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
2 June 2016 / by Paris Hailwood
We arrived in Bukhara, a bastion of well-preserved silk road buildings and monuments, on the afternoon of New Year’s Eve. For most Central Asians, this is the biggest holiday of the year with huge celebrations… but some unusual new restrictions put i …
14 May 2016 / by YPT Team
The reason we originally fell in love with Central Asia is a story in itself and occurred many years ago now. The short version is as follows – we decided after watching one too many episodes of Top Gear that we should attempt to drive around the world …
12 May 2016 / by Gareth Johnson
8) There are no days off. Whenever I told people I worked on cruise ships they would assume it was a non-stop party, which while partly true, ignores the fact that you work a lot of hours. For Western bar and wait staff contracted hours are 70 per …
9 May 2016 / by Gareth Johnson
Hitchhiking is one of the great ways to travel around a country, especially a place like China. It’s usually easy to get a lift from people who are eager to chat or share a meal somewhere. We’ve been picked up by a coal trucker, a Tibetan family in a m …
26 April 2016 / by Gareth Johnson
As well as our tours around this big small planet of ours, we also have a great little bar in Yangshuo, Southern China. The DMZ bar opened in June 2013 as the worlds only North Korea travel themed bar, and also a regional booking office for our travel …
26 April 2016 / by Gareth Johnson
Air Koryo has advantages. Quick flight, the socialist airline experience. But taking a train is our favourite way to enter Pyongyang – with the bonus that it’s the cheapest way to get there. You get to know your fellow travellers before the tour proper …
26 April 2016 / by Gareth Johnson
Chernobyl does not need too much introduction, but it was here in 1986 that the biggest nuclear accident in history occurred, forcing the people of Pripyat to flee and causing death and destruction in its wake. Modern Chernobyl and Pripyat is now …
23 April 2016 / by Gareth Johnson
Picture the scene – you’ve arrived into Beijing a couple of days before your tour to the DPRK, and are contentedly wandering around somewhere like Tiananmen Square or other convenient tourist hotspot. If you’re a Westerner in China, the locals don …
22 April 2016 / by Nicolas Platt
Bhutan is a small country crammed between China and India in the Himalayan mountains, nicknamed “The Land of the Thunder Dragon.” Because of several factors (including the geopolitical position), Bhutan claims a spot in the list of the least visited co …