When we were in Seoul.  The Shilla Hotel was our home for the week.  The Shilla, sits at the base of Namsan Mountain.  The hotel was founded by Byung Chul Lee, the founder of Samsung Group, (which is probably why the company’s events are commonly held at the hotel).  The hotel blends together South Korean tradition and hospitality as well as eastern and western comforts.

The Shilla Hotel is one Seoul’s most luxurious hotels in South Korea.  Amenities at the hotel includes several restaurants, fitness center, indoor and outdoor walking tracks, statue garden, indoor golfing range, pools with cabanas, a library, lounge/bar area, a small store where bakery items from their restaurants are sold, conference center and meetings. A high end jewelry and clothing stores is also located in the hotel and on the hotel’s property is a (large) duty free shopping center.

The rooms are all very spacious and luxurious, meeting the needs of people from both the eastern and western words.   Our room included a king bed, couch, table and work area.  Most plugs were equipped universal adapters and various other electronic adapters were included.

Slippers were waiting for you when you arrived back in your room every evening.

The bathroom included a rain head shower and a nice soaking bathtub. The toilet was very high tech (you almost needed a guide on how to use it).

Most mornings we enjoyed breakfast at the hotel.  The breakfast buffet offered every type of breakfast food you might want and every was fresh, freshly made or freshly baked in house.

One morning I ended up buying pastries from the bakery shop – they were so good.  I also brought home a bottle of fig fruit preserve, which was made by the restaurant staff.

The lobby area was beyond amazing.  Crystals hung and sparked from the ceiling.  Tables and the reception area were adorned with fresh flowers, which smelled heavenly.

I enjoy looking thought the book in the library and was delighted to see a very diverse collection from around the world.

The jewelry at the onsite jewelry store  was amazing to look at- I don’t think I could ever justifying purchasing anything pieces from the store.

The duty free shop carries all of the top brands but are extremely busy at all hours.

The main hotel building is very western in architecture style but the conference center  boast traditional Korean architecture.  This can be seen in the architecture of conference center and the main entrance gate.

During our stay at the Shilla I enjoyed various walks and runs through the property, including the sculpture garden, which contains various sculptures all in a very natural setting; most were made from a form of metal and were all nicely positioned. One of the morning I took my camera along:

To view all photos from the statue garden and the Shilla Hotel click here.

Our stay at the Shilla was wonderful.  The staff was extremely help and helped us answered any questions we had and even helped us make dinner reservations.  Regardless if it is for business or pleasure I would stay at the Shilla again.