Hwacheon Sancheoneo Ice Festival

Gangwon Snow Festa, a global festival brimming with visual pleasure and enjoyable experiences!

Hwacheon Sancheoneo Festival

  • Selected by CNN of the United States as "one of the 7 wonders of winter" now the festival is reborn as one of "the world's top 4 winter festivals." The festival takes place on clean ice of Hwacheon river where sancheoneo and otters dwell, offering various winter events such as ice fishing, ice sled, and catching sancheoneo with bare hands.
  • Information
    Contact +82-1688-3005
    Address 137, Sancheoneo-gil, Hwacheon-eup, Hwacheon-gun, Gangwon-do
    Event period In January, yearly
    Direct links to social media
A new cultural heritage for Korea, the festival earned multiple honors: one of the 7 wonders of winter, one of four world winter festivals, and cultural tourism festival to represent Korea when it was selected by the Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism. We cordially welcome you to the ice kingdom, Hwacheon Sancheoneo Festival.

Hwacheon is home to beautiful mountains, lakes, and innocent minds.
Visitor can experience the kind-heartedness of about 27,000 Hwacheon-gun residents through the Sancheoneo Festival, and we hope you have a truly great winter while enjoying warm generosity and building everlasting memories.

Hwacheon - Local Delicacies

  • Hwacheon Samnamul-bap

    Samnamul (sam meaning three, namul meaning greens) is given its name because it has three tastes: fatasia shoot ,ginseng, meat. Its original name is nungaeseungma. The texture is similar to meat, and with saponin at work, it has beneficial effects close to ginseng. Along with mountain garlic and fatasia shoot, samnamul has risen to prominence as major spring namul, attracting people interested in well-being food. In the early spring, samnamul's bud sprouts when snow melts. Samnamul grows in multiple years, increasing its buds yearly, and has strong auto-growth quality that its size grows bountiful in one or two years.

  • Hwacheon Sancheoneo Yeongyang Dolsotbap (Hot stone pot rice served with masu salmon)

    The dish is made using Hwacheon's iconic food sancheoneo (masu salmon). Many tourists visit the Hwacheon Sancheoneo Festival yearly to experience sancheoneo fishing and ice games. Sancheoneo is usually cooked raw or grilled, but if you feel like trying a different kind of sancheoneo dish, we recommend Sancheoneo Yeongyang Dolsotbap. Sancheoneo is placed on top of hot stone pot rice, and the combination of soft fish taste and nutritious rice makes it a easy recommendation for anyone, certainly the symbol of Hwacheon cuisine.