no other option feels completely different from a trip you take because you looked at your options and picked the one you actually wanted. Solo holiday travel is almost always the second thing, even when it gets talked about like the first.
My Advisor Take
I booked half a dozen clients this season onto the same Christmas market river cruise along the Rhine, a sailing built specifically for solo travelers, with no single supplement and no couples or families on board to feel like the odd one out around. Every one of those clients had a slightly different reason for going. A couple of them just wanted their December to belong to them for once. One was newly divorced and didn't want her first solo Christmas to feel like a consolation. A few just love to travel and didn't see why December should be off limits.
None of them needed convincing once they saw the itinerary. The hesitation, when there was any, was never about the trip itself. It was about whether they were allowed to want it. I think that's the part worth saying out loud: you are.
Best For
Travelers weighing whether to spend the holidays away from home, solo or otherwise, and wondering if that choice needs a justification. It doesn't.
Ready to Make This Season Yours?
Tell me what you want your December to feel like, and I'll help you find the trip that actually fits.
About the Author
Lauren Cain is a luxury travel advisor specializing in custom trips for adult travelers who'd rather show up than spend forty hours planning. Lauren builds itineraries around how her clients actually like to travel, not a generic template. Every trip is custom, polished, and handled with care from the first idea to the final itinerary. Learn more about working with Lauren.