Cheap Seoul lodgings for a week

November 25, 2008 8:33 AM

Seoul readers! Super cheap places to stay in Seoul? Hostels? Love motels? Your place for a few bucks?

Hi, I need to go to Seoul for a week or so in Dec. to visit my dad who is having surgery. Plane fare is expensive enough so I'm hoping to find a really cheap place to stay. I don't really care how nice it is as long as it's in Seoul. Thanks in advance for your help. Oh, and for people wondering, I can't stay with my parents because they live about four hours away from Seoul. I really want to be able to stay in close reach of the hospital while I'm there. Or, at the most, an hour away by train if it's cheaper.

posted by nerdpita to travel & transportation (4 comments total)

I'm not in Seoul, but check out www.Couchsurfing.com. There are plenty of choices for places to stay for free in Seoul, and you can read reviews/browse host profiles easily.

(plenty=1500 in Seoul alone)
posted by bradly at 9:15 AM on November 25, 2008

Which hospital? Seoul is a large city, you don't want a 45min subway ride between where you are staying and the hospital your dad is in. It would be helpful to know the general are he will be in.

If you want to go amazingly cheap, you could stay overnight in a jimjillbang (짐질방) which is a bathhouse/sauna for about $5-$10. This will involve sleeping on the floor in their standard issue shorts and shirt surrounded by lots of strangers. Probably not what you want.

But yeah, if you get more specific about the area, then others will probably be able to make better recommendations about hostels.
posted by no1hatchling at 10:42 AM on November 25, 2008

As a couchsurfer/surfee let me just add that it's great to use it but please do something for your host, like make dinner, treat them to dinner or something. Don't just sponge off them, especially for a week. You might need to find two people to host you, as most people won't want you to stay for a whole week.
posted by Bunglegirl at 11:37 AM on November 25, 2008

Depends on what you mean by cheap, but the yogwans (look for a symbol that looks like a red crescent, open side up, with four wavy kind of heat lines emanating upwards) anywhere in Seoul can be had for 40,000 (US$ 30-some dollars at the moment) and up per night. There will be several choices on almost any city block. The more modern-love-hotelly they are, the more upscale the rooms, but the prices won't go all that much higher above 50 or 60 bucks a night for something reasonably nice. Many of the newer-gen ones will have pictures of the rooms in the lobby.

Don't be put off if the lobby and halls are kind of dark and a bit scary feeling. That's to try and keep things discreet-feeling for couples using the rooms for illicit nookie.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 11:44 PM on November 25, 2008