Harbin International Ice and Snow Festival
Whether you are a nature lover or ice sports enthusiasts, tour Harbin in winter, a city in the northeast of China reputed as the kingdom of ice and snow, particularly during the Harbin International Ice and Snow Festival, must be one of the best choices for your winter vacation. It offers you an unforgettable experience with its incredible beauty of ice and snow and rich and varied ice and snow sports.
First held on January 5, 1985, the Harbin International Ice and Snow Festival is the first international festival in the history of China that takes ice and snow activities as the content and has become a world ice and snow event attracting 10 to 20 million domestic and international tourists annually. According to local legislation, January 5 has become a grand festival for the Harbin people. Together with Sapporo Snow Festival in Japan, Quebec Winter Carnival in Canada, and Oslo Ski Festival in Norway, they have become the world's four major ice and snow festivals.


When to go: Best time for Harbin Ice and Snow Festival
Officially kicked off on January 5 annually, it is a grand ice and snow feast that fully displays the beauty of ice and snow and the excellent imagination and creativity of skilled craftsmen. Although it was originally set to last for one month, in fact, it usually started at the end of the previous year (around Christmas) and lasted until late February, which includes four important festivals: the New Year, the Spring Festival, the Lantern Festival, and the Skiing Festival. Normally, we would highly suggest travelers making at least 2 days trip between the Christmas season and late February to enjoy its beauty and various interesting activities.

What to see: Not-to-miss during Harbin Ice and Snow Festival
Ice and snow sculptures
The Harbin International Ice and Snow Festival is the world's biggest ice and snow sculpture festival with 600,000 square meters of ice sculptures in diverse shapes exhibited. The Harbin Ice and Snow World-a colorful snow and ice Disney park, and Stalin Park are the main venues to appreciate the rich and colorful ice sculptures, the Sun Island Park is a garden park for tourists to enjoy the snow sculptures, besides, tourists can enjoy their time at the Zhaolin Park to admire the beauty of ice lanterns.

Winter sports
Apart from the colorful ice and snow sculpture exhibitions, hard ice and thick snow provide Harbin with a place for winter sports. During the Ice and Snow Festival, spots and activities, such as winter swimming competitions, ice hockey games, snow football games, alpine skiing tournaments, ice sculpture competitions, international ice sculpture competitions, ice speed skating competitions, ice festival poems, ice and snow photography exhibitions, book exhibitions, ice and snow film art festivals, ice Wedding, etc. will be held in Harbin.



Where to go: Venues for Harbin Ice and Snow Festival
There are 3 main venues to enjoy the amazing Harbin International Ice and Snow Festival, respectively, the Harbin Ice and Snow World, Sun Island Park, and Zhaolin Park.
The Harbin Ice and Snow World - a colorful ice Disneyland
Harbin Ice and Snow World, a colorful ice Disneyland, is the most popular place to enjoy the Harbin International Ice and Snow Festival. Here, travelers can enjoy the world's tallest, longest, and largest ice and snow landscape. Each session will have a new theme, and many of the ice sculptures are recreations of real world-renowned buildings or things, such as classic cartoon images.
At the same time, travelers can appreciate the European-style singing and dancing performances here. There are also various ice sports in the park. When the colorful lights are on at night, it is like being in a fairy tale world of ice lanterns. Due to its particularity, it is only open in winter from December to February each year.
- Address: North Bank of Songhua River, Songbei Avenue, Songbei District, Harbin.
- Admission fee: Adult ticket CN¥280-300 per person/discount ticket CN¥200 per person for students and children (December 24 - the following late February).
- Opening hours: 11:00 - 21:30.
- Suggested sightseeing hours: At least 3 hours.
- Best traveling season: Winter.

Sun Island Park - A great place to appreciate the art of snow sculpting
Located on the north bank of Songhua River in downtown Harbin and across the river from Stalin Park, Sun Island Park is called a summer resort by tourists and the largest snow-themed winter theme park in China. Once winter comes, this is the world of snow. The Ice and Snow Art Museum in Sun Island Park is currently the largest indoor ice and snow art venue in the world for travelers to enjoy the ice sculptures in four seasons. As the birthplace and leader of the national snow sculpture art, the Sun Island International Snow Sculpture Art Expo is the one that must be on travelers’ must-see list. It is an important part of the Harbin Ice and Snow Festival and the biggest highlight of Harbin Ice and Snow Tourism, known as the world's largest ice and snow carnival.
- Address: No. 3, Jingbei Road, Songbei District, Harbin.
- Admission fee: Usually CN¥30 per person, CN¥240 per person during the Harbin International Ice and Snow Festival.
- Opening hours: 07:30-17:30.
- Suggested sightseeing hours: 1 day.
- Best traveling season: Summer and winter.

Zhaolin Park - The best place to enjoy ice lanterns
By the beautiful Songhua River, Zhaolin Park, covering an area of 8.4 hectares, is a paradise for locals’ leisure and vacation with pleasant and cool summer and beautiful winter scenery. The most worth mentioning is that it is the place where the annual Ice Lantern Garden Party is held every year from January 5th to the end of February. With 1500 pieces of ice lanterns, it attracts thousands of domestic and overseas tourists every year.
- Address: No. 39, Senlin Street, Daoli District, Harbin.
- Admission fee: Usually free, but with a ticket fee of CN¥150 per person for the Ice Lantern Festival.
- Opening hours: Day time/10:00-14:00; night time/14:00-21:30.
- Suggested sightseeing hours: 1-3 hours.
- Best traveling season: Winter.


Useful travel tips
- Bring enough warm clothes to keep you warm and avoid frostbite. The temperature in Harbin in winter is generally between -35°C and -20°C and it is with the strong cold wind outside, which is really frozen, making it very necessary to bring enough warm and thick clothes to keep you warm, especially your hands and ears.
- Touring Harbin, a totally white world covered with snow, it is highly recommended to wear sunglasses, and ideally snow glasses, as it is able to effectively prevent snow blindness.
- As it is really dry in Harbin in winter, therefore, it is best to prepare a lip balm before traveling and drink plenty of water to prevent dryness and cracking of the lips.
- Try to bring traditional mechanical cameras, due to the climate, the battery of a digital camera will not work at low temperatures.
- If you bring a digital camera, you are highly recommended to put it inside your clothes to keep it warm. Warm it up when not in use, or prepare two sets of batteries, one set to keep hot. Be careful of moisture damage to the lens when entering the room from the outside, and cover it with a plastic bag if possible to prevent sudden cold and heat.
- As a grand fair with hundreds of thousands of tourists, you are very likely to queue at the venues to buy entrance tickets, you’d better book tickets online in advance or book a tour through a local China travel agency. Besides, to avoid crowds, you may avoid traveling on weekends, Christmas Eve/Day, New Year's Eve and New Year's Day, and Spring Festival.