The Silk Road was historic passageway once worn into a dense chain of dusty trails by caravans of horses and camels carrying merchants and their many wares between continental Asia and Europe. Today it takes the form of a series of transnational rail tracks transporting the latest in electronic products and computer parts, as well as luxury Silk Road train journey travelers.

From China Beijing to Europe Moscow, classic Trans-Siberian Railway is the most usual and easiest route to arrange both in terms of visas and train tickets. But there is another route now open to foreigners, the so-called 'Silk Route' via Kazakhstan, which will take a little more thought and organisation, with more visas, train tickets and stopovers to arrange. However, here will explain routes, train times, costs and how to buy tickets. You can also use trains to reach Central Asia from China, Europe and Moscow.

Sectional Trains of Silk Route
London - Moscow - This is the first step, with daily trains taking 48 hours.
Moscow - Almaty or Astana (Kazakhstan) - This direct option, take the train head straight for China.
Moscow - Bishkek (Kyrgistan)
Moscow - Tashkent (Uzbekistan) - Alternatively, take this train if you start by visiting Uzbekistan.
Tashkent - Samarqand - Bokhara & Urgench for Khiva - Trains link Tashkent & top 3 Uzbekistan cities.
Almaty / Astana - Urumqi - The next step on the route to China.
Beijing - Xian - Urumqi    The final train ride into Xian & Beijing.
Beijing - Astana
Beijing - Almaty
Beijing - Moscow

London - Moscow
It's easy to travel from London to Moscow by train, in 48 hours with comfortable sleepers for the overnight sections.  For times, fares, how to buy tickets and Russian visa information, see the London to Russia page. Direct sleeper trains also run to Moscow from Paris, Vienna, Prague, Warsaw, Berlin, Budapest, Helsinki and many other cities, just use http://bahn.hafas.de to check train times.  You will need a Belarus transit visa & Russian tourist visa, see the visa section on the Russia page.


Moscow - Almaty or Astana (Kazakhstan)
Two direct trains link Moscow with Kazakhstan every second day, the Kazakhstan to Almaty (also written Alma-ata) and the Belgorod to Astana.  Of the two, the Moscow-Almaty route offers the best train, as it is a quality 'firmeny' service.  Both trains are safe and comfortable.  A couple of other trains which link Moscow with Astana on the way to somewhere else are not shown here.

Train 7 & 8 Kazakhstan:  Train 8 departs Moscow's Paveletskaya station on odd dates (1st, 3rd, 5th etc of each month, but not the 1st following a 31st).  Train 7 departs Almaty on even dates (2nd, 4th, 6th etc).  The train is a quality 'firmeny' service with spalny vagon (2-berth sleepers), kupé (4-berth sleepers) & platskartny (open plan dormitory cars) plus restaurant car.  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 and a single-entry visa for Kazakhstan to travel on this train.  Multiple-entry visas for Russia and Kazakhstan are not required just because of this (but please double-check this).  In fact, this Kazak visa question may have been resolved completely, as Kazakhstan has reportedly removed the need for UK & some other nationalities to get a visa, at least for a trial period from 2014 onwards -please check the latest Kazak visa situation.  Moscow to Almaty is 4,017 km.

Trains 71 & 72 Belgorod:  Train 72 departs Moscow's Kazanski station on odd dates (1st, 3rd, 5th etc of each month, but not the 1st following a 31st).  Train 71 departs Astana on odd dates (1st, 3rd, 5th etc of each month, but not 31st).  The train is a 'fast' service (but not a 'firmeny' top quality service) with spalny vagon (2-berth sleepers), kupé (4-berth sleepers) & platskartny (open plan dormitory cars) plus restaurant car. Moscow to Astana is 3,105 km.

Trains 83 & 84:  Train 84 leaves Moscow's Kazanski station on even-numbered dates.  Train 83 leaves Astana on even dates.   Spalny vagon (2-berth sleepers), kupé (4-berth sleepers) & platskartny (open plan dormitory cars) plus restaurant car.

You should check train times and days of running using the Real Russia online system below.  Train 8 is sometimes shown as train7!  You can also check times, surprisingly, at the German railways website www.bahn.de/en and if you click on the arrow for details, then click on the train number, you'll see a useful end-to-end list of calling points and times at each station.

Fares:  Moscow to Almaty costs around ￡270 in 4-berth kupé or ￡514 in a 2-berth spalny vagon, booked with Real Russia.  Moscow to Astana costs ￡247 in kupé, ￡490 in spalny vagon.

How to buy tickets:  You can book train travel in Russia, including this train, through several reputable Russian agencies

Moscow - Bishkek (Kyrgyzstan)
A train called the Kirgizia links Moscow with Bishkek in Kyrgyzstan, with 4-berth sleepers & restaurant car.  No 2-berth sleepers.

Moscow - Tashkent (Uzbekistan)
There is a train running 4 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, briefly transits another part of Russia before re-entering Kazakhstan, then it enters Uzbekistan.  You will need a Russian visa, Kazak transit visa and Uzbek visa.  However, it is reported that multiple-entry visas for Russia and Kazakhstan are not required just because this train transits part of Russia after entering Kazakhstan (please double-check this).  You should check the latest Kazak visa situation as Kazakhstan no longer requires UK & some other nationals to get a visa, at least for a trial period from 2014 onwards.

Tashkent - Samarkand - Bokhara - Urgench (for Khiva)
For train service within Uzbekistan, linking Tashkent, Samarkand, Bokhara & Urgench.

Tashkent - Almaty
There are reportedly two infrequent direct trains between these cities, one running once a week departing Tashkent at 17:22 on Wednesdays taking 24 hours, and another running every 4 days, however neither of these are shown in the Thomas Cook Timetable so please check locally.  It's also possible to go by train on other days with a change at Arys, or by train+bus via Chimkent.  Use www.poezda.net to check train times.  Traveller Helmut Uttenthaler reports "It's possible to go by train with changing at Arys. We did this, we had 53 minutes for our connection from daily train 23 (to Aktjubinsk) to the twice-weekly train 381 (Ufa - Tashkent). Although train 23 left Almaty with 40 minutes delay, we arrived at Arys on time. The connecting train was also on time, so no problem.  However, getting tickets in advance from Arys to Tashkent on train 381can be difficult.  Free places for getting on at Arys are very rare and appear in the "express" booking system only a few days before departure (as the train comes from Ufa in Russia).  We were three people, and when we booked our trip to Arys 8 days ahead it was not yet possible to buy tickets from Arys to Tashkent.  Some days later (4 days ahead) we tried it again and now just 3 free places appeared for Arys-Tashkent. Two in platskartny, one in kupé. We bought all of them... However, if we had failed to buy tickets or had missed our connection we would have made the way from Arys to Tashkent by taxi, as it's only about 150 km.  From locals we heard that they usually take the train to Chimkent and from there a bus to Tashkent.  But we wanted to go by train all the way."

Almaty (Kazakhstan) - Urumqi (China)
A twice-weekly train links Almaty in Kazakhstan with ürümqi in China.  It's believed that 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 frontier at Druzhba, and a Chinese restaurant car runs from Druzhba to ürümqi.

Urumqi - Xian - Beijing
Train T69/T70 has soft class (4-berth sleeper compartments) and hard class sleepers (open plan bunks).  There are other trains available between ürümqi and Xian and between Xian and Beijing, see the China page.

Fares: Urumqi to Beijing costs around RMB 970 (￡105) in soft sleeper or RMB 630 (￡70) in hard sleeper, if bought at the station.

Trains from Beijing to Urumqi

Trains from Beijing to Xi'an

Trains from Xi'an to Urumqi