Anyone have any favourite spots for travelling in China (particularly with winter n mind?). I'm having trouble deciding where to spend a week of spring festival... Advice would be good!

More specifically, I prefer to avoid cities for the sake of cities, and Tibet would be top of my list if it wasn't massively outside my budget. I've also been to a fair few places in Sichuan, Guangxi, and Yunnan, so possibly not them...

Still, regardless, if you have a favourite, please share!

Cheers

If you can time it properly, the Harbin Ice Festival is a must see. I can't emphasize that enough. The ice sculptures there are incredible. Everyone agrees those photos are the best I have from China. They beat, Sichuan, Hunan, Shanghai, Beijing, Xi'an, Tibet.... Good Russian food, the best chuanrs I have ever eaten, and some incredible sites. It is a must see.(I have forgotten the name of the chuanr restaurant, but it is 2 or three stories tall with glass walls. It is insanely popular in Harbin and reasonably priced. If you ask a cabby or some locals, they should be able to help you find it.)

A weekend in Harbin is enough, but the sites are incredible. I spent three full days there. That was a bit long, but doable. On the third day, I went to the local WW2 museum. It is focused solely on the Japanese biological weapons research in the area, though.

On a side note: We got in to the museum on a day when they are usually closed. The catch, our tour guide only spoke Chinese. They usually have at least one English speaking guide in the museum. It was understandable, but rough. I did learn the Chinese word for syphilis, though.

I forgot one detail. When walking down the street, which is kind of fun to do to admire the city's architecture, a bottle of coke will freeze in your back pants pocket in about 5 to ten minutes.

When traveling around, I wore:

A scarf
A coat
Sweater vest
2 shirts
long underwear
pants
shoes
2 or 3 pairs of socks
gloves
hat

I second Harbin. The Ice Festival is incredible, but also the synagogue museum is interesting and the tiger park is fun (you can hold a cub and feed the tigers). There is also a fabulous jiaozi place (I think maybe called Jiaozi King?). It is a big chain, but the original restaurant is in Harbin and is very good.

I third Harbin.

Harbin is nice (though taxis aren't nice there). The ice festival, snow festival, and architecture are very impressive as is the bitter, bitter cold. I also went to Yabuli (about 1.5 hrs outside Harbin) for some skiing which was nice (though too cold and a bit icy on the one hill).

If you'd rather not suffer the cold, just go to southern Hunan, it's still beautiful in the winter...

Thanks for the advice guys, I had originally knocked Harbin off my list as a one-hit wonder, but it's definitely back on now. Mike - as for southern Hunan, did you have a particular place in mind?

(When it comes to south-eastern china, I haven't the foggiest)...

I can highly recommend leaving Shanghai :)
This CNY I'll be in Guilin for the first time.

If you haven't been to XiShuangBanNa in Yunnan, it's worth the trip, especially in the winter, since it's 25 degrees C in January, a very nice break from the winter elsewhere...

I know you said you've been to Yunnan, but it's an idea if you get fed up with the frigid weather.

Cheers, and yep, that was on my list. Tickets booked now. I'll be in Harbin for a couple of days, then Northern Yunnan (I'm hoping there's some hiking opportunities near Lijiang or somesuch), then Xishuangbanna for the pineapple juice and internet bars (for Skritter.....). Thanks all!

And Neil: it's a scary world out there ;p. Guilin's ok, but it's what's outside Guilin that's really great. Check out the Yulong river, it's far more relaxing than the Lijiang.

Hey Byzanti,

I have been to Lijiang, although not hiking. You might want to contact the nice dutch guy of Nomad Hostel in Shuhe a bit out of Lijiang. He is also doing tours in the area and is certainly eager to help out even if you don't book or stay with them.
http://hotels.lonelyplanet.com/china/lijiang-r1973727/nomad-guesthouse-and-hostel-q1261878/

Tiger Leaping Gorge must be nice, I had to cancel as I got stuck on the phone for 2,5 days with a customer to save a project. Nomad's internet is usable with Skype though, Skritter should work too then :-)

We have been to another hostel in town but had our breakfast and coffee there regularly.

Not sure how it looks in Winter but the area is nice. There is some kind of dancing arena of a local tribe 100+ people with costumes and horses. Big show which is worth watching. Bring your tele lense though for closeup photos :-)