Evaluated as a new cultural heritage of Korea, one of the 7 winter wonders and one of the 4 great winter festivals, Hwacheon Sancheoneo Ice Festival is the one you can't miss out when you travel around Korea. Here in Hulutrip, ice fishing day tour is open to order in the beginning of the new year 2017! Detailed information is in the following.
Hwacheon Sancheoneo Ice Festival 2017 Ice Fishing Day Tour Itinerary
08:00 Leaving for Hwacheon Sancheoneo Ice Festival
11:00 Arrive at Hwacheon ice fishing site
11:30-16:00 Free activity time
16:30 Leave for Seoul
19:30 Arrive in Seoul
Hwacheon Sancheoneo Ice Festival
Every year, when Hwacheon Stream freezes in winter, locals and tourists alike flock to the stream, carve out a hole in the ice, and begin ice fishing for sancheoneo (mountain trout). The trout is a kind of fish that known to live only in high quality fresh waters of the stream.
Visitors fishing in the stream can be seen patiently waiting, and then jumping with excitement as they pull their catches from the water. Some even choose to jump into the icy waters of the pool built beside the stream for bare-hand ice fishing.
In addition to ice fishing, the festival offers a plethora of fun activities on the frozen Hwacheoncheon Stream including ice skating, ice or snow sledding, snowmobile riding, and many more. For that, the Hwacheon Sancheoneo Festival has become one of best ultimate winter activities for the whole family to engage in.
Hwacheon Sancheoneo Ice Festival 2017 Hightlights
Sancheoneo fishing is the main activity at the Hwacheon Sancheoneo Festival. There are mainly three ways for visitors to fish at the festival: ice fishing on the frozen stream, lure fishing in the flowing waters, and bare-hand fishing in a pool wearing only a t-shirt and shorts.
Sancheoneo Ice Fishing
Ice fishing on the frozen Hwacheon stream which is at least 30cm deep, is the most popular fishing activity at the festival. Wait patiently for the fishes swimming underneath the frozen stream to be attracted to the bait by moving the reel up and down to lure the sancheoneo. When you feel a tug, calmly pull the fishing line up and place it in the plastic bag. Once you are done fishing, you can take your catch to a nearby restaurant to have it served raw or grilled.
Sancheoneo Bare-hand Fishing
If waiting fishes to be lured is not your type, then you may like the Bare-hand Fishing which takes place at the festival’s round fishing pool. It should be noticed that participants challenging the bare-hand fishing must wear T-shirts and shorts.
Before the challenge beginning, you should change into the festival outfits, and perform a simple warm up exercise. Following the “go” signal, participants jump into the pool, and try to catch sancheoneo within three minutes. Each participant is allowed to catch up to three sancheoneo. After the contest is over, participants may warm themselves up with a warm foot bath.
Snow and Ice Activities
Snow and ice activities are other popular attractions at Hwacheon Sancheoneo Festival. There is ice sledding experience zone featuring Korean traditional sleds, Northern European-style sleds, as well as an icy ground for cycling on ice. This festival will certainly cheer you up through various winter leisure sports including snow sledding, skiing, bobsleighing with a special tube and ice soccer.
Other Attractions
The excitement of the festival can also be felt throughout the town. You may find sancheoneo-shaped lanterns and beautiful luminaries by the LED lights that are brilliantly decorated along the Seondeng Street. Furthermore, this area is home to the largest ice sculpture plaza in the world, the Ice Plaza behind the Hope Lights Plaza showcasing large-scale ice sculptures. There are also other festivities to enjoy including Korean traditional folk games and sancheoneo-shaped lantern making and more.
Foods in Hwacheon Sancheoneo Ice Festival
This is an unique opportunity to taste and purchase Hwacheon's local specialties during the festival. In addition to the fish restaurants serving sancheoneo, food stands along Hwacheon stream also serve all kinds of delectable foods, including tteokbokki (stir-fried rice cake), fish cakes, dumplings, as well as sweet and savory fritters.
Hwacheon Sancheoneo Ice Festival Guide
Location : Hwacheon-eup and 3 other townships, Hwacheon-gun, Gangwon-do
Guide Map
