Motel Sugar- Busan

This motel already has a good few existing reviews, but none as glorious and stylish as mine. So read on!

Motel Sugar has quite a reputation as one of the better motels in Haeundae, Busan. I'd like to say that I chose to stay there in a fit of investigative journalism, hungry to get the scoop on the best motel in town. Alas, that would be a lie. We plumped for Motel Sugar as it has twin rooms and we were travelling as a trio, Greg, Ellen and I. It transpires that the twin rooms in Motel Sugar are in fact the 'Royal Suites'. How fitting.

It was a Saturday night in Haeundae, the night that the skankiest rooms seem to become extortionate and rare and therefore we found ourselves handing over something like 140,000 Won for the pleasure of two beds for us to collapse into when we got back from the bars that night.

Before I start I want to say that I recommend Motel Sugar, it's a great place to stay and whatever anyone says, 140,000 Won isn't that much for a VIP room at the weekend.

HOWEVER! This blog is dedicated to the most unusual and coolest motels in Korea and this motel hasn't saved itself a special place in my heart. Looking at the lower grade rooms, it's not dissimilar to the already reviewed Mu Motel just down the road from it. In fact I prefer The Mu's VIP room and think that their standard rooms are roughly equal.

Take a look for yourself though...

So it's orange, but that's not a serious mark against Motel Sugar, how could they have known I hated orange, that it washed out my complexion, that it matched none of my clothes? They couldn't possibly... Or could they? No... surely not..! Anyway, it may be a seriously unflattering shade of orange but everything matched nicely, the frieze on the wall was cute and very 'Haeundae'. Half the motels in this part of town seem to be sharing rolls of wallpaper and graphic artists. I wonder if there's some seriously rich interior designer skulking around Haeundae, killing off the competition?

What I really loved about this motel though is the bathroom, it had stones! I don't know what it is about about this great Korean meme, maybe it's spread wider than just Korea, maybe in Japan, China, Thailand, they're all enjoying the mystical benefits of walking shoe-less on piles of smooth stones. I don't know. But this bathroom had a handy path of smooth, clean stones for the bather to nurture their feet with as they walked towards the bath. Of course for us lily-footed westerners, this just left us limping.

However! Stones aside, this was one swanky bathroom! When there are steps leading up to the bath, you know you've got a good thing going on! Huge bath, steam shower, flattering lighting, stones... This was definitely one of the better bathrooms I've seen.

This is where it's time for a confession though. I visited this motel on my birthday and I have to admit I was less than exacting in my investigation of the accommodation; no photos of the freebies, no fridge inventory, no recollection of the exact price of the room. I've let you all down I know.

This wouldn't be so bad, I've been slack before but always saved myself with a bit of a web search, sadly Motel Sugar has one of the most insane websites I've come across, it may take me days to figure out what all those numbers and symbols really mean.

Not to be a complete failure, I have handily embedded a helpful map for you all to peruse and enjoy at your leisure.

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I wouldn't want to suggest the Motel Sugar were over compensating for their appalling website, but in the spirit of connectivity they are contactable by email on heo0101@hanmail.net , telephone on 82 51 747 8620 and of course through their website too.

Design Hotel- Daegu

Sometimes you don't know how much you want something until you see it. It was like this with Daegu's Design Hotel. Until I knew it was possible to stay in a Chanel room I didn't dream of doing so, but once I was aware it existed, I was frantic to get to Daegu to spend the night there.

Going to Daegu isn't something that I do on whim, sadly. It's a few hours by bus and a part of me knew I should wait until I had reason to go. Eventually though, I had an appointment at Frigo Hair and the perfect excuse to stay at Design Hotel!

Firstly, there are two Design Hotels in Daegu, both about 10 minutes from each other. Their under the same ownership but this blog post is about Design Hotel 'Another Day'. Don't get confused, there isn't a Chanel room at the other one and I've never visited!

The Design Hotel is by no means in a convenient location, let me be frank with you. But sometimes, namely in situations where one wants to stay in a Chanel room, these kind of trifling details can be ignored. Located almost at the end of the subway line, in a strange and seemingly newly built district next to an industrial estate, the Design Hotel demands that you put in the legwork.

To reach the Design Hotel we took line 2 of the subway to Keimyung Dae (University) and then handed a taxi driver the hotel's address written in Hanguel. It was a swift and direct 5 minute journey to the hotel but it would easily have been a 20 minute walk into the dark unknown, quite possibly fraught with rows and recriminations. Best to spend the few thousand Won on a cab, in my opinion, especially if you're anything like my husband and I.

Our first view of the motel looked something like this, albeit a more full-lenth view with plenty of neon.

Just as I had dreamed, the receptionist handed me they key to the Chanel room and we rode the elevator to our floor. There were a few seconds of trepidation as I turned the key in the lock. What if the room wasn't like I imagined? What if it was dirty? What if it was uncomfortable?

No worries! It was Chanel wall to wall!

A tiny little bar! So incredibly cute and glamorous! Part of me wanted to rush out and buy a bottle of Champagne and an ice bucket. Alas, this is Korea and it's best not to wish for too much!

Twin PCs were also provided. In my opinion two computers should be a given in any love motel but I still find good quality ones without, so the Design Hotel gets extra points for remembering this detail.

The bathroom wasn't splendid by any means, it wasn't dirty or old or in any way bad but it didn't provide the same level of opulence and glamor that the rest of the room did. Bravely I carried on though, without allowing this to colour my experience.

The fridge however, was one of the best stocked I've ever seen! Choco Pies! A couple of biscuits! This more than made up for the bathroom!

The freebie toiletries were thrillingly comprehensive too, most pleasing was the oft-forgotten bubble bath.

So that's about the size of the room. Fabulously decorated with vintage Chanel ads, sweet touches like the bar and the Chocco Pies, clean and well maintained. This motel is not the newest and some of the fixtures could do with being brought into line with more modern love motels, such as the bathroom. A single bath is quite a surprise when you stay in a theme motel but the very reasonable prices reflect these details. A full night in a deluxe room on the weekend cost us 70,000 Won, almost half the price of most premium motels.

Should you, for some unfathomable reason, not wish to stay in the Chanel room, rest assured that there is a wealth of options ranging from the Ferrari room

The somewhat creepy Cameron Diaz room

Or the similarly obsessive Brad Pitt room

Verily, there is something for everyone at the Design Hotel.

The Design Hotel's address is 대구 달서구 호림동 14-6, remember to take the subway to Keimyung Dae on line 2. If your taxi driver is seeming skeptical, hand him over this number and I'm sure the receptionist will give him directions.

Can you suggest a good love hotel in Busan? I am taking the girlfriend there for the weekend...

Can I suggest a good Love Motel? Of course I can...

The thing is though, it's Busan! Oh Busan, I don't know what your problem is, but your motels are seriously lacking. Even in Haeundae half of them are out of date and commit the deadliest sin of all; being brown.

No one and I mean no one, could seriously want to stay in a motel like this, could they?

People, there is too much brown strangeness in this picture! What the hell is that on the ceiling? This is meant to be a VIP suite!

But anyway, I refuse to allow my friend to stay in a brown motel with his new lady. I may not be able to get him something in his ideal location, but I will find him something worthy of a first weekend away with his girlfriend.

So, first choice...

Hotel View

I like this place and I think it may appeal to my friends design sensibilities, there's something clean and graphic about the styles of the rooms and the prices quoted are very reasonable; 60,000 Won for a VIP suite is fantastic! Check out the VIP suite here...

And what a bathroom!

Even the cheapest rooms seem to have baths, and tasteful pictures of nude women, no less.

An 일반실 (standard room) is quoted at 45,000 Won per night at the weekends.

Hotel View is a fair way out of town and I suspect that will cause it to loose points, but looking at the map it seems to be very, very close to the bus terminal and also the subway, so it shouldn't take you long to get to where you want to go.

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Hotel View is contactable on 051-311-4224

Next up we have Hotel We

I have to say, I really like the look of some of the rooms in this place although the prices are slightly higher, with a VIP suite being quoted at 70,000 Won per night at the weekend. Check out the VIP rooms...

'What's that I spy, through those doors?' Did I hear you say? Well that would be the...

Hot tub!!!

Seriously, I'm getting excited on your behalf right now! A hot tub for god's sake! How much more romantic can you get?

But regardless, some of the deluxe rooms (특실) look pretty nice too. Here's room 603, quoted at 60,000 Won per night...

The bath in room 603 is cute too, kind of like an indoor Swedish style hot tub

The standard or 일반실 rooms don't come with baths in this motel unfortunately, so you'd have to stick with a VIP or deluxe room if you wanted one.

The We Hotel is similarly distanced from the center of Busan as Hotel View is, but again is situated right next to a subway line so you should have no problems traveling.

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My final recommendation comes in the form of the V Motel. I have to admit that sourcing somewhere decent to stay that isn't 80,000 Won and above is tricky in Busan, there are plain or ugly rooms galore but few of them have a decent bath and a room that you'd wish to take a new girlfriend to.

So, that being said, the V Motel is yet again not in the center of Busan, in fact it's fairly close to Hotel View, but slightly further from the subway and bus terminal.

A 특실 (deluxe) room can be as nice looking as this at the V... (room 501)

With a two person bath...

But be careful when you pick your room or you could find yourself sleeping in something very bright...

There's only a 5000 Won difference in price between the standard and deluxe rooms at V Motel so I'd counsel you to choose deluxe as the standards appear to lack a bath. With prices ridiculously cheap at th V with a deluxe room costing 50,000 Won and a standard 45,000 Won it hardly seems worth not going for the best.

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You can contact the V Motel on 051-316-9096

A motel in Busan, near the station?

Greg, one of Goseong's resident English teachers is sadly departing to sunnier climes and leaving us to struggle through the chilly Korean winter without him. However, Greg needs somewhere to stay in Busan for a few nights next week before he heads to the airport in Gimhae and I offered to give him a hand finding somewhere to stay, or at least make a few suggestions...

Greg has a few simple criteria:

• The hotel/motel must be near Busan train station
• No more than 40-50,000 Won per night

This should be simple as motel prices are generally much cheaper during the week and motels tend to cluster around stations and bus terminals.

However, sometimes I love hotel365 and sometimes I feel that it's a bit too Seoul-centric for my liking so I may have to get a bit creative with Google Translate and Naver to find some gems. If you can't stay somewhere fabulous on your last night in Korea, then when can you?

First up though, I have my trusty Busan fall-back, The Arirang Hotel. Granted, the photos don't look all that nice and the site is mostly in Korean, I have stayed at this Hotel a few times though and it's clean and comfortable. I also recall them giving me a morning wake-up call which is always welcome when you have to be somewhere.

Yes, the photo's tiny and I am cheating a little as it's not a Love Motel, but sometimes, when you've a plane to catch you just need reliability and you can't get much more certain that the Airirang.

Simply exit Busan Station and look to your left and you will see this sight:

This is the Arirang Hotel, it doesn't say so in English but you will see 아리랑 호텔 written across the top of the building.

From what I remember, the Arirang has English speaking staff at their front desk and is contactable on this number: (051) 463-5001 ~ 8

I should add that the Arirang doesn't quote any prices on it's website, but I don't remember having a heart attack when I stayed there last, so it can't be expensive.

After a bit of Navering (if you can Google then you can Naver, surely?) I found what appears to be a pretty classy joint, right in the neighborhood which Busan Station in located.

Hotel Fashion, no less.

For 60,000 Won you can get yourself a VIP room like this...

But the standard rooms appear pretty nice too.

And a decent looking bathroom...

A room like the one pictured above will set you back 50,000 Won, or perhaps 45,000, my Korean isn't good enough to work out the finer details I'm afraid!

So, Hotel Fashion is located about 5-10mins walk from the station. Personally, if I had a lot of stuff I'd get a taxi and simply give them this address: 부산 동구 초량3동 1162-3번지 but I'd say it's walkable as this motel is actually listed as being near the station.

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If you use 부산 역 (Busan Station) as your starting point then you should see the motel is pretty damn close.

You can also contact Hotel Fashion on 051-463-6171~2, though whether they'll speak English is another story.

I have checked on Google and there are at least twenty love motels clustered around Busan Station so you should be covered for all contingencies, whatever they may be.

I hope you enjoy whichever you end up staying in; keep in touch and let me know how it all went!