Overland border crossing from China

[XavierV]

Hi all,

I've been following this forum for quite some time, chasing information and way forward for my future plan. So first, thanks to all for your feedbacks!
I'm French now living in Beijing (China) for few years, and would like to "escape" by motorbike.
The full trip starts to be well defined, but one of the main difficulty will actually be the 1st step: going out of China around September this year.
I went to few embassies in Beijing, to know if overland borders with China are open or not, without success.

Do you have any status update on the following borders?
China->Kazakhstan
China->Kyrgyzstan
China->Tajikistan

I'm not talking about flights, but only by road. Plus it's a one way direction, going back to China will be too challenging anyway

Cheers!

[steven]

I would also like to know. Please leave a message if you find out more, could be really useful for future travelers.

[XavierV]

Well, it’s not an official statement, but it seems overland is still not possible, even if flights have resumed.
Source: some contacts at the Kazakhstan embassy in Beijing, Tajik embassy.

[portmanaus]

Hello . I'm also here to give and receive information about overland border crossing from and to China

[Hound_Dog]

It is HIGHLY unlikely the chinese will issue overland permits anytime soon. Remember, they dont want us there at the best of times. A friend who has been several times and planning another trip says his agent claims that June 2022 they may resume issuing permits. I would be highly dubious about this and certainly would not be paying anything until it was formally confirmed by the govt.

[Hammu]

Interested in following this topic as well. One can always hope they will open the borders.

[XavierV]

Hey all from this forum,

Does anyone tried to cross China->whatever other country recently?
I’m still expecting to do this trip back to Europe from Beijing, but hey, sounds like a complex story to go out of China..

Xav

[Naser123]

Transit scheme from Pakistan to China to Kyrgyzstan

[Roadtophnompenh]

I was this week at Kunjerab pass,Chinese-pakistan border, and its closed as he**, it started snowing also, which means in short time it will be closed until march.
The hotel in Sost (last pakistani town) closes on 15 november to reopen in march also !!

[Travelgian]

In both 2015 and 2019 I exited China via Xinjang towards Kazakhstan. I took advantage of the weekly train Urumqi-Almaty. I think the plan is to now make the train more frequent. The situation in Xinjang is tense, to say the least. But there is no special visa need to access Xinjang (as is the case, instead, for Tibet). In 2019 I underwent a thorough interview by border police - with the excuse that my passport had been tampered with. They inspected my suitcase but let me go after half an hour. Overall, border guards were friendly.

As a sidenote, one can also transfer the border via bus. You can get quite close to the border by train (can't remember the name of the town, but it is an overnight train from Urumqi). One has to then follow the locals and get on a minivan that takes you to the town that actually sits at the border. At that point one can takes another bus that gets trough the border and then in Kazakhstan. One has to change to get to Almaty. It went smoothly as I said, the only problem is that one cannot reserve this bus ticket in advance. This is a problem because you would need to show proof of exiting the country when you apply for the visa. However, it did not turn out to be an issue for me.