Solo Travellers
Balkan bounty: the little-known corner of Greece now ripe for walkers and nature tourism | Greece holidays
I’m on a steadily rising road in northern Greece as swallows sweep over the burnished grasses to either side of me and pelicans spiral through the summer sky. Gaining height, the land thickens with oak forests and a Hermann’s tortoise makes a slow, ceremonial turn on to a sheep track at the edge of the asphalt. And then, just as the road briefly levels out before corkscrewing down the other side, a glittering lake appears beneath me – a brilliant blue eye set in a socket of steep mountains. I can’t even begin to count how many times I’ve crossed the pass into the Prespa basin on my way home from trips into town, but the sight of shimmering Lesser Prespa Lake – often striking blue in the afternoons and silvery at sunset – takes me back to the summer of 2000 when I saw it for the first time.
A little over 25 years ago, my wife and I read a glowing review of a book about the Prespa lakes region. In the north-west corner of Greece and an hour’s drive from the towns of Florina and Kastoria, the two Prespa lakes straddle the borders of Greece, Albania and North Macedonia in a basin of about 618 sq miles. We’d never heard of Prespa until then, but the review of Giorgos Catsadorakis’s Prespa: A Story for Man and Nature got us thinking about a holiday there, imagining a week or two of walking in the mountains, birding around the summer shores and enjoying food in village tavernas at night.
When the book finally arrived at our London flat, at a time when we were talking seriously about living somewhere else, it took just a single evening (and, to be fair, a couple of bottles of wine) to decide to leave the city behind. Not for a holiday, but to try to make a home for ourselves in the Prespa national park. Twenty-five years later, we’re still in the village we moved to – Agios Germanos.
I park the car near the pass and walk further into the hills on a path worn smooth by shepherds and their animals. It’s high summer and there’s a languor to the landscape. Clouds of butterflies drift on the hot air and a hoopoe raises its magnificent crest in an oak. From up here I can now see Great Prespa Lake as well, separated from its smaller neighbour by a wide and sandy isthmus. These two ancient lakes, thought to be in the region of 3-5 million years old, are almost entirely encircled by a bowl of mountains, making it feel a world apart when you cross into the basin. Although the water levels in the lakes have dropped significantly because of climate change in recent decades, Prespa remains a place of extraordinary vitality.
Looking north over the rolling oak forests, I can see the rough point in the lake where Greece, Albania and North Macedonia meet. Prespa is a crossroads not only of countries but of geologies too, resulting in an extraordinary profusion and abundance of wild species – almost three times as many butterfly species (172) can be found on the Greek side of Prespa than in the whole of the UK (59).
I look up as a mixed group of Dalmatian and great white pelicans lowers towards Lesser Prespa Lake. Seeing these birds in flight, carried across the mountains on wings that can have a total span of more than three metres, it feels as if you have been given a glimpse into the age of the dinosaurs. Until we read the book that brought us here, I had no idea that pelicans could even be found in Greece, let alone nest on these lakes in large numbers, but then Prespa is full of surprises. In some winters, Lesser Prespa Lake can freeze solid enough to walk across – and there are far more brown bears in the region than bouzoukis. While Prespa is a popular winter destination for Greek visitors, in part because of a ski-centre halfway between Florina and the basin, it’s the quieter spring and summer seasons when the place comes into its own for walking and nature tourism.
There’s a mosaic of cultural riches to explore here too: the remarkable ruins of the 1,000-year-old Byzantine basilica on the island of Agios Achilleios; the lakeside cliffs on Great Prespa Lake, studded with centuries-old hermitages and monastic cells, reached by hiring a boatman from the fishing village of Psarades; the churches screened by sacred groves of immense juniper trees, found on some of the many marked walking trails.
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Besides the abundant nature and mountain walking that prompted us to move here, what also makes this place so special is the food and hospitality. There are welcoming, family-run guesthouses in many of the villages and excellent tavernas serving regional specialities, including slow-baked beans in a rich tomato sauce with oregano, fresh carp and sardine-sized tsironia from the lake, grilled florinela cheese brushed with red pepper marmalade, and wild greens called horta doused in lemon juice and olive oil.
I stop to watch the cross-hatchings of light on the lakes as the hum of insects deepens with the heat. A short-toed eagle turns into the wind ahead of me, briefly motionless as it hunts for snakes in the forest clearings. Then it steers northwards and away across the mountains. Beyond those peaks encircling Prespa are the beautiful, traditional market towns of Korҫë in Albania and Bitola in North Macedonia, which, together with Florina and lakeside Kastoria just outside the basin in Greece, help make the entire region one of endless fascination for me.
There are plans to re-open the long-closed crossing between Greece and North Macedonia within the Prespa basin in the next few years, an opportunity to build further bridges between communities and make movement for tourists easier. Another project will establish a cross-border walking route between our village and the neighbouring mountain village of Brajčino in North Macedonia; it will celebrate the cultural and natural heritage of the common watershed while highlighting the importance of low-impact tourism to local economies, particularly at a time when climate change is making itself felt around the lakes and threatening agricultural livelihoods.
It’s almost time to return along the path and head home, but first I sit in the shade of an oak, its leaves rustling in the warm breeze. A steel-blue dragonfly unzips the air and I can hear sheep bells somewhere in the hills. The sound shifts and swirls, just as on the saint’s day festivals of summer, called panigyria, when the wild, soaring music of clarinets and raucous Balkan brass rises into the mountain nights as people gather with food and drink to circle-dance in village squares.
I’ve never thought of Prespa as anything but a shared place, where human cultures and wild species come together and co-exist, a place best experienced slowly and with care. And although Prespa has been my home for a quarter of a century now, when I see that blue water glimmering beneath me as I cross the pass, it still so often feels like the first time.
For more information visit Society for the Protection of Prespa and Visit Prespes
Solo travel is becoming a lifestyle choice among travelers in Singapore, according to new research by Scoot, he low-cost subsidiary of Singapore Airlines. The study found that 79% of respondents from took multiple solo trips over the past year.
Motivations cited include freedom, flexibility, and personal growth, with 45% viewing solo travel as an opportunity for self-discovery and wellbeing.
Top destinations for solo travelers from Singapore include Japan, China, and Malaysia—highlighting preferences for vibrant cultures, nature escapes, and familiar comfort.
The survey was conducted by YouGov across five countries in the Asia-Pacific region, with over 5,000 respondents participating. It explored traveler demographics, motivations, planning behaviors, and cultural attitudes related to solo travel.
Solo Travel Emerges as Mainstream Travel Choice
Once seen as a niche pursuit, solo travel among travelers from Singapore has increasingly become a common lifestyle choice, particularly for younger travelers.
Almost 8 in 10 (79%) of the respondents from Singapore took multiple solo trips in the past year, and half among these travelers (49%) embarked on three or more solo trips in the past year. Millennials are at the forefront of this shift, making up 51% – and the largest cohort – of current and aspiring solo travelers, compared to 40% across APAC.
Solo vacations are highly recommended across the region by those who have embarked on such trips. In Singapore, 85% of respondents would recommend solo travel to others. This growing trend is closely tied to broader lifestyle shifts, from increased demands at work and home to a rising emphasis on personal well-being.
Across APAC, most respondents from Singapore cited solo travel as a catalyst for personal growth and self-discovery – 45%, compared to the regional average of 40%.
55% of solo travellers from Singapore cite freedom and flexibility to plan their own itineraries as their primary motivation, while 52% view solo travel as an opportunity to take a break and focus on themselves. Notably, 46% of the respondents value the independence of exploring new places at their own pace.
Across APAC, most respondents from Singapore cited solo travel as a catalyst for personal growth and self-discovery (45%, compared to the regional average of 40%). This inclination reflects recent behavioural trends within Singapore’s highly connected and fast-paced society.
Scoot’s findings dovetail the increased focus on mindfulness, health and wellness in recent years. The white paper highlights how travel, especially solo travel, has evolved from simply being a leisure activity to one that travellers growingly seek for reflection and self-discovery.
“While the findings do not represent the end to group and family travel, the way we travel expresses our individuality and allows for self-discovery. Scoot’s white paper sheds light on the behaviour, motivations, preferences and expectations of an emerging segment of travelers today,” said Agatha Yap, Director of Marketing, Communications & Loyalty, Scoot.
“With an extensive network especially in the Asia-Pacific, Scoot is excited to be able to play a role in enabling access to some of the most sought-after and yet-to-be discovered destinations, empowering more travelers, whether solo or group, to explore the world with greater confidence and enthusiasm,” she added.
Research and Planning are Key Priorities for Solo Travelers
Results revealed that solo travelers are highly intentional in their approach. An overwhelming majority (98%) shared that they engage in some form of planning for their trips.
Aside from flight bookings, the main priorities for more than half of these travelers include accommodation selection (57%), safety considerations (51%), and budget management (42%).
They rely heavily on online review platforms, hotel websites, and online travel agencies to help them make informed decisions about their flight and accommodation bookings. For food and activity recommendations, they rely on social media.
Japan, China, and Malaysia Top Travel Wishlist
The paper also reveals a strong preference for APAC destinations among respondents from Singapore, with 9 in 10 planning trips within the region in the next 12 months. Japan (25%), China (22%), and Malaysia (22%) are the top three travel destinations in the year ahead.
These choices indicate a desire for vibrant cultures, nature escapes, and familiar comfort, reflective of the most popular types of solo trips: city breaks (39%), shopping holidays (39%), cultural and historical experiences (35%), nature holidays (34%), and time for reconnecting with loved ones (32%).
Respondents from Singapore continue to prioritize affordable air travel options, with two-thirds (66%) opting for economy class and one in five (20%) choosing low-cost carriers.
To download the full white paper, visit here.
I’ll be the first to admit that I’m not a very ‘techy’ person.
So when I bought my new iPhone 16 a couple of months ago, I continued to use my device the way I have been doing so for years, despite it being quite the upgrade from my previous model.
A lot of the shiny new specifications and advanced features go over my head.
However, one thing I always ensure is a very obvious upgrade to my untrained eye is the camera.
Not only that, but I recently learned a new hack to do with the camera that will seriously upgrade my game the next time I take a trip abroad.
Particularly as I’m beginning to value solo travel more and more.
If, like me, you’re a newbie to stuff like this, here’s the hack you didn’t know you needed.
The camera hack I recently learned that will come in handy abroad
If you’ve ever wandered through the streets of a local town, gazing up at beautiful monuments and found yourself eager to know more, then the Apple Visual Intelligence is one for you to try. It essentially does the research for you.
By heading to ‘Settings’ and switching the intelligence on, your camera can then become something of a search engine in itself. Clever, right?
Once activated, you can use the Camera Control button (that curious new button on the lower right side of the device) to bring up the visual intelligence.
I gave it a go for myself and found it very easy to set up.
I then decided to put it to the test by pointing my camera towards a framed piece of art in my living room. A quick tap of the ‘search’ button that comes up instantly, and I was inundated with information on the Van Gogh painting on my wall.
While I, of course, already knew about said painting since it’s in my house, it was a quick and surefire way to test the feature out and prove that it really does work.
And given my next solo trip to Europe is as soon as next month, I’m already imagining being somewhere beautiful, such as an art museum or strolling down some cobbled streets, and finding this feature extremely handy.
Why it’s changed my travel game
Much like the instant search on the painting, this clever camera feature will undoubtedly be a fantastic tool when travelling, especially when taking a solo trip and perhaps relying on your device more than you would normally.
The tech company describes it as turning your device into a “personal travel guide, concierge, and translator all in one tap. It’s a true game-changer for modern explorers.”
Since the hack is so quick and easy enough for pretty much anyone to learn, it offers immediate convenience that wasn’t necessarily there before.
Users can simply switch on the camera and immediately identify landmarks, local businesses such as shops and restaurants, and also instantly translate on the spot without having to do a lengthy typing session into a search engine.
Imagine coming across a little café and wanting to see the menu translated before deciding to head in, or stumbling across a beautiful church or building with no obvious information for tourists, now help is on hand instantly.
Work trips can be exhausting and full of small expenses that quickly add up. Between the Ubers to and from the airport, the snacks to keep up the energy, and the long dinners with clients, spending can quickly sprawl out of control. The last thing you want upon returning is to search through a voluminous pile of crumpled receipts only to find they’re not all there.
WIRED and Condé Nast Traveler are here to help. Bringing together our expertise on software and travel, we picked a few of our favorite apps for tracking expenses on work trips. These could be worth trying out during your next big conference or even adopting as a wider organization. Do you have a reliable option that you trust and it’s not included on this list? Make your voice heard in the comments.
Expensify
Expensify is probably the best app for the widest number of people, from freelancers to bigger staffs. It includes all of the must-haves like receipt scanning, distance tracking, and easy categorization as well as a way to manage how you submit the reports and who is involved with the approval process. It’s not too flashy overall, but integrations with other apps commonly used on work trips, like Uber, Delta, and Workday, are nice to have.
Expensify for iOS, Android, and macOS
SAP Concur
Concur is popular with larger enterprises for handling travel; we’ve used it a few times for work trips ourselves. While the SAP Concur app has some rough edges, it’s worth having on your smartphone if that’s the expense protocol used where you work. Like all of these picks, you can take photos of your receipts in the app to streamline the process. Are you driving? Automatic distance capture can help you file those mileage reports as well.
SAP Concur for iOS and Android
Zoho Expense
Like many other expense apps, Zoho Expense lets you save your corporate credit card on the platform and scan receipts as you go. The app then helps you categorize and itemize expenses and extract important details. Hitting the road? No need for guesswork; you can track car mileage with the click of a button to get accurate reimbursements for driving time. You can also calculate your petty cash spend, and businesses can regulate employees’ daily allowances with customizable rules made just for them. It’s also one of the most budget-friendly expense apps, with free plans available for small businesses (three users or fewer) and a premium plan available at just $7 per month.
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