Winter Fun Around the World: Must-Visit Snow Festivals

As the new year arrives, during January and February each year, the northern regions are blanketed in silver-white snow and ice. Countries in the north always hold various snow-exclusive festivals that offer sights, activities, and delicious food. Travelers visiting snowy destinations for the Spring Festival must not miss this grand event.

 

The Oslo Ski Festival, known in Norwegian as Holmenkollen skifestival, is held on the first Saturday of March each year at Holmenkollen Mountain in Oslo, the capital of Norway. It is the second-largest national festival in Norway, after National Day. Since its inception in 1892, the festival has featured a variety of skiing events and competitions every year. Along with China’s Harbin International Ice and Snow Festival, Japan’s Sapporo Snow Festival, and Canada’s Quebec Winter Carnival, it is recognized as one of the world’s four major ice and snow festivals.

In addition to ice sculptures, the Alaska Snow Festival draws inspiration from the Spanish Bullfighting Festival. Each winter, it introduces a unique reindeer chase event that attracts many participants. Competitors race through snowy streets, cheered on by enthusiastic crowds. The festival also features hockey and snow softball games, and the most fun of all is the Japanese-inspired snowball battle game—Yukigassen (snow battle)!

The Quebec Winter Carnival (French: Carnaval de Québec) is a famous winter celebration in Canada. Held annually from the last Friday in January to a Sunday in mid-February, spanning three weeks in Quebec City, Canada, its main events are concentrated on weekends during the festival period, such as canoe races and ice hockey matches. Other highlights include snow sculpture exhibitions, nighttime parades, and even the daring bikini snow bath, where participants roll around in snow while wearing swimsuits to challenge their personal limits.

The Sapporo Snow Festival features three main venues: Odori Park, Tsudome, and Susukino in Sapporo City. During the festival period, over 300 large and small snow and ice sculptures are displayed across the three venues and surrounding main streets. Artists use their creativity and skill to build representations of iconic buildings or characters from across Japan using the region’s fine powder snow. Interestingly, Taiwan’s Taipei 101 and the Changhua Big Buddha have also appeared in the 2006 snow season.