Nature & seasonsHwacheon, Gangwon State

Hwacheon Sancheoneo Ice Festival 2024 in Hwacheon, Gangwon State, South Korea

얼음나라화천 산천어축제 2024

Jan2024
6 –28
Sat–Sun
Past edition

6 January 2024 to 28 January 2024

This edition has ended. It is kept as a record of what the 2024 festival offered. The current information is on the Hwacheon Sancheoneo Ice Festival page (Expected Jan/Feb 2027).

Dates6–28 Jan 2024
WeatherJanuary average 2/−9 °C (35/15 °F), 19 mm of rainMonthly averages, not a forecast: Korea Meteorological Administration climate normals, 1991–2020, Chuncheon station, about 25 km away.
VenueHwacheon stream festival grounds, Hwacheon-eup강원특별자치도 화천군 화천읍 산천어길 137
AdmissionThere 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.
Next edition2025: 11 Jan – 2 Feb 2025

Program

  • Ice fishing with on-site and reserved lanes plus a separate area for foreign visitors
  • Bare-handed trout catching, ice sledding, bobsleigh, snow sledding, zipline over the fishing area
  • Ice sculpture plaza and lantern street

Notes on the 2024 edition

Opened 6 January for 23 days (end date derived from that span); 1.53 million visitors.

About the festival

The Hwacheon Sancheoneo Ice Festival (얼음나라화천 산천어축제) is Korea's largest winter festival: three weeks of ice fishing for mountain trout through holes in the frozen Hwacheon stream in Hwacheon, Gangwon, about 3 h 30 m by direct bus from Seoul. The 2026 edition ran 10 January–1 February; 2027 is expected 9–31 January. Ice fishing cost ₩15,000 in 2026 (₩10,000 for foreign passport holders), ₩5,000 of it returned as a voucher for local farm products.

Transport, booking, crowd and accessibility details are on the main Hwacheon Sancheoneo Ice Festival page, which covers every edition.

Source

Facts checked
21 October 2026, against the sources listed below.

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