From its prime location near Chungmuro Station to its spacious rooms and rooftop garden, G3 Hotel offers a practical and pleasant stay in Seoul.
From its prime location near Chungmuro Station to its spacious rooms and rooftop garden, G3 Hotel offers a practical and pleasant stay in Seoul.
If you’re visiting South Korea’s capital, the G3 Hotel Seoul is an ideal base, writes Stephanie Holmes
Location: Central Seoul in the bustling Jung district. The hotel is just steps away from the Chungmuro subway for the city’s excellent public transport network, and is close toscores of fabulous bars and restaurants.
Style: Simple yet sophisticated big hotel in a big city.
Price: From $130 per night.
Perfect for: A comfortable, convenient base for exploring Seoul.
Getting there: The hotel is about an hour’s drive from Incheon airport. Traffic is notoriously bad in Seoul, especially around peak commuter times, so be prepared for it to take longer than that. Alternatively, you can travel by train – take the train from terminal 2 to Seoul Station, then transfer to the subway line 4. To help navigate the public transport network, download the Naver Map app which will give you step-by-step directions to get you from door to door.
First impressions: It was after 10pm by the time I arrived at the hotel, but the reception desk is manned 24/7, and I received a friendly greeting from the concierge and check-in team. The lobby was spotlessly clean and air-conditioned, with three elevators to take guests to their floors.
The hotel is within walking distance of Supyo-ro 6-gil.
Room: At 25sq m, my double room was spacious and well laid out, with floor-to-ceiling windows on the outside wall, giving great views out to the city and its surrounding mountains. The king bed was firm yet comfortable with what felt like high-quality linen. The room has a desk and chair, safe, small fridge, complimentary robes and slippers, kettle, sachets of coffee and green tea, mugs, a hairdryer, and decent storage space. There was a wall-mounted TV but it only had a handful of English-language channels and no way of streaming from personal devices.
Single, twin, double, family and quad rooms are available.
Bathroom: The best thing about the bathroom was the American Standard toilet which has an automatically warmed seat and various wash/dry functions. You’ll never look at your home toilet in the same way again. The shower-over-bath with shower curtain was functional rather than architecturally pleasing. Amenities included shower cap, comb, cotton buds and cotton wool. Large wall-mounted bottles of shampoo, conditioner and body wash were from G3’s parent company Grand Hotels’ own brand.
With family-friendly rooms, accessible facilities, and a central location, G3 Hotel Seoul is a smart choice for travellers looking for convenience and value.
Food and drink: There’s a restaurant on the lower ground floor of the hotel which serves daily breakfast. The buffet was small but replenished regularly, with cereals, scrambled eggs, fresh fruit as the Western options, and kimchi, dumplings, soups and other Korean dishes also available. The machine coffee was pretty poor, but Seoul has an abundance of takeaway coffee shops and convenience stores where you can get much better hot drinks to sate your caffeine addiction. Seoul is full of restaurants and bars everywhere you turn. Supyo-ro 6-gil, a long street with many dining options, is less than five minutes’ walk from the hotel.
Facilities: The hotel has a small gym and self-service laundry on the lower ground floor, and an open-air roof garden on the top floor (24th storey). Wi-Fi is free and fast.
The hotel offers a mix of Western and traditional Korean breakfast options.
Family friendly: There are family twin rooms with one double and one single bed, or quad rooms with two double beds, or a double and two single beds.
Accessibility: The hotel’s lobby is wheelchair-friendly, and has one accessible room available with an accessible bathroom. Visitors to South Korea who would like more information and assistance can visit the Seoul Danurim Accessible Tourism Center, which is the main information centre for tourists with disabilities and can help with reservations and rentals of things like power wheelchairs, beach wheelchairs and portable ramps. It’s located near the Jongno 3 subway station, and is about 20 minutes from the G3 Hotel.
The rooftop garden on the 24th floor provides a peaceful escape with city views.
Sustainability: Although there were refillable toiletries in the bathroom, all of the smaller amenities were wrapped in single-use plastic, as were the slippers, and plastic water bottles were provided. You can opt out of having your sheets and towels changed during your stay.
Contact: g3hotel.co.kr(you can change the default language on the website to English)
