Review of Moon Motel

Editor's Pick Award

Our Editors awarded this review for providing relevant information that may be useful and inspiring for other travelers.

Armed (or should that be disarmed) with a rubbish map, snow, crappy windscreen wipers and me in the passenger seat playing navigator without my glasses and therefore unable to read any road signs in the dark we headed into Samcheok, South Korea.

Just wanting somewhere to stay for the night, we eventually gave up on the hotels that were recommended (we couldn’t find them) and stopped outside the Moon Motel - very easy to find when you enter Samcheok as it’s the first place you see if you are heading into the town from the south.

Maybe it’s an ingrained English thing (or maybe just a Kerrie thing) but you (I) expect a ‘motel’ to be a little bit less than appealing. Not so with the Moon Motel. In fact, very far from it.

The reception area doesn’t really do the place justice. Fairly unsure of what to expect in the lift as we headed up to our room on the fourth floor, when we arrived we found that the room was immaculate. It was a western style room, ensuite and with all the mod cons (fridge, TV, air-con, soaps, towels, toothbrush and toiletries etc) and if you picked it up and put it in England you’d be paying at least four times the amount that we did - which was 40,000 won (£21 GBP). No doubt that this is more than the Koreans pay but still very cheap for the standard of accommodation.

And the best bit from a personal point of view… climbing into the fresh-smelling, clean sheets that you only get in certain places. I just didn’t want to get out of bed in the morning!

The Moon Motel doesn’t seem to appear in any guides but I picked up a business card which has a website and phone number. Unless you can speak Korean they are both pretty pointless from a pre-booking point of view as Samcheok doesn‘t appear to have many foreign visitors and as such we didn’t come across anyone that spoke any English. However, the website has a few pictures cyber.samcheok.go.kr /edps8462/ and just incase you want to ring them their number is (+82-0)33-572-4436.

So, if you ever find yourself in Samcheok without a place to stay head to the Moon Motel. A great unexpected find!