Most visitors to Beijing never learn that one of Asia's biggest ski clusters sits 65 minutes by high-speed train from the city's northern suburbs. It is Chongli (崇礼), a mountain district of Zhangjiakou in Hebei Province, and in February 2022 it hosted every snow event of the Beijing Winter Olympics except big air. The halfpipe, slopestyle course, aerials jumps, cross-country stadium and the ski-jumping tower shaped like a white ruyi scepter are all here — and all of them are now public terrain.
For 2026-27 the nine resorts opened together on October 31, 2026, with 219 groomed runs covering roughly 178 kilometres of piste, per Beijing News and People's Daily Hebei. That makes Chongli the most practical ski destination in China for anyone already flying into Beijing: no domestic flight, no Arctic gear shakedown in Harbin.
Three things changed for 2026-27, and all three favour the traveller who is already in Beijing.
The resorts now sell themselves as one region. Opening day ran at Wanlong on October 31 with the other eight hills staggering their own events; instead of competing for the same weekend crowd they market a single Chongli standard — cross-mountain shuttles, a shared events calendar, one pass system. Wanlong drew more than 3,000 daytime skiers plus 1,000 at night on opening day, and bookings rose 110% in the ten days before full opening.
It is the district's 30th ski season, and the Olympic legacy is still being upgraded. Wanlong added an eight-person high-speed gondola, reshaped 32 runs, bought two more Olympic-spec groomers and more than 20 high-temperature snow guns. Genting and Fulong together added 11 new night runs and 200-plus lighting units; Thaiwoo rebuilt its snowmaking lines. That is the difference between a resort investing and one coasting on a 2022 photo opportunity.
Three spare days in Beijing between December and March buys you Olympic-standard terrain, a bed 200 metres from the lift, and a train ride short enough to do it as a long day trip. No other ski area in China is that close to an international gateway.
The nine hills sit in two clusters: the Taizicheng Olympic core (Thaiwoo, Genting, Xue Ruyi, Aranya Shixuechuan) and the Chongli town side (Wanlong, Fulong, Cuiyun Mountain Galaxy, plus the smaller Dolomiti and Changchengling). Which cluster your resort belongs to decides which train station you book.
| Resort | Chinese | Character | Best for | 2026-27 notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wanlong | 万龙 | 32 runs, 44.99 km of piste, summit 2,110 m, 550 m vertical | Strong intermediates and experts | New 8-seat gondola, 32 runs reshaped, cleaned glades; opening-festival host |
| Genting (Secret Garden) | 云顶 | The 2022 snowboard and freestyle venue — halfpipe, slopestyle, cross, parallel courses | Park and pipe riders | Expanded night skiing; the most Olympic terrain in China |
| Thaiwoo | 太舞 | Purpose-built European-style village at the lift base | Families, first-timers, mixed groups | New snowmaking; dedicated snow-play park for small children |
| Fulong | 富龙 | Closest big hill to Chongli town; park-heavy, night-heavy | Night skiers, beginners, groups with kids | Three new night runs, bigger park, childcare, a pet snow zone |
| Cuiyun Mountain Galaxy | 翠云山银河 | Smaller, cheaper, magic-carpet friendly | Absolute beginners, budget trips | Cheapest tickets in the region |
| Xue Ruyi | 雪如意 | Built around the Olympic ski-jumping venue | Views, photos, relaxed intermediates | Sunset DJ party on opening day; the most photogenic base |
| Aranya Shixuechuan | 阿那亚拾雪川 | Boutique, design-led, family-first | Families wanting a quiet base | Fairy-tale themed kids' programme |
| Dolomiti | 多乐美地 | Smaller and older | Quiet midweek skiing | Little English signage |
| Changchengling | 长城岭 | Small hill on the district's edge | Quiet days, no queues | Little English signage |
Wanlong has the most interesting fall-line terrain and the best tree skiing — the resort spent the off-season clearing rocks and roots out of its glades — so it suits anyone who already skis parallel. Genting is for anyone who wants to ride an Olympic course: the halfpipe and slopestyle line are reshaped each winter, and night sessions are its speciality.
Thaiwoo is the easiest base — hotels, rentals, restaurants and the lift within a five-minute walk — and Fulong competes on price, being minutes from Chongli town with childcare and a pet snow zone. Absolute beginners should look at Cuiyun Mountain Galaxy: a four-hour magic-carpet session with gear from about ¥139, or a full-day beginner ticket with equipment from about ¥199. English-speaking instructors are scarce everywhere — book ahead.
Chinese resorts use a three-tier grid — weekday (平日), weekend (周末) and holiday (假日), the last meaning New Year and Chinese New Year — and publish a higher "list" or menshi (门市) price before selling electronic tickets at a date-dependent discount. The table below is 2026-27 list pricing in yuan for self-gear lift access.
| Resort | 4 hours | 1 day | 2 days | Night session | 1 day with rental gear |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wanlong 万龙 | 420 / 490 / 600 | 600 / 700 / 850 | 1,140 / 1,330 / 1,600 | 268 / 298 / 328 | 800 / 900 / 1,150 |
| Genting 云顶 | 410 / 560 | 580 / 710 | 865 / 1,160 | 300 / 370 | on request |
| Thaiwoo 太舞 | 340 / 413 / 640 | 470 / 590 / 790 | 720 / 885 / 1,265 | — | 662 / 768 / 1,056 |
| Fulong 富龙 | 183–608 | 261 / 320 → 525 / 639 (midwinter) / 764 | 473 → 945–1,376 | 136 / 191 → 273 / 382 / 485 | pass only |
| Galaxy 银河 | from 99 | 99–628 by window | varies | 79–328 | 199–289 |
Source: resort-published 2026-27 price tables as transcribed by Chongli booking agents, retrieved 14 November 2026. Figures are weekday / weekend / holiday list prices in CNY unless a range is shown. Online discounts routinely cut 20–40%: Wanlong's 1-day self-gear pass was selling at ¥459 weekday and ¥529 weekend for the November 14–20 window against a ¥600 / ¥700 list. Confirm on the resort's own WeChat mini-programme before travelling.
In planning terms: a weekend ski day at a top Chongli resort costs roughly US$75–100 for lift access, or US$110–150 with rental. A four-hour session is usually enough if you are coming up from Beijing and heading back the same night.
The district issued 100,000 dining coupons and ¥2 million in consumption vouchers for 2026-27, covering 20 restaurants and 17 star-rated hotels, and resorts discount up to 50% for children, students, seniors, military personnel and Hebei residents. None of it is advertised in English — ask at the ticket desk.
The Jing-Zhang line runs north from Beijing to Zhangjiakou, with a 52 km branch climbing to the Olympic village. Two stations serve Chongli, and they serve different resorts:
| Station | Journey from Beijing | Serves |
|---|---|---|
| Taizicheng 太子城 | 1h04 fastest from Beijing North; about 50 min from Qinghe | Thaiwoo, Genting, Xue Ruyi, Aranya Shixuechuan (Olympic core) |
| Chongli 崇礼 | About 1h40 from Beijing North on through trains; the station sits in Chongli town and opened January 2022 | Wanlong, Fulong, Galaxy, Dolomiti, Changchengling |
Book on 12306, the official railway app with an English interface, up to 15 days ahead. Saturday-morning seats in January and February sell out, so buy the moment your window opens. In season China Railway also runs a ski and snowboard carriage service on this line from Beijing North, Qinghe, Taizicheng and Chongli stations, so you do not have to wrestle a board bag through the metro.
Resort shuttles meet the trains: from Taizicheng the Olympic-core resorts are minutes away, while Wanlong is 20–30 minutes by road from Chongli station. Confirm the pickup point with your hotel first — English signage is inconsistent.
Wanlong is roughly 249 km from central Beijing, a 2.5–3.5 hour drive. The district now runs winter coaches from Beijing Capital Airport, Daxing Airport and Beijing South station — useful if you land with skis, but book ahead. Zhangjiakou Ningyuan Airport (ZQZ) has direct winter routes from Shenzhen and Haikou. For almost every international visitor Beijing remains the gateway: fly into PEK or PKX, reach Beijing North, and be on the mountain the same afternoon.
Two very different bases. Taizicheng (Olympic core) means ski-in, ski-out hotels at Thaiwoo and around the Olympic village, English menus and on-site rental, at ¥600–1,500 per night in peak season. Chongli town is a real town with real prices — roughly ¥200–500 for mid-range rooms — plus the local restaurants no resort food court can replicate, 15–30 minutes from Wanlong, Fulong and Galaxy.
Food is where Chongli surprises people: hotpot is the default post-ski dinner (budget ¥80–150 per person for lamb, far less for noodles in town), and this season's novelty is a snow hotpot street (雪地火锅) serving nine regional styles outdoors. For what counts as a legal foreign-guest hotel, see our hotel booking guide.
Chongli sits between roughly 1,500 and 2,110 metres — Wanlong's base is about 1,560 m, the summit 2,110.3 m. High enough for real wind chill, not high enough for altitude sickness in healthy travellers. January days typically run from about −10°C at the base to below −20°C on exposed upper slopes. Layers beat one big jacket: thermal base, insulating mid, windproof shell. Goggles rather than sunglasses on windy days, mittens over gloves, and hand warmers sold for a few yuan at every ticket office.
Night skiing is Chongli's quiet advantage over almost every Western resort: lifts run until 21:30 at Fulong and Galaxy, Genting has expanded its lit terrain, and a Fulong night pass starts around ¥136 on weekdays against Wanlong's ¥268 list. The last trains to Beijing leave in the evening, so a night session usually means sleeping on the mountain. The scene is Chinese-resort Chinese — sunset DJ sets, snow music weekends, fire-dance performances, a "20 super weekends" programme — and Chinese New Year week brings lion dances and yangge processions along with the year's highest prices.
Rental fleets are better than expected — Rossignol and Atomic skis are standard at the larger resorts — but boots above EU 46 and wide fits are scarce. A full set runs about ¥130–300 per day, jackets and trousers extra.
Chongli is in Hebei Province, not Beijing, which matters for one specific route.
Citizens of 57 countries (as of August 2026) can enter China visa-free for up to 240 hours (10 days) when transiting to a third country, arriving through one of 65 open ports across 24 provinces. Beijing's airports are on the list, Hebei is one of the 24 permitted provinces, and the policy expressly allows cross-province travel inside the permitted areas. In practice: land in Beijing, ride to Chongli, ski, return, fly onward to a different country.
An A→China→A itinerary does not qualify. The onward flight must go to a third country or region; London→Beijing→London is not a transit and you will be refused boarding. Your passport needs at least three months' validity plus a confirmed onward ticket. Full detail: 240-hour transit visa-free guide.
Many nationalities currently enter China visa-free for 30 days with no transit requirement and no restriction to one province, which makes Chongli trivially easy. But 48 of the 50 countries in that programme are covered only until December 31, 2026; Russia runs to December 31, 2027 and Brunei has no end date. If you are booking a February or March 2027 trip, verify your nationality's status before paying for anything non-refundable — our visa-free entry guide tracks the list.
Otherwise a standard L visa applies: apply online, submit your passport, expect about four working days — see the tourist visa application guide.
Chongli is close to cashless: lift tickets, rentals, lessons, lockers and food are bought by scanning a WeChat or Alipay QR code at the counter. International cards work at hotel front desks and some restaurant tills, rarely at the rental window, so set up one app with your foreign card before leaving Beijing. See the payment apps guide and the eSIM guide.
07:00 train from Beijing North, at Taizicheng by 08:10, ski 09:00–15:30, shuttle back, dinner in Beijing. One solid day, no hotel bill — skip it on January weekends, when queues eat your margin.
Friday: afternoon train, check in at Thaiwoo or Fulong, collect gear the night before, hotpot. Saturday: full day at Wanlong or Genting, night session at Fulong if you have legs left. Sunday: half-day at the second resort, afternoon train back, dinner in Beijing.
Two days Beijing — see the Beijing guide — three days Chongli, one rest day. This justifies the flight from Europe or North America and still fits inside a 10-day transit visa-free window.
Doing both in one week is brutal, but skiing first then flying Beijing→Harbin works. The 28th Harbin Ice and Snow World opens in mid-December 2026 across a record 1.25 million square metres with a Disney Frozen zone; the exact date and prices were still unpublished in mid-November. See the Harbin Ice Festival guide.
| Chinese | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 雪票 | xuě piào | Lift ticket |
| 缆车 | lǎn chē | Cable car / chairlift |
| 魔毯 | mó tǎn | Magic carpet (beginner conveyor) |
| 单板 / 双板 | dān bǎn / shuāng bǎn | Snowboard / skis |
| 租雪具 | zū xuě jù | Rent ski equipment |
| 押金 | yā jīn | Deposit |
| 教练 | jiào liàn | Instructor |
| 夜场 | yè chǎng | Night session |
| 医务室 | yī wù shì | First-aid room |
| 火锅 | huǒ guō | Hotpot |
Yes. The fastest train from Beijing North to Taizicheng takes 1 hour 4 minutes and resort shuttles meet it, giving you roughly six hours on snow. Avoid January and February Saturdays, when queues and sold-out trains cut into that.
Depends on your passport. Many nationalities enter visa-free for 30 days, though 48 of the 50 countries in that programme are covered only until December 31, 2026. Alternatively the 240-hour transit rule covers 57 countries and permits travel in Hebei, provided you fly onward to a third country. Otherwise apply for an L visa.
Usually yes. Lift tickets run about ¥460–700 (roughly US$65–100) for a full day at a top resort, hotels outside New Year are cheaper, and resort food is a fraction of Japanese prices. Flights to Beijing are the variable.
A mix. Natural snowfall is modest compared with Heilongjiang or Xinjiang, and resorts invest heavily in snowmaking — Wanlong added more than 20 high-temperature guns this season. Grooming is excellent; off-piste tree skiing exists but only where the resort permits it.
Mid-December to early February for snow and full operations; late November and March for cheaper tickets and thinner crowds. Avoid Chinese New Year week — February 5–13 in 2027, a nine-day national holiday when prices peak and trains sell out. See the Spring Festival 2027 guide.
At hotel front desks and international rental counters, sometimes; at lift lines, ticket windows and local restaurants, rarely. A translation app, your booking screenshotted in Chinese, and the phrase table above cover almost everything.
Sources. Season opening, 219 runs and 178 km: Beijing News via Sina Finance, 1 November 2026; People's Daily Hebei, 23 October 2026. Upgrades, night runs and vouchers: same reporting plus the Chongli district tourism bureau. Lift prices: resort-published 2026-27 price tables distributed by Chongli booking agents, retrieved 14 November 2026. Trains: China Railway / 12306; Taizicheng–Chongli section opening, 7 January 2022. Visas: National Immigration Administration. Harbin window: Harbin municipal government press conference, 10 November 2026. Prices and schedules change without notice — verify before booking.