DgcityChina’s 2026-2027 ski season is underway, with resorts in Chongli and other leading winter destinations opening their slopes in the first days of November and drawing an early rush of visitors from the country’s warmer south.
Chongli, the mountain district in Hebei Province that hosted events during the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, was among the first to open, with several of its major resorts kicking off the season simultaneously. Long known as China’s best-known ski hub, the area has spent years broadening its terrain, grooming beginner hills alongside racing pistes, and that groundwork is now visible in the makeup of its crowd: many of this month’s visitors are first-timers rather than seasoned regulars.
Bookings data points to a sharp jump in interest at the start of the month. Searches for terms such as skiing and ice and snow on one major Chinese travel platform rose 120 percent compared with the previous stretch of weeks, while reservations for hotels near ski resorts climbed by more than half. Flight bookings from Shenzhen to Zhangjiakou, the city that administers Chongli, were up 40 percent from a year earlier, and Shenzhen has become the second-largest source market for the district’s slopes after Shanghai.
The trend extends well beyond the hills outside Beijing. In the far northwest, direct flights from Shenzhen to Altay in Xinjiang saw bookings surge more than elevenfold, the fastest growth of any snow-related route in the country, while flights from Zhuhai to Kashgar rose 3.5 times. The numbers reflect a broadening of China’s ski map: where winter sports once meant a short trip to Chongli or the northeastern resort cluster, growing numbers of southern travelers now treat a Xinjiang snow holiday as a realistic option.
Authorities are also reshaping the school calendar around the season. Jilin Province, in the northeast, is introducing a dedicated five-day snow holiday for primary and secondary students in December, a move expected to lift short trips within the province, while Altay will give its students a similar five-day break in mid-December. Hotels in Yanbian, Changchun and Baishan are already ranking among the country’s top winter destinations.
For foreign visitors considering a Chinese winter trip, the early opening matters practically: lessons, rental equipment and lift tickets remain easier to arrange on November weekdays than during the crowded peaks around New Year and the Spring Festival, when slopes and high-speed trains into Zhangjiakou fill quickly.
