Ha Noi named world's top solo travel destination

A foreign tourist takes photos on a street in Ha Noi in March 2023. Photo: VnExpress/Tu Nguyen

Ha Noi has topped a list as the world’s trending city for solo travel while Ho Chi Minh city ranked sixth, according to a report by U.K.-based adventure travel company Explore Worldwide.

By analyzing Google search data from the last two years, the company has determined the places that are seeing the biggest uplift in solo travel online searches.

Ha Noi saw a 946% rise in year-on-year solo travel searches, followed by Bangkok (816%) and Taipei (700%).

Seoul came fourth on the list, followed by Phnom Penh.

Ho Chi Minh city, Vietnam’s southern metropolis, ranked sixth with a solo travel search increase of 480%.

The rest of the top 10 were Kuala Lumpur, Perth, Singapore and Sydney.

"Aesthetically pleasing and filled with ancient architecture, Ha Noi presents itself as a place that’s rich in culture with plenty of activities for solo travelers to enjoy, from browsing food markets and visiting historic temples, to simply wandering the colorful streets," Explore Worldwide said.

Ha Noi recently ranked fifth and Ho Chi Minh city 14th out of 20 tourist cities in Southeast Asia in terms of safety according to Numbeo, which claims to be the world's largest database of user-contributed data about cities and countries worldwide.

Ha Noi received 1.5 million foreign tourists last year, just more than a quarter of 2019. The capital plans to attract 3 million foreign tourists this year.

Ho Chi Minh city welcomed 3.4 million international arrivals last year, around 30% of pre-pandemic levels in 2019. This year, the southern metropolis targets 5 million arrivals.

VnExpress