← Festival calendar

Pyeongchang Trout Festival

평창송어축제 · Pyeongchang, Gangwon

2026/01/09 – 02/09 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.

Ice fishing for trout on a frozen river in the Pyeongchang highlands, running about a month.

Who it suits: Families and anyone who wants Hwacheon's ice fishing without Hwacheon's crowds — same idea, a month-long run, and easier to get a spot on a weekend.

When, where, how much

From the organizer

Official site

Organized by Pyeongchang Trout Festival Committee. 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: Ice Fishing, Tent Fishing, Children’s Fishing Zone, Golden Trout Bare-Handed Catching, and Ice Plaza Activities

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

Where it is

139 km east of Seoul, in Pyeongchang, 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 — Pyeongchang Trout Festival Venue 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 Pyeongchang 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:

• Pyeongchang Sightseeing Taxi Platform (1.8 km)
• Odaesan National Park (10.1 km)
• INART Pyeongchang (10.2 km)
• Woljeongsa Temple & Needle Fir Forest (11.4 km)
• Odaesan Woljeongsa Needle Fir Forest Trail (11.4 km)
• Daegwallyeong Special Tourist Zone (11.7 km)

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

Getting there and staying

There is a guided day trip to this festival, which solves the transport question if the venue is awkward to reach on your own:

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 Pyeongchang Trout Festival and are worth checking before you commit to a route.

• Cheorwon Hantangang River Ice Trekking Festival — 2026/01/17 – 01/25, Cheorwon, Gangwon, 75 km from Seoul.
• Daegwallyeong Snow Festival — 2026/02/13 – 02/22, Pyeongchang, Gangwon, 153 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.

• Cheorwon Hantangang River Ice Trekking Festival — January, Cheorwon, 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 →