Why fitness retreats are the perfect holiday for solo travellers

Solo travel can be simultaneously terrifying and exciting, inhibiting and empowering, but taking the first steps outside of your comfort zone and travelling alone, can be one of the best things you’ll ever do for yourself. It can bring new levels of self-confidence, a better appreciation of being in the moment, and can foster incredible friendships and experiences you may never have had if travelling with people you already know.

If you want to ease yourself into solo travel, and you’re keen to join a group travel experience, we’re here to tell you why Salt Escapes might just be the best option for your solo travel adventures…

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Meet other like-minded solo travellers.

With so much of life becoming increasingly online, and away from the office, it can be easy to feel a little disconnected and hard to meet new people. Solo travel is a great way to build friendships and experience new things with people that share the same interests as you.

As Amy, Co-Founder of Salt Escapes says, “we created Salt Escapes as week-long trips designed for like-minded travellers between the ages of 25 - 45, who share a love of fitness, adventure and epic travel experiences. This is exactly how my partner Mike and I like to holiday… keeping up with our workouts, eating tasty but also nutritious food, and exploring beautiful places a little more off the beaten track. When we launched Salt Escapes back in 2018, there were loads of yoga retreats, but there wasn’t a good group fitness retreat option for people like us, so we invented one!”

Group travel with a wellness focus is a growing trend in the travel space, but as more and more options pop up, finding the right group holiday to suit you and to tick your solo travel boxes can be tricky. Caz, a solo traveller, who joined us on our Lombok Escape in Indonesia, tells us why she booked Salt Escapes. “Knowing that I would be around people with similar interests to me! Not many people call training 3 times a day a holiday haha but it’s what I love most, and also just knowing that there was a plan in place and being part of a group. Sitting at a restaurant alone in a foreign country isn’t for me but being around a group of people that are also traveling alone just caught my attention”.

On Salt Escapes, every part of the week is designed to build connections, and forge friendships, from the team workouts to the group dinners, and from the epic adventures, to the time spent relaxing around the pool together. As solo traveller Maria explains, “I love the fun, fit people I get to meet at Salt Escapes and make lasting friendships across the globe. Also I don’t know how Salt Escapes decides roommate pairing for solo travellers but my roommate couldn’t have been a more perfect fit, not to mention I still talk regularly to people from my last trip with Salt Escapes to Zakynthos”.

Lasting friendships that continue well after the week is over is exactly what Salt Escapes aim to build. As Co-Founder Mike says “A week with us is packed full of workouts and recovery sessions, awesome adventures and incredible food, but our overall aim at Salt Escapes is to build a community of not just like-minded travellers, but friends, around the globe. We regularly have guests that meet on Salt Escapes, one could be from the UK and one from the US, and they’ll book again together to join us on another Escape, or visit each other in their home countries. I think that’s a pretty cool legacy.”

Feel safe whilst travelling solo.

One of the biggest things holding people back from experiencing solo travel can be the fear of feeling unsafe and alone. Joining a group holiday as a solo traveller can help ease these fears, as you’ll be spending your time away with other travellers, and, if you choose the right trip, your weeks itinerary and activities will all be taken care of for you.

Caz, who joined the Indonesia Escape says “I was extremely nervous getting on a flight to Bali alone - I had never traveled solo before to somewhere so unknown. But I couldn’t have had a better experience. The welcoming nature of everyone put me at ease right away and the whole set up was just amazing! Traveling alone can be so scary but from the minute I got to Lombok I felt like I had made friends for life! Mike and Amy are also just the most amazing people and I cannot wait to join them on another trip.”

The team at Salt Escapes will be in touch with you from the minute you book your trip, providing travellers with extra information about your Escape week and answering any questions you have. Co-Founder Mike says “we always set up a Whatsapp group with the guests on each Escape week prior to the trip, so that guests can chat, get excited together, and make a plan for sharing transfers to the villa location if they wish. The Whatsapp group always helps to ease any nerves and breaks the ice in a way.”

Exploring a new destination as a solo traveller, sometimes very far from home, can be scary. But from the moment you arrive on Salt Escapes, you’re surrounded by a bunch of new friends, and your hosts will take care of everything from start to finish, meaning you can let your worries subside, just be in the moment, and soak up every second of the experience.

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Have everything planned for you.

Planning a holiday itinerary as a solo traveller, especially one filled with activities, can be a huge task, and one a lot of us don’t have time for in our busy lives. Have you ever been on a holiday and felt like you spent a good portion of it either in a local mini market trying to stock up on food for your airbnb, or on your phone trying to find decent local activities, or reading blogs trying to find a good local restaurant? Booking onto a group trip as a solo traveller comes with the perks of the booking bit being pretty much all you need to do!

As Susan who joined Salt Escapes Bali says, “From the minute you book, you feel like you are part of the family, with the owners readily available to answer any questions or reservations you may have. The villa we stayed in was incredible as were the daily, freshly cooked meals. It’s clear that Amy and Mike are really passionate and focused, spending a huge amount of time and energy before each trip ensuring the set up for the week is perfect. Anything we did off site was meticulously researched, meaning we all felt completely comfortable leaving ourselves in their capable hands.”

Co-Founder Amy says “our Escape weeks take a huge amount of research and preparation to get them to the point where we’re satisfied it could be one of the best weeks of our guests lives. We are extremely particular about the villas we book, the private chefs we use and the local companies we work with for activities like our Boat Day, ensuring that every aspect of the trip is an unforgettable experience for our guests”. All this meticulous planning of every detail of the week, allows you booking on as a solo traveller, to completely unwind, relax and spend your hard-earned vacation doing exactly what you should be doing; being present, and making memories.

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Step outside your comfort zone and feel inspired.

A huge part of Salt Escapes is about stepping outside your comfort zone, from the challenging workouts, recovery sessions and ice baths, to the adventure element, which often includes activities like surfing, hiking waterfalls or cliff-jumping on Boat Day. A reminder from Co-Founder Mike, “guests that book our Escapes have already stepped outside their comfort zone in a big way just by coming on a trip as a solo traveller, and especially one that’s all about fitness and adventure. The activities we offer are all optional, and if some guests aren’t quite ready to cliff-jump or surf for example, that’s completely fine! The weeks are always about our guests getting exactly what they want out of it. The vibe on Salt Escapes is always positive, encouraging and welcoming, and every single trip we have guests do something they thought they would never do, like complete the run, or sit in an ice bath for 3 minutes, or ride their first wave, which is pretty special to witness”.

Trying new things and stepping outside your comfort zone whilst travelling solo can be incredibly rewarding and empowering.

As Caz from the Lombok Escape explains “Boat Day was amazing, I had never really snorkelled in my life before so that was so fun, but also just the training sessions really pushed me to places I hadn’t been to in a long time and brought back my love for training.”

Joe who joined Salt Escapes in Greece says “I think that the best bit of Salt Escapes, is pushing you to doing things that you didn't think you'd be capable of doing. The adrenaline of working out in such a great place gets you through, and still gets you up the next day to do it again. Like, you want to go to the workout because you want to be around everyone and you want to keep going. The Shipwreck run was very much like that, because I’ve never done much running and was terrified of this idea of going on the run but I absolutely loved every single second of it.”

The perfect holiday for solo travellers.

Solo travel can be the best kind of adventure; a way to learn new things about yourself, meet interesting people and experience exciting things away from everyday life. On Salt Escapes, everything from the accommodation options to the like-minded people, and from the group dinners to the bucket-list activities, provide a welcoming, safe and inspiring way to solo travel, not to mention, an epic week of unforgettable experiences.

As Jigar who has joined trips in Greece and Menorca says about Salt Escapes, “most importantly, they build an amazing community. I still keep in touch with the people I have met on their trips. You show up as strangers and leave as friends.”

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