The Harbin Ice Festival is not one place. It is a winter season made of four separate venues on both banks of the Songhua River, with separate tickets, separate opening days and different best hours. The part everyone pictures, lit ice castles several storeys high, is Harbin Ice and Snow World, one venue among the four. Knowing which is which is most of the planning.
The other part is the calendar, and here there is a gap: as of late September 2026, the dates for the 2026–27 season have not been announced. That is normal. What follows is what we know, what the last three seasons did, and how to plan around the rest.
Checked 27 Sep 2026 Searched in English and Chinese (哈尔滨冰雪大世界 2026 开园, 第二十八届, 第四十三届) on 27 September 2026: no official 2026–27 date. China Highlights’ festival page also says the dates have not been announced.
Harbin Ice Festival 2027 dates: what is known
Two separate anniversaries get mixed up in most coverage, and they matter when you search for news. The city-wide Harbin International Ice and Snow Festival started in 1985; January 2027 will be its 43rd edition. Ice and Snow World, the theme park, started in 1999; winter 2026–27 will be its 28th.
| Season | Ice and Snow World opened | Festival ceremony | Ice and Snow World closed |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2024–25 (26th park, 41st festival) | 21 Dec 2024 | 5 Jan 2025 | Late February (exact date not confirmed) |
| 2025–26 (27th park, 42nd festival) | 17 Dec 2025 | 5 Jan 2026 | 21 Feb 2026, early, after a thaw |
| 2026–27 (28th park, 43rd festival) | Not announced | 5 Jan 2027 expected, not confirmed | Not announced |
On that pattern, expect Ice and Snow World to open somewhere in the second half of December 2026 and the ceremony to fall on 5 January 2027. Last year the Ministry of Culture and Tourism logged the festival’s official filing on 25 November 2025, about six weeks before the ceremony, so the 2026–27 announcement will most likely surface between October and December. We will update this page when it does. One English-language travel blog already quotes firm 2026–27 hours and prices; they match no recent season, so we have ignored them.
Checked 27 Sep 2026 Opening dates and edition numbers from the Heilongjiang provincial government (Dec 2024, Jan 2025, Jan 2026) and Xinhua (15 Dec 2025); filing from mct.gov.cn (25 Nov 2025); closure from China News Service (21 Feb 2026).
On 21 February 2026, after two days of sudden warm weather, Ice and Snow World closed for the season. Tickets for 20–28 February were refunded in full, and holders were promised free entry to the next edition on showing their ID. An indoor ice hall in the same complex opened the next day as a stand-in. Two days before, on 19 February, the park had set its single-day record of more than 120,000 visitors. Warmer autumns have also been reported to delay the Songhua’s freeze and thin the ice cut for the sculptures. If your only possible dates are late February, have a backup plan.
Checked 27 Sep 2026 Closure, refunds and attendance record from China News Service (21 Feb 2026) and the Heilongjiang Department of Culture and Tourism notice of 19 Feb 2026; ice-harvest effect from the South China Morning Post’s report on Harbin’s ice cutters.
The four venues, and when to see each
The venues split neatly by light. Ice glows when it is lit from inside, so the ice venues are evening venues. Snow sculptures are white relief work that reads best in daylight.
| Venue | What it is | Best time | Price | Hours |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Harbin Ice and Snow World (north bank) | The ice-block city: towers, castles, a 521 m ice slide | From about 15:00 into the night | ¥328 adult / ¥240 concession (2025–26) | 10:00–22:00 |
| Sun Island Snow Sculpture Expo (north bank) | Large carved snow sculptures | Morning and early afternoon | ¥198 / ¥128 (2024–25) | 09:00–17:00 |
| Zhaolin Park Ice Lantern Fair (downtown) | The original lantern show, since 1963; small and walkable | After dark | Free in recent seasons | 10:00–21:00 |
| Songhua River Ice and Snow Carnival | Slides, skating and snowmobiles on the frozen river | Afternoon | Free to walk; activities paid separately | Varies |
Sun Island and Ice and Snow World are one metro stop apart on Line 2, and the ride between those two stations was free in 2024–25, so they pair naturally into one day: snow in the morning, ice from mid-afternoon. Zhaolin Park is a short walk from Central Street and works on any evening. It usually opens in early January rather than December, so a Christmas visit may miss it. Ice and Snow World gets its own tickets and timing guide.
Checked 27 Sep 2026 Ice and Snow World price and hours from chinadiscovery.com (2026 page); Sun Island 2024–25 price and hours from dahepiao.com (2 Jan 2025); Zhaolin Park from Ctrip visitor reviews (2025) and The Paper, its 1963 start from icefestivalharbin.com; free metro transfer from The Paper (21 Dec 2024). One guide lists Zhaolin at ¥150–200; we could not match that to any recent season.
What the Harbin Ice Festival costs
For one adult, the two ticketed venues came to ¥526 last time we can price them both: ¥328 for Ice and Snow World plus ¥198 for Sun Island. Concession tickets bring it to ¥368. Both parks let in children under 6 or under 1.2 m, and adults of 65 and over, for free, which changes the maths a lot for families with grandparents along. Zhaolin Park and walking the river cost nothing. Everything on the ice itself, from tube slides to snowmobiles, is paid per ride.
Prices do move. During the thaw in February 2026 the provincial tourism department announced a cut to ¥228 adult and ¥168 concession for the park’s reopening, before the closure made it moot. Expect the 2026–27 price to be published with the opening date.
Checked 27 Sep 2026 Sums use the prices in the table above; the February 2026 cut is from the Heilongjiang Department of Culture and Tourism notice of 19 Feb 2026.
Which week to go
Early to mid-January is the safest window. By then all four venues are normally open, the 5 January ceremony is behind you, and you are ahead of the Spring Festival rush: Chinese New Year falls on 6 February 2027, and the national travel period around it runs roughly from 22 January to 2 March. New Year’s Day is busy too. In 2024, the year Harbin went viral, the city logged about 3.05 million visits over the three-day New Year holiday alone.
Late December gets you Ice and Snow World in its first, emptiest weeks, but Sun Island may only just be opening (its 2025–26 expo opened officially on 31 December) and Zhaolin Park probably not yet. February is the gamble: the Spring Festival crowds, and the thaw that ended last season early.
Plan for the cold as much as the calendar. January in Harbin averages a high of −11.8°C and a low of −22.4°C, and the sun sets around 16:00. Harbin in winter covers what that means for clothes, phones and cameras.
Checked 27 Sep 2026 Spring Festival 2027 date from sinowander.com; travel-rush window from travelchinaguide.com; New Year 2024 figure from Daxue Consulting; Sun Island 38th expo opening from the Heilongjiang Department of Culture and Tourism (Dec 2025); climate normals from the China Meteorological Administration (1991–2020, via Wikipedia); sunset calculated with the NOAA solar algorithm.
Harbin Ice Festival: quick answers
What month is the Harbin Ice Festival?
January is the heart of it. The main park has opened in mid-to-late December in recent seasons, the official ceremony is on 5 January, and the season usually runs into late February, weather permitting.
Is the Harbin Ice Festival worth it?
If the lit ice city is the reason you want to go, yes, and nothing else in China looks like it. Go in with the right expectations: it is a ticketed theme park at −20°C, around ¥328 a head last season, with queues for the big slide. Pair it with Sun Island and the old town and the trip is worth the journey north. Build it as a 3-day Harbin itinerary rather than a single night.
Can foreigners go to the Harbin Ice Festival?
Yes. The venues are open to anyone with a ticket, and international booking sites such as Trip.com and Klook list Ice and Snow World and Sun Island. Entry to China itself is the question to settle first; our guide to visa-free entry and 240-hour transit explains which route applies to your passport. Harbin Taiping Airport is on the 240-hour transit list.
How do I get to Harbin for the festival?
From Beijing, the fastest bullet train takes 4 hours 35 minutes from Beijing Chaoyang station. The Beijing to Harbin train guide compares it with the overnight sleepers.
Built from official announcements, published prices and traveller reports, not from a visit. We have not travelled this route ourselves — see how we check.