The best time to visit Xinjiang depends on where you want to visit. Xinjiang is divided into the North and the South. The best time to visit Northern Xinjiang is from the end of May till the end of September. The best time to visit Southern Xinjiang is between the end of March till late October or early November. Any time between these periods is a good time to visit Xinjiang. If you want to visit at other times it will be during the tourism slow season and the weather will be cold. For specific weather information please go to the Travel Guides section of our website, and then enter the specific city you want a weather forecast for.
No permit is required to visit Xinjiang at the time of preparing this information (April 2018). Your Chinese visa is sufficient for you to come to Xinjiang. However there are some places where you need a permit to visit and other places you can visit with just your Chinese visa.
We can confidently say that safety is not an issue. There haven’t been any issues reported by travelers about their safety in the past. But we recommend you to stay away from crowded places in the event of an emergency. Like traveling anywhere else, use common sense, good judgment, and be respectful and courteous to the people around you.
Xinjiang will be more crowded than usual during this period, but it depends on what you call crowded. Xinjiang is not as crowded as the rest of mainland China during national holidays, but Golden week is the busiest time of the year for tourism in Xinjiang. So it is an ideal place for you to get away from the crowds if you are working in mainland China. If you are visiting from overseas, we advise you to avoid this period as buses, trains, and airports are more than usual.
For more accurate weather information for the month you are visiting, please visit our Travel Guide page and refer to the specific cities’ weather information. But, in general, if your tour involves visiting mountains, we highly recommend you to bring at least one set of warm winter clothes, because you never know what weather you might experience during your visit.
We recommend you to bring good trekking shoes or hiking boots, sunscreen, and sunglasses. If you are camping or sleeping outdoors, we recommend that you bring a torch or flashlight. If mosquitoes like to bite you, please bring mosquito spray. If you are prone to high altitude sickness, please bring medicine for treating altitude sickness.
You can exchange or withdraw money while travelling in Xinjiang. Main branches of the Bank of China in each city have a counter where foreign tourists can exchange or withdraw money from their cards as long as the service is enabled with your bank back home. They offer services for currency exchange, traveler’s cheque exchange, and the withdraw of money from debit or credit cards. Alternatively, a few ATMs in each city accept foreign debit cards or credit cards.
Each major city is connected with bus, train, and flight services. At the moment, depending on which cities you are in, bus tickets are sold either the same day or the day before the scheduled departure. Train tickets are sold one month before the planned departure. Flight tickets can be purchased well in advance, but the best time to buy is 1 to 4 weeks before the departure.
The Torugart border requires permits for third country nationals to cross and the Irkashtam border doesn’t. Both borders aren’t open during weekends and public holidays throughout the year. For specific crossing dates, please double check with local agencies to make sure that the border is open when you want to cross. If either side of the border is is closed for a public holiday, then you cannot cross at that date.
You can now book or reserve your train and flight tickets on ctrip. At this stage, bus tickets are only available over the counter.
Train tickets – become available starting one month before your departure date.
Flights tickets – become available far in advance of your departure date.
Bus tickets – bus tickets become available the day before or on the same day of travelling depending on which bus or bus station you go to.
No, we are flexible and can build a tour depending on your time constraints and which places you want to visit.