by Andy Khong Iran, also known as Persia historically, boasts a storied history that dates back thousands of years. It was home to one of the world’s earliest civilizations, the Elamites, followed by the Persian Empire, one of the most significant empires in history. Iran has witnessed the rise and fall of various dynasties, including […]

Organized group and private tours to Iraqi Kurdistan. Our Iraqi Kurdistan Tours allow you to explore all the Kurdistan has to offer.

Iran is one of our favourite places to visit, partly because of the (mostly) Farsi speaking local people. But, are there other languages of Iran that we should know about? Yes, indeed there are. To read about Korean click here. Official Languages of Iran Persian Farsi is the official language of Iran, the lingua franca […]

Guided Tours to Kuwait – State of Kuwait Young Pioneers Tour are pleased to offer our 2023 and 2024 Kuwait Tours and Travel packages. Kuwait historically was a part of ancient Mesopotamia, with its strategic location at the Persian Gulf making it a major trading port between Persia and India, with silks, spices and many […]

Iran now open to tourism in news we had long hoped for and indeed expected. The opening is for vaccinated tourists and will mean a resumption of tours to the country! To read our Covid-19 update click here.  Iran Now Open To Tourism – what has been announced? People who have received their second dose […]

With Iraqi government troops and Kurdish Peshmerga forces currently conducting hand-to-hand urban warfare with ISIS in Mosul, you might think that Iraqi Kurdistan is a no-go war zone. You’d be very wrong. Last October, Young Pioneer Tour’s Shane landed in Erbil, northern Iraq on the very day the offensive to recapture Mosul had started. Our […]

Coronavirus travel update. Welcome to the YPT COVID-19 / Coronavirus travel updates page. With this page we aim to give up to date travel advice on which countries are open to tourism during the current pandemic. As you might imagine one of the most frequent questions we are getting asked right now is which countries […]

After COVID-19 sent China into lockdown in late January the next country to be hit particularly hard was Iran, one of our traditional favourites countries and tours around the world. Our annual spring tour was, of course, cancelled with no prospect of travel to Iran this spring. YPT’s local partners in Iran have sent us […]

Shortly after disembarking from my Air Koryo flight in Beijing in January 2019, I called my parents to inform them that I had just visited North Korea for four days. My mother’s immediate reaction upon hearing my news was: “You better not go to Iran!” Although I promised her that I had no such plans, […]

For almost 5 decades, the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (which roughly translates to ‘Southern Slav Land’) consisted of the territories of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia, and Slovenia. The Republic was led by the charismatic former partisan Josip Broz Tito until his death in 1980. In the years following his death, […]