Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region is one of the most exciting parts of China, an extraordinary terrain, more than 3000km from any coast, which despite all the historical upheavals since the collapse of the Silk Road trade, still comprises the same old oasis settlements strung out along the ancient routes many still producing the silk and cotton for which they were famed in Rom times . Geographically, Xinjiang- occupies an area slightly greater than Western Europe or Alaska, it covers over 1,600,000 square kilometers (617,763 square miles), one-sixth of China’s total territory and yet its population is just twenty million.

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Major Cities of Xinjiang are Kashgar,Turpan, Urumqi ,Ili,Korla ,Kuqa ,Khotan.

Xinjiang Transportation - Getting to Xinjiang and moving around.
For travellers arriving from western China or Central Asia, Urumqi will be the first truly Chinese city on your route, Urumqi’s international airport is 15km northwest of the city, from where you can reach town on the CAAC airport bus (RMB18), which delivers to various air- line offices. Alternatively, take city bus #51 (RMB5) from the main road outside the airport, which runs via Xibei Lu,Yangzijiang Lu (near the long-distance bus station), Qiantanjiang Lu (near the train station), and Xinhua Nan Lu to terminate just past the southern bus station; or a taxi (RMB30).By Train :The train station lies in the southwest of the city, with services arriving from as far afield as Beijing and Shanghai in the east, to Kashgar in the west, to mention Alma Ata in Kazakhstan. Bus #8 from the southern end of Changjiang Lu runs northeast to Minzhu Lu, near much of the accommodation.The main long-distance bus station is a few blocks north of the train station, on Heilongjiang Lu, but just as many services end up a couple of kilometres south of the centre at the the south bus station on Xinhua Nan Lu (bus #1 runs north up Xinhua Lu), and private operators use their own depots, scattered across the city.

Best time for travelling Xinjiang

Xinjiang has a desert climate with a low annual rainfall of only 150 millimeters (6 inches). Winters are very cold and summers extremely hot. The best time to visit this province is in the autumn, when the days are long, the sky is clear and temperatures more bearable than in the heat of the summer. Another excellent reason to visit at that time is the abundance of delicious melons and other fruits and vegetables which are then available.

Highlights of Xinjiang

Highlights of Xinjiang include the Tian Shan mountain pastures outside Urumqi, where you can hike in rare solitude and stay beside Heaven Lake with Kazakhs in their yurts; but it is the old Silk Road that will attract most travellers. The most fascinating of the Silk Road oasis cities are Turpan and Kashgar, both redolent of old Turkestan, and it is possible to follow not only the Northern Silk Road from Turfan to Kashgar via Aksu and Kuqa, but also the almost forgotten southern route via Khotan. The routes were established over two thousand years ago, but traffic reached its height during the Tang dynasty, when China’s most famous Buddhist pilgrim, Xuanzang, used them on his seventeen-year voyage to India. There’s still the possibility of continuing the Silk Road journey out beyond the borders of China itself- not only over the relatively well-established Karakoram Highway into Pakistan, but now also over the less well-known routes into Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan Finally, there exists an exciting if perilous road from Kashgar into western Tibet, a route officially closed to tourists.

Xinjiang and Aroud

Eastern Xinjiang: the road to Turpan The road from Dunhuang in western Oansu as far as Hami and then Turpan - the easternmost part of Xinjiang, east of the central area dominated by the Tian Shan- comprises some of the harshest terrain in the whole of China. Little water ever reaches this area of scorching depressions - geographically an extension of the Tarim Basin - which in summer is the hottest part ofthe country, and which was dreaded by the Silk Road traders as one of the most hazardous sections of the entire cross-Asia trip.
The Northern Silk Road Korla to Kashgar: the Northern Silk Road Some 300km southwest of Orfimqi, and 400km southwest of Turpan, the wealthy but dull town of Korla marks the start of the most direct route to Kashgar, which follows the ancient Northern Silk Road .

 

Xinjiang Time

For travellers, the classic illustration of Xinjiang’s remoteness from the rest of the country is in the fact that all parts of China set their clocks to Beijing time. The absurdity of this is at its most acute in Xinjiang 3000-4000km distant from the capital- which means that in Kashgar, in the far west of the region, the summer sun rises at 9am or 10am and sets around midnight. Locally, there is such a thing as unofficial “Xinjiang time”, a couple of hours behind Beijing time, which is used more frequently the further west you head towards Kashgar; when buying bus, train or plane tickets, you should be absolutely clear about which time is being used.

Xinjiang Visitor’s Guide - Everything you need to know about Xinjiang.

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