Almaty-Urumqi bus: reports, Q&A

[steven]

Please read and post reports on the Almaty - Urumqi bus below.

We summarize all info on the Kazakhstan border crossings and the bus travel in Kazakhstan pages.

[funkyboots]

Does anyone know what time the sleeper buses leave Almaty for Urumqi, and what time they get to the border? For visa reasons, I need to time it so I enter no more than 30 days before my flight out of China...
Thanks in advance for any input!
Cheers,
Lisa

[cyclolenti]

The bus from Almaty to Urumqi leave at 7am every morning from Sayran Bus Station. Better to buy ticket at least the day before. This information come too late for you I imagine, but could be useful for other travelers.

[Korbes]

Hi everyone, I am arriving in Almaty the 2nd of April, and want to stay a night and then go to Urumqi from Almaty by bus.
In this blog post by the Caravanistan: https://caravanistan.com/kazakhstan/alm ... rt-urumqi/ he says that it's possible to get a bus from Almaty that go to Urumqi, the big question is if there is sold out when I arrive..
I want to get on the bus the 3rd of April, but what are the chances for the bus to being sold out?
I am going to book some trains in China as well, so it's very important that I know if I am able to book a seat in a bus the 3rd of April.

Does any of you know?

Looking forward to your replies, thanks in advance!

[steven]

You should be able to reserve a ticket at the bus station. Call any of these numbers

Phone: +7 (727) 276-28-55, 390-93-27 dispatch;
+7 (727) 396-70-63, 276-26-77, 276-26-23, 276-26-86, 276-26-96

Russian only

[Korbes]

Thank you Steven, by Russian you mean they only speak russian?

[steven]

Yes, they only speak Russian (unless your Kazakh is really good )

[Korbes]

Yes, they only speak Russian (unless your Kazakh is really good )

Alright so one of my russian friends talked to the bus station, and they said that I could just book on the day, and the price is 16.000 tenge.
So just for info, you might want to update the almaty to urumqi blog post https://caravanistan.com/kazakhstan/alm ... rt-urumqi/
But else your information is super essential and provides tons of value!
Do you know when the bus station in Almaty opens and closes?
EDIT: Actually I just found out that the ticket office is open 24/7.

[steven]

Thanks, will update that!

[Ann90]

Hello everyone!
I’ve just crossed the border between China and Kazakhstan and I’m going to share with you my experience:
Apparently there were different options to arrive to Almaty from Xinjiang province. After many research I’ve chosen the easiest one: daily bus from Urumqi to Almaty. The bus leaves every day at 7pm and you have to be there one hour before (the train only two days a week, Saturday and Monday. More expensive of course). You can buy the bus ticket (396 yuan) also the same day, is not really busy route. The bus station is called Nianzigou bus station. If you arrive in Urumqi with train from Urumqi South railway station catch bus number 1 and ask the driver where to get off. I suggest you to write the Chinese name of the train station to show him.
Get ready because once you’ll arrive to Khorgas border is going to be super long. I left at 7pm, arrived at the border at 4am and of course it was too early so I slept in the bus until 9 more or less. The Chinese side is crazy because you have to pass through immigration check etc many times. Is a really long process. I actually arrived to the Kazakhstan side around 2pm. Yes. The Kazakhstan border was really fast and easy, no problem at all.
I arrived in Almaty around 8.30 pm.