What are the ski resorts in Changbai Mountain and where is the best place to stay in Changbai Mountain?

When skiing in Changbai Mountain, you can choose Wanda or Luneng for your resort. Of course, besides skiing, you can also visit the rime ice or choose to see Changbai Mountain Tianchi, but the most important thing is to soak in the hot spring.

Two major ski resorts: Wanda

For ski enthusiasts, Wanda Resort is the first choice. It has been established for a long time, offers a wide selection of hotels, and has complete supporting facilities for dining and entertainment. It also has a variety of ski slopes of different difficulties.

Hotel

Wanda Resort has a total of 9 hotels with different grades. If you buy a room voucher, it usually includes breakfast for two, ski tickets, and snow entertainment tickets. Some will also offer free tickets to the water park.

The most cost-effective option is definitely Holiday Inn Express and Ibis. For those who don’t have high requirements for accommodation, these two are the first choice. These two hotels are adjacent to each other, located at the innermost part of the resort, next to the Guosong Ski Service Center, which is also the terminus of the bus.

For family trips or friends gatherings, I recommend the Holiday Inn Suites. There are one-bedroom, two-bedroom, and three-bedroom suites available, all with living rooms, suitable for large groups and gatherings. It is also well located, with many restaurants downstairs. Pizza Hut is on the first floor, and McDonald’s is across the street. Even if you are traveling as a couple, you can book a one-bedroom suite, which also has a kitchen so you can cook your own meals.

If you want to stay in a good place, then the Park Hyatt is the first choice. The rooms in Park Hyatt are all located in independent villas, each with a variety of room types to choose from. Park Hyatt also has outdoor hot spring pools, which are not crowded and have good water quality. After skiing, it is a luxury to soak in the hot spring in the snowy weather.

If you want ski in/ski out, choose the Grand Hyatt. It is the closest hotel to the ski slope in the entire resort. You can ski out of the hotel. The ski equipment hall is downstairs, so it is very convenient to store and retrieve skis. The location of the Grand Hyatt is very good overall. There are many specialty stores nearby to browse, and there are many restaurants.

Sheraton and Westin are also very good choices. If you have a Sheraton room voucher that includes dinner, it will be very cost-effective, because the food in the resort is not cheap. The two hotels are adjacent to each other, and a corridor on the third floor connects the two together. Public areas are also shared. Guests staying at Sheraton can swim at Westin, and guests staying at Westin can go to Sheraton to get their ski pass.

Wanda Resort Dining

There are still a lot of dining choices in Wanda Resort Town. Besides fast food like KFC and McDonald’s, there are also many chain restaurants, such as Pizza Hut, Huangji Huang, Hannan Mountain BBQ, Dezhuang Hotpot. If you don’t know what to eat, these restaurants are always a safe bet.

Of course, you can also try the Northeastern dishes in the town, and there is also a halal hotpot restaurant called Yuminsai. If you stay for a long time and get tired of eating in the town, you can also call nearby restaurants to make a reservation. They will send a car to pick you up at the hotel, and then send you back after you are done eating.

Ski Resort

Wanda Changbai Mountain Ski Resort is located on a hillside near the main peak of Changbai Mountain and was designed by a Canadian company. There are a total of 43 ski slopes, including 9 advanced slopes, 14 intermediate slopes, and 20 beginner slopes, including 12 magic carpets suitable for beginners. It can be said that no matter what level of skier you are, you can find your home ground at Wanda Ski Resort.

Skiing newbies are recommended to start practicing from the slopes near the Guosong Ski Service Center. It is close to the Holiday Inn Express, although it is small in scale, but relatively fewer people, so you don’t have to queue for the magic carpet and cable car. Also, because there are fewer people, you don’t have to worry about beginners bumping into each other, which is safer.

Even if you can’t ski down from the advanced slopes, you can still take the cable car to the top of the mountain to enjoy the scenery. When the weather is good, you can see Changbai Mountain Tianchi from the viewing platform at the top of the mountain. Play in the snow, take pictures with alpacas, and then take the cable car back down.

Wanda’s ski coaches are graded clearly. For beginners who have never touched skiing before, you can choose a probationary coach, which is the most cost-effective. For beginners, you can choose a C-level coach. When you can ski on intermediate slopes, you can choose to hire a B-level coach to advance your skills. Of course, the fees are higher for higher levels.

In addition to skiing, you can also take your children to the Wacool Snow Play Park. The park has many fun activities, such as curling and ice tops, which Northeastern children have been playing since they were young. There are also ice bicycles, snow tubes, sleds, and other “vehicles” with a strong Northeastern flavor.

There are also some paid activities in the park, such as driving a snowmobile yourself and playing a high-speed race through the snowy mountains and forests, or riding a snow tube with three or five friends in a row and being pulled forward by a snowmobile in front, enjoying the double excitement of rotation and displacement.

Besides playing in the snow, Wanda also has a super large indoor water park, that’s right! The kind you can play in during winter. The water inside is kept at a constant temperature, and there are also indoor hot springs to soak in.

Luneng

Luneng Resort was developed later than Wanda. There are currently three hotels, and the basic supporting facilities are also in place. Although the ski resort is not large, it is more than enough for beginners.

Hotel

Each room in the MGallery Hotel has a direct view of the majestic Changbai Mountain. The hotel also has outdoor hot spring pools, and it is very comfortable to soak in the hot spring in the snowy weather. The downside is that this hotel has too few rooms, and many were sold during Double Eleven this year, so it should be difficult to book.

Comparatively, I would recommend the Swissotel more. There are more rooms, and the price-performance ratio is high. It belongs to the Accor group, the same as the MGallery Hotel, and the quality is guaranteed. It is also the closest to Luneng Ski Resort. There are also two-bedroom and one-living room detached wooden houses available, which can accommodate a whole family.

Luneng also has a folk hotel called Yuangxiang. This hotel focuses on Northeastern features, which is very interesting. The hotel is made up of individual farmhouse courtyards, and it is relatively safe to let children play in the courtyard outside during the day. All rooms are the kind of kang beds common in Northeast China, with big floral quilts. As soon as you lie down, you immediately turn into a Northeastern old friend.

There are also some folk activities in this hotel, such as paper cutting, which you can participate in with your children.

Ski Resort

If skiing is just an introductory experience in your Changbai Mountain itinerary, Luneng would be a good choice. The slopes in Luneng are relatively few, but they are more than enough for beginners. Moreover, the slopes are all independent, with few intersections, so it is not easy to get lost, which is very friendly to beginners.

Luneng will definitely have fewer people than Wanda. For beginners and children, fewer people means a better skiing experience. For children’s skiing, there are also dedicated slopes, so they are less likely to be hit by torpedoes.

What else can you do besides playing in the snow?

Climb Changbai Mountain to see Tianchi

Just like the saying, “You are not a true hero unless you have been to the Great Wall,” you must visit Tianchi when you go to Changbai Mountain. Although whether you can see Tianchi depends on the weather, there are always people who have good luck and can see it every time they go. There are two routes to visit Tianchi in winter, namely the North Slope and the West Slope, which are commonly known as.

Changbai Mountain North Slope is also known as the North Scenic Area. It is the earliest developed scenic area of Changbai Mountain, with the most complete supporting facilities and the most scenic spots. Of course, there are also more tourists. There are shuttle buses between scenic spots, so if you have children or parents with you, the North Slope is recommended, as it is easier to play. The general tour route is Tianchi – Green Abyss – Waterfall – Underground Forest.

I personally prefer wild things, so I prefer the primitive and wild West Slope. To reach Tianchi on the West Slope, you need to take a snowmobile for a while, and then climb 1400+ steps to the top of the mountain. The steps take about an hour and a half round trip.

The wind is strong on the mountain, the snow is thick, the snow walls next to it are taller than people, and some places have the steps and handrails completely buried. People with weak physical strength should plan for more time and go down before the sun sets.

If it is your first time to Changbai Mountain and you have limited time and want to go up and take a look at Tianchi, you can choose either the North Slope or the West Slope.

Visit the Magic Realm to see the most beautiful rime ice sunrise

If you want to see the rime ice in the Magic Realm, you must get up early, before dawn. Once the sun comes out, the snow on the trees will gradually melt under the sun. The river water in the Magic Realm is all flowing down from Changbai Mountain Tianchi, so even in the winter of minus 20 degrees, it will not freeze, but instead it will gush with heat.

There are two ways to visit the Magic Realm: on foot or by rafting. The rafting takes about 40 minutes. The rafting in the Magic Realm is not the kind of rafting that is fast and exciting, so you don’t have to worry about getting wet. Sitting in the rubber dinghy and slowly moving forward along the small river, both sides are covered with rime ice, and it feels like the whole world has been pressed the pause button, leaving only the sound of the water flowing.

If you choose to visit on foot, you can find an open space to enjoy the sunrise, and you can also bring a bottle of water and experience the spectacle of water turning into ice. After all, it is rare to get up so early besides coming to the Magic Realm.

Visit Lake Lao Liker to see the forest and snowfields

Lake Lao Liker is located near the North Slope of Changbai Mountain, not far from Erdao Baihe Town. It is an alpine lake at an altitude of 1880 meters. In winter, the lake water freezes, and the lake surface is covered with thick snow. You can have fun on the lake.

You can also ride a snowmobile or sled and traverse the vast forest and snowfields. In this primeval, dense forest, you will also see footprints left by many small animals in the snow and some very old wooden houses, which are very mysterious.

Hot Springs, a world of ice and fire

Outdoor hot springs are everywhere, but it is very rare to soak in hot springs in temperatures below minus 20 degrees. Many people like to go to Hokkaido, Japan in winter to soak in hot springs. This year, due to the epidemic, no one can go anywhere. It is also a very good experience to soak in hot springs in Changbai Mountain, and the scenery is no worse than that of Hokkaido.

Besides Park Hyatt, Wanda Resort also has a Hannan Mountain Hot Spring Hotel where you can soak in the hot springs. There is also a Crowne Plaza Hotel near the entrance of the North Slope Scenic Area where you can soak in the hot springs. There are also many hot spring hotels in Erdao Baihe Town. Changbai Mountain has rich natural hot spring resources, so don’t miss them.

Each of the above scenic spots can be visited in half a day. Most people probably get tired after half a day of skiing, so you can arrange your itinerary to be half a day at the resort skiing + half a day at the scenic spot, combining work and rest.

If you are short on time, you can arrange the Magic Realm and Tianchi on the same day, in the morning at the Magic Realm, have lunch in Erdao Baihe Town, and go to Tianchi in the afternoon. Down the mountain to soak in a hot spring in the evening, it’s a perfect day.