From Vietnam to Europe: Solo Indian woman traveller rates countries by safety—India’s rank will surprise you

Solo female traveller Tanwi Dixit ranks countries by safety—her India ratings will surprise you! (Image: Instagram/@tanwidixit)

Solo travel is often described as liberating, even life-changing. It’s where you step out of your comfort zone, chase sunsets in new cities, share dorm rooms with strangers, and dance the night away in places you’ve never been before. But for women, the joy of wandering also comes with a crucial question: how safe is it to travel alone?

Indian travel vlogger Tanwi Dixit (@tanwidixit) recently shared on Instagram her candid take on solo female travel safety, rating the countries she has backpacked through. Her personal ratings have sparked a broader discussion on how safe women actually feel while exploring the world.

Vietnam emerged as her top pick, scoring a near-perfect 9/10. “I spent a couple of months here and never felt unsafe,” she shared, adding that everything from public transport to nightlife felt welcoming. Thailand shared the same score (9/10), with Bangkok, Koh Samui, Koh Phangan, and Koh Tao all described as “super safe.”

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A post shared by Tanwi Dixit | Travel🌍 (@tanwidixit)

Closer to home, Bhutan scored 8/10 for its calm, community-driven vibe, while Nepal earned a respectable 7/10. Not every destination left her reassured, though—Italy’s Rome felt dicey at times (6/10), Cambodia’s Phnom Penh and Siem Reap were flagged as unsafe after dark (6/10), and parts of Indonesia beyond Bali left her with a low score of just 3/10.

Interestingly, Tanwi gave her lowest rating to India itself—just 2/10—citing frequent discomfort in public spaces and while using transport as a solo female traveller.

In another Instagram post, she broke down her experiences within India, rating destinations individually based on how safe she personally felt. Her list looked like this:

• Mumbai – 9/10 (felt vibrant and secure)
• Himachal Pradesh – 8/10 (mountain tranquility served well)
• Pondicherry – 8/10 (charming and peaceful)
• Bengaluru – 7/10 (urban but manageable)
• Goa – 6/10 (relaxed beaches, mixed safety)
• Kashmir – 6/10 (beautiful but felt uneasy at times)
• Varanasi – 2/10 (intense crowds and discomfort)

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A post shared by Tanwi Dixit | Travel🌍 (@tanwidixit)

Now, to be clear: solo female travel and safety aren’t mutually exclusive. Safety doesn’t mean boring. It doesn’t mean locking yourself in a sterile hotel room by 6 pm or sticking only to “safe” destinations. You can have an adventure and still be safe—you can explore somewhere wildly new without compromising your comfort or curiosity.

And this is exactly where the travel industry is stepping up. More destinations are now tailoring their offerings to solo women travellers, with women-only tours, curated itineraries, helplines, and safety assurances woven into tourism campaigns. From Southeast Asia to Europe, what was once niche is becoming mainstream.

Her candid post struck a chord with many women travellers, underlining why perceptions of safety matter and why research is just as important as wanderlust. After all, solo travel isn’t just about the places you visit—it’s about how those places make you feel.