Harbin Ice and Snow Festival Guide

This is one of the most unique and awesome things we have ever done. Definitely make plans to be in northern China in January.

This festival, along with the lantern festival (Yi Peng) in Chiang Mai, Thailand, was the main reason we came to Asia. So we had very high expectations. And our expectations were smashed. So cool. Here's a video of just one part of the festival: Ice and Snow World.


I'll try to make this guide simple and concise, because there is a LOT of info to digest.

What: Largest collection of ice and snow sculptures in the world, both in size and quantity.

When: January 5 through the end of February, although these things aren't built in a day, so you can see construction beforehand and various sculptures and buildings/castles are done in December and (weather permitting) last through March. But to be safe, go in January when everything is new and the tourists haven't broken everything yet.

Where: Here's where it gets complicated. The Ice and Snow "Festival" is a collection of lots of ice sculptures and structures strewn all over Harbin, the Songhua River, and Sun Island. Here is a map showing the top five attractions during the Ice and Snow Festival:

Click the map to enlarge it.

Ok, so your hotel is going to be somewhere near Zhongyang Street downtown (if it's not, switch it so it is). From your hotel, you should be able to walk to everything downtown. You'll need to take a bus or a taxi over to Sun Island though. A taxi will cost 30-50 yuan, depending on your negotiating skills. The bus is 2 yuan and it's a straight shot from the Flood Control Monument to Ice and Snow World or the Snow Expo.

Buses to Ice and Snow World: 88, 118, and 336
Buses to Snow Sculpture Art Expo: 29, 54, 85, 88 and 346

On the Harbin side, you can catch these buses from the main bus station on Youyi Street, a block up Zhongyang from the Flood Control Monument, in between Zhongyang and Zhaolin Park. They go every 10-15 minutes.

Note. This is Bus 88:

You can walk between Ice and Snow World and the Snow Sculpture Art Expo, but keep in mind that it's -25 degrees, so that's a long time to be exposed. A taxi between the two parks is 30 yuan (ish) because they know you're stuck so they charge more.

Which location is which?

Ice and Snow World

The main attraction that you've seen in pictures and the only thing that could make a sane person venture into -25 degree weather on purpose is Ice and Snow World. That's what the video above is. Go at night, since you'll get to see all the lights.

There are also free shows included in your admission price.

Snow Sculpture Art Expo

Whereas most of the other parks and exhibits focus mainly on ice sculptures, this park is almost entirely snow sculptures. Some are small (like 10'x10' cubes), but others are massive.

There are a few sculptures they let you interact with, but most of them are roped off to just look at.

Zhaolin Park (aka Ice Lanterns)

This is a relatively smaller park, but it's right in the center of town so it's so much easier to access. Zhaolin Park has been the location of the annual ice lantern sculpture festival for over 40 years. This has more intricate ice sculptures than any of the other parks and it was far less crowded when we went.

Songhua River (aka Winter Wonderland)

We didn't see an actual name for this area, so we nicknamed it the Songhua River Winter Wonderland. This is an area about the size of a carnival staked out ON the Songhua River. (Read: It's slippery because you're on ice.) It's a chaotic fun mess of random rides and attractions, just like an American carnival, except they're all on ice.

This is probably better experienced in a 30-second video. So here:


Zhongyang Street

This is the main street in town, and restaurants and shopping abound. Throughout the street, you can find various ice sculptures and interactive ice/snow displays (like an ice maze!).

How much is everything?

Zhongyang Street is completely free. (Yay!)

Songhua River is free to walk around, but you have to pay for each attraction (10-30 yuan, they've got a few slides, a banana boat pulled by a tractor, chairs on skis to rent, bumper bikes and cars, etc).

Zhaolin Park is 150 yuan (about US$25, I think this is slightly overpriced, but still worth seeing.)

Snow Art Expo is 240 yuan (about US$40, pretty dang cool. Mostly worth the price.)

Ice and Snow World is 300 yuan for night, which is any time after noon. (US$50 each, and worth every penny.)

So if you do all five, you're looking at a minimum $115 USD per person.

What should I wear?

Everything you own. It's cold. Think of the coldest you've ever been and then think how much colder you would have been if you were naked and completely exposed. It's a little colder than that.

Wear layers. Lots of layers. Here's what we wore:


Are there any places to get warm?

Yes. You can only stay outside for about 2 hours at a time before you need to come inside and defrost. Harbin knows that so they've provided warming stations in most touristy areas.

Ice and Snow World has the most heated buildings and rest areas, and they also have the free shows to attend which give you some entertainment while you thaw out.

The Snow Sculpture Art Expo is really spread out, so watch the map and plan accordingly.

Zhaolin Park only has one building we found, and although it was warmer than outside, we're pretty sure it was still below freezing inside. It's amenities were the worst of the three parks, but it's the smallest too so you don't need as much time to see everything.

Zhongyang Street has shops all along it for warmth.

The Songhua River has no amenities or buildings, but you're only a block from Zhongyang Street.

Anything else?

Probably, but I can't think of anything right now. Ask me in the comments below or on any of the YouTube videos on my channel and I'll tell you anything you want to know.

Travel Day: Xi'an to Bangkok Flight

We caught a bus from a hotel opposite the Drum Tower straight to the airport. It was cheap (26RMB, about $4) and easy and brought us straight there. When we arrived at the airport about two and a half hours before our flight, we learned that we were not allowed to go through security yet. Apparently, they make everyone wait in a holding room until about 90 minutes before your flight, then you go through security and customs all at once with the rest of your plane. It was weird, but whatever.

Once we lined up, we did our best to keep our place in the queue, but other people did their best to push and cut through to the front. We know it's just a culture thing where you look out for number one and you fight for what you can get with little regard for others, so we don't want to hold it against them or say they should have better manners or respect for others. But we are very happy to be out of China. Especially after prices rose so much (Shanghai was cheap and wonderful, Beijing was a little more expensive, and Xi'an was just ridiculously overpriced).

Anyways, it turns out, to nobody's surprise, that our ability to understand Mandarin is horrible. We boarded the plane with first class by mistake. I've never seen a plane so empty. It was cool.

The flight arrived in Bangkok a little after sunset, so we got a nice view from the sky.

We took an express bus (the A1) for 30 baht ($1, now that's more like it) from Don Mueang Airport to the metro station called Mo Chit, then the metro from there to our hotel in Bangkok. We're staying at the Marvin Suites, and our room is nice and spacious and the staff was really nice at the front desk. So far, we're loving Thailand and we're happy to be out of China. (Don't get me wrong, China was amazing and full of awesome adventures and memories. But dealing with the people there just got exhausting.)

Terracotta Warriors Review, Pictures, and Guide

We took the green tourist bus from the main train station in Xi'an straight to the Terracotta Warriors site. It took about 2 hours. The bus kept going, but the lady told us right where we needed to get off. We didn't see any major signs saying we were at the Warriors Museum, but we had learned that we should have listened to the lady on the bus when we went to the Great Wall, so we decided to trust this one. And she was right, too.

We walked through all the shops and restaurants to the ticket booth and found out that ticket prices had skyrocketed. They're up to 150 RMB (about $25 each), which is almost double what we were planning (from what we saw online). It was a difficult blow, but what are you gonna do? This was the only reason we even came to Xi'an, and there's nothing else like it in the world. They have the absolute corner on the market, and they can charge whatever they want and we'll pay it.

Once inside, we had a plan worked out based on a Lonely Planet guide. We were going to start with the movie to give us some background on the warriors and the Emperor, then to the museum, and then see the pits in reverse order. We couldn't find the movie, so we started with the museum.

The museum houses several exhibits that talk about the excavation and restoration work that is still ongoing. It also allows you to get up close to many warriors and other artifacts.

Watch out for Chinese tour groups. They have no manners and no respect for anybody. They especially don't care if you're trying to take a picture or reading an information plaque.

After the museum, we headed for Pit 3, the smallest of the three pits. I think this is a good  representation of the whole place, just on a very small scale. Part of the uncovered section is still in shambles.

They take the shambles and then reassemble them into what they used to be, then replace them where they were.

Then we walked over to Pit 2, which was way bigger than Pit 3.

We could see the benefit of visiting the pits in reverse. Pit 3 was super cool and interesting, but it would have been less impressive had we seen Pit 2 first. As you can see from the picture above, most of this pit is still underground, but they've used x-ray or something to see where and what everything is. There is a map on the side facing Pit 3 that details what is buried here.

In some places, the dirt is just cleared away enough to see a head or a hand or something. It's kinda cool.

In other places, they've cleared lots out so you can see the mess that was left after the place was ransacked (after the emperor's death).

Then we went over to Pit 1. This is actually where it all started about 40 years ago. Some villagers were digging a well and they found some pottery. Further inspection and digging yielded quite the find.

The place is ginormous and exciting. With the exception of the main entrance, it's also relatively uncrowded. You can walk completely around the pit and take pictures from all angles.

Another recent unearthing of two heads.

I thought the horses were so cool.

The detail in their facial features is incredible!

Toward the back of the pit is where a lot of the restoration work takes place. You can see warriors being pieced together like puzzles.

At the far back, rows of warriors are almost complete, just about ready to be replaced in the pit they came from.

After leaving Pit 1, we found the movie theater off to the side. We went in to the unique theater, which has a 360 degree screen. You lean against bars in the middle and watch the history of Emporer Qin Shi Huang, the first Emperor of China, and how the Terracotta Army came to be. It was very interesting, and if you can watch it first before going to the pits, you should, because it gives an excellent history and basis for everything you'll see here.

We took the same bus back, which picked us up right where we were dropped off this morning, and it was dark by the time we got back to Xi'an, so we went and took nighttime pictures of the Bell Tower...

...and the Drum Tower.