Questions solo and budget travelers actually ask.

Yes — every destination we surface has been vetted for solo travelers. Based on the destinations we've catalogued, our top solo-friendly picks are: Mexico City (safety 76/100), Lisbon (safety 88/100). Each one clears our solo-readiness checks: walkable neighborhoods, English-friendly signage in tourist zones, and published solo-traveler reviews. Tap any destination on /destinations to see the per-neighborhood breakdown.

Our top solo-friendly destinations, ranked, are: Mexico City (safety 76/100), Lisbon (safety 88/100). Filter for "Solo-friendly" on /budget to see only these.

Every destination gets a 0-100 neighborhood safety score derived from publicly reported crime stats, walkability and street-lighting data, plus traveler-review sentiment. Destination pages show an overall score plus a block-level breakdown. Our current highest solo-friendly score is 76/100. For example: "Standard precautions in tourist areas; tap water not drinkable but filtered water widely available." — that's the kind of note we publish alongside each destination's overall safety score on the destination page.

The day-by-day figures come from rolling averages — flight_cost, lodging_cost_per_night, and food_budget_per_day are stored per destination and refreshed against current pricing data. The mid-range daily total for Mexico City is $105/day, with a backpacker tier at $64/day and a luxury tier at $290/day. Costs are estimates — flights vary by season and booking timing.

Each tier is a multiplier on the destination's mid-range lodging and food rates. Backpacker uses ~60% of mid-range lodging and ~80% of food with $5/day transit; mid-range is the destination's stored lodging + food rates with $15/day transit; luxury uses ~3x mid-range lodging and ~1.8x food with $50/day transit. Example for Mexico City: backpacker $64/day · mid $105/day · luxury $290/day.

No — /budget is fully open. Enter your total budget and you'll see the ranked destinations that fit, with a full cost breakdown. Creating an account (free) saves your results, lets you save trips to your dashboard, and unlocks the Itinerary-detail tier. Sign up at /auth/signup.

The Budget Engine and the per-day cost panels are free. The Paid Itinerary Detail tier is $19 one-time and unlocks the day-by-day itinerary, neighborhood safety breakdown, multi-stop support (up to 3 cities), and the printable PDF. The Concierge tier starts at $199 for a human travel expert who builds and books the trip with you. See /pricing for the full comparison.

Yes — the Itinerary Detail purchase is one-time and there's a 14-day refund window. Email support@roamsmart.app within 14 days of purchase and we'll process the refund through Stripe. Refunds don't apply to delivered Concierge engagements where booking has already started on your behalf.

Solo travel on a tight budget is safest when you stay in well-reviewed hostels or guesthouses in walkable central neighborhoods — exactly the kind of destination RoamSmart surfaces. Our first-time-friendly picks: Mexico City (safety 76/100), Lisbon (safety 88/100), Bali (safety 79/100). The backpacker tier on /budget is built for that travel style: hostels, street food, public transit.

Solo travelers who don't speak the local language tend to do best in destinations where English is widely spoken in tourist zones. The Budget Engine factors this in via the solo_friendly flag. Translation apps (Google Translate offline, DeepL) handle day-to-day needs; pre-translate a few key phrases (hello, thank you, how much, where is) and you'll get around fine in any of our top destinations.