When it comes to Papua New Guinea tours, YPT are the experts. Over our years of arranging travel to Papua New Guinea we have been able to curate the best contacts in order to arrange safe and affordable travel to Papua New Guinea.
Whether you would like a group tour to Papua New Guinea, or more bespoke independent travel then Young Pioneer Tours are your travel agent of choice.
Papua New Guinea Group Tours 2024 – 2025
Our current Papua New Group Tour programme consists of the festivals in Mt Hagen and Goroka, as well as more specialist trips to West Papua, Bougainville and even the Solomon Islands.
We are constantly adding new tours to Papua New Guinea, so watch this space.
Solomon Islands, Bougainville and New Britain Adventure 10th – 23rd January 2024 USD $5995
Our first tour of the year has us as the first tourist group to cross the international border between the Solomon Islands and Papua New Guinea, before a full tour of Bougainville and New Britain.
Explore West Papua Tour (Indonesia) 22nd to 29th May 2024 $2495
Our signature tour to the Indonesian state of West Papua. Tour starts in Jayapura, before going deep into the countryside to explore the tribes of the region. This can be combined with our Timor Overland Tour.
Our signature tour to Papua New Guinea, that has us explore the highlands, visit the biggest festival in Papua New Guinea, before group two heads off to Bougainville.
Papua New Guinea Bougainville Tour 21st – 26th August 2024 $2995
Our Bougainville tour can be done in combination with mainland Papua New Guinea, or as a standalone. Highlights include the crash site of Yamamoto and island hopping.
Papua New Guinea Goroka Show and Mummies Extension 10th – 16th/18th September 2024
This tour has us exploring Mount Hagen for a traditional show and then heading to Goroka for the spectacle that is the Goroka Festival. After this we head off road to Aseki, in order to visit the mummies, before finishing with a city tour of Lae.
What sets our PNG group tours apart?
While visiting Papua New Guinea is extremely rewarding, doing so on your own can be quite difficult as the country’s infrastructure is limited and local knowledge is a must. Getting in touch with local companies and services can be very difficult as the websites are often out of date and phone numbers out of service.
Most companies will catapult you in to a tourist show and fly you out, avoiding most local experiences. At YPT we team up with local partners to make sure you get the whole picture and get up close with the local culture, whilst ensuring the utmost safety and protection is provided to you.
Budget Papua New Guinea Tours – why are yours so cheap?
Whilst there is no such thing as a budget Papua New Guinea Tour, YPT are about as close as you can get. So, how are we so cheap? In essence we take away unnecessary costs, such as deluxe hotels and fake tourists shows and instead embrace making an authentic experience.
Many want to visit Papua New in luxury, while watching staged shows. There is nothing wrong with that, but we prefer to give you an authentic experience with real people, whilst staying in decent hotels.
And even though it might be a budget Papua New Guinea Tour, at no point do we ever sacrifice any element of your safety.
Can you travel independently to Papua New Guinea?
When we talk about independent tours to Papua New Guinea what we actually mean is private guided tours to Papua New Guinea. It is quite simply not safe to backpack, or travel independently around PNG, which is why we exist!
Our independent tours to Papua New Guinea offer the next best thing with us designing the perfect itinerary based on your needs and working around your schedule, whilst ensuring your, or your group’s safety in Papua New Guinea.
Independent tours to Port Moresby Capital Region
Most tours to Papua New Guinea will involve staying in Port Moresby for a short while. Since all international flights go through the capital and most domestic flights are in the morning, connections often take a day or so.
We can arrange visits to the few sights of Port Moresby such as the National Museum, the Nature Park but also slightly more obscure attractions like the beginning of the Kokoda Trail, as well as the floating villages of the city.
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Papua New Guinea Independent Tours – The Highlands
The Highlands, a region made up of a group of seven provinces including the Western Highlands, Eastern and Southern Highlands provinces, is probably the most famous region of Papua New Guinea. Daily flights to Mount Hagen, Goroka, Lae and Madang connect the region with the capital and the region is well-known for its multiple festivals (see the calendar below).
Three of the country’s main and most popular festivals; Mount Hagen, Goroka and the Morobe Cultural Shows are found in this region. In this part, we can arrange village stays, coffee plantation visits, private sing-sing and, in the coastal cities of Madang and Lae, scuba diving and other water sports.
Papua New Guinea Independent Tours – East New Britain
Off the coast of mainland Papua New Guinea is the island of New Britain. It has a much more relaxed vibe than the main island and is much cleaner. The old capital of East New Britain, Rabaul, is an ideal place for relaxation but also for WWII history buffs.
In Rabaul, many Japanese wrecks and bunkers can be visited as part of a World War II interest tour. For water sport lovers, Rabaul is a great launching pad to go SCUBA diving, snorkelling around the wreck of a Japanese Zero plane or simply swimming amongst the dolphins. It is also possible to climb up the volcano Tavurvur, still active! Finally, in the evening, a typical fire dance of the New Britain tribes, with their traditional giant masks can be organised for groups.
Tours to New Britain can be perfectly combined with our tours to Bougainville which can be seen below.
Independent Tours to Bougainville
Slated to become the world’s newest country following their referendum, it truly does not get much more off the beaten track than travellng to Bougainville.
Highlights of travel here include the trek to Admiral Yamamoto’s wreck, cultural shows, as well island hopping and much more.
Young Pioneer Tours are currently the only company to offer Papua New Guinea and Bougainville tours combined. Click the link for our main Bougainville Tours page.
Visit The Mummies of Aseki
In 2023 Young Pioneer tours became the first tour group to visit the Mummies of Aseki. To get here involves starting in Lae, before going completely off road until you get to Aseki, before a hike to the Mummies.
Young Pioneer Tours arrange one yearly trip here, as well as offering independent tours to the Mummies of Aseki.
Festivals of Papua New Guinea / Papua New Guinea Festival Tours
The best time to visit PNG is for one of the numerous festivals of Papua New Guinea. The most famous is of course the Mt Hagen Festival, but there is also the Goroka Cultural show, which is even older. These can either be joined as one of our group tours, or we can arrange an independent package for you.
- July: National Mask Festival in Rabaul, East New Britain
- August: Mount Hagen Cultural Show in Mont Hagen (the biggest cultural show in the country!), Sepik Crocodile Festival near Wewak and Enga Festival in Enga (famous for its sand paintings). It is currently proposed to have a cultural show in Bougainville, but dates are yet to be confirmed.
- September: Goroka Cultural Show in Goroka and Hiri Moale in Port Moresby
- October: Morobe Cultural Show in Lae
- November: Kenu and Kundu Canoe Festival in Milne Bay
Papua New Guinea Tour – Independent Tours to Papua New Guinea
Aside from our regular group tours and our Papua New Guinea independent tours based around destinations, or festivals, we can also arrange bespoke travel to Papua New Guinea to fit a number of areas of interest. The following is a non-exhaustive list of example independent Papua New Guinea itineraries that we can offer.
Homestays in Mount Hagen – YPT are pleased to now be able to offer authentic homestay programs in the Mount Hagen region of the highlands of Papua New Guinea. More details can be found on our dedicated page.
Anthropological Tours to Papua New Guinea – If there is a particular ethnic group that you would like to see, or if you would like to go further in land to visit the partially contacted tribes, YPT can arrange this as part of a trip to Papua New Guinea.
Bird Watching Tours to Papua New Guinea – One of the most famous activities within Papua New Guinea is to go bird watching. The infrastructure for this is very good and YPT can arrange bird watching tours designed specifically around what you wish to see.
Cultural Tours to Papua New Guinea – Tours related to the specific culture and culture of Papua New Guinea can be designed on a bespoke PNG tour basis. Please get in touch to discuss options for what you would like to include.
World War 2 Tours to Papua New Guinea – Papua New Guinea was one of the mostly important the theatres during World War Two and thus has many important historical sites related to this.
School Trips to Papua New Guinea – Despite its reputation for danger, it is possible to arrange trips to Papua New Guinea for students of all ages. For more information, or to get a quote please get in touch.
Rugby League Tours to Papua New Guinea – Papua New Guinea is the only place in the world where Rugby League is the national sport. YPT can arrange trips for teams wishing to play in Papua New Guinea, as well as for fans wishing watch Rugby League live in the country.
Journalist travel to Papua New Guinea – Young Pioneer Tours can arrange journalist travel to both Papua New Guinea, as well as Bougainville. Aside from this we can arrange filming at cultural events, as well as meeting politicians and leaders in both the Papua New Guinea “mainland” and Bougainvillea.
Papua Overland – YPT also offer tours in the Indonesian regions of West Papua. Culturally similar to Papua New Guinea these can combined overland to include both countries and areas. You can read more about our West Papua Tours here.
