This is the highlight of the festivals but the catch is that it is best seen at night which means it’s even colder. And there’s even this lovely clock as you enter that shows the temperature…

So we knew we weren’t going to do any of the rides or shows here – the lines are hours long so we’d already agreed to skip them. The plan was just in and out. However, it’s a big place and just walking through it all takes time (just over two hours for us and the kids were totally over it by then!!).

It’s hard to describe the scale of this place so best just to show some pictures. (click on an image to see its full glory!)

There was a giant ferris wheel that you could wait in a very long line to go on. And while I am sure the view would have been awesome, the line certainly would not have been! We preferred to duck into one of the many small shops underneath to grab a hot drink and chocolate.

As Harbin is very close to Russia there’s a huge Russian influence and one of the displays was inspired by a Russian castle, complete with giant Russian dolls.

You could also hire ice bikes or just get pulled along on an inflatable tyre across the rainbow, light up ice moat. (Yes the lights underneath the ice changed colours!)

Of course, there were many quite spectacular photo ops, perfect for your Insta feed. (or whatever the kids are into these days 🤣)

They did also have some smaller (only 2m high) sculptures and this was one of our favourites:

Lesson for next time would be to work out how to use the disposable hand warmers properly. They are air activated so we just gave them a quick shake and chucked them into our pockets. We’d assumed we’d bought dodgy ones when they weren’t working so ditched them and got out the remaining few from the packet. As it turns out you need to leave them out in the air for several minutes which we only realised when we were back at our accommodation, thawing out 😬 Some clever folks even had one stuck to the back of their mobiles. (As you may imagine the cold drains the battery super fast!)

So, overall it was very speccy and I am glad we did it but I am also glad that I never have to experience that sort of cold ever again!! We didn’t check the temperature on our way out – some things are best not to know! 🥶