6 Days Amazing Snow Ice Tour from Beijing by High-Speed Train

Day 1 Beijing Arrival

Airport or railway station pick up and check in hotel

Ni Hao, welcome to Beijing, the iconic city as well as the capital of China! You will be met by local tour guide at the arrival hall of Beijing Airport and escorted to check in your hotel in downtown by a private comfortable vehicle. The rest of today is on your own to relax. If you want to explore nearby, feel free to get some practical suggestions from your tour guide.

• Modern Face of Beijing

Day 2 Beijing (B, L)

Today's highlights: Tiananmen Square, Forbidden City, Hutong Rickshaw, Summer Palace

After breakfast, start to explore the historical face of Beijing with a brief visit to Tiananmen Square, now the largest city plaza in the world. Tiananmen Gate on the northern side of the square was the site where Chairman Mao announced the establishment of the People's Republic of China. Stepping into the Tiananmen, you will see one of the world’s five most important palaces – the Forbidden City, a huge palace complex of more than 9,000 rooms where 24 emperors of the Ming and Qing Dynasties lived. Pass through various doorways in this magnificent structure to admire the beautiful and well preserved buildings decorated with yellow-glazed tile roofs, white marble bases and splendid colorful paintings.

Next activity is to hop on a rickshaw to experience Beijing Hutongs – small alleys made of neighboring quadrangle dwellings. Shuttle among different Hutongs to feel the old Beijing life style, meet various antique shops and small boutiques, feel the historical changes of Beijing, also pay a visit to a local family’s home in the traditional Hutongs.

After lunch, drive to the outskirts of Beijing to spend an enjoyable time in the Summer Palace, the largest and best-preserved royal garden in China. Stroll around ancient pavilions, mansions, temples, bridges and corridors while feasting your eyes on the vast lotus in Kunming Lake and the colorful paintings in the Long Corridor.

• Summer Palace Shot by Our Guest Nguyen
• Linda's family visited the Forbidden City with China Disocvery

Day 3 Beijing Great Wall Tour (B, L)

Today's highlights: Mutianyu Great Wall, Temple of Heaven, Bird’s Nest and Water Cube

After breakfast, drive from your hotel to visit the imperial site – Temple of Heaven. It was originally used to pay homage to Heaven and pray for harvest, now becomes a bustling place for locals to take part in traditional activities, such as Tai Chi, dancing, kite flying, water calligraphy, etc. 

The rest of today is to drive about 70km to witness one of the Seven Wonders of the World - the Great Wall. You will visit the Mutianyu, a less crowded yet well-preserved segment of the Great Wall built in the Ming Dynasty. It will more than live up to all of your expectations! This great wall, linking Gubeikou in the east and Juyongguan in the west, was served as the vital military strategic point in the ancient time. Moreover, Mutianyu section is the “longest great wall in China” so far and since protection work is well done here, tourists can now see its original appearance and enjoy the real ancient culture of great wall. Also, spectacular natural scenery in Mutianyu Great Wall always impresses visitors here for its abundant vegetation. You’ll take a cable car to ascend the Great Wall, then hike the most beautiful and interesting part of Mutianyu. It's a wonderful experience to climb up its rising towers to enjoy scenic views and take brag-worthy photos of the wall wriggling along mountain ridges. After the exciting time, descend Mutianyu Great Wall by cable car. (Note: If energy permits, you can hike up or down which takes about 40 minutes to climb steps. Please tell your likes to your travel consultant.)

After the Great Wall visit, drive back to Beijing city and take a short stop at the Beijing Olympic Village to see its famous Bird’s Nest and Water Cube from the outside.

Optional activity: After the whole day’s tour, treat yourself a great dinner to taste the famous Peking Roasted Duck at Quanjude.

• Temple of Heaven Photographed by Our Guest Jessica in September 2023
• Mutianyu Great Wall in winter, photoed by our client Alex

Day 4 High Speed Train to Harbin

Today's highlights: Bullet Train Experience, Ice Lantern Show in Zhaolin Park

After breakfast, you will be taken to the railway station to catch a high speed bullet train to Harbin, the most popular tourist destination in the China’s northeastern region, shortly known as Dongbei. The railway stretches as long as about 1,330km , with 14 stations along the line at Beijing, Tianjin, Qinhuangdao, Shenyang, Changchun, Harbin, etc. After about 7~8 hours interesting ride on the fast and comfortabel bullet train, you will arrive at Harbin West Railway Station. Your local tour guide is ready to pick you up and transfer you to check in your hotel in downtown. The rest of today is on your own to explore charming ice city of China.

Evening Ideas:

In this evening, you can get to Zhaolin Park with the largest scale of outdoor ice lantern show in the world. (Please note: it holds every year from January 5th to the end of February. Please wear warm done coat and shoes when visiting it at night.)

• High Speed Bullet Train to Harbin
• Zhaolin Park Ice Lantern

Day 5 Harbin (B, L)

Today's highlights: Sun Island Scenic Resort, Ice and Snow World, Siberian Tiger Park

After breakfast, your guide and driver will pick you up at your hotel. Firstly, you'll visit the Sun Island Scenic Resort, which is a major venue to hold the International Snow Sculpture Art Expo on Harbin Ice and Snow Festival in winter. Walk into this vast pure lovely fairyland of 60,000 square meters and meet the incredible “white visual storm”. Have a close look at the thousands of excellent large-scaled artistic snow sculptures of landscape, cartoon, figures, buildings, etc., which will make you wow at the outstanding talent of the craftsmen who inject life into the cold snow. With so amazing backdrop, you just can’t help taking some great photos to record the great moment (You are highly advised to wear sunglasses to visit the Snow Sculpture Art Fair since the snow is really glaring especially in sunny days.)

Then, be escorted to the nearby Siberian Tiger Park, the largest breeding center in the world for the endangered Siberian Tigers. Over 1,300 purebred Siberian Tigers are raised there. You’ll not only pay a safe walk to observe different kinds of tigers (Siberian Tigers, White Tigers, White Lion, Leopard, Liger, etc.), but also take a tourist bus with wire-mesh protection through the park to closely see the tigers and lions and take some photos.

After dinner, you will head to the incredible gorgeous Ice and Snow World (Opening time/hours: around December 23 to next late February/9:30 – 21:00), the highlights of the annual Harbin International Ice and Snow Festival. Start your freedom stroll in the dazzling magical world of ice to appreciate over 2,000 pieces of sculptures of ice and snow dyed with romantic colorful LED lights, including pagodas, towers, famous world architectures, landscapes, etc., which easily makes you want to stay longer in such a magic world. Besides the sightseeing, if you would like to enjoy the festive atmosphere to the fullest, you can choose to have fun with the world's longest sliding, or other winter activities on ice, such as ice maze, ice climbing, skating, etc.

Note: 1) Please wear enough layers of proper clothes and warm shoes to protect you from the freeze especially. 2) An indoor Ice and Snow Paradise with smaller scale is built in the scenic area of the Ice and Snow World, and tourists could also enjoy the ice and snow there as well when the festival ends. 3) There may be long queues in front of some hot activity items in the Ice and Snow World during traditional Chinese Lunar New Year and weekends.

• Snow Sculptures in Sun Island
• Gorgeous Ice and Snow World
• Our customers Yong’s group from Malaysia visited Siberian Tiger Park in Harbin, Heilongjiang, China in December 2020.

Day 6 Harbin & Harbin Departure (B, L)

Today's highlights: St. Sophia Cathedral, Zhongyang Pedestrian Street, Laodaowai Baroque Styled Architectures, Watching Activities on Ice at Jiuzhan Park

Today after breakfast, meet your guide and driver, then go to Sophia Square to admire the holy appearance of the St. Sophia Cathedral. This must-visit site is a typical Byzantine architecture constructed in 1907 with a large green dome and was once the largest Orthodox Church in the Far East. The cathedral is the symbolic architecture in Harbin and at present is used as Harbin Architectural Art Gallery and displays some souvenirs. Then, you’ll visit the nearby exotic Zhongyang Pedestrian Street. Stroll along this 1,400 meters long historic street to appreciate the 71 precious buildings in different styles with long history, including Renaissance, Baroque, etc. (The Stalin Park is very close to the pedestrian, so if you are interested and time permits, you could walk there to admire the Russian architectures and enjoy many creative artistic sculptures.)

Then, make a historical visit to Laodaowai, where Harbin originated. This popular featured street block is so far the largest Chinese Baroque street block in China where boasts many meaningful old Baroque styled architectures with rich romantic color from early 20th century. Walk free along those old streets and alleys to appreciate the ancient buildings with western façade but traditional Chinese courtyard and interior designs and interesting folk sculptures, and hear the good telling of the old life of Harbin people and history of Harbin in the past 100 years. After that, visit the Jiuzhan Park along Songhua River. Here you will watch some winter swimmers including some elders up to 60-70 years do winter swimming in the so cold water under the frozen water surface, and many people having fun on some interesting activities on ice, such as skating car, sliding, winter fishing, etc. on Songhua River.

After the tour, your guide and driver will escort you to the airport or train station for your flight / train to your next destination or home. Tour ends!

• Holy St. Sophia Cathidral
• Songhua River Winter Swimming
• Laodaowai Street Block
• Our customers Kayla Williams's group visited Zhongyang Pedestrian Street in 2017.