Dancers from the Democratic People's Republic of Korea perform during the opening ceremony of the 2012 China-DPRK Economic, Trade, Cultural and Tourism Expo in Dandong, Northeast China's Liaoning province, Oct 12, 2012. [Photo/Xinhua]

Getting to the DPRK

By Air: Tourists can take Air Koryo or Air China from Beijing to Pyongyang, or Air Koryo from Shenyang to Pyongyang.

By Train: A train from Dandong to Pyongyang operates every day. In addition to Beijing, Shenyang, and Dandong, tourists can also travel to the DPRK via Tumen and Hunchun in Jilin province.

Cycling: In May, the Chinese border city of Tumen opened a bicycle-tour program that allows Chinese citizens to cycle to the DPRK via Tumen port, and spend a few hours riding around the city of Namyang. At present, cross-border cycling is only available to Chinese citizens, but negotiations to allow other foreign nationals to cross the border by bike are ongoing, and could be resolved soon, according to Zhao Xin, manager of the Yanbian Holiday International Travel Agency.

Road Trips: Since 2011, people have been allowed to cross the border and travel to the Rason Free Trade and Economic Zone in the DPRK by road from Hunchun in Jilin. All eligible nationalities can use the route, but because of the geographical proximity, most of the non-Chinese tourists who use this route are Russian, according to Zhao.