Seoul Hotels|Seoul, South Korea

Four Seasons Hotel Seoul

Name: Four Seasons Hotel Seoul
Telephone: 82-2-6388-5000

Old World Seoul in a modern glass tower

VERIFIED LUXURY

Learn How We Inspect

The new 29-story, glass-and-steel Four Seasons Hotel Seoul, designed by Su Sin Tao of Singapore, is meant to look like an ancient Korean palace of old, but stylized and brought into the 21st century.

The main lobby lounge is built around a large circular fireplace, cast in an ancient bronze map of Korea, that details the country’s mountains, villages and rivers. More than 130 Korean artists are displayed throughout the building, including Ran Hwang, who used hundreds of ivory-colored buttons to produce a three-dimensional Korean ship for the lobby wall.

Every floor of the luxury hotel features floor-to-ceiling windows, which provide incomparable views of the central Gwanghwamun neighborhood. On one side you can see the stately, enormous Gyeongbokgung Palace, home of Korea’s kings and queens from the 14th through the early 20th centuries; on the other side, it’s modern Korea, all skyscrapers and international commerce, media institutes and modern public art.

Our Inspector's Highlights

Well-being amenities abound at this hotel. The fitness center offers 8,772 square feet of exercise equipment, rooms for group classes and, of course, floor-to-ceiling windows.
If you prefer to go for a dip, the light-filled indoor swimming pool has three lap lanes; nearby are a kids pool, a heated vitality pool and a panoramic sauna.
On the ninth floor you’ll find a traditional Korean sauna experience which includes separate saunas for men and women; cold, warm and hot baths; lounge areas; and dry and wet sauna rooms.
The hotel’s central location makes it ideal for hosting events and the focus on natural light is used to its advantage. On the 15th-floor Outdoor Garden Terrace, parties are hosted in the open air, surrounded by skyscrapers and mountains.
The eight food and beverage establishments are the most offered by any one hotel in Korea. Guests, many of them Koreans on staycations, will often eat at each one to make the most of it.

Things to Know

Book a suite and you’ll get access to the 28th-floor Executive Club Lounge, with its express checkout and unlimited snacks, beverages and wine.
On the 10th floor you’ll find the Golf Experience, where you can play with a virtual golf simulator and get tips from pros.
While constructing the hotel, builders discovered the remains of a medieval neighborhood, which is now masterfully preserved and on display in basement, serving as the setting for The Market Kitchen buffet.

The Rooms

All of Four Season Hotel Seoul’s rooms and suites are outfitted with bathrooms made entirely of white Italian marble with separate showers and commodes, double sinks, complimentary Lorenzo Villoresi amenities and soaking tubs that look out over the city.
Apart from the standard amenities, all rooms are equipped with espresso makers and iPad Minis, which you can use to communicate with the rest of the Seoul hotel.
The best of the suites is the massive 4,445-square-foot Presidential Three-Bedroom option, which has its own sauna and views of the entire city.
Other suites include the 2,217-square-foot Sejong Two-Bedroom Suite (named after Korea’s greatest king) with stunning wrap-around corner windows.

The Restaurants

The high-end Akria Back serves Japanese cuisine and is built on two levels to resemble a theater, with a Tokyo sushi bar, sake bar, and Kyoto-style main dining area, all bathed in a traditional, light-wood interior.
Yu Yuan, which serves Chinese, is meant to look like a Shanghainese restaurant from the 1920s, with dark green and gold motifs, duck-roaster and private rooms that celebrity couples sneak in and out of.
The second-floor Boccalino restaurant is done in a Milanese style with a genuine Milanese chef, and the adjacent bar is best for a casual drink, with DJs performing Thursday through Saturday.
In the basement is Charles H, a secret, unmarked would-be speakeasy. An underground bar, this is the only place in the luxury hotel that gets no natural light.

Amenities