Road trips and adventures: China. How the border of the Russian Federation and China is crossed by car How to go to China by car
In Russian everyday life there are many sayings about China, after all, a neighboring country, and they all boil down to one thing: this eastern state is very, very far away. So far away that, until recently, traveling there on your own seemed incredible, costly and extremely difficult to plan. And even more so a trip to China by car, which was compared to a flight to the moon.
But every year more and more tourists direct their feet, runners, wheels and alpenstocks in this direction.
Why is it worth going there?
China is an amazing, still incomprehensible to us, incredible country, which seems to be another planet. You can bring anything from China, order whatever your heart desires, and you can see something there that will amaze you for a lifetime. Graceful pagodas, swift dragons, melancholy music incomprehensible to our ears, the ringing of bells, the smooth, unhurried movements of dancers and incredible, endless expanses rise before a person's mind's eye. China is beautiful all over, and every corner of it deserves to be seen. Snow-capped mountain peaks lost in the skies, lifeless deserts, rice fields stretching to the horizon, plantation workers in pointed straw hats. China is a land of contrasts, a land of observation and contemplation.
How to get there so as not to go broke? The plane is often very expensive, and for many it is also scary. By train - infinitely long and extremely uncomfortable, by bus - generally unbearable. There is only one way - to China by car!
To China by your own vehicle
The People's Republic of China is not a country that any tourist can freely enter if he just wants to. Those wishing to go to China by car should know that before traveling, they need to settle a number of mandatory conditions. There is a whole list of requirements that are imposed on tourists, without which it is impossible to enter the territory of the republic on their own vehicles, and it is also necessary to correctly draw up all the documents. If it is difficult to do it yourself and there are premonitions that you may be deployed at the border, it is better to contact one of the firms that are engaged in the preparation of such documents.
Of course, the company will ask for money for this, sometimes a lot, but this design has a huge plus: in case of violation of any deadlines for leaving or other problems with the car, fines will be imposed on the company. There will be no measures against the tourist in the form of detention, arrest, deportation. Considering how long it takes to get to China by car, it would be very sad.
What you didn't know
The most important thing to remember is that travel throughout China requires a special permit. Also, in the territory of the People's Republic of China, no other driver's licenses other than their own are valid. Neither Russian nor international. But this is not as scary as it seems, no one will have to pass the license with the border guards. Three months before the proposed trip, you need to start preparing documents, and a temporary Chinese license will be issued to the car driver when crossing the border. It should be borne in mind that it is tied to a specific driving device, and documents for its import into the country also need to be drawn up separately.
Along with the rights to the car, temporary numbers will be issued, and a deposit will also need to be paid.
Do you want to go to China in splendid isolation? Will not work
Another important nuance is that you cannot travel in your car in China alone. A trip is possible only in a group in which there are at least two vehicles - a car, a motorcycle, an ATV, etc. Drivers of cars can change, the participants of the trip can leave, join, but, cars must be unchanged and in no case separated, and it is also necessary to enter and leave the territory of China at the same time.
And, among other things, any group of travelers will necessarily have their own Chinese "guide", this is not a necessity for tourists, but a requirement of the travel company organizing the trip and the Chinese emigration service.
You can enter only through the point of entry that is written on the temporary numbers.
In addition to all this, there are many places in China that require additional permission to visit. These include, for example, Tibet, for a trip to which you need to get a special Alien Permits.
What do you need to do in order to travel to China by car?
So, briefly, point by point:
- Agree on a travel route through a travel agency (as a rule, she undertakes interaction with a Chinese travel agency) no later than 2-3 months before the trip.
- Get a visa.
- Pass a medical examination (applies to drivers).
- Arrange the import of the car into China through a separate company.
- At the border, meet with your "guide" - who will accompany you throughout the trip.
- Obtain a temporary Chinese driving license.
- Pass a technical inspection of the vehicle.
- Get temporary Chinese license plates.
How to go?
When all the bureaucratic nuances are met, applications for documents have been submitted, duties have been paid, you need to start preparing the car for the trip and plot the route along which the group will travel to the border. If you are residents of, for example, Blagoveshchensk or Chita, then this issue is not so important, but if you decide to go to China by car from Moscow, then this should be taken care of in advance.
There are many options for entering China - through Chita, from Krasnoyarsk, Yakutsk, Blagoveshchensk, Vladivostok. Almost everywhere the roads lead to one place - the Zabaikalsk checkpoint, as one of the largest and most convenient border points. Therefore, when taking care of how to get to China by car, first of all, you need to be guided by the point through which you want to enter the country, and the route you intend to travel.
How to get to China from Moscow?
The easiest way to get from the capital of the Russian Federation to China is through the Zabaikalsk checkpoint (Zabaikalsk village of the Zabaikalsk region). The distance on the roads is 6741.7 km, excluding the time for sleep, rest and eating, the move will take about four and a half days, and, according to tourists' reviews and given that people need to eat and sleep, the journey will take from six and a half to seven days, with taking into account the change of time zones. Fuel consumption with a consumption of 10 liters per 100 kilometers is 675 liters of gasoline, at a price of approximately 45 rubles per liter, the cost of a trip will be 30 375 rubles one way.
Compared to the cost of air tickets Moscow-Beijing, the price is quite acceptable, given that it can be divided into two, three, four people, and a trip to China will not be more expensive than the May Day holidays at the dacha.
To China from Blagoveshchensk
Another convenient point of entry into the People's Republic of China is the city of Blagoveshchensk in the Amur Region. The distance from Moscow to Blagoveshchensk is 7697.5 kilometers, which can be traveled taking into account the time for sleep, food and standing in traffic jams on average for the same 6.5-7 days, about half a day more than to the village. Zabaikalsk. In fuel equivalent, this is 770 liters of gasoline or 34,650 rubles.
The crossing point in Blagoveshchensk differs from the Zabaikalsk checkpoint in one convenience, it is connected with China by the customs point of Blagoveshchensk-Heikhe, cities that are not for nothing called "twin cities". If you are looking for how to travel to China with your own car, many experienced tourists advise choosing it.
The transition Blagoveshchensk-Heikhe water. From May to October, tourists and cars are transported by motor ships, departing hourly from both sides. From January to March, tourists are transported using a pontoon bridge thrown across the Amur, and during the freeze-up period and off-season (November, December, April), passengers are transported by a hovercraft.
Due to the specifics of passenger transportation, at the Blagoveshchensk-Heikhe crossing point, there is a limit on the weight of hand luggage, no more than fifteen kilograms per person.
To China from Primorye
Another convenient option to travel to China by car is especially popular among the residents of this region, because the neighboring state is literally a couple of hours away from them. From Primorye to China, you can get from Ussuriisk or Vladivostok, from these cities you can easily get to a dozen Chinese settlements - Suifenhe, Hunchun, Dongning, Harbin and others.
For example, the distance to the farthest of the listed cities, Harbin, from Vladivostok is approximately 700 kilometers, or 8-10 hours of travel. This is 70 liters of fuel and 3150 rubles (at the cost of gasoline 45 rubles per liter). From Ussuriisk this road will be one and a half hours shorter.
Many choose the Vladivostok-China route by car in order to see the incredible Chinese border cities and plunge into their trading atmosphere, where everything is done for the Russians and the way they like it.
From Chita to Manchuria
Once this route was one of the most popular, of course, because Manchuria, bordering Russia, was famous for its cheapness, and from one tourist to another there were stories about luxurious hotel rooms for only two hundred rubles a day, about carousing in restaurants by a large company for 500 rubles and about the equipment purchased there for ridiculous money. Alas, it was so, but with the crises prices have risen everywhere, and China is no exception.
The road will not take much time, by car from Chita to the Zabaikalsk village, to the Zabaikalsk-Manchuria crossing.
The total distance from Chita to Zabaikalsk is 483 kilometers, the road will take about 8-10 hours, depending on traffic jams. With a fuel consumption of 10 liters per 100 km, 48 liters of gasoline will be required, that is, you need to refuel for about 2,200 Russian rubles.
Important facts to keep in mind
The most important thing is to remember to look at the calendar of public holidays and yes, the celebrations there are very different from the rest of the world.
If you are not going to see Chinese New Year, then it is not recommended to plan your trip in February. The country has been walking for a whole month, even online stores work in one month, not to mention other services and establishments.
The beginning of the trip, that is, crossing the border with China, is best scheduled on weekdays in the middle of the week, otherwise there is a great chance for long hours to get stuck at customs among a huge flow of tourists and "shuttle traders".
And the good news is that in 2013 the Chinese city of Sunfenhe (which is the most convenient to get to from Vladivostok) was declared a visa-free territory for citizens of the Russian Federation, which gives them the right to stay there without a visa for up to 15 days. But only there, leaving it without a Chinese visa is impossible. Therefore, when planning a Russia-China trip by car, please, do not forget about such an important detail.
An article about ways to get to China from Russia.
One of the first questions when planning an independent travel in the Middle Kingdom is how to get to China. Transportation costs often account for up to half of the total travel cost. First of all, you should decide for yourself which region of China you are going to visit. Based on this, you can plan how to get there. There are several options for getting to the PRC from Russia: by plane, by train, or by bus.
How to get to China from Russia on your own?
1. By plane from Russia to China
Aeroflot, S7, Air China, China Southern, China Eastern Airlines regularly fly from Russia to China. Flights are carried out from many cities of Russia. The largest selection, of course, is from Moscow: you can fly to Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Guangzhou, Chengdu, Urumqi and many other cities. Prices for "round trip" start at 17,000 rubles. for a connecting flight, and from 19,000 rubles. for direct flights. You can also fly from Novosibirsk to Urumqi for 11,000 rubles, to Beijing for 19,000 rubles. The cheapest flights to China from Khabarovsk and Vladivostok: to Beijing - 12,000 rubles. round trip, to Harbin - 9000 rubles, to Shanghai - 16000 rubles.
There are promotions and sales - you can get a ticket even cheaper. On the other hand, during the high tourist season, the cost rises. So it is better to take a plane ticket in advance or for a promotion. To find the cheapest flights to China, you can search in the form below. The system itself will select tickets for more than 700 airlines and many booking systems.
To buy the cheapest plane tickets, read about the main ways to save money on your plane ticket.
Airplanes inside China fly very often and in any direction, so you can always quickly fly even to a small town by making a transfer in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Hong Kong, etc.
2. By train from Russia to China
Getting to China by train is quite easy, but long. There are two trains running from Moscow to Beijing. Train # 043 is crossing Mongolia in transit, so a transit visa for this country is required. Runs once a week on Tuesdays, travel time 132 hours, cost about 9000 rubles. for a reserved seat and this price is growing. Another train # 020 goes through Zabaikalsk directly to China (ie, bypassing Mongolia). It runs once a week on Saturdays, travel time is 145 hours, the cost is even more expensive than the previous one.
There is a train from Almaty to Urumqi once a week, travel time 35 hours, cost 5000 rubles.
3. By bus from Russia to China
Several buses run from the Far Eastern border cities of Russia to China.
In summary, we can say that for residents of Moscow, St. Petersburg and the central regions of Russia, the best option to get to China is by plane. You can save money only by hitchhiking to Zabaikalsk or Blagoveshchensk)). For residents of the Urals and Western Siberia - a bus from the cities of Kazakhstan is a good option. For residents of the Far East, it is also most convenient to cross the border with China by bus, and then by train across China.
How to get to China from Kazakhstan?
Now let's look at how to get to China from Kazakhstan, because many people from this country read us.
1. By plane from Kazakhstan to China
You can take a direct flight to China from Almaty and Astana with Air Astana and China Southern airlines. This event is quite expensive, but fast - just an hour and a half and you are in Urumqi. Flights to Beijing, Guangzhou, Nanjing are also available, but with a transfer to Urumqi.
It is best to search for air tickets on metasearch engines, for example or.
I also advise you to watch and subscribe to, sometimes you can catch good prices!
2. By train from Kazakhstan to China
The train from Kazakhstan to China runs from Astana and from Almaty. Moreover, I did not manage to find out the exact price for these trains, the website of the Kazakhstani railways does not show them and, unfortunately, I cannot buy tickets for these trains there.
Train # 54Ts runs from Astana to Urumqi on Saturdays; it takes a little over 40 hours on the way.
There are two trains from Almaty: # 014TS on Tuesdays (31 hours on the way) and # 014 T on Sundays (travel time 31 hours). The cost for them is 20,000 tenge. So I was told at the information desk at the Almaty railway station. Not very budgetary!
3. By bus from Kazakhstan to China
As mentioned above, many buses run from the cities of eastern Kazakhstan to Urumqi and some other cities of the XUAR.
From Semey (Semipalatinsk) the bus to Urumqi runs on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays, travel time 30 hours, cost 9000 tenge.
From Ust-Kamenogorsk the schedule and price are the same.
From Almaty the bus to Urumqi runs every day, except Saturday. The fare is also about 9000 tenge.
Back from China you can get to Almaty, Semipalatinsk, Ust-Kamenogorsk, as well as to Zyryanovsk, Ridder, Taldykurgan, Chundzha and even Karaganda! But the information on the last cities is not accurate, we just saw the prices at the bus station in Urumqi.
4. Combined way to get from Kazakhstan to China
From Almaty you can take a bus to the border town of Zharkent, not far from the Khorgos border crossing, where you can cross the border by a special bus. Then you need to get to any more or less large city, for example, to Inin, and from there to Urumqi. Such is the hard way to get to China.
But the cost will be inexpensive: the Almaty-Zharkent bus is about 1000 tenge, from the border to Inin about 50 yuan, and then by train Inin-Urumqi (about 100 yuan).
The idea to drive to China for three or four days appeared about a couple of months ago. When I wanted Chinese food, and in Chita, they never learned how to cook it normally.
Because I need summer tires for a recently bought car + in the near future there will be a big road trip, I had to buy a boat-type roof rack.
Thus, a trip to China made sense not only to devour, but also quite a profitable acquisition of the necessary things.
Accordingly, the question of how to enter China was immediately removed.
Many people discouraged me from entering China by their own car, due to difficulties at the border, driving style in China and unfamiliar rules.
Five of us went: my wife and child, my sister and my husband.
The Odyssey car is roomy and ideal for long journeys.
We left at 7 am on Thursday.
drove in 5 hours along a disgusting road to Zabaikalsk (480 km) and at 13.15 arrived at the gate of the Zabaikalsk checkpoint
We were the second in the queue for the check-in. At 13.30 on the Russian border, the change of shifts ended and they began to launch.
At 13.55 I already bought Baileys in the dutik (840 rubles per liter bottle) :)
At 14.10 we began to cross the Chinese border.
We sprayed our car with bleach, and we got in line.
The passengers went through passport control into the building, and I and the car had to go through it separately.
While I sat in line watching a movie on my laptop
About an hour later, a Chinese border guard invited me to go through control. The car was checked very quickly. But then they caught on to the laptop. First, they asked to turn it on, move the mouse, open windows and documents. And then they generally sent me with a laptop to the boss for a check. The boss spent 10 minutes rummaging around on his laptop and looking, apparently, for pornography, because when, after checking, I asked him what he was looking for. He replied: "Kunya is bad." Finding nothing, he reported on the radio that everything was ok and I could be passed on.
The further check passed quickly enough, and at 15.30 Chita time we were free as the wind.
The crossing of the two borders took a total of 2 hours 15 minutes.
Along the way from the crossing to Manchuria, the Chinese have built buildings in different architectural styles of the world, as well as a small park with replicas of Russian statues and monuments.
in general, the Chinese have always been good at making fakes :)
A small lyrical digression.
Before the trip, I was interested in the question, is there a map of Manchuria for Navitel or any other European navigation program. It turned out that Navitel has an almost perfect map of Manchuria. If anyone needs it, knock, I'll give you a link.
On the way to the hotel, he studied the local driving style.
First, if there is no separate arrow, then you can safely turn right under the red one. I find it very convenient and correct.
Second, there are no main and secondary streets, all roads are equal. If the intersection is unregulated, then the rule applies - whoever is brazen is right. At first it was incredibly infuriating. On the second day, I got used to it and was inspired.
Third, where the car can enter, you can enter. Sidewalks, wide porches, etc. You can't go where you can go - you can't go stupidly in an ordinary car.
In general, on the second day everything was clear to me, it seemed natural and I felt myself absolutely at ease while driving.
Looking ahead, I will say that despite the absolute self-regulation of road traffic, in four days I have not seen a SINGLE accident.
Traveling in China with your own or rented car is a daunting task. International driving licenses are not valid here. So it is necessary to attend to the preparation of documents three months before the planned trip. Physically, you will be given a temporary Chinese license upon arrival. The rights are tied to a specific car, the import permit for which must be issued separately. You will be given a temporary Chinese license plate for the car, and you will pay the deposit (the car must leave China after the expiry of the permit). The latest innovation - to travel around the country, you need not only to immediately indicate the route, but the participants must have at least two cars.
Deviations from the route, to put it mildly, are not welcome. To control the movement with travelers, there is always a Chinese guide (liaison officer), and in Tibet, a Tibetan guide also joins in, who decides all issues at numerous checkpoints. Tibet requires a separate entry and travel permit. The procedure for processing all documents must be taken very seriously. So, in Tibet, they did not fill our car until they copied all the details of my Chinese driver's license, as well as the license plate. In China, a foreigner can only rent a car with a driver. The cost of such a rental is quite comparable to the costs of registration and transportation by your car. However, in the latter case, you must very carefully choose an agent / company that will handle the registration.
Where to go
China is an amazing, ancient, not very understandable, rapidly developing country. As soon as its economy slowed down its growth rates from eight percent per annum to six percent, and the whole world felt the fall in commodity prices and other unpleasant consequences. It was extremely interesting for me to look specifically at the Chinese provinces, and not at the capital Beijing or Shanghai.
Our route ran along the Great Silk Road. Starting from the ancient city of Xi'an, we crossed the border of North and South China, which runs along the Qinling mountain range, and passed the waters of two great rivers - the Yangtze and the Yellow River.
Tibet deserves a separate mention - it is worth getting there, and it should be done immediately. Even over the past few years, it has changed significantly, partly losing its original spirit. I am afraid that in five years Tibet will differ from other provinces of China only by the presence of Everest and other highest peaks in the world, as well as the inevitable symptoms of altitude sickness, which overtakes travelers at an altitude of more than 3500 meters. Although the Beijing-Lhasa train provides additional oxygen, fortunately, the Chinese have not yet learned how to saturate the entire space of Tibet with it. Otherwise, it will be a kind of Disneyland with the Potala and other monasteries-attractions, visited by millions of Chinese tourists. Obviously, domestic tourism for China is much more important than external.
However, a significant part of those foreigners who do get here fall ill with the Himalayas forever. So our path again lies to Everest.
Chinese roads
We drove almost four thousand kilometers. Roads in China are excellent (and in most cases toll), regardless of the altitude and climatic conditions. We very often saw two or three tracks (several lanes each), leading in one direction. Thus, the Chinese are unloading the highways, linking the provinces into a single country. Numerous tunnels have been made in mountainous areas. The organization of movement in them is similar to the European tunnels in the Alps, but at an altitude of more than three thousand meters.
We did not hit a single wheel all the way ... Nevertheless, the cars are definitely worth preparing. We had studless winter tires, but there were chains and a basic set of tools in the trunk. The luggage racks of our cars are very spacious and allow you to take luggage for a long journey. On the roof, we fixed boxes in which we put shovels and cans for gasoline in reserve. However, it should be borne in mind that canisters are prohibited from being imported into Tibet after the self-immolation of monks in crowded places.
Where to live
There is only one advice to travelers - do not save on hotels. In small towns (five hundred thousand - two million people) you need to take the best hotel within two hundred dollars per night. In the country of thriving domestic tourism, there is still no good average level of hotels in the European sense.
Both network and local “fives” perform well. I would especially like to note the indispensable presence of a sports pool (twenty-five meters) and a varied dinner with European cuisine. All hotels have free Wi-Fi. Moreover, in small hotels, routers are in each room, which ensures good communication.
A separate story with hotels in Tibet. They are still at a very modest level. The main problem is cold: there is no heating, no double-glazed windows, and at night the temperature is below zero. At the same time, the Chinese love to build monumental structures of marble and concrete, in which it is impossible to keep warm either in summer or in winter.
Why is it needed
Someone will ask: is it worth it to suffer so much to drive through China by car? The answer is unequivocal: worth it! Indeed, in addition to a variety of impressions, the car makes it possible to undergo preliminary acclimatization with comfort, saving strength for the upcoming ascent. And one more reason - cars on such a long journey become reliable companions, turning the road into the most exciting pastime. It is said that when the group met at Base Camp after a successful ascent, there were even disputes between the guys about who would go behind the wheel.
At the end of May, the whole family went on our typewriter to the border Chinese city - Manchuria. I must say right away that it is very difficult to drive 1200 km (one way) on such a small car. This road was still relatively normal (by Russian standards). When leaving Russia, they stood at our and Chinese border for a very short time - 2-3 hours. I was very surprised by the discipline of the Chinese border guards in comparison with ours. They even have civil servants at customs going to dine in formation.
I was abroad for the first time, and was a little shocked by the huge number of differences between our border village Zabaikalsk and their Manchuria. Manchuria is a large border city, according to my estimates, at least 1 million inhabitants.
The city grew stupidly on Russian money. Everything in it is tailored for the Russians. Signs even in the "Chinese" regions of Manchuria are duplicated in Russian. In "Russian" areas, you can safely pay in rubles. There are also a lot of expensive cars. I have always thought that there are very few rich Chinese. But no, there are a lot of such cars there:
Russian restaurants are also very common, as not every Russian can eat Chinese food for a long time. By the way, there was a man who had been in China with us and he sometimes took us to a cafe for the Chinese. Everything there is much tastier and several times cheaper. For example, there were five of us, we took a full table of food, beer and some Chinese vodka to sample. And they paid a little more than 200 rubles for this. True, I didn't like Chinese vodka at all, but their beer is quite good. In a Russified restaurant, we then paid 800 rubles for the same amount of food without beer and vodka.
Immediately I confess my wife and I spent all the money that we had with us. We went shopping like idiots instead of exploring the city, sights, parks and entertainment. But as I later found out, everyone who goes there for the first time does it. I was surprised how I, a financially sensible person, fell for mass hysteria. Well, nothing, the first pancake is always lumpy 🙂 And so, in general, there is nothing special to tell. A special attraction is the heaps of shops: in the basement, on the first and second floors.
In general, it is better not to enter the markets wild screaming Chinese women yell in broken Russian. And God forbid you are interested in something on the market. A bunch of Chinese will immediately rush at you. Well, if you start trying something on and it suits you in size and you don't buy it, the Chinese will suddenly become angry and begin to insult you with Chinese-Russian foul language. The people in the shops are more civilized and in most of them they will serve you almost without shouting. And it's also interesting that you can bargain in stores. Moreover, you can drop the price at times.
By the way, although there are restaurants serving dog meat on the streets there are dogs, both domesticated and mongrels. The Chinese love to have such shaggy ones, as well as all kinds of bulldogs, pugs, etc.
While I was there, I noticed that the Chinese like to choose their second Russian name "Anton". I found both a restaurant and shops named after me and even an airline 🙂
But leaving China is not the quickest thing to do. We stood at the border for 7 hours and then they told us that we passed very quickly.
P.S. Foolishly, I repaired the suspension in China - it was my mistake. In Manchuria, only bodywork can be reworked... Do not try to make a suspension there, and even more so the engine - then it will be more expensive.
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