Torugart pass crossing Q&A

[CamaronDeLaIsla]

Hello!!!!

Lovely info gathering here, is it currently possible to hitchhike the border with some of the truck drivers that bring goods across the border?

Cheers

Juan

[Egor]

Hey Fuzzyfurs,

Thanks for this useful information!
Do you know if the bus stops at other destinations before Bishkek?
By the end of next month I want to cross China from Pakistan to Kyrgyzstn.
The plan is to take a bus from Pakistan to Tashkorgan, hitchhike to some spots of interests and finally to Kashgar.
As you mentioned there are really view information about how to get around in this area so we were thinking about hitchhiking to Torugart but with the bus it might me less complicated and more official for the chinese checkpoints

Hey, no the bus does not stop at other destinations: it's direct to Bishkek but there were a few passengers (locals) who wanted to get off earlier at the Kyrgyz border instead and they told the driver so. So you can possibly do the same if it's on the same route.

I don't think hitchhiking is allowed in the Xinjiang region or it will be very closely monitored by the police who are likely tell you to take the bus... That's my take. It's a strict region after all. Besides, there is only one road from Tashkurgan to Kashgar and there is nowhere else to go from Tashkurgan really. We did pass by Karakul lake which was beautiful and you could make a stop here but I'm not sure how you can get to Kashgar after.

I was hitch-hiking from Tashkurgan to Kashgar in 2019.Police saw me on the road and said nothing)).It took quite a few hours while the first car stopped and it was a local Uigur which took me all the way and through all check-points almost to Kashgar.Only when he wanted to make a shortcut through his village police ordered to put me on the bus at the main road what took place close to Kashgar.This year it might be even easier regarding hitch-hiking in Xinjiang.Also in 2018 I was helped by the policeman at Qinhai-Xinjiang border check-point to get on the truck which took me as far as Qemo.

[otis_rtePL]

Hey!
I crossed Tourgat Pass from Chiniese side on 22.08.2024, here's how it went:
Our initial plan was to cross via Irkeshtam to Osh by bus, but it turns out info on Irkeshtam thread is fake and no "Kyrgyz bus" goes to Osh on Thursday (the only day that fitted our internary) so we took Thursday Kashgar - Bishkek bus instead.
It is 700km journey and ended up taking 23h, prepare for the worst...

T+0:00 10am, Kashgar bus station, bus nearly full - sets off, no sleeping hamoocks or beds, just casual, generic bus with only some seats declining, few stinky, drity blankets available, soon to be used as it turned out

T+0:30/0:45 first checkpoint, police one - passports taken from all foreigners (us 4 - Polish, one Kazakh grandpa and elderly couple from Singapoure)
took about half an hour

T+1:30 - max 2km after police checkpoint, big customs terminal, no stamp out yet, but bags of all passengers get screened and whole lot of cargo carried by the driver, took about 2 hours here, exact location: 39°46'14.1"N 75°35'34.9"E

I am not going to mention all the checkpoints we went through, just know there are at least 7/8 till reaching Border...

T+6:00 - lunch and toilet break (40°09'50.0"N 75°19'32.1"E)

T+10:00 finally reaching Tourgat - stampped out of China, no questions asked, no more luggage screening, nor phone inspection, very smooth suprisingy
we are here (40°30'38.1"N 75°23'22.8"E), took about an hour or so to stamp out whole bus
Here the altitude is 3700m+, it was 10C even though in Kashgar it was 35C so prepere a jacket, here we used disgusting blankets...

T+11:00 final bus inspection on Chinese side, quick one, no more than 30 min

T11:30 - Kyrygyz side of the border.
We thought from now on it will be easy cause I speak some Russian and for us, ineed, it was, but now Chinese had a hard time, 90% of our bus...
took 2,5h for everyone to get in...

T+14:00 finally we set off to cross Kyrgyzstan, still 500km to go... 1/3 of distance done at this point BUT it's midnight so I go to sleep hoping to wake up near Bishkek... oh I was so wrong

T+15:00 no more than an hour into KGZ we are stopped on a checkpoint, kind of angry already cause I was falling asleep when we stopped, we go to show passports, quick stuff, no more than 15min and we are back in the bus.

T+17:00 2am a this point, I wake up to find out... WE HAVEN'T MOVED, for 1 more hour we for some reason did not go through thant chekpoint, that was the low point form me, but hey, no choice but to go through, I fell asleep when we finally started going

T+23:00 8am I wake up to happily find out we are going through Bishkek!

Cheers to our driver - did all ride without being changed, legend!

[kadsia]

Hi all, I crossed the Torugart Pass from Bishkek to Kashgar by bus on Sunday, 6 October 2024. Since there are not that many info online, I thought I'd share my experience.

Bus schedule
- From Bishkek to Kashgar: Wednesday and Sunday, leaving at 16:00. Arrive the next day (between 20-30 hours later)
- (From what I gathered online, from Kashgar it's Monday and Thursday; you can Whatsapp the bus company to confirm)

How to find information?
- Whatsapp of Avtovokzal: +996 550 344 696
- Telegram of Avtovokzal (check their Instagram page that has the link to Telegram): https://www.instagram.com/avtovokzal.kgz/
- They're quite responsive if you want to ask questions about date and price

Where to buy the ticket?
- Bus station in Bishkek: https://maps.app.goo.gl/FQKZZZZwJZyvgzA3A (or search on Google Map: Avtovokzal Ak Zhol)
- Supposedly you can buy online too (https://beket.kg/), but I couldn't find the schedule on the website

How much does it cost?
- USD 85 paid in KGS at current prevailing rate (I ended up paying KGS 7,185)
- Only cash payment in KGS
- FYI: There's money changer to the east of the station (a small shop) and ATM machines in Asia supermarket to the west of the bus station

Visa and permit
- I had Chinese tourist visa (I'm Indonesian citizen). The other European travelers in the bus got 15-day visa free (make sure you know that because the immigration officer still asked them where's the visa).
- No other permit is needed

My personal experience
- It took us 30 hours due to long immigration and checkpoints, immigration issue of some passengers, bad road on China's side, and driver's own business. We arrived by midnight in Kashgar. It could've been faster though.
- The bus was a sleeper bus. It was comfortable and clean. But it seems another company is operating the other day, and they may have different bus.
- Immigration check on China's side was okay. They didn't check my phone, laptop, or GoPro, but took great interest in my books and took photos of some pages (which are in Indonesian language, about thoughts on socialism by one of Indonesia's founding fathers). A Spanish traveler had her laptop checked. So I think they just randomly select what to check.
- Bring food because the stops are quite random and not designated to eat (more for toilet breaks). For example, on China's side, we didn't stop to eat at all even though we only got to Kashgar by midnight.

Overall, it was a pleasant journey, albeit too long. Hope this helps!

[mazeno]

There's money changer to the east of the station

there are three money changers at the station
one on the southern side near the city taxi lane/jibek zholu street
two on the northern side of the main building