The Ivy Motel (아이비모텔) is one of the only ones in Suncheon to have a website, which is a nice feature for those who want to see what the rooms look like before hand. It's located sort of across the street from the Outback, about two blocks from Jorye-dong's Home Plus. There are three types of rooms---regular, special, and VIP (일반실, 특실, VIP실)---that cost 40K, 50K, 60K won per night, respectively. You can browse photo galleries for the 일반, 특, and VIP rooms by clicking those links, and you can look at a map of the area via Naver. Ivy Motel's slogan is "Deserve Permanent Remembrance," in case you needed more encouragement.
I've said many times that motels are much better options than tourist hotels in Korea. Of course, anybody running Google searches in English for accomodation will have little to choose from, which is one reason these tourist hotels can get away with charging two or three times as much. Not only are motels cheaper, but they're also newer and better-equipped, with large TVs, comfortable furniture, and sometimes jacuzzis, computers, and even goddamn telescopes. However, I will grant that the Yushimcheon Hotel (유심천호텔) built just up the road from Suncheon University last year looks nice and is superior to the other tourist hotels in town, though the rooms do cost between 90,000 and 150,000 won per night.
If you're coming to Suncheon and looking for a motel room, you can find them easily outside of Suncheon Station and the bus terminal, which are about a ten-minute walk away from each other. However, I'd recommend taking a taxi to the Home Plus in Jorye-dong (조례동) and choosing from among the newer ones there. Not only are they, well, newer and cleaner, but you have easy access to restaurants, bars, convenience stores, and a Home Plus if need be. The ones outside the station and terminal are in older parts of town, and while they're conveniently located near the river and near enough "Old Downtown," everything kind of shuts down there around 9:00 PM.
4 comments:
Now, how can the unsuspecting waegook tourist distinguish between these motels and "love" motels? Excepting the ones that look like something out of 1001 Arabian Nights?
Well, I think all of the new-looking ones should be all right. If you go to Busan's Haeundae Beach you'll find tons of new love motels . . . they are very colorful, with weird lights and wallpaper, but I still find them a good value compared to tourist hotels. You're right, though, that the pictures of the Ivy Motel make it look relatively . . . conservative, but at most if not all motels you can still rent a room for only two hours. I don't know about you, but I can't get a good night's sleep in only two hours. *cough*
Generally I try to avoid motels that look old or rundown, although a few times I haven't had an option. Cleanliness is important, as is noise. In Suncheon it's not a huge problem because it's a relatively quiet city, but it's good to try and avoid motels right on busy streets, or above nightlife areas, or ones with car elevators (extremely noisy).
Interesting to look through your photos, too. I'll be going to Charleston next spring b/c my brother's getting married there.
Congratulations! I recommend the harbor tour bundled with the horse & buggy historic homes tour.
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