Buses connect Urumqi with all major towns in Xinjiang Province, though lots of buses do not start from the long-distance bus station, but from various points around the town. This also means that if you board your bus at the long-distance bus station you'll then find yourself driven to the other place where the bulk of the passengers will embark; the only advantage being that you are less likely to be charged a "foreigner's" price. For the short trip to Turpan, you will save a lot of time by picking up your bus or minibus from the Erdaoqiao market, from where there are departures throughout the day. Private buses, a cheap and hassle-free alternative to the trains, leave from the square outside the train station. Many destinations are served, the most promising being those that lie east in Gansu Province, Liuyuan (the jumping-off point for Dunhuang) and Lanzhou.

Urumqi is the starting point for trains to most major Chinese cities, including Beijing, Shanghai, Chengdu and Guangzhou - as well as all points in between. The easiest way to buy train tickets out of Urumqi, is to use the travel agents in the Hongshan Hotel - they'll charge about ¥40 commission and usually require two or three days' notice. Buying a ticket by yourself in the station here, and in the rest of Xinjiang, is extremely difficult, as most tickets disappear into the black market.