 | North Korea Reviews | Tips 1 - 10 of 19 |  |
This is said to be one of the best tourist hotels in Pyongyang and it didn't disappoint. My tour party of 12 had rooms on the 39th floor which offered great views over the city. The hotel itself is one of the highest buildings in the city and is built on an island which means you can't get off if you feel like taking a walk. My room was very well decorated and clean and tiny, everything you expect from a western style 4-5 star hotel. I had a TV which actually had BBC World news as one of the channels, a fridge, safe, 2 single beds etc. The bathroom even came with hotel named little bottles of shampoo and soap etc. See my next tip on the hotels amenities.
Ha! Well, where to start. Fairly normally inside but then you can't escape from it. Apart from that it has a bowling alley, swimming pool, billiard tables and ping-pong tables in the basement, 2 or 3 shops selling food and drink and non-food items such as clothing and even old walkmans, a souvenir shop selling traditional Korean dresses and jewellery, a bookshop selling propaganda, a bar on the ground floor near reception, a casino, a Korean style karaoke bar, four restaurants including a revolving one with a bar on the 47th floor and a 9 hole mini-golf course. Theme: Hotel
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 Kim Il Sung 50ft Bronze
statue by ColmNugent
The principal hotel is on an island in the middle of the Taedong river in the centre of Pyongyang. You are not allowed off the island without a guide - therefore in effect you are not allowed off the island save with the rest of your party. The guides might take you on a night trip into Pyongyang if they think you can be 'trusted'. The hotel in the mountains is in a lovely setting and was no doubt very chiq in the Seventies. It represents unattainable luxury to the vast bulk of the population Theme: HotelComparison: most expensiveAddress: Pyongyang, on an island in the middlke of the main riverDirections: Go where guide tells you.
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We stayed the night here, at the Kaesong Folk Hotel, in the middle of the old part of Kaesong which was spared bombing during the Korean War. It's a beautiful place with small traditional houses surrounding small courtyards and the whole complex has a little stream running through the middle of it. You don't have conventional beds here but instead, you sleep on the floor which has underground heating. Rooms come complete with a small fridge and a TV. My bathroom was the best looking one in the world and I couldn't get any water to come out of the shower, yet alone get any hot water. I also found three large bugs in the bath! Theme: Hotel
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We arrived here in the dark but were still able to make out the guards carrying riffles at a checkpoint at the entrance. We then drove to a large building with the words "Service Centre" on a sign above 2 large doors. Our guide got off the bus and collected our keys and told us to meet back at the Service Centre in 15 minutes for dinner. We then went off on the bus past large villas. I shared one large villa with a couple of guys on my tour. We each had a room to ourselves on the upper floor and had to change our shoes into slippers left by the entrance door. My room was very large and looked like it hadn't been decorated since the 1970's - lovely floral carpet, 2 queen size beds and a white wooden wall cabinet unit with lots of mirrors. The room came with a TV, fridge and under floor heating but the pièce de résistance was found in the bathroom - a very deep hot-tub bath that fills with hot salty water that is meant to contain minerals. I used it before I went to bed after we had eaten and it was delightful.
The whole area features around 20 large posh villas that used to be holiday homes for North Koreas top officials. They are connected by small roads that are lined with trees and border flowers and everything looks like it has come out from Beverley Hills. The main Service Centre building contains a games room, karaoke room, billiard tables and a large restaurant where we ate. There are also large fridges in the restaurant that contained such luxuries as cans and bottles of coca-cola, Twix, bounty and kit-kat bars that we just hadn't seen anywhere else! This place is just crazy when you compare it to what the average North Korean lives in.
Hot-tub mineral baths in every room, games room and luxury items in fridges! Theme: Hotel
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 Yanggakdo Hotel by Mittnic |
Well, normally you won't be able to pick out a hotel from a list. If you book a package you will get a hotel. Most tourist stay in Pyongyang at the Yanggakdo Hotel, in Kaesong in the Folklore Hotel and in Myongyang at the Myongyang Hotel near the Friendship exhibition. Theme: Hotel
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 by ryuguong
This is a traditional hotel, which has about twenty rooms. You will feel to be a real guest here. When arrive in the evening you will have a dinner in very cosy atmosphere. There is a shop (prices seem to be cheaper than in Pyongyang). You have to be like a Korean here - no shoes inside. You can wander in the garden freely, but there is an iron gate on the entrance, so visits to the town centre are not strongly encouraged.
Included in the tour arrangements.
Traditional Korean style and one beautiful Korean waitress was working there April 2000. You are possibly only guest there. Theme: OtherAddress: Kaesong
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 by sexy_sensei
It was expensive but it was included in the tour -- which was also very expensive. Worth the cost?? I cannot say....I was never told of other 'options' and, without any further information, comparing is impossible.
Outstanding....?? Theme: HotelComparison: more expensive than averageDirections: I can't remember -- in 1996, travel companies took care of everything and little was left up to or given to (including information) the tour participants.
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The Haebangsan Hotel is a "tourist class" hotel. You will be closer to real life than in a luxury hotel, such as the Koryo or the Yanggakdo, i.e. chances are that the majority of the other guests are Korean. "Closer to real life" will also include that water is turned off over night between 22h00 and 7h00.
The hotel is very close to the city centre and thus makes an evening walk (with your guides) through central Pyongyang a possibility. Theme: Hotel
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I've stayed in this hotel for five nights on the occasion of a business trip. I've seen some other hotels in Pyöngyang but this is the one that I would recommend. Good restaurant(s) with a surprisingly good choice in food. Clean, guests are of course completely surveyed - unable to get e-mail connection in the business centre.
Conveniently located in the middle of the town. Has among others a brasserie type restaurant serving good local beer - something I did not expect in this country. Theme: HotelPrice: US$120-180 » Currency ConverterComparison: more expensive than averageDirections: town centre
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