Through Central Asia by train
The most usual (and easiest) route from Europe to China is via the classic Trans-Siberian Railway, shown in blue on the map below. But there is another route now open to foreigners, the so-called Silk Route via Kazakhstan, shown on the map in yellow. Let's be clear, if you want to travel between Europe and China, the main Trans-Siberian route is faster and easier to arrange, both in terms of visas and train tickets - for a start, just one Trans-Siberian train will get you all the way from Moscow to Beijing. The Silk route will take a little more thought and organisation, with more visas, train tickets and stopovers to arrange. However, this page will explain routes, train times, costs and how to buy tickets. You can also use trains to reach Central Asia from Europe and Moscow.
Step 1, London - Moscow - This is the first step, with daily
trains taking 48 hours.
Step 2, Moscow - Almaty or Astana (Kazakhstan) - This is the direct option, take this
route if you want to head straight for China.
Moscow - Tashkent (Uzbekistan) - Alternatively, take this train if
you want to start by visiting Uzbekistan.
Tashkent -
Samarqand - Bokhara & Urgench for Khiva - Trains link Tashkent with
3 of Uzbekistan's
most remarkable cities.
Step 3, Almaty or Astana - Ürümqi - The next step on the route to China.
Step 4, Ürümqi- Xian - Beijing
- The final train ride into Xian & Beijing.
Important update 2024: All trains between western Europe and Russia are suspended, originally due to Covid-19, now due to the war in Ukraine & sanctions. Travel to Russia is no longer advisable. International trains between the Stans and China are also remain suspended since the pandemic. This route is currently not viable. Nor is a route via Iran feasible, given the difficulty in getting visas.
Route map
London - Moscow
You can travel from London to Moscow by train, for times, fares, how to buy tickets and Russian visa information, see the London to Russia page. Direct sleeper trains run to Moscow from Paris, Vienna, Prague, Warsaw, Berlin, Budapest, Helsinki and many other cities, go to this page and select your starting city, then select Moscow. You will usually need a Belarus transit visa as well as your Russian tourist visa, see the visa section on the Russia page.
Trains to Russia were suspended due to Covid-19 and remain suspended due to sanctions.
Moscow - Almaty & Astana (Kazakhstan)
Trains link Moscow with both Almaty and Astana in Kazakhstan. A direct train links Moscow with Astana every 2nd day. The time-honoured direct Moscow-Almaty train Kazakhstan was sadly discontinued in June 2017 (nobody knows what RZD is playing at here), but it's still possible to travel between Moscow and Almaty with a change at Saratov as shown below. Or you can travel from Moscow to Astana then Astana to Almaty, which may be better.
The best place to confirm days of running & times, including times of border crossings (and therefore entry dates for visa purposes) is at the Russian Railways site www.rzd.ru.
The Saratov times shown above are Moscow time. Local time is one hour head of Moscow time.
UPDATE: After decades of running to Moscow time, from 1 August 2018 trains are shown in local time on Russian timetables, usually with the difference from Moscow time shown in brackets, for example (MCK +5).
Train 7 & 8: Kupé (4-berth) and platskartny (open plan berths). There are no 2-berth sleepers. Southbound, train 8 departs Saratov on even dates (2nd, 4th, 6th etc of each month). Northbound, train 7 departs Almaty also on even-numbered dates. The train passes from Russia into Kazakhstan, but briefly transits another part of Russia before re-entering Kazakhstan. However, it is reported that you just need single-entry visa for Russia to travel on this train. Multiple-entry visas are not required for this. In fact, this Kazak visa question may have been resolved completely, as Kazakhstan has removed the need for UK & some other nationalities to get a visa from 2014 onwards -please check the latest Kazak visa situation. Moscow to Almaty is 4,017 km in total.
Train 17: A Russian domestic firmeny (quality) train with spalny vagon (2-berth), kupé (4-berth) and platskartny.
Trains 83 & 84: Train 84 leaves Moscow's Kazanski station on even-numbered dates (2nd, 4th, 6th etc of each month). Train 83 leaves Astana on even-numbered dates. The train has kupé (4-berth sleepers) & platskartny (open plan dormitory cars) plus restaurant car. There are now no 2-berths, but you can book 4 tickets in a 4-berth to have sole occupancy for one or two of you. Moscow to Astana is 3,105 km.
Fares: Moscow to Astana costs around £247 in kupé.
How to buy tickets: You can book train travel in Russia, including this train, through several reputable Russian agencies, including:
-
Svezhy Veter - www.svezhyveter.ru/sv/trains.htm
-
Way to Russia - www.waytorussia.net
You can make arrangements for trains, hotels and tours in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan through local agencies such as www.tourasia.kz. You will need Russian tourist visa for this journey (by all means double-check, but at the time I write this Kazakhstan no longer requires UK & some other nationals to get a visa. For information on Russian visas, see the visa section on the Russia page.
What are the trains like?
Moscow-Almaty better via Astana than direct? Traveller Chris Nuttall suggests going Moscow-Almaty via Astana: "I travelled from London to Almaty (Kazakhstan) and back last autumn (2009). On the return journey I travelled via Astana and as a result made the journey from Almaty to London in under 5 days, about 13 hours quicker than using the (then) direct train from Almaty to Moscow. I departed Almaty 2 station at 19:28 on the daily Talgo overnight train to Astana (train number 1/2) and travelled in Platskartny which consisted of 4 berth compartments, the same as the 'Tourist class' on the Spanish railways own Talgo sleeper trains, rather than the usual Russian semi-open carriages. According to my sister, who lives in Almaty and has used this train on a number of occasions, this service has a reputation for arriving punctually, unlike many other trains in Kazakhstan. I then used train 83/84 to Moscow as shown on your site. As well as being quicker and giving me the opportunity to explore Astana for a few hours, this route only crosses the Russia / Kazakhstan border once. I know you mention that only single entry visas are required for train 7/8, but I couldn't find further information on this, so my chosen route gave me added peace of mind."
Moscow - Bishkek (Kyrgyzstan)
A train called the Kirgizia links Moscow with Bishkek in Kyrgyzstan, with 4-berth sleepers & restaurant car. No 2-berth sleepers.
The best place to confirm days of running & times, including times of border crossings (and therefore entry dates for visa purposes) is at the Russian Railways site www.rzd.ru
Fares: Moscow to Bishkek costs £295 in 4-berth kupé.
How to buy tickets:
Moscow - Tashkent (Uzbekistan)
There is a train running 3 times a week from Moscow to Tashkent in Uzbekistan. This is the Uzbekistan, with Spalny Vagon (2-berth sleepers), kupé (4-berth sleepers) and platskartny (open plan dormitory car) plus restaurant car. The train passes from Russia into Kazakhstan then it enters Uzbekistan.
The best place to confirm days of running & times, including times of border crossings (and therefore entry dates for visa purposes) is at the Russian Railways site www.rzd.ru.
Fares: Moscow to Tashkent costs around £415 in 4-berth kupé or £461 in 2-berth spalny vagon.
How to buy tickets: You can book train travel in Russia, including this train, through several reputable Russian agencies, including:
-
Svezhy Veter (journeys starting in Russia) - www.svezhyveter.ru/sv/trains.htm
-
Way to Russia (journeys starting in Russia) - www.waytorussia.net
-
Advantour (journeys starting in Tashkent) - www.advantour.com
Visas: You will need a Russian tourist visa and Uzbekistan tourist visa for this journey. For information on Russian visas, see the visa section on the Russia page. By all means check the latest Kazak visa situation but at the time I write this Kazakhstan no longer requires UK & some other nationals to get a visa.
You can make arrangements for trains, hotels and tours in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan through local agencies such as www.tourasia.kz or www.advantour.com.
Travellers' reports
Traveller Jeff Mortelette travelled Tashkent to Moscow in 2016: "The boarding arrangements were crazy. We arrived an hour early and made our way to the security check. There were tons of people pushing to get in. I think there was another train leaving right before us, so a lot of people were trying to get on that train. We waited in line for about half an hour before we realized we needed to start pushing our way to the front if we wanted to catch the train. We finally got through with about 10 minutes to spare and hustled to the platform. We got on our car with a few minutes to spare.
The train left Tashkent at 18:50. About half an hour later we spent 80 minutes at the border while Uzbek border patrol went though. They had me open some bags and answer some questions about where I was going and why. They spoke no English. We went for 20 more minutes and did the same thing with the Kazak border control. It was pretty similar when we left Kazakhstan/entered Russia. We only entered Russia once.
On the train there were a few power sockets. One at each end and one in the middle, but none in our cabin. A nice feature is each car had shot water dispenser people used for noodles or tea. We also had one employee of the train assigned to each car and ours was really helpful, especially when crossing borders.
There was a restaurant car that served Uzbek staples: plov, lagman, and dumplings. In addition sometimes people would go by our cabin and sell the food the restaurant cooked. My friend and I got two bowls of plov and scopula beers for around $7. It was pretty good for plov, but there was not much variety. We paid in Kazak Tenge, but you could also pay in som or rubles. It would help to not carry big bills; I couldn't use my 10,000 Tenge note. In addition to he food on the train, many stops of at least 20 minutes had places you could buy food. Mostly crackers, potato chips, candy bars, water and soda, and uncooked ramen noodles. Each car of the train had a place where you could get hot water that many people used for tea and ramen noodles. In Samara, we could find more food for sale: cheese, bread, sausage. In general the closer we got to Moscow the more choices we had when we stopped."
Tashkent - Samarkand - Bokhara - Urgench (for Khiva): See the Uzbekistan page
For train service within Uzbekistan, linking Tashkent, Samarkand, Bokhara & Urgench, see the Uzbekistan page.
Tashkent - Almaty
There is now a train every few days between Tashkent and Almaty, using a modern Talgo train. You can buy tickets at tickets.kz.
Almaty & Astana (Kazakhstan) - Ürümqi (China)
Direct train twice a week
Two trains per week link Almaty in Kazakhstan with Ürümqi in China, one using the original route through Druzhba/Alashankou, the other via the new much shorter route through Horgos/Altynkol. One train per week carries through cars Astana-Ürümqi. One set of carriages is Kazak with 2-berth and 4-berth sleepers, the other set Chinese with modern air-conditioned soft class 4-berth sleeper compartments and hard class open-plan bunks. A Kazak restaurant car runs Almaty to the border, and a Chinese restaurant car runs from the border to Ürümqi. If you use this route, please let me know!
Update: International trains to/from China remain suspended due to Covid-19.
One train is operated by Kazakhstan Railways, the other by Chinese Railways. Astana is now also known as Nur-Sultan.
Which station in Urumqi? There are two main stations in Urumqi, plain Urumqi which opened in 2016 just northwest of the city centre (see map), and Urumqi Nan (see map) which is the original Urumqi station, south of the city centre, and confusingly called plain Urumqi until 2014. These trains use the new Urumqi station. Urumqi has an unofficial local time 2h behind normal Chinese time, but the times shown above for Urumqi are all the official Beijing time zone used by the railways.
Check your train times & dates carefully as times and days of running have changed regularly over the years, and there is much conflicting information online depending where you look. You can get more definitive info at the Kazakhstan Railways online timetable at epay.railways.kz but you need to be clever with cutting and pasting Cyrillic place names алматы for Almaty and урумги for Urumqi.
Fares: Almaty to Ürümqi costs around £123 in 4-berth or £138 in 2-berth.
How to buy tickets: You can book these trains for westbound journeys at www.chinahighlights.com/china-trains (click International Train from China above the journey planner) for westbound journeys.
Traveller's report
Traveller Tom Earwaker reports: "Departure was 23:14 on Monday 14/10/19, Beijing time. Note that there's an unofficial local time in Urumqi, 2 hours behind Beijing, but train times are all in Beijing time. The train had around 10 carriages, I only counted about 18 people getting on! I had a 4-berth compartment to myself up to the border crossing and there was a nice German couple in the next compartment. It was an old train, but clean and comfortable, with bedding and hot water provided. Got to the China side of the border around 9am where security checked passport, looked around compartment and asked some questions about reason for travelling, where we went in China, etc. Got off the train 09:30 with luggage, more questioning (about purpose of visit, my job, and whether I liked China!), luggage search and they took fingerprints. They also looked though the photos on my phone for quite a while and the books on my kindle. It was quite thorough, but they weren't unfriendly about it. Back on the train and left the station around 11:00, reaching the Kazakh side of the border at 11:20 (09:20 Kazakh time) There was 1.5hr of security checking passport, checking bags, questioning and waiting, all carried out on the train. Then we had to get off the train for another 1.5hr and wait at Druzhba station while they changed the wheels over. There was a small cafe at the station serving typical Russian/Kazakh food (Borscht, Samsa, Plov etc.) and I was able to exchange Yuan for Tenge at the station's convenience store (also a bank nearby with similar exchange rate). We left at 12:40 Kazakh time, and the train very quickly filled up over the next few stops. Arrived in Almaty 2 station at 05:50 next morning (16/10/19)."
Ürümqi - Xian - Beijing
All these trains have soft & hard sleepers and most have a restaurant car, see the Train Travel in China page for general information about trains in China. There are other trains available between Ürümqi and Xian and between Xian and Beijing, see the Train Travel in China page.
Which station in Urumqi? There are two main stations in Urumqi, plain Urumqi which opened in 2016 just northwest of the city centre (see map), and Urumqi Nan (see map) which is the original Urumqi station, south of the city centre, and confusingly called plain Urumqi until 2014. These trains use the new Urumqi station. Urumqi has an unofficial local time 2h behind normal Chinese time, but the times shown above for Urumqi are all the official Beijing time zone used by the railways.
Fares: Ürümqi to Beijing costs around RMB 901 ($146) in soft sleeper or RMB 566 ($92) in hard sleeper, if bought at the station. Ürümqi to Xian costs around RMB 768 ($124) in soft sleeper.
You can check times & buy tickets at www.chinahighlights.com/china-trains. Not all trains are shown here!
* Trains Z179/Z180 use Beijing main station, not Beijing West.
Planning your trip
Probably the best way to plan a trip like this is to start by reading up on all the possible routes, trains and stopovers, then plan out an itinerary and budget using a simple table or spreadsheet: How to plan an itinerary & budget.