Departing from Shanghai｜Money-saving tips for seeing snow in Harbin and Changbai Mountain

It's that season again for southerners to go to the Northeast to see snow. Here's a share of last year's 10-day route from Yanji - Changbai Mountain - Snow Town Snow Valley - Harbin - Chagan Lake, with no backtracking 👇🏻 ✅ How to save money while traveling 1️⃣ Flights: Shanghai✈Yanji for the outbound trip, Chagan Lake✈Shanghai for the return, costing only 300-500 RMB, which is great; avoid flying to Harbin 2️⃣ Transportation: Rent cars by segments, rent a car from Yanji to Harbin for continuous transfers to save effort, and rent a car from Harbin to Chagan Lake 3️⃣ Accommodation: Stay in Snow Valley instead of Snow Town, and stay near Harbin West Railway Station in Harbin ✅ 10-day itinerary D1: Shanghai✈️Yanji, Yanji Princess Photos → Popular Danmu Wall 🔹 Arrive in the morning, eat first, then take Yanji Princess photos. To save time, it’s recommended to choose the studio in advance; otherwise, the sun sets at 3 pm 🔹 Highly recommend Zheng Haibei Grilled Shellfish, expensive but totally worth it D2: Yanji🚙 Erdaobaihe, Water Market → West Market → Laolike Lake 🔹 Water Market is a morning market but heavily commercialized and homogenized as a tourist spot. We just took a quick look and bought a few simple items, all average 🔹 West Market is a larger, more comprehensive agricultural product market where you can buy specialties, fruits, fridge magnets, and other souvenirs at better prices 🔹 You can also buy seafood at West Market; vendors cooperate with nearby restaurants for processing. Seafood is more than half the price of Zheng Haibei 🔹 Laolike Lake and Xueling are basically together; just pick one to visit D3: Erdaobaihe, Changbai Mountain North Scenic Area 🔹 Changbai Mountain tickets are divided into North Scenic Area tickets and Tianchi (Heaven Lake) shuttle tickets; you need both to see Tianchi! Buy the main peak shuttle ticket one week in advance via the official WeChat account 🔹 We decisively gave up the Changbai Mountain rafting; if you don’t want to get up early or get wet, don’t force it D4: Erdaobaihe, Snowman Army → Edelweiss Park → Yunding Tiangong → Crowne Plaza Hot Springs 🔹 The Snowman Army is actually a private area at the hotel entrance, not open to non-guests. For photo tips and location, see the main page notes 🔹 Yunding Tiankong is located at Enduli 🔹 Highly recommend soaking in the natural hot springs on the north slope of Changbai Mountain, experiencing the ice-fire dual sensation with frost on your hair. For photo lovers, go in during the day and come out after dark D5: Changbai Mountain🚙 Snow Town🚙 Snow Valley 🔹 Because accommodation in Snow Town is expensive and not cost-effective, we planned to leave Changbai Mountain early, arrive in the afternoon to tour Snow Town both day and night, then drive 2 hours at night to stay in Snow Valley D6: Snow Valley🚙 Harbin, Snow Valley 🔹 If you want to ski, you can arrange to go to Yabuli on this day D7: Harbin, Citywalk 🔹 Harbin Pharmaceutical Factory No. 6 → Chinese Baroque → Songhua River → Central Street → Saint Sophia Cathedral → Zhaolin Park Ice Lanterns D8: Harbin, Ice and Snow World 🔹 We played from 9 am to 9 pm, enjoying the Ferris wheel and various slides D9: Harbin🚙 Songyuan, Chagan Lake Winter Fishing 🔹 Chagan Lake winter fishing is spectacular; speeding on snow tubes on the lake is super fun 🔹 When in Songyuan, be sure to eat iron pot stewed fish and then enjoy a bathhouse; fewer people and cheaper D10: Chagan Lake✈ Shanghai