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Don’t avoid romantic destinations: 15 solo travel tips from Lonely Planet’s women writers

From mealtime chats with strangers to lifelong friendships forged in hostels, the travel guide’s team say travelling alone can be very far from lonely

Learning to get comfortable being by yourself can be challenging. Here, the Lonely Planet team share their advice for women traveling solo. Covering everything from making friends to personal safety to crying in public, most of these tips work well for anyone who finds themselves adventuring unescorted.

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© Photograph: Francesco Riccardo Iacomino/Getty Images

© Photograph: Francesco Riccardo Iacomino/Getty Images

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Paris’s rewilded railway line: the disused track turned into a green space for wildlife and walkers

Inside the French capital’s ring road, the Petite Ceinture, a disused circular rail line, now abounds with nature trails, shared gardens – and even urban farms

A rustle in the undergrowth sends birds wheeling above the trees and into the sky. I’m left alone and in near total silence as I look along the train tracks that disappear in either direction. It feels as if I’m in the heart of the countryside, but actually, the Boulevard Périphérique, the traffic-choked ring road that encircles Paris, is just a stone’s throw away. This disused rail route, the Petite Ceinture, offers wildlife and quiet solitude just moments from the roaring motorway, thanks to a plan that is turning parts of the line into walkable green spaces – the French capital’s less manicured (and less central) alternative to Manhattan’s High Line or north London’s Parkland Walk, a rewilded railway line that’s part of the Capital Ring walk.

Built on the site of the Thiers wall, the last defensive wall of Paris, and its surrounding shantytown, the eight-lane Boulevard Périphérique (known as the Périph) is used by more than a million cars a day. The 20-mile (32km) railway line just inside the ring road was created to supply the Thiers wall, carrying goods and then passengers as the city’s first metropolitan railway service.

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© Photograph: Michel Rubinel/AFP/Getty Images

© Photograph: Michel Rubinel/AFP/Getty Images

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