[UPDATED] SOUTH KOREA 2017: Guesthouses in Seoul

EDIT: Updated March 2018

Since I began traveling mid-budget, I rarely stay at hotels. I’ve never stayed in a hotel in Seoul. But I loved staying at guesthouses.

Guesthouses, generally, gives you a feeling of community, like a home away from home – but not quite (depending on your perspective of home, I dare say). To begin with, I’ve stayed at three different guesthouses whenever I’m in town. This is because I still want to explore staying at different parts of town and find out which is the best neighborhood for me.

For this post, I’ll discuss each guesthouse based on the following criteria: proximity to nearest subway station, proximity to Airport Limousine Bus stop, breakfast, reception, toilet/bath, space, price, facility, night life, and shopping. These are the ten points I look at when choosing a hostel or guesthouse in general. This can be your starting point in choosing your guesthouse in Seoul. Or even in other cities.

To make comparing objective, I’ll give one (1) point if it’s positive, and zero (0) if it’s negative, and point five (0.5) if there’s both positive and negative, based on my experience. I will also give explanation as necessary.

So let’s get right down to each of them.

SOUTH KOREA 2013 Day 1: Arrival, Petite France, Nami Island, Jung-gu, Dongdaemun

A little over a year ago, I went to South Korea for 4 days and 4 nights (we arrived at night). It was an amazing trip, and it was one to cross out from my bucket list. I would love to go back, though, and vist the Boseong Tea Garden – yes I still want to visit that spot I swore I would visit but didn’t really have the chance to. In a longer vacation, maybe. But for now, on with the commentary!

On our arrival, it was surprisingly cold. From the airport, we went directly to our guesthouse which was located in Jongno-5. We took the Bus from the airport and alighted a good 3 minutes from the guesthouse. It’s called KimChee Dongdaemun Guesthouse and you can check more about them on this site. Note, however, that the area is filled with red-light bars. Although we didn’t witness anyone actually “selling” doors and windows were filled with erotic posters of women.

We had dinner (midnight snack) at the closest 24-hour restaurant, one that we did not bother returning to. HAHA. There were drunk men on the streets, but I guess the good thing about it is that they were just minding their own business. You know just… drunk-talking?