Today, after breakfast, your guide and
driver will meet you at your hotel. You’ll first visit Sophia Square to admire the holy appearance of the St. Sophia Cathedral from 1907. This
must-visit site is a typical Byzantine architecture with a large green dome and
was once the largest Orthodox Church in the Far East. The cathedral is the
symbolic architecture in Harbin and at present is used as Harbin Architectural
Art Gallery and displays some souvenirs. Then, you’ll visit the nearby exotic Zhongyang Pedestrian Street from
1900. Stroll along this 1,400 meters long historic street to appreciate the 71 precious
buildings in different styles with long history, including Renaissance,
Baroque, etc. (The Stalin Park is very close to the pedestrian, so if you are
interested and time permits, you could walk there to admire the Russian
architectures and enjoy many creative artistic sculptures.)
After that, continue your fabulous
enjoyment to the Sun Island Scenic Resort, which is a major venue to
hold the International Snow Sculpture
Art Expo on Harbin Ice and Snow Festival in winter. Walk into this vast pure lovely fairyland of 60,000
square meters and meet the incredible “white visual storm”. Have a close look
at the thousands of excellent large-scaled artistic snow sculptures of
landscape, cartoon, figures, buildings, etc., which will make you wow at the
outstanding talent of the craftsmen who inject life into the cold snow. With so
amazing backdrop, you just can’t help taking some great photos to record the
nice moment (You are highly advised to wear sunglasses to visit the Snow
Sculpture Art Fair since the glary from
sunshine on the snow is really intense.)
Then, be escorted to the nearby Siberian Tiger Park, the largest
breeding center in the world for endangered Siberian Tigers that. Over 1,300
purebred Siberian Tigers are raised there. You’ll not only pay a safe walk to
observe different kinds of tigers (Siberian Tigers, White Tigers, White Lion,
Leopard, Liger, etc.), but also take a tourist bus with wire-mesh protection
through the park to closely see the tigers and lions and take some photos.
After dinner,
you will head to the incredible gorgeous Ice and Snow World, the highlights of annual Harbin International
Ice and Snow Festival. Start your freedom stroll in the dazzling magical world
of ice where to appreciate over 2,000 pieces of sculptures of ice and snow including
pagodas, towers, famous world architectures, landscapes, and so forth dyed with
romantic colorful LED lights, which can easily make you want to stay longer in
such an “Ice Wonderland in Harbin”. Besides the sightseeing, if you would like
to enjoy the festive atmosphere to the fullest, you can choose to have fun with
the world longest sliding, or other winter activities on ice, such as ice maze,
ice climbing, skating, etc.
Note: 1) Please wear
enough layers of proper clothes and warm shoes to keep you away from the freeze
especially when you want to stay here longer to enjoy the beautiful scenery. 2)
An indoor Ice and Snow Paradise with smaller scale is built in the scenic area
of the Ice and Snow World, and tourists could also enjoy the ice and snow there
as well when the festival ends. 3)
There may be long queues in front of some hot activity items in the Ice and
Snow World during traditional Chinese Lunar New Year and weekends, and you
could visit there during other dates to avoid crowds.