Frequently Asked Questions

Here is a summary of our planning process:

1. Complimentary consultation: discuss traveler goals, needs, interests, and budget.
2. Design itinerary outline: trip framework with dates, destinations, hotels, and estimated cost for traveler feedback.
3. Pay planning fee ($200 USD or ¥1,200 CNY) : nonrefundable deposit toward your trip
4. Detailed itinerary proposal: day by day itinerary proposal with activities and quote for traveler review and feedback.
5. 20% deposit: payment confirms trip and all bookings are made by Old Road Tours.
6. Detailed trip information: to prepare you for your trip and answer any questions.
7. Final payment: due 30 days before departure (for trips booked less than 30 days in advance, full payment will be required to confirm bookings).
8. Departure for trip: our team will meet you upon arrival and we will be in contact with you throughout your trip in case any questions or issues arise.
9. Trip feedback: please let us know how your trip went so we can learn and improve our services.

As we are a local, Uyghur travel company, we are very focused on multi-day guided historical and cultural tours in Xinjiang and love being able to connect you with the people and culture of Xinjiang. We also offer tours in Gansu Province and Xi’an if you are interested in exploring more of western China.

In most cases, our minimum trip length is 5 days/4 nights.

Pricing can vary widely depending on your group size, activities, and accommodation preferences. For most of our tours, typical costs for a couple is 1,000 – 2,000 RMB per person per day and includes private transportation, guide, 3-4 star accommodations, and carefully selected experiences and destinations to fit your interests. If you are interested in doing an overnight camel trek or multi-day trekking, costs can be higher. If more than two people are traveling, the price per person goes down in most cases as you are sharing the vehicles and guides.

Like any expert advisors or consultants, we need to be compensated for our services. And while we wish that we could help all travelers, our time is limited. We also do not want to throw pre-packaged itineraries at travelers that do not fit their interests or budgets. We also do not expect travelers who have never traveled to Xinjiang to plan out their trip. We believe that is our job. We take time to discover our travelers’ needs, interests, goals, and budget before offering a detailed day by day itinerary proposal. As this is a very time-consuming process, we ask for a minimal commitment from you that will go towards your trip cost. We are happy, though, to offer an initial complimentary consultation, itinerary outline, and estimated costs!

Our travelers come from all over the world — North America, Europe, Australia, and Singapore, to name a few. We love to work with travelers who are excited to experience a new part of the world and gain a better understanding of Xinjiang and western China. Xinjiang is a challenging place to navigate. Our travelers understand that hiring experts like us will save them hours of planning before their trip. They also understand that letting our team handle all the logistics will not only take away any hassles of navigating on their own, but also help them to connect with the culture and land in a deeper way than independent travel would allow.

We highly recommend that you allow us to book all the hotels for your trip. We want your trip to go smoothly and to be able to support you throughout your time in Xinjiang. The best way for us to do this is to be responsible for the majority of your trip, including hotel bookings.

Please see detailed information about our booking conditions and cancellation policy here.

We highly recommend travel insurance. Your home medical insurance may cover some medical expenses incurred while abroad, but policies vary widely and are usually not designed for situations that may arise while traveling internationally. We encourage all of our travelers to purchase travel insurance that includes trip interruption and cancellation coverage, along with medical evacuation. Most travel insurance plans are very inexpensive and offer extensive coverage. For more information on this, please feel free to contact us.

We recommend booking at least 1-2 months in advance so we can guarantee accommodation and guide/driver availability.

As long as we have availability, we are happy to make last minute arrangements, but due to the difficulty of making last minute bookings, we will add a 300 CNY fee to your tour cost for any tours booked less than a week in advance.

No, we only arrange fully guided experiences with a guide, driver, and other accompanying services. One reason for this is most drivers only speak Uyghur or some varying levels of Chinese and English so communication can be very difficult if you only hire a driver. Even if you speak Chinese, we believe the best way for you to experience Xinjiang is through our local guides who not only bridge the communication gap but also help you to understand Xinjiang on a deeper level. We understand that some travelers prefer more independent travel so if you are just looking for a driver, we recommend contacting another local company.

We mainly focus on private tours for couples, families, and other small groups so we do not offer any set group tours at this time. If you are a solo traveler who would like to join others, we will try to match you up with like-minded travelers who share your interests/dates. This can be difficult to do, however, and will usually require some compromise from both sides.

No, you can enter Xinjiang on a normal Chinese visa.