If you want to see what 10000 workers living in shitty conditions can achieve, then perhaps. 

Yes it's worth it. I will be going for the 2nd time as there is an Ice side and a snow side. Can't see both in 1 day otherwise you end up looking like one of the ice sculptures!

Went last year to the festival and yes I would say it is worth it, also the tiger sanctuary. For the rest of Harbin nothing special there at all. Go for a long weekend and that would do it.

There was a thread a few weeks ago abOut the same topic (not mine!). It has some good info but I would definitely say it's worth it. If you go to the snow festival in the morning and the ice festival at night you can do it in a day. I also went down the song hua river, where you can catch a cable car to the snow festival, and to a market at zhongyangjie to buy new winter clothes.

A few pieces of advice: zhongyangjie is really only worth it for the church, and not much at that; the tiger sanctuary is cool but depressing as most Chinese zoos are; get a hostel within walking distane of the songhua; the cabbies are overpriced dicks, talk to reception to figure out the real price; the bar district can certainly be fun, had a great last night; and be aware you might have to buy the ice festival tickets (not the snow, you can do that at the cable car station) beforehand and go before the gates to the park close at 6:30-7.

All in all it was a great trip for a somewhat okay price, but still in my top 7 for china! Hope this helps!

Also, it's really cold, I wore three layers top.and bottom with scarf and two sets of gloves. If you don't have that much or your winter clother are old, buy more there, q full set cost me 500 kuai.

It is very impressive. I've done it twice and both times I loved it. The two largest attractions, the Ice and Snow World and the snow sculpture park (on Sun Island) are both on the other side of the river from the main city and so are more exposed to the wind and weather, making them feel a fair bit colder than the city section itself. Also, there are less places to seek sanctuary if you do need to warm up. The snow sculpture park is only open during the daytime (there are no lights in any case) so it is feasible to do both in the one day but that will depend largely on your weather tolerance. If your schedule is flexible, try to go on a relatively warmer day.

On the main city side of the river, there is also a smallish ice sculpture park called Zhaolin Park, where smaller and more detailed statues are exhibited. Zhongyang Dajie is nearby and is the main shopping street of the city and is pretty nice in my opinion (the fact that it is closed off to vehicles certainly helps). There's also a fun park on the river at the end of Zhongyang Dajie where you can skate, have a sleigh ride, drive a small tank, et cetera.

I prefer Ft. Lauderdale beach. Year around!