Atlas of China
Beijing to Harbin 北京 – 哈尔滨
Door to door, the high-speed train comes out ahead: about 5 hours against about 4½ hours by flight, counting about 20 minutes to board a train and 2½ hours of airport time for a flight. Fares run ¥605 against about ¥660. The stations are in or near the city centres, which is what tips it.
| Way | Time | Door to door | Fare | A day |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| High-speed trainBeijing Chaoyang 北京朝阳 → Harbin West 哈尔滨西 | 4 h 33 minG101, fastest | 5 hours | ¥605standard class | 3105:54–23:00 |
| FlightBeijing Daxing (PKX) → Harbin Taiping (HRB) | 2 h 5 minin the air | 4½ hours | about ¥660varies by day | 1906:40–22:30 |
By train
31 direct high-speed trains a day run from Beijing Chaoyang to Harbin West, between 05:54 and 23:00. The fastest, G101, takes 4 h 33 min, and a standard-class seat is ¥605. Coming back, 31 trains a day, the fastest 4 h 34 min (G106, 07:10 to 23:10).
Beijing: Several main stations: South (Shanghai), West (Xi'an, Wuhan), Chaoyang (north-east) and North or Qinghe (Datong, Hohhot); flights use Capital (PEK) or Daxing (PKX).
By air
19 nonstop flights a day from Beijing Daxing (PKX) to Harbin Taiping (HRB), 2 h 5 min in the air, 06:40 to 22:30, with Air China, China Southern Airlines and China Eastern Airlines. 20 fly back. Door to door, with the airports at each end, count about 4½ hours; fares vary by day and are typically about ¥660.
Stops on the way
Cities between the two with direct trains from Beijing and on to Harbin, so the trip can be broken there.
- Chengde 承德 180 km from Beijing · 49 min there, 3 h 51 min on
At the other end
Featured places around Harbin.
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Harbin Ice & Snow World 哈尔滨冰雪大世界
Full-size castles of river ice, glowing with colour through Harbin's deep-freeze winter
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Central Street & St Sophia Cathedral 中央大街与圣索菲亚教堂
A cobbled pedestrian street of Russian-era façades and a green-domed Orthodox cathedral
Around Beijing: Forbidden City, Ming Tombs, Summer Palace, Fragrant Hills Park, Universal Beijing Resort.
On the map
Open either city on the illustrated map, or put both in a trip and let the planner lay out the days and the legs between them, with the same tables these numbers come from.
Book
About Beijing · About Harbin · Where Beijing reaches in a day · Where Harbin reaches in a day · All routes
Trains are every direct train on 2026-10-28 or 2026-11-11 in the 12306 timetable, with standard-class fares; one weekday, so weekend and holiday services differ, and the fastest train may not run every day. Flights are the airlines' schedules for 2026-10-28, plus routes Wikipedia lists for small airports. Drives are routed on OpenStreetMap roads (extract of 2026-10-21) where the pair was routed, else estimated from the distance. Door-to-door times add about 20 minutes to board a train and 2½ hours of airport time to a flight. How to book is in the guide to trains and 12306; the rail times are open data on the data page.