Things to do in Changchun
And where to stay, the best time to visit, what a day costs, and the traps to skip.
Best time to visit Changchun
• a note or something on ✦ an occasion worth the trip
Deep winter and the signature season, with Vasaloppet, ice and snow displays and rime, but nights below minus 20C.
Thaw, dust and wind, the shoulder to avoid, with no snow, no green and no events.
Green season opens, comfortable temperatures and the best low crowd months for the outdoors picks.
Warm and humid festival season, with the auto expo in July and the film festival in late August.
Dry, clear and golden, the best all round weeks, apart from the Golden Week surge in early October.
Winter assembles, ski fields open from mid to late November and late December is a savvy alternative to January.
What's on
- China Changchun Jingyuetan Vasaloppet International Ski Festival early January, main race around 4 January
The Worldloppet 50 km classic race in Jingyuetan, with shorter distances and a snow sculpture park.
- Changchun Ice and Snow Festival late December to February
Ice and snow displays at Jingyuetan Snow World, the sculpture park and the zoo night sessions.
- Spring Festival January or February, lunar new year
Lantern displays and family crowds, with smaller restaurants closed on the key days.
- China Changchun International Automobile Expo July
The motor city's big trade and public auto show, filling central hotels with industry guests.
- China Changchun Film Festival late August, biennial in recent years
The city's long running film festival, held since 1992. Check the year before planning around it.
Best things to do in Changchun
Palace Museum of The Manchurian Regime
Puyi's palace as puppet emperor of Manchukuo, restored rooms and exhibitions that explain how Japan ruled the northeast.
Eight Grand Ministries
Manchukuo's ministry buildings survive almost intact along Xinmin Street, viewed from the pavement on a free architecture walk.
Former Site Museum of Changchun Film Studio
China's first film studio as a working museum of cameras, props, posters and the famous dubbing department.
Changchun Movie Wonderland
China's first film theme park, built around special effects cinema, best for families with children under about twelve.
Changchun World Sculpture Park
A huge park and five museums holding sculpture from over 200 countries, including Rodin originals, around Moore Lake.
South Lake Park
The city's living room lake park, with morning dancing and tai chi, summer boats and a frozen ice playground in winter.
Jilin Provincial Museum
A free, uncrowded museum of the Goguryeo, Bohai, Liao and Jin kingdoms that ruled this region long before Manchukuo.
Hongqi Street Route 54 Cultural Tourism Train
A one hour round trip in a heritage tram car running since 1941, with coffee, dessert and souvenir stamp cards.
Where to stay in Changchun
People's Square / The MixC
first trip, all round base
The civic centre, walkable to the ministries walk and easiest for the palace, with both flagship hotels.
Hongqi Street / Wanda Plaza
evenings, shopping and film sights
The lively commercial district, with the film studio museum, the tram and The Hill in walking distance.
Jingyue
ski, golf and family resort weekends
The forest district around Jingyuetan and Movie Wonderland, but 40 plus minutes from the central sights.
Central Changchun
budget stays and transit nights
Chongqing Road and the station area hold the clean, cheap domestic chain hotels.
Think twice about
- Changchun Railway Station perimeter
The grittiest walk home in the city, with touts, unlicensed drivers and petty theft in the crush. Use the station, sleep south of it.
- Longjia Airport area
About 30 km from the centre, with hotels built for flight crews and stranded passengers, not for visitors.
- Deep Jingyue as a sightseeing base
Not a safety issue but a logistics one. A 45 minute cold commute after every central dinner gets old by day two in January.
Best restaurants in Changchun
Pin Yue Chinese Restaurant
The Shangri-La's refined Chinese dining room, the closest Changchun comes to a special occasion table.
Yue Mu Yang Western Restaurant
The city's top rated western restaurant, for the night the group wants steak and wine instead of hot pot.
Yuan Sheng Ju
Changchun's hot pot benchmark, a clear water copper pot, hand cut lamb and a sesame sauce regulars cross the city for.
Chun Fa He
A long running Dongbei kitchen for the full canon, guo bao rou, di san xian, mushroom chicken stew and dumplings.
Wangji Braised Bone Restaurant
Trays of sauce braised pork bones eaten with gloves, messy, communal, cheap and completely delicious.
Lao Chang Chunbing
Thin pancakes wrapped at the table around sauce meat, egg sauce and vegetables, a beloved local cheap meal.
Guilin Hutong Food Street
The student snacking quarter, grilled cold noodles, fried skewers and yoghurt stalls packed into one alley.
Jinjia Canteen
The sit down heart of Guilin Hutong, the cheapest name in the city's top rated restaurant lists.
Outdoor things to do in Changchun
Jingyuetan National Forest Park
A crescent lake in Asia's largest planted conifer forest, with a 20 km cycle circuit, boats and forest trails.
Jingyuetan Ski Field
A modest, friendly ski hill inside the snow loaded forest park, the easiest ski day in Changchun by light rail.
Vasaloppet China
The Worldloppet cross country race each January, and all winter its groomed forest trails are open to visiting skiers.
Tianding Mountain Ski Resort
The highest rated of Changchun's small ski hills, with slopes for all levels and one on one instruction.
Lotus Mountain Ski Resort
Changchun's longest established ski area, with full rental, a cable car and night skiing in season.
Changchun Cleanmoon Lake Forest Golf Club
The city's only 18 hole international standard course, threaded through pine forest and around six lakes in Jingyuetan.
Nanxi Wetland Park
A free wetland park of boardwalks, pavilions and the Guangying Bridge, the best gentle ride or run inside the city.
Rime Island
Willows and pines coated in feathery rime ice on cold January mornings, a dawn expedition from Jilin City.
Best hotels in Changchun
Hyatt Regency Changchun
The consensus best hotel in the city, beside the MixC, with big rooms, an indoor pool and a huge breakfast.
Shangri-La Changchun
The other People's Square flagship, a traditional grand hotel with large rooms and strong service scores.
Wanda Vista Changchun
The Hongqi Street flagship by Wanda Plaza, minutes from the film studio museum and the heritage tram.
Sheraton Changchun Jingyuetan Hotel
The Jingyue resort five star by the forest park, built for ski, golf and family weekends rather than sightseeing.
Hyatt Place Changchun Jingyue
A reliable modern mid range in the resort district, the value sweet spot for Jingyue based families.
Holiday Inn Changchun Jingyue
The predictable IHG mid range in Jingyue, near the university town and the Line 3 light rail.
7 Days Inn (Changchun Chongqing Road)
A clean, central budget chain room on the main shopping street for the price of a hot pot dinner.
Jinjiang Inn Changchun Railway Station North Exit
A transit night budget inn at the station's north exit, for a late arrival or an early high speed train.
Is Changchun expensive? What a day costs
| Budget | CN¥250 a person |
|---|---|
| Classic | CN¥500 a person |
| Splurge | CN¥1,100 a person |
A day of food, drink, sights and getting around, before the room
What to book ahead
- Hongqi Street Route 54 Cultural Tourism Train: a few days ahead
- Vasaloppet China: months ahead
- Changchun Cleanmoon Lake Forest Golf Club: a few days ahead
- Rime Island: a few days ahead
- Beidahu Ski Resort: weeks ahead
- Pin Yue Chinese Restaurant: a few days ahead
- Hyatt Regency Changchun: weeks ahead
- Shangri-La Changchun: weeks ahead
- Vasaloppet China race entry is months ahead, and hotels fill for its January weekend and the ice and snow festival peak.
- Book the Route 54 cultural tram a few days ahead, as themed departures sell out on weekends.
- Famous restaurants take no useful reservations, so go before 11:30am, before 5:30pm or after 8pm.
- Book central hotels weeks ahead for the film festival and the July auto expo.
Is Changchun safe?
- Frostbite is a minutes scale risk for exposed skin in January wind, and phone batteries die fast outdoors.
- Winter ice on pavements injures more visitors than any crime.
- Air quality can degrade in the heating season, so check the AQI on bad days.
- Police is 110, ambulance 120 and fire 119.
Changchun travel tips: tourist traps to skip
- Changchun Movie Wonderland at full adult price is oversold for adults without children.
- The FAW plant is a working factory, not a tour, so do not build a morning around getting in.
- Changbai Mountain is not a day trip, whatever a tour seller tells you.
- Eat in Guilin Road or Hongqi Street, not around the railway station.
Getting around Changchun: public transport and more
- Light Rail Line 3 runs to Jingyuetan Station near the forest park, about 30 to 40 minutes from downtown.
- Line 4 serves the palace area, and Lines 1 and 2 cover the centre and Changchun Station.
- Taxis and Didi are cheap, and in deep winter a short ride beats a long pavement wait.
- High speed trains reach Harbin in about an hour and Jilin City in about 30 to 40 minutes.
Who Changchun suits
| Solo travellers | OK |
|---|---|
| Groups of friends | Good |
| Couples | OK |
| Bachelor parties | Not ideal |
| Families | Good |
| Bachelorette parties | Not ideal |
Make Changchun your trip
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