On all my best trips, I was alone. As a singleton, a woman is inevitably more alert to the world around her, and that makes for the most fruitful journeys. I would even say that if one of your aims on your travels, is to glean something about yourself and your place in the world, then you must leave your chums behind.

Many women seem to realise this, judging from those who write to me saying that they long to take off on their own, but are fearful or intimidated by the myth - still prevalent, despite the huge increase in the number of solo women travellers - that the venture is almost certain to end in rape, death or lifelong incarceration in a Turkish prison. I am not going to pretend it is easy. It is a bore being stared at, ogled or propositioned, and sometimes you just don't feel like sauntering into a bar, or even a café, without a companion. When travelling in more segregated societies, notably orthodox Muslim areas or deeply traditional rural communities, single women are often regarded with deep suspicion, even hostility. I once spent some weeks alone in Bangladesh. It was tough, especially as no one spoke a word of English, and I was (as I discovered while I was there) in the early stages of pregnancy, which made me feel particularly vulnerable. But nothing bad happened and I got a lot out of the trip.

Being lonely some of the time is part of the deal. You know you have chosen a rocky path: if you want a doddle, you could go on a package tour to Benidorm. As the mountaineer Julie Tullis wrote in her book Clouds from Both Sides, "The challenge is to myself, not to the mountain."

Whoever you are, there are many advantages to travelling alone. I have found that people welcome women into their homes more readily than they do men. Most attackers and robbers, after all, are male, and women tend to be trusted. I travelled alone through Chile for six months, and when I was up in the remote villages of the high Andes I was regularly hailed by women wanting to offer hospitality. They would have felt too inhibited to do the same to a western man, and in many cases it would have been culturally inappropriate.

The travel writer Dea Birkett is best known these days for her advice on travelling with kids, but in her salad days she covered many thousands of miles on her own. "You're far safer travelling as a woman alone," she says, "because everybody presumes you're at greater risk. So there are a hundred helping hands and open arms wanting to take care of you. Men, it is presumed, are tough enough to get on with it all by themselves. A woman's greatest strength is her perceived vulnerability."

I don't want to lump all girls together as if any woman waiting at Heathrow is the same as any other. I meet many mature women preparing to set off alone for the first time; equally, the gap-year adventure has become de rigueur in some quarters. Women's trips embrace the full range of styles: from those who feel naked without a travel iron and inflatable clothes hangers to those who leave their hairbrush behind. And I have never adhered to the theory that people who travel rough have some kind of moral superiority over those who have to take taxis. Want to stay in five-star hotels? That doesn't make your trip less valid.

It is vital, of course, to take all the usual precautions regarding health and security, and to acquaint yourself with local customs just as you would, or should, if travelling in company. Here are some other practical steps I have learned to take to ensure the best odds for a safe, relaxing and peaceful trip.

Prepare yourself

For the first couple of years of my solo travels, I struggled along with old-fashioned tomes of the Blue Guide variety which extolled the architectural features of a mosque at some length without bothering to mention that I wouldn't, er, be allowed in. Now, I always take both the appropriate Lonely Planet and Rough Guide: each has information specifically for female travellers. I also like to take narrative accounts written by travellers who have covered the same ground. Moritz Thomsen's wonderful The Saddest Pleasure kept me going almost single-handedly on a troubled journey up the Amazon.

Before you go, it is worth trawling through a few websites aimed at solo women travellers. Like most things on the net, the overall standard is low, but you never know what you might pick up. Current sites of interest include the advice for women travelling alone section on www.eurotrip.com (there is also a discussion board on the subject), and the travelling alone discussion on www.eTravel.org. Scout around with your usual search engines and you will find more.

Ditch the hotpants

I am not of the "she was asking for it" school, but, have always found life on the trail easier when I make myself inconspicuous. You might not like the fact that in many countries a vigorous belief persists that western women enjoy regular bouts in the sack with strangers, but it does. If you expose swathes of inappropriate flesh, you are going to be perceived as the incarnation of this entrenched cultural apprehension. But if you like the sound of hundreds of people spitting in your general direction, by all means go ahead and wear hotpants in Tibet. Unless you are in a tourist resort, outside the developed world you will feel more comfortable in a swimsuit than a bikini, even around the hotel pool.

Don't romanticise

You will be offered an abundance of rural hospitality. You will be grateful for much of it, but it is important not to romanticise this aspect of your trip. Once, in Orissa in India, I was invited in for a meal with a tribal family who did not have running water. When it was time to leave, the woman of the house presented me with a bill. If this happens to you, do not be disillusioned: it does not negate your experience.

Don't forget the corkscrew

Eating alone in restaurants. God, this can be brutal, no matter how deeply you bury your nose in a book. Even in genteel Jersey I remember feeling that I couldn't face another ritual ordeal-by-staring over an interminably silent breakfast. Don't be afraid to give it a miss when you are feeling weedy: it doesn't mean you have failed. I have picnicked in a ridge tent or a cell-like hotel room hundreds of times (most hotels are happy to serve you in your room). I don't drink any more, but I always used to find that a flagon of cheap wine took away the pain nicely in the evening... so never, ever forget your corkscrew.

Act serene...

Try not to mistake innocent harassment (the kind that is part of daily life in rural India, say) for real danger. Keep your nerve; stay calm. You need to learn, consciously, to relax and develop a Buddhist-like serenity when you are pestered by people asking questions 100 times before lunch.

...or barricade the door

If I have bad vibes about the place I am staying in, I have no hesitation about barricading the door of my room at night. Be prepared to be resourceful. In a particularly grim establishment in Cairo I discovered that all the furniture was nailed to the walls. I dragged in a disused fridge languishing in the corridor outside my door. It did the trick. Lengths of twine or strong string can be useful: I recall one bathroom in Chile that locked only on the outside. I tied the door shut.

Sit by matron

Avail yourself of women-only carriages on trains in Asia and some parts of Africa - though be aware that you will be surrounded by squalling infants. (In India, if you are filling in a reservation form prior to buying your ticket, write, "ladies cabin" in the special requirements section.) Some railway stations on the subcontinent have women-only waiting rooms and women-only ticket queues - the latter are shorter.

On any journey, anywhere, arrive early so that you can choose the seat that looks like the best bet - next to a pair of feisty local matrons, for example. I often pick a sensible-looking woman on a platform and follow her on to the train.

Take it easy

I build in a few days a fortnight to rest in a safe environment - a friendly, peaceful guest house, for example. It helps me build up my psychological resources before the next leg of the trek.

Compromise

Sometimes, it is just not worth the risk.

Finally, statistics indicate there is more chance of being mugged in the UK than in most other places on the globe - so you are safest out there on the road. And remember the words of Emily Lowe, who journeyed through Scandinavia with her sister in the mid-19th century and wrote the epic Unprotected Females in Norway. "The only use of a gentleman in travelling," she concluded, "is to look after the luggage, and we take care to have no luggage." Happy travels.

· Sara Wheeler's Cherry: A life of Apsley Cherry-Garrard is published by Jonathan Cape, priced £17.99