Travelling as a single parent: What actually helps – and why community changes everything

Single Parent · 18 June 2026

Going on holiday as a single parent sounds simple enough. But it often isn’t. You plan everything yourself, carry all the luggage, serve as entertainment director and referee in one – and when the day is over, you sit alone on the balcony wondering whether that was actually a rest. Many people who travel solo with children know this feeling.

Then there’s a problem rarely spoken about openly: the single supplement. Most hotels and holiday apartments are designed for couples or complete families. Book alone and you pay extra – sometimes 20%, sometimes 40% more per night. That’s not just financially unfair. It feels that way too.

Regular family hotels don’t solve the problem. You’re around people, but every family cooks separately, eats apart, and in the evening everyone retreats to their room. There’s no natural place for real conversations to happen – no community, no shared experiences, no other parents who simply understand what it feels like.

The honest truth about solo-parent travel

What truly helps is community. Not organised group activities, but genuine connection. When you meet other single parents who are there just like you – with similar challenges, similar humour, a similar need for an evening with other adults – something shifts. The holiday becomes lighter. You become visible. And your children realise that their family is perfectly normal.

A huge difference comes when the children play together rather than depending entirely on you. At the Single Parent Hostel they meet peers on the very first day. They build friendships, explore the grounds together, and demand much less from you. That might sound like a small thing, but for single parents it’s a game-changer: suddenly you have real breaks.

Optionally, the friLingue Daycamp is available: children aged 6 to 17 can be looked after during the day – with language courses, sport, creative workshops and excursions into nature. Not compulsory, but a genuine option. You can hike in peace, work, read a book or simply do nothing. And you know the children aren’t just being parked, but are actually learning something.

What community actually changes

Location matters a lot. Braunwald in the canton of Glarus is a car-free resort at 1,300 metres altitude – with over 230 km of hiking trails, via ferratas, e-bike trails and the legendary Zwerg Bartli adventure trail for younger children. It’s not an overcrowded tourist village. It’s quiet, manageable, and yet fully equipped: mountain railway, restaurants, playgrounds – everything’s there.

A typical day at the Single Parent Hostel: wake up without an alarm, shared breakfast in the community kitchen. The children play outside or head to the Daycamp. You hike with other parents – or sit on the terrace with a coffee and just talk. Cook together at lunchtime, afternoon excursion or free time. In the evening everyone eats together, the children eventually fall exhausted into bed, and you have an hour to yourself.

Packing list for single parents at the Family Hostel: light hiking shoes for you and the children, a rain jacket (it’s the mountains!), a board game for rainy evenings, high-SPF sunscreen, a thermos for the trail – and most importantly: the expectation of meeting new people. Those who arrive open-minded leave with more than they expected.

What stays with you when you go home

A holiday as a single parent can be beautiful. Not despite the situation, but with it. When the setting is right, when the community is there, when the children are happy and you can genuinely breathe – that’s not a second-class version of family holiday. That’s the best version.