Since Jan 15 this year, the Ice Lantern Festival at Longqing Gorge 龙庆峡 (lóng qìng xiá) has been a must-visit for locals. Located near Yongning Ancient Town past Changping District in the northeast of Beijing, it’s a couple of hours drive from the city. Many families prefer to go after dark so as to truly enjoy the illuminated spectacle in all its glory.

While you are able to drive all the way into the entrance of the Ice Lantern Festival, there is also the option to walk from the main parking area. Moving at a distracted kid’s pace, the walk from the parking lot to the main entrance was less than an hour and lets you cross the “heart” bridge over the frozen lake. This is what former editor Cindy Marie Jenkins and I did with our young ones in 2021, which you can read about here. There’s also a shuttle bus for RMB 20 each way.

Once you get to the Ice Lantern Festival grounds, entry is RMB 100 per person, while children below 1.2m or under 6 years of age get in for free. There are lanterns of animals, Peking opera masks, and Chinese characters on display at this year’s festival, but some new highlights include the Beijing Winter Olympics-themed lanterns and ice sculptures.

Pro Tip: You can also check if the toboggan ride is still available, which depends on the weather conditions during your visit.

The ice exhibition itself is in an enclosed space past the open area with the lanterns. In here, you’ll find all sorts of beautiful ice creations including a model of the Forbidden City and other Chinese landmarks. When we went last year, our kids discovered a mini ice slide which they played on, though I’m not sure we’re supposed to touch the sculptures. One of the coolest things you’ll definitely want a photo of is the frozen waterfall, which will be flowing and gushing when you return in summer!

The Ice Lantern Festival is open from 2-10pm daily, with last entry at 9pm.

KEEP READING: Cold Hard Lessons That Parents Learned From Ice-Hiking

Images: Dianping

Sometimes you want to organize a family outing yourself so it’s exactly how you like it; sometimes you just want someone else to tell you where and when to show up. I had the pleasure of the latter on Monday and happily got to experience the Longqinxia Gorge Ice Lantern Festival!

An annual tradition close to Yongning Ancient Town, it’s a chilly adventure but at times pretty magical. I was with a group who had kids of varying ages from four to fifteen, and all ages found it fun. It’s really meant to be seen at night, and almost all tour groups suggest not going until at least 6pm.

Entry is RMB 100 per person, with children six and under getting in for free.  It starts near an open area and for just RMB 20 each, your kids can enjoy lightsabers, light up swords, or transparent white balloons with light-up shapes inside. Careful not to sword fight too hard, though, or you’re likely to break your purchase before your mom can buy your ticket.

After the first entrance, there are some nice arches, but keep moving up to the street level (partially blocked for safety) and all in attendance form a little parade along which you view the lights at your leisure.

There are birds, owls, and fairies in trees, a line up of rats hopefully marching their way out of our zodiac for another eleven years, and more.

Then it’s under the love arch and through the heart bridge to the real wonderland!

Here, nature lights up all around the ice lakes for some fanciful visions.

Various frozen sculptures show you the way past the waterfront until the main area appears before your group.

And here you’ll find a mountain landscape of The Great Wall, villages created from light, and when you least expect it, a ten-minute show that connects long ago Chinese stories with…..

…the Beijing 2022 Olympics! Here’s their cute mascot.

Don’t let the grandeur of the area of the main lights display fool you, or the wonderfully scary toboggan ride that only costs RMB 10 per person. Travel just a little further and you’ll see the real ice sculpture show, and it’s well worth the wait!

If everyone in your party can walk to and through the displays, it’s worth all those steps. Once all is said and done, however, you’ll want to grab yourself a ticket for the shuttle back to the main gate. It will be cold by then, and everyone should get back to their vehicle before turning into ice sculptures yourselves!

Lots of tours pair this adventure together with a visit to Yongning Ancient Town, which for us was more of a nice walk to find places that had room for us to eat or were even open for the New Year. But whether you make it a day trip or an evening jaunt, these displays are a fun way to get away from the city but still stay within the boundaries of Beijing!

KEEP READING: What To Do Every Day of the Chinese New Year Holiday

Images: Roxana Hyskell, Cindy Marie Jenkins

This past weekend I went with a group on a trip to Harbin in Heilongjiang Province. We walked and gazed in wonder, but luckily (contrary to previous expectations) we did not freeze. Winter is coming to an end and as such Harbin is starting to warm up. So instead of the -30 degrees Celsius that we had expected, the temperature stood at a cool -12 degrees Celsius. That’s still low enough to freeze toes and tears without the proper attire though, so packing more sweaters is still a safe bet, especially if you or your kids are sensitive to the cold. Beijing to Harbin was the perfect weekend trip.

We rolled out at 8:50am on Saturday morning and took various planes and trains the following night to get back to Beijing. That gave us a little less than two days of fun, which was more than enough time to see two of the main attractions on Sun Island: The Ice & Snow World and the Sun Island International Snow Sculpture Art Expo. Ice & Snow World is best visited at night, since the edifices and the entire area are illuminated with a magical fluorescent tint. The snow sculptures are a daytime adventure.

Some of the life-size castles featured at Ice & Snow World.

For those aiming to avoid crowds, these last two weeks of February may be the best time to visit Harbin’s icy wonderland (though the sculptures are starting to melt). When we visited, the crowds at the snow sculptures were sparse. At the Ice & Snow Festival, KFC and Pizza Hut were the most crowded places, but there was little hustle or bustle around the actual ice sculptures themselves.

We stayed a ten-minute walk away from Harbin’s Central Street (中央大街, Zhōngyāngdàjiē), a cobblestone, pedestrian road that lined with shops and restaurants. The area is a fifteen-minute drive away from the snow sculptures on Sun Island and about a thirty-minute drive away from Ice & Snow World.

On the first (and only) night when we made our way to Ice & Snow World, we saw massive ice castles, long ice slides, and people of all ages kicking up snow as they sled throughout the park.

Ice & Snow World with people sledding alongside a walkway of paper and plastic lanterns.

Plastic sleds are a must for Ice & Snow World. If you don’t want to bring your own, it would be smart to purchase them before entering the park as prices inside double from the original RMB 10 to RMB 20 or even RMB 40. That also depends on the type of sled you want to purchase.

It’s best to visit the snow sculptures during the day when they are the most visible.

A snow sculpture on Sun Island of a large snow cube with snowflakes carved out on the sides and a snow statue of a girl in the center.

Heilongjiang Province borders Russia, and as such you can find the influence of Russian culture in the area’s food and architecture. When not visiting ice and snow art, we stopped by St. Sophia Orthodox Church and also made our way down Harbin’s Central Street (中央大街, Zhōngyāngdàjiē).

Harbin’s Central Street during the afternoon.

St. Sophia Orthodox Church was built in the 20th century to accommodate Orthodox Christians who were living around Harbin at that time. The church is now a museum and visitors can enter after purchasing an entrance ticket.

A shot of St. Sophia’s Cathedral from the plaza.

During this time of year in Harbin, smaller ice and snow sculptures are spread all around the city. During our post-dinner stroll down Harbin’s Central Street, we saw small ice slides and unique ice sculptures.

An ice sculpture of the prevalent Nongfu Springs Water brand.

Artists from countries around the area also partner to design and build the snow and ice sculptures. We witnessed a variety of different cultures and artistic styles while walking through and observing the snow sculptures on Sun Island.

Considering the sparse vacation schedule that most adults have in China, a weekend getaway to Harbin or other cities close to China is highly recommended. Sleeper trains make the trips feel very adventurous if that’s your style, while planes make these trips more convenient. With the number of unique and exciting places to see around Beijing, I know more trips like these will be happening in my near future!

Photos: Erwin Li, Amber Li