3 Days Classic Harbin Winter Tour
"Ice and Snow World"
"Ice and Snow World"
Harbin is globally known as the “Ice City” where holds the internationally largest World Ice and Snow Festival every year and provides quite a lot of fantastic sports and entertaining activities which you can experience only there. Besides, it is reputed as the “Oriental Moscow” with multiple flavored Russian styled buildings left in the city. To best explore Harbin, this 3-day CLASSIC itinerary is your most ideal one to catch the city’s essential charm and its conspicuous Ice and Snow Festival for a lively winter vacation.
During the 3 days, you will not miss the must-see St. Sophia Cathedral and Zhongyang Street with 71 historical architectures in diverse foreign styles for a taste of the strong exotic Russian flavor in Harbin, but also, you will of course join in the grand Ice and Snow Festival to see the pretty Ice and Snow World, Sun Island and other alive venues with dreamy large scaled ice and snow sculptures and lanterns. Far more from that, all top best places are covered in these 3 days for your best enjoyment of the winter activities favored by Harbin locals, authentic history and culture, and more of this great “Winter Getaway” and “Oriental Moscow”!
(Warm Tip: Harbin Ice and Snow Festival is usually held during late December to late February(or early March) every year, please plan your trip accordingly. Besides, if you want to attend the Opening Ceremony of Harbin World Ice and Snow Festival and appreciate its fabulous firework show at Ice and Snow World on January 5th every year, you can enjoy the tour around that date.)
Day 1 Harbin Arrival
Harbin airport/train station pick up & hotel check-in
Ni Hao! Welcome to Harbin, the Capital of Heilongjiang Province, which is well known as the "Ice City" in China. Your local guide will meet you at the arrival hall of the airport / railway station. Then you will be escorted to your hotel (prebooked by us) in downtown Harbin. The rest of today is on your own to explore this city.
Arrival Ideas:
Harbin Taiping International Airport is 41 km’s driving distance from downtown area. It has flights from Beijing (2 hrs), Dalian (1.5 hrs), Qingdao (2 hrs), Jinan (2 hrs), Xian (3 hrs), Shanghai (3 hrs), Chengdu (3.5-4 hrs), Ordos (2.5 hrs), Hangzhou (3 hrs), Guangzhou (4-4.5 hrs), Xiamen (4-4.5hrs), Wuhan (3-3.5 hrs), Sanya (5 hrs) and more destinations in China, and more international cities like Seoul, Tokyo, Osaka, Moscow, Phuket Island, etc. While Harbin West Railway Station has high-speed trains linking Harbin with Beijing (7~8 hrs), Changchun (1 hr), Shenyang (2.5~3 hrs), Dalian (4~5 hrs), Jilin (2-3 hrs), Tianjin (6.5 hrs), etc.
Evening Ideas (Explore on your own):
In this evening, you can visit Zhaolin Park, one of the 3 main venues of Harbin Ice and Snow Festival, to appreciate the wonderful world largest scale of outdoor ice lantern show. Take a relaxing walk in the “ocean of ice lantern” with over thousand exquisite arts that are totally different every year and feel the joy of the big World Ice and Snow Festival. (Note: it runs every year from January 5th to the end of February. Please wear warm a down coat and shoes when visiting it at night)
Ice City - Harbin
Day 2 Harbin (B, L)
St. Sophia Cathedral - Zhongyang Pedestrian Street - Sun Island - Siberian Tiger Park - Ice and Snow World
Today, after breakfast, your guide and driver will meet you at your hotel. You’ll first visit Sophia Square to admire the holy appearance of the St. Sophia Cathedral from 1907. This must-visit site is a typical Byzantine architecture 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 from 1900. 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.)
After that, continue your fabulous enjoyment to 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 nice moment (You are highly advised to wear sunglasses to visit the Snow Sculpture Art Fair since the glary from sunshine on the snow is really intense.)
Then, be escorted to the nearby Siberian Tiger Park, the largest breeding center in the world for endangered Siberian Tigers that. 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, the highlights of annual Harbin International Ice and Snow Festival. Start your freedom stroll in the dazzling magical world of ice where to appreciate over 2,000 pieces of sculptures of ice and snow including pagodas, towers, famous world architectures, landscapes, and so forth dyed with romantic colorful LED lights, which can easily make you want to stay longer in such an “Ice Wonderland in Harbin”. Besides the sightseeing, if you would like to enjoy the festive atmosphere to the fullest, you can choose to have fun with the world 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 keep you away from the freeze especially when you want to stay here longer to enjoy the beautiful scenery. 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, and you could visit there during other dates to avoid crowds.
Day 3 Harbin & Harbin Departure (B, L)
Watch Activities on Ice at Jiuzhan Park - Heilongjiang Provincial Museum - Laodaowai - Goodbye to Harbin
Today, after breakfast, you will 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.
Then, go to visit Heilongjiang Provincial Museum that keeps the European Baroque outside building from 1906. In this museum, a great number of valuable cultural relics of bronze, gold, jade, ceramics, paintings, etc. are on display to tell the 40,000-year long human history and culture of the whole Heilongjiang Province, from the remote era, to the rising and declining of different ethnic minorities, from the origin of the last empire era in Chinese history, to the modern time changes and development with the whole nation. Besides, you will see a rich array of imitating scenes and historical relics to know the life of Russian immigrants and their influence to make Harbin rich of Russian flavor today.
After that, 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 the tour, your guide and driver will escort you to the airport or train station for your flight / train to next destination or home. Service ends!
1. This price is for one person, based on a group of 2 adults sharing one standard double-bed room in 4-star hotel and traveling with our private tour in low seasons.
2. This price is subject to change according your traveling season, group size, hotel class, change of activities in your itinerary and possible fluctuation of currency exchange rate. If you want a lower price, you can get more people to join you, or use economy class hotels.
3. This price is only valid to March 31, 2025.
4. Reference exchange rate of USD 1=RMB 7.00. The final quote is based on current exchange rate. It may change according to the currency fluctuation, while the RMB quotation will be remained the same.
Hi Rita,
The best experience ever!!!! I fell in love.
I received your lovely card and cute gifts, thank you so much.
Done it! As always it’s my pleasure to hire your company services, see you in the next adventure.
Emmy
Hi Rita,
Please kindly see the feedback below.
We are a family of 7. This private tour package definitely met our expectations! Both tour guides (Chengdu- MAY & Chongqing-DAVID) provided us a very good service, both friendly and very flexible despite the change in our tour schedules. They were also very responsible and ensured our safety, meals and transports were well taken care of, especially since we have elderly and kids in our group. Both tour guides are very fluent in English too so it is very convenient for some of the non-chinese speakers in our group.
We will look for the same tour agent again in our next trip to China!
Best Regards,
Victoria
Hi Shirley,
Thanks for the tour, and the itinerary that you planned for us was very comprehensive and detailed. We enjoyed it very much. The tour guide was also very friendly and experienced. He followed your itinerary closely and brought us to all the sites and explained in detail. He also recommended and brought us to enjoy some of the local cuisines during lunch.
Overall, we are impressed by the excellent service, reliability and quality that yourself, the tour guide and the driver has provided us. We would like to visit China again and we will not hesitate to engage your services again. Thank you!
Regards
Chun How
Hi Shirley,
I'm writing to provide some feedback on our recent Xian and Beijing trip that you put together for us.
We travel a lot, in the past year to Japan, New Zealand, China, Turkey, Africa, China, and finally this Xian/Beijing trip. I bring this up to highlight that we deal with a lot of travel professionals. You are easily the best travel professional we have dealt with through all of those trips. My wife, who happens to be Chinese asked me to make sure to keep your contact information for future China trips, with the intention of replacing the China based agent her brother usually uses for our trips.
Please let your manager know that we would probably not have used your company if not for you. Bamboo Travel is new to us and in a foreign country, so we had doubts as to what to expect. Your service was excellent from start to finish which really gave us confidence in your company. We had a little bit of an unusual itinerary and some constraints related to our other China travel prior to this tour. You were able to work through all of our issues with fast responses to our questions.
You also went what I would say was above and beyond expectations. The final example of that is a friend in the US was shipping some things to our hotel in Beijing for me to bring home to her. I contacted you to confirm the hotel name before they shipped the items, expecting I would then have to figure out the shipping details. Your reply not only confirmed the hotel, but you provided the shipping info in both English and Chinese, which saved me the hassle of trying to figure which address to use. Not a huge thing, but it's those small things that add up to a big difference in customer experience.
Thanks again for everything!
Xian:
Our guide was Waldner and we liked him from the start. We were just coming off another tour with another company which had maybe the best tour leader we've ever had. Even though we were always comparing Waldner measured up well. He was great at explaining the history of places we visited as well as answering our cultural questions. The restaurants/food were very good. He and the driver also modified the itinerary somewhat to optimize the driving based on our arrival and departure times and locations. We liked the hotel in Xian. The car (van) was very comfortable. Waldner also helped arrange tickets for a night show for us.
Beijing:
Pickup was great; even though we got in late the guide that picked us up was there and actually met us at the track. Cindy was our guide and we really liked her also. She is very knowledgeable and willing to answer (a lot of) questions. This was my 3rd time in Beijing and it was amazing what a difference having a good guide made. Cindy and the driver also modified the itinerary to optimize the driving. She also helped us book tickets to two shows, one of which was not on your list of optional items (Lao She tea house). Cindy was concerned about us ordering a cab so she stayed at the show to make sure we got back to our hotel ok. The restaurants/food were very good. The hotel was good but not great; for example we had hot water issues every day, and when I went to pick up a package that was shipped to me they just left me to dig through a pretty large pile of packages all addressed in Chinese.
To wrap up, I would rate the overall experience of looking for a trip, picking a company, and traveling 9.5 out of 10. Shirley, your service was 10 out of 10.
See you next trip!
Terry
Dear Rita,
Feedback.
The trip organised by Rita Jiang to Beijing and Xian was very well planned and enjoyable, showing the best of Chinese history, culture, heritage, and enormous progress.Your 2 guides, Linda Chua and Beryl are very good. Linda went out of her way to take us to Peking Opera at night. The kids were tired, so we did not go to Summer palace and Heavenly temple, and did not go to Xian Pagoda. It was our choice, so its ok. (I have been to all)
The 2 bus drivers were excellent, very careful, disciplined and good temperament and helpful. I could not give a tip to Beryl at Xian station, as I had to rush into toilet inside, and did not know she could not enter the train Station.
The pace was good, but the last day of train from Xian, to hotel (plus late dinner scrabbling in Beijing), then early next morning to airport was too Hectic. However, it was because we had to return on 8.12.24. we wish we could stay longer in Xian, and elsewhere. We could probably have gone to Xian by train, then fly back to Beijing by plane, but one way tickets could cost much more.
Anyway, thank you very much for all your fine arrangements. We all enjoyed the short trip.
For the kids, the major highlights were the Great Wall, Terracotta warriors, Acrobatic show. They will treasure. I will plan more trips for them to China.
Best wishes and warm regards,
Richard
excellent assistance, helpfulness and courtesy. My contact 'was Shirley, prepared friendly and punctual. Highly recommended...
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The hotels we choose are based on star rating, great locations, well-equipped facilities, cozy bed, high quality service and guests’ feedbacks. Choices are a lot ranging from luxury 5 star, comfortable 4 star to budget 3 star. You could decide where to stay to best suit for your budget and likes. Generally, the hotels have both Western and Chinese breakfast with a wide choices.
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There will be some meals excluded in your itinerary as you like, and your private guide will be delighted to give you some suggestions and take you to the local restaurants to taste like Beijing Roast Duck, Xian Dumpling Dinner, Sichuan Hotpot, etc., if you are interested in local food tasting.
All the dining options will satisfy your stomach!
Ice City - Harbin
Harbin Ice Lantern Fair at Zhaolin Park
Wendy's clients - St. Sophia Church
Jenn’s group from Canada - Ice & Snow World, Harbin
David's group from USA - Sun Island, Harbin, Heilongjiang
Yong’s group from Malaysia - Siberian Tiger Park
Songhua River Winter Swimming
Laodaowai Street Block
Harbin is suitable to visit all year round, and winter season during November to March is the best time to experience its charm as the Ice City with romantic snow scenery. However, the hot Harbin World Ice and Snow Festival is held usually from late December to late February and even early March, which is slightly different every year. So to have best fun in the big gala of ice and snow, you are most recommended to visit Harbin during December and February.
| Venue | Events |
|---|---|
| Ice and Snow World | - Annual Harbin Ice and Snow World - Open Ceremony of Harbin Ice and Snow Festival - … |
| Sun Island | - Annual International Snow Sculpture Art Expo - Harbin International Snow Sculpture Competition - Harbin Ice Snow Group Wedding Ceremony - … |
| Zhaolin Park | - Annual Harbin Ice Lantern Art Fair - Harbin International Ice Sculpture Competition - … |
Remember to wear much to keep warm! Harbin is located in the very Northeast of China and has severe cold winter with average temperature of -14.2℃ (6.44℉) during that season. To help you keep warm, it is best to wear thick clothes and warm shoes, such as down coat, thick jacket, mouth-muffle, gloves, hat, wool socks, snow boots, etc. Besides, sunglasses are necessary to visit the Snow Sculpture Art Fair at Sun Island.
Since Harbin is the capital city of Heilongjiang Province, it offers a large number of accommodations at different levels, including 5-star international brands, 4-star comfort hotels, budget hostels and inns. You can find one very easy in the city. Usually, for travelers to Harbin, we suggest you arrange your accommodation in Daoli District where offers most of the tourist attractions and that is very close to Sun Island and Harbin Ice and Snow World, convenient places for eating, shopping and entertaining. Besides, Nangang, Harbin West Railway Station and nearby area, and Songbei District are also good places to stay.
We China Discovery have rich experience to provide Harbin tour arrangement and customization services for global visitors. If you would like to extend your Harbin tour to more attractions, such as the nearby Yabuli Ski Resorts with exciting skiing and other winter activities, China Snow Town with lovely snow sceneries, etc. or more interesting destinations like Jilin, Dalian, Changchun, Shenyang, Beijing, Shanghai, Chengdu, Xian, Xiamen, Guangzhou, Yunnan, etc., please feel free to tell us about your ideas, and our professional travel expert will help you to customize your travel to Harbin and the whole vast China with their knowledge and sincerity!
Harbin / China Snow Town / Harbin
Harbin / Yabuli Ski Resort / Harbin
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