At a glance
| Dates | Expected Jan/Feb 20279–31 January 2027 is the window shown on KTO's listing, which carries a disclaimer that details are based on 2026 and will be updated; it matches the pattern of 23 days from the second Saturday of January. Hwacheon County confirmed in August and October 2026 that it is preparing the 2027 festival (155 tons of trout, a 'local-economy' redesign, possible rise of the fishing fee to about ₩25,000 with about ₩15,000 refunded in vouchers). Expect official dates in November or December 2026. |
|---|---|
| Next edition | 2027: 9–31 January 2027 is the window shown on KTO's listing, which carries a disclaimer that details are based on 2026 and will be updated; it matches the pattern of 23 days from the second Saturday of January. Hwacheon County confirmed in August and October 2026 that it is preparing the 2027 festival (155 tons of trout, a 'local-economy' redesign, possible rise of the fishing fee to about ₩25,000 with about ₩15,000 refunded in vouchers). Expect official dates in November or December 2026. |
| Weather | January average 2/−9 °C (35/15 °F), 19 mm of rain February average 5/−7 °C (42/20 °F), 28 mm of rainWell below freezing at night: a down coat, hat, gloves and thermal layers. Monthly averages, not a forecast: Korea Meteorological Administration climate normals, 1991–2020, Chuncheon station, about 25 km away. |
| Admission | There is no general gate fee; each activity is ticketed, with the reserved ice-fishing session at ₩15,000 (₩10,000 discounted, including foreign passport holders) in 2026.Ice fishing (adult), proposed: ₩25,000 |
| Venue | Hwacheon stream festival grounds, Hwacheon-eup강원특별자치도 화천군 화천읍 산천어길 137 |
| Nearest station | Chuncheon Station (ITX-Cheongchun), then bus (춘천역), Gyeongchun Line / ITX-CheongchunNot walkable; about 1 h 15 m by intercity bus from Chuncheon to Hwacheon |
| From Seoul | about 3 h 20 min · BusLeave from Dong Seoul Bus Terminal · One-way fare from ₩18,900Full route · Festivals by travel time from Seoul |
| Organizer | Nara Foundation, for Hwacheon County재단법인 나라 (주최: 화천군) |
| Usual timing | 23 days starting on the first or second Saturday of January: 6–28 Jan 2024, 11 Jan–2 Feb 2025, 10 Jan–1 Feb 2026. Dates are usually public by November or December. Browse January / February festivals. |
| First held | 2003 |
| Last checked | 21 October 2026Checked against 22 sources · See sources |
Ice conditions: Ice fishing depends on the ice. Organizers open the fishing zones only once the ice is thick enough to be safe, and close or delay them after a warm spell or rain; in mild winters some festivals have been postponed or cancelled. Check the organizer's notice the day before you travel.
What it is like
Hwacheon is a small military-border county in the mountains northeast of Seoul whose stream freezes solid every January. Since 2003 the county has turned that into a three-week festival that now draws well over a million people: 1.53 million in 2024, a record of about 1.84–1.86 million in 2025 (reports differ; about 122,000 of them foreign visitors) and a projected 1.6 million-plus in 2026. The main event is simple. You buy a session ticket, get a short rod, and sit or stand at one of roughly 20,000 holes drilled in the ice, waiting for sancheoneo, a farmed mountain trout released into the stream by the ton (155 tons are planned for 2027). Catches can be taken to a nearby tent to be grilled or served as sashimi for a fee, and you may take up to three fish home. A separate fishing zone is set aside for foreign visitors, and a night-fishing area runs after dark. Around the fishing lanes are a 140 m snow sled run, ice bobsleigh, skating, ice soccer, bare-handed trout catching in a pool for people in shorts, an indoor plaza of 30-plus ice sculptures, a lantern street in town and a Santa post office. Caveats: it is genuinely cold (minus 5 to minus 10 C is normal), weekend fishing lanes fill by mid-morning, the fishing area is a flat expanse of ice rather than scenery, and the trout are farmed, so this is a mass-participation event rather than wilderness. The 2027 edition is being reworked, with a higher ticket price (around ₩25,000 with a larger voucher refund) under discussion.
Highlights
- Ice fishing for mountain trout through about 20,000 holes in the frozen Hwacheon stream, 09:00–18:00 (08:30 weekends), with a reserved-session option
- Night fishing zone 18:00/19:00–21:00; in 2026 it was free for visitors who showed a receipt from local lodging
- Bare-handed trout catching: jump into a pool in shorts and a T-shirt and grab fish (bring spare clothes and a towel)
- 140 m snow sled run, ice bobsleigh, ice slide, skating and ice soccer beside the fishing lanes
- Indoor ice sculpture plaza at Seohwasan (about 30 sculptures, 20 Dec 2025–8 Feb 2026, ₩5,000 with ₩3,000 back as a local voucher)
- Seondeung-geori lantern street in Hwacheon town, lit from 20 December, and the Santa Post Office with staff from Finland
Who it suits. Best for families and groups who want an active winter day with a guaranteed photo of someone holding a fish, and for first-time visitors to Korea looking for a famous event near Seoul; less suited to people who dislike crowds or extreme cold, or who expect natural scenery rather than a managed ice field.
Getting there
From Seoul
Intercity bus from Dong Seoul Terminal direct to Hwacheon: 8 a day as listed in October 2026, ₩18,900, scheduled at about 3 h 20 m; or ITX-Cheongchun from Yongsan to Chuncheon (about 1 h 40 m) then an intercity bus (about 1 h 15 m, ₩6,300) or a taxi to Hwacheon. Driving takes about 2 hours. The grounds are on the stream in Hwacheon-eup (Sancheoneo-gil 137).
Last leg from Chuncheon Station (ITX-Cheongchun), then bus
Gyeongchun Line / ITX-Cheongchun. Not walkable; about 1 h 15 m by intercity bus from Chuncheon to Hwacheon
Festival shuttle
Free shuttles every 10–15 minutes ran between the overflow car park (about 500 m away) and the festival entrance in 2026; no Seoul shuttle was documented on the pages opened.
Getting home
Intercity buses ran from Hwacheon Public Bus Terminal to Dong Seoul 8 times a day in October 2026 (scheduled at about 3 h 25 m); the January 2027 timetable has not been checked, and extra buses may run during the festival. Daytime fishing ends at 18:00 and night fishing runs 18:00–21:00. Check the last bus back at the Hwacheon terminal before the festival day; if it leaves before you finish, plan an overnight stay or drive.
Parking
Large lot next to the grounds plus a temporary lot about 500 m away with shuttles; one blog reports ₩2,000 base plus ₩500 per 10 minutes, another says parking was free, so expect a small fee. Height limit 2.2 m at the youth centre and Nara Foundation lots. Arrive before 09:00 on weekdays and before 08:00 on weekends.
How to switch Naver Map and Kakao Map to English
Google Maps shows train, subway and bus routes in Korea but not walking or driving directions yet, so for the walk from the station Naver Map or Kakao Map is more reliable.
Before you go
1330 · Travel hotline
The Korea Tourism Organization’s helpline answers in English, Japanese and Chinese around the clock, and in several other languages from 08:00 to 19:00. Dial 1330 from a Korean phone, or +82-2-1330 from a phone registered abroad.
112 / 119 · Emergencies
112 for police, 119 for fire and ambulance. Both are free from any phone. Police on 112 can add an English or Chinese interpreter to the call.
T-money card
Buy one at a convenience store such as GS25, CU or 7-Eleven and top it up there with cash. It pays for subways and buses in most cities, and for most taxis.
Maps
Use Naver Map or Kakao Map for walking and bus directions; Google Maps does not yet give walking directions in Korea. Both apps can be switched to English. Naver Map: Menu (≡) → Settings → Language (Japanese and Chinese also available). Kakao Map: Menu (≡) → Settings → App settings → Language. If the option is missing, change your phone’s language and reopen the app. Small shop names and some reviews stay in Korean.
Trains and buses
Book trains on Korail’s English site and express buses on Kobus. Holiday weekends sell out first.
Checked 18 October 2026.
Tickets, prices and practical details
| Item | Price | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Ice fishing (adult), proposed | ₩25,000 | Under consideration per Hwacheon County, 2 Oct 2026; refund in farm-product vouchers would rise to about ₩15,000 |
- Booking
- Reserved ice-fishing sessions were sold through NOL (Yanolja) in 2026 and had to be booked by 23:59 the day before; on-site lanes are first come, first served. Foreigners get the ₩10,000 rate with a passport at ticket pickup. The official site is narafestival.com; whether a Korean phone number is needed on NOL is not stated.
- English on site
- A separate fishing zone for foreign visitors, English and Japanese flyers, and a KTO English listing; the county briefs foreign press in English.
- Crowds
- Very crowded on weekends, when morning fishing lanes fill on a first-come basis; weekday mornings 09:00–11:00 and after 15:00 have shorter waits. Night fishing drew about 300 people on weekdays and 1,000 on weekend nights in 2026.
- Best time to go
- Weekday morning right at opening, or a late afternoon into the night-fishing session; stay over in Hwacheon to qualify for free night fishing.
- What to bring
- Thermal layers, windproof coat, waterproof boots, gloves, hat, hand warmers and a spare phone battery (cold drains batteries); spare clothes and a towel for bare-handed catching; some cash for small vendors and taxis. A travel blog says outside food is not allowed in the fishing area.
- Toilets
- Information centre, warming rooms and an infant rest area on site (KTO list of facilities).
- Step-free access
- A mobility-assistance service and medical centre are listed among on-site facilities; the ice surface itself is flat but uneven.
2027 program
- Proposals under review for 2027: festival history hall, laser and drone night show, Finnish-style sauna, large igloo café, LED sky-lantern event
Not yet officially confirmed by the organizer as of 16 October 2026.
Editions
| Year | Dates | Status | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2027 | 9–31 January 2027 is the window shown on KTO's listing, which carries a disclaimer that details are based on 2026 and will be updated; it matches the pattern of 23 days from the second Saturday of January. Hwacheon County confirmed in August and October 2026 that it is preparing the 2027 festival (155 tons of trout, a 'local-economy' redesign, possible rise of the fishing fee to about ₩25,000 with about ₩15,000 refunded in vouchers). Expect official dates in November or December 2026. | expected | Not yet officially confirmed by the organizer as of 16 October 2026. |
| 2026 | 10 Jan – 1 Feb 2026 | ended | Heaters were added along the route and vehicle controls tightened after the first weekend. |
| 2025 | 11 Jan – 2 Feb 2025 | ended | Record attendance: 1.86 million (Kyunghyang) or 1,839,105 (Kukinews), including about 122,000 foreign visitors (up from about 85,000 in 2024). |
| 2024 | 6–28 Jan 2024 | ended | Opened 6 January for 23 days (end date derived from that span); 1.53 million visitors. |
Before or after the festival
Places you can fit in before or after the festival without missing the shuttle or the last train or bus back.
- Indoor ice sculpture plaza (실내 얼음조각광장)Before or after
An indoor hall kept below freezing in Hwacheon-eup, filled with about 30 large ice sculptures by carvers from Harbin, China. Indoors and open into the evening, it fills the time after fishing ends at 18:00; in 2025–26 it stayed open until 21:00 all season. Entry costs a few thousand won, part of it returned as a Hwacheon gift voucher you can spend on the lantern street. 2027 dates and hours were not announced by 21 October 2026.
Getting there: In Hwacheon-eup at Seohwasan Multipurpose Plaza; about a 15-minute walk from the lantern street, or a short taxi from the grounds
- Seondeung-geori lantern street (선등거리)After
Hwacheon-eup's main street, strung for the festival season with thousands of lanterns shaped like mountain trout. They look best after dark, just as daytime fishing closes; in 2025–26 they were lit from the 20 December ceremony to mid-February, with a Saturday-night street festival and food trucks. Before dinner in town, check the last bus to Dong Seoul or Chuncheon at Hwacheon terminal: the Dong Seoul one leaves in the evening and the January timetable is not out yet.
Getting there: Jungang-ro in central Hwacheon-eup, on foot in town; no transport needed
Questions travelers ask
When is the Hwacheon Sancheoneo Ice Festival 2027?
Expected 9–31 January 2027 (the window on KTO's listing, flagged as provisional). The county confirmed in August and October 2026 that it is preparing the 2027 festival; official dates usually come in November or December.
How much does ice fishing cost?
₩15,000 per reserved session in 2026, ₩10,000 for foreign passport holders, seniors and elementary students, free under elementary age. ₩5,000 of the fee came back as a local-produce voucher. A rise to about ₩25,000 is being considered for 2027.
Do I need to book in advance?
Reserved sessions were sold on NOL (Yanolja) in 2026 and closed at 23:59 the day before. On-site lanes exist but weekend mornings fill early, so booking is strongly advised for weekends.
How do I get to Hwacheon from Seoul without a car?
Direct intercity bus from Dong Seoul Terminal (8 a day, ₩18,900, scheduled at about 3 h 20 m), or ITX-Cheongchun to Chuncheon (about 1 h 40 m) then an intercity bus (about 1 h 15 m) or a taxi.
Can I eat the fish I catch?
Yes. Tents next to the fishing area grill or slice your catch for a fee (blog-reported ₩15,000–25,000 for set meals), and you may take up to three trout home.
Is there a fishing area for foreigners?
Yes, the festival runs a separate ice-fishing zone for foreign visitors, with the discounted ₩10,000 rate on presentation of a foreign passport.
What are the opening hours?
09:00–18:00 on weekdays (08:30 on weekends), with night fishing until 21:00. The indoor ice sculpture plaza ran 09:00–21:00 from 20 December 2025 to 8 February 2026.
What is the weather like during Hwacheon Sancheoneo Ice Festival?
January in Hwacheon: average high 2 °C (35 °F), low −9 °C (15 °F), 19 mm of rain (Chuncheon station, about 25 km away, KMA 1991–2020 normals). February in Hwacheon: average high 5 °C (42 °F), low −7 °C (20 °F), 28 mm of rain (Chuncheon station, about 25 km away, KMA 1991–2020 normals). Well below freezing at night: a down coat, hat, gloves and thermal layers.
Sources and verification
Facts checked
21 October 2026, against the sources listed below.
This page is desk research from the sources below, not a firsthand report of the 2027 edition. Confidence in the current facts: high.
- KTO VisitKorea (EN) — Hwacheon Sancheoneo Ice Festivalkto — Provisional 2027 window 9–31 Jan with 'based on 2026' disclaimer, address, hours 09:00–18:00 and night fishing to 21:00, organizers Hwacheon-gun and Nara Foundation, phone, program list
- ktriptips (KTO data mirror) — 얼음나라화천 산천어축제kto — Coordinates 38.1126/127.7099, facilities list (warming rooms, medical, mobility assistance), linked sites, CNN 2011 note
- Kyunghyang 2025-12-18 — 2026 화천산천어축제 안내news — 2026 dates 10 Jan–1 Feb, Seondeung-geori lighting 20 Dec, indoor ice plaza dates, hours and prices, voucher
- Kukinews 2026-02-01 — 산천어축제 폐막news — Closing ceremony 1 Feb 18:00, 23 days, projected 1.6 million, 106,412 figure
- Herald Economy 2026-01-18 — 한겨울 밤낮없이 57만명news — 574,000 visitors in eight days, past totals 2023–2025, night fishing from 19:00 and free with lodging receipt, heaters and controls
- Kyunghyang 2025-02-06 — 2025 산천어축제 결산news — 2025 dates 11 Jan–2 Feb, 1.86 million visitors, 122,000 foreigners
- Kukinews 2024-01-06 — 2024 산천어축제 개막news — 2024 opened 6 Jan for 23 days, program list, foreigner fishing area
- MTN 2026-10-02 — 화천산천어축제, 지역경제형 축제로 새판 짠다news — 2027 redesign, fee possibly ₩25,000 with ₩15,000 refund, proposed new programs
- MTN 2026-08-24 — 역대급 폭염 이겨낸 산천어news — 155 tons of trout planned for the 2027 festival
- Seoul Shinmun 2025-12-15 — 화천 산천어축제 전 세계에 러브콜news — Festival began 2003, English and Japanese flyers, foreign press briefing, 2026 dates
- NOL (Yanolja) — 2026 얼음나라화천 산천어축제 예약접수 얼음낚시other — 2026 reserved ice-fishing prices ₩15,000/₩10,000/free, discount categories including foreign passport holders, booking cutoff, cancellation fees
- Kyungbuk Ilbo 2026-01-10 — 2026 화천산천어축제 10일 개막news — About 20,000 fishing holes, 140 m sled run, bobsleigh, Santa Post Office with Finnish staff, 100,000+ foreign visitors a year
- telltrip — 화천산천어축제 가이드blog — Weekday/weekend hours, voucher portion of fee, ice-sled price, three-fish limit, crowd timing (its 25–30 Jan Seollal programme and 20 Jan lantern lighting appear to be from earlier years)
- travelmapjourney — 화천 산천어축제 2026blog — Bus and ITX routes and durations from Seoul, parking lots, shuttle interval, height limit, what to bring, food prices, outside-food rule
- Hwacheon → Dong Seoul intercity bus timetable (third-party mirror of the MOLIT/data.go.kr national timetable feed, page last modified 2026-10-13)other — 8 buses a day: 07:40, 08:10, 09:10, 11:10, 12:10, 14:10, 16:20, 19:30 (scheduled arrival 22:56); ₩18,900, 3 h 26 m (rechecked 2026-10-21)
- Kukinews 2026-01-29 — 산천어축제 누적 131만 명news — 1,310,429 visitors by 28 Jan 2026; 86,615 foreign visitors by 20 Jan; 2025 total 1,839,105
- Dong Seoul → Hwacheon intercity bus timetable (third-party mirror of the national timetable feed, page last modified 2026-10-12)other — 8 buses a day 06:45–18:10, ₩18,900 (일반), scheduled 3 h 19 m
- Chuncheon → Hwacheon intercity bus timetable (third-party mirror of the national timetable feed, page last modified 2026-10-13)other — 16 buses a day 07:30–21:00, ₩6,300, scheduled 1 h 13 m
- 쿠키뉴스 — 화천 선등거리 점등·실내얼음조각광장 개장 (2025-12-20)news — Lantern street on Jungang-ro, Hwacheon-eup, lit 20 Dec 2025 18:00; ice plaza at Seohwasan Multipurpose Plaza, 20 Dec 2025–8 Feb 2026, about 30 works by Harbin carvers
- twig24 — 화천 선등거리 불 밝혀 (2025-12-19)news — Lanterns stay up until mid-February 2026
- 쿠키뉴스 — 선등거리 페스티벌 매주 토요일 (2026-01-18)news — Saturday-night lantern-street festival with performances, food trucks and heaters in 2026
- Korea Tourism Organization — 화천 산천어축제 여행기사kto — About 15 minutes' walk from the ice plaza to the food plaza and lantern street (article last updated 2018)
What we could not confirm
- Official 2027 dates and the final 2027 fishing fee have not been announced by Hwacheon County or the Nara Foundation (narafestival.com blocks automated fetching).
- Official 2026 on-site (non-reserved) lane price, grilling/sashimi fees and parking fee were only found in blogs, which disagree on parking.
- Whether the KTO-listed 18:00 night-fishing start or the press-reported 19:00 start applied in 2026.
- Japanese and Chinese names not verified.
- Last bus back from Hwacheon to Dong Seoul on the festival dates under the timetable in force that day (the October 2026 bus count and journey times came from a third-party mirror of the national timetable feed).
- 2026 hours' 17:30 last entry, the NOL ticket prices and the outside-food rule could not be rechecked against an official page (NOL and narafestival.com not opened).
Changes: 2026-10-16 — Full fact-first rewrite: hours, prices, stations, 2024–2027 editions, FAQs and sources. · 2026-10-16 — Rechecked against timetables, fare tables and organizer notices: conflicting dates and transport details; conflicting figures and claims; last trains and buses back to Seoul. · 2026-10-18 — Added a Wikimedia Commons photograph of the 2023 festival's ice-fishing field (KOCIS, CC BY-SA 2.0). · 2026-10-18 — Replaced the Wikimedia Commons photograph with a Korea Tourism Organization (Korea Tourism Content Lab) photograph, KOGL Type 1. · 2026-10-20 — Bus times corrected from the October 2026 timetable: the direct Hwacheon–Dong Seoul bus is scheduled at about 3 h 25 m (not 2 h 30 m), and the Chuncheon–Hwacheon bus at about 1 h 15 m–1 h 45 m. · 2026-10-21 — Corrected after an independent fact audit: Seoul bus fare and trip time and the Chuncheon–Hwacheon bus time from the October 2026 timetable; removed a 20 January lantern lighting and a 25–30 January holiday programme that came from earlier years; sled price relabelled as ice sled; 2025 and 2026 visitor figures aligned with news reports; outside-food rule marked as blog-reported. · 2026-10-21 — Nearby rewritten as 'Before or after the festival' (shuttle and last-train fit) · 2026-10-21 — Transport: removed bus clock times from the October 2026 timetable, which does not cover January 2027; journey time, bus count and fare kept, with a reminder to check the last bus at the terminal. · 2026-10-21 — Before or after the festival: each place now opens with what it is (owner's feedback); Busan gets a 'Getting away' line for after the fireworks (restates the lastTrain advice); Hwacheon ice-plaza fee given as a range (no year-old amounts). · 2026-10-22 — Added a photo gallery: Visitors among illuminated ice sculptures in the festival's indoor ice plaza (2012), Trout-shaped lanterns over the main street of Hwacheon-eup at night (2012) (KOGL Type 1, 한국관광콘텐츠랩).
