Welcome to the Young Pioneer Tours Blog, the place where we we keep you informed about everything YPT, from current tours, to future tours and a whole lot of eclectic stuff in between.
YPT first started blogging in 2008 and are considered the best North Korean Travel blog that there is.
But, as Young Pioneer Tours have expanded our locations, so have we expanded our blog. Now we have one of the best travel blogs in the world!
And while most of our content is about the numerous destinations we go, including travel guides and what to pack, we also delve into more serious subjects such as the safety of certain destinations, as well as how LGTBQ+ friendly the places we visit are.
While the vast majority of our content is produced in-house, we are always on the look-out for guest bloggers and writers. Want to write for us? Then simply get in touch.
You can also check out our sister publication YPT Life.
Check out and subscribe to the YPT Blog and travel magazine
17 April 2019 / by Joel Vostok
Chernobyl, most infamously known for the catastrophic nuclear disaster that almost wiped out Europe, occurred in Northern Ukraine and it’s most associated with the nearby town of Pripyat, which was built for power plant workers and their families but e …
17 April 2019 / by Gareth Johnson
Taedonggang beer? Can you drink in North Korea? Can North Koreans drink? These are just some of the questions we veterans of the DPRK get asked on a regular basis. Let’s get to some North Korea myth-busting: here’s our guide to the beer of Pyongyang an …
17 April 2019 / by John McGovern
We here at YPT are constantly enthralled at what makes a country and how many actually exist or have existed. Here are five that are no more: 1. Kingdom of Kurdistan In 1922, the Ottoman empire – lying prostrate in the wake of the Great War – was the s …
12 April 2019 / by Pier Doyon
The president of Sudan, Omar el-Bashir, has been ousted from his office by the Sudanese military. This ends the 30-year rule of El-Bashir, who was one of the longest running leaders of North Africa and the Arab World. Omar el-Bashir became the leader o …
11 April 2019 / by Gareth Johnson
In 2019 Young Pioneer Tours ran the first-ever tour to Bir Tawil and as of now remain the only people to have toured what is in essence the only terra nullus (unclaimed land) in the world. What we encountered was to prove not only an adventure, but som …
11 April 2019 / by Gareth Johnson
If you’ve ended up on the YPT website, then I’ll go out on a limb and assume you’re not with the majority of the planet who think you cannot visit the DPRK, and assume that you at least know that it’s a possibility. Many, though (including many that ha …
11 April 2019 / by Pier Doyon
What is Nowruz? If somebody talks about New Year, your mind probably goes to January 1st. However, all around the world many other populations count years differently. For us at Young Pioneer Tours, Chinese New Year – or Spring Festival – is of great i …
11 April 2019 / by Joel Vostok
Victory Day is a holiday that commemorates the surrender of the Nazis in 1945. It was first inaugurated in the 15 republics of the Soviet Union, following the signing of the German Instrument of Surrender, late in the evening on 8 May 1945. It is one o …
10 April 2019 / by Pier Doyon
Sudan, which used to be Africa’s biggest country, was split in two after a civil war — from which emerged the world’s youngest country in 2011, South Sudan. As it used to be the same country, you might think there aren’t many differences b …