Over a decade ago, I watched men and women clad only in swimwear dive into a pool carved from a frozen river. The outside air temperature was minus ten degrees Celsius (warm for that time of year), and these brave souls swam all the way to the other side, pulled themselves out, and slid their feet into some slippers while a robe was placed over their shoulders. Now, 14 years later in the same city, this time with kids in tow, I wondered if I would witness this fascinating spectacle again. You see, it’s all part of the fun that is the International Ice and Snow Sculpture Festival, held once a year in the city of Harbin in China’s beautiful northeast.
We start with the same frozen river, the Songhua, that captivated me completely last time we were here. Except this time, it’s buzzing with people of all ages enjoying the attractions on the ice. Chinese ballads are blasting from portable speakers as we zip down ice slides on rubber tyres, drive donuts in a Can-Am on the frozen ice and decline many an offer for other rides, such as being pulled on a giant inflatable behind a 4WD on the ice.
Minus 20 degrees… brrrrr
At minus 20 degrees, we are suitably dressed with thermals, mid-layers and snow suits, but Mother Nature is a force to be reckoned with in this part of the world, and the cold finds a way to creep in. We slip into a small snack shop set up on the ice, and I buy a hot ginger Coke to warm up. I’m not a fan, but it does the job it’s supposed to, which is to warm me up from the inside out. Even if I do feel a bit sick afterwards.
Although the frozen Songhua River features mightily in Harbin’s Landscape, it’s not the main attraction of the Harbin Ice Festival. For that, you need to head to Ice and Snow World, Sun Island Park and Zhaolin Park.
Ice and Snow World, Harbin Ice Festival
Straight from the pages of a fairy tale, Ice and Snow World at the Harbin Ice Festival features castles, slides and sculptures all made entirely from – you guessed it – ice. They are not just for viewing from behind a rope, either; many of them can be walked over and through. Carefully, of course, because stairs made of ice require a degree of caution. In a world filled with technology that can sometimes cause a divide between the generations, it’s nice to see the ice slides being the firm favourite from toddlers through to grandparents. You don’t need any special equipment for the smaller ones; you simply slide down on your snow boots or your bottom. Often, unintentionally, both. At 521 metres in length, the largest ice slide is preceded by a long wait, and only those over the age of 14 years are allowed to attempt it.
Chinese ballads feature heavily once again, as does the sound of our feet crunching in the snow. Despite the crowds, the landscape is a pristine snowscape with not a single wrapper of rubbish to be seen. Children are squealing in delight as they are pulled around the complex on tyres by their parents, and I am happy to discover that this time around, the cold is a lot easier to manage with the addition of hot taps in the public toilets and a shopping centre with a food court, all heated of course. Bemoan the squat toilet all you want, but with temperatures now bordering on negative 25 degrees Celsius, the last thing I want to do is have my bare backside make contact with a freezing cold toilet seat. Although mastering the squat with this many layers takes skill and a few swear words uttered under my breath.
Foreigners can be a bit of a novelty sometimes…
At age 12, my son attracts the attention of a few Chinese mothers with young girls throughout the day, the mothers fawning over his hazel eyes and ridiculously long eyelashes. They call their daughters over for a look, embarrassing both sets of kids in the process. I giggle to myself that if he were to come back in another few years, he might need a chaperone.
Sun Island Park, Harbin Ice Festival
Not too far away is Sun Island Park, home to the international snow sculpture competition part of the Harbin Ice Festival. Here you will find ice and snow sculptures of gigantic proportions. In fact, in 2007, a sculpture here was awarded a Guinness World Record for the largest snow sculpture at 200m long and 35m high! While most of the structures in Ice and Snow world are made from hard ice, here, the sculptures appear more fluffy and snow-like.
Ice and Snow Sculptures from all over the world are represented here, heavily influenced by popular culture, with many movie characters and iconic imagery on display.
Much like last time, the entrant’s sculptures are mind-boggling, and I enjoy this much more than Ice and Snow World, which gives off more theme park vibes. Sun Island Park feels more family fun, with fewer crowds, virtually no waiting in lines and a pleasant absence of loud Chinese ballads blasting through the speaker. Instead, there is a free live concert with dance music, where we join in dancing on the ice. We also slide down free ice slides and jump into a zorb ball for the first time. Maneuvering the Zorb Ball is physically much harder than I envisioned, and isn’t helped by the heavy boots and many layers of clothes I am wearing. I require help to get out by the attendant, much to the amusement of my husband.
Zhaolin Park, Harbin Ice Festival
By now, we’re starving, but the kids are finding the cultural differences in food a little hard at this point, so we grab a cab to a Pizza Hut near Zhaolin Park, where a robot delivers our order. Zhaolin Park is an underrated attraction of the Harbin Ice Festival, and surprisingly, it’s free. Despite the below-freezing temperatures, it’s best to visit at night because the ice sculptures, lanterns and slides are lit up with coloured lights.
Here we discover a new dessert, strawberries on a stick coated in toffee and completely frozen. It’s ridiculously sticky but is the first of a few desserts we find in Harbin that quickly become favourites. Chinese ballads once again feature in the background while we navigate an icy maze and watch the kids run up and slide on their boots on a particularly slippery section. I’ll never grow tired of watching the smartly dressed elderly couples strolling through the park, arms locked at the elbows.
Cable Car and Central Street
With the three major attractions of the Harbin Ice Festival done and dusted, we set out to stroll down the well-known Central Street (Zhongyan Street). While ice sculptures don’t feature, this cobblestone pedestrian-only street has its own charm with Russian-influenced architecture, overhanging decorations, a sea of black, white, and red snow jackets, and the discovery of another new dessert, a Russian-style bread shaped into a cone and filled with soft-serve ice cream – Chimney Bread.
At the end of the stroll, we find ourselves back on the Songhua River, looking up at a Cable Car that we rode all those years ago across the frozen river when it was just the two of us. It seemed a little rough around the edges back then, but all of that appears to have been smoothed over with updated cable cars and a tourist-friendly ticket booth. What once was a cold climb up some concrete stairs to the cable car departure point is now filled with cheerful heated sweets shops just asking to add kilograms to your waist, and when you are deposited at the Russian Village on the other side of the Songhua, its even worse, as the gondola officially disembarks at a ‘chocolate castle’, where you guessed it, chocolate abounds.
Try to time your return trip just after the sun goes down!
After getting lost in the village, the sun has gone down by the time we take the cable car back over the other side of the Songhua River. Harbin city and the ice festival lights are surreal from this height, as is the reality of how large the frozen river actually is. We look down to see the 4WDs from days ago still merrily towing people around on the ice, albeit now toy-sized, and I remember that 14 years ago, the rides were limited to a few Clydesdale horses and some odd-looking sled bikes. How times have changed.
But fortunately, some things haven’t changed, like the beautiful Russian-influenced Sophia Church, the Chinese ballads blasting through the speakers, the sounds the snow makes when it crunches under your boots and the hum of people having a good time at a joyous time of year in an environment that is no less than brutal. These things will never leave me, and really, that’s the whole point of travelling so far for an experience such as this.
Need to know before you go to the Harbin Ice Festival
Harbin Ice Festival Tickets:
- Harbin Ice and Snow World
- Sun Island Park Sculptures
- Zhaolin Park (Free – no ticket required)
Paying for things:
Many retailers no longer accept traditional card payment in China. You will need to download and attach your payment card to either Alipay and/or WeChat Pay to pay for most things in Harbin, including rides, restaurants, accommodation and shopping. We used Alipay. For taxis/ride-hail sharing, you will need to use the DiDi app.
Using apps means you need to use data on your phone when you’re out and about and away from the hotel WiFi. We used Airalo for a China eSIM as it’s more cost-effective than international roaming fees. For under AUD$60, we were able to get unlimited data to use in China for 10 days, and were also able to let the kids use the hotspot off the phone when they needed downtime.
Language:
English is not widely spoken, and you will need to use Google Translate to communicate. Again, you will need data on your phone to do this.
Tips:
Don’t squeeze the Harbin Ice Festival into one or two days with the kids if you don’t have to. The lower temperatures mean that you need to allow extra time to duck inside and warm up, and while all that snow is a lot of fun, it’s also exhausting. Save the big ticket attractions to one per day so everyone has some downtime in the arvos before going out for dinner.
This article contains affiliate links to products. We may receive a commission for purchases made through these links.
Where to next?
Let me know what you think!