Budget Hotels & Hostels
Apartments
Guesthouses and B&Bs
Fraser Suites Seoul
These fully equipped serviced apartments are modern, light and spacious, great for a long-term stay for which major discounts are available...
Lotte Hotel World
Next to the theme park Lotte World,this luxury hotel is typical of Lotte’s version of ‘euro palatial’. Natural wood and pastel shades make the rooms less flamboyant than the public areas...
Ibis Seoul Ambassador
This neat business hotel is hidden behind the Posco Centre, a 10-minute walk from the COEX Exhibition Centre. The restaurant, bar, sauna and exercise room are nothing special, but there’s nothing wrong with them either...
Hotel Ellui
Dashes of style, such as a glass-view elevator, an outside waterfall and a trendy club next door, raise hopes for the Ellui. However, the spacious rooms are old-fashioned and the location is traffic-dominated...
Hotel Blue Pearl
Although it could do with some touching up here and there, the Blue Pearl remains a stylish midrange hotel that is easy on the wallet for this pricey end of town. Ask for a room on the side away from the main road as they’re quieter...
Hamilton Hotel
This workhorse of the Itaewon strip has zero style, with mainly old-fashioned, although pretty spacious, rooms...
Busan Lotte Hotel
Corporate travellers, octogenarians and expat English teachers all feel equally comfortable at this landmark business-class hotel thanks to the friendly staff and non-offensive interior. Look out for the tiger in the coffee shop...
Hotel Nongshim
Asian business travellers are totally smitten with this place. It's an easy commute to the large manufacturing centre in nearby Yangsan and an easy walk to every imaginable entertainment option that money can buy...
Jw Marriott Hotel Seoul
The Marriott is a feel-good hotel that’s classy and comfortable, with top facilities everywhere. Rooms and bathrooms here are spacious compared with other top Seoul hotels...
Gangnam Serviced Residences
These light, modern studio apartments have all the conveniences of home and are reasonably priced. Toilets are cramped but there is a walk-in shower. Don’t expect anything special and you won’t be disappointed. Buffet breakfast is ₩11,000.
Astoria Hotel
White and pine decor make for pleasant rooms. They’re reasonably sized, but a faded look is creeping in at this old timer, dating to 1959. Ask for a room with a Namsan view and keep your eyes on that...
New Kukje
New Kukje is anything but new, and the rooms are as tired-looking and old-fashioned as the lobby. The hotel is popular with Japanese tour groups, who presumably receive discounts, and there’s a certain staying-at-gran’s ambience...
The Westin Chosun Seoul
Not Seoul’s most spectacular hotel, but the relaxing atmosphere and the conscientious staff keep it a cut above the rest. Each stylish room decorated in soft caramel tones comes with a rent-free mobile phone and choice of 10 types of pillows...
Grand Hyatt Seoul
Making the most of its hilltop views, the Grand Hyatt oozes class. Rooms are a bit smaller than at rivals but all have been freshly renovated and sport a contemporary look...
Ramada Songdo Hotel
The luxury-accomodation choice with posh furnishings, beach and ocean views, three restaurants, a sauna and gym, a business centre and an internet line in every room...
W Seoul Walkerhill
One of the city’s best-designed hotels, with spectacular public areas and generally fablicious rooms with striking colour schemes and splendid river or mountain views...
Koreana Hotel
A sleek exterior, a marble lobby and welcoming staff are a promising start, but the rooms only just make the grade. The executive queen rooms are a better bet and include the usual executive-floor extras...
Ibis Seoul Myeong Dong
Myeong-dong’s newest business hotel is a clone, but it does everything right, from the neutral tones and booth showers to the buffet meals and pleasant staff...
Young Dong Hotel
This hotel makes an effort but is full of quirks. You can borrow a laptop computer free of charge from reception, but corridors are dark and there’s no bar...
Novotel Ambassador Busan
Staff could benefit from a customer-relations training seminar.
Homers Hotel
Here's a hotel with ocean view rooms that make men weep. And not just at the price. The evening light show illuminating nearby Gwangan Bridge is trippy, but the decidedly rectangular room layout makes it difficult to stop thinking about shoeboxes...
Pop Green Hotel
Light, modern and reasonably sized rooms and bathrooms are on offer at Popgreen. There are touches of style here and there from the colourful prints in the lobby and the desk staff in red and gold uniform. Rooms vary so check out more than one.