Experience Korea’s Favorite Winter Activity, Ice-Fishing at Hwacheon Sancheoneo Festival | 5 to 27 Jan 2019

It’s the time of the year again! From 5 January to 27 January 2019, the Hwacheon Sancheoneo Festival will be opened for visitors to experience unique winter activities such as trout ice-fishing, bare-hand fishing, snow-sledding, ice-soccer, and many more.

Held annually in January, this festival is one of South Korea’s major winter festivals, where it attracts over a million visitors from all over the world — including the Korean locals who flock here every year to participate in the ice-fishing tradition. Hwacheon is also known for its picturesque scenery, surrounded by the magnificent mountains and rivers.

There are various fun activities for visitors of all ages to enjoy, most notably the fishing experience where one could dig holes into the ice and attempt at ice-fishing. Each visitor can catch up to a maximum of 3 trouts out of the fishing ground.

(P.S. You can also cook and feast on the fresh catches right there with a small fee too!)

Visitors can try their hands on trout ice-fishing on ice, lure-fishing in the waters, or bare-hand fishing in the pool. There are also fishing zones specially catered for foreigners, as well as infants and children.

Besides the fishing activities, you can spend the day soaking in the unique Korean culture at the festival as there are also special events, street performances, ice wall photo zone, an indoor ice sculpture square, a salmon craft studio, and more at the venue. Don’t forget to visit the Food Street and Agricultural Specialty Product Market to fill your tummies up!

For the more adventurous ones, get ready to spend hours of fun with the winter activities offered at the festival, ranging from snow-sledding to bobsleigh, creative sleigh, ice-soccer, Eolgomi Castle and more. Who says winter is only for those who can brave the cold? It’s such a jolly season to be in!

Where: Hwacheon riverside Hwacheon-gun, Gangwon-do, South Korea
Getting here: You can either take the shuttle bus for foreigners, or board the intercity bus to Hwacheon from Dong Seoul Bus Terminal and walk for 10 minutes to the festival grounds.
Entrance Fee: 8,000 won (For Tourists) (Note: Fishing rod is charged separately at 5,000 won each)
Festival Website: http://www.narafestival.com/ice_eng/ (More info here)

For those who want to save the hassle of planning your own trip there, there is currently a 1 for 1 promotion on Klook (till 27 Jan 2019) for this activity, which will include the entrance ticket, round-trip transfers to and from Seoul via shuttle bus, lunch, fishing rod and an English speaking staff on board. Be sure to book early because tickets tend to run out fast nearer to date and especially on weekends! Find out more here.