When travelling around Europe, you have the best opportunity to experience new things and meet fellow travellers who you can share your time with. Many people make lifelong friends with people who they have met during their backpacking trips, as you grow a strong bond over unique activities. Particularly if you’re backpacking solo, meeting like-minded adventurers can enhance your time and make it one to remember for the rest of your life.
But, how exactly do you meet fellow travellers when backpacking around Europe? This guide is here to help you make your adventure better than you could ever imagine, as we point you in the right direction and give you some advice on how you can meet people to share your experiences with. Continue reading to find out more.
Meeting Fellow Travellers While Backpacking Europe
Find Accommodation
The most important part of your backpacking trip is choosing where you’re going to stay. Your accommodation will make so much difference when it comes to meeting people during your adventures. Staying at a poor hostel that doesn’t have much social activity can ruin your stay, as it limits your chances of speaking to others that are backpacking.
You should do thorough research to ensure that you stay at an accommodation that has social gatherings and planned activities, so you meet new people. Hostels are great for this, as they often host a whole range of activities from tours to pub crawls. This gives you the chance to speak to people, as well as see most of the sights around a given city.
Join Classes
Joining classes is one of the most effective ways to break the ice and find a community while backpacking Europe. Organised sessions provide natural social experiences with others who are also interested in that specific niche.
For those looking to master the local terrain in a unique way, taking a street-skating lesson is a fantastic option. Most casual city-based classes don’t require specialised gear, so you can show up in your favourite skate trainers. These allow you to do active exploration and social classes, ensuring you’re ready for whatever your new friends from your classes suggest.
Attend Events
Perhaps the most organic way to expand your social circle when travelling is going to organised events. Whether it’s a craft beer festival in Prague, a neighborhood street fair in Lisbon or volunteer tourism in Malaga, events provide an area that naturally sparks conversation.
These gatherings offer a high-energy atmosphere where the excitement of the crowd makes it easy to turn to a neighbour and start a chat. You can find a mix of both international backpackers and resident locals, so you can gain the added benefit of insider recommendations, often leading to shared journeys to the next city on your itinerary.
Connect with Apps
Platforms like Hostelworld allow you to find travellers with overlapping itineraries long before you even check into your next destination, so you can get a plan together with people before you officially meet. These apps are particularly useful for niche interests, ensuring you spend your time with people who share your specific energy and will like the same activities as you. This gives you the chance to eliminate the boring small talk and jump straight into planning meaningful adventures, making the transition from a solo traveler to part of a group seamless.
Use Social Media
Similar to using apps, platforms like Instagram and TikTok allow you to follow location-specific hashtags to see who is currently exploring the same hidden cafes or coastal trails. You can join dedicated Facebook groups and communities that provide a real-time forum to ask for advice, find travel buddies for specific legs of your trip or discover secret events that aren’t listed in traditional guidebooks. This helps to coordinate meet-ups in safe, public spaces, so you increase the chances of finding a lifelong friendship made on the road.
Ask for Recommendations
When you approach a fellow traveler in a hostel common room, you should take the time to ask for their recommendations of where they have been so far. This leads to an exchange of stories and contact information.
The backpacking community thrives on word-of-mouth wisdom, so these interactions can easily turn into an invitation to grab a coffee, share a meal or even adjust your itineraries to travel together to the next destination. It’s a low-pressure way to turn a solo trip into a collaborative adventure.
Final Thoughts
Whether you’re backpacking around Spain, Germany, Czechia, Poland or anywhere else in Europe, you’ll always find link-minded travellers to share experiences with. Make sure to always choose your accommodation carefully and get your social cap on to ensure that you speak to as many people as you can. Having people to share your time with can make your adventure more special than you could ever imagine.
Darcy Fowler has dedicated a lot of time to travelling around countries in Europe and Asia. She is determined to provide interesting and insightful content with the hope of inspiring others to broaden their horizons. Darcy has a big ambition to establish herself in the world of home travel blogging.
