Hwacheon Ice Country Mountain Trout Festival
🗓️ 2027.01.09 ~ 2027.01.31
The following festival details are from the 2026 festival; details for the 2027 festival are currently being updated
The Hwacheon Sancheoneo Ice Festival—also known in English as the Hwacheon Ice Country Mountain Trout Festival—is held every January in Hwacheon, Gangwon Special Self-Governing Province. In 2011, CNN selected it as one of the “7 Wonders of Winter,” and it now attracts over one million visitors each year. The festival takes place on the Hwacheon Stream, a body of water known for its clear quality and for the sancheoneo, or mountain trout, that live there. When the stream freezes solid, the site becomes a winter playground for fishing, sledding, and other cold-weather activities.
What makes this festival distinctive is that visitors take part rather than just watch. Ice fishing is available on-site or by reservation, and there are also bare-handed catching and lure fishing options. After catching a mountain trout—often called the “Queen of the Valley”—you can have it served immediately as sashimi or grilled at the on-site preparation areas. That direct link between catching and eating is central to the festival’s appeal.
Festival Program
Sancheoneo Experience
- Ice fishing (on-site/reservation)
- Bare-handed catching
- Lure fishing
Snow/Ice Experience
- Snow sledding
- Ice sledding
- “Sky-cutting” (zipline)
- Ice Bear Castle slide
- Ice soccer
- Curling
- Figure skating
- Ice bubble suits
Culture/Events
- Festival opening plaza
- Hwacheon Luck-of-the-Draw event
- Ice Country Broadcasting Station
- Hoguk-i Experience Zone
- Hwacheon Tourism Promotion Hall
Convenience/Safety
- General Information Center
- Fishing guides
- Warming/infant shelters
- Mobility assistants
- Medical center
- Disaster rescue team
- Hwacheon Fire Station
Food/Shopping
- Sancheoneo restaurants
- Sancheoneo sashimi center/grill area
- Local snack market
- Agricultural and specialty product stores
- Souvenir shops
These categories include additional offerings beyond the items listed, and the festival updates its program as the event approaches. First-time visitors can rely on the information center and fishing guides, while families have access to warming and infant shelters as well as mobility assistants. The on-site safety presence includes a medical center, disaster rescue team, and Hwacheon Fire Station.
Linked Events and Tourist Attractions
The festival connects to a wider set of destinations in Hwacheon. Linked events and attractions include the Seondeung Street Festival, the world’s largest indoor ice sculpture plaza, Hwacheon Sancheoneo Park Golf Course, Santa Post Office Korea Main Branch, and Baegamsan Cable Car. These options make it easy to extend a festival visit into a broader winter itinerary.
Event Information
📍 Address: 137 Sancheoneo-gil, Hwacheon-eup, Hwacheon-gun, Gangwon Special Self-Governing Province
🛏️ Accommodation near the event
💰 Fee: Paid (Refer to the website for details.)
📞 Inquiry: 1688-3005
⭐️ Instagram: instagram.com/eolgomi
🖥️ Website: www.narafestival.com
Hwacheon is best known for the Hwacheon Mountain Trout Festival, held every winter on the frozen Hwacheoncheon Stream in Gangwon-do. For several weeks starting each January, the ice becomes a fishing ground. Visitors cut holes, drop lines into the cold water below, and try to catch Sancheoneo, the native mountain trout found in the stream. Alongside regular ice fishing, the festival includes a bare-handed catching event, in which participants wade into the water and attempt to grab the fish directly.
The rest of the program follows the conventions of a Korean winter festival: ice sledding, snow sculpture displays, and food stalls selling freshly caught trout, often grilled on the spot. The event brings most of the county’s winter visitors and has made Hwacheon a regular stop in the winter tourism season.
Outside of January, Hwacheon is a largely rural county whose appeal is its reservoirs, mountains, and relatively quiet landscape. Tourism is centered on fishing, kayaking, walking, and seasonal scenery. But the trout festival remains the main reason most people know the town, and it is what gives Hwacheon its reputation as a winter destination.
