The hard truth about solo travel in Australia

This post may contain affiliate links and I may earn a small commission when you click on the links at no additional cost to you. You can read my full privacy policy here.

When I embarked on my 6.5-month, 11-country solo backpacking trip across Asia and Oceania, I never expected Australia to be the country that I struggled in the most. English-speaking, safe, lots of other travelers, amazing sights… how could it not be amazing? I had previous experience solo traveling in Asia and always had a great time, so I thought I would thrive in Australia on my own if I could thrive in Asia alone.

Don’t get me wrong – I didn’t hate my time traveling down the east coast of Australia. I just didn’t enjoy it nearly as much as every other country I’ve solo traveled to, and I didn’t expect that. It was one of the easiest countries I’ve traveled alone logistically because there’s no language barrier and the Greyhound buses are easy to figure out. However, in almost every other way, it fell short of my expectations and my one month in Australia dragged. By the end, I couldn’t wait to leave – a feeling I’d never experienced before.

So, let’s get into exactly why my one-month solo trip down the east coast of Australia was a disappointment. This is not to discourage you from going but rather to set you up with the right expectations and tools to make your trip better than mine. I would’ve done a lot differently, and I can’t wait to use the knowledge I have now to go back and redeem myself. I hope my negative experience gives you the power to have an amazing solo travel experience in Australia.

Solo Travel in Australia: The Positives

No language barrier

Most of my solo travel experience is in Asia, so it was a big relief to be in an English-speaking country. It’s nice to be able to read everything and talk to everyone without any extra effort, other than the occasional strong Aussie accent!

Easy to get around

I used Greyhound buses to get down the entire east coast of Australia. They’re affordable, comfortable, and easy to use. They often drop you right in the heart of your destination, so you can easily walk to your accommodation from the bus stop.

Many exciting things to do

There are some incredible, exciting, and unique things to do in Australia. If you love thrills, you’ll find them here. While some of my top bucket list items were disappointing (more on that below), others lived up to or exceeded my expectations. Here are some of the experiences I loved the most:

• Snorkeling and diving the Great Barrier Reef from Cairns
• Skydiving from 14,000 feet in Airlie Beach
• Camping on K’gari Island for 3 days (the largest sand island in the world)
• Watching the sunset with wild kangaroos at Coombabah Lakelands Conservation Area
• Spending the day at Burleigh Heads National Park & Burleigh Beach
• Diving with grey nurse sharks in Byron Bay
• Taking a day trip to the Blue Mountains from Sydney
• Going on coastal walks: Bondi to Coogee Walk in Sydney, Cape Byron Walking Track in Byron Bay, and Noosa Coastal Walk

Solo Travel in Australia: The Negatives

There aren’t many *true* solo travelers

I was shocked that in Australia, I struggled to make any good friends. Yes, I met a lot of people, but something wasn’t clicking. The biggest difference between me and the other people I met was that hardly anyone else was solo traveling. Most travelers on the east coast of Australia are either traveling with friends, partners, or group trips. Usually, solo travelers have the easiest time making friends with other solo travelers. This made it difficult for me to find people who actually wanted to make friends beyond the surface level. It’s almost impossible for someone traveling alone to make friends with people who are traveling with people they’re already close to. No other country I’ve solo traveled to has had so few solo travelers (who aren’t part of group trips).

Most travelers are very young and/or on working holiday visas

Another thing that wasn’t clicking between myself and the other travelers I met was their age. If you’re in your late teens or early 20s, this will work in your favor! But I turned 25 while I was in Australia, and I felt ancient sometimes. I’ve always had an easy time meeting people my age while solo traveling in Asia, but Australia attracts a really young crowd. This is partially because of the working holiday visa, which is my next point. Many fresh high school graduates flock to Australia to do a working holiday visa. I love this for them, but it’s isolating to be traveling temporarily in a country where most others are living and working. You’ll get asked the question: “What visa are you on?”, and when I said a tourist visa, I often felt looked down upon by all the others who are on working holiday visas.

Huge drinking and party culture

Okay, this might not be a negative for you and that’s fair. While I’m not a huge drinker, I still enjoy a night out occasionally. However, the drinking and party culture in the backpacking community is extreme in Australia. Out of every country I’ve solo traveled to, this was the place where I felt the most pressure to drink and party – and I’m talking every night. I didn’t go out when I didn’t want to, but the atmosphere of constant drinking and partying was exhausting to be around when it isn’t my typical scene. Because there aren’t many hostels to choose from in Australia, it isn’t as easy as choosing a hostel that isn’t a “party hostel”. Any hostel you’re in will be a party hostel, to some extent.

It’s expensive

I expected Australia to be more expensive than Asia, but I was shocked at just how much. Meals are expensive, hostels are expensive, and excursions are expensive. I had a good budget set aside, but it was constantly stressing me out that some days I was spending what I could spend in a week in places like Vietnam and Thailand. It’s not nice to constantly be worried about money while also not letting it stop you from doing the bucket list experiences you want to do.

Most hostels are not nice

In Australia, I paid an average of $35-50 a night for terrible hostels. I’m not exaggerating when I say that you pay a huge price for terrible conditions. No privacy curtains, squaky beds, thin mattresses, one outlet for the whole room – and all of that is five times the price of a nice hostel in Asia. And there’s hardly any hostels to choose from along most of the east coast, so you can’t be picky. You either choose the hostel and suck it up, or you isolate yourself in an even more expensive hotel.

I did enjoy a few of my hostels – these were Bounce in Noosa, Bunk in Surfers Paradise, Wake Up! Byron and Wake Up! Sydney.

You usually have to plan in advance

Something I’ve come to love is being spontaneous while solo traveling. You never know who you’re going to meet or what suggestions you’re going to get, so leaving your plan until the last minute is the way to go. In Asia, it’s easy to book hostels and transportation as late as the day of. However, you can’t be spontaneous like that in Australia. Because there aren’t many hostels and buses, you need to book them in advance. If you get lucky and find last-minute availability, you’re going to pay for it. I had my plan set before I went on my trip, but I wished I had the flexibility to change it based on who I met and what I heard. I was stuck with a plan that diverted me from the few people I had finally bonded with after just a few days.

Some bucket list items were disappointing

Unfortunately, there were some big bucket list items that I couldn’t wait to do in Australia that ended up being disappointing. The biggest one was a 2-day, 2-night Whitsundays sailing tour. Every other backpacker I met raved about this experience, but I must’ve gotten unlucky. As mentioned before, my group was full of people very different from me in age, life plans, and beliefs. I was stuck on a small boat with people I didn’t get along with well, and the sleeping conditions were horrific. I had a similar experience on my overnight Atherton Tablelands and Cape Tribulation tour.

As mentioned before, there were some experiences I really enjoyed, like skydiving in Airlie Beach, camping on K’gari Island for 3 days, snorkeling and diving the Great Barrier Reef, and all the coastal walks along the east coast.

Solo Travel in Australia: My Advice

You’ve done yourself a huge favor by reading about my experience with solo travel in Australia and learning from my mistakes. Before my trip, I hadn’t heard of anyone else struggling in this situation. In fact, I’d only seen glowing reviews of “life-changing” trips. I felt like I’d failed because I didn’t enjoy my own trip, but everyone else seemed to have the best time. I wished I could’ve heard about other people’s experiences like mine, so I would’ve been mentally prepared and could’ve had a different approach.

You can have an amazing time if you’re better prepared for the reality of what it’s like to solo travel in Australia. I went on my trip overly confident from my success in navigating many Asian countries alone. The reality is, just because Australia speaks English and attracts many travelers, doesn’t mean that it will be easy peasy to navigate as a solo traveler.

Based on my mistakes and what I wish I had known, my top tips for solo travel in Australia are:

• Come with a HEALTHY budget. You want more than just enough to get you by, or else it will become a financially stressful situation, and you won’t be able to do what you want anyway.
• Spend time researching the best hostels, or else you could end up in some pretty terrible conditions. Sometimes it’s unavoidable, but there’s almost always at least a slightly better option.
• Travel during the off-season so you don’t have to book everything in advance. You can enjoy the flexibility of traveling with people you meet, changing your mind, or planning based on other travelers’ suggestions.
• Manage your expectations. Not everything will live up to your expectations when you travel. It’s better to have low expectations and be pleasantly surprised than to be let down.
• Find your crowd. Usually, I don’t have to put much thought into meeting fellow travelers who I get along with. But if the typical backpacking crowd in Australia doesn’t sound like a good fit for you, then I recommend putting in the extra effort to find your kind of people. Join Facebook groups, go on Bumble BFF, or simply approach people who give off good vibes.
• Join a group trip! In hindsight, I wish I hadn’t solo traveled Australia completely on my own. I ran into tons of group trips who were traveling together up the east coast and always had each other for company. I’m not usually one for group trips, but this would be an advantageous place to join one.

And with that, I hope you’ll have a better experience with solo travel in Australia than I did! Scuba diving, skydiving, camping, going on coastal walks, and frequent trips to Yo-Chi (the best frozen yogurt in the world) are great memories of my time in Australia that will stick with me forever. It’s a shame I experienced loneliness and disappointment that I’m not used to on my solo trips, but I’ll never regret putting myself out there to see somewhere new. I can’t wait to return to Australia one day and use the knowledge I have now to have a better experience.

Keep reading:

• Sydney Itinerary: 3-4 day city guide for first-timers
• How much does a New Zealand trip cost? Budget traveler’s guide
• Kiwi Experience: Review, itinerary, & what to expect
• Indonesia Itinerary: 1 month in Bali, Lombok, & Komodo
• Bali Itinerary: 2 weeks of adventure, relaxation, and nature
• Vietnam Itinerary: 3-4 weeks for backpackers and solo travelers
• 2 week South Korea itinerary & travel guide from a local
• South Korea Solo Travel Guide: Safety, tips, & what to expect
• 3 week Philippines itinerary
• Solo female travel in the Philippines: Safety, tips, & what to expect
• Solo female travel in Thailand: Safety, tips, & what to expect
• Malaysia itinerary: 10 days of culture, city, beach, & nature
• 3 day Singapore itinerary & travel guide
• Solo female travel in Singapore: Safety, tips, & what to expect
• Cambodia Itinerary: 2 weeks for first-timers