The complete guides
One long, honest guide per country. What it costs, when to go, how long you need and what we would skip.
Japan: the complete guide to planning your trip
Japan rewards planning more than almost any country we work in. The transport is so good that it tempts people into six…
Vietnam: the complete guide to planning your trip
Most writing about Vietnam starts with the sights. This Vietnam travel guide starts with a map and a calendar, because the decision…
India: the complete guide to planning your trip
India is the destination we are asked about most, and the one we talk people out of most often. Not out of…
The Philippines: the complete guide to planning your trip
Most countries punish bad planning by making the trip less interesting. The Philippines punishes it by taking days away from you. This…
Thailand: the complete guide to planning your trip
Most Thailand travel guides begin with the food or the temples. This one begins with a calendar, because the single most expensive…
Sri Lanka: the complete guide to planning your trip
Start here, because everything else in this Sri Lanka travel guide follows from it. The island has two monsoons, they arrive on…
South Korea: the complete guide to planning your trip
Most South Korea travel guides open by telling you the country is underrated. It is, but that is not a planning fact.…
Cambodia: the complete guide to planning your trip
Most Cambodia trips are planned backwards. People start with the number of days at Angkor, usually too many, and fit the rest…
Nepal: the complete guide to planning your trip
Nepal is the only country we sell where the single most important planning variable is not what you want to see. It…
Laos: the complete guide to planning your trip
Most Laos itineraries fail in the same place: the map. Laos looks compact on a screen, roughly the size of the United…
Taiwan: the complete guide to planning your trip
Taiwan is about 245 miles (394 km) long and 89 miles (144 km) wide, which sounds like a country you could see…
Bhutan: the complete guide to planning your trip
Most travel guides to Bhutan open with the scenery. This Bhutan travel guide opens with the money, because the money is what…
Mongolia: the complete guide to planning your trip
Mongolia is the emptiest country on earth by population density and it is the reason people go. Roughly three and a half…
China: the complete guide to planning your trip
China is the hardest country in Asia to plan badly and get away with. It is not dangerous and it is not…
Hong Kong: the complete guide to planning your trip
Most Hong Kong planning goes wrong in one of two directions. Either the trip is too short, two nights bolted onto a…
Tibet: the complete guide to planning your trip
This Tibet travel guide is unusual among the ones we write, because most of it is about constraints rather than choices. Two…
Myanmar: the complete guide to planning your trip
We assess every Myanmar enquiry against the situation at the time and for your specific dates and route, before we quote. We…
Georgia: the complete guide to planning your trip
Most Georgia travel guides open by telling you the country is undiscovered. It is not. Tbilisi has been a city on a…
Armenia: the complete guide to planning your trip
Armenia is a small, high, dry country of about 11,500 square miles (29,700 km²), roughly the size of Maryland, with a capital…
Azerbaijan: the complete guide to planning your trip
Most writing about Azerbaijan is about Baku, and most of it is about the skyline. That is a shame, because the skyline…
Uzbekistan: the complete guide to planning your trip
Uzbekistan is the easiest country in Central Asia to travel and the one most often planned badly. The mistakes are always the…
Kyrgyzstan: the complete guide to planning your trip
Almost every mistake made in planning a Kyrgyzstan trip comes from one of two places: the calendar or the map. The calendar,…
Kazakhstan: the complete guide to planning your trip
Almost every mistake made in planning a Kazakhstan trip comes from the same source: the map. On a screen the country looks…
The Maldives: the complete guide to planning your trip
Most travel guides are about deciding where to go. This Maldives travel guide is about deciding which island, because in this country…
Dubai and the Gulf: the complete guide to planning your trip
Most of what is written about Dubai is written by people being paid to be enthusiastic about it. This Dubai travel guide…
Australia: the complete guide to planning your trip
The single most common planning mistake in Australia is not choosing the wrong places. It is underestimating the internal flights.
New Zealand: the complete guide to planning your trip
Three facts decide almost every New Zealand trip, and none of them are about what there is to see.