Khorgos border crossing Q&A (Almaty - Urumqi)

[Stanbridge2]

We are intending to take the bus from Almaty to Urumqi in early November 2024.

Couple of questions - what time do the buses generally arrive in Urumqi and where do they drop off

How easy and far is it from bus station to railway station

Will we arrive in time, assuming there are still tickets available to get the bullet train to Xian that leave at 0820 or 0850

Any advice on journey also appreciated.

Thanks

[Stoertebekker]

While both border guards had no experience with German passports, we could cross ...

What do you mean with that "no experience" and "we could cross" ?

As already written by Michel, "no experience" meant, that the guys on duty had never seen a German passport before. So, the Kazakh guys called an officer, he called another officer, than the officers took one of our passports somewhere and came back after 10 minutes. Then we got our exit stamp. On the Chinese side the same "inexperience" with the German passport. Never seen before. Took it to somewhere, came back after several minutes, entry stamped it.

I wrote "we could cross" because on the caravanistan website this specific border crossing is commented with "you can leave Kazakhstan there, but the Chinese deny entry".

[Stoertebekker]

How easy and far is it from bus station to railway station

Will we arrive in time, assuming there are still tickets available to get the bullet train to Xian that leave at 0820 or 0850

Any advice on journey also appreciated.

We decided against the bus to Urumqi and took the one to Yining/Ili/Ghulja (all the same). So, my experience is from that bus. At the border crossing they suddenly stopped checking vehicles. That led to an additional hour. Then we were supposed to be driven to a bus station not far from the railway station, however we ended up somewhere in Yining (and took a cab to the railway station).

Although we actually had plenty of time to get our train from Yining to Urumqi it became close. Departure 6am Almaty, 12hours drive, train at 22.20. We were around 21.30 at the station.

For booking of early busses in Almaty better use the online option at https://ma-sairan.kz/ They only start at 6ish selling tickets at the station. And if you have a long queue it could become close. (To Urumqi it's No 412. The day before the actual travel day they might add busses.)

I wouldn't plan too tight, since border control is not plannable (how many passengers in the bus, bus check, ...) Also, there are ID checks, luggage scan and again ID checks at all the train stations. Could be fast, could take a while.

For train tickets - best use the 12306 app. It can become a pain to get it running (ID check). But as soon as it's running, it's smooth and easy in English. I've tried booking tickets for crucial sleeper trains (Urumqi - Beijing; Beijing - Xi'an; Xi'an - Guilin; Guilin - Shanghai) with trip.com or travelchinaguide. Both failed. You can reserve with them in advance of the booking start, but in reality they just send your request to a travel agent who is processing his orders one after the other. If you have crucial trains (sleeper trains "soft sleeper" sell out immediately), mark your calender and try to catch the ticket on your own in 12306 app. After learning my lesson I got tickets for every train I wanted.

(www.alwayseast.de)

[sunclaude]

Hello!
I got a question. Is it possible to cross the Khorgos or the Erenhot border with own car and to reach Bejing buying expensive 2000 usd Tours ?
Regards
Claudio

[Stanbridge2]

Almaty to Urumqi by Bus - early November 2024

ETD 0700. You have to arrive 30 mins before departure. That said we didn’t leave until 07:30 (then immediately stopped for fuel).

It is now a seater bus with reclining seats. They no longer do sleeper buses. Passengers sit above the driver. Note two passengers brought bicycles.

Cost 25,500 KGS (US$28) each from window 1 or 3 - had Urumqi (in local spelling / Cyrillic) on sign in cashiers window. Ticket seller spoke good English.
Only accept cash - cash machine right beside window in bus station

We bought the tickets 2 days in advance and there were 2 departures on the day we wanted to travel. The 07:00 bus which on the seating plan we were shown was a smaller bus than the 08:00 - so we thought less passengers might mean getting through border quicker!

We were told the bus would arrive at 05.00 next day but note that is Kazak time, China is 3 hours ahead.

Tickets checked on bus and photos taken of passports by conductor. Conductior also collected passports a couple of times before reaching various check points on the way. We were given them back immediately after each checkpoint.

Before Chinese border we picked up several people (they filled most of the vacant seats as the bus was half empty).

Arrived at the KZ border at 13:17
We had to take all bags etc off bus and then into the immigration/customs building. Bags (and us) were scanned and questions asked about any electronic goods but nothing sinister.

Through KZ border smoothly.

We had two passengers with bikes and they had to take them off the bus to go through the border with everyone else (note - we learned that the two cyclists advised us that they were not charged for the carriage of their bikes).

Back on bus we then drove a few meters, at which point a KZ border control person got on the bus - he checked we had exit stamps.

Left KZ border control at 14:08

Bus entered Chinese side but got stuck behind various Lorries. Once through we were taken to the China passenger building where we had to stay on the bus.

Sides of bus were opened for few mins before we were ‘invited’ to get off the bus. At this stage other busses arrived and parked along side our bus. passengers were invited in by bus load in the order that they arrived. Got off at 14:30. The building was completely empty of people other than the Chinese border staff and we guessed they may have been on a break before we entered.

The first stage was to complete the entry card. You need your passport details, visa number (if you are not using the 15 day visa free arrangement) and address of first place you are staying in China, the list of places in China you are visiting and places you have travelled too in the last two years. We listed 3 or 4. Remember to complete both sides.

There was also a machine to insert your passport and to take your finger prints. We did this but didn’t get a printout card but we think that it actually sped up time with immigration officer as we were only asked for one finger print not the full set.

We were then directed to a specific booth for processing (possibly where officer could speak English).

At passport control we were asked to confirm our names, where we were going to visit, the type of passport we had (ordinary), and purpose of trip (tourist) plus how long we intended to be in China. They scrutinised the passport and visa details and checked the inbuilt security features of our passports with black light. After that the entry stamp was applied and we were free to go. The other bus loads queued up behind us so the room was pretty full but orderly.

Beyond passport control was customs. We expected that this would be where we would be pulled aside having read lots of reports on this site. We and our bags went through x-ray machines and essentially walked straight out and into China. There was no opening of our bags, no searches of our belongings or phones.

Our two cyclist travellers were pulled over but solely because they were carrying a container of fuel for their travelling stove (and possibly as the bikes couldn’t go through the X-ray machines). Once that had been checked they were let through too. Again no search of their phones either. There was a final check of our passports as we left the border area - to check we had an entry stamp.

We got through the whole process and were waiting outside for bus at 15:05. The individuals that joined us before the border left (walked off). Once the bus arrived we left 15:45. Note that you have to wear seat belts in China. We had taken a photo of the bus and kept a look out for our conductor but the area to pick up the bus is limited and there are few people do it isn’t a problem to find your correct bus.

At this point we changed time to China local time which was 18:45 (+3 hours on Kazakhstan).

If you aren’t using eSIM then you can buy local SIM cards as you leave the main building or where you pick the bus up. There are people milling around there offering taxi rides and I think exchange services but like all border crossings watch the exchange rates.

We didn’t see any toilets at either side of the border.

We stopped shortly after for dinner at a local restaurant (appeared to be attached to a secure bus depot - nothing else around except possibly offices ) - noodles and beef or vegetables were 45 or 40 yuan respectively. You pay by Alipay, WeChat or cash. (Note - Set up Alipay before arriving in China). Clean toilets.

We left about 1 hour later - around 20.05. The conductor collected passports again to show at checkpoint leaving city border area given that it is a free port area.

As the bus continued on its way we thought we were well ahead of time (as we wanted to catch the fast train to Xi’an from Urumqi that leaves at 8:20 or 8:50). BUT around 02.00 we stopped in a dark service area for about 3-4 hours!!! Engine off and in the dark for the whole time the bus got rather cold.

Eventually we got back on the road and arrived at Urumqi bus terminal - which is immediately next to the Urumqi North Railway station - at 07.50. Luggage has to be put through another scan and we were then clear of the bus with our luggage at 08.00. We had been told at Alamty that we would arrive at 05.00 - with the time difference that is 08.00). The under pass to the rail station was closed but we were able to cross the (not busy) road and climb over a fence to get to the station. There appeared to be a lot of taxis.

Advice on seat choice
We would recommend seats 3/4 although no power and no over head place for baggage - lots of leg room and no one to recline in-front of you

Although there is a cabinet in-front of you you can put your feet under it to stretch out - fine Leg room for 6 foot person. Also for us the cabinet was empty and unlocked so we were able to put our bag in there and there was the flat surface above that we used as a table. The seat reclines to about 45 degrees and there is a leg rest. Suggest you avoid Seats 1&2 on LHS - they have front view but left hand seat has box on floor might get in way and less leg room. The RHS front seats don’t seem to have a number and have even less leg room and limited recline due to hand rail from stairs. All other seats seem the same.

Train Station
As indicated previously we were aiming to get the bullet train from Urumqi to Xian on arrival - if possible. They leave at 0820 and 0850 and take 13-14.5 hours. The slower trains take around 28 hours.

When you arrive at the bus station there is a pathway on the right hand side that takes you to the station. Rather than using the underpass (which was closed) we crossed the road (light traffic at that time of the day) and climbed over the fence opposite to get into the station (it was easy to do). It took us less than 10 Minutes to get from the bus to train station (by not using the underpass).

The ticket office is on the first floor (up one level). When you get to the train station the (painfully slow) escalator to get to the ticket office is to the right. You have to go through a security line to get in and have your bag (and you) x-rayed. This was quite an efficient affair provided you don’t get stopped. Note that aerosol cans must not exceed 100ml and you are only allowed one of each type and a max of 600ml in total. We had a shaving gel aerosol of 250ml so one of us remained to sort that out whilst the other headed for the ticket office (with both passports). The aerosol was taken off us!

The ticket office is to the left after the security line. Don’t join the line to the far right. If you can, seek the support of one of the China Railway staff around the ticket office - they are there to help.

Buying a ticket is quite bureaucratic but by this stage, with less than an hour to departure, you cannot buy online. Queues can be slow, so if there are two of you stand in different lines. The process to buy a ticket once you get to a window takes 5-10 minutes as they have to insert your passport details etc as your passport is your ticket but they will also give you a receipt that details which carriage and seat your are in. They do take credit cards which helped as at this point we hadn’t yet used Alipay so we were unfamiliar with using it. We have subsequently bought tickets at other stations in China and the process was quicker.

It took us about 20 minutes in total from the security line to having a ticket. With 15-20 minutes to spare it was straight to the platform gate m. There was another gate to scan your passports to get into the platform area. In total this took about 5 minutes to get to (our platform was the first in the left) leaving time to for a very quick visit to the WC (which was next to our platform gate) before boarding - but don’t worry the toilets on the train are ok. Note that you have to scan your passport at the platform gate to access the platform. The train conductors will point you to your carriage.

All in all had the bus not arrived on time we would not have caught the train. Timings were very tight. I would not therefore recommend buying tickets in advance as a result. We were lucky, we probably had about a 10 minute leeway between clearing the bus and the train leaving. Had we arrived at 0810-15 we doubt we would have made it.

[Stanbridge2]

Forgot to add photos of the seats and leg room on the bus

[MichelleK]

Border crossing report Bus Almaty - Yining on November 22, 2024
Bus ticket purchased the day before at the Sayran bus station in Almaty. Cost: 12,200 Tenge = €23.24
Departure at 7:19 instead of 7 a.m.
Arrival at 11:30 am at the Khorgos border crossing, which is far from the city that we do not cross in Kazakhstan.
Quick visual check of the open passport, inside the bus.
11:40 am : get off the bus
Quick passage through Kazakh customs.
A Kazakh decree prohibits taking out more than $10,000 in foreign currency
Duty-free was closed. No possibility of changing Tenge.
12:20: the bus starts up again with its passengers
Stamps checking in the bus.
The luggage was checked twice in the machine.
Fingerprints of the 4 fingers of the left hand taken.
Questions for the arrival card at the terminal : Yining place only (no adress) and French telephone number. A woman helped me. I was not allowed to do it myself.
Questions with the customs officer : which cities am I visiting? With a tour operator? Alone? Do I know anyone? He didn't ask me the name of the hotel. Translation via a screen and answer in your own language into the microphone.
The 15-day authorization starts from the next day.
We waited for the bus that left around 4:00. There are 3 more hours.
Change possible outside. Inside the building you can buy a SIM cart but I don't think it's possible for a foreigner. You will have to go to a big office and show your passeport translated. Mine which had been translated in Almaty was not accepted. I had to go to a Chinese translator in Yining.