← Festival calendar

Cheorwon Hantangang River Ice Trekking Festival

철원 한탄강 얼음트레킹 축제 · Cheorwon, Gangwon

2026/01/17 – 01/25 Past

This edition has finished. Korean festivals usually keep to roughly the same window each year, so the next one should land near those dates — but the organizer publishes the confirmed dates and they move, sometimes by weeks.
Last verified: 2026-08-22.

This page contains affiliate links. If you book through them we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. It never changes what we recommend.

Trekking the frozen Hantangang gorge, a basalt canyon you can only walk in deep winter.

Who it suits: Walkers rather than sitters. You trek the floor of a basalt gorge that is only walkable while frozen — it does not exist as an activity the rest of the year.

When, where, how much

From the organizer

Official site

Organized by Cheorwon Culture Foundation. These pages are the organizer's own and open on their site. They are usually Korean only — but that is where the confirmed programme, stage times and site map appear first, and times and prices read the same in any language.

Program: Hantangang River Ice Trekking Course, Main Festival Venue beneath Seungilgyo Bridge, Ttongbaram Altong Road Run

Photos: Korea Tourism Organization · visitkorea.or.kr · KOGL Type 3

Where it is

75 km north of Seoul, in Cheorwon, Gangwon (straight-line distance from Seoul City Hall, calculated from the venue's official coordinates).

We have not timed these connections ourselves, so rather than print a number we have not checked, here is the route on the two apps Koreans actually use — Hantangang River Mulwit-gil Trekking Course as the destination, already filled in:

• Directions on Kakao Map — live bus and train times, and which platform
• Naver Map — the stronger of the two in English

From Seoul, journeys to Cheorwon start at Seoul Station (KTX and regular rail) or the Express Bus Terminal. Which of the two wins depends on how many cities you are stringing together — our rail pass guide works through the break-even, and getting around Korea covers why these two apps beat Google Maps once you are on the ground.

Nearby, if you are making a trip of it

Within about 20 km of the venue, by distance:

• Jiktangpokpo Falls [National Geopark] (0.7 km)
• Cheorwon Hantangang Milky Way Bridge (0.8 km)
• The 2nd Tunnel (2.4 km)
• Goseokjeong National Tourist Area (2.4 km)
• Cheorwon Facilities Management Office (Formerly, Iron Triangle Battlefield (2.5 km)
• Hantangang River [National Geopark] (2.5 km)

Places and distances from the Korea Tourism Organization's location data. We have not visited all of them.

Getting there and staying

Festival weeks fill local rooms earlier than you would expect. What is available in Gangwon right now:

Outside the big cities, wifi is not something to plan around. Shuttle stops, stage times and the day's program are posted on the organizer's Korean-language page or a Naver Map pin, and they change on the day. A Korean eSIM is the cheapest way to have it working before you land.

Planning a trip around it

On at the same time

If your dates are fixed, these run within ten days of Cheorwon Hantangang River Ice Trekking Festival and are worth checking before you commit to a route.

• Pyeongchang Trout Festival — 2026/01/09 – 02/09, Pyeongchang, Gangwon, 139 km from Seoul.

Other festivals in Gangwon

Same province, different times of year — useful if you are choosing when to visit Gangwon rather than when to leave home.

• Pyeongchang Trout Festival — January, Pyeongchang, Gangwon
• Daegwallyeong Snow Festival — February, Pyeongchang, Gangwon
• Chuncheon Mime Festival — May, Chuncheon, Gangwon
• Gangneung National Heritage Night — August, Gangneung, Gangwon
• Jeongseon Arirang Festival — October, Jeongseon, Gangwon

See the full calendar →