Quotient TravelPlanner's Blog

Located in Northeastern China, Harbin is known for its cold winters, and is sometimes referred to as “Ice City”. Most likely as a result of its cold weather, the city has developed a reputation for its beautiful ice sculptures, and is home to one of the world’s largest ice and snow festivals – the International Harbin Ice and Snow Sculpture Festival. The other major ice and snow festivals around the world include Japan’s Sapporo Snow Festival, Canada’s Quebec City Winter Carnival and Norway’s Ski Festival.

While the festival starts officially on the 5^th of January, you can often see sculptures before that day, weather permitting. And while the festival lasts for one month, the sculptures are often left up for as long as climatic conditions allow it. Other winter activities at Harbin include skiing and winter-swimming.

Aside from being famous for its cold, Harbin also boasts a unique architectural and cultural style, owing to its interesting history. Once under Russian rule, Harbin has unique Russian and European-influenced architecture.

To get a feel of Harbin’s unique multi-culturalism, take a walk down Zhong Yang Street, where you will find Baroque and Byzantine façades, little Russian bakeries, French fashion houses, American eateries, and Japanese restaurants. Russian influence is very much evident in the city’s cuisine, such as Russian bread and European-styled sausages.