Young Pioneer Tours

26/05/2026

Our Eritrea National Day tour has now concluded and, with our tour leaders Rowan and Morgan back online, we can share some of the beautiful moments their groups experienced over the last days.

On day 1, we headed straight to Asmara Railway Station and boarded our chartered 1938 Italian Mallet steam train, running a restored section of one of Africa’s great colonial-era railways. The line, built between 1887 and 1932, climbs from the Red Sea to the highlands through tunnels and mountain curves..

In the afternoon we drove from Asmara to Massawa on the Red Sea coast, one of the most historically layered cities in the region, shaped by Ottoman, Egyptian, and Italian influence. Stay tuned for more pictures!

26/05/2026

Day 4 of YPT’s Yugoslavia tour was dedicated to Sarajevo and its extraordinary history.

We began at the site of the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophie on 28th June 1914, the event that triggered the First World War, before visiting the grave of Gavrilo Princip.

Our Old Town walking tour included the Church of the Nativity, Sacred Heart Cathedral, the Museum of the Jews of Bosnia, and the Gazi Husrev-beg Mosque, all located within a few hundred metres of each other, showing Sarajevo’s unique mix of cultures and religions. We also visited the 16th century Morića Han, an Ottoman-era caravanserai.

Across the city we saw the Sarajevo Roses, mortar shell scars filled with red resin to commemorate victims of the siege. Between 1992 and 1996, Sarajevo endured constant shelling and sniper fire while around 300,000 people remained trapped inside the city.

We later visited Sarajevo City Hall, beautifully rebuilt after its destruction during the war, before heading to the Sarajevo Tunnel Museum near the airport. The narrow tunnel beneath the runway served as a crucial supply route during the siege.

In the hills above the city we explored the abandoned 1984 Olympic bobsleigh track, now covered in murals and graffiti, before returning to the centre to see the Canned Beef Monument and the famous Holiday Inn overlooking “Snipers’ Alley”.

26/05/2026

One of our most popular tours is suddenly back on the market.

Our June 2026 Bhutan tour has been sold out for months, but due to a last minute cancellation we now have just TWO spots available.

📅 June 29th – July 3rd 2026
💰 $1745

As one of the world’s last absolute monarchies, Bhutan has managed to maintain its unique culture while much of the world rapidly changes around it.

Highlights include:
- Exploring the capital, Thimphu
- Visiting monasteries and museums across the kingdom
- Heading to Punakha and the famous Temple of Fertility, linked to the legendary Divine Madman
- Hiking to the iconic Tiger’s Nest Monastery, perched dramatically on a cliffside above Paro Valley

This trip can also be combined with our Nepal tour afterwards.

25/05/2026

Our Yugoslavia group has arrived to its third country in three days; Bosnia🇧🇦

Before leaving Croatia we visited the incredible Željava Air Base. Built between 1948 and 1968, it was the largest Cold War airbase in Europe, comparable in size to today’s largest airbases such as Frankfurt.

Straddling the Croatia–Bosnia border, the massive underground complex contains 3.5 kilometres of tunnels large enough to house 81 MiG fighter planes. Built beneath a hill, the base included hospitals, barracks, workshops, maintenance facilities and vast fuel supplies, all designed to withstand a nuclear blast on the scale of Nagasaki. Constructed at a cost equivalent to around $60 billion in today’s money, Željava was partially destroyed at the outbreak of the Yugoslav Wars in 1991, when dynamite was used to prevent it from being captured by breakaway Croatian forces.

From Željava we crossed the border into Bosnia, stopping for a delicious lunch of trout beside the Una River. From there it was a six-hour drive through beautiful countryside before reaching Sarajevo in the evening.

24/05/2026

Iran is slowly opening up for tourists again🇮🇷

After a temporary suspension, tourist visas have now resumed.

What does this mean for travel right now, and how easy is it to go?

Read all about it here⬇️

After a temporary suspension, Iran resumes tourist visa processing!

24/05/2026

Day two of our Yugoslavia tour, and it was time to leave Ljubljana early this morning, crossing into the second of six countries on this tour; Croatia🇭🇷

Before crossing the Slovenia-Croatia border, we made a brief stop at the Mirna Spomenik, a memorial honouring the 106 Partisans who died defending the Mirna Valley in 1942.

Once in Croatia, we continued on to Zagreb, where we began a walking tour through the city’s historic centre. We passed the Croatian National Theatre, explored Nikola Tesla Square, wandered through the Oktogon passage, descended into the Grič Tunnel, and visited the iconic Stone Gate. We also stopped at St Mark's Church, famous for its distinctive tiled roof displaying the Croatian coat of arms.

Zagreb itself still bears the marks of the 2020 earthquake, which caused significant damage to many of its historic buildings. Six years on, restoration and reconstruction are still ongoing across the city, blending careful preservation with slow recovery.

After the walking tour, we visited Mirogoj Cemetery, one of the most beautiful cemeteries in Europe, known for its Neo-Renaissance arcades, domed architecture, ivy-covered walls, and tree-lined avenues. It is the final resting place of Croatia’s first president, Franjo Tuđman, along with many of the country’s most important writers, poets, and public figures.

We ended the day with some well-earned craft beer and good local food, wrapping up a full introduction to Zagreb!

24/05/2026

🇧🇩LAST MINUTE AVAILABILITY🇧🇩

Our Bangladeshi tours are popular and usually fully booked, but we’ve just had a few last-minute spots open up on the upcoming Bangladesh Unbound Tour!

From chaotic Dhaka to floating markets, UNESCO-listed mosques, the mangrove forests of the Sundarbans, overnight paddle steamers, and remote fishing villages where traditions like otter fishing still survive.

📅22nd – 29th June 2027�
💰$1245 USD�

Further details & booking below⬇️
https://www.youngpioneertours.com/tour/bangladesh-unbound-2/

23/05/2026

Today, YPT’s North Korea Borderlands Tour explored more of Dandong🇨🇳

We first visited the Memorial Museum of the War to Resist U.S. Aggression and Aid Korea to gain a deeper understanding of the Chinese narrative about the Korean War.

Afterwards, we headed to the banks of the Yalu River and boarded a Yalu River cruise, sailing through the middle of the river that separates Dandong from Sinuiju. We then walked onto the Broken Bridge on the Yalu River, learning about the history of its bombing while gazing toward North Korea from the center of the river.

In the afternoon, we drove along the Yalu River and saw the Sinuiju Greenhouse Program, an agricultural project highly prioritized by North Korea. We then visited Tiger Mountain Great Wall, the easternmost end of the Great Wall of China. First, we stopped at the One Meter Hop, a spot extremely close to North Korea, before climbing the Great Wall to overlook islands belonging to North Korea🇰🇵

23/05/2026

First stop on our Yugoslavia tour!

We began with an interesting walking tour through the Old Town of Ljubljana🇸🇮

Starting in the stunning baroque Preseren square, where renowned Slovenian architect, Joze Plecnik has left an impressive legacy of bridges, collonaded buildings and outdoor market places. We learned how Ljubljana is tied into the epic Greek myth, Jason and the argnonauts, and how the dragon that Jason slayed, has became a symbol of Ljubljana visible on the city’s flag and on the Dragon bridge.

We then sampled some delicious Borovicka, a Slovenian alcoholic spirit flavoured with juniper berries. Leaving the Old Town, we focused on some of Ljubljana's darker chapters, we visited the imposing twin blocks, a monument for war victims in the 20th century and heard about the brutality of the Tito regime which came to power following WW2.

We then continued to the Republike square, a large plaza built in the 1960’s to showcase socialist, modernist architecture which is still in use today.

23/05/2026

Our Timor Overland group wrapped up our tour returning from the majestic Atauro island via speedboat and continued to the Christy Rei, the 27m tall statue of Jesus overlooking Dili in the direction of Jakarta🇹🇱

This was a present from the Indonesian government in 1996 to mark the 20 year anniversary of East Timors integration to Indonesia. We then finished the day with a Timorese dinner by the beach, live music and drinks!