TravelMatch
How to find travel companions and a travel buddy
It usually happens on a Sunday evening. You have one tab open with flights to Lisbon, another with a guesthouse that looks too good for the price, and a group chat where you asked "anyone fancy a long weekend in May?" three days ago. Two thumbs up. Nobody has said yes.
The quickest way to find travel companions is to stop waiting for the people who already know you and go where people are actively looking for a travel buddy for the same trip: a companion-matching app such as TravelMatch, travel buddy websites and forums, messaging groups, or the destination itself. Which one suits you depends on how much you want to know about someone before you book.
You are in good company. Type "travel buddy" into Google in the UK and the first suggestions are "travel buddy uk", "travel buddy app" and, a little further down, "finder" and "website". Add "reddit" to almost any of them and Google completes it too: people do not only want a list of places to look, they want to hear from someone who has done it.
Why your own circle is rarely the answer
The logical place to start is friends and family, and it is worth asking. The problem is that dates, budget and enthusiasm almost never line up at the same time. The older you get, the harder it becomes: one friend has a wedding that month, another is saving for a flat, a third would love to but only in August.
It is not that they do not want to come. It is calendar desynchronisation. Useful when it works, but not something to build a trip on.
Where to find a travel buddy: apps, websites, forums and groups
There are five places people actually look. They differ mainly in one thing: how much you can see about the other person before you commit to a week together.
Travel buddy apps that match you on how you travel
This is the most direct route, because everyone on it is there for the same reason you are. On TravelMatch you create the trip you have in mind, or browse the ones other travellers are organising, and for each one you see the destination, the dates, the budget, the places left and who is already going. If a trip fits, you ask to join; if it is yours, you receive requests and decide who comes.
What matters more is what you see about the people. You set the age range you want to travel with, and you see where you match on budget, pace, daily rhythm and how you plan, before anything is booked. You can look at someone's past trips, and reviews can only be left by someone who travelled with that person and confirmed the trip happened, which is the difference between a reputation and a rating. You can also block and report users. It is free, it is for over-18s only, and it works in English from the browser.
Other travel buddy apps exist as alternatives. They vary in what they show you before you message someone and in who is allowed to leave a review, so check both on their own site before you create a profile.
Travel buddy websites and forums
Many travel forums have threads or whole sections for "travel buddy wanted" posts. You post your destination and dates, or answer someone else's post. It costs nothing, there are plenty of people, and for very popular routes you will often find someone heading the same way.
What you get, though, is a username and a message. There is usually no compatibility filter and little reputation beyond someone's post history, so you are doing all the vetting yourself. Forums are excellent for advice and for testing an idea; less so for choosing who to spend six days with.
Messaging and social media groups
There are whole directories of "looking for a travel buddy" groups. They are fast and busy. The drawback is the same as forums, only more so: nobody leaves a trace, profiles say very little, and you cannot tell whether the person fits you until you are already there. Is it safe to travel with strangers explains why these groups are the hardest place to judge who you are dealing with.
Hostels, and routes that gather solo travellers
Places with common areas are good for meeting travellers as you go. It is spontaneous and real, but you control neither who nor when; it depends on whoever happens to be there that week. It works best as a complement to a plan, not as the plan.
Some routes almost do the work for you. The Camino de Santiago is full of people walking alone who end up walking together without trying, and walking the Camino from Sarria is the short version most first-timers choose. The limit is obvious: it only works for that kind of trip.
Group tours and singles trips
You pay and you get a closed group with a fixed itinerary. You organise nothing, which has real value. In exchange, the dates and destination are set by the operator, there is often a single supplement, and the group is assigned rather than chosen: you find out whether you fit on arrival. Group tours for solo travellers covers when they are worth it.
Which way fits what you want
- If you already know where and when, and only the people are missing, a companion-matching app gets you there most directly.
- If you have time to sift and want to spend nothing, forums and groups can work, as long as you do the checking yourself.
- If the trip is a specific route like the Camino, the route will bring the company.
- If you would rather pay and organise nothing, and do not mind who is in the group, a group tour.
Whichever you choose, where you look matters less than what you check.
What to check before you commit to a travel buddy
Most trips that go wrong between two people were not a bad match from the start. They were a match nobody tested. Before you say yes, go through these in order.
- The same trip, in figures. Exact dates and how flexible they are. A daily budget as a number, not "mid-range". Whether you share a room. Vague agreement here turns into an argument on day two.
- How you each travel. What time you get up, how much you walk, how much you plan. Interests matter far less than rhythm; how to choose travel companions goes through the seven things people actually fall out over.
- Who has travelled with them, and what they said. Ask about previous trips. If there are reviews, check who was allowed to write them.
- A video call before anyone books. Twenty minutes tells you more than a profile. Someone who will not have one has told you something.
- Who books what. Each person books their own flights and keeps their own documents, money and way home. Agree in writing how shared costs will be split, and do not send money to someone you have not met.
- Start short. A long weekend shows you pace, money and how someone handles a change of plan, and if it is a mismatch, it is over on Sunday.
If you are a woman looking specifically for a female travel buddy, the same list applies; solo female travel groups compares women-only tours, networks and companion apps.
Do not let "who with" stop you another year
You have the urge and you have the destination. The missing piece is the people, and it is the one most of us leave until last. That Lisbon tab can still turn into a trip this spring, with someone who wants the same one.
→ Find a travel buddy on TravelMatch · Free.
The search patterns in this article are from Google's own autocomplete in the UK, checked on 6 October 2026. We do not name other apps, websites or groups on purpose: what each one offers changes, and the categories above do not. Reviewed in October 2026.