If you’re looking for a breathtaking view, look no further than the snowfield highway in China. This stretch of road is known for its stunning vistas of snowcapped mountains, and it’s a popular spot for tourists and drivers to take photos or videos. Whether you’re driving or riding in a car or motorcycle, you’ll be able to get a unique perspective of the area that you never would have been able to see otherwise.
01. G301
China National Highway 301, starting from Suifenhe and ending at Manzhouli, is 1,680 kilometers long, passing through Heilongjiang and Inner Mongolia, and it is the first horizontal national highway in China. Some people say that the most beautiful moment of G301 is in winter, others say it is in summer, but for those who have traveled this road all year round, the scenery changes every moment.
02. Under Changbai Mountain
The starting point of G301 is in Suifenhe, a city born from the construction of the Middle East Railway. Interestingly, although it is called Suifenhe, it is not by the Suifen River, but 40 or 50 kilometers north of Suifenhe.
From Suifenhe westward over Taipingling, you will enter the Muling River basin, and then over Laoye Mountain, you will come to the Mudan River basin. Mudanjiang, the snow city, is the most imaginative depiction of the city, which is actually the largest transportation hub in eastern Heilongjiang.
After that, walk along the Hailang River for more than 20 kilometers, you will arrive at the snow town – Hailin City, even if you are used to seeing snow in the northeast, you can’t help but see the snow town scenery in Shuangfeng Forestry, picking up the snow on the ground a few times.
03. Songnen Plain
Going west from Hailin over Zhangguang Cailing means leaving the Changbai Mountains and coming to the snow capital of Shangzhi, an “outpost” into the Songnen Plain.
The snow season is 150 days long and you can ski for half a year. If you want to ski, you have to come to Yabuli Ski Resort.
Driving on the G301, you can also see the main attractions of Shangzhi City, and then over the Daqing Mountain, driving into Harbin’s Acheng District. In the ice city of Harbin, in addition to ice sculpture culture, wine culture.
Leaving Harbin, the next stop is Daqing, a city directly crossed by the G301 and most impressive for the oil fields, but today we will not talk about this, but another treasure of Daqing, the hot springs. There are large and small hot springs in the precincts of Daqing, and if you are looking for quality hot springs, you can go to Dorbod Mongol Autonomous Lianhuan Lake Hot Springs. It is both a resort, where you can boat on the lake, and a hot spring resort with pure natural hot springs.
04. Da Hinggan Ling
Qiqihar, located on the banks of the Nengjiang River and at the eastern foot of the Da Hinggan Ling Mountains, has been nicknamed the “Crane City” as one of the supply stations for travelers crossing the Da Hinggan Ling Mountains. Every spring and summer, the Zhalong Nature Reserve welcomes the flying cranes, which is the best interpretation of the name “Crane City”.
If you want to play here for a few days, recommend the Russian-style neighborhood of Rosia Street, continue on G301, you will come to a place called Gannan County, G301 and Suiman Expressway G10 will be here to enter and cross the Da Hinggan Ling, in addition to Nenjiang City, the Heilongjiang River across the Da Hinggan Ling into Inner Mongolia, one of the main entrances.
For travelers, the Da Hinggan Ling is both “fairyland” and “cruel” during the snow season. Once the endless sea of the forest is covered by snow and ice, a charming fairyland will be displayed in the shadows of the trees. The hidden secret of the forest and snowfields, but the winter temperature of minus tens of degrees Celsius is cruel, once people leave the car, the cold weather outside is very easy to frostbite the exposed body surface instantly.
If you settle in a small town in the Da Hinggan Ling, then you must put the car into the heated storage, otherwise the next day up, the car basically can not start, unless every two or three hours a trip to start the engine, the use of engine heat to resist the cold.
Of course, the extremely low temperatures also brought about a sparse flow of people, giving us the opportunity to enjoy the secret land of ice and snow all to ourselves.
05. Hulunbuir
After entering Inner Mongolia, G301 will first pass through Arun Banner, then cross the Mianduhe river, and then arrive at Yakeshi. This small city is located in the transition zone between the Da Hinggan Ling and Hulunbuir Plateau, the lowest temperature in a year can reach -40℃, known as the “cold pole of China”. In fact, Yakeshi is so famous in automotive circles that it has repeatedly been one of the three major sites of the CCPC (China car performance challenge).
Every winter, it attracts dozens of car companies and countless travelers to come here, and if you are lucky enough, you will see the racers drive their cars and compete for the championship in the ice and snow.
When you enter Hulunbuir, the most impatient thing is to see the endless grasslands, in fact, the winter in Hulunbuir is not considered gaudy.
From Hulunbuir to Manzhouli, you will be accompanied by the Hailar River, which is upstream of the Reka Argun River, the border river between China and Russia.
When you enter Manzhouli, the first thing that comes out to greet you is the Matryoshka dolls, as the end of G301, the city has an eclectic style with both Chinese and Russian culture.
If you’re looking for an amazing snowfield highway to travel on in China, then the China National Highway 301 should definitely be on your list! The winding and breathtaking road take drivers on a journey through some of the most beautiful landscapes in the country, from under Changbai Mountain to the Songnen Plain. Although it’s a long journey, it’s definitely worth it to enjoy the charming scenery along the way.