Almaty-Yining-Urumqi bus: reports, Q&A

MichelG · Post by **MichelG** » Sat Oct 05, 2024 10:12 am

I crossed yesterday without any problems.
At the Kazakh side prepare for some waiting on the bus, as there are more busses and they can't handle them all.
Chinese side they asked for visa visa visa.. i'm Dutch so i don't need one if i stay only 2 weeks.
I only took the bus to Horgos and onwards by train to Urumqi.
The railwaystation is far at the edge of town so you will need a taxi.
And the luggage check there is chaotic.

Lagerfeld · Post by **Lagerfeld** » Sat Oct 05, 2024 10:26 am

@ MichelG: Can you recommend a hotel in Urumqi? May be a hostel? Thank's a lot.

MichelG · Post by **MichelG** » Sat Oct 05, 2024 1:13 pm

Lagerfeld wrote: ↑
Sat Oct 05, 2024 10:26 am
@ MichelG: Can you recommend a hotel in Urumqi? May be a hostel? Thank's a lot.

I'm staying here it's close to the railwaystation and there is a mall next to it:
Yuexiang Light Residence Hotel (Jingkai Wanda Plaza High-speed Railway Station Branch)
The rooms don't look the same as in the pictures.
You can go to trip.com to find something what is best for you

safranito · Post by **safranito** » Sun Oct 06, 2024 3:44 pm

Is the international train from Almaty to Urumqi still suspended?

We'd love to take the train but otherwise we will take the bus as described in the comments above.

Milad · Post by **Milad** » Sun Oct 06, 2024 7:12 pm

Not running, sadly.

safranito · Post by **safranito** » Mon Nov 04, 2024 1:40 am

We took the direct bus from Almaty to Ürümqi on the 22.10. Our experiences:
There are daily buses from Almaty to Ürümqi. One leaves at 7am the other at 8am. It's around 50 euro per person. Tbe bus leaves from the station Sayran (https://maps.app.goo.gl/cjKcTJQ61EjcUBUo9). The ticket office is also there on the ground floor. You have to pay the ticket with cash but there's an atm in the building.
We arrived in Ürümqi after 19,5h. For the border crossing we left the bicycles in the bus and took a luggage rack for our bags. The chinese border was okay. There is a machine to fill out a form online (someone helped us with it). We didn't have to put a hotel adress but it's probably good to have a backup. They asked us some questions where we will go and what we do for a job but nothing too intimidating. The only scanned our luggage, didn't check it by hand.

Deep · Post by **Deep** » Sat Nov 16, 2024 10:17 pm

Can you please let me know if we can book the tickets for that bus online in anyway ( bcoz I need to show it at airport while boarding flight that I'll leave the country for the next (china) destination.)

Lagerfeld · Post by **Lagerfeld** » Sun Nov 17, 2024 5:20 am

MichelG wrote:
Lagerfeld wrote: @ MichelG: Can you recommend a hotel in Urumqi? May be a hostel? Thank's a lot.
I'm staying here it's close to the railwaystation and there is a mall next to it:
Yuexiang Light Residence Hotel (Jingkai Wanda Plaza High-speed Railway Station Branch)
The rooms don't look the same as in the pictures.
You can go to trip.com to find something what is best for you

MichelG, thank you very much.
Is this hotel near the bus station where the buses come and arrive from Almaty?

Caravanistan