The capital city has yet again been panned for being unsafe for women, according to the Solo Woman Traveller Survey 2013.

The survey, carried out by a travel website, has 84% women voting Delhi as the least safe city.

Bihar and Uttar Pradesh follow the ranks of Delhi, with 18% and 8% women respectively voting them as the least safe states.

Mumbai, on the other hand has been tagged the safest city, with 34% women voting in its favour, while
Ahmedabad and Bangalore were tied at a distant second with 12% votes each.

Also, a majority of 27% women said they considered Maharashtra to be the safest state, followed by Gujarat (15%) and Karnataka (10%).

The survey also brings to light the disturbing fact that women feel safer while travelling abroad alone, as opposed to travelling alone within the country.

The survey said: "At least 37% women said they don't mind travelling alone for work, but worry about their safety. Even more dismal is the fact that more women travellers have a better sense of safety overseas than in India.While 24% respondents said they worry about their safety when they travel within India, but not overseas, only 6% said they worry when they travel abroad alone, but not in India."

"The rise in number of women travelling alone on business is an understandable fallout of the increase in the number of working women. The surprise is the significant number of women who choose to travel alone on vacation," said Nikhil Ganju, country manager, TripAdivsor India, which carried out the survey with a sample size of 500 women. "Another interesting insight that highlights a latent opportunity for the hospitality sector is that 78% respondents said they would prefer to stay in an all-women's hotel or on a women exclusive floor when travelling alone," he added.

The survey was conducted among working women, as well as homemakers.