Harbin
is served as the capital city as well as the largest
city of Heilongjiang Province. Located in the
central area of Northeast China, Harbin is regarded
as a shining pearl linking with Eurasia Bridge.
Complimented as "Ice City" with gorgeous winter
scenery contributed to the severe winter, Harbin
creates one of the four biggest World Ice and Snow
Festival with colorful and interesting activities
and performances. It has never stopped to attract
travelers home and abroad to attend this gala to get
the fully festive fun and laughter. Harbin even
surprisingly is reputed as the "Oriental Paris" and
"Oriental Moscow". That is not only results from its
dense European and Russian architectural relics to
make one wonder walking in a Western City, but
because, beyond your imagination, that new designs
from Paris and Moscow first reached here before
Shanghai in the 1920s, which made people treat
Harbin as China's Fashion Capital.
Top Attractions
Harbin has many amazing sites concentrated on both
banks of Songhua River. On the north bank, travelers
can immerse yourselves into Ice and Snow World, Sun
Island Scenic Resort, Harbin Pole Aquarium and see
Siberian tigers at Siberian Tiger Park; on the south
bank, travelers can pay a visit to Stalin Park or
Zhaolin Park, enjoy leisurely walk to St. Sophia
Church and Zhongyang Street to feel exotic Russian
flavor. To travel out of Harbin downtown area,
Yabuli Ski Resort is the best choice for skiing fun.
You can also go to the China Snow Town, the no.1
snow town of China for terrific snow and village
landscape.
Harbin Transportation: How to Get to
Harbin
Get to Harbin
Travelers can take flights and high speed trains to
reach Harbin. Harbin Taiping International Airport
is located in the southeast of Harbin, about 41
kilometers' driving distance away (about 40
minutes). There are about 100 airlines linking with
popular international cities (like Seoul, Tokyo,
Osaka, Moscow, Phuket Island, etc.) and many
domestic cities (like Beijing (2 hrs), Dalian (1.5
hrs), Qingdao (2 hrs), Jinan (2 hrs), Xian (3 hrs),
Shanghai (3 hrs), Chengdu (3.5-4 hrs), Ordos (2.5
hrs), Hangzhou (3 hrs), Guangzhou (4-4.5 hrs),
Xiamen (4-4.5hrs), Wuhan (3-3.5 hrs), Sanya (5 hrs),
etc.). Both airport shuttle (Line 1, 2, 3 and 4) and
taxi are available running between airport and
downtown area.
The mainly used train stations in Harbin are Harbin
Railway Station and Harbin West Railway Station.
Harbin Railway Station is situated in the downtown
area, within several kilometers away from the famous
tourist attractions. It has D trains linking with
Beijing for 7.5 hours, Jilin for 2 hours, Shenyang
for 2-3 hours, Changchun for 1-1.5 hours, etc.
Harbin West Railway Station is used for high speed
train station, located in the southwest of Harbin
Railway Station, about 9 kilometers away. It has
high speed trains (D trains and G trains) running
between Harbin and Beijing (7~8 hrs), Changchun (1
hr), Shenyang (2.5~3 hrs), Dalian (4~5 hrs), Jilin
(2-3 hrs), Qingdao (11 hrs), Shanghai (12.5 hrs),
Tianjin (6.5 hrs), Jinan (8.5 hrs), Wuhan (13 hrs),
etc.
Get around Harbin
Apart from having fun within the city downtown and
suburb of Harbin, many tourists also choose to
travel further to discover more winter inspiration
surrounding Harbin. You can visit Yabuli Ski Resort
by car for 3 hours, China Snow Town for 5-6 hours,
etc. Furthermore, direct buses and coaches are
available to both those tourist spots. Besides,
there are some trains to Yabuli, which needs another
transfer to get to the spots.