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I can only speak for my two homecountrys which are France and Germany in these hostels are safe further north to my opinion it is the same.Beeing a girl I would not travel easter and southern europe alone.Eastern Europe might be a bit risky and in southern europe a girl alone ...... you know about italian and spanish guys you will not be alone for long time if you know what I mean if that does not bother you than southern europe is safe as well.

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I also travel alone, and I am a woman too.

I will stay in most hostels without second thought.

In some I am more careful with my things, and I have left one hostel (in 20+ years of traveling) because I did not trust the atmosphere there.

I do keep my valuables with me, even when I go take a shower, and I often take a padlock so I can use the cupboards supplied.

Take a small pack or suitcase that you can close and put under your bed or next to your head, that way you do not tempt the others in the room to look through your things.

But do not worry about it too much, in all these years I never lost something out of my case.

And always keep the normal safety measures. Like you do when you go to the big town near where you live.

Do not go into the park at night, if you do not trust a street better avoid it, do not show big wads of money and do not go home with people/men you have just met.

And use your brains.

Get yourself a good guidebook. I found the Lonely Planet series good, giving all info you need, including safety info, where the sleep, eat, shop, go for a drink, museums and sights and so on, with prices and opening times where needed. And I found that I can trust them, if they say a hostel is just acceptable, it is, if they say it is good, it is that.

Added:

If you want to travel southern Europe, you will indeed get attention of men, more so if you are blond.

You can than team up with some other people at the hostels, male or female, so you can support each other.

And Eastern Europe is so much cheaper that if you are short on money it is worth going. You will have to look harder to find English speaking people, but they are there. (They might be a little shy because of their accents.) Again, if in doubt, you will meet a lot of other lone travelers, it is always easy to team up while traveling. Just keep your eyes open on who you trust and how much you trust this person.

Do not let you be turned off traveling by the movie hostel, as no-body will watch a movie about a plane crash to see what flying is like.

Hostels are so-so as you usually end up with complete strangers as roommates. I spent a good week of the time I was in europe sleeping on trains, it was all safe enough. I never ran into a problem. As for the potheads. :) Amsterdam isn't that bad. Just like any big city in a foreign country with a lot of tourists who have money muggings do happen. But staying in public places eliminates that risk. Amsterdam was a fascinating city, and even the red light district is clean, safe and well policed.

I can't give you a woman's perspective on things, but I can tell you that every hostel I've been in has been cool. I've travelled Europe a lot in my life and much of the advice you've gotten here is pretty good. When you get to a hostel (please book them in advance) try to find other people (like, one or two) and do things together. I noticed women did that all the time in hostels and it makes really good sense. Enjoy your life while you're young. If you don't you'll only have regrets when you're older.

They are as safe as they hostels anywhere in the world, ie. they could be perfectly fine or they could not be... It relatively easy to find out which are the best hostels, even just a simple website like www.hostelbookers.com will show you people's recommendations, and travel guides are good for this as well. On the one hand you could say that its dangerous, and that you shouldnt do it... however there is such a thing as being too cautious and not being able to enjoy things. Its necessary to be careful, plan where you are going to stay and make sure you have all their contacts and that someone else in contact with you has them too. Take padlocks for you stuff, dont take anything obviously expensive to attract attention, and just have common sense. Hope you have a great time :)

I travelled alone for almost all my trips around Europe ( I was working in the UK at the time so did a few 1-2week jaunts)

I found it fine...all you need to do is be sensible!! I personally did not feel overly happy about going out in the evenings, unless it was close by to my hotel....i did meet a few people, mainly in hostels which are good for meeting people and having someone to walk around with.

I used to get up early and be really busy in the day and then chill out in the evenings when I found I was pretty knackered from walking etc all day.

I had a couple of incidents with beggers...like they come up to you speaking say French, you say oh osrry don;t speak french then they start in English about being hungry etc.

In Barcelona ( where thankfully I was travelling with a firend) when a gypsey woman came up to me to pin a flower onto me, I was trying to say I was not going to buy it and she was saying it was free....my firend pulled me away and pointed out the other woamn coming up behind to fleece me!!!!!

Anyway apart from those minor incidents...just keep your eyes open! that was it really.

I would make sure you keep your bags with you at all times and when doing your sightseeing keep your bags closed ( I had a tie that I would tie up to ensure the zip couldn't be opened)...when on metros etc I kept my backpack on my lap..things like that ( things you would probably do anywhere in the world!)

As I was travlling by myself....I generally went to hotels as I was not keen on sharing ( personal preference) and it was cheaper to stay or nearly, in a 2-3 star hotel for the same price as a private room in a hostel.

So jsut be sensible...if you feel unsafe anywhere.....leave it. simple.

Generally the rule is, the further north and west you get in Europe, the safer it is, with Scandinavia as the safest place (properly on earth)

However you wont get as much attention by the males up north as Scandinavian girls properly are the most beautiful girls in the world, and males generally not being as aggressive (and desperate) as down south.

Have fun traveling Europe, and remember. Its still way safer then the US (at least western Europe)

It does not seem very safe to me your being a young girl going alone to Europe! No matter which European country. If your life is dear to you, don´t at least go alone!!!

Think it over again, please!

A Happy New Year to you!

Yes, the majority.

I wont travel alone if I were you, I wont go trecking alone anywhere..

and you prolly just seen the film Hostel? :P

well I highly doubt that will happen..

but if you want to go for it I guess...