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
7 June 2019 / by Gareth Johnson
We at YPT have an inordinate fondness for creating arbitrary lists of our favourite things: bars, silly countries and even Soviet cars all have their own articles, and in that spirit we now bring you a look at the remnants of Pyongyang Castle and four …
7 June 2019 / by Rowan Beard
Introduction The International Friendship Exhibition (국제친선전람관) also known as the International Friendship Gift House, is one of the most iconic and must see sights of North Korea. The exhibition was first opened on August 26 1978 and holds over 250,000 …
5 June 2019 / by Gareth Johnson
How to get from Seoul to Pyongyang? You can’t be a North Korean travel agency – or involved with Korean tourism – without providing up-to-date and on-the-pulse information about travel to the aforementioned destination. It is with this in mind that we …
5 June 2019 / by Justin Martell
YPT’S GUIDE TO MAKING A NORTH KOREA DOCUMENTARY Planning on making a North Korea documentary? Here’s our comprehensive guide on how to do just that! 1. Don’t try to be VICE — get creative with your North Korea documentary! In the mid-2000s, VICE publi …
3 June 2019 / by Rowan Beard
Introduction to Mount Paektu Whilst Mt Paektu (also spelt Peakdu or known as Paektusan or Paekdusan to the Koreans), is sacred to both North and South Korea and considered the mythological birthplace of the Korean people, it has much a deeper and more …
3 June 2019 / by Gareth Johnson
To say that the Pyongyang skyline has changed quite a lot over the last ten years would be quite the understatement. Previously there were much fewer cars, frequent blackouts, and not actually much in the way of a skyline. Nowadays the city is booming …
31 May 2019 / by Gareth Johnson
If you’ve spent any time following Young Pioneer Tours, you’re probably aware that we are nothing if not passionate ferroequinologists (pretentious-speak for ‘train enthusiasts’). To our mind, there’s nothing more fun that travelling on the North Korea …
31 May 2019 / by Joel Vostok
Transnistria – a breakaway state located between Moldova and Ukraine and seemingly still trapped in the era of the Soviet Union – has been a YPT favourite for almost a decade and is a must-do on the adventure travel circuit. The country once earned the …
31 May 2019 / by Gareth Johnson
Without wanting to be accused of being worse than Mussolini, I personally like how we calculate age in the West. You get born, on your first birthday you’re one, and then your age goes up on every birthday. I’ll be 40 on July 29th 2020, and by Jove I’l …