Seoul Hotels and Accommodation: Budget

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Seoul's has two unofficial backpacker districts, Jongno (Anguk/Sinseol-dong) to the northeast of the city and Hongdae out to the west. Within walking distance to Dongdaemun Market, Jongno is better located for sightseeing and can be reached directly from Incheon Airport on limousine buses or city bus 6002 to Sinseol-dong stop (₩9000, 90 minutes), while Hongdae has quite a party scene.

Jongno

• Backpackers Korea, 1054 Sungin-dong, Jongno-gu (2 min from Line 1 Sinseoldong stn exit 11), Tel.+82-10-4942-2268, +82-10-5001-0307, www.backpackerskorea.com. Friendly cool English speaking staffs, Free breakfast, free wifi, free laundry, air-con, hot water, rooftop terrace. Dorms from ₩17,000/night private from ₩29,000/night with own bathroom.

• Hostel Korea, 178-65 Sungin-dong, Jongno-gu (4 min from Line 1 Sinseoldong stn exit 11), Tel.+82-2-762-7406, +82-2-766-7406, www.hostelkorea.com. Friendly English/Chinese-speaking staffs, Free breakfast, free wifi, free laundry, air-con, hot water, . Private from ₩25,000/night, Ensuit private from ₩30,000/night.

• Seoul Backpackers, 205-125, Namchang-Dong, Jung-Gu, Seoul, Korea (Metro Line 4, Hoehyeon stn). Take exit No 4 and walk down the road; turn left into the next road and you will find the hostel on that road after about 100m. Tel. +82-2-3672-1972 www.seoulbackpackers.com. Backpacker hangout with English-speaking staff. single/double ₩40,000/₩50,000 with own tiny bathroom. Free breakfast, internet and laundry.

• Seoul Guest House, 135-1 Gyedong, Jongno-gu (Metro Line 3, Anguk stn), tel. +82-2-745-0057 www.seoul110.com. Basic rooms with air-con in a traditional Korean-style house from ₩35,000/night. Shared bathrooms, Internet, TV etc. For a higher price you can purchase a room with a private bath, television and computer with internet. Some undiscerning travellers like it, though if you aren't on a skid-row budget you might just find the grime and decrepitude of the place revolting.

• Wind Road & Flower Guesthouse,1F 85-5, Myeongryun-dong 3-ga, Jongno-gu, Tel.+82-2-6407-2012~3. E-mail: cowindrea@paran.com. Dorm from ₩15,000/night, free internet.Laundry also available (but not free). The friendly staff speaks good english. www.backpackerkorea.net

• Yim's House, 33 Waryong-dong, Jongno-gu (Metro Line 3, Anguk stn), tel. +82-2-747-3332 www.seoulbusinesshotel.com. This excellent value hotel is unsure whether it caters to businessmen or backpackers. Rooms are clean and spacious, and Mr. Yim speaks fluent English. En-suite singles are ₩30,000 while doubles are ₩38,000.

Hongdae

• Bangrang hostel, 397-12 Chungnim-Dong, Chung ku (Metro Line 2, Chungjeongro stn, exit 5), ☎ +82-2-6614-2246, www.bangranghostel.com. checkin: 14:00; checkout: 11:30. A Brand new hotel,opened Jan 2010. distinguished interior. 1 min from subway station, 2 min from airport bus stop, can go any tour top attraction within 15 min. 18,000won~.

• Blu Guest House, 464-63 Seogyo-dong, Mapo-gu (Metro Line 2, Hongdae stn, exit#1; Line 7, Hapjeong stn), tel. +82-70-7692-9484, +82-11-9921-5621, www.bluguesthouse.com. Free wifi, free laundry, aircon/heating, lockers, breakfast, no curfew. From ₩18,000.

• Golden Pond Guesthouse, 188-40, 14/5 Myeongryun-dong (Metro Line 4, Hyehwa stn, exit #4), Tel. (02)741-5621 Cell. 010-9921-5621 www.goldenpond.co.kr Golden Pond is one of the newest and cheapest (₩17,000 for a dorm) hostels in Seoul. A comfortable, family style atmosphere, with decent bathrooms and a friendly owner make this hostel hard to beat. Two computers available for Internet use and wireless throughout. This place is near a lot of universities so shops and restaurants are a plenty. 10-minute walk from Changgyeong-gung. No curfew.

• Hongdae Guesthouse (홍대게스트하우스), 159-6 Dongkyo-dong 159-6, Paradisetel unit 302, Mapo-gu (Next to Line 2 Hongdae stn exit 1), ☎ +82-2-336-0003 (hongdaeguesthouse@yahoo.com), www.hongdaeguesthouse.com. checkin: anytime; checkout: 11 AM. Clean, spacious rooms with high ceilings, ondol heating, aircon, hot water. English spoken. From ₩19,000. (one night,2 months)

• Kims' Guest House, 443-16 Hapjeongdong, Mapo-gu (Metro Line 2/7, Hapjeong stn), tel. +82-2-337-9894 www.kimsguesthouse.com. This comfortable guest house, run by a friendly English-speaking family, is located in the western part of Seoul, 15 minutes walk from Hapjeong subway station. The dormitory (₩15000), single, double and triple rooms (₩27000/₩37000/₩47000) all have air-conditioning and heating. Guests share a kitchen, toilets and showers and have free use of cable TV, washing machine and internet. Breakfast (jam, toast & coffee) is included. No curfew. Discounts for stays over 1 night.

• Lee & No Guesthouse, 561-29 Yunnam-dong, Mapo-gu (Sinchon), ☎ 02-336-4878, www.lnguesthouse.com. checkin: 1 PM~9 PM; checkout: 10:30 AM. Near Hongdae, has four-bed dorm rooms and doubles. 22,000KW.

• Namsan Guesthouse, 50-1 Namsandong 2-ga, Chung ku (Metro Line 3, Myeong-dong stn, exit 3), tel. +82-2-752-6363, www.namsanguesthouse.com/way_e.htm. Superbly located in the shadow of Seoul Tower in Namsan Park, this hostel has the usual draws: free internet access, free breakfast, kitchen & laundry and advice with tours. There are no singles but a 4-share costs ₩60,000 while a twin or double costs ₩40,000. All rooms are ensuite. Manager Robin is eager to help and speaks near-perfect English.

Love hotels are also a great option. They cost from ₩25,000-80,000 a night, more on Saturday nights and holidays. They are usually in pretty good condition and they sometimes have a PC in the room. Love hotels are mainly visited by couples who want some private places during day or night, most of the love hotels (especially those in Gangnam district) are exceptionally clean and usually have widescreen TVs, PCs and so forth. Don't let the name fool you...some of these are the best bets for budget travelers! Be aware that some love hotels discourage stays of more than one night. Main love hotel districts in Seoul include Teheran Street near Yeoksam station in the Gangnam district, Nambu Terminal in Seocho-dong, Bangi station in Jamsil and the area near the Nakwon market in Jongno.

• IMI Hotel, Yeoksam 2-dong 718-18, Gangnam-gu, tel. 02-3453-4303, www.imihotel.co.kr. At the higher end of the love hotel spectrum, some rooms feature Japanese spas and oxygen generators. Rooms from ₩60,000/night.

• Tomgi Hotel, right next to Metro Line 4, Jongno 3-ga stn, exit 4 www.tomgihotel.co.kr. A fine example of the genre, with a variety of unique rooms to choose from.

Alternatively, try a jjimjilbang for between ₩4,000-12,000 per night. You don't get a room of your own, but you can store your luggage into one of the small lockers and you can live quite cheaply for a long time, sleeping in the public sleeping rooms and enjoying the hot-tub and steam room facilities (sometimes a gym is available, also movies and TV shows often play until 11pm or so). To find a Jjimjilbang keep an eye out for the distinctive symbol of a plate with rays of heat rising from it. You may have to investigate as smaller hotels often use the same symbol as well.

• Silloam Sauna, 10 minutes' walk from Seoul Station. One night costs ₩12,000, which includes access to public baths, exercise facilities and various entertainment rooms. This is a very large jjimjilbang with great facilities, but the family atmosphere of other jjimjilbangs is sometimes lacking. The locker-room staff will stow oversized luggage if you ask, and a morning wake-up call can be arranged. Sleeping facilities are excellent, clean, comfortable and usually fairly quiet. There are two large dormitories for men and women, plus a snorers' room which sounds like a dragon's lair. The dormitories are arranged unconventionally into lines of bunk beds, more like an open capsule hotel than a standard sleeping floor. In the communal area there are various hot rooms, an ice room, a large gym, a PC room, singing and games rooms and a restaurant. The sauna area has 6 main pools with supposedly healthy minerals and showers.