Harbin Reviews - What Our Customers Say about Harbin Tours

Hi Jack,

Thank for our trip. Well organised. Driver & guide were super ! We have been lucky to have a sunny weather and the lantern festival! And not toooooo cold, only if you compare to the week before !

Helene

Hi Tracy,

thank you so much for your help on such short notice! It was a lovely trip. Echo and the driver both did great!

Hi Wonder,

On January 7, we celebrated my birthday in Harbin to see the beautifully carved ice sculptures displayed on the river. It is spectacular and worth braving the minus 20 degrees C weather! Both day and night views were lovely, when it is lighted, the ice sculptures turned to a colorful fairyland! Reflects on how much work and resilience had been put into achieving this beautiful Ice and Snow World. My memories were enhanced with the carefully planned schedule with Wonder from China Discovery. We had a good guide and driver, both had ensured we stay warm. For those who are in China this is one of the must see and experience location. We had done Beijing, Xian, and Guilin also with Wonder which all very well customized to our requirement. We always had good drivers and tour guides. In Harbin, Helen or guide even brought heated sole pads to keep us warm and made an album of the day’s trip.

The other worthwhile visited are Siberian Tiger Park, Sun Island and definitely Volga Manor.

Emily

Hi Wendy,

Helen is INCREDIBLE! Love her energy and enthusiasm. Tour has been very good so far; now we are on our way to Yabuli. Oh it has been an absolute blast so far. Helen was a lifesaver in Ya Bu Li!

Ada was also very nice, but there was, unfortunately, a very big language barrier, as she had difficulty with English.

Thank you Wendy. Just finished the tour today; was a great trip overall.

你好 Lyn,

一月十五号晚上我回北京了，我在黑龙江的时候玩儿的很开心了！风景特别美，所以我想发一些照片给您看一下那个地方的风景。如果我有机会的话我还要去，谢谢！

我觉得什么都好，都很顺利。导游和司机的性格也好，谢谢！

Sincerely,

Millicent Thapa

Hi Wendy,

Yes, We had a great time. Hotel was perfect. Warm rooms, comfy beds, good enough breakfast. Van was very comfortable. Guide was a nice guy. Driver drove safely. I liked that we were given options for meals. All attractions good but would have liked to see more of the city described on day two. The shopping street part was after sunset and we walked and walked - too much.

Overall, very happy with the trip and will recommend it to friends.

Hi Lily,

Everything is very good! Hilary is marvelous. The driver is also great! Thanks for putting a very good tour for me and my husband.

We want to express our formal thanksgiving to the fantastic vacation in Harbin with Hilary and the driver. Thanks also to you and all planning. We appreciate very much the great job you all did to make our special vacation unforgettable!

Hello Tracy,

Everything is awesome. Both driver and Hilary are great.

Hello Wonder,

Our trip were very well. 

Harbin:

The driver who picked us in aeroport, the train and in our visited to city was fantastic. He drove very well and my family felt safe.

We liked all places we visited and the time we had in these place. The city is very clean and so different of Nanjing. We lliked the experience of food and the restaurant.

The guide was amazing and he have a good english.He explained a lot of facts of city very interesting and the place we visited. He gave space for we had good moments in family. It is very good. 

Yabuli:

The hotel Club Med for us was wonderful.

 I m going to talk the hotel by steps:

1- Bedroom:

The bedroon was very big with 2 individual beds for our children and a room for us with a big and confortable bed. The bathrooms were ok. It was very clean and with a lot of space to put our clothes. In the bedroom they have a smale space with a fridge, a cups to drink coffee, tea and bottles of water. we didn´t pay anything that we consumed in bedroom and everday they putted what was miss. All nigths they opened the bedroom and cleaned the garbage bins and offered some gifts(orange, cherries)

2- Food

 They have 2 restaurants one workes like buffet and another workes in the evening with hotpot dinner that we need to booking. We didnt try this restaurant because the buffet restaurant was so good and all time they have western food.

The buffet restaurant the food like I said was good and different everday. The problem of this restaurant was noise because were a lot of pleople there. In the evening of New Year they had a different menu with a lot of seafood and gourmet.

For adults they have a good wine and beer.

They have food all the time for the guest in the bar or in the restaurant that workes in the evening.

This is the hotel with all inclusive very good.

3- Animation and activities

The animation for the children were wonderfuly. They started at 8:30am and finished at 5:00pm. The children can lunch with staff or with parents.

The ski class for children start at 9am and they have like 2 hours in the morning and 2h in afternoon. If they don´t want making ski they play in the club med with staff and they can do climbing too.

For a 1^st January the kids staff prepared a show with the kids very nice.

For adults they have ioga class in the morning and afternoon, dance class, ski class and another activities.

The ski class some teachers speak a little bit of english and if they don´t speak someone translate for us or we saw the teacher to do ski and we can understand. I think it is easy for a foreign do ski in this class.

They have class for all pleople, they have a rent material good and if we prefer buy it is possible.

The hotel has been prepare for pleople don´t want to do ski and enjoy a relax moment in the mountain.

They have a club for families doing activities together they call amazing family.

All evenings they have a show or some activities for guests. 

In the evening new year they had fire works, a party and a show. In the first day of year like I said they did the children show and then they had a candyland to offer the guests.

4- Space

All space of hotel was clean, big, with a beautifull decoration and moderm style.

The swimming pool is big and it is nice have a good moments in jacuuzzi outside with snow and cold.

The gym is ok and they have a spa too. 

5- Language

It is easy to find someone that speak english. I think the hotel is for foreign pleople or chinese pleople who like the western style.

We liked a lot our holidays, we were able to relax and have a good moments in family.

I hope this description of hotel help you. If you need more informationa please contact me.

Best regards

Ana Oliveira

Hi Echo,

Thanks a lot for your message. Everything has been handled perfectly. I am very happy about our relation to be honest from the 1st contact until the end, everything has been very smooth and I won’t hesitate to come back to you for future plans. I think Chinese New Year should be complicate due to the Covid situation but anyway still lots of opportunities to come in coming months. Have a great weekend. Best.

Hi Rita,

Good. So far so good. And thanks for arranging the birthday gift. Well received.

My feedback on the driver is very punctual, knowledgeable, helpful and safe driving. Feel free to use him for many more tourists to keep the local strive in their making a honest living.

Hello Echo,

Our trip to Harbin was wonderful- from pick up to drop off. Our guides Helen and Wendy were so helpful. I cannot imagine doing a trip without them. Wendy was nurturing and kind. Helen was personable and engaging. Exactly what you need when away from home. Kevin, our driver, was perfect. He was so sweet when helping us with our luggage and getting our doors. He kept the car nice and warm for us. He was the safest driver I’ve ever had in China. Cannot commend them enough. They were gracious with our needs and helped us when we wanted to change things. Each activity was amazing. I loved them all. I would say when traveling decide what things you want to do and prioritize them. So you can spend an appropriate amount of time at each. 

Here’s what we found: 

Polar Land- 2.5 hours in the morning. 

Sun Island- 1.5 - 2 hours. (Right next to Polar Land) 

Ice and Snow World (must see in day and night, plus leave time to wait for the slide) - 4 hours. 

Volga Manor- 4 hours (again, the slide. Plus this takes an hour to get to) 

Sophia Church- 30-45 minutes 

Siberian Tiger Park- 2 hours 

Central Street- take the time to stroll up and down during the night and day to see the ice sculptures. There’s a place to pay to play at the end. You can also shop. 4-5 hours during different hours of the day. Plus you must stop and have the icecream at MODERN. 

Our hotel the Mecure Hotel Sophia Church was in the perfect location. 

Layer up and have a wonderful time in Harbin. This is the perfect tour. The company was very accommodating when we asked to make changes. I’m so grateful.

Hi Tracy,

Yes, we are back in Guangzhou where it is much warmer than Beijing!

Feedback:

Hotels – both hotels were excellent; the staff were very helpful, breakfast was very nice and the rooms clean and well maintained. The hotel in Beijing just won as they upgraded our room when we arrived to a King double.

Guides/Drivers: Edward was good in Harbin, even though there is obviously less to talk about than if he was in Beijing. He was always on time, very helpful with buying tickets, showing us around and he took us to a great restaurant for our evening meal in the city. The driver (sorry, can’t remember his name) had a good car and drove very carefully in icy conditions.

Kai really made the trip for us. He was very knowledgeable, kept us very interested in all of the history that Beijing has and told an excellent story – on top of being very organised, very helpful with the health codes and so on. Mr Jao the driver was punctual, very helpful and as a team they worked very well. I would recommend them to any of my friends who were going to Beijing.

Activities: it was more difficult to fill two days in Harbin, especially as it was so cold. The snow sculptures were impressive, the ice sculpture park truly amazing and the tiger park (which I was a bit worried about) was more acceptable than other animal attractions I have been too (and there were lots of tigers!). Apart from that, we enjoyed the walk down the ‘Russian street’ but the cathedral was a little underwhelming and we visited the old part of town at a very quiet time of day.  

On the other hand we could easily have spent more time in Beijing; Tiananmen Square, the Forbidden City and the Summer Palace were places where we could have spent much more time exploring, but the highlight was the Great Wall which was fabulous. If we ever get back to Beijing we will definitely go to another stretch for a longer walk. Sadly for the tourism industry, but good for us, it was nice to not have too many people there as well.

Overall we had a great time; everything was well organised, pick ups were punctual, we got to see some of the top sights in China and would definitely consider going back to Beijing in the future. Thanks for all your efforts as well (flight cancellations, letting us know about the situation in Beijing), everything went really smoothly and we will definitely consider getting in touch with you again about future trips.

Hope that you have a prosperous New Year

Best regards

Martin and Debbie

Hi Rita,

We are already in Harbin. So far so good. It was very nice! Thank you once again. Everything was very well planned.

Hi Mike,

Thank you very much for this information. We find that the problem is getting more and more serious in Thailand. I am sure the information you sent will be helpful for us here.

Cheers,

Lina

Greetings Lily,

I have been thinking about you and everyone in China. I hope you and your family are safe and healthy. I wish you a safe, healthy, happy and prosperous New Year.

Thanks to you for an incredible holiday.

All my best

Tracy

Hello Lily,

We arrived home. Thank you for amazing trip. We are very sad that we could not continue till the end

There is no way could do the Beijing trip when we were leaving and city was empty. We will see you next year probably in middle of next year. The corona thing is probably going to last couple of months.

No stress about refund. Stay safe. We monitor situation here and have meeting with CDC. The most important is hand washing. Don’t worry you are young and you will be OK.

We miss China already. We love this trip so much. Ohh we didn’t wish you happy new year. So we do it now.

Hi Lyn,

Thank you for your email.

We enjoy the Harbin trip very much especially the 雪乡和亚布利。 It was totally an unexpected experiences for all of us.

Our challenges are the super cool weather and the taste of the 东北菜. Staying at Snow Village and sleeping on kang炕bed   

is like sleeping over a stove. You will feel warmer and warmer as you lay on your back. Egg is very previous and you are given only one egg with an exchange of a breakfast voucher. 哈哈哈太冷鸡不生蛋。

May I suggest to give more information and price expectation on optional activities such as Yangcao mountain, snow tubing, skiing

before departure for customer to plan and make decision. Overall, we paid extra 1380rmb per person to enjoy the optional activities

which was not budgeted into the trip.

Your services and prompt response is excellent and surely I will recommend you & your company to my friends & family.

Hopefully I will make another trip to China soon.

Thank you once again.

Regards,

Seng

Dear Rita,

We had a good trip, thanks to you for giving good tour guides such as Jenny in Beijing and Celina in Harbin. Drivers were careful too.

Hi Wendy,

Thank you Wendy so much for organizing our wonderful trip to China you made every thing fun and easy. All the arrangements worked out perfectly without a problem. We had a fantastic time and enjoyed all the sights and sounds and attractions. We really appreciated our tour guides they were exceptional and the drivers and pre-organized tickets made the trip easy. Could you pass on a special thanks to Anne, Alison, Tina and Eric who made our family feel very welcome and gave our trip a warm and personal touch.

Thanking you Jenny and family :-):-):-)

Hi Vivien

Was caught up with work after coming back from holidays

We all enjoyed the tour very much. Thank you for putting in so much effort to organize such a great tour. Will definitely seek ur services again :)

Hi Wendy

Yes, home safely thank you. Could I tell you before I respond to your queries, it was a wonderful, brilliantly organised trip, thank you so much.

1.  You were always prompt with responses to any queries and clarifications. Your suggestions were carefully considered and you accommodated our requests effortlessly.

2.  The tour was simply great. Beijing - Kai as guide and driver Mr Ho. What a find with Kai! His English was perfect; his knowledge was exceptional. Kai constantly volunteered information and explanation without having to be asked. The restaurants he took us to for our lunches were fabulous - very fresh, freshly cooked and spice level to accommodate our palette. He was also very considerate towards my sister who is older and less mobile than us, always looking out for her, assisting with her bag etc. You have a real gem with Kai. Mr Ho and the vehicle were also fantastic. The van was very clean and comfortable. Mr Ho was also very helpful with luggage. If there needs to be a simple suggestion for the future, perhaps a low step to assist customers into the van would be helpful. Kai provided us with bottled water each day, without being asked.

With regards to the itinerary in Beijing, I should have included an extra day to see the Ming Tombs. As we had a full free day at the end of the holiday, I did organise a private tour for this reason, and it was great. The Great Wall - I chose the option of the cable car because my sister has mobility problems. 350 metres of steep cobbled ramp way, plus approximately 100 steps of varying heights (from 10 cm to 45 cm in height) were extremely challenging for my sister and she would have missed this amazing place had Kai and my partner Tony not been so kind to her and physically assisted her. Perhaps a bit of a misunderstanding on our part Wendy, as this was certainly not disability friendly! 

Xi'an - bullet train was great except both the conductors and the officials at the exit gates in Xi'an, wanted to see our tickets! I showed the itinerary to them, but Kai told me later that perhaps I should have also shown our passports? Never mind, we got there! Crystal and driver Mr Hou(?) were also great. The vehicle was clean, however smaller than in Beijing and a little more difficult for 4 people to be comfortable. Again, a low step would be advantageous for customers to access the van more easily. Crystal was very knowledgeable and both were helpful. The museum and the warriors just have to be seen to be believed. The theatre restaurant in the evening was technically the best I have seen, anywhere. A wonderful experience was Xi'an. Crystal provided water each day without being asked.

Harbin - flight was good. Guide was Karl but the driver was never introduced to us. Karl's English was not very good and his understanding of us and our questions was quite poor. A very pleasant and nice young man however. We had breakfast early in Xi'an, then nothing until we arrived in Harbin late in the afternoon. The itinerary stated we would tour the ice lanterns after dinner, but Karl did not understand we had not yet had dinner. Finally he understood us and took us to a local cafe where we had one choice only for our meal (it was very good though) and then we headed to the park. Excellent sculptures, we had seen nothing like this before. The snow sculptures the next day were simply quite stunning. Wonderful, talented people. The ice and snow festival in the evening was unbelievably spectacular. The vehicle was not really acceptable I am sorry to say. Very cramped and quite dirty as had not been cleaned after previous customers. There were used tissues and empty water bottles in the van. We had to ask Karl for water, and he went to a store to buy some. When I realised the Tiger Park was not on our itinerary I was very disappointed as I thought I had included this. Karl arranged this for us for Y600 and we appreciated this.

On our last day in Harbin we had Celine as our guide and she, like Kai, was brilliant. Excellent English, offering information constantly. The ice swimming with the locals was extremely funny as the older Russian women really made it very entertaining and fun. On our leisurely way to the airport she was told our flight was now leaving 1.5 hours earlier than scheduled and no one had been told. We received royal treatment by Celine who sped us through check-in and waved us off just in the nick of time! Thank you Celine. I think she may also have checked the van as it was cleaned that morning and we hope she realised that it was not us who left rubbish in the van. Again a low step would be helpful for customers, particularly as the floor became very icy and slippery and was problematic for us.

I arranged a private tour of the Ming Tombs on our last holiday day and I realise we could not have included this on our original itinerary due to time constraints. This was really worthwhile, so I would definitely recommend this to other customers Wendy.

3.  Suggestions? Low step for each van please, especially where it is icy. In Beijing if time is as limited as ours, perhaps suggestion of Ming Tombs in place of the Sacred Way?

Wendy, a great holiday with so much included. Both Kai and Celine are wonderful. I will put review on TripAdvisor as soon as possible.

Dimity Simes

Dear Tracy,

We just arrived home in Australia last night and I wanted to write to you and let you know how much we enjoyed our Harbin trip. All the arrangements went perfectly to your plan.

Grace was a superb guide – provided so much local and historical information which we all enjoyed (including our 10 year old grandson who was learning much of the material at school in Dalian).  The ice and snow festivals were unbelievable and being a little early in the festival meant that we could see some of the exhibits under construction and they were  not so crowded.  We enjoyed the historical parts of the city and the ice swimmers.  The two lunches Grace took us to were the best meals we had in China – superb!

We were very grateful that at the end Grace unexpectedly obtained a station pass and helped us find a place for our luggage on the train (being eight of us and from overseas we had more than normal).

We will have no hesitation in recommending China Discovery, and yours and Grace’s service to any friends who enquire.

With best wishes

Judy Washington and Family

Hi Jack

Thank you for organising a wonderful trip. All the arrangements were very good and professional. The guides and drivers were very knowledgeable and helpful and we would like to thank them for making our tour enjoyable. We really enjoyed our tour and I would be happy to recommend China Discovery to my friends and colleagues. 

Thank you and we will reach out to you again in the future for our next trip to your beautiful and amazing country

Thanks and regards

Sandeep

Hi Riley,

Not a problem, there was just a misunderstanding.

Thanks a lot for all your help with this tour and for keeping up with my demands Riley, I really enjoyed my holiday! The driver was perfect and everything went well. I would love to use China Discovery's services again in the future!

Many thanks!

Dina

Hi Vivien,

All is well and we enjoy very much in Harbin. Many thanks for your fantastic service.

Regards

Marcus

Hi Wonder,

1) Yes. The tour consultant was fast and patient in answering my queries. 

2) The bus driver was great. He was patient, help us in our luggages, recommending us places of interest. Most of the morning we were late in coming down from our hotel rooms to meet him but he was patient enough to wait for us.

3) Definition yes. I will recommend to my relatives and friends if they were to visit China.

4) There is something i like to highlight on the 雪乡 hotel. As there were no elevator in all the hotels over there. It will be great if you can book the first level for us especially we have kids :)

Attached are some photos you may post in your website on our lovely trip in Harbin.

Regards

Ronnie

Hi Wonder,

Great holiday. Very cold!! Pity not more snow at Snow Town. Now at airport ready for flights back to NZ. Celine was very helpful. Thank you!

Hi Stephanie,

Great Holiday, thank-you.

Very Happy with Wanda Hotel and its location, great swimming pool was an extra treat.

Answers to you questions in red below.

1. Yes, great job thank you.
2. Guide and driver in Harbin did a fantastic job.  (only item to note: would be good if driver did not smoke in car whilst waiting for us to attend events, but a very hard place to get out of the car and go for a walk to have a smoke)
3. Yes, we will recommend your company. Thank you.

Regards

Peter

Good Afternoon Laura,

We arrived home in New Zealand yesterday.

Thank you for arranging the Harbin part of our trip.

Everything went well. We were relieved to see our guide Amy and driver waiting for us at Harbin airport at 8PM in -17* C.

Amy was very efficient and made sure all our arrangements worked well;  hotel, sightseeing, organizing entry tickets to venues, checking-in at the airport.

Your 4-day ‘Best of Harbin’ tour is excellent value and I will be telling my friends about it.

Thank you for your assistance.

Pauline Dick

(The following photo is shared by Pauline Dick)