Sun Island Park

Located on the northern side of Songhua River and in downtown Harbin City, Sun Island is the only floodplain wetland ecology in the city's center in China. In the 1980s, the song on the Sun Island by Zheng Xulan spread the name of the island far and wide.

Influenced by the monsoon climate, there is a distinction between the sceneries of different seasons on Sun Island. As the first 5A national scenic area in Heilongjiang Province, the island is the pride of the locals and the pursuit of visitors. In terms of fun, Sun Island is considered to be the paradise for ice and snow festival tour; meanwhile it is also the best natural summer venue in Harbin. When winter comes, the island is covered with snow, making it a best chance to see the Snow Carving Festival in this island.

Most famous sight of Sun Island Park is the annual  Harbin International Snow Sculpture Art Expo.

Location
Songbei District

Bus
29, 54, 85, 88 and 346


Reviews from trip advisor
Beautiful, but the ticket is EXTREMELY expensive!!
It's a huge park and will held snow festival every year. The scenery is beautiful, however, the ticket is too expensive considered it's only a park most of the time. A ton of fun. Great sculptures, slides, and ice rides. Not as cold during the day when the sun is out. Try the ice bikes! Not much in terms of food offerings.

My February 4, 2013 visit to Sun Island costed 240 RMB, which is about $40. The ticket office workers do not speak English, so you need to gesture how many tickets you want. The snow sculptures are amazing, and there are so many of them. I'm not sure it's possible to see all the sculptures in the park because after a couple of hours there, you'll feel as though you need to defrost. There are gift shops within the park and other activities like dog sledding (you just loop around a small snowy area), snow tubing, bicycle riding on ice, and a snow motor car ride. I didn't try any of those things because they cost extra and didn't seem very exciting nor worth the money. There is a dingy snack shop there where you can warm up, get some coffee, and some dumplings. I recommend eating before you get to the park and perhaps bringing a thermos of your own coffee or soup. The coffee is watered down and is not served black. The dumplings need something other than chives...way too much.

Another amazing Harbin site. How is it possible to build entire castles several stories tall out of compacted snow? For those wondering about the difference between this place and the Ice Park, Sun Island has snow construction vs. pure ice. Both are unique and are worth a visit. If you only have time for one, then go to the ice park.