Kazakhstan Travel Forum

I am in Georgia and planning to head to China from here...........just wondering if anyone knew what my options were from Kazakhstan? Is it possible to head into Russia and cut through Mongolia? is the border open? Is it possible to cut straight across and enter China from Kazakhstan? Are the trains affordable for this route? I will be taking the ferry across the Caspian......but am lost from there.......any help would be greatly appreciated.
Trevor

It is possible and not that tough. The cost of trains is very reasonable. Borders between Kazakhstan and China are open for the train and bus ride. The critical things are:
- visas
- you know, it's NOT the English in that area used as "Lingua Franca".

How good is your Russian? That is the problem #2, besides the visas. The rest is relatively easy, inexpensive and straightforward. But without basic Russian and without reading the Cyrillic alphabet people tend to have great difficulties there.

Otherwise... people traveling that route with small kids without major issues.

In the case you have language difficulties:

the cheapest route to China from Georgia would be if you go to Slovakia(!) via Ukraine and buy Slovakia-Russia City-Star train ticket for 100 Euro. But you will need a Russian (maybe Ukrainian - depending on your citizenship) visa. I know it sounds weird, but that's the case, often not the shortest route is the cheapest.

Thanks for the response I really appreciate it.

I am pretty much fluent in Bulgarian...which helps me get by with Russian somewhat(at least enough to travel around)..........

I am in Georgia at the moment and planning on heading to Azerbijan-across the Caspian Sea and onto Kazahkstan.............

This was the area i was concerned about.........so there is in fact a train I can catch in Kazakhstan to get to China????

I will pick up my Azerbijan visa here.....and my Kazakhstan visa in Azerbijan, and my Chinese visa in Kazakhstan..........I am not too worried about it....I am flexible and a relatively good backpacker..........I just wanted to make sure that the borders were in fact open between the two countries. Thanks a ton for your help.
Trevor

Yes, there is a train. You can even see the picture of the ticket on my VT home page. The price did not change since, I also have the price analyze of Urumqi-AlmaAta train ticket on my VT home page (why so much, how it works etc.)

Thanks a lot for the info.

I will cross the Caspian from Baku in a couple weeks....wish me luck
Trevor