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 […]

Nestled in the eastern Himalayas, the Kingdom of Sikkim was a small but culturally rich Buddhist monarchy that maintained its independence for centuries. Bordered by Nepal, Bhutan, Tibet, and India, Sikkim’s unique geography and spiritual heritage made it a distinctive Himalayan kingdom. Today, it is an Indian state, but its history as an independent kingdom […]

On 4th June 2025, a new “Trump Travel Ban” was announced, under which President Donald Trump has effectively banned nationals from 13 countries and imposed severe restrictions on travellers from six others. As is often the case with developments like this, there’s currently a lot of fear and, indeed, misinformation about what it actually means […]

Red Tourism, or being a red tourist company, is a stick we often get hit with at YPT. The truth, of course, is that we are much more than purveyors of this particularly niche genre. What is also true, though, is that the company was to some degree founded on the back of red tourism—and […]

Travel during the Cold War was not for the faint of heart. For those brave, curious, or politically aligned enough to cross into the communist world, it was a trip filled with red tape, strict regulations, and often, a hefty dose of propaganda. Despite the challenges, people did visit the Soviet Union, Eastern Bloc, and […]

The 10 hardest countries to visit often have restrictions for travellers based on their passports and have high requirements to be eligible to enter the country. While certain passports make it easier for people to visit specific countries visa-free, some countries still make it difficult for almost everybody to visit. Below are the top 10 […]

Russia is to start selling tours to North Korea, according to a state-run news agency Pravda announcement on 10 January 2024, but when exactly will this start, where will it be applicable and what does it mean for an overall North Korean reopening? YPT take a look. TLDR; long story short – North Korea has […]

In news that those of us involved in Pacific Island travel have been anxiously awaiting the international border crossing between Bougainville and Solomon Islands has been reopened. This fantastic news means that you will now be able to travel from the Autonomous Province of Bougainville in Papua New Guinea to The Solomon Islands, a country […]

Introduction The Cold War created a lot of what would become former socialist countries, but while most assume these were all in the Eastern Block, many were independent and part if the so called Non-Aligned Movement (Nam). Of these outliers some are fairly well known, such as Yugoslavia, while others are far more obscure! Here’s […]

With us now having launched our Least Visited countries Tour for 2023-24, many may have noticed some parts have changed, so why have we done that? Quite simply, that is how things roll in these parts….. Least Visited Countries Tour Part One This one takes us to Palau, the Federated States of Micronesia, Guam and […]