The entrance to the Harbin Ice Festival on Sun Island, part of the Harbin International Ice and Snow Festival. I didn't realize until recently that there are actually two separate festival grounds, one housing ice sculptures and ice block buildings and the other of snow sculptures.
The Ice Festival was pretty amazing, although quite pricey by local standards as entrance tickets cost ¥300 (just over US$46).
I was able to visit the Ice Festival from mid-afternoon to evening, which was a great way to see the grounds in both the pre-sunset light and lit up in the dark. (As you can see, the lights were already on when I got there in the afternoon.)
The Ice Festival featured ice block structures inspired by buildings all over the world, although this is obviously a tribute to Harbin's Russian foundations.
It really is amazing how large some of the structures are!
A view of ice block buildings modeled on a Chinese building and either the Ottoman Blue Mosque or Greek Orthodox Hagia Sophia Cathedral.
An overview of the Ice Festival grounds from the sledding hill.
The lighting was magnificent in the dark!
I'm pretty sure you would easily be able to spot the Ice Festival grounds if you had an evening flight in or out of Harbin!
The Ice Festival did include this rather striking snow sculpture. I can only imagine how amazing the Snow Festival itself must be!
Another view of the night lights at the Ice Festival
A closeup of the Ice Festival's tribute to the Hagia Sophia or the Blue Mosque.
I still have no idea what this was supposed to be!
Although the festival grounds were markedly colder than the rest of the city, the Ice Festival is definitely worth checking out the next time you find yourself in Harbin in the winter!
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