I am going to china in February and will want to stay somewhere close to a metro line and also near the Xucheng District Chinese Wholesale markets, which I believe is near the Zoo. I would like a 4 star or more hotel. As it will be very cold I would also like to be close to the Metro so that I can get to other places easily.
From Beijing I will be going to Harbin for the Ice Festival and as I have not been there I would like a hotel that is very close to the Ice Carvings and again is a 4 - 5 star hotel.
Any ideas on what else is a must do or see in Harbin.
Thanks in advance

www.otel.com for good prices Swissotel Bejing for Harbin Friendship Palace a pretty local four star good price point book quickly.Ice Fishing is good there otherwise not too
touristic in city centre sort of industrial. www.asiarooms.com
another good booking site. Have fun dress warm!

I have had not so bad overall experience at the Crowne Plaza ZhongGuanCun - in North West Beijing -- it is near a subway line - about 5 min walk from the hotel and prices / room rates are reasonable. I have stayed there 3 times over the last 12-14 months.

I have a link to my blog where I had a posting about the hotel:
http://site.chinafinds.com/travel/20...ancun-beijing/

The Shangri-La on 3rd loop road in North west Beijing is also good but probably more expensive...Check it out though.

Maybe the poster above has some business in the west but these hotels are not convenient for tourists.
Check on www.wotif.com and you can check by district. Look for Xicheng not Xucheng. Choayang district would also work is you get something along subway line 1 or line 10.

You are very brave! We have considered going to Harbin for the ice festival but are afraid to venture into that cold weather. Living in Florida, we don't have the proper clothing either. Can't wait to hear you report back.

We visited the Harbin Ice Festival in 2003 - it was wonderful to see. At that time we stayed in Songhuajiang Gloria Inn (Gloria is a Chinese hotel chain) & it was fine still with ice inside the window though at times!! What you need are thin layers of clothes when visiting here, much as you would for ski-ing, we had clothes with Thinsulate. I had read people's cameras had frozen & even made a cover for ours, but it wasn't necessary!