Ji-won Kim

Seoul-based travel writer & hotel reviewer

Hi, I’m Ji-won. I was born and raised in Seoul, and I’ve been travelling around Korea my whole adult life — for long weekends, work trips, and the occasional slow month in a coastal town I’d never visited before. I’ve stayed in everything from cramped goshiwon rooms to proper five-star hotels on the Jeju coast, which I suppose makes me a reasonably useful person to ask about accommodation.

I started this site in 2024, after noticing that friends visiting from overseas were getting overwhelmed by generic travel content that didn’t match what Korea is actually like on the ground. Most hotel guides either recycle the same five luxury properties in Gangnam, or dump a raw list of Agoda results with no real context. Neither is particularly helpful if you’re trying to figure out whether Hongdae or Myeongdong is a better base for your trip, or whether a "sea view" in Busan actually means anything at that price point.

So I write what I actually know. I focus on mid-range to upper-mid options where value is hardest to judge from the outside, and I try to say something specific about each place — the neighbourhood, the walk to the beach, the breakfast situation, the things the photos don’t show. My goal is that after reading a post here, you know whether that specific hotel is right for you, not just whether it has "good reviews."

I use Agoda affiliate links throughout the site — if you book through one, I earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. That’s how the site stays free to run. It doesn’t affect what I write or which properties I cover; I’ve turned down partnerships with hotels I wouldn’t genuinely recommend.

Cities covered

60+

Hotels researched

2024

Site launched

What you’ll find here

→Hotel picks by city — Busan, Jeju, Seoul, Gyeongju, Yeosu, and more. Honest assessments of what each property is actually like to stay in — neighbourhood, transit access, and what the photos don’t show.
→Korea travel guides — practical information on transport, food, money, language, and cultural etiquette that I’ve found visitors actually need. Written from lived experience, not other travel sites.
→Themed guides — for specific types of trips: honeymoons, family travel, solo backpacking, accessible travel, K-drama filming locations, and more.

How I select hotels

I focus on mid-range to upper-mid properties — roughly ₩80,000–₩300,000 per night — where the gap between marketing and reality is widest and where value is hardest to judge from photos alone. My criteria:

→Location quality: how far is it really from the subway, the beach, or the main sights? I check this, not just read the listing.
→Value at that price point: a ₩150,000 room gets different scrutiny than a ₩500,000 one. I say when something punches above its weight — and when it doesn’t.
→Honest trade-offs: no property is perfect. I note the things that would put specific travellers off — light sleepers, families, solo women — even when the overall pick is positive.
→Current relevance: hotels change. I update or remove picks when I find meaningful changes to quality, management, or pricing.

Get in touch

Questions about a specific hotel or destination? Corrections to something I’ve written? I read all messages, though I can’t always reply promptly.

jiwon@korea-hotel-picks.com

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What you’ll find here

→Hotel picks by city — Busan, Jeju, Seoul, Gyeongju, Yeosu, and more. Honest assessments of what each property is actually like to stay in — neighbourhood, transit access, and what the photos don’t show.

→Korea travel guides — practical information on transport, food, money, language, and cultural etiquette that I’ve found visitors actually need. Written from lived experience, not other travel sites.

→Themed guides — for specific types of trips: honeymoons, family travel, solo backpacking, accessible travel, K-drama filming locations, and more.

How I select hotels

→Location quality: how far is it really from the subway, the beach, or the main sights? I check this, not just read the listing.

→Value at that price point: a ₩150,000 room gets different scrutiny than a ₩500,000 one. I say when something punches above its weight — and when it doesn’t.

→Honest trade-offs: no property is perfect. I note the things that would put specific travellers off — light sleepers, families, solo women — even when the overall pick is positive.

→Current relevance: hotels change. I update or remove picks when I find meaningful changes to quality, management, or pricing.