Welcome to the Young Pioneer Tours blog about everything North Korea, and all of our other special off the beaten the track destinations.
Since starting in 2008 we have seen blogging about North Korea and our other great destinations as a great way to engage with our customers and to show the world a slice of life in the great destinations we visit.
Due to the mass amount of great content we create, as well as receive from our Pioneers we have since started our travel lifestyle magazine “The Young Pioneer”.
We’re always looking for contributors to our sites, so feel free to browse through our blogs, and , get in touch if you’d like to write for us.
Check out and subscribe to the YPT Blog and travel magazine
June 17, 2020 / by Gareth Johnson
Genesis of a research trip A few years ago we did a research trip to Northern Cyprus as part of the Eurasian Adventure Tour on behalf of our new venture Pioneer Media. The long and short of Pioneer Media is like a film locations version of YPT – “filmi …
June 16, 2020 / by Joel Vostok
In Europe, the stunning Mediterranean island of Cyprus has a reputation for being a party island for British and European holidaymakers looking to take advantage of the resorts that dot the coast of Southern Cyprus. However, there is a dark side to Cyp …
June 16, 2020 / by Gareth Johnson
The Dandong Langtou Airport, famous for its flights from Beijing and Shanghai, reopened on the 30th of January 2019. The airport had been closed for the majority of 2018, following undergoing renovations to the terminal, and the runway is now back in u …
June 13, 2020 / by John McGovern
Photo of the Korean Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism As a mountainous country with natural parks in each corner, from the Kumgang mountains to Mt Myohyang, the Chilbo mountains to Mt Paektu, North Korea is a surprisingly good place for natural s …
June 13, 2020 / by John McGovern
Is it Spain, or Italy, or Belgium? Could the border with Switzerland be deceptively long? For anyone who is even vaguely acquainted with YPT you will know this is a kind of trick question. Long story short, it’s Brazil! But before we get to that… Franc …
June 13, 2020 / by Ben Crowley
If you’re travelling overland and planning on entering Turkmenistan, you’re going to need to know which border crossing you will be using. Chances are you’ll either be applying for a tourist visa to Turkmenistan, in which case we’ll need to know where …
June 13, 2020 / by Simon Haywood
I confidently say that my choice to spend my summer vacation in Pyongyang studying in North Korea has changed my life. I had the chance to take part in YPT Pyongyang Study Tour. It happened at one of Korea’s top university, Kim Hyong Jik Teacher Traini …
June 11, 2020 / by Gareth Johnson
Europe might be tenuously opening its doors to tourism, but South East Asia is certainly playing things a lot safer when it comes to de-confininement following COVID-19. The Government of Cambodia has just announced that all travellers arriving in the …
June 11, 2020 / by Gareth Johnson
Hamhung Cold Noodles as photographed by Gregor Samsa Did we make a spelling mistake? Surely we must have meant Pyongyang Cold Noodles right? No, we are talking about the second most famous cold noodle dish of North Korea Hamhung Cold Noodles ( 함흥냉면 ). …