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
The Maldives for the first time
There is one thing to understand before you look at a single photograph, and everything else on this page follows from it.
The Maldives with children
The Maldives is either the easiest family holiday in Asia or an expensive mistake, and the difference is almost entirely decided before…
Mongolia for the first time: what surprises people
Mongolia is the emptiest country on earth by population density and that emptiness is the whole appeal. It is also the whole…
Mongolia with children: what works and what we change
Mongolia is a surprisingly good family destination and a bad one for the wrong family, and the difference is entirely in how…
Myanmar for the first time
Most first-time articles on this site are about what to pack and how the trains work. This one has to start somewhere…
Myanmar with children
The first thing to say is the thing that comes before the packing lists.
Nepal for the first time
Nepal is the only country we sell where the most important planning variable is not what you want to see. It is…
South Korea for the first time
Most first visits to South Korea go well. The country is safe, clean, superbly connected and easier to travel than almost anywhere…
South Korea with children
South Korea is one of the two or three easiest countries in Asia to travel with children, and it is the one…
Kazakhstan for the first time
Almost nobody arrives in Kazakhstan with an accurate picture of it in their head. The country is barely represented in Western travel…
Kazakhstan with children
Every question people ask us about Kazakhstan with children has the same answer, and the answer is the driving.
The Kandy to Ella train in 2026: what is running, and how to actually get a seat
The hill country line through Sri Lanka's tea estates is one of the great train journeys, and since Cyclone Ditwah only its…
Is the Japan Rail Pass still worth it? We ran the numbers
For twenty years the answer was yes, automatically, for almost everyone. Buy the pass, stop thinking about it.
India with children
India is better with children than most people expect and harder than the brochures admit, and the two facts are not in…
India for the first time: a realistic first itinerary
India is the destination we are asked about most and the one we talk people out of most often. Not out of…
How many days do you need in Kazakhstan?
The honest answer is ten, and the reason is arithmetic rather than taste.
How many days do you need in Kyrgyzstan?
Ten days is the working answer and fourteen is the better one, and the reason is not that there is more to…
How many days do you need in Mongolia?
The honest answer is ten, and the reason is arithmetic rather than taste.
How many days do you need in Myanmar?
The thing that decides the length of a Myanmar trip is not how much there is to see. It is the number…
How many days do you need in Nepal?
In most countries the length of a trip is a question of appetite. In Nepal it is a question of physiology and…
How many days do you need in New Zealand?
The number that decides a New Zealand trip is not days. It is nights per base.
How many days do you need in Taiwan?
Taiwan is about 245 miles (394 km) long and 89 miles (144 km) wide, and the high speed train crosses the whole…
How many days do you need in Thailand?
The honest answer to how many days you need in Thailand is that it depends less on the number than on how…
How many days do you need in the Maldives?
In most destinations, the answer to this question is about how much you want to see. In the Maldives there is nothing…
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