If you enjoy seriously cold weather and remote adventurous locations, the Harbin, with its -20 degrees temperatures and fabulous Ice and Snow Festival, is the place for you.

Rooted in the region's ancient ice-lantern-making tradition, Harbin, the last outpost of civilization before the Siberian wilderness, hosts the oldest and world-famous festival.  Nowadays, talented sculptors worldwide collaborate to create spectacular sculptures of famous world monuments from blocks of ice and snow, illuminating them from within in a selection of rainbow lights.

Spread across several stunning locations in and around the city, the sculptures are interspersed with ice skating rinks, sledging and toboggan rides, amusement parks and other winter sports options for visitors to experience, including walking across the frozen Songhua River or crossing it by horse-drawn carriage.

The festival runs from mid-December every year to mid-February; although the festival sculptures officially open on 5 January, they are already in place by Christmas and can be experienced along with the sports activities and festive parks, which open by 21 December.  The end of the event is marked by an exuberant fireworks display, followed by the mass destruction of the ice sculptures. 

to carve a fairyland of castles, rides and other large-scale structures from blocks of solid ice. Lit with coloured lights at night, the creations are accompanied by a huge array of snow figures on nearby Sun Island, along with convoluted toboggan and tube tracks. Visitors may walk across the frozen Songhua River to reach the site, or travel by horse-drawn carriage. The end of the event is marked with an exuberant fireworks display, followed by the mass destruction of the ice sculptures.