Hotels in Central Avenue.St. Sofia Church. the Songhua River, Harbin

Great location, right across is the start of Zhong Yang Street. We went mid Dec, with temps of around -10 to -33 at night, the hotel location allowed us to still be able to do some sightseeing by just crossing the road. The rooms are warm and spacious. Hotel breakfast had a good variety, a great plus point having hot breakfast on site! Hotel right on a busy road made getting taxis very easy. It's under 10 mins walk to Sophia cathedral, walkable during the day if wrapped up warm! Train station is around 10 mins away, airport around 35mins away by cab

This is a budget hotel and I asked for a budget room so my expectations were modest. However, what I received, was below modest from my experience. Room was warm enough and size was tight. Bed was ok but funny round shape. There was no division between bedroom and bathroom which made the shower experience too cold. Also I found a bug in the bathroom (alive). Location was very convenient, but even with that I wouldn’t repeat this hotel.

Think this is a 4-5 stars hotel locally. The lobby is decent, not posh type. The rooms are cosy and beautiful. Kids like the kids room, toys and the sport car bed. All toiletries are provided and have kids version. Very thoughtful. Have a welcome fruits n snacks platters with high class mineral water. One thing we didn’t like about the hotel is it has a weird smell when we stepped out of the lift and walked towards our room. Like ‘salted fish’ smell. Not sure if it is from carpet or some food brought in by others. The smell was also in our room. The hotel is at a busy road junction facing Songhua River. Around there are many local eateries. We had a hard time finding suitable food for us and kids as their local food are mostly beef, lamb and duck innards and spicy. End up we took a taxi and went to a restaurant called Sheng Tian Fu, recommended by the driver. Taxi drivers not many are familiar with this hotel, and have to show them namecard. Not too difficult to get to attractions such as Harbin Polarpark, Sofia church and Zhongyang Street. More convenient to travel by taxi as these places are not exactly very near hotel and it can be cold walking a distance of 1-2km. Hotel provides decent breakfast with reasonable variety. Waitresses are friendly and proactive to chat with you and recommend you what to eat. One of them is called Xiao Liu, nice middle-age lady. Overall, we had a pleasant stay at this hotel and may go back if we go to Harbin again and if the pricing of hotel is cheaper.

We have been warmly welcomed by the hotel staff and experienced a seamless check-in process. Complimentary welcome drinks and candies are provided for hotel guests. I highly recommend this hotel due to its convenient location in front of Zhongyang Subway station and its proximity to the renowned Zhongyang pedestrian street.

The location is excellent. It is on Central Street near the Songhua River Flood Control Memorial Tower. Nearby is the famous Lucia Russian Restaurant. When you are tired from shopping on Central Street, you can take a rest, take a nap, recharge your batteries, and then go out to continue shopping. It can be said that it is very convenient. of. The overall appearance of the hotel, lobby, and corridors all look good. However, the double bed room we booked is smaller and feels a bit unwieldy. Larger suitcases are not easy to spread out, and the bathroom is particularly difficult. If there is water leakage, after closing the bathroom door and taking a shower, there will still be a lot of water in the corridor outside the bathroom, making it easy to slip. The hotel staff are very friendly. Traveling with friends, we all felt that this hotel was a good value for money.

There is a sense of comfort throughout the hotel, from the front desk to the front waiter exudes a sense of intimacy. The hotel’s privacy is very strong. The room card can only be swiped into your room. The floor where you live is very secure. The eye masks and earplugs given to us are also very safe. Intimate rooms, as well as free Sprite Coke and Harbin’s unique Qiulin Cogvas. The most exciting part of the hotel is that his room is intelligent and controllable, and the bathroom and shower are separated from dry and wet. This hotel is becoming more and more beautiful. Like me, I will definitely choose him again in the future!

Many of the previous reviews confirmed. We arrived late at night but were able to check in easily. The location was spectacular near many coffee shops and Russian restaurants. We even stumbled upon a nearby karaoke bar on the pedestrian street! It is near enough to walk to the Sophia Cathedral (which is seemingly closed). Ice and Snow World is far enough to need a car but close enough that it’s a quick ride. After hours of touring in the cold, the heated floors were much appreciated. The bathtub was also very nice.

I booked a room with a window, but the window turned out to be a wall. I told the front desk to change rooms, but they said they couldn't change rooms when the room was full. I told them that I had booked three nights and could change rooms the next day, but I insisted not to change rooms. Didn't I check out the next day? The attitude at the front desk was also very bad... I contacted Ctrip to change hotels the next day! The front desk said that only twin rooms have windows... I said that it would be fine to change to twin beds. They didn’t give me a change either🤣Because I wasted half of the next day’s trip by changing hotels, I was really angry... ugh! The location of the hotel is really good. Central Street is 100 meters away, so eating is also convenient. The room is really small and it is difficult to put suitcases.

The room appears much smaller than on the website but is adequate for solo travelling. Although water bottles was replaced daily, dirty tea cups were never removed or washed during my 4 day stay and I had to rinse them in the bathroom. The trash can was emptied every day but they do not make your bed. The shower head was broken and difficult to handle and the mattress topper was too big for the bed and kept slipping off. The staff were very friendly and helpful. The location was difficult in the sense that the hotel is situated in a very busy main road, with one way direction and few in between passes, meaning taxis must first drive quite far past the hotel before making a u-turn to turn back to drop you. The downside of using Didi's or taxi's are the rude and impatient drivers. They charged extra high fares during Christmas. We were often gridlocked in traffic, ending up walking back 2-4km to the hotel. Overall I was disappointed in the city itself. Many buildings were rundown and neglected with broken windos and peeled paint, that reminded me of *********************. Streets were very dirty and a nearby school did not make traffic congestion any easier when commuting forth and back to the hotel. Rumours that Christmas is not so busy and a better time to be visiting Harbin, is not true. The crowds spoiled the experience at Saint Sophia Church, especially the influencers who dressed up in ridiculous outfits posing in freezing temperatures at the church staircases and corners, spoiling any photography opportunities. Stalls and shops around the Church were very expensive. I visited a few other churches like St Aleksyev and Jile Temple which was far worth the effort. The highlight of my trip was Volga Manor, Baroque Street and the Songhua Railroad Bridge. Sun Island snow sculptures were very enjoyable, easy to navigate and not congested with people. Plenty of space to walk through the park, play in the snow and take the cable car over the river. The ques are not long from the Sun Island side, but crossing over to Harbin's side, the ques were very long to get a cable car. Danny's Beer in the Baroques Street area is a must visit and offered welcoming, warm and delicious food and hospitality. It's a 4,7km hike from the Songhua River bridge and offered good food at very reasonable prices. I did not visit the Ice sculpture park or light shows because of the three hour waiting cues, too many people and slippery conditions. The Tiger park was a so-so experience and mostly annoying due to people teasing the tigers with meat *****s they cannot reach; all for the sake of a photo opportunity. If you are an animal lover, rather skip the tiger Park. Lastly, a big plus was the public toilets near the Songhua River that were impressively clean.

+ location was great, rooms were cleaned daily, facilities were nice and front desk staff was also nice. - a bit difficult to communicate if you are just visiting and don’t speak Chinese. One of the breakfast attendants was quite rude. I asked for water (in Chinese) and she wove her hand in my face, said “don’t have” and walked away. So I used the kettle of hot water to fill my bottle and the staff also seemed annoyed by that. Another time we asked if it was okay to get another coffee and she just wove her hand in our face. The other staff were good though.