Harbin International Ice and Snow Sculpture Festival
5 January 2026 — The ice castle is glowing! The ice castle is glowing! Come and enjoy the sculptures together!
Harbin is a city in northeastern China, in Heilongjiang province, where winters are harsh and rivers freeze deep. It is home to the country's best-known winter festival. Its roots lie in an old local tradition of ice lanterns, made by residents from frozen water; the city's first organized ice lantern show was held in 1963. The modern festival has been held since 1985 and is usually officially opened on 5 January, although the ice parks often open as early as December and stay open until the end of winter. The main attraction is the huge sculptures made of ice blocks cut from the frozen Songhua River: castles, towers and entire buildings, lit from within by colored lights, alongside large snow figures. At night they glow like a fairy-tale city. Winter nights are long, so the light of the ice and the light of the stars seem to answer each other. The festival draws visitors from all over the world.
Flying across the sky: An ethereal, bluish-silver castle made of pale luminous dots and fine lines, like a constellation, with glowing towers and arches, gliding slowly across the night sky
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