A motel in Seoul, for a gang of girls!

It's actually incredibly hard to resist writing about Seoul without making some pun on the name and trotting out an overused cliche like 'Seoul Train' or 'Seoul Sister' but I've given myself a good talking to and I'm not going to make that mistake.

It's also tricky for me to start without using my usual disclaimer about how it's difficult to find something cheap, clean and classy on a weekend. I don't want to send anyone to a hell-hole such as the mosquito ridden, dirty, mildew colonized, broken bedded nightmare that I stayed at in Jongro a few weeks ago but neither do I wish to only suggest rooms which cost obscene amounts.

Someone asked me to recommend a cheap but good quality room with a jacuzzi bath in Itaewon last month and I had to eventually concede that such a motel doesn't actually exist. Finding something in this instance which has the broader remit of the whole of Seoul should be easier. I'm still waiting for someone to want to visit Gangwon-do though, so that I can bust out the plethora of barginous, downright funky motels I've seen listed in that area.

But anyway, I've no need to start making silly Seoul puns, I've found a motel that'll do that for me!

Seoul Mate

Hotel Mate, or Seoul Mate as it also likes to refer to itself, is all of my favourite things a motel can be. Just looking at the website has me desperate to head to Seoul and hide out in this place for as long as I can afford. More of a boutique hotel than a motel, Seoul Mate reminds me of a grown up version of the R Hotel, more casual luxury than rainbow themes but with the same extra touches and lack of seediness that only a top love motel can provide.

Now keep breathing as you read the next bit, prices will get more reasonable as I progress...

For the princely sum of 700,000 Won you can book into either of the 'Star Villa' suites. For 700,000 you'll get a two-storey 'villa' complete with a swimming pool, double bath, kareoke, a deluxe media system and about a hundred other stunning details. According to their website, the price is based on 5 people sharing.

Less rock-star but far more affordable are the deluxe twin rooms which cost 133,000 Won according to their website. Unfortunately I'm unable to link to their photos but they are very, very nice rooms. I particularly like the Asian feel of the Chrysanthemum room.

The standard rooms cost 108,000 and while they are by no means substandard, they are very much the poor relations in this hotel.

One thing that isn't going for this motel is the location. Any further out and they would have had to call it Gyeongi-Mate. In it's defense, it is located fairly close to a subway and taxis are cheap in Seoul if there's a group of you.

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Seoul Mate requires you to make a telephone booking if you wish to stay here. They are contactable on and their address is 서울 강서구 화곡동 921-6.

Ezen Hotel

Alternatively you could consider staying at the Ezen Hotel in Seo Dae Mun.

The prices quoted for a twin room are similar to those of Seoul Mate at 130,000 Won but the location is far more central.

All mod cons are provided, even a small kitchen-esque area with a microwave and a sink and a dinky little bar.

The twin rooms come with a bath, widescreen TV and twin PCs.

You can find the Ezen Hotel at 서울 서대문구 창천동 20-38 or call them on

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R Hotel

There is of course, the R Hotel! I can't go on about the R enough, it's genuinely my favourite place to stay, not just in Seoul but probably anywhere in Korea, the world, the universe! I've already fully blogged about the R and you can read all about it by following this link. A lot of the rooms in the R Hotel have special beds which fold out of the wall so you'll need to call ahead to request and reserve one of those rooms as they rent them out as ordinary rooms the rest of the time. The staff at the R don't speak great English although the manager and one of the receptionists are able to get by. I'd probably ask a Korean friend to call just to be certain.

Queen 21

If all these twin rooms get too much, a fall back option with cheap double rooms might be the Queen 21 .

This motel looks somewhat small and possibly not hugely new. In it's favour however, the rooms are achingly cheap and touchingly cute. I don't know if you can quite make it out from this slightly less than great quality image but this is an Audrey Hepburn room which according to the website is going for the impressively low price of 60,000 Won at the weekends.

All standard rooms come with a simple bathroom with a shower rather than a bath which doesn't exactly garner points but since the 'deluxe' rooms are only 10,000 Won more expensive it may be worth shelling out the extra cash if you want a bath.

The deluxe rooms are obviously larger and have equally cute themes to them...

The Queen Motel is located in the reasonably central district of Seo Dae Mun Gu.

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You can contact the motel on or find them here: 서울 서대문구 창천동. A word of warning, I'm not sure that this motel has provided a full address so I'd suggest you ask someone who speaks Korean to call ahead and get the exact location if you decide to stay here...

R Hotel, Yeongdeungpo-gu, Seoul

THE BEST OF THE BEST

I think Love Motels are evolving... They're meant to be seedy stop-outs for lovers, adulterers, or foreigners who like motels with lots of bells and whistles, but the R Hotel is something else entirely, yet the prices are the same.

My husband and I had planned to visit Seoul for Chuseok due to the 4 day holiday and mass closure of all businesses, especially in the rural areas such as Goseong where we live. I figured that Seoul wouldn't close, or while some things would, enough would stay open for us to eat, drink and be merry.

Once Greg and I had agreed on a trip to Seoul I set about finding the perfect place to stay on hotel365 and again found myself wading through fabulous motel after fabulous motel. There was one motel that really caught my eye though. I wanted us to stay in a district of Seoul which was in striking distance of Hongdae, Insadong, and Itaewon. Say what you like about Itaewon, but you can buy foreign food essentials there and get a good curry.

The R Hotel is situated in Yeongdeungpo which in itself is a thriving, neon lit place to visit at night full of clubs and bars and places to eat and perfectly located in order to reach the places I wanted to.

It was a bit of a journey to get to Yeongdeungpo on a late Thursday afternoon, just as the Chuseok holiday began, but Greg and I were up to the task. We took a packed coach from Goseong to Daegu and then the subway across Daegu to Dong Daegu Station before taking the KTX to Seoul Station and then the subway to Yeongdeungpo. It took about 6 hours from start to finish, which I think is pretty good going considering.

The R Motel made up for everything though. These were our first sights of the motel:

I can't tell you how excited we were! It looked better than we could have imagined! But we were still amazed when we went inside...

Above you can see the corridor leading to our room. We stayed 3 nights and changed rooms each night for the full experience. On our first night we stayed in the Rainbow Room...

Our bed in the Rainbow Room was enormous and had the softest most comfortable bedding with plump pillows that gave us a great nights sleep. The room had surround sound that hooked up to both the TV and the PCs and the PCs were also able to be viewed off the wide screen TV which faced our bed.

Every detail had been thought of and the whole room put together immaculately; there wasn't one flaw and you could see that much consideration had been given to creating the best use of space. In the bathroom and above the bed there were special lights which slowly changed colour to make our stay even more relaxing. The shower in the bathroom was powerful and required no fiddling to get the perfect temperature.

Our room had large windows which faced out to the railway track and the park beyond it but due to not double, but quadrupole glazing we could hear nothing of the trains that sped by late into the night and instead could immerse ourselves in the tranquility of our beautiful room.

When we checked in we got the usual little packet of free single serving toiletries, pictured below...

This was one of the more comprehensive toiletry sets we've received at a Love Motel and consisted of: 2 x toothbrushes, 2 x toothpaste, a razor, a sponge, bubble bath, shower cap, hair band, cotton wool pads, cotton buds, vaginal douche (!) and two condoms.

In the rooms themselves they also provided facial wash, shower gel, shampoo, conditioner (called rinse in Korea), moisturizer, hair spray and hair gel.

Before we went out for our first evening in Seoul we explored the rest of the hotel and this is what we found...

This is the dining room, where a complimentary breakfast is served each morning, redeemable with a little voucher they give you when you check in. Again, the decor and the standard and quality of the motel is outstanding, the whole of the R Hotel is like an art installation.

The next morning my husband went off to enquire about us changing rooms, not that our room wasn't lovely but we wanted to see what else this motel had to offer. The guy who worked at front desk advised us that checking in before 6pm would increase the price of our room considerably (this is because Love Motels rent their rooms by the hour as well as overnight, I'm sure you can understand why) but he reserved our chosen room and kept our bags in his office all day so that when we can back in the evening we could go to our new room. Perfect!

My wonderful husband chose me the perfect room for our second night and in a wonderfully selfless act as it was far from his ideal decor. Have a look...

Yes, it's the Hello! Kitty Room! The photos can't do it justice. Again, this room had large windows, this time facing out over the city affording us one of the greatest views...

And then as dusk fell...

I loved the Hello! Kitty room and it's fantastic views. This room had a double shower instead of a bath and only one PC but you still had surround sound and the ability to view the PC on the wide screen TV plus the complimentary soft drinks in the fridge, coffee sachets, green tea bags and hot and cold water.

For our final night at the R Hotel we upgraded to a VIP penthouse suite. While this room wasn't pink and glittery, it was larger and of course, higher up so the views were even better...

As you can see, there was a bath in the room so that you could lay back with the jacuzzi bubbling while you watched the wide screen TV. This really appealed to me and I spent a happy 45 minutes watching Gossip Girl from the comfort of the bath. The room also had a separate shower, 2 PCs, and all the complimentary toiletries and beverages which the other rooms provided. Again, the bed was a large and comfortable as it had been before and the whole room was put together perfectly and professionally.

In addition to the great rooms and the dining area already shown, the R Hotel had a roof garden which we were invited up to each night by the manager to enjoy a complimentary beer. My pictures don't do the roof garden justice but I'll show you anyway...

A roof garden is a great touch and it was wonderful to round off our evenings up there with a beer, looking out over the city.

The manager of the R Hotel went out of his way to make our stay as comfortable as possible and there was always someone on hand if we needed anything. The service at the R Hotel was exceptional and as personal as you'd get even if you payed ten times what we did and stayed at a 4 star hotel. My husband and I are already making plans to return to the R Hotel in a few months time.

Due to staying over the Chuseok period we managed to get discounted prices for the rooms and payed 60,000 each night, even for the VIP suite. According the the R Hotel's page on hotel 365

prices for standard rooms (such as the Rainbow Room or the Hello! Kitty Room) start at 50,000 Won with VIP rooms starting at 80,000.

If you would like to stay at R Hotel then there is a map here. The motel is easily found from Yeongdeungpo subway station; simply come out of the main exit, and turn right onto the main road. Continue for five minutes and turn right just before you reach the large flyover. You should be able to see a short street with a row of large Love Motels of the same size and dimensions, the R Hotel is the most fancy looking one with the rainbow neon lights all over it, as pictured at the top of this blog post. Should you arrive during the day the R Hotel will look like this...

You can contact the R Hotel on 02-2675-4800