When winter comes, many friends would like to go to Sanya in Hainan province and other southern tropical areas to enjoy the sea, beach and sunshine. However, it is also a good choice to go to the northeast part of China to visit Changbai Mountain!
Now make a list of some concerned questions and have a fresh sense of Changbai Mountain winter travel!
Let's talk about some concerned questions of Changbai Mountain.
Question: What kind of enjoyable things to play in Changbai Mountain winter season?
Answer: Winter is the best tourism season in Changbai Mountain!
There are four sentences to generally tell what to play in Changbai Mountain cold winter:
View the holy Tianchi,
Learn skiing,
Enjoy a hot spring with snowflakes,
Taste the delicacies from the Daxinganling.
Question: Does the transportation cost a lot?
Answer: It is not expensive with serious budget!
Is the transportation convenient and how much it costs in Changbai Mountain? Let's talk about taking a plane and renting a car respectively.
By air
Mid-December every year is the beginning of the peak season in Changbai Mountain. There are many direct flights from major cities all over the country. The ticket price is not extremely expensive during the Spring Festival with a bit more than RMB 1,000 of a round-way. It will only take 3-4 days to enjoy an unforgettable travel to the northeast part of China! (the figure below is excerpted from the Internet for reference only)
By car
The scenic spots in Changbai Mountain are a bit far away from each other, so it is recommended for tourists to rent a car to travel around. So far as is known, the price of renting a four-seat car is about RMB 400-500/ per day and the specific cost will depend on the time and travel distance.
Question: How to choose a hotel?
Answer: According to the travel ideas!
It is much more important to live well, play well and eat delicious food! Surely many friends will think about living in the Wanda Changbaishan International Resort first because the Wanda Changbaishan Ski Resort is located there with complete facilities!
Tips: If tourists only want to go skiing, they can stay in the Wanda Changbaishan International Resort because the ski resort is located there. If tourists also want to climb Tianchi and enjoy hot springs, they can choose hotels at other areas.
The principles of selecting hotels at Changbai Mountain area (for reference):
First: hotel style
Hopefully there are unique designs in the hotel rather than tedious chain hotels.
Second: convenient transportation
The location of hotel should not be at remote area in order to conveniently travel around. It is better to have shuttles to the airport and the Wanda Changbaishan International Resort (skiing).
Third: complete facilities
It is dark early at Changbai Mountain area with severe cold, so tourists can spend night time in the hotel which is equipped with complete recreation and leisure facilities.
Fourth: reasonable price
Reasonable price is what really matters to all.
Conclusion:
[For ski tourists]:
It is recommended that ski tourists stay in the Wanda Changbaishan International Resort Hotels which offer free ski tickets.
[For general tourists]:
According to tourists’ own needs, they can choose a hotel in other locations with a more affordable price.
Question: Can I hold the -30 ℃ temperature in Changbai Mountain?
Answer: It is not a problem with complete equipment.
The scenery of Changbai Mountain is beautiful but the weather is extreme cold with average temperature from -20℃ to -30℃ in the scenic area. Southern tourists can enjoy Changbai Mountain without fear of severe cold as long as they wear matching clothes and equipment!
Clothing: warm + windproof + anti-skid!
Tops: The combination of thermal underwear (or coral velvet underwear), fleece, down jacket and outdoor jacket can help tourists keep warm and prevent wind. It is suggested the tourists who are afraid of cold wear more layers of thermal underwear (or coral velvet underwear) and fleece sweater. It is more important for tourists to wear clothes with permeability and perspiration.
Bottoms: The combination of coral velvet thick pants and windproof outdoor pants/ ski pants can keep warm and prevent wind.
Shoes & Socks: Wear a pair of mountaineering shoes with wool and thick socks. You can also bring hot packs and anti-slip ice claws on your shoes.
Hat & Scarf: Tourists must first wear a fleece hat to cover ears, and then put on the windproof hat of the outdoor jacket. Use scarf to wrap all the facial areas.
Gloves: Bring a pair of thin fleece gloves and a pair of thick ski gloves.
Other necessary items: hot packs, cellphone waterproof bags, power bank, sunglasses / ski glasses(optional), hand cream, face cream and lip balm.
A Three-day Tour to Changbai Mountain
Day 1: Shanghai-Changbai Mountain-Tianchi Tour-Hotel Activities
Climbing Tianchi
Take an early morning flight from Shanghai and arrive at Changbai Mountain at noon. To save time, go to Changbai Mountain Tianchi (the West Slope) directly and have a simple lunch on the way!
Tip 1: Climb the North Slope or the West Slope to visit Changbai Mountain and Tianchi. The development of the North Slope is earlier with completed facilities and more scenic spots, and the West Slope is the best location to see Tianchi. I chose to climb the West Slope this time because of limited time.
Tip 2: The winter sunshine time is short in Changbai Mountain area, and the sunset time is around 4:00 pm. It is recommended that tourists enter the scenic area before 1:00 pm to visit Tianchi and return to the hotel before dark.
Ticket price: RMB 125/entrance ticket, RMB 85/environment friendly bus, RMB 135/snowmobiles
You must ride the snowmobile to reach the main peak of Tianchi. The procedure is as follows:
Take the environment-friendly bus to enter the scenic area after check-in, and reach the snowmobile camp with a 40-minute ride.
In winter, environment-friendly buses can't reach the main peak of Tianchi, so tourists need to transfer snowmobiles to the foot of Tianchi which takes about 15 minutes.
And then climb 1,400 steps to reach the top of the main peak and Tianchi is right in front of you.
Tip 1: The temperature at the top of Tianchi is nearly 10 °C lower than that at the mountain foot, tourists had better wear matching clothes and equipment. It is important to protect the naked areas such as ears and fingers when riding 70-80km/ hour snowmobiles.
Tip 2: Cellphones and cameras will lose power instantly if they are exposed under the cold weather outside. It is recommended that tourists keep cellphones and cameras in the pocket or stick a hot pack on the battery.
Although climbing is a hard work, it is worth climbing the steps in person while reaching the main peak. And then you will be filled with emotion that everything is worth!
(Changbai Mountain in autumn)
PS: It's said that there is less than 1/4 chance of seeing Tianchi in one year due to climate reasons.
Eat and drink in hotel
It was time to go back to the hotel after spending a whole day at Tianchi scenic area.
The Changbaishan Guanlan Hot Spring Resort was open this year and located next to the new government building of Fusong County. The design of hotel was characteristic of sports sense with a skiing theme wall in the entrance lobby.
There are snacks, capsule coffee machine and humidifier in the guest room.
I luckily enjoyed the Christmas lighting ceremony held by the hotel at night. I song Christmas songs, set off fireworks outdoor and had a Christmas dinner with friends in the LAVA restaurant.
Day 2: Challenge Skiing-Hot Spring-Farm Stay-Bar Entertainment
Challenge skiing
We got up early in the morning and had breakfast in the hotel cafeteria. We were going to challenge skiing today!
Ski card: Ski card is like the admission ticket for tourists to enter the ski resort.
Locker: Rent a locker for storing personal belongings.
Ski equipment: Some ski equipment such as snowboard, snow stick, snow boots and helmets are free of charge. But tourists need to pay for ski suit and ski glasses.
Coach: It is recommended that the first-time ski tourists hire a coach to teach ski systematically.
Tip 1: There are four ranks of coaches such as internship, junior, intermediate and senior in Wanda Ski Resort. If you are a green hand, you’d better hire a coach from internship or junior ranks to take one-to-one training!
Tip 2: Stretch yourselves before skiing to avoid injury. It's very dangerous to challenge the difficult zone without enough skiing skill!
Enjoy hot springs
For many tourists who are not good at sports, hot spring is definitely one of their favorite activities! Changbai Mountain area has excellent natural environment, good quality water and hot springs are rich in various minerals which are good for healthcare and beautifying.
I chose Tianmu Hot Spring Resort which had indoor and outdoor hot spring pools. Experience an outdoor hot spring with the temperature of -20°C to -30°C will be an unforgettable memory in your life!
Tip 1: You can bring cellphone waterproof bag to the hot spring pool and drink ginger tea after bathing.
Farm stay
I ate fast food for lunch after skiing and hot spring bath. Tourists must taste the northeast characteristic food and the delicacies from Changbai Mountain!
My friend made a reservation of authentic northeast cuisine in the hotel.
After 5-minute ride by hotel shuttle, we arrived at the dinner place which was a farmyard with red lanterns hanging.
We sat on the heated brick beds, ate northeast characteristic food such as stewed fish and pancake in iron pot, northeast hodgepodge and pickled cabbage with vermicelli and drank local blueberry juice. The hotel arranged a northeast Errenzhuan performance to show us the local characteristic folk culture!
Tip 1: Tourists can take photos of the farmyard, Northeast cuisine and Errenzhuan performance.
Bar entertainment
After dinner, we went back to the hotel and decided to have some indoor activities because the outside was extremely cold!
There is a bar named LAKE located at the top of the hotel which is equipped with wine bar, small cinema, billiard room and dart area.
Day3: Changbai Mountain Mojie Scenic Area-Fusong County-Changbai Mountain-Shanghai
Changbai Mountain Mojie Scenic Area
We rent a car to the Mojie Scenic Area in the early morning, which cost RMB 450/day.
The Mojie Scenic Area is located in Erdaobaihe Town, Antu County. The water of Mojie is the hot spring water flowing down the Changbai Mountain Tianchi and won’t be frozen all the year round. When the temperature reaches -20℃, the trees will be covered with rime. Because of this beautiful scenery, photographers call Mojie Scenic Area as the magic world.
Unfortunately, the scenery of Mojie was not beautiful enough at that day because of temperature and less snow. Here are some photos below!
Tip 1: The best time to take photos of Mojie Scenic Area is around sunrise time. It is recommended to check the local sunrise time in advance and make sure cellphones and cameras with enough power.
Visit Fusong County
Return to Fusong County and buy some local characteristic products such as ginseng, blueberry, pine nut, walnut and so on.
Go home
Time flies! I went back to Shanghai with the wonderful memories of Changbai Mountain Tianchi and the aftertaste of dellicious food. Changbai Mountain is an excellent scenic spot and I will come back again!