New tours for 2026-27
Every year, as soon as things quieten down after the November to February high season, it’s time to turn our attention to any necessary changes, tweaks and amendments or worthwhile additions to our existing range of Southeast Asia small group tours. Full details, tour by tour, can be seen by following the relevant links below but here’s a brief overview of said tweaks, plus our new tours for 2026-27.
Checking itineraries, accommodation, routes and destinations is a full time job. New hotels and resorts open, close, change management or receive makeovers, while routes get upgraded or go down hill. There’s also, of course, plenty of feedback to take into account after high season; ‘didn’t really like such and such an hotel’, ‘would have been great to have an extra day at this or that national park’, ‘the hike was too long/too short’, ‘the new road’s great/old road’s horrendous’ (delete as necessary), etc. However, flights and trains do need to be booked in advance, hotel rooms reserved ahead of time and itineraries issued to guests in advance so there’s always going to be an inevitable delay period.
Anyway, without further ado, here’s a country by country rundown of additions, omissions and new tours for 2026-27.
China
First up, alphabetically, is China, or more specifically China’s Yunnan Province. Some of our repeat guests may remember previously seeing a range of Yunnan tours on our menu and indeed some of you may have even taken one of the tours. Regrettably our local partner in Kunming, capital of Yunnan Province), didn’t make it through COVID so when they ceased operating, we put a hold on on the tours. (Frankly, they were so good to work with we didn’t have the time or inclination to look for another local operator.)
Bac Ha market, Vietnam Great news is that they are now back, fully operational, so Mark will be heading up to Yunnan ASAP for a chat and a recce with a view to reinstating our Yunnan and Vietnam-China tours for high season 2026-27. They’ll probably be along the same lines as before so a shorter, Red River Valley tour, beginning in Hanoi before taking you north to the Chinese border via Bac Ha and Sapa. From the border we’ll continue to the incredible, World Heritage-listed Honghe Rice Terraces at Yuanyang before continuing to Kunming via the walled town of Jianshui and picturesque Dian Lake. A longer version extends as far as the Tibetan Plateau and includes the historic towns of Dali and Lijiang and the dramatic scenery of Tiger Leaping Gorge to finish at Zhongdian, now officially renamed Shangri La by the Chinese government.
We’re hoping to publish itineraries by July with the first scheduled dates being either autumn 26 or spring 27.
Indonesia
A few minor tweaks have been made to our existing Indonesia small group tours while an option to start our Java Overland tour in Jakarta, before proceeding by train to Yogyakarta, is on the cards although the main addition to new tours for 2026-27 will be a Bali mini-tour or 5-day extension. Bali is a tricky destination. As with several other notorious Southeast Asian islands we can think of – Phuket, Samui, Phi Phi etc, (although closer to home, obvious European examples also spring to mind) – it’s a victim of its own success. It is a relatively small island with a frankly rotten transport infrastructure and large numbers of visitors however Dan, our Bali expert, is confident of putting together an All Points East style itinerary, featuring both some of the well-known and more off-the-beaten-track destinations.
This should be available as an add-on to our existing Indonesia tours, along with Flores/Komodo and Lombok, later this year.
Pemuteran Bali at dusk Laos
Our slow boat down the Mekong extension has proved so popular of late that we decided to incorporate it into the relevant, standard tour itineraries; i.e. the Golden Triangle, Thailand and Laos and Unexplored the far North, Thailand, Laos and Vietnam tours.
On a slightly more problematic note, road conditions in some of the further flung parts of northern Laos have reportedly deteriorated considerably. A lengthy drive across the mountains from Luang Prabang to Phonsavan and the Plain of Jars is still doable (and unavoidable if we want to continue to offer the UNESCO site without including several unfeasible flight connections), but following it up with a similar journey to even more remote San Nuea is probably best avoided during the worst months. It’s a seasonal vicious circle so large trucks churn up the road in the monsoon season and the government sends out fleets of bulldozers in the dry period before rains start again. It remains the only practical route to connect to Vietnam’s Pu Luong, (one of everybody’s favourite destinations), so, for now, we’ll just have to limit Mountains and Hill-tribes and Unexplored, the Far North tour dates to the dry season window from November to February.
Mekong River Cruise, Laos Malaysia/Borneo
No change to our Malaysia and Borneo tours except we’ve decided to add on an extension to Sabah’s Tabin Wildlife Reserve. The luxurious Danum Rainforest Resort – also in eastern Sabah – is certainly a great place to stay but it doesn’t come cheap and availability is a persistent problem so the Tabin eco-lodge will provide a more economic alternative as well as improving our reservation capabilities.
We’ve also swapped our Borneo island extension from Manukan to Gaya as, attractive as the former is, it can get very busy with day trippers so we reckon it’s worth paying a bit more for a quieter resort on equally picturesque Gaya.
Tabin Wildlife Reserve, Sabah, Borneo, Malaysia Sri Lanka
No itinerary changes but we have been forced to swap a few hotels around. Not that there were any issues with the accommodation in question – some such as the Hill Club or Cardamom Resort were great spots – but unfortunately, for whatever reason we’ve had repeated problems with reliability. Meaning bookings made well in advance were cancelled by the hotel at the last moment. Not sure why this is more common in Sri Lanka then elsewhere but it’s a deal breaker for us.
After a makeover and with the unreliability of the resort next door, personal fave Pigeon Island Resort is back on the Nilaveli programme Thailand
The aforementioned Golden Triangle and Unexplored tours, kicking off in Chiang Mai, now have the added feature of a Mekong cruise from Huay Xai to Pak Beng while the popularity of longer tours, means the former tour will include an optional 1 week Cambodia section with a flight from Vientiane to Phnom Penh creating a comprehensive, 3 week tour.
A brief word on Koh Thalu, featured on some of our Thailand family tours, as our attention has been drawn to some rather negative, albeit ill-considered, comments on everyone’s favourite reviews site. Firstly, the resort does offer different accommodation categories so if you insist on booking the cheapest well…you get what you pay for. Secondly, the resort offers a wide range of inclusive activities, (snorkelling, kayaking, hiking, fishing, sailing etc), unparalleled at similar spots so, to our mind, it remains a great destination for families.
Koh Thalu in the Gulf of Thailand Vietnam
The main change on our Vietnam menu is the addition of a combined, 24-day, Cambodia and Vietnam to the list of new tours for 2026-27. This is merely a combination of our existing Hanoi to Saigon and Saigon to Angkor tours but it is a regularly requested option and not everyone automatically thinks of running one tour into another. (Recent increases in airfares do make longer tours more tempting – squeeze the most out of that overpriced flight!)
A new Vietnamese destination; Ben Tre in the Mekong Delta Elsewhere in Vietnam, a 2-night stay at Pu Luong has been included by popular demand while we swapped our Mekong Delta activities from Vinh Long to quieter, more off-the-beaten-track, Ben Tre. Along the same lines we’ve changed from the over touristy Cu Chi tunnels to the more spectacular – and far less visited – site of Vinh Moc.
That concludes our round up of new tours for 2026-27; some already posted on our site, some coming very soon and as is often the case, maybe a last minute surprise or two.
