Harbin Ice & Snow Festival – Ultimate Guide

If you’ve ever wanted to visit a spectacular winter wonderland, look no further than Harbin’s Ice and Snow Festival in Northern China. Replicas of iconic buildings and glimmering giant castles light up the night sky and larger than life sculptures of people, animals and characters are carved out of masses of snow.

The Harbin Ice and Snow Festival is the biggest of its kind, in the world. The festival officially started in 1985 but its origins date back much further. During the Qing Dynasty locals would cut blocks of ice from the Songhua River and place candles inside them to create lanterns. This inspired the people of Harbin to create this amazing festival, which is now enjoyed by millions of visitors each year.

What Is There To See At The Harbin Ice & Snow Festival?

We were amazed by how much there is to see and do during Harbin’s Ice and Snow Festival. There are various different areas within the city that have ice and snow themed attractions. Some of the events are free to visit and others require an entrance fee.

Ice & Snow World

The most popular attraction in Harbin during the festival is Ice and Snow World. This incredible attraction features huge buildings, castles and iconic landmarks from around the world which are constructed from blocks of ice taken from Harbin’s Songhua River. Every year different ice structures are built, with the stand out in 2019 being the replica of the Burj Khalifa in Dubai. Other highlights include incredible, massive snow sculptures that can be over 40 metres high.

Over 10,000 workers build Harbin Ice and Snow World in around 15 days. An impressive feat considering it covers an area of 600,000 square metres. Each ice building has different coloured lights installed into the ice blocks, creating a vibrant illumination when night falls.

There are also a whole host of fun activities on offer at Ice and Snow World. The huge ice slides are really popular and you can choose to zoom down them on a sledge or giant rubber tube! Other activities include snow football, ice castle mazes, snow go-karts, snowmobiles and even an ice tug and war!

The ticket price also includes an ice dancing show, but the queue was really long during our visit so we gave it a miss. If you want to ensure you see the show check the show timings as soon as you arrive and get in the queue as early as possible.

Tip – Many people only attend Ice & Snow World during the evening when all the lights are on, but we highly recommend arriving while it’s still light. The glass-like buildings look just as incredible in the day and when the sun sets it casts a beautiful yellow glow over the whole area. You’ll also be able to make the most of the park being less crowded and watch as the lights transform the structures into glowing works of art.

During our visit to Ice and Snow World we arrived at 2:00 pm and stayed there for 6 hours.

Are There Places To Eat At Ice & Snow World?

There are numerous restaurants dotted around Ice and Snow World. Some serve local dishes and others are western favorites like Pizza Hut. They aren’t huge inside so if you’re going to eat while you’re there go early to avoid having to wait too long. There is also a large building in the middle of the park where the catwalk shows take place. Inside there is a small area selling hot drinks, snacks and instant noodles so if you’re looking for something quick and cheap, but want to be inside, then this is your best bet.

You will also find plenty of the popular fruit skewer snacks being sold at Ice and Snow World. Fruit such as strawberries, pineapple and Chinese hawthorns are coated in a hardened sugar syrup and make for a sweet and delicious snack. Each skewer costs between 10-20 RMB (~$1.50-$2.90 USD) depending on what fruit you choose to have.

Location & How To Get To Ice & Snow World:

Ice & Snow World is situated on the same island as Sun Island, but is located on the opposite side of the main road (Songbai Avenue).

Various buses take you to Ice & Snow World. We took bus 29 which is a double decker tourist bus. You can get on near the flood monument (get on the bus on the same side of the road as the monument). Get off at the stop after the Sun Island stop (if you sit on the right side of the bus you’ll see a huge snow sculpture at the entrance to Sun Island – get off at the stop after that). Bus 29 costs 2 RMB (~$0.30 USD) per person.

A metered taxi will cost around 18 RMB (~$2.60 USD) from Ice & Snow World to Central Street or vice versa. Be aware that as you exit Ice & Snow World you may find people trying to get you into an un-metered taxi and they will quote very high fees – 100-200 RMB! (~$15-30 USD). Don’t get one of these taxis as there are plenty of metered ones – just make your way straight to the taxi queue.

Entrance Fee To Ice & Snow World:

• 9:00 am – 12:00 pm – 150 RMB per adult (~$22 USD)
• 12:00 pm – 9:00 pm – 330 RMB per adult (~$48 USD) (the ticket price may increase on New Year’s Day, Spring Festival and Lantern Festival)

Sun Island Snow Sculpture Art Expo

The other popular event during the Harbin Ice and Snow Festival is the Snow Scultpure Art Expo on Sun Island. The park is huge and full of incredible snow sculptures, with the theme changing every year. Some of the sculptures are massive and large machinery is needed to help the talented sculptures carve and build them. A couple of the sculptures can even be over 150 metres in length and up to 40 metres in height – wow!

The whole park is spread out over an area of around 40 hectares and you’ll find various snow sculptures all the way around, ranging in size and theme.

Although this event looked very impressive, if we’re honest we decided not to go. We had read reviews and spoken to other guests at Ice & Snow World who had advised that the snow sculptures had already started to melt so they didn’t look as good as earlier on in the festival.

We still decided to make our way to the park, but it took longer to arrive at the entrance than we expected as the bus drops you quite far out. When we arrived the sun had already started to set and we realised we had left it too late to get the most out of a visit.

Location & How To Get To Sun Island Snow Sculpture Art Expo Park:

Sun Island Park is the opposite side of the Songhua River to the Flood Control Monument and during Harbin’s Ice and Snow Festival the river is frozen solid so one option is wrap up very warm and walk across.

Various buses also take you over to the other side of the river. We took bus 29 which is a double decker bus. You can get on near the flood monument (get on the bus on the same side of the road as the monument). The bus drops you at one of the entrances to Sun Island, but it is still about a 2 km walk to the entrance of the Sun Island Snow Sculpture Art Expo Park. There aren’t currently any buses that take you directly to the main entrance of the attraction. Bus 29 costs 2 RMB (~$0.30 USD).

Another option is to take the cable car, which is 50 RMB (~$7.30 USD) per person each way or 80 RMB (~$11.50) for a round trip.

A metered taxi from Central Street to the park will cost around 18 RMB (~$2.60 USD).

Entrance Fee For Sun Island Snow Sculpture Art Expo:

• 8:30 pm – 5/5:30 pm – 330 RMB per adult (~$44 USD)

Zhaolin Park

Zhaolin Park is near to the central area of the city and is full of around 1000 ice sculptures, known as the Harbin Ice Lantern Fair. It’s not as big as Ice and Snow World or Sun Island Snow Sculpture Art Expo, but it’s still worth a visit especially at night when all the lanterns are lit up. Ice sculptors from all over the world carve and display their work in this park and although most of the sculptures are small, some of them are still extremely intricate and very impressive.

This is a great park to go to with kids as there is a small area with slides and an ice rink. Kids can take their own sled and enjoy the ice slides for as long as they like.

Location:

The park is situated at the end of Zhaolin Road near the banks of the Songhua River. It’s about a 10 minute walk from the Flood Control Monument.

Entrance Fee For Zhaolin Park:

• 9:00 am till 9:00 pm 150 RMB per adult (~$22 USD). Although this is the advertised fee, both times we visited the park we didn’t have to pay to enter. Children under 1.2 metres always get in for free.

Songhua River Ice & Snow Happy Valley

This attraction, that takes place along the banks of the Songhua River, has only been part of the Ice & Snow Festival since 2011. The displays usually start near the Flood Control Monument at the end of Central Street and continue until around Tongjiang Street. We walked the whole way along and found a ginormous snow sculpture for the ‘Year of the Pig’ for Chinese New Year near to Tongjiang Street.

Most of this area can be viewed for free, with payment only needed for various fun activities taking place on the ice and snow along the river. Activities include ice bumper cars, tire sliding and ice karting. It was great to see full advantage being taken of the cold weather conditions in Harbin and people of all ages thoroughly enjoying themselves.

All along the river are hundreds of ice and snow attractions including colourful snowmen with different expressions, impressive ice sculptures and statues and Disney themed snow sculptures. Many of the ice sculptures also light up at night like at Ice & Snow World. We recommend taking some time to explore this area as for us it was an unexpected, but really enjoyable place to discover.

Central Street – Zhongyang Pedestrianised Street

We chose to stay at a hotel on a street just off Zhongyang Street, which was an excellent location. The pedestrianised street is lined with shops, malls, cafes, restaurants and street stalls. During the Ice & Snow Festival there are various ice sculptures situated along the street that light up at night and colourful fairy lights dance above the street.

We were really impressed by this free area to visit where you can enjoy plenty of smaller ice sculptures and a magical, winter wonderland atmosphere.

When Is The Harbin Ice & Snow Festival On?

The Harbin Ice & Snow Festival is on every year, usually between late December and late February. The start dates can vary depending on when the structures and sculptures have finished being built and the end date can change depending on the weather.

We recommend visiting in January or early February to avoid disappointment as everything should be open during these times. The end dates of the festival can really vary, for example in 2018 Ice & Snow World stayed open till the 10th March, but in 2019 it closed on 17th February due to higher than average temperatures.

The festival is a very popular event so it will always be busy, but Chinese New Year is often at some point during the festival so try to avoid those dates if possible as it is likely to be extremely crowded.

How Long Do You Need At The Harbin Ice & Snow Festival?

We had 4 nights in Harbin between 29th January and 2nd February and felt this was enough time to see everything. If you’re short on time we would recommend at least 3 nights to be able to see the main attractions.

Even though we booked train tickets in advance using an agent, due to the popularity of the festival they were unable to secure us the train tickets we wanted. We decided to fly instead, which only cost us a bit more money and got us to Harbin quicker. If you’re short on time or don’t have any flexibility we highly recommend you fly to Harbin to ensure you have the maximum time to enjoy the festival.

How Cold Does It Get In Harbin During the Ice & Snow Festival?

We’re not going to lie – it was cold in Harbin, extremely cold. We have never felt anything like it and as night fell the temperature continued to plummet. The coldest temperature in the day when we were there was -9 degrees Celsius and -18 degrees Celsius at night. By the time we had been out at Ice & Snow World for 6 hours our faces were so numb that our smiles made us look as though we were being controlled by a ventriloquist!

We each had several layers on and went into one of the buildings at Ice & Snow World plenty of times to try and warm up, but no matter what you wear you will still feel cold. Was it worth it? Absolutely!

Sometimes the temperature can even drop as low as -30 degrees Celsius so just ensure you are prepared for very, very cold weather.

Tips For Visiting The Harbin Ice & Snow Festival

• The biggest ice and snow festival in the world is a very popular event so ensure you book your accommodation well in advance, not only to secure the best deal, but to ensure you have a place to stay.
• Book your transport to Harbin early as tickets can sell out or increase in price if you leave it till nearer the time – read more about our experience in the section below about ‘Getting to Harbin for the Ice & Snow Festival.’
• Pack a lot of layers, thermals, hats and gloves – more than you think you will need as it is likely you will have never experienced anywhere as cold as Harbin. If you don’t pack enough don’t worry though, Harbin is a huge city full of shops and plenty of warm gear to buy!
• Plan your days – there is a lot to see in Harbin during the Ice & Snow Festival so plan your days before you visit to ensure you don’t miss out on the main attractions.
• Although Ice & Snow World looks incredible at night all lit up, try to arrive in the day time to see it looking like a winter wonderland. It’s not as busy in the day, but still looks beautiful, especially as the sun starts to set. It also allows you to see the huge, individual blocks of ice in more detail to truly appreciated how remarkable the structures are.
• Don’t leave your visit till late February or March as the temperature may increase and put an early stop to the festival due to the ice melting and no longer being safe for visitors to be around. Even when we visited, by the last day of our visit in early February the snow sculptures along the river had already started to partially melt. It was still really cold and well below freezing, but with the daily sunshine and slight temperature increase the sculptures didn’t look as good as when we saw them on our first day.

Getting To Harbin For The Ice & Snow Festival

Harbin is located in the north of China, in the Heilongjiang Province, a 2 hour flight from Beijing.

We recommend flying to Harbin due to the popularity of the Ice and Snow Festival and that train tickets can be difficult to secure during popular times.

We originally wanted to travel from Beijing to Harbin on a night train to save some money on accommodation. It’s very difficult to book China train tickets online yourself, unless you know Mandarin and have a Chinese bank card. For these reasons there are various online websites and agents that can book them for you. Although you can seemingly book and pay for the tickets in advance on these websites, the agent will not be able to actually book and secure the train tickets until they have been released, which is usually around 30 days in advance of the date of travel.

We booked and paid for our train tickets using a popular online agent well in advance of our travel dates, but on the day of the ticket release they emailed to say they were not able to secure our tickets due to the huge demand for them. The only train tickets still available were second class seats for the much longer train journeys, where there was pretty much zero chance of any sleep. We declined those tickets and they promptly refunded us. We then had to book flights to and from Beijing and book 2 extra nights of accommodation.

In hindsight, knowing this was a popular event, we should have just chosen to fly there in the first place.

Getting From The Airport To Central Harbin

The airport is located about 45-60 minutes from the central area of the city. Plenty of metered taxis are readily available or airport shuttle buses can take you to various drop off points around the city. The shuttle buses will be cheaper than a taxi, but they only run at certain times and may take longer depending on how many drop off points there are. A taxi will cost around 130-150 RMB (~$19-22 USD) from the airport to central Harbin. There is no metro line from the airport to the city.

What To Pack For The Harbin Ice & Snow Festival

We’ve already mentioned that it’s worth taking a lot of layers and more warm clothes than you think you’ll need as the weather is bitterly cold. To make sure you remember everything we’ve put together this list of what to pack.

• Thermal wear – to put on under your clothes
• A warm coat – a down jacket is ideal and if possible choose one that is longer than waist length
• A warm hat – get one that covers your ears to keep them protected or also invest in ear muffs too
• Winter or thermal socks – more than one pair if you don’t have warm shoes and ones that go way over your ankle
• Snow boots or waterproof shoes – we wore our trainers with winter socks, but for your feet to be more comfortable we would recommend something more suitable to keep your feet warmer
• Quality gloves – cheap gloves won’t cut it in Harbin. Invest in a pair of quality, thermal gloves so your hands don’t freeze. We were frequently taking ours off to take photos or use our phones and you’ll be happy you have a good pair of gloves so you can feel your hands again
• A scarf or neck warmer – we wore both and used the neck warmer to also cover our face if it was windy
• Camera – use a wrist or camera strap so you don’t risk dropping the camera when your hands go numb!
• Camera batteries – we didn’t find ours suffered in the cold, but take spares just in case
• Portable phone charger – your phone’s battery is likely to drain quickly in the cold so this will come in handy when out and about