Experience the best of Harbin

Harbin grew from a railway town built by Russia at the end of the nineteenth century, and its centre still carries that stamp. Central Street is a cobbled pedestrian way lined with European-style buildings, and St Sophia Cathedral, a green-domed Russian Orthodox church, stands in a square nearby. The Songhua River runs along the north side of the city, with a riverside promenade and Sun Island.

The winter festival begins around early January, when ice sculptures lit in colour and snow sculptures fill the parks, and Ice and Snow World becomes a city of glowing ice buildings. Locals skate and swim on the frozen river, and the ski resort of Yabuli lies in the hills to the east. In summer the river is used for boat trips, and the riverside parks fill with people.

Harbin's food has Russian and northern Chinese roots: smoked red sausage, Russian-style bread, pickled cabbage stew and plenty of dumplings, with crunchy frozen pears and candied haw berries sold as street snacks in winter. Winter temperatures often fall below minus twenty, while summers are short and warm.