Last Updated on: 30th August 2024, 04:49 pm
Love the cold? Then this is the trip for you!
Travel to north east China in Heilongjiang province in this 6-day English speaking tour where you’ll experience -30°C temperatures in Harbin, Snow Town, and Mudanjiang, eat Guo Bao Rou, hot roasted sweet potato, sticky rice buns, and drink local beer!
This trip is the perfect combination of food, culture, history, and sight seeing. Book with a friend and save!
After a year of planning, I am pleased to announce my first ever package tour: 6 days in north east China that includes a stay in Snow Town, a popular tourist destination and well kept secret from foreign visitors. This package is arranged in co-operation with a local Chinese tour agency that specialises in private tours.
Tour Overview
Participants meet in Harbin city, which is conveniently serviced by Taiping International Airport and will be picked up by a tour guide. The tour departs from Harbin, visiting Snow Town and Mudanjiang, with tours in each destination, including Harbin city.
Daily breakfast is included, as well as some meals to give you the most convenient experience while giving you the freedom to try other foods for other meals. And if you don’t have sufficient winter gear, an optional guided shopping trip to pick up essentials is included.
Jump to the itinerary here.
Highlights you'll visit:
• See massive snow sculptures
• See life sized buildings and structures built out of ice harvested from the local Song Hua river. If visiting on New Year’s Eve, you can see fireworks!
• Stay in Snow Town, a scenic snow-covered village in a mountain 280km from Harbin city
• Guided tour of the Unit 731 Museum, a museum dedicated to revealing the secret experiments conducted by the Japanese in World War 2
Activities you'll do:
• Ride a horse drawn sleigh
• Get your photo taken by a drone on a frozen lake
• Toss water, see it turn to snow
• Sleep on a Kang bed
• Learn about the history of the Russian construction of the Trans Siberian Railway in north east China
• Eat authentic local food like Guo Bao Rou, roasted sweet potato, and sticky rice buns
• Climb the roof of the Harbin Opera house
People per group:
10-20. Please note: Prices may increase for less people and decrease for more. You will be notified when payment is required.
Travel dates:
December 26th – December 31 inclusive – This is peak season
January – dates and prices yet to be determined – mid-January is peak season as it is school holidays in China.
Indicative price:
$2,000 AUD per person twin share, not including flights. Price may increase or decrease based on number of travellers and season. Group bookings can enjoy a discount, contact me to enquire!
About Harbin
About Snow Town
Snow Town is a village in a mountain some 280km from Harbin city in an area formally called Shuang Feng forest. It is a highly popular winter holiday destination in China among domestic Chinese residents. In winter, the village is covered in snow, and offers beautiful scenery in and around the area. It is a very seasonal destination, and visitors who wish to go there join a tour group for logistical reasons. It’s remote location and difficulty of reaching it means stays there are expensive, especially in peak season, which is end of the year and Chinese New Year. Travel and accommodation booking platforms are in Chinese and on Chinese platforms only, making it somewhat difficult for foreigners to go there or even find out about it.
About Mudanjiang
Mudanjiang is another city in Heilongjiang, closer to Snow Town but smaller than Harbin. “Mu Dan” is Chinese for the peony flower, and “Jiang” means means “river”. The peony flower is a popular motif on local traditional soft furnishings such as bedding and clothing. Here, visitors can try the local flatbread, and go on an informative tour of the Russian town and learn about the local part of the Trans Siberian Railway.
What is so cool about north east China?
Experience -30°C temperatures when you visit Snow Town, where it’s so cold, you can make your own instant snow by tossing water, and you have to eat your ice cream while it’s still “hot”!
North east China is a place with its own unique cuisine and is the destination for winter holidays in China. You’ll have the opportunity to eat hot street food such as hot roasted sweet potatoes and steamed buns in the snow. North east China is also known for its generous servings of hearty food and warm hospitality, well built warm interiors, and kang beds.t
In Harbin, you can eat a popular local ice cream brand that is particularly enjoyed in winter: the surrounding temperature is so cold, the ice cream is even warmer than the air around it!
What is special about my tour?
Logistically, visitors to Snow Town have to join a tour group to go there. As there is yet to be a direct way for foreigners to arrange a trip to Snow Town, I have taken the hard work out of arranging such a trip by working with a local tour agency in China to provide this English-speaking tour that covers not only Snow Town, but also Harbin and Mudanjiang, in 6 days. With the introduction of the new 15-day visa-free entry for holders of passports from certain eligible countries, this is the perfect short holiday that is packed with sight seeing activities, history, and culture, and still include free time.
Instead of a cookie cutter tour, each group will experience a customised, private and personalised service. For example, instead of dining in a food hall with a pre-determined menu catered for large quantity of tourists, each group will experience a unique dining experience: the guide will make a recommendation of local dishes based on the number of diners in each group and give the best cost to benefit ratio, making sure that everyone’s tastes are catered for while being able to try out a larger variety of dishes.
You’ll also avoid tourist gimmicks: Traditionally, horses are used for transportation in north east China because cattle is precious and used on the farm to plough fields. Ordinarily, dog drawn sleds require many dogs to pull one person and a sled. For about ￥100, you can ride a sled “pulled” by a single dog in Snow Town along the main street helped along by a human guide… or you can join the tour and go on an actual horse drawn sleigh.
You’ll also get your personal photo taken on a frozen lake by a drone and the digital files to take home with you to print as you please!
Inclusions:
• Airport pick up
• 6 nights accommodation in 4-star hotels (Holiday Inn or similar in the city, equivalent local hotels in Snow Town)
• Daily breakfast, two lunches, two dinners
• Heated minibus or coach transport
• English speaking guide
• All applicable entry fees
• Drone photos
• Water tossing photos
• All activity fees
• Optional winter gear stock-up shopping trip – if you are from a warmer climate and do not have sufficient winter gear suited to the local environment which typically is around -30°C, this trip to a local outdoors clothing and gear shop is provided for your convenience. This is entirely optional and provided for your benefit, not I nor the tour guide or tour agency earns a profit from it, but it is *highly recommended* that you go if you don’t have winter clothing suited to snow, ice and -30°C environments.
Not included:
• International flights
• Self-paid communal meals (the guide will recommend a local restaurant for the group and each participant can order their own dish or contribute to a group fund for a communal dinner – Chinese dishes are made to be shared. This saves everyone time and decision making process in unfamiliar environments and allows you to try the recommended dishes)
• Spending money, winter gear purchase money, souvenirs
• Any meals not included
Save on visa fees!
For a limited time, if you have a passport from one of these 9 countries, you can enter China without a visa for up to 15 days for tourism purposes, saving you the cost of of a visa, which is perfect for this short tour.
Bookings, Deposit, and Refunds:
Book today with NO deposit required! You only need to pay the deposit
($300 AUD) 30 days after your booking. The remainder can be paid in
cash on arrival or no later than 14 days days before tour departure by bank deposit, or credit card (fees apply).
You can even get a full refund if you cancel within a generous 7 days, or a 50% refund within 5 days. You won’t find such flexible terms elsewhere!
Spots are limited per group and accommodation sells out quickly, bookings are accepted until spots fill out. With no deposit required today, what are you waiting for? Book now!
Itinerary
Day 1 – Included Meals: none | Accommodation: Holiday Inn or similar
• Arrive in Harbin. Airport pickup according to flight arrival.
Early arrivals can go on optional winter gear shopping trip
Day 2 – Included Meals: Breakfast, Dinner | Accommodation: Holiday Inn or similar
• Optional winter gear shopping trip
• Visit the St Sophia Cathedral, modeled on the Saint Basil cathedral in Moscow, Russia
• Stroll along Central Street
• Visit Sun Island to see the snow sculptures
• Welcome group dinner
Day 3 – Included Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner | Accommodation: Local hotel
• Depart early to go to Snow Town by bus
• Activities and sights of the day include Ice and Snow Avenue (a scenic boardwalk among trees and winter landscape)
• Ride a horse drawn sleigh
• Visit Meng Huan Jia Yuan (a scenic cluster of houses in a separate village within Snow Town)
• Group dinner
Day 4 – Included Meals: Breakfast, Lunch | Accommodation: Holiday Inn or similar
• Enjoy the sights of Snow Town in the morning
• Visit Mirror Lake (Jing Po Lake) where you will have a local lunch
• Get your photo taken on a frozen lake by a drone
• Depart Snow Town and travel by bus to the city of Mudanjiang
• Optional communal dinner
Day 5 – Included Meals: Breakfast | Accommodation: Holiday Inn or similar
• See Siberian tigers in a safe caged vehicle and enjoy the sights
• Arrive in Mudanjiang around lunch time, visit the Russian village, try the local flatbread, optional communal lunch
• Return to Harbin in the evening
Day 6 – Included Meals: Breakfast | Accommodation: Holiday Inn or similar
• Visit the Unit 731 museum – a history museum explaining the secret experiments run by the Japanese in World War 2
• Visit Laodaowai, an area of town where local Chinese people lived while Russians built the Harbin portion of the Trans Siberian Railway
• Visit the Harbin Opera House and climb the roof
• Visit the International Ice Sculptures Festival
• Return to accommodation for the night, check out next morning.
Note: The exact order of activities may change and may be subject to conditions like weather and availability.
Ready to book? Book now and find flights later!
