Northeast China
Harbin Ice & Snow Festival
哈尔滨冰雪大世界 · Heilongjiang, Harbin
The world's largest ice and snow festival, with monumental illuminated ice castles in the 'Ice City'.
Each winter Harbin transforms into a frozen fantasy city, its Ice-Snow World filled with enormous illuminated ice castles, slides and sculptures carved from Songhua River ice, while the city's Russian-influenced streets host snow expo displays and ice-lantern gardens. It is the world's largest and most spectacular winter ice festival.
Harbin grew as a railway boom town with strong Russian and European influence, seen in St Sophia's Church and Central Street. The ice festival tradition began with ice-lantern garden parties in 1963 and grew from 1999 into the massive annual Ice-Snow World, drawing millions of visitors to China's coldest major city.
Day-by-day routes you won't find online — now starting with an 8-day, 1,500 km loop through western Sichuan. New regions are added regularly; tell us where you want to drive next.
