Series of articles
Planning: Self-driving tour in Xinjiang: 9 days and 8 nights, 2600 kilometers, beautiful scenery, delicious food, warm people, and lots of money
Hotels丨Self-driving tour in Xinjiang: 9 days and 8 nights, 2600 kilometers, beautiful scenery/delicious food/friendly people, and a lot of money
Scenic Spots丨Self-driving tour in Xinjiang: 9 days and 8 nights, 2600 kilometers, beautiful scenery/delicious food/friendly people, and a lot of money
Self-driving food article丨Self-driving tour in Xinjiang: 9 days and 8 nights, 2600 kilometers, beautiful scenery/delicious food/friendly people, and a lot of money
In Xinjiang, the price difference between off-season and peak-season is huge. For example, in the hotel area where I stayed, except for Xijiang Mountain Residence in Jiadengyu, the prices of other hotels dropped by 30% to 50% in the week when I returned to Beijing. This price is actually in line with people's general perception.
The prices of hotels and B&Bs in other scenic areas such as Kanas, Hemu Village and Sailimu Lake have also dropped from 1,500 to 3,000 yuan to 600 to 1,500 yuan. Of course, even at this price, I don’t think it’s cost-effective.
During this self-driving trip, the route and hotel were adjusted no less than four or five times after departure. From the 14th to the 20th, every morning from 1 to 2, I modified the route and changed the hotel reservation on my iPad.
Below I will talk about hotel selection by city.
1. Urumqi
As the capital of Xinjiang, Urumqi has many hotels to choose from. Since I was driving myself, I personally preferred areas where parking and driving were more convenient. I stayed in Urumqi for three days, and my impression of its urban traffic was only: traffic jams, lack of parking spaces, and random weaving.
So, on the first day, I chose the Four Seasons Hotel on the highway, and on the last two days, because I wanted to go to the International Grand Bazaar and nearby hotels, I chose Yujing Kunlun.
(1)JI Hotel (Jiuding International Food City Dong'an Road Branch)
This hotel is located in a remote area and was recently built. There is a parking lot in front of the hotel, with wide parking spaces and convenient parking. No matter how late you go back, there are always parking spaces.
As for the hotel facilities, they are at the same level as all seasons. They are very good in every aspect. Worried about the dry weather in Urumqi, there is a humidifier in the room. If I remember correctly, there is also a small air-cooled freezer where you can put some fruits or something.
As for breakfast, it was not included originally, but the front desk kindly gave us breakfast for three people. In my mind, this hotel is the No.1 breakfast among these 8 hotels. From staple food, hot and cold dishes, desserts to hot and cold drinks and chef's buffet, it is very rich and tastes good. You can definitely find what you like.
The only drawback may be that it is too far from the airport, but it is very convenient to get on the highway.
(2) Yujing Kunlun Hotel
We chose it because we wanted to walk to the Grand Bazaar and it was not far from the hotel we were going to. But after dinner, we felt a little tired and drove directly to the Grand Bazaar, so the location was not important.
By the way, you can consider booking on Douyin. The same room type will be 30 to 40 yuan cheaper than Qunar.
Parking
Yujing Kunlun shares a parking lot with surrounding shops and commodity cities. There are many parking spaces, but there are also many vehicles.
Parking spaces are tight during the day, but better at night. If there is no space in the front parking lot, you can follow the traffic to the backyard, where there are plenty of parking spaces. But the distance between the two rows of parking spaces is very small, so it is very troublesome to drive out. My car is 5.2 meters long, and if there is no panoramic image, I probably can't drive out.
Environment and facilities
The hotel has a large flow of people, and it should only accommodate guests from mainland China, but I always feel that there are many "foreigners" in the hotel, after all, they all look the same. This also has a small problem. The public areas of the hotel, especially the elevator, have the unique body odor or perfume of foreigners, which is a bit uncomfortable.
The room is nominally large, but it is also 36 square meters, definitely not as big as the All Seasons, and seems very cramped. The basic facilities are still very new, especially the bathroom. The bed is a bit small, only 1.2m. And there is only one pillow per bed, and no cushions. Unlike other hotels, there are at least two pillows.
Breakfast
Originally, breakfast and coffee were not included, but maybe the front desk was "negligent" and took advantage of the situation and gave us two breakfasts (free for children) and two coffee coupons.
First of all, the free coffee, don't worry about it. The waiter at the coffee bar was very rude, and the free coffee coupons could only be exchanged for Americano or regular latte, both of which were terrible. After trying two sips, I threw it away.
Breakfast: This should be the largest hotel among these 8 hotels and restaurants. It is more like a traditional four-star hotel, with a wide variety of staple food, hot and cold dishes, drinks, etc., but the taste is average. However, the service is very good. I asked the chef to help me cut a Hami melon brought from Burqin. The chef not only washed the skin for me first, but also cut it into small pieces like the hotel. I really like it.
2. Burqin County
Stayed in Burqin for two nights, coming from Urumqi on the 15th and returning from Hemu Village on the 17th. Between Jinjin Holiday Hotel and Wenyuan Hotel, I would recommend the latter more.
Apart from the various promotional elements of Burqin, it is like a transit station for the Kanas Scenic Area Loop, so there are many hotels of different sizes. There is not much difference, so you can choose any one.
(1) Jinjin Holiday Hotel
An ordinary county hotel, but with good service, about 25 minutes' drive from Wucai Beach Scenic Area.
Parking
There are about 20 parking spaces in front of the hotel, but it's not too crowded. I parked at 18:00 and 23:00 and there was a spot. The hotel security was very responsible. He guided me to park the car the first time and helped me with the suitcase. In the early morning, because my car key was too close to the car, the headlights were on from time to time, and the security called to remind me.
Facilities and Environment
The room is clean and tidy, but the facilities are old. A disposable toilet seat cover was given as a gift.
In addition, the temperature of the hot water in the bathroom is not easy to adjust. If you turn it on and off at the same location, it may become very hot. It is recommended that you adjust the temperature and do not turn it off, and just finish washing.
Breakfast
There is breakfast downstairs, or you can go to the nearby "Naerxiang Breakfast", which has many varieties. The boss also gave us a bowl of milk tea. If there is no parking space nearby, park on the roadside.
(2) Burqin Wenyuan Hotel
It is close to the Russian Style Street, but unfortunately I was too tired after coming back from Hemu Village, so I didn’t go there.
Parking
There are many parking spaces, but there are also many parking spaces, and there is often no space. You need to walk around and exercise your subjective initiative.
There is a charging station about 600 meters away. There are few cars charging in the morning, so charging is very convenient. I will drive the car there to charge before breakfast and drive the car back before leaving. It is basically fully charged.
Facilities and Environment
The facilities in this hotel are quite good. There are gifts when you check in, you can choose between fruit and gifts, with a value of about 10 yuan.
This hotel has a laundry room if you don't mind sharing washing machines.
The room is not small, slightly smaller than the All Seasons and larger than Jinjin Holiday. The bathroom facilities are very new.
The only small problem is that the air conditioner is a wall mounted unit and has a level 3 energy efficiency rating, which is not very environmentally friendly.
Breakfast
Free breakfast. After the terrible food in Kanas and Hemu Village, it was great to eat here again.
Conventional express hotel standards, with all kinds of hot and cold food, although ordinary, but it can stand up to comparison. It's pretty good.
3. Jiadengyu Tourist Service Center
With the high price of around 2,000 yuan for low-quality rooms, I finally gave up the idea of living in Kanas and Hemu Village. Instead, I chose to live in the homestay group at the entrance of the scenic area, which is near the Jiadengyu Tourist Service Center.
Xijiang Mountain Residence
It is about 1 kilometer away from the Jiadengyu Tourist Service Center, and it takes more than 10 minutes to walk. In this way, you don't have to park your car in a paid parking lot.
Parking
You can park in front of the B&B. There is groundbreaking everywhere and there are roads to walk on. There are many places and parking is more casual.
Facilities and Environment
It is a two-story building with ordinary facilities and small rooms.
Comparing the scenic area and other B&Bs around it online, it's basically the same. In my mind, the B&Bs around it are probably like this: they have a price advantage over B&Bs in the scenic area, and a location advantage over hotels that are two hours away by car. Otherwise, they are useless.
I live in the attic at the end of the second floor, which is a special offer room. The other rooms basically cost more than 1,500 yuan. It is recommended not to live in this attic if you can avoid it, because the triangular brick structure in the house is right on the sink and the table. It is easy to hit your head when washing or taking things from the table. My wife and I have encountered this.
There is a time limit for hot water for bathing, which can last for about 20 minutes. Then you need to wait for a while. This is the reminder of the bathroom. Because we just washed ourselves, we did not encounter the situation of hot water supply being cut off. People who are used to taking long baths should consider it carefully.
But I guess: in that environment, no one would take a long bath.
In addition, most of the homestays in Kanas and Hemu Village do not have air conditioning, which is really hard to understand. Air conditioning can not only adjust the temperature, but also ventilate. Even if the temperature in Kanas is low at night in summer, it is still uncomfortable to rely on windows for ventilation.
It should be noted that my negative comments are for the entire Kanas and Hemu Village and the surrounding B&Bs and hotels. If we only compare with hotels of the same price in the same area, Xijiang Shanju is "far ahead" in all aspects. The boss was also very enthusiastic and helped us cut the bread we brought.
Catering
Breakfast is not included.
There is nothing worth eating in this place. Don't go to the International Silk Road Food Bazaar next to the tourist center. It is very large, but other friends who have been there have given it very average reviews. There are three dining spots around. I personally recommend the food street at the T-junction. You can find the "Xinjiang Fresh Flavor Restaurant" in the navigation (just for positioning), which is about 2 kilometers away.
Jiadengyu is a food desert, and the prices are 3-5 times higher than those in Urumqi. This place doesn't care about anything in order to make money. To sum it up in one sentence: the better the scenery, the more expensive the prices.
4. Kuitun City
Lanbowan Hotel
This hotel is a bit hard to describe. It is located next to the national highway, surrounded by hotels and auto repair shops. At first glance, my wife and I thought it was a motel. The moment we parked the car, we wanted to change hotels. But since we were here, we went in to take a look and finally stayed.
For me, having a car repair shop is not a bad thing. Because I had a tire pressure problem that day, I could inflate the tire opposite the hotel, which was a little consolation.
Parking
There is a long row of parking lots in front of the hotel, but the parking spaces are quite tight. Since many people will start from Kuitun and go to Duku Highway or Dushanzi Grand Canyon, there will be more cars at night. But you can still find a parking space after walking around.
There is a charging station about 500 to 600 meters away, but there are very few cars charging. As usual, I went to charge before leaving in the morning.
Facilities and Environment
As soon as we checked in, the hotel upgraded our standard room to a family room for free and gave us two ice creams as a small surprise.
The lobby, corridors and elevators give a bad impression, being cramped and shabby.
The facilities in the room, including the bathroom, are still very new, and they are like two worlds apart from the public area outside the room. If the public area can be renovated, it can be considered a hotel of relatively high quality. Considering that it is only a one-night stay, I gave up the idea of changing hotels.
Breakfast
Breakfast is not included. A "Xinjiang Dapanji" across the road starts selling breakfast at 6 or 7 in the morning. The prices are relatively affordable: soy milk, fried dough sticks, fried dough sticks, steamed buns, etc. are all around 2 yuan. You no longer have to enjoy the "scenic spot special price".
5. Bole City
Taohuayuan Hotel
Bole City, like Yining City, is one of the transit points for Sayram Lake. In the Qunar app, Taohuayuan Hotel ranks first in the comfort hotel ranking. At the moment I wrote this on August 28, my room was 261 yuan, which was reduced by about 38%.
Parking
The hotel parking lot is located on the left side of the lobby entrance, and is shared with the supermarket. You can go directly to the lobby from the underground parking lot.
There is also a long row of public parking areas in front of the hotel, but parking is not recommended. The night I checked in, I saw a local Audi with its headlight and left bumper knocked off. Like many cities, parking is random here, and although the ground parking lot is large, it is very difficult to walk.
Facilities and Environment
The decoration environment and furniture are in neo-Chinese style. After experiencing the relatively poor accommodation environment in Burqin, Jadengyu and Kuitun, this place finally returned to normal.
The room's facilities and space are quite comfortable. Although it is not priced at 400 yuan, it is still quite good if we consider the price of 260 yuan at the time of writing.
The only downside is the Wi-Fi in the room. The set-top box connected by the network cable can only watch IPTV. In addition, the speed is very slow and the screen cannot be projected at all.
Breakfast
Breakfast is not included.
There are two pretty good restaurants downstairs, Heizi Yijue Meatball Soup and Anmeier Beef Noodles. Beef noodles are between 10 and 15 yuan, and the other prices are also normal.
6. Shihezi City
Lavande Hotel (Shuijing Liyuan Branch)
This is the hotel I rated the highest among all the hotels I stayed in during this self-driving tour. It is very good in every aspect.
Parking
The hotel has its own parking lot with plenty of parking spaces available whenever you want.
Similar to the problem in Urumqi, the distance between the two rows of vehicles is not large, which is a bit cramped for medium and large vehicles (over 5 meters).
Facilities and Environment
The hotel opened in 2021 and has very new facilities. The area is a little bigger than the Urumqi Four Seasons Hotel, and I feel that the 40 square meters is not exaggerated.
This store has all the equipment that all seasons in Urumqi have, and also has an air purifier.
The mineral water was Nongfu Spring boiled water, and there were two bottles in the small air-cooled freezer. The snacks included a small bag of peas and some tea powder.
My wife likes to buy fruits very much, so the small air-cooled freezer is extremely practical.
Breakfast
Two breakfasts are free for children. The restaurant is large, with slightly fewer hot and cold dishes than the all-season ones, but it is also normal.
More content
Planning: Self-driving tour in Xinjiang: 9 days and 8 nights, 2600 kilometers, beautiful scenery, delicious food, warm people, and lots of money
Hotels丨Self-driving tour in Xinjiang: 9 days and 8 nights, 2600 kilometers, beautiful scenery/delicious food/friendly people, and a lot of money
Scenic Spots丨Self-driving tour in Xinjiang: 9 days and 8 nights, 2600 kilometers, beautiful scenery/delicious food/friendly people, and a lot of money
Self-driving food article丨Self-driving tour in Xinjiang: 9 days and 8 nights, 2600 kilometers, beautiful scenery/delicious food/friendly people, and a lot of money
