Day 1 Depart
Fly from London Heathrow non-stop to Shanghai with China Eastern Airlines.
Day 2 Shanghai, Harbin
In Shanghai connect onto the flight to Harbin, and on arrival, transfer to the 4* Gloria Hotel for a three-night stay. Your visit will take in visits to January's Snow and Ice Festival and Ice Lantern Festival, and the departure on the 03 January includes the opening ceremony.
Day 3 Harbin
Harbin, once a remote fishing village, lies in the north eastern corner of China and grew up around the terminus of the China Eastern Railway that brought international trade and foreign settlers. Nowadays, it is a dynamic and prosperous centre with a unique blend of European and Oriental architecture along Central Street which you will see on your tour, and also St Sophia Cathdral, a Russian Orthodox cathedral that is now a museum. This afternoon, visit Ice and Snow World where replicas of some of the most famous buildings in the world have been faithfully recreated in ice, and as darkness falls, multi-coloured lights inside them blaze forth. Harbin is the twin town of Anchorage in Alaska and Edmonton in Canada, and every year it partners with another country to give a new theme to the festival. BLD
Day 4 Harbin
Today visit a unique zoo - Siberian Tiger Park, one where the visitors are in cages rather than the animals! The reason for this is that the animals in question are Siberian Tigers, around 500 of them roaming the 350 acre park, and you may also see Bengali tigers, white tigers, lions, lynx and leopards here too. Feeding time is not for the faint-hearted as it is usual for live prey to be fed to the animals. This evening visit the Ice Lantern Festival at Zhaolin Park with artistic and novel ice sculptures of dragons, flowers, waterfalls – everything is magical after dark! BLD
Day 5 Shanghai
Fly to Shanghai for three nights at the 4*Lansheng Hotel. BL
Day 6 Shanghai
Stroll through the 400-year-old Yuyuan Garden, with its elegantly landscaped ponds and pavilions, rockeries and statues that provide an oasis of tranquility and beauty, and browse the old bazaar beyond its walls. Visit Jade Buddha Temple whose two jade statues were carried all the way from Burma by Chinese monks on their backs, then continue to the superb Shanghai Museum, a striking modern building showcasing centuries of Chinese civilisation – precious ceramics, bronzes, rare jade sculptures, exquisite calligraphy, traditional folk costumes and furniture. BLD
Day 7 Shanghai
Free day in Shanghai to explore independently. Why not join the locals for early morning tai chi in People's Park, visit the Observatory or Railway Museum, stroll along the Bund or take a cruise along the Huangpo River to see the shining skyscrapers of Pudong along one bank, and grand 19th century architecture along the other – your tour manager will be able to help you plan your day! B
Day 8 London
Fly back to London aboard non-stop flight to Heathrow, arriving later that same day. B