Travel magazine
Six running series and hundreds of articles, written by the people who plan the trips.
When to go
Seasons, month by month, region by region
What it costs
Real budgets in dollars, with tables
Routes that work
Tested itineraries and combinations
Eating across Asia
What to order and where
On foot
Treks and long walks, described honestly
Before you book
Visas, permits, timing, practicalities
How many days do you need in Vietnam?
Fourteen days is the length most first visits to Vietnam need, and the reason is not the sights but the hotel changes.…
Hokkaido in winter: what is worth the cold
Is Hokkaido worth it in winter? Yes, for the Snow Festival, drift ice, powder and onsen. Here is what to do, when,…
Kyoto or Osaka: where to base yourself, and how to split the days
Stay in Kyoto for early temples, in Osaka for food, budget and the airport, or split five nights between both. Travel times,…
China for the first time: what actually surprises people
A first trip to China: the classic 12 to 16 day route, who needs a visa in 2026, paying with Alipay and…
Japan for the first time: what actually surprises people
A first trip to Japan rarely goes wrong because of the things people worry about. What catches first-timers out is quieter: an…
Japan with children: what works at which age
Japan with children, age by age: what works for toddlers, young children, 8 to 12s and teenagers, plus child train fares, hotel…
Japan month by month: when to go
The best time to visit Japan for a first trip is late March to mid-May or mid-October to early December. Month by…
Yunnan on foot: Tiger Leaping Gorge, Shaxi and the Yubeng valley
Yunnan is where China stops looking like China and starts looking like the eastern edge of the Himalaya, which is exactly what…
Yerevan in three days
Yerevan is a pink and apricot-coloured city of volcanic tufa, rebuilt in the 1920s to Alexander Tamanian's plan on a site that…
Yala or Wilpattu, and your real odds on a leopard
Sri Lanka's wildlife is genuinely world class and the way it is sold frequently is not. So before the comparison, the sentence…
What we would skip in Vietnam, and what we book instead
This article costs us bookings and we publish it anyway. A day you resent is worse for us than a day we…
What we would skip in Uzbekistan
This is the article that costs us money and earns the trust, so we write it carefully.
What we would skip in Tibet
Editing a Tibet itinerary is different from editing any other trip we sell, because the currency is not time or money. It…
What we would skip in the Philippines, and what we book instead
This article costs us bookings and we publish it anyway, because the alternative is selling you a day you will resent.
What we would skip in the Maldives
This is the article that costs us money, and we write one for every destination we sell.
What we would skip in Thailand, and what we book instead
This article costs us bookings and we write it anyway, because the alternative is selling you a day you will resent.
What we would skip in Taiwan
Taiwan is the easiest country in Asia to travel independently, which is why the mistakes here are not logistical. They are mistakes…
What we would skip in Sri Lanka, and what we book instead
This article costs us bookings and we publish it anyway, because the alternative is selling you a day you will resent.
What we would skip in New Zealand
Almost everything in New Zealand is good, which is exactly what makes a two-week route hard to write. The country is small…
What we would skip in Nepal
This is the article that costs us bookings and earns the trust, so we write it carefully.
What we would skip in Myanmar
This is the article that decides whether you should work with us, so we will write it the way we would say…
What we would skip in Mongolia
In Mongolia, a bad decision costs you a day in a vehicle. Not an hour, not a wasted morning: a full day…
What we would skip in Kyrgyzstan
This is the article that costs us money and earns the trust, so we write it carefully.
What we would skip in South Korea
This is the article that costs us money and earns the trust, so we write it carefully.
Your Asia trip, planned day by day
Answer a short questionnaire and within 24 hours, usually sooner, you get the outline of your trip: the route day by day and the hotels we suggest for each stop. Tell us what to change (two rounds included), then we build your full day-by-day plan inside a trip app with maps, navigation links, and trains and transfers step by step. Then, if you want, a free quote for ground services, and you choose what to take.
Custom trip plan
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Trip plan + digital trip app
Your outline within 24 hours