Not lacking in luxury or style, hotels in South Korea run the gamut (literally!). From international hotel chains, to unique boutique hotels that offer singular cultural experiences.
Seoul has become one of the world’s most underrated big city destinations, simply due to the sheer availability of options and quality, on par with the best hotels in Tokyo, New York, London, Paris and Dubai. The best hotels in Seoul offer top-notch service and all the perks one would expect from world class accommodations. In addition, a unique sense of style as well as the latest in technological developments make for truly unforgettable experiences.
For your enjoyment, we’ve selected hotels with that little extra something—be it cutting-edge design, singular shopping or relaxation options, or the hippest new boutique hotel the Instagram jet-set are quietly raving about. Don’t miss out and check out the list below!
1. Lotte Hotel Seoul Executive Tower
With a perfect location for shopping, Lotte Hotel Seoul Executive Tower is a shopaholic’s dream destination. In Seoul, South Korea, Lotte is king. This warrants their top-of-the-line hotel accommodations unprecedented access to shopping options and one-of-a-kind, unbeatable perks. Lotte’s very own duty-free department store is right next door.
VIP guests and Lotte’s preferred patrons also receive special shopping offers and perks, including spa services. Lotte Hotel Seoul Executive Tower recently experienced a full renovation in September 2018. Spaces enjoy finely-crafted design elements meant to inspire awe just by their sheer elegance.
This means carefully coordinated aesthetics featuring bright illumination, gold and metallic accents, marble and textured oaks, muted fabric tones with a pop of color here or there, as well as fine glass. The hotel’s newly opened Sky Lobby reception desk also offers exclusive VIP service.
As one of the best hotels in Seoul, Lotte Hotel Seoul Executive Tower showcases fine entertaining options as well. Le Salon is a luxury lounge dedicated to executive meetings and special celebrations, while Pierre Gagnaire’s 3-Star Michelin restaurant offers haute-cuisine as the top French restaurant in the city. Lotte Hotel Seoul Executive Tower will grant any guest an elegant experience without ever having to leave the building.
2. Park Hyatt Seoul
While it might feel like you know exactly what to expect when the words ‘Park Hyatt’ come to mind, Seoul’s very own outpost of this world-renowned luxury hotel brand may surprise you.
Taking cues from Japanese contemporary design, Park Hyatt Seoul is a one-off experience that offers an inviting repose and fresh perspective on luxury. Park Hyatt Seoul has enlisted acclaimed Japanese design firm Super Potato, with whom they share a fruitful relationship which saw the design firm also collaborate on Singapore’s Grand Hyatt.
This means rough textured granite bathtubs, sumptuous oak floors and furnishings as well as crafted lighting features of translucent onyx. Add to this 300 thread-count Egyptian cotton bedding, Aesop toiletries and attention to service that is renowned the world over in a striking 25-story glass tower featuring a glass curtain façade—and Park Hyatt Seoul is a destination unto itself. The Park Hyatt Seoul was envisioned as a top business hotel in the city, but it manages to be one of the best hotels in Seoul, period.
3. Signiel Seoul
The Signiel Hotel is the top hotel in Seoul, and we mean literally! Located on the 87th-101st floors of Lotte World Tower, Signiel Seoul features unparalleled panoramic views of the city. The tower itself has become the city’s icon and a beacon of progress as the world’s fifth tallest skyscraper.
Each guestroom features elegant and muted monochrome tones and unparalleled vistas across the city and mountains. Aesthetically-inspired suites offer a charmed environment that blends modern design with elements of the Far East and Korean culture. Metallic elements in fabrics and textures mix with the graceful pinks of cherry blossom murals that visually soothe the senses.
Speaking of soothing; as one of the best hotels in Seoul, the Signiel features its own Evian Spa, a one-of-a-kind spa experience complete with an emerald tiled indoor swimming pool and striking views of the Han River. If the location, views, and amenities weren’t enough, the Signiel Seoul also counts two Michelin-Star restaurants and Asia’s largest champagne bar to its staggering roster.
4. The Shilla
Centrally located at the foot of Seoul’s famous Namsan Mountain in busy Junggu district is The Shilla, one of the best-rated hotels in Seoul. The Shilla hotel is named after the Shilla Dynasty, a golden age kingdom of arts, culture and innovation.
Bridging the old world and the new through traditional heritage and modern elegance where East and West meet seamlessly, The Shilla hotel offers guests incomparable opportunities for leisure and pleasure. Luxurious design through carefully-selected woods, surfaces and lighting add mood and appeal. The Shilla also features a luxury fashion arcade with top fashion brands like Hermes and Issey Miyake, as well as France’s Guerlain Cosmetics Spa.
Once you’ve reveled in the hotel’s shopping and amenities (like a specially-designed anti-aging facial or a message), enjoy a drink at one of Seoul’s only outdoor pools. The rooftop lounge and pool feel world’s away from the busy city. With unspoiled views of Namsan Mountain, on warm summer nights, you’ll feel like you’ve just arrived to a quaint tropical destination.
That’s until you get a view of N Seoul Tower, of course. The pool is also equipped with terrace lounge cabanas and pool-side rooms that are excellent for entertaining guests. The Shilla Seoul is the perfect getaway within the city.
5. Conrad Seoul
Located in the city’s International Finance Centre, the Conrad Seoul is ideally designed to meet business travelers every need and want. From an in-house flower shop, to a luxury shopping arcade for the perfect suit, as well as a full-service spa.
Conrad Seoul is a seamless vision composed of spaces designed with upmost care; from elegant wood finishes to lighting that makes each space come to life. This means pleasurable areas that are meant to soothe and inspire. Guest suites are amongst the largest of any hotel in Seoul and bathrooms are quite grand with floor-to-ceiling granite walls.
On the hotel’s 37th floor is The Grill, an open-show kitchen with 180-degree views of the city, where business deals are meant to be struck and celebrated. The Grill is also casually mentioned as one of the city’s top restaurants by Seoul’s top food critics, no biggie. Cool, casual and effortlessly elegant, Conrad Seoul will make you want to come back again and again.
6. The Four Seasons Seoul
With a name like The Four Seasons you can expect the best in luxury and style. But what makes The Four Seasons one of the best hotels in Seoul is its distinct merit and attention given to ensuring the hotel is a destination unto itself.
As a meeting place for the city’s most fashionable individuals, The Four Seasons serves more than luxury accommodations. The hotel’s bar and restaurant selections feature mood setting ambiance and décor that will ignite the senses in a delectable array of world class cuisine for the bon-vivant in all of us.
Koiku’s nearly 40-foot sushi counter from Michelin Star chef Swada Kazumo of Tokyo’s Banreki Ryukodo, is a must try. Add to the mix the Boccalino Bar for contemporary Italian in one of the most stylish and coveted seats in the city, as well as its adjacent mood-setting bar, a destination unto itself. Head down the elevator for Charles H., discreetly located on the hotel’s underground floor.
The iconic setting features celebrated cocktails infused with unusual ingredients like chamoe melon and black vinegar. While the cocktails may be decadent, the setting is just as awe-inspiring through a careful balance between art deco architectural elements bathed in a golden glow which gives the space a glamourous air of bygone eras.
This 1920s Shanghai-style speakeasy/restaurant will make you want to wear your favorite fedora to dinner. This being Seoul, guests are also welcomed to high tech suites featuring the latest gadgets which are all seamlessly incorporated into the aesthetic scheme.
Opulent guest bathrooms decorated in a harmonious mix of black and white marble highlight the spa-like dimensions. Once you’ve dined, wined and relaxed, an expansive fitness center and a one-of-a-kind sauna with breathtaking views make The Four Seasons stand apart from the rest.
7. InterContinental Seoul COEX
InterContinental Seoul COEX focuses on Korean design elements and textures, colors and atmospheric elements that makes this hotel truly special. From the wallpaper of Korean pines that decorate every guest bedroom, to the smart use of uniform color accents used in traditional Korean history, including purple, red, and tea green. InterContinental Seoul COEX blends traditional Korean elements with international, innovative design ideals.
The hotels’ main lobby and bar feature iconic, atmospheric oversized lampshades that add appeal and ambiance. Distinctive lighting in shades of blue and indigo are tucked away across the frames and beams of the lobby’s ceiling.
Lighting accents and uniform furniture in indigo accentuate the lampshades and add mood to the hotel’s main spaces. InterContinental’s famed attention to service and unmistakable enmities make them the preferred brand for many luxury travelers. InterContinental Seoul COEX’s signature interiors lend the hotel an electric feel that makes the hotel one of the city’s most happening hang-out spaces, and one of the best hotels in Seoul.
8. Lotte City Hotel Myeongdong
With a penchant for luxurious contemporary design, Lotte’s unbeatable selection of top-of-the-line hotels lands another spot on our list. Located in Myendong’s popular shopping district, Lotte City Hotel is a five-star option that offers luxury and refinement, along with uncomplicated design that is graceful, coveted and convenient.
In addition, Lotte’s VIP service and valet make for unforgettable customer experiences that can be specifically tailored to any guest’s needs and requests. The hotel’s tour counter also offers exclusive arrangement for unique day trips and excursions.
Once you’ve shopped till you drop, enjoy a delectable selection of desserts and beverages at The Peninsula Lounge & Bar’s afternoon tea set. For dinner, the hotel offers a vast selection of international cuisine from French to Italian and Chinese. Afterwards, luxuriate in Lotte’s spa service, and relax in the hotel’s indoor swimming pool and sauna.
Simple, smart and elegant design and service make Lotte City Hotel one of the top hotels in Seoul, South Korea. This is the perfect hotel for luxury travelers who demand great service without some of the bells and whistles that other hotels try to woo travelers with. During your stay in South Korea, Lotte’s influence and reach make a stay at one of their hotels a win-win. Sometimes, it pays to root for the home team.
9. Tong Tong Petit Hotel
If you’re looking for a private experience that is lowkey yet elegant, look no further than Tong Tong Petit Hotel centrally located in Jongono. Individuals who can afford the luxury to stay in an internationally-renowned opulent hotel chain, do so because of the hotel’s acute attention to design and graceful cohesion of style and opulence. While some of the other hotels on this list may fetch exorbitant prices, Tong Tong Petit Hotel is affordable to even the most budgeted travel wallets.
As one of the best new hotels in Seoul, Tong Tong Petit Hotel is like nothing else on this list, quaint and refined, graceful and accessible. As a unique offering, the Tong Tong Petit Hotel is a fashionable option designed to be more like a loft guesthouse than a hotel, complete with charming bunkbeds.
A warm and feminine color pallet blends futuristic yet timeless design elements for a hotel that is sophisticated, understated and glamourous. While guests come for the design, they rave about the attentive and smart customer service. Perfect for female friends that love calm and relaxing spaces, this is the top-rated new hotel in Seoul not to sleep on (so to speak). Tong Tong Petit Hotel is the little hotel that could!
10. RYSE Autograph Collection by Marriott
Located in the bourgeoning intellectual neighborhood of Hangdoe, RYSE is part of Marriott’s Autograph Collection. The Autograph Collection is a singular effort to amass a collection of the world’s most interesting hotels, with a focus on unique architectural history, design, and urban appeal.
RYSE hotel is all about design. Concrete walls, hanging sculptures and bright color accents that conceal more than reveal lend the hotel an air of enigmatic, architectural mystery. All hotel interiors were envisioned and curated by renowned London designer Michaelis Boyd. Through pain-staking attention to mood and atmosphere, a modern and singular stylistic vision is perfectly executed.
As a result of a collaborative effort that brings some of Seoul’s most in-demand designers and artists, Boyd takes inspiration from Seoul’s neon cityscapes and brings them indoors with glossy pink flooring, rich metallic accents, textured wood, and exposed stone elements. Guest rooms are conceived in an English modern style complete with tiled bathrooms, not unlike the one’s found in London’s Underground stations, and windows that allow you to see into the bedroom or vice-versa.
Gusto and understated appeal meet in minimal industrial spaces with an international urban feel, which makes RYSE Autograph Collection by Marriott one of the best hotels in Seoul. This is without mentioning Marriott’s attention to service renowned the world over.
When it comes to luxury, the best hotels in Seoul, South Korea offer top-of-the-line service and one-of-a-kind experiences that rival the best in the world. Add to this unique offerings with a distinct penchant for excellent design and Seoul, South Korea is more than ready to become one of the best international city destinations in the world!
PS: For more info about accommodation Seoul, feel free to also check out these blog posts:
Wow, these hotels are looking great. I’d like to stay at least a night in number 6. 🙂