Solo date ideas: how to take yourself out and enjoy it

A solo date is a planned outing with yourself. It has a day, a place and something to look forward to, like any date, and you are the only person who has to like the plan. Some people call it a self date. The point is to give a free day the same care you'd give a plan with someone you like. People in couples take solo dates as well as single people. If you're single and glad of it, being single looks at the rest of that life.

An example: at ten past nine on a Saturday in September, Malik sat down by the window on the slow coast train. Nobody else was in the carriage. His notebook lay open on the little round table with a pencil across it, and the sandwich he had made the night before was wrapped in white paper. The train stops at eleven small stations along the shore, and he had never gone past the second one. His whole plan fit on one line: get off at the station with the best name, walk until he got hungry, and catch whatever train came back. When the sea and a strip of beach filled the window, he unwrapped the sandwich and decided the day was already a success.

Solo date ideas for getting out of the house

Each of these works in most towns, and none of them needs company to be good.

• The first screening of the day. Morning shows at the cinema often play to a nearly empty room. Pick a film nobody you know would agree to see, like an old black-and-white classic or one in a language you don't speak, and stay until the lights come up.
• A museum on a subject you know nothing about. Choose the small one about trams, old maps or farm tools over the big art museum. Read every label in one section and leave with three facts you didn't know that morning.
• The slow train. Take the train that stops at every small station, and get off at the one whose name you like best. Walk for an hour or two, then catch the next train back.
• A table for one at dinner time. Book a real table at seven on a Tuesday, when the room is calm. Order a starter, a main and a dessert, and take the evening at a pace nobody else sets.
• Breakfast out before work. Go an hour early to a place that does a proper cooked breakfast and sit by the window. You arrive at work with a good part of the day already behind you.
• A river path from end to end. Follow a river on foot from one town to the next, then take the bus home. Bring lunch and eat it wherever the water looks best.
• A one-night class. A beginner session at a climbing wall, an evening of bookbinding or a drop-in drawing class all make a good solo date, because most people there came alone too.

To feel more at ease with time on your own, read how to enjoy your own company. For outings you'd rather share, daytime date ideas has plans for two.

How to plan your first solo date

A first solo date goes better with a little more planning than you'd expect.

1. Put it in the calendar. Give it a day and an hour, and keep it the way you'd keep plans with a friend. Laundry is not a reason to cancel.
2. Pick something you'd suggest to a friend. If you'd be glad to invite someone to it, it's good enough for you.
3. Give it a start, a middle and an end. The train out, the walk and a slice of pie before the ride home make a day. One activity on its own can feel thin.
4. Decide about your phone before you leave. Taking photos is fine. Scrolling pulls you out of the date, so keep the phone in a pocket between pictures.
5. Keep the first one short. Two or three hours is plenty. You can make the next one longer once you know you like it.

When a solo date feels strange

The first few dates on your own can feel a little odd, mostly at the start, when you walk in and choose where to sit. That feeling fades fast, and a few habits help it along.

• Bring something for your hands. A notebook, a small sketchbook or a postcard to write gives you something to do while you settle in.
• Sit where you can see the room. A seat by a wall or a window feels calmer than one in the middle.
• Talk to the person serving you. Ask what they would order. One short chat makes a new place feel friendly.
• Set an end time before you go. Then you leave when the plan says, without wondering whether you should stay.
• Start where everyone faces the same way. At a cinema, a show or a class, nobody notices who came with whom. A table for one can come later.

A solo date night at home

Staying in can be a date too, as long as you plan it like one and don't let it slide into an ordinary weeknight.

• A double feature. Pick two films by the same director, pop corn in a pan with butter and salt, and turn the lights low.
• A dish you've only had in restaurants. Roll fresh pasta from flour and eggs, or make the noodles you always order when you eat out.
• A night from one country. Choose a country you'd love to see, cook one of its dishes, play its music and read about the town you'd visit first.
• The table set properly. Use a cloth napkin and the good plates, and eat at the table with the radio on.

Solo date ideas for women

Every idea above works for anyone, and the questions women ask about solo dates tend to be practical: where to sit, what to bring and how to end the evening. A table near the staff, a book or a sketchbook and a ride home planned before you leave answer most of them. Many women start with daytime plans, like a weekday breakfast or a small museum, then book a dinner table for one once those feel easy. A class is a good step in between, since nobody there expects you to have brought anyone.

Solo dates through the seasons

Each season has an outing that fits it well.

• Winter. Go to a planetarium show on a dark afternoon, or spend an hour in the warm greenhouse of a botanical garden while it's freezing outside.
• Spring. Look for an open garden day, when private gardens let visitors walk through. Bring a notebook for the plant names you want to remember.
• Summer. Take a blanket to an outdoor cinema or a play in a park, and arrive early for a good spot on the grass.
• Fall. Time a trail hike for the week the leaves turn, or pick apples at an orchard and bake with them the same evening.

On February 14 a solo date is a fine plan too, and Valentine's Day for singles has more ideas for that day.

Quiet, new or busy: solo dates by type

People recharge in different ways. Some need quiet, some need a place they have never seen, and some like being alone among other people. The type theory behind Typeza links these habits to personality types.

• Ideator wants a new place. The slow train with no fixed stop is right for them, as long as the day can change direction halfway.
• Harmonizer rests in comfort and quiet. A night in with fresh pasta, soft light and the good plates is a real date for them.
• Analyst likes a calm room and a subject to dig into. A small museum, read label by label, can fill a whole afternoon.
• Commander wants to move. A hard trail with a view at the top makes a better solo date than any table for one.
• Dreamer recharges slowly. A long river path with nobody to keep pace with leaves room for their thoughts to wander.
• Diplomat likes being alone among people. A one-night class gives them easy talk with strangers and nobody to look after.
• Encourager gets energy from a busy room. A breakfast spot full of regulars, with a chat with the staff, starts their day well.

These are tendencies the type theory describes, and you may find yourself in more than one of them. Take them as ideas to try, not as advice on how to spend your free time.

How your type fits with the people around you

Typeza names the type of relationship you share with someone close, for example the friend who can't see why anyone would go to the cinema alone. It also shows why one of you recharges in quiet and the other in a crowd. Take the free personality test to learn your own type first, then invite that friend to compare.

Questions people ask

What do you do on a solo date?

Anything you'd suggest to a friend. A morning cinema show, a small museum, a slow train ride, a table for one at dinner or a one-night class are all good places to start.

Is it weird to go on a date with yourself?

No. Plenty of people eat, travel and go to shows alone, and most others in the room are busy with their own evening. The odd feeling usually fades after the first one or two.

What can I do for a solo date night at home?

Plan it like an evening out. Cook something you usually only eat in restaurants, set the table, and watch two films by the same director back to back.

Written by Virko Kask, founder of Typeza
Written with the help of AI tools.