Accomodation in Korea and other Seoul, South Korea Hotel/Accommodation Reviews

"Western-styled" Hotels are generally expensive in Korea so why not indulge in a little culture and stay in a traditional inn (yeogwan) or minbak ( homestay ) instead? Not only is the service more personal, you'll enjoy yourself more.
Most of the minbaks and yeogwans I stayed in were good, clean and cheap. Moreover, all of the yeogwans accepted visas whilst minbaks is on a strictly cash basis.
To find a homely yeogwan for yourself, click here.

Unique Qualities: It's the personal touch that makes a difference. You'll get to make small talk with the local mom and pop who runs the yeogwan.
Did I also mention that all the yeogwans provided me with the basic toiletries and a hot water kettle? Much better than a 5* star hotel, somewhere in Korea, which claimed that providing providing a kettle would cause a blackout on an entire floor. feeble excuse!

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Theme: Inn
Comparison: less expensive than average
Prices: less than US$20  » Currency Converter
Website: www.worldinn.com

Try requesting for a traditional korean room or an ondol when you stay in this hotel. From what I heard, they're much nicer than the western-styled rooms in this hotel.
The plus point of staying in this hotel is that it's located conveniently along the airport limousine bus route. Yes, this means that you can hop on a bus at the airport that'll take you directly there. The bus fare costs about 12,000won and the journey took about an hour.

Unique Qualities: Sleeping on an Ondol will be quite an experience as you'll be sleeping on the floor on a soft mattress and a husk-filled pillow. Also, there's no visible heater in the room as the floor is heated. Trust me, you won't become an icicle in the night as the floor is deliciously warm. To top off the experience, they'll give a pretty silk quilt. I suppose you can also try this in the summer but the floor won't be heated.

This hotel is famed for its fire-heated "traditional " sauna . It cost about 15,000W per person to try this ( no discount for hotel guest ). I decided to give it a miss that there was no point steaming myself like a mandu ( Chinese bun ) one more time after the Osaek experience.

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Theme: Hotel
Comparison: about average
Prices: US$40-80  » Currency Converter
Phone: (+662) 913-6030
Address: 34-69 Itaewon-dong,Yongsan-Gu, Seoul
Directions: Exit from subway 4, walk straight and turn a sharp left from the major junction.

I won't really want to recommend this place to stay as you'll need to squeeze into a tight alley to look for this place.
Also, finding this place can be a crazy challenge as there's lots of little alleyways in that area. I felt like a Stuart Little in a maze on my first day here.
But on second thoughts, this is probably the cheapest accomodation in the trendy shopping district , MyeongDong, and the subway so there goes.

Unique Qualities: There's nothing really unique about this place. Just hold your breath when you walk into the alley as there is a restaurant selling piggy entrails somewhere. No offence but the hot smell of boiled pig innards makes my stomach churn faster than you can say "speedy gonzales".
If you do decide to stay, email to the English-speaking owner and reserve a rm for yourself.

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Theme: Motel
Comparison: less expensive than average
Prices: less than US$20  » Currency Converter
Address: 148-17 Ulchiro 2 ga, Chung-gu,Seoul, Korea
Directions: From Incheon Airport: Board the airport limousine bus #605-1 from bus stop number, #6B or #13A to MyeongDong. Stop at Jung-Ang movie theater. Cross to the opposite side of the street and squeeze into the first alleyway.
Website: www.dongbangmotel.com
Other Contact: info@dongbangmotel.com