Looking for a solo travel club? Hosted trips with no membership and no joining fee

If you are searching for a solo travel club, what you probably want is a crowd to go away with and a reason to keep going, without signing up to a committee. Spice Escapes is not a membership club and there is no joining fee: it runs small hosted group holidays for people travelling on their own, and you book one trip at a time, as often or as rarely as suits you.

That difference matters more than it sounds. Plenty of people look at travel clubs because the friends they used to holiday with have settled into couples, or moved away, or simply stopped going. A club promises a ready-made circle. What it often asks in return is a subscription, a newsletter you feel guilty about ignoring, and a sense that you ought to turn up to things. This page is for the reader who wants the circle without the obligation.

A club without the joining form

Every Spice Escapes holiday has a host who travels with the group from the first evening to the last. Groups are around fifteen people, and some reach twenty. Most people book on their own, so you are not walking into a table of old friends. You are one of a dozen or more people who also arrived not knowing anyone, which is a far easier room to walk into.

What a club gives you, a hosted group gives you too: someone to eat with, someone to explore with, and a familiar face at breakfast. What you do not get is a membership card. You can come once, love it, and book again next season. You can come once and never return. You can swap numbers with the people you got on with and choose your next trip together. Nobody keeps score.

If this is your first time going away on your own, start with our guide for first-time solo travellers, and for a broader look at the programme, see over 50s solo holidays. The short read on what makes a Spice Escape different explains how hosting works day to day.

Five trips that work like a club calendar

A good club has something on in most seasons. These five holidays are spread through the year and cover a festive city, a spring short break, a quiet journey of remembrance, an early summer weekend and a week on a Greek island. Pick one, see how you feel, then pick the next.

At Christmas: Prague

Prague Christmas Magic is 3 nights in the Czech Republic, with your host Sally Wiltshire along for all of them. The hotel is central, so the Old Town Square market is minutes away, and one day takes in Prague Castle and St Vitus in the morning and the lanes of Malá Strana in the afternoon. The last festive trip went to Budapest, and this is the follow-up, which is exactly how a club year feels: one good evening of mulled wine leads to the next. Dates: 4 Dec 2026 – 7 Dec 2026. From £675. Places: 5 places left.

In the spring: Athens

Ancient Athens runs for 4 nights and starts the way a good club night does, with dinner together at a local restaurant on the first evening, so names are learned before anyone has unpacked properly. After that you choose: an optional food tour with more than eighteen tastings, or the Acropolis and Ancient Agora with a licensed guide, or your own wander. Your host is Jackie Whyte. Dates: 10 Mar 2027 – 14 Mar 2027, from £579.

A quieter weekend: Ypres

Not every gathering needs to be a party. World War I, A Journey of Memory and Meaning is 3 nights in Belgium, travelling by Eurostar from St Pancras, so there is no airport and no flight. A local guide takes the group to Tyne Cot and the trenches at Sanctuary Wood, and the Last Post sounds at the Menin Gate each evening, minutes from the family-run hotel. Shared reflection binds people in a way a sightseeing tour rarely does. Hosted by Claire Dymond. Dates: 8 Apr 2027 – 11 Apr 2027, from £1,019.

Early summer: Berlin

Berlin Bound is 3 nights in Germany, based by Alexanderplatz, a short walk from Museum Island. Your coordinator leads one day round the city and the rest is yours, which suits anyone who likes company at dinner and freedom in the afternoon. On Saturday afternoons Berliners gather in Monbijoupark to dance tango outdoors, and you are welcome to watch with a drink or join in. Dates: 4 Jun 2027 – 7 Jun 2027, from £549. Places: 22 places left.

A week away: Crete

Once you know you enjoy the company, a longer trip makes sense. Crete Discovery is 7 nights in Greece with two bases only, three nights in Aghios Nikolaos and four in Rethymno, half board throughout, and both hotels have two pools and a spa. One day ends with a home-cooked lunch at a family taverna up on the Lasithi Plateau. This holiday is run by Living Crete, with Spice Escapes acting as agent, and your Spice host is Lauren Fawkes. Dates: 5 Oct 2027 – 12 Oct 2027, from £1,499.

More trips of this kind sit under culture and discovery and short breaks.

What people worry about before joining anything

The worries that send people looking for a club are the same ones a hosted group answers. Eating alone is the big one, and on these trips there is nearly always someone to sit with, plus a host who makes sure nobody is left at a table for one unless they want the peace. Arriving not knowing anyone is the second, and the first evening is designed for exactly that.

The third is money, and we will be straight with you. Every holiday carries a single supplement or a cost for a room to yourself. Our page on the single supplement explains how it is worked out and what your choices are. The trade is that you pay per trip rather than per year, so a quiet year costs you nothing.

The fourth is feeling like the odd one out, perhaps the only person there without a partner. On a Spice Escapes holiday, travelling on your own is the normal way to come. For more on why social travel has grown, read five reasons social travel is becoming the top choice for over 50s.

Questions people ask

Do I have to be a member to book?

No. There is no membership, no subscription and no joining fee. You book the holiday you want, and that is the whole commitment.

Is Spice Escapes a travel club for women over 50?

Spice Escapes runs mixed groups of men and women travelling on their own, not women-only trips. Many people who search for women's travel clubs find that a hosted mixed group gives them the company and support they were after.

Can I go again with people I met on a trip?

Yes, and that is how a lot of the club feeling grows. Swap numbers with the people you got on with and book your next holiday together. We are happy to help you find dates that suit you all.

Is there a local group near me I can join?

Spice Escapes is a UK tour operator rather than a local branch network, so the group forms on the holiday itself. You travel out, meet your host and the others, and the friendships start from there.

What if I only want one holiday a year?

That is entirely fine. You pay nothing between trips, so one holiday a year, or one every few years, costs no more than the holidays themselves.

Your next step

If you came here looking for a solo travel club, the simplest test is to try one hosted trip and see whether the company suits you. Pick the season that appeals, then talk to Rob Thompson, who owns Spice Escapes and hosts holidays himself. He will tell you honestly which trip fits how you like to travel, how the room costs work, and what the first evening looks like. Get in touch with the team and ask anything, from where to sit on the first night to which holiday your new friends might enjoy next.