6 Days In-depth Harbin Tour with China Snow Town & Yabuli Skiing

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. (Please note: it holds every year from January 5th to the end of February. Please wear warm down coat and shoes when visiting it at night.)

• Zhaolin Park Ice Lantern

Day 2 Harbin - China Snow Town (B)

Driving 3 hours to China Snow Town & Snow landscape sightseeing

After breakfast, meet your guide and driver at your hotel, then drive 5~6 hours to China Snow Town, the No.1 China Snow Town located in Shuangfeng Wood Farm in Mudanjiang City, about 280 kilometers from Harbin. On route, you will enjoy the beautiful snow scene in the winter wonderland - bright sunshine, clear sky, fresh air, endless snow-capped land, primitive wooden houses.

After arrival, take a short rest in your hotel and then reach up the viewing deck to capture a panoramic view of the amazing China Snow Town, a dreamlike paradise. Later, enjoy a leisure walk along the 500-meter-long Xueyun Avenue with all wooden houses hanging with red lanterns and if you like, try some local snacks at this lively street. Have fun at Snow Town Photography Ground where you can play with snow, bringing you a happy childhood memory. Later, walk around the snow town at your own pace, you can enjoy amazing snowscape and experience the lifestyle of snow town people. When the night falls, if you like, walk outside and enjoy the charming night view.

Please Note:

1. Weather condition and what to wear: The weather is freezing in China Snow Town and the temperature is around -15 ℃ to -35 ℃ during November to February. Take enough warm clothes, shoes, wind cap, and gloves with you. And sunglasses, sunblocking scream, antifreeze, high-calorie snacks are also needed.

2. Snow activities to enjoy more fun: Many exciting snow activities are provided in this town. If you are interested, you can try skiing, snowmobiling, dog-drawn sled, horse-drawn sled, etc. You need to pay an extra fee for each activity.

3. Photography tips: If you like photography, you can go to Dream Home to shoot the snow mushrooms, performance of Errenzhuan and take photos of sunset and panoramic view of the whole white world. Remember to bring the cold-proofing and warm your camera.

4. Best location for Night View: Night scene is the essence of China Snow Town. There are three best locations to appreciate night view - Dream Home, Xueyue Avenue and Fairytale World Plank Road.

• Our customers Iwan's family from Indonesia visited China Snow Town near Harbin, Heilongjiang, China in December 2019.
• Our customers David’s group from USA visited China Snow Town in Harbin in Heilongjiang, China in December 2020.
• Our customers Janislene from Brazil visited China Snow Town in Harbin in Heilongjiang, China in December 2020.

Day 3 China Snow Town - Yabuli Ski Resort (B)

Today's highlights: China Snow Town, Sunrise, Dream Home

Today's highlight is the Yangcaoshan Hill, one of the most beautiful places around the Snow Town. At about 1,250 meters above sea level, it's the tallest peak in the region and known as the most beautiful place in Snow Town. With its rare trees, it is the best spot to view sunrise and sunset. If you want to enjoy the sunrise view, do remember to come early, as the sun rises at 6:30 a.m. to 7:00 a.m. in winter. When the first ray of the red sun shines on the vast snow land, it is so magnificent! Then the red and golden sunlight is going to sprinkle over the whole hill, bringing vitality to life.

After breakfast, you will take the mini sightseeing bus to Yangcaoshan Hill. The road is about 5 kilometers from China Snow Town to the top, full of gorgeous rime and misty pines. When reaching up the top of Yangcaoshan Hill, you will be rewarded with a expansive panoramic view of the whole hill, which is the best moments to take pictures as many as you can. (Alternative transportation: Instead of taking mini sightseeing bus, you can choose snow mobile to reach up and down.) After the fun time at the top, it is time to get back. Take mini bus down to China Snow Town.

Later, continue your adventure to Dream Home which is a famous site to shoot some Chinese TV series and movies. Take photos and know the real life of the loggers.

In this afternoon, say goodbye to this fairyland and drive about 2 hours Yabuli Ski Resort, one of the largest ski resorts in Asia. Stay overnight in Yabuli.

• Janislene's group from Brazil enjoy sunrise at Yangcao Hill in China Snow Town in December 2020

Day 4 Yabuli Ski Resort - Harbin (B)

Skiing and take part in optional activities in Yabuli Ski Resort & Drive about 3 hours to Harbin

After breakfast, start enjoying your skiing tour for about 2 or 3 hours in Yabuli Resort. Forget your age or level of skiing, and the world advanced ski resort would provide the best highlighting moment for you. Put on the warm clothing and ski on the pure white snow-capped mountain with your favorite speed, with the charming view of shimmering winter snow, warm sunshine and azure sky being the best background. Just put yourself into the snowy wonderland to ignite your winter holiday, laugh out loud, and play it to the most!

Besides skiing, you can go to experience some other optional activities in Yabuli Ski Resort, such as horse sledges, snow tubing, snowmobiling, etc. Please note optional activities are not included in the tour price. Extra payment are charged by the resort.

Horse Sledge: sitting on the sledge pulled by the horse on the snowfield, you could appreciate the amazing sightseeing of the vast snow world, snow-covered pine trees in the forest, and lost in this fairyland with ease and leisure.

Snow Tubing: sit on the tube facing the bright sky and slide along the professional and safe snow trail. Since there are no controller and speed & direction of the tube, you will feel the excitement and thrilling of sliding from the peak to the lower location freely and highly.

Snowmobiling: The cool motorcycles are well-equipped with the wheels like tracks of a tank and are easy to be handled and of course safe. Ride one to tour in the beautiful snowfield and drive all the stress far away.

In the afternoon, be escorted back to Harbin City, which would need about 3 hours. Have a good rest in your hotel.

Please Note:

1. Simple equipment such as skiing boots, poles and snowboards are included in the package, but other advanced equipment like horse sledge, snow tubing, snowmobiling, etc. need extra payment.

2. If you want to spend longer time skiing beyond 3 hours or choose intermediate or advanced skiing, you could give some extra payment to enjoy it the most.

3. You should wear helmets, glasses, gloves, knee-pad, and skiing suit. If you don't bring yours, you can rent the equipment with reasonable prices at the ski resort.

• Yabuli Ski Resort
• Yabuli Ski Resort Snow Mobiling
• Yabuli Ski Resort Snow Mobiling

Day 5 Harbin (B, L)

Today's highlights: Ice and Snow Festival, International Snow Sculpture Art Expo, 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.

• Our customers Jenn’s group from Canada visited Sun Island in Harbin, Heilongjiang, China in December 2020.
• Our customers David’s group from USA visited Harbin Ice and Snow World in Harbin, Heilongjiang, China in December 2020.
• Our customers Janislene from Brazil visited Harbin Ice and Snow World in Harbin, Heilongjiang, China in December 2020.

Day 6 Harbin & Harbin Departure (B, L)

Today's highlights: St. Sophia Cathedral, Zhongyang Pedestrian Street, Laodaowai, 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!

• Wendy's clients visited St. Sophia Church in Harbin in 2018
• Laodaowai Street Block
• Our customers Kayla Williams's group visited Zhongyang Pedestrian Street in 2017.