Here's a rock bottom price on flights to the most landlocked major city in the world, Urumqi China. Flights are usually $900 + to get here, and usually with China Eastern.
Lots of tourist places to visit
Weather is in the low 20s at this time which is perfect for exploring
Entering China means you'll need to apply for a Visa
Don't forget that you can earn velocity points and status on these flight…pretty cheap way to get gold status.
Wow! Xinjiang is amazing.
Uruqmi is not much but get down to Kashgar and across to Yarkand and Hotan which are amazing. Uruqmi is also close to Turpan which is very very interesting and HOT!
Agreed, just returned from xianjiang back in May. A beautiful region well worth a visit.
I also flew Hainan airlines, although I flew into Xian and out of Urumqi. I spent a month and 6,300km by train and bus traveling up the silk rd to kashgar beyond.
Kashgar and the Karakoram Hwy were highlights.
There is little to do in Urumqi. It's a clean modern city, but I'd recommend only 2 days maximum in this city.
Hainan allow open jaw bookings so you can fly into one city and out of another for roughly the same price.
Also worth remembering is Hainan offer a free hotel if your connecting flight wait is 6 hours or more.
I traveled through this part of China a few years ago. Back then you needed to be traveling with an organised tour for visa purposes (if you flew into Xinjiang as your first port). It's not difficult to organise but just be sure to check latest visa requirements for this part of China before booking.
There are currently no restrictions. I was there a few months ago. Of course very high levels of security still exist in this region,particularly in Kashgar.
for PC I just deleted my comment.
I believe Yarkand you still can't stay overnight.
Was Xinjiang your first Chinese port? If so this is good, if not worth others checking with the consulate. Cheers
I strongly recommend north west region e.g Xi'an, where Chinese culture originates. And Suzhou, where the gardens represent tradidional Chinese architecture in South. You'll enjoy the food too.
What is 'Chinese' culture?
There are many cultures in China, just that Han dominates.
Uyguer, Tibetian, Mongol, Manchu etc. are all part of Chinese culture, whether the Central government (and a lot of Han Chinese) like it or not.
@sambutler9876: I'm not hating any of them. Chinese culture (to me) is culture dominated by Confucius philosophy(about 500B.C. to current) among the race of Han since Han dynasty. To be more precise I call it Han culture as those you mentioned were not part of China back then. Now with 2500years interactive communication and globalization miniorties distinctions are disappearing I'm sad to say.
That's my favourite part of china! Tiamshi Mountains (google pictures) bazaars street food! Do visit, very safe place
Great find OP!
Wow, thanks again for sharing!
You're welcome. One day I might get the chance to take advantage of these prices!
If anyone wondering, Hainan Airline is full service and awesome.Flew with them in May with wife and 4 kids and was over the moon with how good they are.
This is true.
They are IMHO the best Chinese airline.
Although China Eastern generally has better lounges.
flown to xi'an with Hainan. worse Airline I've experienced ever!the plane is old, the seats are crap sub jet-star standard (reminds me of Philippine airlines 747 in the 90s). the on-board entertainment unit was faulty and they had to restart it a few times and still didn't work properly. On our return trip the plane had no on-board entertainment built in, they gave you a pedopad like tablet with basically 8 movies preloaded on it.
when transiting through xi'an you had to do a full customs check out and recheck-in your luggage then line up for a boarding pass. nearly missed my connecting flight because this took around 2hrs due to queue. Our flight from Beijing to xi'an via Hainan was delayed for 4hours thats the icing on top. never again!
Chinese domestic flights generally don't have much IFE on any airline.
Most of Hainan fleet is pretty damn new.
Chinese airports suck in general, but nothing to do with Hainan.
Flights in China are always frlayed. Especially to Beijing. This is due to the large traffic and the state limiting the air corridors etc. This is why for a short hop like Xian to Beijing, HSR is so much better.
@sambutler9876:
1) i wasn't talking about Chinese domestic.
2) i fly every year into China i'm not blind or stupid on what is NEW. Direct Flight from Melb to xiamen from xiamen airlines is NEW with on-board wifi and new seats large touchscreen IFE that doesn't look its been worn out from over use. not to mention they dont give out 9" cheapo china android pads with 8 preloaded movies because the seats dont have a inbuilt touchscreen.
3) xi'an airport is very new. Hainan just dont do direct luggage transfers for connecting flights even if its operated by them like Qantas/Cathay/Singapore etc..
4)i can understand there are some flight control into Beijing some times but our delay was due to a fueling problem with the plane.
Hainan is not even close been a 5 star airline.
They're cheap but not worthy of praise beyond that. Ive flown with them 4 times long haul and half those times there was no IFE. Thats not full service.
The food is also awful.
One of my domestic flights with them was delayed by 6 hours, got nothing.
Watch This before your booking… We, Ozbargainers need to form a group someday to travel across China like this, all the way back to Australia finally (by boat).
Great idea, but I don't think I could put up with JV's bitching for 12 months.
Bro is crying…
I will not arrive in oZ by boat!
Or we swim?
Tony Abbott would be waiting in his dinghy to turn you around if you tried this.
Just buy One way flight. There is no return
Bullet train in HK is about to be finished, so visiting Mainland China will soon be ultra considering HK flights return can be as low as 550
That is still more expensive than this deal and places like xi an and xing Jiang will not be accessible via bullet train from Hong Kong
I was gunna say… how did they do a direct flight that far? Turns out it was Syd to Xian, and then Xian transfer. I took the flight to Xian just a couple weeks ago. Flies a A330-200 twice a week, and they're pretty good. Nothing overly spectacular but individual touchscreen entertainment for everyone in economy, which is good enough. Nice menu too.
Not every a330-200 on the Australian routes have back of seat touch screens. If they don't passengers are provide a cheap and nasty android tablet without a stand (ie you have to hold it ).
On my flight over no touch screens, on the flight back there where, but they didn't work. Passengers were compensated with an 100RMB note at the gate.
Well, I was just making sure people dont have outrageous expectations of a 5-star airline. Maybe I should just say Good Good Good, Hainan airlines will satisfy you even in economy. 2-4-2 seating.
Yeah I agree, it's no Singapore airlines, but it does offer some amazing value for money.
Curiously Hainan is rated by skytrax as a five star airline. One of only 9 rated at this level, Qantas and Emirates are rated only 4 stars. Bizarre.
Hainan is cheap and nasty. utter crap seats with basically no IFE unit. our touch screens didnt work and had crap pad flying back to Melbourne. not to mention transferring in Xian was horrible a full re-checking(luggage pickup/customs check) is required for it. i would gladly pay $200 extra to fly though singapore or hongkong that didnt require that.
how many people did they bribe to get that 5 star skytrax rating i wonder? what a disgraceful rating system.
Transferring to domestic is always like that. I'm just glad I could direct to xian since that was my destination. $606 return.
Can't get this airfare for late September.