Saudi Arabia, UAE top list of best countries for solo female travelers

Saudi Arabia and the UAE have topped the list with some of the best places to travel alone as a woman in terms of safety, things to do, and equality, a report has found.

After two years of restricted travel due to the COVID-19 pandemic, travelers across the world are eager to return to exploring.

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For solo female travelers, some of the main concerns when choosing a city to travel to is safety and gender equality.

Leading online travel insurance comparison site InsureMyTrip ranked 65 global cities based on date points relating to cost, safety, gender equality, and the quality of tourism.

Medina

The safest city in the world is Saudi Arabia’s Medina, according to experts from InsureMyTrip.

The city’s overall safety score was 9.29, with a rank of 9.3 out of 10 for “absence of worry about attacks based on gender” and a score of 82.75 for “feeling safe walking alone at night.”

Young Saudi women sit in a cafe in Saudi Arabia. (File photo: Reuters)

It is ranked seventh in the list of best places for solo female travelers.

Riyadh

Saudi Arabia’s capital city Riyadh saw the biggest increase in ratings in just one year, moving from 60th place in 2022 to 24th place in 2023, according to the data.

women hold their daughters as they visit the Four Seasons Skyline Tower, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. (File photo: AP)

All data points for Riyadh increased in the past year, but more specifically “gender equality.”

The Kingdom’s capital also came in at 23 out of 65 for the quality of tourism.

Dubai

The UAE’s Dubai ranked first for the world’s best city for solo female travelers, with an overall score of 8.12 out of 10.

General view of The Museum of the Future in Dubai, United Arab Emirates in this handout picture obtained by Reuters on February 22, 2022. (File photo: Reuters)

The city, which welcomes millions of travelers year-round, ranked 8.95 for safety and had the highest score on the company’s list for “feeling safe walking alone at night” with a rank of 10 out of 10.

Dubai also overtook New York for the best tourism spot, coming in at 9.78 for the “quality of things to do” and a 5/5 star ranking for “TikTok popularity.”

Lowest ranking cities

The least safe cities on InsureMyTrip’s list were Johannesburg, South Africa with a score of 0.55 out of 10 for overall safety, and Kuala Lumpur with an overall safety score of 3.36 out of 10.

Paris came in as the third least safe city in the world with an overall safety score of 3.62 out of xxx.

According to the data, the three countries with the lowest equality scores are Malaysia with 6.75 overall, Russia with 7.31 overall, and Indonesia 7.56 overall – all out of 10.

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