We left Horgos on the border with Kazakhstan and took the train into Yining. It’s a short one-hour hop that dropped us right into one of the most genuinely multicultural neighbourhoods we’ve visited anywhere in China. Liuxing Street Yining (六星街, Liùxīng Jiē) is a nearly century-old hexagonal old town where Han, Uyghur, Kazakh, Russian, Tatar and Hui families live side by side. It’s free to wander, easy to reach, and full of real food and shopping worth budgeting a proper afternoon for. This guide covers how we got from Horgos to Yining, where we stayed, and the history behind Liuxing Street’s unusual layout. It also covers exactly what we ate, bought and paid.
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Quick facts: Liuxing Street Yining
- Entry: Free, no ticket required, open 24 hours
- Best time to visit: After 3pm through the evening, to avoid the midday heat and catch the lights, music and night market atmosphere
- How to get there: Short Didi/taxi ride from Yining train station or the city centre
- Recommended time: 2-4 hours, longer if you stay for dinner and an evening walk
- Nearby: Kazanqi (喀赞其) district, about 3km away
Getting from Horgos to Yining
The Horgos to Yining train takes about an hour and costs 12.5 CNY (1.75 USD) per person for a seat-only ticket, and it’s the easiest way to make this leg of a Xinjiang road trip. We took a Didi from our Horgos accommodation to Horgos train station (霍尔果斯火车站), which took 20 minutes and cost 24 CNY (3.35 USD) for the three of us. The 9:40am train to Yining (伊宁, Yíníng) covered the distance in around an hour. From Yining train station, another short Didi ride to our accommodation cost 10 CNY (1.40 USD).
We booked the train through Trip.com, the same app we use for most of our China bookings. It’s genuinely the easiest option if you don’t read Chinese, since the whole booking flow, from searching train times to picking a seat, works entirely in English, unlike 12306 (the official but Chinese-only booking site/app).
Where we stayed in Liuxing Street Yining
We stayed two nights at 栖心别院民宿 (Qīxīn Biéyuàn Mínsù) for 378 CNY (52.75 USD) a night, and it was one of the best-value places we’ve booked on this whole trip. Checked in early, around 11:30am, and the staff let us in well ahead of the usual check-in time without any fuss. The guesthouse sits at the edge of the tourist area, close enough to walk into Liuxing Street in a few minutes. It’s far enough away that street noise never became an issue.
We booked a two-bed room with a separate living area, a genuine perk we hadn’t had much of elsewhere on this trip. The room had plenty of storage space. The guesthouse also had a washing machine available for guests, useful for a multi-week trip like ours. We couldn’t find this exact guesthouse listed in any English-language Yining guide. Consider this a genuine first-hand recommendation rather than something you’ll read everywhere else.
You can book accommodation like this through Trip.com as well.
A brief history of Liuxing Street Yining
Liuxing Street was planned and built in the mid-1930s by a German engineer, and its unusual six-pointed hexagonal layout is why it’s called “Six Star Street” (六星街) in Chinese. Six main streets radiate outward from a central point, dividing the neighbourhood into six wedge-shaped sectors. It’s a rare piece of European “garden city” planning applied in far-western China. Local guides tie the “six star” name to the “six major policies” of the 1930s Xinjiang provincial government. These were anti-imperialism, pro-Soviet, ethnic equality, peace, construction, and clean government. Each of the six radiating streets is said to represent one policy.
A genuinely multicultural neighbourhood
What struck us most wasn’t the architecture, it was the people. Liuxing Street is home to a real mix of ethnic groups: Han, Uyghur, Kazakh, Russian, Tatar and Hui families all live here. You can see it in the mix of restaurants, bakeries, mosques and Russian-style shopfronts along every lane. It’s still a lived-in residential neighbourhood, not a recreated theme-park version of one. Treat it the way you’d treat any real neighbourhood: keep noise down in the quieter courtyards, and ask before photographing residents directly.
What to eat and drink on Liuxing Street Yining
Budget at least 100-150 CNY (14-21 USD) per person for a full afternoon and evening of street food, snacks and a proper dinner in Liuxing Street. We started with a 20 CNY (2.80 USD) bowl of oil-braised meat noodles (过油肉拌面, guòyóuròu bànmiàn) near our accommodation. It was fine, though our expectations for noodles have climbed a lot since arriving in Xinjiang.
Street snacks worth trying
Wandering Liuxing Street from about 12:30pm to 5pm, we picked up a steady stream of snacks. A fig cost 5 CNY (0.70 USD) from a street vendor. A girl at a nearby souvenir shop told us the trick is to squash the fig with its own leaf first, which supposedly softens it and releases more sweetness. Kvass (卡瓦斯, kǎwǎsī), a fermented rye-bread drink common in the Russian and Tatar community here, cost 12 CNY (1.70 USD) for a small cup. We also tried wax candies for 5 CNY (0.70 USD) and picked up 77 CNY (10.75 USD) of dried fruit, mostly sultanas and dates.
Xinjiang is famous for its grapes and sultanas, which are noticeably juicier and greener than the darker sultanas you’d usually find back home. They make a genuinely great gift to bring back, precisely because they’re so different from what’s available outside the region.
More snacks and drinks to look out for
Liuxing Street is dotted with baked sweets and pastries, sold from small stalls all through the tourist district. Fresh breads and naan are just as common, often baked right in front of you. Pomegranate juice stalls appear on almost every corner, squeezed to order, and local fruit stands are everywhere too. We also picked up a 15 CNY (2.10 USD) packet of local floral tea with stevia leaf (甜叶菊), which gets its natural sweetness from the leaf rather than added sugar.
Dinner at Blue Lotus Xinjiang Cuisine
We had dinner at Blue Lotus Xinjiang Cuisine (蓝莲花新疆菜, Lánliánhuā Xīnjiāngcài) for 23 CNY (3.20 USD), booked as a single-person set through Meituan. The set came with a pilaf (碎肉抓饭, suìròu zhuāfàn) topped with small pieces of lamb, carrots and a few raisins. It also included a small plate of pickled vegetables (小凉菜, xiǎo liángcài) with carrots, radishes and garlic. It was genuinely delicious, and at that price, excellent value for a proper sit-down meal.
Chinese-language travel guides for Liuxing Street don’t mention this restaurant by name. If you’re after something less obviously touristy than the well-known ice cream and bakery stops, it’s a solid, low-key option.
What to buy on Liuxing Street Yining
Liuxing Street has real handmade glassware, jewellery and souvenir shops worth setting aside time for, not just the usual tourist trinkets. We watched a glassblower at work in a handmade glass jewellery and goods shop, making pieces from scratch right in front of customers. We picked up a titanium glass bead bangle from Nini Glass for 188 CNY (26.25 USD), three bracelets at 10 CNY (1.40 USD) each, three felt keychains at 25 CNY (3.50 USD) each, and two iron-on bag stickers at 5 CNY (0.70 USD) each. Later in the evening we also grabbed half a watermelon, around 4kg at 3 CNY (0.40 USD) per kg, for 12 CNY (1.70 USD).
There are plenty of small clothing and accessory shops scattered through the lanes too. One highlight is a cute underground vintage clothing shop tucked beneath a cafe bar, worth ducking into if you like browsing beyond the obvious souvenir stalls.
Evening atmosphere: performances, bars and shisha
Once the sun starts to go down, Liuxing Street shifts gears. Street performers set up outside restaurants and shops most evenings, part of what makes the atmosphere here so lively after dark. A handful of bars dotted through the area offer live music and shisha too, if you want to stretch the evening out past dinner.
Is Liuxing Street Yining worth visiting?
Yes, and it’s one of the more underrated stops on a Xinjiang itinerary, precisely because so little English-language coverage of it exists yet. It pairs naturally with the nearby Kazanqi district if you have a second day in Yining. But Liuxing Street stands on its own too, with enough history, food and shopping to fill a genuine afternoon and evening. If you’re weighing up whether Yining deserves a stop on a wider Xinjiang route, Liuxing Street is a big part of the answer.
Costs — Day 17 tally
| Item | Cost |
|---|---|
| Didi trips (station pickup, drop-off, accommodation) | 34 CNY (4.75 USD) |
| Train, Horgos to Yining (12.5 CNY/person x3) | 37.5 CNY (5.25 USD) |
| Lunch (noodles) | 20 CNY (2.80 USD) |
| Meituan deliveries (parents’ lunch and dinner) | 58 CNY (8.10 USD) |
| Snacks (fig, kvass, wax candies) | 22 CNY (3.10 USD) |
| Watermelon (~4kg) | 12 CNY (1.70 USD) |
| Shopping (bracelets, bangle, keychains, bag stickers) | 313 CNY (43.75 USD) |
| Dinner at Blue Lotus Xinjiang Cuisine | 23 CNY (3.20 USD) |
| Accommodation at 栖心别院民宿 (1 of 2 nights) | 378 CNY (52.75 USD) |
| Total | ~897.5 CNY (125.50 USD) |
FAQ
Is Liuxing Street in Yining free to visit?
Yes, Liuxing Street Yining is completely free to enter, with no ticket required. It’s open 24 hours, though individual shops and restaurants follow normal local hours.
How do I get from Horgos to Yining?
The train from Horgos to Yining takes about an hour and costs 12.5 CNY (1.75 USD) per person for a seat-only ticket. Add a short Didi ride on each end to get to and from the train stations.
What’s the best time of day to visit Liuxing Street Yining?
Afternoon through evening, generally after 3pm. The heat is easier to handle once the sun softens, and the street comes alive at night with lights, music and a livelier crowd.
Is Liuxing Street the same as Kazanqi?
No. Liuxing Street and Kazanqi (喀赞其) are two separate, nearby districts in Yining, about 3km apart. Liuxing Street is the German-planned hexagonal old town covered in this guide. Kazanqi is a more traditional Uyghur and Kazakh folk-custom area, with horse-carriage rides and leather-craft demonstrations.
What should I eat on Liuxing Street Yining?
Look for kvass, dried fruit and sultanas, pilaf, and pickled vegetables. We had a lamb pilaf set at Blue Lotus Xinjiang Cuisine for 23 CNY (3.20 USD), and street snacks like figs, wax candies and kvass cost only a few CNY each.
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