Hwacheon Sancheoneo Ice Festival

For three weeks in January the Hwacheoncheon freezes hard enough to walk on, and Hwacheon - a small county town in the mountains of northern Gangwon, one of the coldest inhabited parts of the country - covers the ice with tens of thousands of drilled holes and runs what has become one of the largest winter festivals in Asia, drawing well over a million visitors in a good year. The core activity is ice fishing for sancheoneo, the Korean mountain trout, with a short rod through a hole; catches can be grilled or eaten as sashimi at stalls on the bank. Alongside it are bare-hand fishing in a shallow pool, sledding, ice football, ice sculpture and a snow plaza. The town built the festival from nothing in 2003 as an economic answer to depopulation, and it worked. The fish are stocked for the event, which is stated openly rather than hidden.

What to look for

• The drilled ice - tens of thousands of holes across the river.
• The trout fishing - short rods, and grills on the bank.
• The bare-hand pool - the event people photograph.
• The ice and snow plazas - sculpture, sledding, ice football.

When to go

January, for about three weeks - exact dates depend on ice thickness and are announced each winter. Weekdays are far less crowded than weekends. Dress for real cold: this is one of the coldest places in Korea.

Practical notes

It is extremely crowded at weekends and transport from Seoul fills. Fishing spots and activities are ticketed separately and sell out. The trout are stocked for the festival, not wild. A mild winter can delay or shorten it.

Nearby

Chuncheon and the Soyang lake are south; the Hwacheon reservoir is close.