Cooking in the Taurus Mountains, Turkey

I'd never visited Turkey's coast, but a vegetarian cookery course at the Yediburunlar Lighthouse, a small hotel in a dramatic setting between Fethiye and Kalkan seemed an ideal opportunity. All the guests were travelling on their own, and we quickly bonded over chopping vegetables. Lazy afternoons were spent reading or chatting in shady corners or swimming in the lovely pool. A gulet cruise was included. In the evenings, we sat around a communal table, and the conversation flowed as we compared notes while guessing the names of the stars that twinkled overhead.
• Exclusive Escapes (+44 (0)20 8605 3500, exclusiveescapes.co.uk) has a Turkish vegetarian cookery week from 2 July, for £1,200pp, including flights from the UK, activities and all meals
Lyn Hughes, editor in chief, Wanderlust magazine (wanderlust.co.uk)

Seaside bliss, Vis, Croatia

Vis, the Croatian island furthest from the mainland, is an island for fishermen, fugitives, poets, and solo travellers seeking sanctuary. During the second world war, Yugoslav leader Josip Broz Tito and his dog slept in a cave on the island's Mount Hum, a summit from which you can now paraglide. When I was there last September, I cycled the island enthralled by its plants – extensive vineyards, palm, pine, olive, oleander, fig, carob and mulberry trees, and more than 300 herbs. Local seafood and wine are cheap and delicious – my favourite is the restaurant at Stoncica Bay. You can fish for squid at Komiza, in the south-west of the island, the sunniest place in Croatia, or swim/dive in the warm, emerald waters of the Adriatic, watching out for Loggerhead turtles and Bottlenose dolphins. As long as you avoid mid-July to mid-August you can easily rent a green-shuttered room in an old stone house looking across the sea. If you want a night out, there's the harbour of Vis town, where the boats come in, and the locals are very friendly.
• Alternatura (+385 21 717239, alternatura.hr) offers paragliding on Vis for €90 a session, and double rooms in Komiza village for €30 a night
James Hopkin, author of Winter under Water and Even the Crows Say Krakow (Picador)

Cycling in Morzine, France

For at least 10 minutes every day, Chalet Musardière in Morzine falls silent, save for the sound of cutlery scraping on plates. The food on a Flow mountain bike holiday is almost as famous as the cycling, and the bursting dinner table in its flagship accommodation is the place where routes are plotted, riding buddies found and tales shared. Morzine in the Portes du Soleil area has long been regarded as the beating heart of European mountain biking, with everything from mellow cross-country trails to vertigo-inducing steeps. Sara and Guy, who run Flow, are both talented mountain bikers and provide guests with everything from route and bike advice to satnavs with the best trails programmed in and a bike workshop for when you need some mechanical help. The atmosphere in the shared lounges is sociable and inclusive: if you don't turn up with friends you'll certainly leave with some.
• Chalet Musardière is available through Flow (+44 (0)8454 742 743, flowmtb.com) from 11 June. A seven-night stay including breakfast, dinner and afternoon tea is €445pp
Susan Greenwood, Been There editor, the Guardian

Climbing the Cala Gonone, Sardinia

If the sign of a good friend is someone who will catch you when you fall, a week rock climbing in Sardinia with Mountaingirl should have you best friends with strangers in no time. Making use of the famous crags surrounding Cala Gonone on the eastern side of the island, this female-only course is suitable for anyone who has wanted to get to grips with rock climbing without any external distractions. "It's not just about climbing," says owner Louise Alexander. "We are also girls who love our Sardinian food and wine." Sore muscles are catered for with yoga and days off at the beach.
• Mountaingirl (+33 632 728 234, mountaingirl.eu) has a seven-day course in self-catering accommodation from €635pp
Susan Greenwood

Walking the King's Trail, Sweden

Holidaying solo you can either embrace the luxury of time alone, or take comfort in numbers and join a group trip. I've done – and loved – both on the Kungsleden, or King's Trail, in the far north of Sweden. Expertly managed by the Swedish youth hostel association, this wild and remote hiking trail runs for 425km with cosy dorm huts (the deluxe ones have shops and saunas) set an easy day's hike apart. Walking the whole thing takes a month but week-long trips, such as the six days from Abisko to Nikkaluokta, are popular, cresting the highest point of the trail – the 1,150m Tjäktja pass.
• One-week group trips with Nature Travels (+44 (0)1929 463774, naturetravels.co.uk) cost from £672pp, including all meals and transfers but not flights. To go it alone, or for special singles group trips, contact the Swedish youth hostels association (+46 84 63 21 00, stfturist.se)
Rhiannon Batten, travel writer

Yoga in Amorgos, Greece

One of the most inspiring trips I did as a single woman was Sunnah Rose's week-long yoga holiday to the small Greek island of Amorgos a couple of years ago. Led by Sunnah and co-instructor Eunice Laurel, the week ran to a comfortingly regular schedule. Mornings and late afternoons were for yoga. Breakfast was taken as a group and then the days were ours to either hang out with fellow participants or enjoy time alone. On the last morning we hiked around the coast for a final, memorable, yoga lesson on an outdoor platform overlooking the sea. We were calm, nurtured, happy – and a new gang of friends.
• Sunnah's 2011 yoga holiday is held in the Kabac valley, south of Fethiye in Turkey, from 21-26 May and costs from £350pp, including yoga and half-board accommodation but not flights (+44 (0)7941 321772, stretchingpeople.co.uk)
Rhiannon Batten

Sightseeing in St Petersburg, Russia

"You have to be streetwise in St Petersburg," somebody told me before I went. "Not London streetwise – but streetwise." It's the worst piece of travel advice I've ever been given. I visited during the balmy June "white nights" and, standing at 3am in daylight on the gently lapping banks of the Neva, I was enchanted. I never once felt threatened there. It's a great place for solo travel; wherever you go, you'll find friendly locals desperate to practise their English. My personal must-sees: the Hermitage (buy tickets online before you fly – shop.hermitagemuseum.org – to avoid the queues); Peter the Great's summer palace just outside town; and the Yusupov Palace where Rasputin was (or perhaps wasn't) murdered.
• Avoid hotels and contact the Host Families Association (+7 911 766 5464, hofa.ru), who will help with visa paperwork and find a flat or homestay to fit your budget
Maxton Walker, travel writer

Escaping to Durness, Scotland

Durness – a small cliff-top village in Scotland's far north-west corner – feels such a world apart you'll be fumbling for your passport. It's also one of the friendliest places I've ever visited – on both my solo holidays here locals have invited me into their homes for a meal. There's the amazing Smoo cave to explore, puffins to see, an art and craft community, sandy beaches and the dramatic Cape Wrath lighthouse. Stay at Mackay's Rooms and Restaurant for boutique comfort, the Lazy Crofter bunkhouse to meet fellow travellers, or Sango Sands campsite for lush sea views. But be warned: re-entering civilisation afterwards is not for the fainthearted.
• Doubles from £100 B&B at Mackay's Rooms and Restaurant (+44 (0)1971 511202, visitmackays.com); bunks £14pp per night, Lazy Crofter Bunkhouse (+44 (0)1971 511202, durnesshostel.com); camping £6.20pp per night at Sango Sands campsite (+44 (0)1971 511726, sangosands.com)
Dixe Wills, author of Tiny Campsites (punkpublishing.co.uk)

Chilling in Tarifa, Spain

Tarifa is known for two things: kitesurfing and partying. Single travellers are welcome: book yourself on to a kitesurfing course and you'll have an instant group of mates, but even if you're more of a spectator, it's easy to meet people. I was there last May, eating pan con tomate for breakfast and grilled seafood kebabs for lunch, drinking mojitos to the sound of Argentine-Tarifan band Freko Malakka at the Café del Mar. Stay at the Hotel Arte Vida on the beach, where the rooms are sweet and simple with swinging bamboo chairs and loungers, and idling on the sloping lawn feels like an afternoon at a music festival.
• Doubles at the Hotel Arte Vida Tarifa (+34 956 68 52 46, hotelartevidatarifa.com) cost from €100 B&B
Lisa Johnson, travel writer

Summer music, Montreal, Canada

Non-stop festivals and (almost) non-stop sunshine make Montreal an ideal place to settle in for the summer. Bypassing hotels will give your stay a more "local" feel. Last July I got my own set of front door keys to an archetypal Montreal townhouse, complete with twisting external staircase, for a two-month stay in the Plateau area, like a Francophone Greenwich Village. Many students rent out their rooms over summer – see Craigslist and the rental forum on Couchsurfing.com. If you want to meet locals, Couchsurfing is an easy place to start. One Quebecois/El Salvadorian Couchsurfer invited me to escape the heat at one of the city's free open-air pools, while I joined another at the Osheaga festival (osheaga.com). There's a thriving live music scene and festivals for all tastes, including jazz, circus, comedy and fireworks.
• For apartment rentals try AirBnB.com, and for home swaps 1sthomeexchange.com has its headquarters in Montreal. For Twitter tips on local life in Montreal, follow @midnightpoutine, @chefdeck and @viewfromalake.
Vicky Baker, travel writer